June 29th, 2010
Few new releases reached the top 30 on the sales chart this week, but one of them, The Book of Eli, led the way with 789,000 units / $17.62 million in opening week consumer spending at retail.
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June 22nd, 2010
No new release was able to take top spot on this week's sales chart leaving Alice in Wonderland as the repeat champion. It added $12.34 million from 657,000 units sold to take its two-week totals to 2.75 million units and $52.47 million in consumer spending at retail.
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June 8th, 2010
This time of year is normally very slow at the home market. It's too late for the last of the winter blockbusters to find their way onto DVD, while it is too early for the flood of TV on DVD releases coming out to promote the upcoming season. However, thanks to a better than expected spring at the box office, we have another strong week at the top. The best-selling release is Shutter Island. While that movie is good enough to be worth picking up on its own, the DVD and Blu-ray are weak enough to prevent it from being the Pick of the Week. To find the Pick of the Week we have to go a little further down the sales list till we get to Not the Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy on Blu-ray from Amazon and Animation Express on Blu-ray.
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June 7th, 2010
Shutter Island was originally scheduled for a release in October of 2009, but was pushed back to February of 2010. Considering the pedigree this film has (with Oscar winner Martin Scorsese behind the camera and the three time Oscar nominated Leonardo DiCaprio in front) there was a lot of Awards Season Buzz going in. So why would the studio move the film from an early Awards Season position to the middle of February? There are very few legitimate answers to that question that wouldn't crush expectations. The reason I've seen given the most was that the studio didn't have the finances to promote the film at the time. Paramount, a studio that had earned more than $1 billion in each of the last three years, didn't have $60 to $80 million to spend on advertising? Not sure I buy that. So was that the real reason, or was the film just a bust and the studio wanted to dump it on a softer time of year?
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May 2nd, 2010
Date Night fell out of the top five, but added $7.47 million on 3120 screens in 48 markets for a total of $28.31 million. The film opened in first place in the U.K., but only made $1.97 million on 400 screens, which is about the same as $11 million here. That's not a great start and there's little hope that the film will match its domestic total overseas, but it is still a solid midlevel hit and should show a profit by the time it reaches the home market.
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April 25th, 2010
There were more than a dozen foreign releases to reach the top 30 on the international chart, starting with Go Lala Go!. This Chinese film opened in first place in its native market and sixth place overall with $6.44 million on 655 screens.
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April 14th, 2010
Clash of the Titans nearly doubled its reach over the weekend as it remained in top spot with $53.87 million on 6629 screens in 32 markets for a still early total of $120.95 million internationally and $231.18 million worldwide. The film opened in first place in Russia with $11.82 million on 920 screens. That's a lot given the size of the market, but Russia has a history of rewarding fantasy films. In France it also opened in first place, earning $6.41 million on 576 screens, while in Germany it showed similar strength with $5.93 million on 628 screens. As far as holdovers were concerned, it remained in first place in South Korea with $4.11 million on 642 screens over the weekend for a total of $14.17 million after two. It also remained on top in the U.K. with $3.77 million on 468 screens over the weekend for a total of $19.56 million after two.
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April 11th, 2010
Shutter Island fell to sixth place with $6.64 million on 2870 screens in 39 markets for a total of $135.53 million internationally and $258.97 million worldwide. With a debut in Japan this weekend, it could climb back into the top five. Even if it doesn't, it still has to be considered a financial success.
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March 31st, 2010
A couple of major market debuts helped Alice in Wonderland keep its hold on first place, with $50.63 million on 8369 screens in 51 markets for a total of $367.77 million internationally and $661.30 million worldwide. In France it debuted in first place with $11.67 million on 735 screens, while it opened with $5.1 million on 450 screens in China. The film added $3.74 million on 510 screens in the U.K. for a total of $52.18 million, which is the film's best single foreign market. By this time next week it should have crossed the $400 million mark internationally and $700 million worldwide. $800 million is practically a lock at this point. Depending on how well it does in Spain, Japan, and Brazil, it could finish with more than $900 million. It has done particularly well in Mexico, with a running tally of $22.56 million. This bodes well for its chances in Spain and Brazil. However, it hasn't managed the same success in South Korea, with $16.95 million. This could be an omen for its run in Japan.
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March 24th, 2010
Alice in Wonderland remained in first place for the third weekend in a row, adding $47.50 million on 6,827 screens in 49 markets for a total of $299.78 million internationally.
I guarantee it reached $300 million internationally early on Monday. In fact, weekend estimates had it topping $300 million on Sunday, before the revised final numbers were released. The film again had no major market openings this weekend, but it remains a powerhouse in many countries.
This includes the U.K., where it pulled in $7.26 million on 525 screens over the weekend for a total of $45.65 million after just three weeks of release.
The film now has made $565.22 million worldwide after just three weeks of release. With openings in France, Spain, Japan, and Brazil ahead of it, it is on track for $750 million.
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March 17th, 2010
Despite no major market openings this past weekend, Alice in Wonderland slipped just 15% during its second weekend of release as it easily topped the international charts yet again. Over the past weekend it managed $80.59 million on 7065 screens in 45 markets for a total of $225.05 million internationally and $434.39 million worldwide. It did open in first place in Belgium, with $1.44 million on 112 screens over the weekend and $1.65 million in total. Its biggest market of the weekend was the U.K. where it added $11.07 million on 533 screens over the weekend for a total of $34.29 million after two. In Germany, the film actually grew a tiny bit to $7.15 million on 555 screens over the weekend for a total of $16.53 million. In South Korea it was down just 2% to $4.57 million on 444 screens, giving the film $11.28 million in total. With debuts in France, Spain, Japan, and Brazil over the next month and a half, the film will have no trouble adding to its totals. It could more than double its current worldwide box office.
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March 16th, 2010
The box office results were mostly fantastic over the weekend, thanks almost entirely to one film, Alice in Wonderland. The movie was able to hold on better than almost everyone predicted, but the rest of the new releases failed to connect. This resulted in a 26% drop from last weekend, as the overall market pulled in $147 million. However, this was 45% higher than the same weekend last year. Meanwhile, year-to-date 2010 has now pulled in $2.24 billion, which is nearly 9.0% higher than last year's pace.
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March 11th, 2010
There are three or four new wide releases coming out this week (depending on your definition of wide) but it appears that none of them have a real shot at taking top spot away from Alice in Wonderland.
This is true despite the overwhelming majority of analysts who are predicting that the film will suffer at least a 55% drop-off this weekend. Fortunately for the box office as a whole, this should still be more than enough to keep pace with last year, even if none of the new releases match the best of last year's crop.
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March 10th, 2010
As it did domestically, Alice in Wonderland opened in first place internationally with $95.27 million on 6389 screens in 41 markets over the weekend for a total opening of $100.52 million. This is a little lower that its domestic debut, but it has yet to open in about a third of the international markets, so if it can open with similar strength in those place, the film should have about a 60 / 40 international/ domestic split. This means that even if the film has poor legs, it should have no trouble topping $500 million globally. The film's biggest single market was the U.K., where it opened in first place with $16.04 million on 533 screens for a per screen average of just over $30,000. It was surprisingly strong in Italy, where it made $11.15 million on 668 screens over the weekend for a total of $14.37 million. It nearly cracked $10 million in its opening in Australia, pulling in $9.46 million on 48 screens. Other major markets include Mexico ($7.92 million on 780 screens), Germany ($7.12 million on 452), South Korea ($4.69 million on 440), and Russia ($4.11 million on 868).
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March 8th, 2010
Wow. There's no other word to describe it. Alice in Wonderland's record-breaking opening blew away all expectations and by itself was almost as much as the entire weekend box office last weekend and last year. Overall, the box office pulled in $197 million, which was 65% higher than last weekend and 69% higher than the same weekend last year. It pushed the year-to-date box office to $2.04 billion, which is 5.9% higher than last year's record-setting pace. Additionally, attendance is also above last year's pace by close to 4%.
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March 4th, 2010
It is the beginning of a new month and there's lots of pressure on the box office to keep up pace with last year. There was only one wide release this time last year, Watchmen, but it opened with more than $55 million, which at the time was the third best March opening ever. This time around Alice in Wonderland is expecting to top that figure. In fact, a lot think it will set the March opening record.
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March 3rd, 2010
For the eleventh weekend in a row, Avatar was the biggest draw at the international box office, but this week its win was extra special. Over the weekend it made $39.75 million on 7247 screens in 70 markets for a total of $1.85 billion internationally. This is more than Titanic made worldwide, meaning the film has in effect lapped its nearest competition. Additionally, it has reached $2.56 billion worldwide, which is an astounding number. To put this in perspective, this would be enough for the film to earn seventh place on the list of highest grossing franchises worldwide, and it will likely top Batman and Pirates of the Caribbean with ease. The film has set records in many major markets, including Italy, France, and South Korea, while it is creeping up on $100 million in Spain, Australia, and Italy to go along with the seven other markets where it has already reached that milestone.
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March 2nd, 2010
Overall, it was a solid weekend at the box office. While the new releases were not quite able to match expectations, holdovers were able to compensate, helping the overall box office to $119 million. This was down 11% from last weekend, but more importantly it was 6.9% higher than the same weekend last year. Ticket sales are still down by about 0.5%, but thanks to higher prices, 2010 is ahead of 2009 at $1.80 billion to $1.78 billion.
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February 28th, 2010
Shutter Island started its international run with a sixth place finish this past weekend, earning $9.28 million on 1229 screens in 9 markets. The film opened in first place in Spain with $3.25 million on 406 screens. It had to settle for second place in Australia, in a virtual tie with Valentine's Day at $2.50 million on 250 screens. It's way too early to tell where the film will end up, but matching its domestic run internationally is a solid goal.
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February 28th, 2010
A decent 46% second weekend drop was good enough to keep Shutter Island at the top of the box office chart this weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
With $22.2 million, the movie beat out good debuts by Cop Out and The Crazies, which picked up $18.6 million and $16.5 million respectively.
Overall business for the weekend looks as though it will be up about 20% compared to this weekend last year.
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February 25th, 2010
February ends with a couple of wide releases, both of which have a shot at taking first place. However, while both new films have a shot at top spot, Shutter Island will probably remain there over the weekend. This is not to say that the new releases are particularly weak, especially compared to the new releases that came out this time last year. In fact, the top three films from this year might all perform better than the top film last year, so 2010 has a real chance to stop the slide and maintain its record-setting pace.
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February 24th, 2010
The winners of our Hard as Cannon Balls contest were determined and they are...
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February 24th, 2010
Showing once again that there's no such thing as bad publicity, Ghost Writer topped the per theater chart with an average of $45,752 in four theaters during its opening weekend. It will be interesting to see if it can maintain this momentum going forward. Shutter Island was the only other film in the $10,000 club, earning an average of $13,729 in nearly 3,000 theaters on its way to the number one spot on the overall chart.
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February 23rd, 2010
While Shutter Island exceeded expectations, it was the only film in the top five to do so, which hurt the overall box office. The total box office during the weekend was $134 million, 35% lower than last weekend. Then again, it was a post-holiday, post-Valentine's Day weekend, so this collapse isn't as bad as it looks. However, it was 6.0% lower than the same weekend last year and that's certainly not good. Year-to-date, 2010 has pulled in $1.65 billion (1.6% higher than last year's pace) but unless 2010 starts putting together some wins, it won't be long before it loses its lead.
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February 21st, 2010
Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio both enjoyed record openings this weekend as Shutter Island made an excellent debut, according to Paramount's estimates released on Sunday.
With $40.2 million in the bank so far, the thriller will most likely be among the ten biggest openers in February, and decent word-of-mouth will most likely propel it past $100 million at the box office.
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February 18th, 2010
There's only one wide release opening this week, Shutter Island, which should help that film maximize its box office potential. However, there's little hope it will match last year's number one film, Madea Goes to Jail. Hopefully the post-holiday weekend won't be too hard on the holdovers and 2010 can add another win over last year. Perhaps it can even lift ticket sales over last year's pace.
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February 12th, 2010
Sometimes it's hard to figure out what movie will be the biggest new release of the week and therefore should be the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. This is not the case his week. There's only one new wide release this week and that is Shutter Island, which is the latest Scorsese / DiCaprio collaboration. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Shutter Island.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a copy of Cannon: Season Two: Volume Two, which comes out on DVD on Tuesday.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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February 1st, 2010
2010 started in record-breaking fashion with the most lucrative January of all time, and only the second time that the box office reached $1 billion before the end of the month.
The first year to do that was 2009.
There were two problems preventing real celebration, however.
Firstly, roughly 30% of the total box office for the month came from one film, Avatar, which was a holdover.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, most films that were released / expanded wide in January missed expectations.
Because of this, February starts on a bit of a down note.
Compared to last year, the top of the list is about as strong with a couple of films aiming for $100 million, while there are fewer films that seem like they will bomb at the box office.
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August 7th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Edge of Darkness, Inglorious Bastards, Rachel Getting Married, and more!
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February 28th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Driving Lessons, Night at the Museum 2, Shutter Island, and more!
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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!
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December 6th, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for A Christmas Carol, Milk, Seven Pounds, and more!
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November 27th, 2007
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
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