April 3rd, 2012
It wasn't a busy week on the home market with only a few first run releases of note. Both War Horse on Four-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack and We Bought a Zoo on Blu-ray Combo Pack are worth picking, but not Pick of the Week material. For that we have to look to Chinatown on Blu-ray. It is shovelware, but it is such a great movie that I'm willing to overlook this.
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March 28th, 2012
The Adventures of Tintin led all new releases and took top spot on the Blu-ray sales chart. It sold 504,000 units and generated $11.09 million in opening week sales. This represents an opening Blu-ray share of very nearly 50%, which is an excellent start for a kids film.
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March 27th, 2012
Like last week, new releases dominated the DVD sales chart this week with three new releases topping the chart. The best of the best was Happy Feet Two with 896,000 units / $13.43 million during its first week on the home market. The film struggled at the box office, so this start on the home market is better than expected.
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March 13th, 2012
There are two themes this week. The first is Awards Season. There are no fewer than half a dozen Award Season players on this week's list, although one was a late review. Speaking of late reviews, that's the other theme on this week's list, as there are no fewer than eight releases on this week's list where I'm waiting for the screener to arrive. (This includes Wizards which arrived on Monday; however, screeners need to arrive by Friday if I'm to get the review done on time.) Unfortunately, there's a lot of crossover among these two groups and a few Pick of the Week candidates are late. For instance, My Week with Marilyn and Melancholia fit into both groups. Other screeners I'm waiting for that could be Pick of the Week are Wallace & Gromit: World of Invention and the aforementioned Wizards: 35th Anniversary Blu-ray, while The Guild: Season Five was up for that honor as well. However, in the end I went with The Descendants on Blu-ray Combo Pack.
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February 26th, 2012
While the Independent Spirit Award unofficially kick off Awards Season with their nominations, they are one of the last to hand out their actual awards, which they did on Saturday. As it has most of the time, The Artist led the way by earning four wins out of the five categories it was nominated it. So which one did it lose? And what were the other winners?
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February 16th, 2012
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. This week we will look at the four acting categories, finishing with Best Actress. This category is a little tricky, as there are two actresses that can both be seen as the favorite for different reasons. I'm not sure who will win.
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February 15th, 2012
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. This week we will look at the four acting categories, and up next is Best Supporting Actor. This category is only slightly more competitive than Best Supporting Actress with almost all the evidence pointing to one winner.
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January 24th, 2012
Yesterday was one of the biggest days during Awards Season as The Oscar nominations were announced in the morning. It was a two horse race for top spot as far as the big winners are concerned. Hugo earned the most nominations with eleven, while The Artist was right behind with ten. However, one could argue The Artist is the bigger winner, as more of its nominations were in the more prestigious categories.
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January 16th, 2012
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out the Golden Globes last night, and after an Awards Season most notable for the lack of surprises, there were not a lot of surprises either. In fact, the biggest storyline of the night was how many different movies earned wins. The Artist led the way with just three, while The Descendents was the only other film to win more than once.
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January 10th, 2012
The $10,000 club was again crowded this week and, as expected for this time of year, it was filled almost entirely by holdovers. Iron Lady remained the top film with an average of $35,275 in five theaters and it should start hitting major milestones very soon. Pina's average grew, again, reaching $27,676 in three theaters. Hopefully it will start expanding quickly, before its momentum fades. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close earned an average of $16,521 in six theaters. Its mixed reviews haven't taken too much of a toll, yet. A Separation doubled its theater count, but its per theater average remained relatively steady at $15,440. The overall box office leader, The Devil Inside, was next at $14,763. Finally, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia opened with $10,652 in one theater.
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December 16th, 2011
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations and the Awards Season picture started to look a whole lot clearer. The Artist led the way with six nominations, while The Descendents and The Help were right behind with five apiece.
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December 15th, 2011
The SAG nominations were handed out this week, and while The Help led the way with four nods, it wasn't the only film that earned multiple nominations.
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December 14th, 2011
Three new releases were able to reached the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart, while there were three holdovers that were able to join them. Leading the way was Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with an outstanding average of $77,641 in four theaters. Young Adult opened with nearly the same total, but was playing in eight theaters giving it an average of $38,783. We Need to Talk About Kevin earned $24,587 in one theater during its Oscar qualifying run. A Dangerous Method spent its third weekend in the $10,000 club with an average of $19,234 in four theaters. However, it has seen in per theater average cut by more than half since its opening, and it has yet to expand. The Artist has also seen its per theater average fall, but it expanded its theater count to sixteen this past weekend and still earned an average of $18,460. It is already an art house success and will soon start earning some measure of mainstream success. Shame more than doubled its theater count, but hung onto a spot in the $10,000 club with an average of $13,496 in 21 theaters.
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December 6th, 2011
We are right in the prime of Awards Season and over the weekend there were three films earning very impressive per theater averages and two of those films were recently given Independent Spirit Award Nominations. Leading the way for the second weekend in a row was The Artist with an average of $35,211 in six theaters. It is still barely in theaters, but it is already halfway to $1 million. Being a silent film will likely keep the film from expanding truly wide, but it should grab some measure of mainstream success. Shame debuted in second place with an average of $34,952 in ten theaters. It is rare for an NC-17 film to do this well. Rounding out the $10,000 club was A Dangerous Method placed third with an average of $29,894, while still playing in four theaters.
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November 30th, 2011
As it does every year, Independent Spirit Award nominations kick off the unofficial start of Awards Season. This year there were two films that topped the list of nominations: The Artist and Take Shelter. Both of those films earned five nominations, but they weren't the only films to be singled out.
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November 30th, 2011
The top film on the per theater chart was a silent film, The Artist, which was amazing, earning more than $200,000 in just four theaters for an average of $51,220. A Dangerous Method was also very strong on the per theater chart earning an average of $41,988, also in four theaters. Last week's winner, The Descendants, expanded into nearly 400 theaters, but still managed an average of $18,835. Finally, the overall box office leader, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, managed an average of $10,252.
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November 27th, 2011
In spite of a hefty 70% weekend-to-weekend decline, Breaking Dawn, Part 1 will run out an easy winner at the box office over Thanksgiving, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. Its $42 million Friday-Sunday performance is exactly in line with the $42 million earned by New Moon during its Thanksgiving weekend, but it is currently running about $9 million behind the second film in the franchise, suggesting a total gross of around $285 million. A bevy of family-friendly new releases will be unable to come all that close to the vampire film, although all studios involved are projecting strong business for the films in question throughout the Holiday Season.
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November 24th, 2011
It's Thanksgiving long weekend, which means the openings of the limited releases are spread over three days. It also means there are a few Awards Season contenders making their theatrical debuts this week. Will any of the Oscar hopefuls snag a nomination? It's too soon to tell, but there's no shortage of contenders with five of the six films earning 80% positive reviews or better. The Artist is earning the best reviews, while A Dangerous Method will likely be the biggest box office hit of the group.
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