August 7th, 2012
There was only one new release to chart on this week's DVD sales chart this week, and it didn't even reach the top ten. This left The Three Stooges in first place with 182,000 units / $3.62 million for the week, lifting its totals to 601,000 units / $12.02 million.
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July 31st, 2012
New releases dominated the DVD sales chart taking three of the top five spots and six of the top eleven. This includes a new number one film, The Three Stooges, which sold 378,000 units while generating $7.55 million in opening week revenue. This is a good start compared to its theatrical run, but not a great start. Additionally, it didn't have a strong theatrical run, so this is more damning it with faint praise.
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July 23rd, 2012
New releases were not exactly plentiful this week on the DVD sales chart, but we did have a new film on top of the chart. American Reunion sold 411,000 units and generated $6.57 million in opening week sales. That's below expectations, but it also struggled theatrically, so it's not a surprise.
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July 18th, 2012
Like on the DVD sales chart, there were no new releases to reach the top ten on the Blu-ray sales chart. In fact, the best selling Blu-ray was Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which leapt up from fourth to earned first place with 156,000 units / $2.55 million for the week giving it totals of 2.22 million units / $51.32 million after four.
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July 18th, 2012
New releases were nearly absent from the DVD sales chart this week with none in the top ten. This left the top five pretty much the same as last week. 21 Jump Street remained in top spot with 280,000 units / $5.03 million for the week giving it totals of 1.01 million units / $17.47 million.
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July 10th, 2012
Wrath of the Titans led a trio of new releases on top of the Blu-ray sales chart. It sold 800,000 units and generated $18.37 million in revenue, giving the film an opening week Blu-ray share of 55%. A visually-intensive action movie opening with a Blu-ray share above 50% is no longer a noteworthy event.
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July 9th, 2012
New releases dominated the DVD sales chart with four of them placing in the top five. Things were led by 21 Jump Street, which sold 869,000 units while generating $14.77 million in opening week sales. This is a fine start, but given its theatrical run, it isn't a great start. On the other hand, it didn't need a great start to break even.
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July 4th, 2012
There were four new releases to reach the top ten on the Blu-ray sales chart this week, but none of them were able to unseat Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. That film remained in first place with 444,000 units / $11.08 million for the week lifting its totals to 1.90 million units / $44.59 million after two.
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July 2nd, 2012
Step-Up came out in 2006. The film cost just $12 million to make and expectations were rather low; however, it turned out to be a serious hit at the box office earning enough during its opening weekend to cover the production budget. It was profitable enough to be turned into a franchise, with the latest installment opening later this month. Now that it is coming out on Blu-ray, is it worth upgrading for fans? And if you missed it the first time around, is it worth picking up?
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June 25th, 2012
It's a good week on the home market, especially for this time of year. Not only do we have a first-run release that hit $100 million at the box office, 21 Jump Street, but we have an art house film that found massive success with moviegoers, critics, and even Awards Season voters, The Artist. There are also a couple of wide releases that should have some impact on the overall sales, Mirror Mirror and Wrath of the Titans, as well as some TV on DVD releases, limited releases, catalogue titles, etc. that are also of interest. As for Pick of the Week, The Artist on Blu-ray is the most obvious choice, but The 39 Steps on Blu-ray and Sound of Noise on DVD were also in the running. Finally, Phineas and Ferb: - The Perry Files arrived late, but it too is worthy of that honor.
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April 9th, 2012
There's good news and bad news at the box office this weekend. The good news was The Hunger Games, which not only earned its third first place finish on the chart, but it also held on better than expected and crossed a major milestone. The bad news was practically everything else. Neither American Reunion or Titanic 3D matched expectations, while the overall box office suffered as a result falling 17% to $123 million. Fortunately, this was higher than last year by a margin of 6%. Year-to-date, 2012 is still ahead of 2011 with $2.81 billion to $2.34 billion. Unfortunately, we needed the new releases this weekend to be stronger if we have a chance of winning over the next couple weekends.
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April 5th, 2012
A trio of films are looking to grab top spot on the box office chart this weekend. Some think American Reunion will win. It is the latest installment in a very popular franchise, one that hasn't had a theatrical release in almost nine years. Some think Titanic 3D will lead the way. It is a 3D re-release of the second-biggest hit of all time. While still others think The Hunger Games will win for the third weekend in a row. It is by far the biggest hit of the year and topped the chart on Wednesday, despite the debut of Titanic. All three films are have a chance to make more than $30 million over the weekend. On the other hand, this weekend last year, no films made more than $30 million and only one, Hop, made more than $20 million. This means 2012 should win with ease.
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April 2nd, 2012
Despite falling a little bit further than expected, The Hunger Games easily won the race for top spot in the box office this weekend. Wrath of the Titans and Mirror Mirror couldn't compensate for the number one film's decline and the overall box office fell 31% to $149 million. However, and more importantly, the box office was up 19% when compared to last year. Year-to-date, 2012 has expanded its lead to 20% at $2.62 billion to $2.18 billion after three months.
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April 1st, 2012
Celebrations will continue at Lionsgate this weekend, as The Hunger Games continues its dominant run at the box office, dropping a creditable 60% in its second weekend in release to $61.1 million. That will be the 7th-best second weekend of all time, and take it past $250 million in 10 days. It also tops the combined box office of this weekend's second- and third-placed films: Wrath of the Titans and Mirror Mirror will both debut with respectable figures, $34.2 million and $19 million respectively, but neither film looks likely to end up making significant amounts of money.
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March 30th, 2012
There are two saturation level releases coming out this week, Wrath of the Titans and Mirror Mirror. Even so, there's a 99% likelihood that The Hunger Games will repeat on the top of the chart. Wrath of the Titans would have to nearly double its average prediction and / or The Hunger Games would have to collapse by a near record amount for there to be a new number one this weekend. Additionally, unless there's some catastrophic event that keeps people away from theaters nationwide, the overall box office should see massive growth from last year. In fact, even without The Hunger Games, there could be some growth from last year, as most analysts expect the two new releases from this year to be stronger than the three new releases from last year. The only downside is the lack of depth. John Carter should place sixth with $2 million over the weekend, but that wouldn't even be enough for a top ten finish last year.
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March 26th, 2012
The buzz surrounding The Hunger Games became nearly deafening by the time it opened. There were some concerns that the film couldn't possible live up to the hype. However, not only did it live up to the hype, it crushed expectations and set records. Overall the box office pulled in $214 million, which is the ninth best combined weekend total and the best non-Holiday season weekend (Summer blockbuster season and the Thanksgiving to New Years holiday run). This was 93% higher than last weekend and 76% higher than the same weekend last year. Needless to say, 2012 stretched its lead over 2011, and it now sits 19% ahead of last year's pace at $2.41 billion to $2.02 billion. This is behind 2010's running tally of $2.69 billion, but ahead of 2009, which had $2.38 billion at this point of the year, so while we are not quite on a record-breaking pace, it has been a very good year so far.
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March 22nd, 2012
At the beginning of the month, most people were expecting The Hunger Games to have one of the biggest openings of March and one of the all-time biggest openings for a non-sequel film. However, that's changed... for the better. Instead of analysts predicting $70 million to $80 million over its opening weekend, expectations have grown to the point where it could earn over $100 million over the next three days and still be considered a disappointment. In fact, there are many who are predicting The Hunger Games will make more by itself than the entire industry made last year. Needless to say, if that happened, 2012 will make up for last week's 3.6% year-over-year decline in a huge way.
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March 22nd, 2012
The winners of our Doesn't Take Magical Powers to Win contest were determined and they are...
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March 21st, 2012
John Carter's international run is heavenly, at least compared to its domestic run. It's weak compared to its production budget. This weekend it added $40.7 million in 54 markets for a total of $126.10 million. It opened huge in China with $10.4 million, while it held on reasonably well in Russia earning $6.60 million on 939 screens over the weekend for a total of $26.10 million after two. At this pace, getting to $200 million internationally and $300 million worldwide might be difficult. And that would be the minimum needed to save face.
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March 21st, 2012
The Kid with a Bike took top spot on the per theater chart with an average of $15,311 in three theaters, while Jiro Dreams of Sushi was in a virtual tie with an average of $15,202 in six. Gerhard Richter Painting was next with $13,537 in its lone theater. The overall box office leader, 21 Jump Street, was next with an average of $11,632, while last week's winner, Footnote, was right behind with $11,181.
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March 19th, 2012
2012's winning streak finally came to a close, but it was close. Overall the total box office was $111 million, which was 17% lower than last week and more importantly, down 3.6% compared to the same weekend last year. 21 Jump Street did hold up its end of the box office numbers, but since the only other new release in the top ten was Casa di me Padre, is wasn't enough. Year-to-date, 2012 is still ahead of 2011's pace by 16% at $2.16 billion to $1.87 billion. That lead will grow next weekend with the release of The Hunger Games, which could be record-breaking at the box office and is just as strong with critics.
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March 18th, 2012
The industry will enjoy another solid weekend at the box office thanks to a healthy debut by 21 Jump Street, which will ride very positive reviews to about $35 million, according to Sony's Sunday estimate. Unfortunately, that probably won't be quite enough to give 2012 another win over 2011 -- somewhat surprisingly, because Limitless topped the chart last year with only $18.9 million, but the five movies that topped $10 million compared to three this year gives last year the edge.
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March 15th, 2012
So far 2012 has brought hit after hit, but what has been lost in the box office success is the dearth of quality releases. Last weekend, there wasn't a single film in the top ten to earn overall positive reviews. (Although Doctor Seuss' The Lorax is very close to that level.) Fortunately that will change this weekend as 21 Jump Street is earning unbelievably positive reviews. It is the only wide release of the week, compared to three wide releases last year. On the other hand, the best of last year's crop, Limitless, opened with less than $20 million and all but the most pessimistic think 21 Jump Street will top that with ease and if the holdovers can hold on, we could see yet another win at the box office.
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March 9th, 2012
Next week there is only one wide release, 21 Jump Street, so it is obviously the target film in this week's Box Office Prediction Contest. Fortunately, its early reviews are amazing, so maybe it will be a bigger hit than expected. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for 21 Jump Street.
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 Wizards: 35th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a copy of Wizards: 35th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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March 1st, 2012
February continued 2012's winning streak, which has now reached eight weeks. Will that streak continue in March? I'm not sure it will. There are some very good signs. For instance, last March, only one film reached $100 million, Rango, while there were a couple others that cracked $75 million, Battle: Los Angeles and Limitless. Plus the final weekend of this month lines up with the first weekend of April last year, which also had a $100 million hit, Hop. This time around, things look a whole lot better at the top with a potential $200 million hit, The Hunger Games, and two more that should hit the century mark, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, and Wrath of the Titans. Plus a couple others, 21 Jump Street and John Carter of Mars, that could top $75 million. However, there are a few weeks that look soft when compared with last year. I suspect The Hunger Games will be such a huge hit that overall March 2012 will perform better than March 2011, but I also think there will be a couple weeks of year-over-year declines. On the plus side, very few films feel like filler; in fact, there are very few films, period. Over the next five weekends, only nine films are opening wide, which is odd for this time of year. In fact, it would be slow for the heart of summer, when most weeks have a blockbuster and one counter-programming film. Will this help the overall box office, as no films will be squeezed out? Or will the lack of choices hurt the box office? We will soon find out, but I remain cautiously optimistic.
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