March 21st, 2011
Plenty of new releases reached the top 30 on this week's top 30 DVD sales chart; however, there were not many really worth lauding. Jackass 3D won the way, but with just 569,000 units / $9.80 million, it was not a huge seller.
Megamind was pushed to second place with 368,000 units / $5.20 million for the week and 2.07 million units / $28.95 million after three. It is rapidly becoming the biggest hit of 2011, at least so far. The Walking Dead: Season One placed third in terms of units with 324,000 sold. However, due to its TV on DVD pricing, it placed second in terms of dollars with $5.83 million. The Next Three Days opened in fourth place with 283,000 units / $3.40 million, which is in line with its disappointing theatrical run. Due Date remaining in fifth place, adding 244,000 units / $3.59 million its its total sales, which have reached 1.51 million units / $21.60 million after three weeks of release.
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March 7th, 2011
Another incredibly slow week with very few releases that could be considered top tier. None of the first-run releases are really worth picking up for most people, but there are a couple smaller releases that are contenders for Pick of the Week. This includes Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XX, but in the end I gave that honor to Inside Job on either DVD or Blu-ray.
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March 5th, 2011
I think this is the third or fourth release from this franchise I've reviewed. At this point they're blending together. The show is essentially a series of skits with Johnny Knoxville and his merry band of morons hurting themselves, either individually, collectively, reciprocally, etc. I've been dubious of the hit to miss ratio in the past, but will the addition of 3D bring out the creativity of the group?
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December 8th, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I maintained its lead on top of the international box office chart; however, it saw its weekend haul sliced in half to $57.12 million on 14,188 screens in 62 markets for a total of $473.52 million internationally and $718.04 million worldwide. It became just the 43rd film to reach $700 million worldwide, while it will shortly overtake Up for 40th place overall.
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November 17th, 2010
Unstoppable opened in first place on the international box office over the weekend. (It has likely already fallen to Harry Potter on the daily chart, which opened on Wednesday.) Its opening weekend haul was $18.72 million on 4137 screens in 39 markets giving it a total opening of $19.31 million. It earned first place in Spain with $1.56 million on 336 screens, but was not as potent in South Korea or Germany earning third place with $1.33 million on 323 screens and $1.20 million on 504 respectively. It only managed fourth place in France, with $2.63 million on 430 screens, while it barely squeezed into the top five in Italy with $755,000 on 251.
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November 10th, 2010
Unlike its domestic debut, Due Date was able to open in first place internationally with $21.69 million on 3572 screens in 32 markets. It was tops in Germany with $3.90 million on 519 screens, while it also led the way in the U.K. with $3.78 million on 449 screens. On the other hand, it had to settle for second place in Russia, but with $3.88 million on 543 screens, it was still a huge success there. In comparison, the cumulative opening weekend was nearly identical to The Hangover, which bodes well for the film's chances internationally, even if it likely won't have the same long legs.
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November 3rd, 2010
Thanks in part to holidays in France, Despicable Me was able to return to top spot with $21.65 million on 4511 screens in 44 markets for a total of $234.58 million internationally and $482.46 million worldwide. By this time next week, it will have more internationally than domestically and a total of more than half-a-billion worldwide. Its top market was France, where school holidays helped it more than double its take at $6.17 million on 657 screens, but that's for the 5-day weekend. Overall it has made $19.80 million in that market. It opened in second place in Japan with $2.93 million on 225 screens over the weekend and $3.12 million in total. It was flat in the U.K. adding another $4.15 million on 532 screens for a three week total of $24.21 million.
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November 2nd, 2010
As expected, Halloween hurt the overall box office, which plummeted 27% from last weekend to just $95 million from Friday to Sunday. However, the top film on the chart did do better than expected on Sunday, while the overall box office was 5% higher than the same weekend last year when Halloween fell on a Saturday. Year-to-date, 2010 still has a 3% lead over 2009 with a running tally of $8.78 billion, while there's very little time left to blow that lead. On the other hand, ticket sales are down 2%, so there's little hope to catch up in that regard.
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October 28th, 2010
Halloween falls on Sunday this year, and is generally a bad day at the box office, which will likely result in a massive drop-off for most films this weekend. However, there is one horror film opening wide, plus another that opened last weekend that could benefit. The overall effect will still likely be negative, but this time last year, Halloween fell on a Saturday, which is a lot worse for business. So 2010 could still come out on top in the year-over-year comparison, even if it is a close race.
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October 25th, 2010
I'm not willing to say the slump is over after just one weekend, but we did finally see some real positive signs over the weekend. Not only did the number one film top expectations, but no film in the top five really flopped. In fact, only one film in the top ten fell more than 33.6%. Overall the box office was down 2% from last week earning $129 million; however, it was up by 12% over the same weekend last year, which is far more important. A double-digit increase in the year-over-year comparison was pretty commonplace earlier in the year, so hopefully this is a portent of things to come, and not just a momentary blip. Year-to-date 2010 has now earned $8.65 billion giving it a 3.4% lead over 2009's running tally of $8.37 billion.
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October 24th, 2010
Paramount enjoyed a second consecutive weekend at the top of the chart and another impressive opening, according to their estimates released on Sunday morning.
Paranormal Activity 2 showed that last year's hit wasn't a one-off by posting a $41.5 million opening, comfortably more than the first movie managed on any single weekend and the 5th-best weekend ever in October (see complete chart).
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October 21st, 2010
For much of the year, 2010 has been a banner year at the box office. We've already broken records for the most $300 million movies in the calendar year, 2010 is the first year where two films released during the same year, have reached $1 billion worldwide. We are currently nearly $300 million ahead of last year's pace. However, recently things have not been quite as rosy and we've seen declines on a year-over-year basis five of the past six weeks. Will that change this weekend? There are some positive signs. For instance, this time last year there were three or four wide releases. (It depends on your definition of "Wide".) All four failed to reach initial expectations, dramatically in some cases. This leaves a real opportunity for 2010 to expand its lead. There is only one movie opening wide, plus another expanding wide, but perhaps the lack of competition will be good for the two films.
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October 20th, 2010
The winners of our Seeing Red contest were determined and they are...
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October 19th, 2010
Clint Eastwood's latest film, Hereafter, topped the per theater chart over the weekend with an impressive average of $36,720 in six theaters. It expands wide on Friday, so this fast start was important. The overall box office leader, Jackass 3D, was well back in second place with an average of $16,343, but that's amazing for this type of movie and this time of year. Vision managed $11,406 in its lone theater, while Carlos opened with an average of $10,003 in two theaters, which is literally one ticket away from missing the $10,000 mark.
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October 18th, 2010
After more than a few films missed expectations over the past few weeks, it is nice to see a film crush expectations so soundly. Jackass 3D slapped around the naysayers so thoroughly that it nearly helped turn around 2010's losing streak. It did help the overall box office grow 42% from last weekend to $132 million, but that was still roughly 5% lower than the same weekend last year. (This was due to better depth at the box office last year.) 2010 is still ahead of 2009 at $8.48 billion to $8.22 billion, but I'm a little concerned that lead won't last till the end of the year.
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October 17th, 2010
Jackass 3D is set to record the biggest October weekend ever, according to Paramount's Sunday estimate.
With $50 million over the weekend, the movie will also set a new mark for a factually-based movie, beating the record held by its predecessor in the series, Jackass: Number Two.
Although the debate on 3D's long-term future continues, this is a movie that seems to be perfectly suited to the medium.
Expect to see talk of Jackass 4D very soon.
We don't even dare to speculate what the 4th D will entail.
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October 14th, 2010
The past few weeks haven't exactly been kind to the box office, with more films struggling than soaring. The industry as a whole is obviously hoping things turn around this weekend and 2010 ends its losing streak against 2009. We've lost ground four of the past five weekends. Worse still, three of those times 2010 failed to get within 10% of 2009's weekend number. Turning things around might be more than a little difficult, as this time last year there were five films that earned $10 million or more, while this year we might not have three films do the same.
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October 8th, 2010
While Red is going to be opening in more theaters, and with better reviews, it is likely the Fanboys will rush out to see Jackass 3D giving it an edge at the box office. At least for the opening weekend. Regardless, the latter is the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Jackass 3D.
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 Dollhouse: Season Two on DVD.
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 Dollhouse: Season Two on DVD.
Finally, a third person will be chosen from all eligible entries and that person will win the final copy of Dollhouse: Season Two on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday, Oct. 15 to be eligible, so don't delay!
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October 1st, 2010
September is nearly over and the Fall box office season is about to begin in earnest.
September wasn't too bad this year, with more films matching or exceeding expectations than missing them, and we managed to keep pace with last year, more or less.
Can October do the same? Well, last year there was only one $100 million hit, Couples Retreat (not counting Paranormal Activity, which opened in September). We might not see any film hit $100 million this time around.
In fact, we might not even see any that come all that close.
On the other hand, there were also five wide releases that clearly bombed last year, and on that end, 2010 looks a lot better.
Not every film that opens over the next five weekends will be a mid-level hit or better, but most should get there.
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