September 7th, 2011
It was a tragic week on the DVD sales chart as none of the new releases were blockbusters. Rio remained on top of the chart for the fourth week of release, selling an additional 180,000 units and generating $2.70 million in revenue. In total, 2.76 million units have been sold with total revenues of $41.44 million.
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September 1st, 2011
Despite only managing fourth place on the DVD sales chart this week, Priest opened on top of the Blu-ray sales chart with 187,000 units / $4.24 million. Its opening Blu-ray ratio was 49% and this is great news for upcoming summer blockbusters, as it suggests they could break 50%.
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August 30th, 2011
There were six new releases to chart this week, but none were able to push Rio out of top spot. The film sold an additional 361,000 units lifting its running tally to 2.58 million units / $38.67 million after three weeks of release.
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August 16th, 2011
It's a deceptively busy week, as there are several significant releases hitting the home market on Tuesday. However, most of these are wide releases that flopped, to one degree or another. In fact, one of the best selling releases of the week is Jane Eyre, an early success story in limited release. When a limited release could conceivably lead the way in sales... well, that's a sure sign of weakness in the overall market. As for the best release of the week, that would have to go to The Big Lebowski Limited Edition Blu-ray Digibook. The latest season of Dexter would come close, but while the show is great, the releases are not Pick of the Week material.
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May 16th, 2011
A stronger than expected hold by Thor and a better than expected debut by Bridesmaids helped 2011 earn a surprise win in the year-over-year comparison. Granted, with an overall haul of $140 million, it was 16% lower than last weekend, but it topped the same weekend last year... By less than $1 million. Hey, a win is a win and I'll take it. Year-to-date, 2011 is still behind 2010 by $500 million at $3.44 billion to $3.94 billion, but we could see that gap close next weekend.
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May 12th, 2011
With no blockbuster releases this weekend, Thor seems set to repeat at the box office champion. This will likely result in a pretty big decline from last weekend's total box office, and there's almost no chance the box office will keep pace with last year. Hopefully next weekend things will turn around.
Thor has to deal with direct competition and the Fanboy Effect this weekend. On the positive side, it also has strong reviews and neither of the new films are expected to be monster hits. The combination of factors makes a 50% drop-off likely, while a fall as much as 60% would not be a large surprise.
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May 9th, 2011
There were reasons to celebrate the opening weekend of summer, even if it didn't get off to the best opening in recent memory. Thor took top spot, but its opening weekend was the weakest for the start of summer since Mission: Impossible: III kicked things off in 2006. The overall box office was up 5% from last weekend to $167 million, but that was 7% lower than the same weekend last year. However, this time last year the biggest film was Iron Man 2, which had the biggest opening of the year, so falling being by just 7% is not a bad result. Year-to-date, 2011 is behind 2010 by 13% at $3.25 billion to $3.75 billion, but hopefully in a couple of weeks we can start seeing that gap close.
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May 8th, 2011
Thor couldn't quite emulate Fast Five's debut, but a very solid $66,000,000 opening weekend for the Marvel superhero movie keeps the promising early Summer season rolling along very nicely. Respectable weekends for Jumping the Broom and Something Borrowed also helped this weekend continue the winning streak over 2010.
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May 5th, 2011
Box office watchers are looking at the second potential monster hit opening in as many weeks and many are hoping Thor can maintain the pace set last weekend by Fast Five. It's unlikely Thor will open with as much as Fast Five did, but perhaps the two films as a one-two punch can help 2011 keep pace with last year.
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May 1st, 2011
Summer is officially upon us and after a depressing start to the year, we finally have some reason to be optimistic. April produced a few films that were stronger than expected and the last three weekends have produced wins in the year-over-year comparison. Granted, 2011 is a long way from matching 2010's pace, but if we can earn a few more wins this month, we could be in good shape going forward. In comparison with last May, the month starts off slowly this year, but comes on really strong by the end and looks much healthier overall. In fact, last May there were only three films to make more than $100 million at the box office. (Granted, two others came very close.) This year there are four films that might open with more than $100 million. Right now 2010 has about a $500 million lead on 2011, but hopefully by the end of the month that lead will be down to $300 million.
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