January 27th, 2008
National Treasure: The Book of Secrets fell from second to sixth, but it was relatively close with $8.37 million on 3883 screens in 36 markets for a total of $143.30 million. Even if the film had no more markets left to open in, it would reach $150 million and beyond. However, it has yet to open in Germany, the U.K., and France and should top its domestic total before it is done.
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December 10th, 2007
There were no new releases to reach the top five on the sales chart this week and this left Live Free or Die Hard in first place with 716,000 units sold this week.
That raises its total sales to 2.78 million units and $47.60 million.
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December 10th, 2007
Only one new releases managed to reach the top five leaving Live Free or Die Hard with a clear number one finish adding $10.26 million to its total of $22.68 million after two weeks of release.
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November 26th, 2007
Last Friday was Black Friday, one of the most important shopping days of the year.
And Monday was Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year.
So it goes without saying that releasing a DVD the day after the most important weekend of shopping ends is not a good idea.
There are still several DVDs worth checking out, and a few contenders for the DVD Pick of the Week.
However, there are a lot more sub-par releases and several that are contenders for worse movie of the year (half of which I had the task of reviewing).
But let's concentrate on the positive end.
The three best bets are Futurama - Bender's Big Score - Buy from Amazon, Namesake - Buy from Amazon, Waitress - Buy from Amazon.
If I was forced to choose just one DVD, it would be Bender's Big Score, but all three earn the title of DVD Pick of the Week.
Also of note, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - The Complete Series is also being released this week.
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September 4th, 2007
The summer ended on a strong note, including a record-breaking opening by Halloween. Overall the box office earning $118 million over the 3-day weekend, which was up 8% from last weekend and 16% from the same weekend last year. Over 4 days, the box office total was $149 million, up 15% from last year. With records broken for total box office, number of $300 million movies, number of $200 million movies, and more, this is a summer most movie executives will deeply miss.
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August 30th, 2007
The Labor Day long weekend is the final weekend of the summer, but it is not the strongest. In fact, it is widely considered the weakest long weekend of the year and the three films opening this weekend are unlikely to change that perception.
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August 27th, 2007
Holdovers went one-two-three on the box office chart this week, which is not a completely uncommon event.
However, with six wide or wide-ish releases, you would think at least one could finish in the top three.
The collapse of the new releases helped keep the overall box office down to $108 million, which was 17% lower than last weekend.
However, that is still 4% higher than the same weekend last year and keeps summer 2007 on a record-setting pace.
In fact, it has hit $4 billion for the first time ever, so there's plenty of reasons to celebrate.
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August 26th, 2007
Three holdovers took the top three spots on the box office chart this weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
Top of the pack was Superbad, which dropped a very respectable 45% in its second weekend in release, to earn approximately $18 million.
Second was The Bourne Ultimatum, which fell only 38% in its fourth weekend to earn $12.4 million.
That was a rounding error ahead of Rush Hour 3, which took an estimated $12.25 million.
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August 25th, 2007
After a few busy weeks in a row, there was a total collapse in the number of sites on this week's list. Not only are there only a couple dozen sites this week, nearly half of them are films that are coming out this week and most of those had no updates to report. This leaves us with no sites that are award-worthy, and precious few that have to potential to make it there in the coming weeks.
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August 24th, 2007
As the summer ends, there is a rush to dump failed projects on the market.
This weekend there are five films opening up in various degrees of wide release from a few hundred to a couple of thousand.
However, while there's a lot of competition, Superbad has the inside track to repeat on top.
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August 17th, 2007
The box office prediction contests are going to get a lot harder as the lack of an obvious number one film complicates matters. It is unlikely that Mr. Bean's Holiday will be that number one film, but it is the target film this week. To win one must simply predict the box office opening for Mr. Bean's Holiday.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win Redline on DVD and a copy of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: The Complete Series on DVD.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win Redline on DVD and a copy of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: The Complete Series on DVD.
In addition, one more winner will be chosen arbitrarily from all of the valid entries and they will win the third copy of Redline on DVD.
Finally, we have one last prize that will be awarded to the person who comes closest to predicting Mr. Bean's Holiday's 3-day opening, regardless of whether they are above or below the actually box office. In addition to winning the prizes mentioned above, they will receive a copy of TV guide from April 6-12, 1996. Yes, you could win a decade old copy of TV Guide. What makes is so special is it features Rowan Atkinson on the cover.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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August 1st, 2007
August marks the unofficial end of the lucrative summer box office season. The only question is when will it end. Studios usually hope for two summer-like weekends, and sometimes they can squeeze in three.
Other times they can only get one, or none.
Sadly, this year the August offerings are not particularly strong with only two that have a real shot at $100 million or more, and three or four others that should earn good reviews (and one of those has since been pulled from the schedule).
Most of the rest are films that probably seemed like a good idea at the time but didn't work out and those that were a mistake from day one.
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June 17th, 2007
300 returned to the international chart this week thanks entirely to its opening in Japan.
In that market, the film opened in second place with $2.71 million on 452 screens over the weekend and $3.39 million including last week's premiere in Tokyo.
This was enough for it to capture sixth place internationally with $2.75 million on 576 screens in 8 markets, while lifting its total to $236.89 million.
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June 17th, 2007
There weren't as many websites on this week's list as in the past few weeks, but there were at least three that earned some consideration for the Weekly Website Award. In the end, that honor went to I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry - Official Site.
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June 10th, 2007
With no worldwide opening this weekend, several studios tried to open / expand smaller films hoping to take advantage of the lull. Despite this influx of competition, Fracture was able to hold strong dipping just one place with sixth with $2.25 million on 1018 screens in 16 markets for a total of $22.33 million internationally. The film wasn't able to top $1 million in any single market, but came closest in France with $671,000 over the weekend for a $7.20 million running total.
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June 3rd, 2007
Spider-Man 3 earned a comfortable second place earning almost as much as the rest of the films on this list with $21.07 million on 10,365 screens in 76 markets for a total of $501.00 million. It is only the 14th film to reach that milestone while it became the 16th film to top $800 million worldwide and has already climbed into 14th place overall. The U.K. regained the lead as the best market for the film adding $2.58 million on 460 screens for a total of $61.09 million. Japan took in $2.36 million on 630 screens while France made $2.31 million on 866 screens as the only other two markets to top $2 million over the weekend and the film now has $47.79 million and $48.55 million respectively. There were a quartet of led by Brazil, ($1.29 million for the weekend and $21.55 million in total); Spain, ($1.29 million / $22.49 million); Mexico, ($1.22 million / $32.90 million); and Germany, ($1.01 million / $27.16 million).
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May 27th, 2007
Mr. Bean's Holiday fell one spot out of the top five this weekend despite showing some significant growth. The film did have a few openings, including a third place $165,000 debut on 56 screens in Turkey, but its biggest market was Germany where it grew 44% to $651,000 on 577 screens for the weekend and $22.52 million in total. Overall the film added $3.47 million on 2634 screens in 43 markets for a total of $176.19 million internationally with debuts in South Korea, Japan, and China, yet to come, (and of course it doesn't open here till August).
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May 16th, 2007
Spider-Man 3's performance at the international box office at the weekend was even more dominant than its domestic performance.
Over the weekend, the film added $84.27 million on 13,799 screens in 73 markets for a total of $385.43 million, which puts it on pace to become the biggest hit of the franchise by this weekend.
Worldwide, the film hit $625.66 million at the end of the weekend, and should also top the previous releases before long.
On the all-time charts, the film is now in 24th place and should catch the 23rd place film (Spider-Man 2), and the 22nd place film ( Spider-Man), before long while it could grab a temporary spot in the top ten.
Worldwide, it currently ranks 28th with eyes on Attack of the Clones.
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May 13th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for 1408, Illegal Tender, Mr. Woodcock and more.
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May 13th, 2007
With Spider-Man 3 dominating the global market last weekend, there was very little else happening on the international charts that was newsworthy. With little in the way of new releases, or even expansion for holdovers, it was impossible just to fill out a top 30 chart. And with several films expected to attempt a worldwide opening over the next couple months, it will likely be that way till mid-August.
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May 2nd, 2007
There was a very close one-two punch at the international box office this past weekend with Wild Hogs just beating out Mr. Bean's Holiday $7.62 million to $7.42 million.
Hogs had only one mid-level opening this weekend, but pulling in $74,000 on 47 screens in Turkey is barely worth noting.
On the other hand, the film added $1.68 million on 583 screens in Germany to its two-week total of $5.28 million while adding $1.31 million on 412 screens in the U.K. for a three-week total of $8.54 million.
Overall it earned $7.62 million on 385 screens in 40 markets for a running tally of $55.43 million.
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April 25th, 2007
With Spider-man 3 just around the corner, theater owners worldwide are clearing room for what is expected to be a record-breaking run.
This has led to a recent downturn in the box office both domestically and internationally.
Even so, there are a few reasons to celebrate, including the continued strong performance by Mr. Bean's Holiday, which remained in top spot for the fourth weekend in a row, pulling in $13.51 million on 5,928 screens in 44 markets for a total of $145.30 million.
That was enough, in the end, to beat Wild Hogs into second place.
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April 18th, 2007
There were plenty of reasons to celebrate for Mr. Bean's Holiday at the weekend.
Not only was it able to remain in top spot for the third weekend in a row, but it was also able to crack $100 million at the international box office and is currently sitting at $125.95 million.
On the other hand, the film did suffer a 45% drop-off to $17.06 million on 4,211 screens in 45 markets, but that was largely due to the lack of major openings.
Its best market of the weekend remained the U.K. despite the fact that it was pushed into second place with $3.03 million on 507 screens for a total of $36.29 million.
Meanwhile, it also performed well in Germany ($2.11 million on 844 screens), Australia ($1.91 million on 342 screens), and Italy ($1.41 million on 429).
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April 11th, 2007
Mr. Bean's Holiday was able to repeat on top of the international charts this week thanks to a mix of impressive openings and strong holdovers. For instance, the film opened in first place in Italy with a strong $2.34 million on 421 screens while it had to settle for fourth place in Mexico with $897,000 on 271 screens over the weekend and $1.12 million in total. The film's best market was U.K. where it added $4.81 million on 511 screens to its total of $28.06 million. It also held up well in Germany down 21% to $4.45 million on 840 screens to $13.30 million after two weeks while in Australia it was down 28% to $2.24 million for the weekend and $6.60 million in total.
Additionally, it had to go against the opening of 300 in both, making the strong hold even more impressive.
Overall, the film added $30.78 million on 4,069 screens in 42 markets for a total of $86.91 million and analysts expect it to hit $100 million by tonight.
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April 8th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Mr. Bean's Holiday, The Other Boleyn Girl, 21 and more.
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April 4th, 2007
Mr. Bean's Holiday won the weekend race on the international charts.
Maybe.
It all depends on how you count previews.
Without last week's previews in the U.K. the film finished a very close second with $29.28 million, just behind 300's $30.26 million.
Including previews, Bean topped the charts with $34.27 million on 3,085 screens in 26 markets for a total of $36.59 million.
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April 1st, 2007
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started its international run this past weekend and just missed the top five on debut.
It did manage $3.92 million on 1,004 screens in 8 markets over the weekend and $4.53 million including previews.
Of this box office, nearly half of it came from a pair of third place openings in England ($1.27 million on 368 screens over the weekend and $1.86 million in total), and Australia ($379,000 on 58 screens).
The film also opened in Russia where the strong mutant demographic helped the film capture second place with $1.38 million on 360 screens.
(That was a Chernobyl joke, by the way.)
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March 24th, 2007
Good week for trailers with several on the list, including a trio of major summer blockbusters. However, while those site will obviously generate the most traffic, they are not award-worthy sites, (at least not yet). The best site this week is Pathfinder - Official Site.
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March 17th, 2007
We are starting to get some serious updates on the websites for the summer blockbusters, however, it will be a few more weeks before this list is dominated by such films. In the meantime, it is a website for a new release, Dead Silence - Official Site, that is the winner of the Weekly Website Award.
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February 23rd, 2007
Big week in terms of flash sites launching, but a tough one when it comes to picking a winner. There were several sites that were contenders, and a few that will likely be winners after a few more updates, but none that stood out as the best for the week. It's almost like there were so many that were so close to winning the award that none were able to stand out and get me excited. However, there was one site that was updated this week that did, The Simpsons Movie - Official Site. This site did get a new look, but the real draw here is the first full trailer, to go along with the three previous teasers. Is that enough to make it award worthy? No. But while my rational side was distracted by a game of Sudoku the Fanboy in me made that decisions, and all Fanboy freak-outs are legally binding. Hopefully the final site will live up to the award. I have a feeling it will.
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January 26th, 2007
This year's crop of summer blockbusters still haven't started opening movies site in earnest yet, and until they do, this column will be lacking. It's yet another week without a truly award-winning site but
Catch & Release -
Official Site is the best of the rest.
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November 5th, 2006
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for National Treasure 2, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, some DreamWorks digital animation movies and more.
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