September 25th, 2012
New releases took the top four or five spots on the Blu-ray Sales Chart this week, it depends on which measure you take, units or revenue. Snow White and the Huntsman led the way in both with 893,000 units / $17.86 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 55%, which is excellent, even for a visually impressive film like this. In fact, given its slightly more female demographic, this is an even more impressive result.
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September 25th, 2012
It was a busy week for new releases on the DVD sales chart with four in the top five and seven in the top ten. Leading the way was Snow White and the Huntsman with 729,000 units / $12.39 million during its first week of release. This is a good start, and it did better on Blu-ray, so that's a bonus.
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September 11th, 2012
This week is again dominated with TV on DVD releases, including more than half the first page on Amazon.com's list of best-selling new releases. There is one first-run release that is doing really well: Snow White and the Huntsman - Extended Edition on DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack. It's worth picking up, but not Pick of the Week material. To find contenders for that title, one must look to the TV on DVD releases, including 30 Rock: Season Six and Absolutely Fabulous: 20th Anniversary Specials. But the winner was Castle: Season Four.
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June 26th, 2012
To Rome With Love topped the per theater chart with an outstanding average of $72,272 in five theaters. While this is an amazing start, there are some reasons to not get too excited. First of all, Moonrise Kingdom opened with more and did so in fewer theaters. Also, Sunday's estimates were a bit higher, so it fell faster than expected over the weekend. Finally, the reviews were split, so it likely won't have as strong legs as some of Woody Allen's films have in the past. The only other film to top the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart was Brave with an average of $15,928. Kumare came very close with $9,601 in one theater over the weekend, while it earned $19,972 from Wednesday through Sunday.
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June 19th, 2012
Moonrise Kingdom has been on the top of the per theater chart for close to a month now. The past weekend it managed an average of $12,571 in nearly 200 theaters. Unfortunately for the box office as a whole, it was the only film to reach the $10,000 market. Your Sister's Sister did come close with an average of $8,402 in thirteen theaters, which is good enough to suggest some potential to expand.
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June 12th, 2012
For the third weekend in a row, Moonrise Kingdom remained the top film on the per theater chart with an average of $16,247. Again, most limited releases would kill to have an opening week per theater average that high while playing in only a couple theaters. Moonrise Kingdom did it in its third weekend of release while playing in nearly 100 theaters. To call it a success is an understatement. Prometheus finished in second place with $15,032, while the overall box office leader, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, was right behind with an average of $14,166. Dark Horse opened with $13,551 in its lone theater. Safety Not Guaranteed opened in ninety theaters, which is a little high for a limited release, but it still earned an impressive average of $10,862.
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June 5th, 2012
Moonrise Kingdom remained on the top of the per theater chart with an outstanding average of $54,805 in 16 theaters. If it had opened with that average in four theaters, it would have been considered a huge hit, so this is a fantastic sophomore stint. Snow White and the Huntsman was the only other film in the $10,000 club with an average of $14,900.
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June 4th, 2012
Snow White and the Huntsman not only earned first place on the weekend box office chart, it did so with ease, topping all but the most bullish predictions. In fact, it even topped last year's opening of X-men: First Class, which means the film nearly helped 2012 back in the winning circle. The overall box office did fall 7% when compared to last weekend, but it was the post-Memorial Day weekend, so that's a very strong finish. The year-over-year decline was 11%, which normally would be really disappointing, but the previous weekend, the decline was over 30%, so this represents a huge recovery and bodes well for the next few weeks. 2012's lead over 2011 has shrunk to just under 10% at $4.47 billion to $4.07 billion, but even if the overall box office is flat for the rest of the year, a $400 million increase over the full year would be worth celebrating.
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June 3rd, 2012
After a disastrous start for Battleship a few weeks ago, Universal execs will be breathing a lot easier this morning thanks to an impressive debut for Snow White and the Huntsman. The fantasy adventure is projected to earn $56.26 million, according to the studio's Sunday estimate, which will give it a good shot at matching its production budget (which reportedly ended up at more than $170 million).
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June 1st, 2012
There are not one, not two, but three limited releases opening in more than 100 theaters, plus another opening in dozens of theaters. Is it going to be a big week for limited releases as a result? Probably not. Of those four major limited releases, none of them are earning Tomatometer Scores above 25% positive. Ouch. There are a few releases earning overwhelmingly positive reviews, The Loved Ones, Pink Ribbons, Inc., and others, but they are smaller releases and I don't think any of them will truly thrive.
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June 1st, 2012
As May ends and we look forward to June, we have some good news and some bad news to report from last month. First the bad news. Nearly every film missed expectations, sometimes by massive levels. The good news? The Avengers was a record-breaking hit and it managed to compensate for every miss of the month and May of 2012 was just as strong as May of 2011. Unfortunately, the month has ended on a low note and The Avengers is shedding theaters, so new releases will be really important for June's chances. There are two films that were supposed to open wide this month that are no longer doing so, although we did have one film moved up to replace G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but that still leaves just twelve films opening wide over the five weekends in June. This does include six films that have a real shot at earning $100 million or more at the box office, and three of those have a shot at $200 million. Prometheus is earning a ton of buzz and there are some that think it will be the biggest hit of the month. It might even be a $300 million hit. However, you can't count out Brave in the race to become the biggest hit of the month, as Pixar's average is over $250 million and $300 million is also not out of the question. It's hard to compare last June, because there were only four weekends last June, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon opened on the Wednesday before the July 1st long weekend, which throws off the numbers. If you consider Dark of the Moon a June release, then there were six $100 million movies and one $300 million this month last year. We will need nearly every film to match expectations in order for 2012 to continue to strengthen its lead on 2011.
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