August 9th, 2004
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases and a few from the growing TV on DVD section, including the winner of the DVD Pick of the Week,
The Lost Boys - Special Edition -
Buy from Amazon.
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April 26th, 2004
This was a weird weekend. We had a record-breaking event when two movies opened with $20 million and that's the first time that's ever happened in April. However, the total box office was still down more than 5% from last weekend. It was up 6% from the same time last year, sort of. It's getting really confusion doing the yearly comparisons because last year April had four weekends, while this year it has five.
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April 23rd, 2004
Just the two wide releases this week targeting two entirely different audiences. So we could have two break out hits this week. Then again, probably not. April started out ok, but it has really started to suffer and it doesn't look better next weekend. Summer can't start too soon.
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April 19th, 2004
With just two movies opening wide this should have been a good week, and while the wide releases did ok, the holdovers really suffered. In the end the weekend was down 10.6% from last weekend, and even more telling was its 3.5% drop from last year. Granted, it was Easter this time last year, but it's not that important of a holiday to make a large enough difference.
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April 16th, 2004
For the first time this month we don't have an overload of new movies opening up. However, the two wider releases we do have are in direct competition for the same audience, so the same ticket splitting will still happen. That will make it hard for both films to succeed. There's an addition film opening sort of wide, but at just 1000 theatres don't expect it to make much of an impact.
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April 12th, 2004
Only one of the five movies released managed to live up to expectations, and with that I think it's safe to say 2004's winning streak came to an end. The week-to-week drop-off was 9.4%, and while 2004 was up 17% from the same time last year, it's increase of last Easter was much less at just 7.6%. Year-to-date is up 9% but 2004 will have a tough time keeping up with 2003 in May.
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April 9th, 2004
In my
previous weekend prediction story I accidentally left one of the new releases.
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April 9th, 2004
With four movies already in 3000 or more theatres, it was slim pickings for the five movies opening. The top draw could only manage 7th spot on this week's
theatre count charts and one of the new openers couldn't even make the top ten. Even so, a new release should still take the top spot.
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April 8th, 2004
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. This week saw a deceptively poor crop of site as there were a lot of movie site launched / updated / released, more than 30 in fact. However, very few of them even came close to the being considered for this week's award. It's so bad I've spent the last 3 hours looking for a gem of movie site that I may have missed in previous weeks. In the end it was
Kill Bill: Volume 2 -
Official Site that won the award with only one or two other that were even briefly considered. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
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April 7th, 2004
Johnson Family Vacation is getting a jump on the other four movies opening Easter Weekend. However, given its small theatre count, lack of a promotional budget and
dismal reviews, that might not be a good idea.
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March 28th, 2004
With summer just around the corner ... Yes I know Spring started a week ago, but this is the movie industry, we do things differently. So with Summer just around the corner it's time for the Summer Movie Preview, Part 1 - April. In April we have nearly 20 films opening wide over 5 weekends, or almost 4 per weekend. That much variety should please moviegoers, but that much competition will kill the chances of half the movies released.
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March 25th, 2004
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates including the winner for the week,
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban -
Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
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December 18th, 2003
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here is a list of highlights, (including this week's winner
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King -
Official Site plus one last look at websites for films opening this week. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
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