February 3rd, 2009
Wow. That was... Due to technical difficulties, late deliveries, and some misfiled DVDs, this week's list is a little later than normal (but it's still Tuesday, so it's not technically late). It is also a lot larger than normal with a record number of Spotlight reviews (23 in all, or 30 if you count individual movies). There are also some very high quality releases including Zack and Miri Make a Porno on either DVD or Blu-ray. However, given the subject matter of that film, I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. The best release of the week is, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist on DVD or Blu-ray, but especially the Blu-ray, which is worth the upgrade. That film is the DVD Pick of the Week. With a record number of spotlight reviews, it goes without saying that the list had to be split up this week, with the second part found here, while the third part can be found here. (First time I had to separate the list into three parts.)
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February 26th, 2007
Last night's Oscars were a interesting mix of clear favorites and surprising upsets.
There were enough surprises to keep people talking for a while while enough favorites won that most will be satisfied with the overall outcome.
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February 25th, 2007
The Oscars have all been handed out, but that's not the end of our coverage. Tune in tomorrow for more thoughts as well as next week when we look at the Oscar bounce. And later on we'll announce the winners of our contest,
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February 25th, 2007
While the Independent Spirit Award announces their nominations earlier than anyone else, they only handed the awards last night.
The two big winners were Little Miss Sunshine and Half Nelson, but both have to be seen as underdogs for tonight's Oscars.
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February 13th, 2007
The
Writers Guild of America handed out their awards over the weekend.
While there was a night full of winners, only two were for theatrical releases.
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January 28th, 2007
The
Screen Actors Guide were handed out tonight and while there are plenty of awards, only five dealt with theatrical releases.
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January 23rd, 2007
The
Oscar nominations were handed out today and for the most part they've followed the script written by previous awards committees fairly closely.
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January 22nd, 2007
The
PGA handed out their awards over the weekend with two going out to theatrical releases.
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January 20th, 2007
There were plenty of
new releases this week, but all but two missed the top 10. However, those two DVDs finished one-two on the charts.
Crank topped
The Illusionist $6.09 million to $5.59 million.
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January 13th, 2007
A slow week for
new releases helped
Little Miss Sunshine climb from third to first on the rental charts. Over the week the film earned $5.46 million for a three-week total of $20.95 million.
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January 12th, 2007
The
Writers Guild of America is the last of the guilds to hand out nominations, which they did so this week. And while there are 20 or so categories, only two of them are theatrical.
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January 7th, 2007
None of half-a-dozen
new releases were able to make a big splash on rental charts, but that doesn't mean there wasn't anything interesting to report. Every film in the top five was within $540,000 on each other with
The Devil Wears Prada claiming top spot with $6.87 million.
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January 5th, 2007
The
Screen Actors Guide handed out their nominations yesterday and of the 5 theatrical categories, there were more than a dozen films to pick up at least one nomination.
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January 4th, 2007
The
PGA announced their nominations today, two of which deal with theatrical releases.
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December 30th, 2006
There were nearly a dozen
new releases to chart this week, but it was a holdover that took top spot in an extremely close race.
The Devil Wears Prada beat out
Little Miss Sunshine at $8.88 million to $8.80 million.
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December 19th, 2006
This is the last week before Christmas and there are a lot of DVDs on this week's list that would make perfect last minute Christmas gifts. There are also a lot of DVDs that feel like they are being dumped on the home market in the hopes that they will be scooped up by ever desperate shoppers. Of the contenders, Jackie Chan's Police Story - Special Collector's Edition and The Simpsons - The Complete Ninth Season - Collectable Lisa Head Packaging came close to taking home the honor. But in the end I went with When the Levees Broke.
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December 17th, 2006
Open Season solidified its chances to reach $100 million with a first place debut in Italy. Over the weekend the film just managed to beat
Happy Feet $1.68 million to $1.66 million over the weekend, (with midweek numbers
Open Season earned $1.82 million on 430 screens). The film was not as successful in Japan with just $968,000 on 441 screens; with such a small per theatre average, it will likely disappear quickly from charts. Overall it earned $4.97 million on 3451 screens in 51 markets for a total of $87.16 million; and even with no major markets left to open in, it does have a great shot at $100 million before its run is over.
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December 15th, 2006
Babel led the way when the
Golden Globe nominations were announced today with seven nominations while
The Departed was close behind with six.
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December 11th, 2006
Saw III slipped another spot to sixth with $4.46 million on 1518 screens in 29 markets for an international total of $54.27 million. Its best opening of the weekend came in South Korea where it placed third with $1.08 million on 144 screens, which is the last major opening for the film this year.
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November 29th, 2006
As always, Award Season officially begins with the announcing of the
Independent Spirit Award nominations. While this is the first major awards to announce their nominations, they are one of the last to hand them out so the nominees have a long wait ahead of them.
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November 12th, 2006
Desu Noto 2, a.k.a., Death Note 2: The Last Name opened in two market last weekend taking in a total of $7.29 million on 393 screens including finishing first in
Japan with $6.50 million on 342 screen over the weekend and $10.33 million in total. In the mean time, the film opened in second place in South Korea with a respectable total of $1.37 million, which includes more than just the weekend, obviously.
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November 5th, 2006
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals saw impressive growth this week up 52% to $4.26 million on 2035 screens in 20 markets for an international total of $16.58 million. The film opened in a handful of markets including placing first in Mexico with $927,000 on 310 screens, but that's a little low for this type of film in that market. Also, it missed the top five in Spain opening in sixth place with $651,000 on 220 screens. The film's biggest market of the weekend was the U.K. where it was down just 27% to $1.41 million on 446 screens over the weekend for a total of $5.66 million after two.
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October 30th, 2006
Not much in terms of international details this week and what little details there are, are based on studio estimates.
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October 22nd, 2006
The
German soccer film, Deutschland. Ein Sommermarchen, remained in first place in Germany and sixth overall this weekend. It managed this feat by falling just 25% to $5.41 million on 671 screens for a two-week total of $14.67 million.
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October 8th, 2006
Indigenes, a.k.a. Days of Glory, opened in first place in its native
France with $5.53 million on 460 screens while it managed ninth in Switzerland with $76,000 despite opening on only 8 screens. The film opened on Wednesday in Belgium before expanding to other European market in the coming weeks.
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October 1st, 2006
Ye Yan, a.k.a., The Banquet opened in third place in South Korea with $1.04 million on 183 screens over the weekend and $1.24 million in total. That helped the
Chinese film place sixth overall with $5.52 million on 734 screens in 6 markets lifting its international total to $15.94 million, which is just above its production budget.
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September 26th, 2006
The Science of Sleep started its theatrical run atop the per theatre charts with nearly $350,000 in 14 theatres for an average of $24,852. The studio hopes to expand the film into 200 theatres this weekend but it is too soon to tell if the film will be able to attract an audience outside the art house circuit.
Second place went to American Hardcore as the documentary took in $18,102 in its lone theatre. Next up were a pair of holdovers with Old Joy earning $17,556 in one theatre, which is more than it made during its entire, nearly month-long release. Finally, Keeping Mum fell just 25.67% to just over $20,000 in 2 theatres for an average of $10,077.
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September 24th, 2006
Little Man shot up the charts into sixth place with $5.97 million on 1597 screens in 23 markets for a total of $22.63 million internationally. The film had million dollar debuts in both Spain, ($2.06 million on 250 screens), and Mexico, ($1.04 million on 352), while came reasonably close in Russia, ($960,000 on 217 screens, including midweek numbers). In all three markets, the film placed second on the charts. More amazingly is the film's performance in the U.K. as it dipped just 17% to $1.05 million on 315 screens over the weekend and a three-week total of $5.75 million.
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September 17th, 2006
The Sentinel climbed into 6th place on the international charts, the best placing the film has earned. It had a few openings, the biggeset being a sixth place, $410,000 debut on 89 screens in South Korea over the weekend, and $469,000 in total. On the other hand, the film place first in Belgium with $197,000 on 36 screens over the weekend and $226,000 in total and third in Denmark with $102,000 on 32 screens over the weekend and $108,000 in total. Overall it earned $3.44 million on 1423 screens in 22 markets for a total of $31.96 million, which puts it about a week from topping its domestic total.
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September 12th, 2006
The second weekend in September is quite often the slowest weekend of the year, and that appears to be the case here. Overall the total box office was a mere $71 million.
To put that into perspective, if that was earned by just one film this weekend, it would only place fourth on the list of 2006's biggest openings.
Needless to say, the overall box office was down this weekend, by a massive 31.3% from the last weekend.
Compared to the same weekend last year the decline was smaller at 18.2%, but that was a more devastating result in the overall scheme of things.
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September 7th, 2006
This week we have a trio of new releases opening wide, but only one of them managed a theater count above 2,000.
I suppose the studios for the other two films are hoping to earn high per theater averages and expand in the coming weeks based on strong word-of-mouth.
But that almost never works.
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September 6th, 2006
Labor Day long weekend is the official end of the movie summer season and this year it ended on a high note. While the 3-day total was 1.4% lower than last weekend, the $102 million it earned was 8.7% better than the same weekend last year. Adding in Monday and the box office reached $129 million, up 9.2% from last year.
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September 4th, 2006
It's the Labor Day today, which means there will be a one day delay in a few regular columns including the weekend wrap up and the per theatre charts. The DVD release column will be published late tonight, very late tonight. Perhaps even in the early morning hours of tomorrow. In the meantime, here are the studio estimates for the weekend numbers...
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September 1st, 2006
It's the Labor Day weekend, the weakest long weekend in the movie business.
There are a trio of new releases trying to take on Invincible's undefeated record (current winning streak: 1), but the odds of there being a new winner this weekend are 50 / 50.
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August 29th, 2006
The Illusionist was able to climb to the top of the per theatre charts this week despite seeing its theatre count nearly triple. The film's average of $12,745 was significantly, but not overwhelmingly ahead of second place Suicide Killers, which earned $10,601 in its lone theatre. Half Nelson, which led the charts the previous two weeks, slipped to third but still managed to maintain its $10,000 per theatre average with nearly $211,000 in 21 theatres for an average of $10,036.
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August 29th, 2006
As summer slowly winds down, there was the predictable decline from last weekend's box office. In total, ticket sales managed $102 million, down 7.9%, but more importantly up 4.6% from the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2006 is still ahead of 2005, but the lead has shrunk to 5% and we will need a strong fall season to maintain overall ticket sales growth.
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August 25th, 2006
The final weekend in August looks better than most, with one or two films that should finish with overall positive reviews.
However, the box office potential for these films is very limited.
It looks like Invincible should live up to its name, and if not, look for plenty of bad puns come Monday.
I know I've already thought of a few.
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August 22nd, 2006
Half Nelson was able to remain on top of the per theatre charts, barely, with an average of $18,755 in three theatres.
That was less than $1,000 ahead of the second place film, The Illusionist and its $18,195 average; that figure is made even more impressive by the film's 51 theatre count, which is very high for a limited release and usually causes serious problems because the distributor can't do national advertising, but local advertising in lots of markets becomes very expensive.
For the third weekend in a row, The Wedding Curse's average topped $10,000 as it earned just over $50,000 in 3 theatres for an average of $17,271. Another holdover rounded out the list of $10,000 films as Viva Pedro saw its box office dip less than 24% to $10,227 in its lone theatre.
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August 22nd, 2006
The weekend box office was surprisingly subdued given the amount of hype the number one film was generating. Overall the box office made $110 million, which was down 14.9% from last week and 3.5% from last year. The week-to-week decline is to be expected at this time of year, but the year-to-year drop-off is more troubling. Even so, 2006 is still maintaining a 6% lead over last year's pace and that's well above ticket price inflation.
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August 14th, 2006
It is another insanely busy week with 1,250 DVDs coming out, at least according to Amazon.
However, like last week, the majority of those are episodes of Charlie Rose.
(I really wish the studio released them as full season sets and not flood the market with individual titles that most people will skip over without a second thought.)
Three releases immediately jump out as the best of the best, Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier, Masters of Horror - Dario Argento - Jenifer, and The Simpsons - The Complete Eighth Season - Collectable Maggie Head Edition.
I could have spent hours trying to determine which of those was the best, but instead I will just award all three the title of DVD Pick of the Week.
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August 8th, 2006
Little Miss Sunshine saw its theatre count explode from 7 to 58 over the weekend and this obviously had a detrimental effect on its per theatre average. However, it held on as strong as one could expect and earned more than enough to win the race on the per theatre charts.
In fact, its $25,521 was double to second place film.
That film was the overall box office leader, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, which opened with just over $47 million in 3,803 theatres for an average of $12,370.
The final film to top $10,000 was Quinceanera with an average of $11,925 in its 8 theatres.
This is a strong enough start to assure the film will expand and perhaps enough to grab some mainstream success.
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August 1st, 2006
Little Miss Sunshine earned $370,000 over the weekend and nearly $500,000 since its Wednesday debut, all in just 7 theatres for an outstanding per theatre average of $52,969. Another Gay Movie overcame terrible reviews to finish in second place with an average of $16,658 in two theatres. Both 13 Tzameti and Wondrous Oblivion finished within $100 of each other with $10,805 and $10,740 respectively, both in 1 theatre.
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July 28th, 2006
Another big week for movie sites with several excellent entries. In this crowded field there were a lot of sites that showed promise and could be just one big update away from winning the award. But this week the best of the best was
World Trade Center -
Official Site. Let's hope that the movie can live up to the site.
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July 28th, 2006
It's another busy week for limited releases, even if you consider Scoop as a semi-wide release. Not only does the count nearly reach double digits, but more than half of them are earning overwhelmingly positive reviews.
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July 24th, 2006
This is the last real weekend of summer and it features the last potential monster hit, Miami Vice.
To celebrate, our latest box office prediction contest will feature fabulous prizes from three movies opening this weekend, Miami Vice, The Ant Bully, and Little Miss Sunshine. To win, one must simply predict Miami Vice's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday).
Whoever comes closest, without going over, will win the Miami Vice prize pack, While the person who comes closest, without going under, will win the The Ant Bully prize pack. In addition, one lucky entrant chosen arbitrarily will win the Little Miss Sunshine prize pack. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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July 7th, 2006
After the busiest week in more than a month, we have the slowest. While there are several good sites on this week's list, they are either a bit below the award-worthy level, or they are all award winners. So the Weekly Website Award is taking a vacation this week.
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July 1st, 2006
Neither of June's potential monster hits lived up to expectations, and that's a trend that everyone hopes doesn't continue into July. There is only one real monster hit in the making this month, and it opens right away. But while the rest of the month is decidedly weaker, there are still several other movies that should earn more than $100 million.
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June 16th, 2006
This is actually a pretty busy week with more than two-dozen site on the list. That makes it the busiest week in a month. However, it was one of the site that had no real updates this week that won the Weekly Website Award this week and it was,
Nacho Libre -
Official Site.
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