DVD Releases for April 28th, 2009 - Part I

April 27th, 2009

We are about to enter the summer blockbuster season, which is great for box office numbers, not so good for the home market. In fact, it is arguably the weakest time of the year for DVD sales. Looking at this week's list, that's not a huge surprise. There are no first run releases that are must haves, nor are there are lot of smaller releases to pick up the slack. The clear DVD Pick of the Week is Star Trek - The Original Series - Season One - Blu-ray, which is better than the previous HD DVD release. Also worth picking up is One-Eyed Monster on DVD, but that has a more limited target audience. While there's not a lot on the top, there's plenty of bulk, so much so we need a second page, which can be found here. More...

DVD Rentals - New Releases Barely Haunt the Top 30

March 11th, 2009

There were only three new releases to reach the top 30 this past week on the rental chart, and only one of those reached the top five. This left Body of Lies in first place, again close to 20% ahead of the second place film, Changeling. More...

DVD Rentals - Body Wins, and That's the Truth

March 3rd, 2009

There were seven new releases to chart this week, and a few others that just missed that mark. The winner was Body of Lies with roughly 20% more revenue than second place Changeling. More...

DVD Sales - Escape Greater

February 24th, 2009

There were four or five new releases to reach the top 30 on this week's sales chart depending on how you count Madagascar 2 - Escape to Africa. During its first full week of release it sold 1.83 million units, giving it totals of 3.51 million units and $56.55 million, which is easily the best sales figures for any DVD this year. More...

DVD Rentals - Nights has Good Week on Rental Chart

February 24th, 2009

Nights in Rodanthe led a troop of five new releases to take first place on the rental charts, pulling in 16% more rental revenue than second place Madagascar 2 - Escape to Africa during its first full week on the chart. More...

DVD Releases for February 10, 2009 - Part II

February 10th, 2009

One of the busier weeks in the past several weeks, but there's little in the way of top-notch releases. The biggest box office hit was Nights in Rodanthe, which struggled to become a mid-level hit. The best release in my opinion is My Name is Bruce on Blu-ray, but only if you are a Bruce Campbell Fanboy. I am, and I'm awarding it the DVD Pick of the Week. While there were not as many top-notch releases, there were still more than enough bulk to force this column to be split into two. The second part can be found here. More...

DVD Releases for February 10, 2009 - Part I

February 10th, 2009

One of the busier weeks in the past several weeks, but there's little in the way of top-notch releases. The biggest box office hit was Nights in Rodanthe, which struggled to become a mid-level hit. The best release in my opinion is My Name is Bruce on Blu-ray, but only if you are a Bruce Campbell Fanboy. I am, and I'm awarding it the DVD Pick of the Week. While there were not as many top-notch releases, there were still more than enough bulk to force this column to be split into two. The second part can be found here. More...

International Details - Bollywood Blockbuster Breaks into Top Five

January 5th, 2009

Ghajini was a surprise entry in the top five as the Indian film earned $12.85 million on 1347 screens in 22 markets, which is more than enough to be considered a monster hit. In fact, it set records in its native market and could break the record set by Dhoom 2 worldwide. More...

International Details - Body is Best of the Rest and that's No Lie

November 30th, 2008

Body Of Lies opened in a quartet of major markets, the U.K., Germany, Italy, and Russia, and that helped it climb into second place with $10.17 million on 2837 screens in 32 markets for a total of $33.62 million. It earned second place in both the U.K. with $1.48 million on 393 screens and in Germany where it scored $1.43 million on 427 screens. On the other hand, it earned more in Italy with $1.64 million on 357 screens, but had to settle for third place. Meanwhile in Russia it struggled landing in eighth place with $500,000 on 142 screens. More...

International Details - School Climbing Higher

November 23rd, 2008

High School Musical 3: Senior Year fell below $10 million this past weekend, but we still able to remain in second place internationally earning $8.65 million on 4642 screens in 34 markets for a total of $123.01 million internationally and $207.178 million worldwide. The only opening of note this weekend came in Russia, however, the film struggled there placing sixth with $353,000 on 128 screens. Its best market was the U.K. where it added $1.46 million on 483 screens over the weekend for a total of $31.76 million. More...

International Details - High School Graduates to the Century Mark

November 17th, 2008

High School Musical 3: Senior Year remained in second place with $14.63 million on 4413 screens in 30 markets for a total of $110.38 million internationally. This is more than it will make domestically by the end of its run, and at this pace hitting $200 million worldwide will not be an issue, as it has openings in Russia, Australia, and Japan still to go. Its biggest market of the weekend was Italy where it made $2.60 million on 487 screens over the weekend for a total of $9.02 million. Meanwhile, its biggest market overall was the U.K. with $31.44 million, including $2.39 million on 470 screens over the past weekend. More...

International Details - World Sees Saw

November 9th, 2008

Saw V slipped a spot to sixth place with $6.44 million on 1703 screens in 26 markets for a total of $16.52 million. This week it opened in fourth place in Russia with $745,000 on 200 screens while in earned seventh place in Mexico with just $148,000 on 120 screens. As far as holdovers go, the film fell more than 60% in the U.K. to $1.55 million on 367 screens for a total of $7.53 million. More...

International Details - Number One is Number Six

November 3rd, 2008

Public Enemy Number One Part 1 opened in first place in France with $5.66 million on 489 screens. Adding in a couple of smaller markets and it pulled in $5.80 million on 527 screens in 3 markets over the weekend, landing in sixth place internationally. More...

International Details - Barcelona Strong in France, Italy

October 26th, 2008

Vicky Cristina Barcelona remained in sixth place internationally with $6.66 million on 1136 screens in 11 markets for a total of $22.85 million after a month of release. This includes France, where the film remained in first place with $3.15 million on 443 screens for the week and $7.68 million after two. Meanwhile, it opened in Italy with $2.16 million on 378 screens, which was enough for second place in that market. More...

International Details - Updates and More

October 19th, 2008

First some updates on Wednesday's numbers. Due to Columbus Day, we were relying on studio estimates instead of final numbers, and while they were mostly accurate, they were not entirely accurate. The Russia film, Admiral (Koltchak), did indeed top the charts with $12.51 million on 1,223 screens in 2 markets over the weekend and $13.31 million in total. Meanwhile, Eagle Eye added $10.88 million on 3,030 screens in 38 markets for a still early total of $29.41 million. Mamma Mia! continues its quest for $400 million with $8.37 million on 3,713 screens in 46 markets for a total of $390.72 million. These three films were very close to the original figures, however, the rest of the top five was different than originally reported, starting with... More...

International Details - United Germany Lifts Teutonic Offering

October 12th, 2008

German Unification Day helped The Baader Meinhof Complex grow by 10% as it remained in second place in Germany with $4.82 million on 594 screens for a total of $10.99 million after two weeks. Adding in two smaller markets and the film made $5.35 million on 660 screens in 3 markets for a total of $12.06 million. More...

Doggoneit!

October 7th, 2008

Of the eight films that opened or expanded on Friday, only two were able to do some serious business, while most were lucky if they topped the Mendoza line by earning more than $2,000 per theater. It was just a disaster, in many ways. That said, it was still the first weekend in October and the overall box office was up 13% from last weekend to $113 million. More importantly, it was 35% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2008 closed the gap with 2007. 2008 is just a little below and 2007 a little above $7.25 billion. By this time next week, 2008 could retake the lead, at least in terms of raw dollars. More...

Tight Competition Likely to Squeeze out Most Films

October 3rd, 2008

If you thought last weekend was too busy, this weekend is worse with eight films opening or expanding wide, or at least wide-ish. However, only one film is opening at saturation level (3,000 or more theaters) and one other is opening truly wide (2,000 or more theaters). After those two films, the rest of the new releases will be forced to fight over the table scraps. More...

Box Office Soars Like Some Kind of Bird

September 30th, 2008

It was a relatively predictable weekend at the box office with four of the top five films matching expectations, more or less. There was only one film on Thursday's column that beat expectations by a serious degree, and it was matched by another film that missed expectations by nearly the same margin. Overall the box office just climbed above nine digits, hitting $101 million over the weekend. This was 14% more than last weekend and 11% more than the same weekend last year. 2008 is still behind 2007, but by less than 1% at $7.11 billion to $7.15 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: Eagle Eye Wins Big, Fireproof Surprises

September 28th, 2008

As expected, the weekend belonged to Shia LaBeouf and Eagle Eye. The thriller posted a strong $29.2 million debut, according to studio estimates on Sunday, giving it the fourth-biggest September weekend (see list). Nights in Rodanthe also opened solidly, as it picked up an estimated $13.57 million. More...

Movie Website Reviews for Weekend of September 26, 2008

September 27th, 2008

An absolutely huge list of movie sites this week, however, out of the more than a dozen sites on this week's list, most have just the basics, plus a few video clips. It's really hard to get excited about that. In fact, the only site that stood out was Eagle Eye's Official Site, but even here it felt too slick and lacked the substance needed to win the Weekly Website Award. More...

Weekend Showcase Emphasizes Quantity over Quality

September 25th, 2008

There are seven films opening in more than 250 theaters this weekend, but this is clearly a case of quantity over quality. Only two are opening in more than 2,000 and none of the seven are earning overall positive reviews. (Most of these films don't have a real shot at a top five placing, so we will deal with many of them in our round-up of limited releases.) There's no real question on which film will top the charts this week, as Eagle Eye is practically a lock for that position. But there are questions about whether it can top last year's winner, or whether 2008 can play catch up over last year. More...

2008 Preview: September

September 1st, 2008

A pretty bland month with no wide release that look likely to surprise, either becoming a potential $100 million hit, or bombing so bad that they fail even to reach $10 million. The latter is a lot more likely, however, with a number of films that have serious obstacles to overcome, and it is very unlikely all of them will avoid bombing. On the other end of the scale, there are no films that have a legitimate shot at $100 million, while The top film of the month could make less than $70 million. More...

New Movie US Release Dates - June 15, 2008

June 15th, 2008

This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Transporter 3, Hoodwinked 2, The Green Hornet and more! More...

New Movie US Release Dates - February 17, 2008

February 17th, 2008

This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Four Christmases, Star Trek XI and more! More...

New Movie US Release Dates - December 16, 2007

December 16th, 2007

This week's round of new movie release information contains not only the general weekly update, but also an a number of release updates we had missed earlier. More...

New Movie US Release Dates - June 3, 2007

June 3rd, 2007

This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and more. More...