June 1st, 2008
The last of 2008's monster hits finally hit the home market last week, and it made quite an impact. National Treasure: Book of Secrets opened in first place on the sales chart and had the second best opening for the year with 3.49 million units sold and opening week sales of $55.77 million.
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May 20th, 2008
This week's list is dominated by Blu-ray releases. This is not surprising as this is the first week Paramount has released Blu-ray discs after dropping the format last August for an exclusive HD DVD commitment. However, it is another Blu-ray release that caught my eye: the National Treasure Blu-ray Two-Pack. This is the best format has to offer this week, but it is not the best movie coming out. If you want the DVD Pick of the Week, you have to grab Night of the Living Dead Buy from Amazon.
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December 18th, 2007
Another deceptively weak week for DVDs.
Sure, there appear to be plenty to choose from, but it feels like half the top 20 are Blade Runner releases.
In fact, one of the two DVD Picks of the Week are for that movie.
For those who are big fans of Blade Runner, grab the Four-Disc Collector's Edition - DVD, or 5-Disc Collector's Edition - Blu-Ray or 5-Disc Collector's Edition - HD-DVD if you can.
(Given the choice between those last two, pick 5-Disc Collector's Edition - Blu-Ray.)
For those who are huge fans of Blade Runner, and I mean stupid level fans of the movie, grab 5-Disc Ultimate Edition - DVD, 5-Disc Ultimate Edition - Blu-Ray, or 5-Disc Ultimate Edition - HD-DVD.
But good luck, I pre-ordered mine months ago and there are reports they are sold out in many places. The second DVD Pick of the Week goes to The Simpsons Movie - Blu-Ray.
The light extras are disappointing, but that transfer is immaculate.
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June 18th, 2005
Be Cool opened atop a depressed home market $9.61 million in combined rentals. The film also topped the DVD sales charts, which is welcome relief to the studio after the film's disappointing theatrical box office.
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June 11th, 2005
It was a
slow week for new releases and what little competition there was couldn't stop
The Aviator from holding onto top spot on the Home Rental Charts. Its combined total of $7.76 million was a sharp drop-off from
last week, but even so the film is doing well enough on the home market that is will soon show modest profit.
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June 4th, 2005
The
multi-Oscar winning movie,
The Aviator won the week at the home market, which really surprised no one. The film topped both the DVD rentals with $10.14 million and the VHS rentals with $1.21 million for a combined total of $11.36 million. On the other hand, it came in second on the sales charts to the record breaking The
Chappelle Show
Season 2.
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May 28th, 2005
For the third weekend in a row National Treasure come out on top spot on the combined rental charts. It was a much closer race this week and the film fell 28% to $7.72 million in combined rentals, lifting its three week total to $30.45 million.
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May 21st, 2005
Three new films in the top five and two more than just missed could push
National Treasure out of top spot. The film fell just 11% this week for $9.40 million in DVD rentals and $1.30 million in VHS rentals for a combined rentals of $10.70. The film also held up well in DVD dropping to second place.
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May 14th, 2005
Just one new film managed to finish in the top five on the rental charts, but it easily took top spot.
National Treasure was more than 50% higher than its nearest rival with $10.57 million in DVD rentals and $1.46 million in VHS rentals for $12.03 million total. The film also finished first in DVD sales and second in VHS sales, (behind
The Incredibles.)
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May 2nd, 2005
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases, classics and a few from the growing TV on DVD section. Not a strong week for releases as there are no major releases, and very few limited releases, on the week's list that were also big hits with the critics.
Fortunately there was a TV on DVD release and a classic of sorts to fill the gap - Gilmore Girls - The Complete Third Season - Buy from Amazon and Spaceballs - Collector's Edition - Buy from Amazon
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April 24th, 2005
Hitch is just coasting on holdovers now, and will be until it opens in Japan at the beginning of June. This week it added $5.1 million from 3000 screens in 55 markets to its already impressive $170.4 million international total and with soft week to week drop-offs and a good showing in Japan and it will have a $200 million future. This week the film added $643,359 in its fifth weekend in France for a $12,785,670 total in the market, $110,000 in its second weekend in Argentina, (rising to first place in the meantime) as well as other, smaller markets.
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April 17th, 2005
The Pacifier finally debut across Australia after playing in Queensland and Victoria for the past two weeks; the massive expansion allowed the film to climb to first place with $1.125 million on 267 screens. That lifted its total in the market to $3.41 million so far and the film should have strong legs. Add to that its $1.75 million opening in Spain and $590,000 in Belgium and the film managed $4.1 million over the weekend, which doubled its early total to $8.1 million.
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April 10th, 2005
It was a slow week at the international box office, the slowest of the year, and without much activity at the box office hit there were little in the way of details published by the studios. Therefore this week's column is much shorter than usual. Leading the best of the rest was
Be Cool with an estimated $5 million for a disappointing $12.7 million international tally. Its best single market was the U.K. where the film finished second with $2.2 million on 336 screens after an exclusive engagement last weekend. The film also did well in the Netherlands with $190,000 on 43 screens but really struggles in Germany opening in fifth place with just $930,000 on 321 screens, a result mirrored in Austria, (fifth place, $165,948.)
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April 3rd, 2005
Million Dollar Baby performed brilliantly this week earning $8.8 million for an international total of $60 million, placing fourth on the international box office charts. In France the film dominated the marketplace with $4.94 million on 450 screens and in Germany the film earned $760,000 in semi-limited release (120 screens) for the best per screen average in the market. On the other hand, the film flopped in Slovakia where it missed the top ten in its debut. On the holdover front, the multi-
Oscar winning front saw its weekend haul climb by 20% in Spain to $980,000 and it's still doing well in Australia, Italy and South Korea.
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March 23rd, 2005
Not only did
Hitch win the weekend race on the international circuit, but it almost closed the gap between it and
Constantine for the race to $100 million. This week the
romantic comedy pulled in $22.7 million on 5,000 screens in 46 markets, lifting its international box office to $98.1 million as of Sunday, and the film has almost assuredly hit $100 million after Monday and Tuesday. It's biggest box office of the weekend came from France where the film debuted in top spot with $4.4 million on 560 screens and the film also took top spot in its debut in Malaysia with $230,000 on 30 screens while just missing the trifecta with a second place, $400,000 opening in Turkey. Holdovers include first place finishes in Germany, ($3.75 million) Austria and Australia, ($1.4 million) while the film slipped to second place in its second weekend of wide release in the U.K. with $4.3 million. The only downside for the film now is the lack of major markets left to open in with Japan having to wait till July 4th. By that time the film will have crossed $300 million worldwide and may climb high enough to become one of the ten biggest hits of the year.
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February 20th, 2005
Iznogoud: Calife a la place du calife, a movie based on a Asterix and Obelix
spin off of sorts, dominated the French box office taking in $7.1 million, more than double the second place film and more than a third of the top ten total. It is also enough to push it into the
Top Five on the international scene, dropping
Finding Neverland into sixth place. Unfortunately, like the several films made in the Asterix and Obelix series, this one is unlikely to make much of an impact outside the French speaking markets.
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February 9th, 2005
A higher than expected opening in Spain and a lower than expected decline in the U.K. allowed
Meet the Fockers to retain top spot on the international charts. The film opened first in a handful of markets, including a $4.7 million opening in Spain on 356 screens, $377,000 in Denmark, $352,000 in Taiwan and $275,000 in Israel. Its most prolific market continues to be the U.K. where the film brought in $8.5 million during its second weekend there; that's a 42% drop-off, which is a little high for the market, but not as high as expected given its huge start last weekend. That one market represented more than half of its weekend total of $16.3 million on 1700 screens in 28 markets for a running tally of $82.9 million.
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February 2nd, 2005
Meet the Fockers open in the U.K. over the weekend with an astounding $14.8 million on 456, which is more than four times the
original's earnings there in 2000.
That figure was also more than 8 times the second place film , and more than half the market's total box office.
Add in a handful of openings in other, mostly smaller markets and the film brought in $19.2 million on 1,700 screens in 15 markets for a $58.8 million total so far.
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January 26th, 2005
The International Box Office Race is certainly interesting, as Ocean's Twelve recaptured the lead this weekend with $14.4 million on 4,600 screens in 58 markets and now sits at $170.4 million internationally and $292.8 million worldwide. A large chunk of that total came from Japan, where the film earned $6.8 million (including sneak peaks) on 510 screens, while ending Howl's Moving Castle's nine week reign on top.
While this was a strong performance, it was 20% lower that the original's debut in the same market.
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January 19th, 2005
After a massive opening last week in Spain,
Alexander took top spot on the international charts thanks to a strong opening in Italy, Brazil and Hong Kong. The film managed first place in all three markets with $3.87 million on 446 screens in Italy, $906,900 on 193 screens in Brazil and $275,244 on 30 screens in Hong Kong. Holdovers were not as kind to the
Sword and Sandal epic as it dropped nearly 50% in the U.K., Spain and France. Overall the film brought in $14.5 million on 3600 screens in 51 markets for a running tally of $88 million. And while the film will easily cross $100 million internationally, which is roughly 3 times its domestic figure, it has to be looked at as a disappointment financially.
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January 12th, 2005
The race for first in the international marketplace continued to be close with three films within a couple million of each other. Leading the way was
Ocean's Twelve with $17.5 million on 5200 screens in 54 markets; the film's international total now sits at $137 million, slightly more than half of what
Ocean's Eleven finished with. The
heist film did open well in several markets, which mostly balances out severe drop-offs due to the post-holiday. For instance, the film opened well in South Korea with $2.1 million on 150 screens and debuted in first place in Argentina, ($500,000), Portugal, (with $720,000) and in the Philippines, ($370,000.)
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January 5th, 2005
Like last week, this week's international box office race was very close, but unlike last week,
The Incredibles were able to reclaim the crown over
Ocean's Twelve. The holidays helped the box office climb in several markets and overall the film earned $23.2 million on 6800 screens in 49 markets and now sits a week away from $300 million with $286.8 million international box office.
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December 31st, 2004
It's the last day of 2004 tonight so you could either call this the last weekend of 2004 or the first weekend of 2005. There needed to be roughly $264 million in box office business since Sunday for 2004 to beat 2003, and while Monday's figures were ok, they've been slipping during the week and will most likely put 2003's $9.158 billion out of reach. As for the predictions this weekend, there should be almost no change in the top five but the overall box office should climb from last weekend.
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December 29th, 2004
Ocean's Twelve opening in another two markets, (Mexico and Belgium) helped the
heist film finish first on the international charts with $22.6 million on 5,183 screens in 46 markets. The film opened well in Belgium where it easily took first place with $1.2 million on just 75 screens. That's up nearly 40% compared to the the
original, but down nearly 10% in Euros. In Mexico the film could only manage $1.8 million on 550 screens for a rather limp per screen average. However, in most markets the film is not holding up as well as the studio would have liked. For instance, in Germany the film dropped by more than 50%, in France the decline was 44%. The only exception appears to be Italy where holidays and a serious boost to screen count helped the film climb 33% to $2.9 million over the weekend.
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December 22nd, 2004
For the first time in many weeks there was a real race for top spot on the international charts, also, for the first time in many weeks
The Incredibles didn't win that race. Boosted by debuts in 22 additional markets,
Ocean's Twelve took top spot with $28.9 million on 3900 screens in 27 markets for a early total of $35.2 million. Compared to the
original the results are mixed. IN many places it is a lot lower when compared in local currency, but thanks to the Dollar's extended losing streak, it's much higher in American funds. For instance, the film opened in first place in France with 5.7 million Euros, down 16% from its predecessor, however, that's $7.5 million in American funds, a increase of 28%. Other highlights include $5.3 million in Germany, $3.5 million in Spain, $2.2 million in Italy and $1.4 million in both Holland and Switzerland and just shy of $1 million in Sweden. The film remained in first place in Australia despite dropping 50% at the box office to just $1.8 million.
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December 15th, 2004
Several films made their international debuts this weekend, but that didn't stop
The Incredibles from taking top spot on the international box office, again. This weekend the film brought in an addition $32.1 million on 6,343 screens in 37 markets to lift its international tally to $152.1 million so far. The films busiest weekend in terms of raw dollars was the $5.7 million it earned in Germany, but with a theatre count of more than 1000, that wasn't as strong as the
studio would have liked. The film did break the record for biggest opening for an
animated movie with $1.7 million in Brazil. The film also opened first in Switzerland with $1.2 million, Austria with $931,000 and South Africa with $310,000.
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December 13th, 2004
The two wide openings fell short of expectations, but by a combined margin just several million dollars, even so, this weekend was nearly 23% ahead of last weekend. And comparing it to last year's trio of disappointing wide releases results in a 19% increase. And while 2004 now sits 2.4% ahead of 2003 with $8.52 billion, that margin could evaporate as there's no sure thing, $300 million monster hit left to be released this year.
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December 10th, 2004
Two movies open wide this weekend, both looking to attract the same audience. In the end both films will suffer because of this, but both films should also do well enough to earn a profit while jumpstarting the box office.
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December 8th, 2004
A few big opening and very strong holdovers helped
The Incredibles continue its torrid pace with $36.3 million in 24 markets, lifting its international tally to $104.6 million. It was the 16th film to cross that mark this year, and one of two films to do so this weekend. The film's biggest opening of the weekend was in Japan where it took in $7.3 million to finish in second place to local phenomenon, Howl's Moving Castle. Ironically, out of all the new openings, Japan was the only market where the film failed to open in first place. The biggest holdover was in the U.K. where the film took in another $8.1 million, down just 29%, and now sits just shy of $30 million there. The film was equally strong in other major markets: France, ($6.5 million, down 29%); Italy, ($4.4 million, down 19%); Spain, ($3.7 million, down 33%.) With major openings in Germany, among other markets, the film looks like it will keep up this torrid pace for quite some time, perhaps hitting $200 million before Christmas.
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December 6th, 2004
As expected, there was a big drop at the box office over the weekend, but there were a couple of surprises as the semi-limited release,
Closer, out performed expectations to finish in fifth place. Overall the box office dropped to $87 million over the weekend, that's a massive 46% drop from last week, but more importantly, a nearly 11% drop from last year. That dropped 2004's lead over 2003 to just 2.2%, but things should pick up this week with the Wednesday release of
Blade: Trinity and the Friday release of
Ocean's Twelve.
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December 3rd, 2004
The first weekend in December follows one of the busiest weekends of the year, and the studios are usually reluctant to put out their A-List material. This year it's an extreme example as there are no wide releases and while one of the limited releases has a reasonable shot at earning a place in the top 10, there will probably be no change in the top five, other than massive drops in box office dollars. Because of this, this week's column will be shorter than usual.
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December 1st, 2004
With a nearly 3-1 lead over its nearest competitor,
The Incredibles took top spot on the International Box Office charts this week with $44.3 million on 4,362 screens in 22 markets for a running tally of $59.1 million. The film opened number one in all twelve markets and in a few of the markets the film debuted in this week it was able to break the record for biggest debut by an
animated films. However, in others it fell short to either
Finding Nemo, (France) or
Shrek 2 (the U.K. and Spain.) Its biggest single market was the U.K., where the brought in $18.1 million, including sneak peaks, which was a
Disney record. Other highlights include $9.2 million in France, $5.6 million in Spain, $5.4 million in Italy, and $1.3 million in Belgium. Considering the results so far it should challenge for supremacy among the elite
animated films and $400 million to $500 million isn't out of the question.
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November 29th, 2004
It was the leftovers that ruled Thanksgiving weekend as neither of the new films could meet expectations. That helped the some of the holdovers excel, but not enough for any big gains over the weekend. Comparing the 3-day weekend we see gains of just 7.0% from last weekend and 0.25% from last year. Over the 5-day weekend, this year was up a mere 0.55% from last year. Year to date, 2004 know sits at $8.277 billion at the box office, up approximately 2.4% from the same point in 2003.
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November 24th, 2004
Thanksgiving long weekend is one of the busiest long weekends of the year and is usually a boon to new releases and family films. And while the later should do well, the former could struggle as they are both being savaged by critics.
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November 23rd, 2004
Bad Education took top spot on a per theatre chart loaded down with Oscar hopefuls. The latest offering from acclaimed director,
Pedro Almodovar, earned nearly $150,000 in just three theatres for an average of $49,123. Coming in second place with $18,090 in its lone theatre was
Days of Being Wild, a Hong Kong film from the early 90s. Three and four on the list were last week's one and two as
Kinsey beat out
Finding Neverland $16,048 to $14,680. The only other film to make it to the $10,000 club was the overall box office champ,
National Treasure with $11,648.
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November 22nd, 2004
Not only did we have a new winning at the box office, it wasn't the film expected to challenge for top spot. More importantly, there was a significant increase at the box office both from last weekend (3.5%) and especially from last year (11.7%.) Year to Date 2004 extends its lead to 2.4%, $8.0 billion to $7.8 billion.
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November 19th, 2004
Two new films open this weekend, but
The Incredibles still look almost unbeatable at the box office with the primary competition coming from a certain yellow sponge. I think I feel a song coming one ...
Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh!
Who Lives in a Pineapple under the sea?
SpongeBob SquarePants
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November 18th, 2004
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner
Electra -
Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
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November 1st, 2004
Award season kicks into high gear and the Thanksgiving Holiday means one thing: Christmas movies. Christmas In November movies are becoming frustratingly common these days and this year is no different, with two such movies coming out.
There are also a few more award season hopefuls that span the whole spectrum of box office possibilities. More...
October 14th, 2004
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner
A Very Long Engagement -
Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
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July 22nd, 2004
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates including the winner for the week,
Aliens vs. Predator -
Offical Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
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November 21st, 2003
