December 6th, 2011
Cars 2 returned to top spot on the DVD Sales Chart this week thanks in part to Black Friday sales. Over the week it sold 1.06 million units, lifting its totals to 3.86 million units / $61.14 million putting into fourth place for 2011.
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December 7th, 2010
It was the Thanksgiving long weekend recently and the sales numbers this week include Black Friday. It should come as no surprise that there was an uptick in sales this week, with a number of older releases seeing a massive jump. This includes Toy Story 3, which shot into top spot with 1.27 million units / $21.19 million for the week and 6.78 million / $124.60 million after a month. It is now the third-best-selling DVD of the year.
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October 11th, 2010
A strange week for the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report, as there are only five featured reviews for releases coming out this week. However, there are also eight featured reviews for releases that arrived late, plus another eight or so that came out this week where the screener is late. (There's a couple where I don't know if they will or will not arrive.) The Pick of the Week is one such release, How to Train Your Dragon on Blu-ray / DVD Combo, but be warned, that movie isn't released to the home market till Friday.
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March 18th, 2010
Only three new releases reached the top 30 on this week's sales chart, and only one of those reached the top five. However, that film, Law Abiding Citizen, was able to win the race to the top with 830,000 units sold for opening week sale of $8.29 million.
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March 10th, 2010
There were plenty of new releases spread throughout the top 30 on this week's sales chart. Leading the way was Couples Retreat with 1.36 million units sold, generating $21.79 million in opening week sales.
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February 24th, 2010
Four new releases reached the top 30 on this week's sales chart; however, they finished in the four top spots.
Leading the way was Michael Jackson's This Is It with 1.51 million units sold and $24.22 million in consumer spending at retail.
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February 18th, 2010
Half a dozen new releases reached the top 30 on this week's sales chart and one of them reached number one.
Even so, it was a really weak list.
Gamer opened in first place, but it only sold 346,000 units and generated $5.78 million in consumer spending at retail.
That's mediocre, no matter what its ranking.
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February 11th, 2010
While there were several new releases on the sales chart, including a new number one, sales were soft as a whole.
The new number one film, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, only sold 581,000 units and generated $11.03 million in opening week sales.
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February 5th, 2010
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs led all new releases to grab top spot on the DVD sales chart for the week ending January 10 with 1.10 million units and $19.90 million in consumer spending at retail.
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January 31st, 2010
None of the new releases were able to take top spot on the DVD sales chart for January 3, leaving The Hangover in first place for the third week in a row. It added 692,000 units and $12.43 million to take its running tallies to 6.63 million units and $125.40 million.
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January 20th, 2010
Thanks to the holidays, DVD sales numbers were not reported on our usual schedule, but next week we should be back to normal, so it's a perfect time to wrap up some of the interesting notes from over the holidays.
The week after Black Friday saw the release of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Terminator Salvation, neither of which matched expectations, although made up for their poor DVD performance somewhat by selling well on Blu-ray.
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January 17th, 2010
Some might debate the predictive value of The Golden Globes.
After all, they don't have all of the same categories as the Oscars, and the results for Best Picture in particular have varied from the Oscar result many times over the years.
However, it is hard to argue with the free publicity a film gets from winning, and the big winner tonight was Avatar.
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January 12th, 2010
The WGA announced their nominations this week, which include eleven awards, three of which are for theatrical releases.
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December 16th, 2009
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations this week, but looking over the list of films chosen, it is hard to declare any one film as the big winner. Up in the Air did pick up six Golden Globe nominations, including several of the most prestigious nominations, but it is far from the only major player.
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December 15th, 2009
This is the last full week before Christmas, so in many ways this is the last chance studios have to release their top properties.
And you can tell.
There are four releases that are prime candidates for the DVD Pick of the Week, including two $100 million hits (Inglourious Basterds and The Hangover) and two TV on DVD releases (Robot Chicken and Star Trek - The Original Series).
All have their strengths and weaknesses, but if I were forced to choose just one, it would be Inglourious Basterds on Blu-ray.
On the other hand, all four are joining my collection, plus several others coming out this week.
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October 4th, 2009
District 9 climbed into sixth place with $6.19 million on 2547 screens in 35 markets for a total of $56.88 million. This includes a fifth place, $926,000 opening on 253 screens in Italy, while it added $1.94 million on 448 screens during the full week in France for a total of $6.05 million after two.
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September 26th, 2009
Vicky the Viking fell to sixth place with 7.40 million on 898 screens in 3 markets for a total of $24.55 million. Of that, $5.92 million was earned on 751 screens in Germany and it now has $18.94 million in its native market.
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September 19th, 2009
Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs fell out of the top five this past weekend earning $7.08 million on 3521 screens in 35 markets for a total of $670.44 million internationally and $865.11 million worldwide. It is now the third highest grossing film internationally of all time, while it is 18th place worldwide. That's quite a gap. The film remained in first place in Italy earning $3.14 million on 690 screens over the weekend for a total of $33.63 million after three. So far the film has earned more than 77% of its worldwide box office internationally, which is a very high percentage, and it will keep creeping higher as its international run comes to a close.
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September 12th, 2009
The Proposal had massive gains this past weekend and just failed to reach the top five with $5.83 million on 2160 screens in 42 markets for a total of $124.60 million internationally and $285.57 million worldwide. It is now the biggest worldwide hit for Sandra Bullock, and it still has a chance to overtake Speed internationally. This week it debuted in third place in Italy with $1.43 million on 354 screens over the weekend for a total of $1.86 million during its opening, which is much weaker than its performance here. It has yet to open in France, which is key in its quest to overtake Speed, but even if it bombs there and in Japan, it will still hit $300 million worldwide.
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September 5th, 2009
G-Force just missed the top five with $7.09 million on 2964 screens in 30 markets for a total of $67.97 million. The film had no major market openings this week, but it did add $2.17 million on 409 screens in Russia for a total of $8.93 million after two weeks there. Up next is Spain this weekend, which means it could climb back into the top five, if it performs well there.
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August 30th, 2009
Summer is mostly over and we're moving back to the normal schedule for the international box office columns. Mostly. There are still not enough multi-million dollar films to fill out the top 30, but as the blockbusters make way for smaller releases, that will change. Meanwhile, The Hangover remained in sixth place with $7.65 million on 2782 screens in 46 markets for a total of $152.38 million internationally and $420.65 million worldwide. The film opened in first place in Brazil with $1.13 million on 205 screens, while it remained in first place in Mexico with $1.04 million on 398 screens over the weekend for a total of $3.56 million after two. Other million dollar markets include Spain where it was down just 18% to $1.27 million on 319 screens over the weekend for a total of $3.88 million after two, and Germany where it added $1.02 million on 427 screens giving the film a total of $15.29 million after a month of release.
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August 22nd, 2009
Public Enemies remained in fifth place with $8.74 million on 2919 screens in 49 markets for a total of $76.20 million. The film opened in first place in Spain with $2.44 million on 460 screens, but had to settle for fifth in South Korea with $1.22 million on 375 screens over the weekend and $1.70 million in total. With Debuts in Italy and Japan still ahead, the film should have no trouble topping $100 million internationally and $200 million worldwide. However, it was a costly film to make, so it will have to show some strength on the home market to show a profit.
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August 16th, 2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince became just the second film of the year to reach $500 million on the international chart, but the sixth film of that franchise to reach that milestone. Over the weekend it earned $22.85 million on 9346 screens in 63 markets for a total of $548.68 million internationally and $822.53 million worldwide after just four weeks of release. The film is running on holdovers, but it did place third in France adding $3.78 million on 918 screens over the weekend for a total of $45.08 million in that market. Meanwhile it remained in first place in Germany with $2.74 million on 908 screens giving it $54.68 million in total. Its best market overall remains the U.K. where it has made $73.85 million, including $2.25 million on 535 screens over the past weekend.
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August 8th, 2009
Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs became the all-time highest grossing animated film on the international scene during the past week. Over the weekend it earned $24.66 million on 8844 screens in 68 markets for a total of $551.39 million internationally, which tops the $526.88 million earned by Finding Nemo. On the other hand, that film made $866.59 million worldwide compared to this film's running tally of $733.45 million. Ice Age isn't done yet, and should reach a couple milestones before it is done. but the record is likely safe.
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August 1st, 2009
It took Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs just a month to reach $500 million internationally becoming just the seventeenth film to reach that milestone. Over the weekend it added $40.37 million on 10,518 screens in 102 markets for a total of $505.18 million internationally and $676.68 million worldwide. The week the film opened in Japan, but it went nowhere in that market finishing in 10th place with $428,000 on 233 screens. The film opens in South Korea in a couple of weeks and in Italy at the end of the month, and when it does it should be at $600 million internationally and $800 million worldwide.
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July 26th, 2009
Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs was pushed into second place by The Half-Blood Prince, but it became the biggest international hit of the year topping Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen. Over the weekend the film added $61.90 million on 11,089 screens in 102 markets for a total of $430.88 million internationally and $582.75 million Worldwide. It is possible that the film is already the biggest his in the franchise, but we won't know for sure till this weekend's numbers are released.
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July 21st, 2009
The year-to-year box office comparison has been hit hard over the weekend due to the competition from The Dark Knight, which opened this weekend last year. That film alone made $158.41 million over three days.
This year, the total box office was $160 million, or 38% lower than last year.
It was 12% more than last weekend, and 2009 is still ahead of 2008 by a 10% margin, $5.98 billion to $5.44 billion.
But there's no chance things will rebound this coming week.
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July 19th, 2009
Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen became the biggest hit of the year on the international scene, at least for a little while. Over the weekend it added $34.27 million on 8210 screens in 62 markets for a total of $371.24 million internationally and $710.46 million worldwide. It has overtaken Angels and Demons for the biggest international hit of 2009, for the time being, while it is just ahead of the original's worldwide total.
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July 19th, 2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has posted a $79.5 million opening weekend, according to Warner Bros.' estimate released on Sunday.
The movie's daily box office was an estimated $26.8 million on Friday, $29.2 million on Saturday and $23.4 million on Sunday -- and represents a remarkable level of consistency over the first five days in release, after a huge performance at midnight screenings on Wednesday.
The five-day total of $159.7 million is a new record for the franchise at this stage of a run (see comparison chart for Harry Poter Movies), although it does leave the movies somewhat behind the blistering early pace of The Dark Knight and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
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July 14th, 2009
The weekend at the box office was rather boring, at least as far as box office numbers go. We had no records broken, no blockbuster releases, and no films that shocked analysts, either on the high end or the low end. Total ticket sales were at $143 million, which is 12% lower than last weekend and 5.5% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-day, 2009 is still ahead of 2008 by 11.2%, $5.68 billion to $5.11 billion.
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July 12th, 2009
Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen fell to second place with $57.50 million on 9158 screens in 61 markets for a total of $301.64 million. This puts the film less than $100 million behind the original internationally, which is a lead that won't last long. The film's biggest market of the weekend was South Korea where it placed first adding $7.76 million on 1076 screens to its total of $27.81 million. It also was impressive in China adding $5.2 million on 1009 screens for a total of $41.6 million, while it remained in first place in Australia with $4.95 million on 456 screens over the weekend and $21.51 million after two, and in Italy with $1.39 million on 565 screens over the weekend for a total of $8.06 million, also after two.
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July 7th, 2009
New releases were not as strong as expected, and Independence Day itself hurt a little more than I was expecting, but the overall box office was still solid at $162 million.
Granted, this was nearly 19% less than last weekend, but more importantly it was 1.4% higher than the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2009 has made $5.44 billion, which is 11.6% ahead of last year's pace.
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July 5th, 2009
The Hangover climbed into second place with $11.14 million on 2091 screens in 28 markets for a total of $47.81 million. This was actually 2% lower than last week's performance. Its only major market opening came from France where it placed second with $3.31 million on 251 screens, but that was for the full week. (This is still impressive.) In the U.K. it was down just 15% to $3.15 million on 425 screens over the weekend and $18.50 million after three. It is a couple of weeks away from overtaking Terminator Salvation in that market. Over in Australia it managed to dip just 30% to $1.80 million on 227 screens over the weekend for a total of $9.07 million. It will also top Terminator Salvation in this market, and could beat out Angels and Demons as well. Massive. On the other hand, I'm not sure the film will do as well in most non-English speaking markets, as comedy tends to be harder to translate into other cultures.
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July 1st, 2009
While the movie industry has been in summer mode for a full two months, for many, the July 4th weekend marks the official start of summer.
To celebrate, there are two saturation level releases coming out this week, and both are opening tonight and not Friday.
Both could be major hits, but they could have real trouble topping Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen over the weekend.
Compared to last year, I don't think anything will top Hancock's opening weekend, but combined they should help 2009 maintain its strong pace compared to last year.
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July 1st, 2009
Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen expanded into 57 more markets earning one of the biggest weekends on the international scene. The film pulled in $165.43 million on 9763 screens in 59 for a two-week total of $189.58 million internationally, while it now has $389.65 million worldwide. This is the fourth biggest weekend haul on the international scene ever, behind Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but ahead of The Da Vinci Code.
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June 29th, 2009
The biggest opening of the year, and in some respects the biggest opening weekend ever, helped the overall box office recover from its mini-slump, with moviegoers spending just a hair shy of $200 million on tickets over the weekend.
This was up 32% from last weekend and 7.9% higher than the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2009 has now amassed $5.13 billion in ticket sales, which is 12% higher than last year's pace.
It has been a long, long time since we've seen this kind of year-over-year growth, and while it is likely the box office will cool down over the rest of the summer, this is still an amazing performance.
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June 28th, 2009
Terminator Salvation fell to second place with $18.94 million on 9263 screens in 71 markets over the weekend, for a total of $200.84 million internationally and $320.57 million worldwide. The film has been troubled by sharp drop-offs internationally, and that was certainly the case this past weekend, as it was down 65% in Japan. Japan. It was down 65% in Japan, which is a market known for its strong holds. It still added $3.72 million on 697 screens over the weekend for a total of $19.70 million after two, but that's a sharper decline than anticipated.
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June 26th, 2009
It looks like the high end of expectations might not have been high enough as Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen opened with more than $60 million on Wednesday, including midnight showings. This bodes very week for its weekend haul, which should help the overall box office from last year. To put this into perspective, last year's number one film, WALL-E earned $63 million over the weekend, or barely more than Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen earned in one day.
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June 23rd, 2009
It was a better-than-expected weekend at the box office as every film in the top five matched or exceeded expectations.
This led to an overall industry haul of $151 million, which is 9.6% higher than last weekend and 5.6% higher than the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2009 has earned $4.78 billion, which is 10.5% higher than 2008's pace.
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June 21st, 2009
Night at the Museum - Battle for the Smithsonian remained in second place adding a solid $18.53 million on 8300 screens in 67 markets for a total of $175.90 million. The film opened in first place in Mexico, no surprise there, but with $3.34 million on 1150 screens its per screen average is not that impressive and being booked on more than 1000 screens, you think the studio was expecting a bit more. The film did hang on better than most in South Korea down just 50% to $2.13 million on 576 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.57 million after two. It also added $1.77 million on 506 screens in the U.K. for a total of $27.96 million, which is its best single market of its run so far.
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June 21st, 2009
This was the weekend of the comedy in theaters, and romance won out over the numbskulls.
Sandra Bullock enjoyed her best opening weekend ever as The Proposal topped the chart with an impressive $34.1 million, according to Disney's Sunday estimate.
Bullock's previous best was the $17.5 million opening for Premonition in 2007, so this is a tremendous weekend for her.
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June 18th, 2009
We have another two new saturation level releases and two holdovers that will play an important part in this week's box office race, again. It appears that only one of the new films has a legitimate shot at top spot, while we could have our first threpeat in nearly a year. Overall, the box office looks like it will continue its losing streak vs. 2009, as this time last year was marginally stronger. Hopefully that will change next week.
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June 16th, 2009
There were half-a-dozen films that managed to reach the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart, led by Food, Inc. with an impressive average of $20,171 in three theaters.
This suggests at least some potential for expansion.
Moon opened in a few more theaters while its average was slightly below at $17,006, but this is also enough to suggest some potential for expansion.
Tetro opened on Thursday and earned nearly $40,000 over 4 days, but over the three-day weekend it managed an average of $16,221.
Away We Go expanded from 4 to 45 theaters, but still earned an average of $12,463, and this is very good news indeed. Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love opened with an average of $10,866 in three theaters while Le Combat Dans l'Ile opened with $10,217 in one.
The overall box office champion, The Hangover, came awfully close to the $10,000 mark with an average of $9,775.
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June 16th, 2009
It was a rough weekend at the box office as neither saturation level new release was able to live up to expectations.
Even with stronger than expected holdovers, total box office receipts were still down 16.7% from last weekend to $138 million, which is 23.3% below the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2009 has earned $4.55 billion at the box office, which is still 10.9% higher than last year's pace, but we are getting to the point where attendance might show declines, as we've lost a lot of ground in the past few weeks.
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June 14th, 2009
After a titanic three-way struggle at the top of the chart, the weekend belongs to The Hangover, which beat off a continued strong run from Up and a decent, but slightly disappointing debut from The Taking of Pelham 123.
Hangover recorded the best second weekend decline ever for a movie playing in over 3,000 theaters, excluding holiday weekends -- a truly remarkable performance, and a sign that this will be the surprise hit of Summer.
For comparison, the record was previously held by Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, which fell 27% in its second weekend.
Hangover is projected to fall 25.7%, so the record isn't guaranteed, but the movie is moving in pretty exalted circles.
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June 11th, 2009
We have two new saturation level releases and two holdovers that will play an important part in this week's box office race, and three of them have a legitimate shot at taking first place. This depth should help the overall box office numbers, but the weekend will still have a hard time reaching the box office level of last year when The Incredible Hulk opened with just over $55 million.
In fact, the number one film this year might not earn half that much.
Let's hope that is not the case, but there is certainly a chance of that happening.
On the other end of the spectrum, there is a slim chance the top film surprise by earning $40 million, or more, and coasting to $100 million in total.
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June 9th, 2009
Two new releases cracked $10,000 on the per theater chart this week, including Away We Go, which led the way with $32,603 despite mixed reviews.
The overall number one film, The Hangover, was second with $13,759.
Perhaps most impressive was Up, which remained in the $10,000 club during its sophomore stint with $11,561.
It's rare for a saturation level release to repeat on this chart.
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June 9th, 2009
We had a surprise number one at the box office this past weekend, and the films that beat Thursday's predictions outnumber those that failed to reach expected levels, both in terms of the number of films and in terms of total box office generated.
This helped the industry to $165 million at the box office over the weekend; however, this was down about 0.2% from last weekend and 5.4% from the same weekend last year.
That said, this is better than most were expecting, and 2009 is still way ahead of 2008's pace at $4.34 billion to $3.85 billion.
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June 7th, 2009
Up held on to top spot on the box office chart over the weekend, based on the studio's Sunday estimates.
But it was a very close thing.
Only strong family business on Saturday and Sunday was enough to hold off a very impressive debut by The Hangover.
The buddy comedy opened with an estimated $43.275 million, which was well ahead of most predictions, and showed that good reviews can still help bring in moviegoers.
Land of the Lost, meanwhile, showed how bad reviews can still kill a movie: it opened with a paltry $19.5 million, making it the worst Summer opening of Will Ferrell's career.
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June 6th, 2009
There were three wide releases to crack the top ten this weekend, but when it comes to the best of the websites, it's a smaller Canadian movie that was the best. Waterlife's Official Site had a surprising amount of sound and animation to go with the impressive information and it is the winner of the Weekly Website Award.
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June 4th, 2009
It looks like we will have another losing weekend at the box office, as none of the three new wide releases look like they will come close to last year's winner. In fact, they might not top last year's second place film, or the sophomore stint of last week's box office champ.
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June 1st, 2009
So far we are one month into summer, and it looks like we will have six $100 million movies already (as I'm writing this, only two are confirmed, while three more should reach that milestone over the weekend.) However, June doesn't look as strong, either compared to last month, or the same month last year. It's not entirely bad, and we could have the bigget movie of the year opening this month, but don't expect six more $100 million movies. In fact, there's a chance we won't get half that many.
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October 2nd, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Paper Man, Sherlock Holmes, Kung Fu Panda 2, and more!
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September 14th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Box, Hangover, The Fast and the Furious 4 and more!
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July 17th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Humboldt County, Nine, The Perfect Game, and more!
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July 17th, 2008
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
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