January 20th, 2010
Thanks to the holidays, DVD sales numbers were not reported on our usual schedule, but next week we should be back to normal, so it's a perfect time to wrap up some of the interesting notes from over the holidays.
The week after Black Friday saw the release of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Terminator Salvation, neither of which matched expectations, although made up for their poor DVD performance somewhat by selling well on Blu-ray.
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November 30th, 2009
It's the week after Black Friday, which is widely reported as the busiest shopping day of the year, so it comes as no surprise that there are fewer releases this time around than there have been in recent weeks (including just a trio of spotlight reviews).
After all, it makes sense to release a DVD / Blu-ray before Black Friday rather than after.
That said, we are still in the heart of holiday shopping season, which means there are a couple of $100 million hits on this week's list, as well as some titles that are of interest.
Unfortunately, when it comes to most of the really interesting releases, I'm still waiting for the screener to arrive, so I can't tell if they are DVD Pick of the Week material.
The best of this week's releases that I can give a more detailed review for is Mystery Science Theater 3000 - XVI - Limited Edition Box Set.
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August 8th, 2009
Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs became the all-time highest grossing animated film on the international scene during the past week. Over the weekend it earned $24.66 million on 8844 screens in 68 markets for a total of $551.39 million internationally, which tops the $526.88 million earned by Finding Nemo. On the other hand, that film made $866.59 million worldwide compared to this film's running tally of $733.45 million. Ice Age isn't done yet, and should reach a couple milestones before it is done. but the record is likely safe.
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July 19th, 2009
Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen became the biggest hit of the year on the international scene, at least for a little while. Over the weekend it added $34.27 million on 8210 screens in 62 markets for a total of $371.24 million internationally and $710.46 million worldwide. It has overtaken Angels and Demons for the biggest international hit of 2009, for the time being, while it is just ahead of the original's worldwide total.
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July 12th, 2009
Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen fell to second place with $57.50 million on 9158 screens in 61 markets for a total of $301.64 million. This puts the film less than $100 million behind the original internationally, which is a lead that won't last long. The film's biggest market of the weekend was South Korea where it placed first adding $7.76 million on 1076 screens to its total of $27.81 million. It also was impressive in China adding $5.2 million on 1009 screens for a total of $41.6 million, while it remained in first place in Australia with $4.95 million on 456 screens over the weekend and $21.51 million after two, and in Italy with $1.39 million on 565 screens over the weekend for a total of $8.06 million, also after two.
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July 5th, 2009
The Hangover climbed into second place with $11.14 million on 2091 screens in 28 markets for a total of $47.81 million. This was actually 2% lower than last week's performance. Its only major market opening came from France where it placed second with $3.31 million on 251 screens, but that was for the full week. (This is still impressive.) In the U.K. it was down just 15% to $3.15 million on 425 screens over the weekend and $18.50 million after three. It is a couple of weeks away from overtaking Terminator Salvation in that market. Over in Australia it managed to dip just 30% to $1.80 million on 227 screens over the weekend for a total of $9.07 million. It will also top Terminator Salvation in this market, and could beat out Angels and Demons as well. Massive. On the other hand, I'm not sure the film will do as well in most non-English speaking markets, as comedy tends to be harder to translate into other cultures.
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June 28th, 2009
Terminator Salvation fell to second place with $18.94 million on 9263 screens in 71 markets over the weekend, for a total of $200.84 million internationally and $320.57 million worldwide. The film has been troubled by sharp drop-offs internationally, and that was certainly the case this past weekend, as it was down 65% in Japan. Japan. It was down 65% in Japan, which is a market known for its strong holds. It still added $3.72 million on 697 screens over the weekend for a total of $19.70 million after two, but that's a sharper decline than anticipated.
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June 17th, 2009
Terminator Salvation remained in first place on the international chart with $44.88 million on 10,908 screens in 72 markets and now has $164.65 million internationally and $278.58 million worldwide. While it was an expensive movie to make, this is enough to ensure it will show a profit. It is just a matter of when. It could get there as early as its initial push into the home market, or it could have to wait until it starts playing on network TV, but it will get there.
After it stumbled domestically, that was in doubt.
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June 11th, 2009
Terminator Salvation became the second potential monster hit of the summer that failed to make much of an impact domestically, but appears to be making up for that weakness at the international box office. This weekend it expanded into roughly 60 more markets, which allowed it to score first place overall with $67.49 million on 8,830 screens in 71 markets for a total of $98.62 million internationally and $204.19 million worldwide.
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June 7th, 2009
Terminator Salvation opened worldwide this weekend, but we won't have those numbers till Wednesday. In the meantime, it earned third place with $13.37 million on 1283 screens in 12 markets for a total of $25.52 million. Most of this has come from South Korea, where it slipped to second place with $4.21 million on 713 screens over the weekend for a total of $15.52 million after two. So far the film has been a disappointment domestically, but it can salvage its run with a massive box office next weekend on the international stage. If it does so, profitability will be assured, but that's a big 'if'.
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June 1st, 2009
It was a close call, but 2009 wasn't able to keep pace with 2008, despite Up's better than expected opening.
Overall, the box office generated $166 million, which was 6.0% lower than last weekend and 1.4% lower than the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2009 still has an impressive 13.6% lead over 2008 at $4.11 billion to $3.61 billion, and even with weakness over the next few weeks, 2009 should maintain its lead for a while to come.
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May 31st, 2009
Star Trek slipped to third place on the international chart with $11.34 million on 5069 screens in 56 markets for a total of $87.68 million. It has now made more internationally than the previous film made worldwide. The film's best market was the U.K. where it has made $24.37 million, including $2.60 million on 474 screens this past weekend. As for future releases, it opens in Japan this weekend, while it has yet to open in Mexico, India, and other markets.
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May 28th, 2009
There are some people worrying that 2009's winning streak could be coming to an end. Not only was last weekend barely above 2008's pace, but this weekend could see an actual decline due to a number of factors. This includes a surprisingly strong film opening in first place last year, as well as weakness in one of the new releases from last week. Up should carry its weight, but it might not be enough.
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May 27th, 2009
The top two films on the overall chart were also the top two films on the per theater chart with Night at the Museum 2 earning an average of $13,226 while Terminator Salvation pulled in $12,056. Easy Virtue got off to a faster-than-expected start with an average $11,044, and this suggests some ability to expand.
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May 26th, 2009
Two new releases opened over Memorial Day long weekend, and while neither was able to compete with last year's champion, their combined total helped the box office grow. Over the three-day period, there were $176 million in ticket sales, which was 28% more than last weekend and 2.4% more than the same weekend last year. Over four days, the box office brought in $222 million, which was 1.2% more than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2009 has earned $3.90 billion, which is 14.4% higher than last year's pace of $3.41 billion.
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May 24th, 2009
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian pulled off a close but decisive win over Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins over the weekend, according to 3-day studio estimates released on Sunday morning.
Terminator took good momentum into the weekend, earning over $13 million in evening shows on Thursday, and finishing neck-and-neck with Smithsonian on Friday.
But, with family audiences dominating on Saturday, and expected to do so again today and Monday, the weekend winner was already fairly clear.
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May 24th, 2009
For the first time in a long time, we have two wide releases battling for top spot on the weekend box office. I thought this would encourage competition on the websites, but Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian's Official Site was clearly the best of the week.
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May 22nd, 2009
For the first time this summer, we have two new releases battling for number one on the box office chart.
This is causing quite a bit of debate over which film will take top spot; in fact, many think the two films will trade off first place over the weekend.
Will this competition drive ticket sales enough for the market to keep pace with last year?
Well, there's almost no chance any film this year will top Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the new films should do so collectively.
And with better holdovers than this time last year, the overall box office could still show growth over the weekend.
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May 1st, 2009
Last May was strong with two films that cracked $300 million at the box office. This May we might not have any movies reach that milestone. Then again, there are six films that have a shot to reach $200 million. I'm not saying all of them will get there, but I would be surprised if at least two of them don't get there, while all six should reach at least $100 million, which is two more than the same month last year. There are also a few midlevel hits in the waiting, as a few limited releases of note. This latter category includes The Brothers Bloom, Departures, and Pontypool.
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July 5th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Appaloosa, Bad Lieutenant, Night at the Museum 2, and more!
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June 19th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for 2012, Public Enemies, Transformers 2, and more!
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May 9th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for The Avengers, Iron Man 2, Push, and more!
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March 20th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for The Grand, The Proposal, The Legend of Secret Pass, and more!
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March 2nd, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, Where the Wild Things Are, How to Train Your Dragon and more!
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February 24th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Hoodwinked 2, Shanghai, and more!
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November 22nd, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Angels & Demons, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Pinkville and more!
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November 15th, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Cirque du Freak, Max Payne, Star Trek XI, and more!
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