December 6th, 2011
I hate this time for year, because of the holidays. Due to the five-day Thanksgiving long weekend and the Christmas shipping rush, screeners are even more likely to arrive late. Most of the prime releases I'm supposed to review are still on route. It makes it hard to keep up to date on reviews, plus it makes it really hard to figure out what the Pick of the Week should be. The Help is in contention, but I want to see the Blu-ray first. In the end, I went with the The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Extended Trilogy Box Set on Blu-ray.
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February 22nd, 2011
It's a pretty good week on the home market, all things considered, with two $100 million first-run releases on this week's list. On the other hand, there doesn't feel like a whole lot of depth and there are about as many featured reviews as other releases, if you count late reviews and ones where I'm still waiting on the screeners. One of these late reviews, Megamind could be the Pick of the Week, but I'm giving the Blu-ray one last chance to arrive before its release on Friday.
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February 8th, 2011
Among the new releases to reach the top 30 on the sales chart this week, there were two that were in a relatively close race for first place. At least it was close compared to the third place film. Coming out on top was Red with 1.12 million units sold for $15.07 million in opening week consumer spending.
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January 24th, 2011
It's bit of an oddball week on the home market. There are four first-run releases, if you include The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Granted, that film was a limited release, but it did earn more than $5 million, and it appears to be selling quite well, especially for a foreign language film. On the other hand, none seem like they will be particularly impressive in terms of sales. Of the four biggest releases, Red on Blu-ray is the best bet, but for Pick of the Week, I'm going with Broadcast News: Criterion Collection on Blu-ray.
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January 4th, 2011
The final weekend of the year saw no less than six films topping the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart. Leading the way was Blue Valentine with an average of $48,432 over the weekend and it already has close to $300,000 in just four theaters since Wednesday. Country Strong saw its average grow to $20,753, but it was still pushed to second place due to the competition. Another Year opened in third with $18,645 in six theaters, while Somewhere remained steady with $17,302 in eight. The Illusionist grew by 20% to $15,472, but it did have an extra day, as last weekend it opened on Saturday. The final $10,000 film was The King's Speech, which earned more than $7 million in 700 theaters for an average of $11,108.
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November 30th, 2010
Oscar hopeful, The King's Speech, took one giant leap forward in its quest to bring home the hardware as it topped the weekend per theater chart with and average of $88,863. You can't vote for a movie you haven't seen, so strong box office numbers usually mean more Awards Season Buzz, which in turn usually means better box office numbers. As it did on the overall box office chart, Tangled had to settle for second place on the per theater chart, but its average of $13,535 is still excellent for a saturation level release. The Legend of Pale Male was very close behind with $12,910 in its lone theater. Rounding out the $10,000 club was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, with an average of $11,900. This is way lower than last week, but not many films earn an average of more than $10,000 during their second weekend of release while playing in more than 4000 theaters.
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November 23rd, 2010
The overall box office leader, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, also led the way on the per theater chart, pulling in an average of $30,307 in more than 4000 theaters. Last week's winner, Tiny Furniture, was a distant second place, with $16,384 in one theater. Made in Dagenham opened with a disappointing average of $12,521 in three theaters. This should be enough to expand somewhat, but its chances of earning a significant measure of mainstream success took a hit over the weekend. White Material was right behind with an average of $11,538, also in three theaters.
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November 16th, 2010
It was a close race for the top of the per theater chart with Tiny Furniture coming out on top with $21,235 in its lone theater. Second place went to 127 Hours with an average of $19,934 in 22 theaters. This bodes well for its chances of expanding.
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November 9th, 2010
There were a few limited releases to reach the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart this past weekend. 127 Hours lead the way with an impressive average of $66,213 in four theaters. Fair*Game was well back with $14,154, but it opened in 46 theaters, so this is a much better indicator of its chances to expand. The overall box office leader, MegaMind, was the only other film in the $10,000 club with an average of $11,668, but the second place film, Due Date, came very close with an average of $9,743.
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November 2nd, 2010
Again, there was only one film that reached the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart. Inspector Bellamy opened with an average of $10,318 in two theaters. However, Waste Land came very close with $9,806 in its one theater.
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October 31st, 2010
With an estimated 92% of box office receipts coming from 3D shows, Saw 3D became the highest-grossing horror franchise in history this weekend, overtaking Friday the 13th.
Its $22.4 million opening is still down from the peak for the franchise, which topped $30 million on four occasions, but is up significantly from the disappointing $14.1 million debut of Saw VI last year.
(See full franchise history here.)
Paranormal Activity 2, meanwhile had a steep drop to $16.5 million in its second weekend, although 59% isn't terrible for the genre, and the low-budget sequel has racked up over $65 million in just 10 days.
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October 29th, 2010
Another week and I'm still waiting for the flood of Oscar hopefuls to come out. There are a couple of high profile films making their theatrical debut this week, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and Welcome to the Rileys, but neither are earning good reviews. While the movies that are earning excellent reviews are mostly documentaries and foreign imports.
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