August 5th, 2007
There was a close race on the DVD Sales Chart this week, with The Number 23 topping Zodiac 387,000 units to 352,000 units sold.
Premonition fell to third place with 190,000 units sold and 791,000 in total.
The Hills Have Eyes 2 placed third with 134,000 units sold for the week and 536,000 in total.
Rounding out the top five was Shooter with 109,000 units sold for the week and 1.90 million after a month of release.
More...
June 8th, 2007
It was a slow, slow week for new releases at not one was able to crack the top ten on the rental chart. This left Apocalypto with the easy win grabbing $4.86 million for the week and $10.88 after two.
More...
June 2nd, 2007
It was a mixed week for new releases as they were able to take three of the top four spots on the rental chart, including number one, but were practically shut out of the remainder of the chart. Also, while Apocalypto finished first, its opening week total of $6.02 million was less Pan's Labyrinth opened with last week. In fact, it was not that much ahead of the $5.58 million Pan's Labyrinth earned this week.
More...
May 25th, 2007
New releases took top spot on both the rental and the sales charts, but there were different films. On the rental chart Pan's Labyrinth was this week's champion after earning $6.48 million.
More...
May 19th, 2007
It was not a good week for new releases on the DVD rental chart.
None were able to take a spot in the top three, and this left Night at the Museum in first place with $7.38 million for the week and $28.01 million during its run.
More...
May 11th, 2007
For the past few weeks, new releases have dominated the home market, and while this week saw two holdovers in the top two spots, there were still plenty of new releases to place high on the charts. Leading the way were Night at the Museum with $9.08 million for the week and $20.64 million overall with Deja vu remaining in second place with $7.02 million this past week and $15.66 million in total.
More...
May 5th, 2007
New releases again dominated the rental charts as there were able to capture the top three spots, in fact, all three of these new releases were able to score more than last week's top film was able to. Leading the way was Night at the Museum with $11.56 million; this quite low compared to its theatrical box office of just over $250 million, but the younger target demographic explains this.
More...
April 29th, 2007
The Reaping climbed into sixth place this past weekend with $5.98 million on 2634 screens in 39 markets for a total of just $20.38 million. The film had a couple respectable openings including South Korea where it made $1.17 million on 129 screens over the weekend and $1.34 million in total while it took in $335,000 in Brazil. However, in most markets the film stumbled, like in France where is placed seventh with $684,000 or the the U.K. where it placed eighth with $622,000 on 282 screens. The film debuted in ninth place in Australia, ($405,000 on 133 screens); in Russia, ($261,000 on 111); and in Germany, ($247,000 on 201). Mexico became the film's best market as it has pulled in $4.45 million in three weeks, including $589,000 on 350 screens this past weekend; this is just ahead of the $4.25 million the film has earned in Spain, but it only managed $334,000 on 299 screens this past weekend and will quickly disappear there.
More...
April 24th, 2007
It's a busy week for DVD releases, but the signal to noise ratio is a little high, and that made it harder to find the DVDs that were truly worthy of attention.
(And even then, I went off track a couple of times.)
As for the DVD Pick of the Week, there is really only one choice for me, The Queen - Buy from Amazon.
However, I'm also giving that honor to Burning Annie - Buy from Amazon, which would have won a few weeks ago if I had got the right information on the quality of the DVD.
More...
April 22nd, 2007
Sunshine climbed into sixth place with $5.20 million on 1866 screens in 30 markets for a total of $10.20 million. However, while it nearly doubled last week's opening, this was entirely due to the film's expansion. Its biggest market of the weekend was France where it placed fourth with $1.36 million on 339 screens while it placed eighth in its debut in Australia with just $611,000 on 161 screens. On the other hand, the film only managed $508,000 on 192 screens during its debut in Japan and while likely see a sharp drop-off next weekend given its weak per screen average. Meanwhile in the U.K. the film suffered the worst week-to-week drop-off in the top ten down 57% to $879,000 on 409 screens over the weekend and a total of $4.45 million in total.
More...
April 15th, 2007
Wild Hogs had its best performance of its run so far climbing into sixth place with $3.33 million on 817 screens in 8 markets for a total of $18.43 million after a month of release. About half of that came from the film's number one debut in Mexico where it earned $1.33 million on 355 screens over the weekend and $1.67 million including previews while the film did reasonable business in Taiwan with $345,000 on 40. Its best market to date has been Australia where the film has earned $11.30 million, including $907,000 on 263 screens this past weekend.
More...
April 8th, 2007
Norbit saw its weekend haul sliced neatly in half landing in sixth place with $4.09 million on 2270 screens in 39 markets for a total of $49.38 million. The film wasn't able to crack $1 million in any single market, but Italy came the closest with $940,000 on 263 screens for a two-week total of $3.19 million.
More...
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.)
More...
March 21st, 2007
It was a good week for international releases with a dozen of them charting, although none made it into the top five.
The number one film was 300 as the film expanded into its first major market, scoring first place with $6.3 million on 353 screens over a 5-day period.
The film was also a massive hit in Turkey with $1.5 million on 115 screens while just missing the $1 million mark in Thailand with $917,000 on 120 screens.
Other openings include $730,000 on 33 screens in Hong Kong, $582,000 on 161 screens in India and $546,000 on 73 in Puerto Rico.
Even more impressive were its holdovers, with it remaining in first place in all three, including a record-setting pace in Greece ($2.5 million for the weekend and $7.2 million in total).
Overall, the film made $14.17 million on 1,262 screens in 12 markets for a very early international total of $25.23 screens.
It's too early to tell if the film will be as big a hit internationally as it is domestically, but it is off to a great start.
More...
March 18th, 2007
There was quite an international flavor on the charts this past weekend with five local hits charting, and one more just missing that mark. The best of these was Lubov Morkov, which opened in sixth place with $5.38 million on 492 screens in 4 markets over the weekend and $6.28 million in total. Of this amount, $4.90 million on 427 screens was earned over the weekend in Russia while it managed $5.80 million including midweek numbers.
More...
March 12th, 2007
The weekend was rather predictable, with three of the top five landing within a rounding error of expectations and another finishing close enough to call it a victory. ...
OK, I got skunked on 300, but I think I know why.
That film's record-breaking opening helped push the overall box office to $153 million over the weekend, up 23% from last weekend and 39% from the same weekend last year.
As for the yearly trend, we have seeing a lot more massive hits coming out this year than expected.
This could be a portent of things to come, and that would mean we might have more than a dozen films top $200 million this summer alone.
More...
March 7th, 2007
Ghost Rider was relatively flat this week as it earned $16.63 million on 4008 screens in 47 markets for a total of $61.49 million internationally. Its biggest market in terms of raw dollars was the U.K. with $3.56 million on 342 screens, but it could only managed second place behind local smash hit, Hot Fuzz. On the other hand, it opened in first place in Brazil with $1.8 million on 278 screens and remained in first place in Germany with $1.44 million on 369 screens for a two-week total of $4.25 million. On the opposite end was its opening in Japan; there the film could do no better than fourth with $1.16 million on 256 screens and will likely disappear very quickly after this weekend.
More...
February 28th, 2007
Ghost Rider weekend haul grew by 2% to $16.92 million on 3039 screens in 40 markets for a total of $40.06 million internationally. New openings include $3 million on 426 screens in France, $2.37 million on 362 screens in Germany, and $820,000 on 250 screens in India. Holdovers were mixed with high percentage drops in many markets; for instance, the film fell 51% during its second weekend in Spain but still came out on top with $1.54 million on 417 for a two-week total of $5.28 million. On the other hand, the film held up better in Mexico down just 44% but was knocked out of first place with $1.16 million on 403 screens for a total of $5.63 million. The film has yet to open in a number of markets, including the U.K. and Japan, and has likely not yet peaked at the box office.
More...
February 22nd, 2007
Ghost Rider debuted in first place internationally, which is even more impressive when you think about it as
super hero movies tend to not do so well internationally. During its debut the film managed $16.60 million on 1748 screens in 26 markets while nearly cracking the $10,000 per screen average. The film had first place openings in 21 of those 26 of markets including $3.67 million on 401 screens in Russia, $3.12 million on 415 screens in Spain, $2.10 million on 403 screens in Mexico, $1.92 million on 208 screens in Australia, and $1.5 million on 120 in Taiwan. It's a little early to given predictions about the film's final box office, but this was a great start and if it can duplicate its run next week when it opens in France, Germany, and other markets it will be on track to top $100 million internationally and may even reach $200 million worldwide. There's no official, official word that a
sequel has been given the go-ahead, but the evidence suggests that is a mere formality now.
More...
February 21st, 2007
It was a record-breaking President's Day weekend as 2007 produced it first blockbuster.
Overall, total box office hit $158 million from Friday to Sunday, $188 million including Monday.
That 3-day figure represents a 40% increase over last week and 22% over the same weekend last year.
In addition, the 4-day portion was 20% higher than last year.
This is great news for a year that hasn't gotten off to a fast start.
More...
February 19th, 2007
It's President's Day today and that can only mean one thing, millions of Americans are celebrating by cutting down cherry trees and lying about it. I think. Truth be told, I'm not exactly sure what people do to celebrate President's Day. But I do know it will cause a slight delay in a couple of weekly columns. For instance, the weekend wrap-up and the per theatre charts will both be pushed back one day while the DVD Release column will be a bit late. It might still be published late today, but it might not come out till sometime after midnight. In the meantime, here are the studio estimates for the weekend numbers...
More...
February 14th, 2007
The Pursuit Of Happyness's reign on top of the international charts was short lived as
Night at the Museum reclaimed the crown. Over the weekend the film pulled in $14.01 million on 4559 screens in 43 markets for a total of $231.50 million so far. Topping this week's markets was France where the film opened in first place with $4.3 million on 676 screens while it fell just 33% during its second weekend in Italy adding $2.45 million on 463 screens for a total of $9.51 million. Even if the film had no further markets to open in, $250 million internationally and $500 million worldwide would be virtual guarantees. However, it has yet to open in Japan as well as midlevel markets like Belgium and the Netherlands.
More...
February 13th, 2007
It was a predictable weekend at the box office, with the top five finishing in the exact order predicted and even though a few films beat predictions, none were wildly outside expectations.
Overall, box office receipts hit $112 million, which was 22% higher than last weekend.
But that was 7% lower than the same weekend last year.
However, while the dollars were flowing, the critics were complaining, again.
Six weeks into the month and we've only had one wide film that has impressed the majority of critics.
That should change by Friday with two new releases that look promising.
More...
February 8th, 2007
Two movies featuring characters with eating disorders open this weekend but there's a clear favorite, at least at the box office. Critically speaking, both are dogs, which is not surprising since we haven't seen a film open to even moderately good reviews since Freedom Writers earned 67% positive during the first weekend of the year.
More...
February 7th, 2007
The Pursuit Of Happyness won the weekend race for the first time in its four-week international run. The film played in roughly two-dozen markets over the weekend earning $16.47 million on 3177 screens for a running tally of $72.50 million. Much of the weekend earnings came from a trio of new openings led by Spain where it placed second with $2.44 million on 285 screens. The film also opened second in France with $2.2 million on 322 screens and in Mexico with $1.34 million on 300. One of its best markets of the weekend was Japan where it slipped just 18% to $2.39 million on 271 screens for a total of $8.81 million. Meanwhile, the film's best total so far has come from Italy where it has made $17.71 million in total, including $1.57 million on 339 screens this past weekend.
More...
February 6th, 2007
The first weekend in February lived up to muted expectations with four of the top five meeting or exceeding Thursday's predictions.
However, this still led to a massive 22% drop-off from the previous weekend, with a total box office of just $93 million.
While the Superbowl certainly had something to do with that, it can't take all of the blame as the box office was down 12% from the same weekend last year, which also played host to the Superbowl.
So far, 2007 hasn't gotten off to a strong start, but it is way too early to push any panic buttons just yet.
More...
February 1st, 2007
It's February, but you can't tell by looking at the quality of the new wide releases.
Neither film is wowing critics and both look like mid-level hits at the most.
Granted, it's Superbowl weekend and that could explain why studios were hesitant to put out any top dollar films this weekend.
Even so, the two new releases should finish in first and second place.
More...
January 31st, 2007
Night at the Museum has been in first place on the international charts for a month now and shows little sign of slowing down. This week the film added $15.21 million on 4422 screens in 48 markets for an international total of $194.88 million. Openings include first place debuts in Spain, ($5.67 million on 473 screens), and the Philippines, ($798,000 on 96). On the other hand, it had to settle for third in Brazil with $977,000 on 461 screens. Its best holdover of the week was the U.K. where it is in fourth place during its fifth week of release with $2.28 million on 458 screens over the weekend and total of $39.23 million.
More...
January 30th, 2007
Well, January is finally over and we survived.
The final four entries tried their luck this weekend and while two earned enough to be considered box office successes, none came close to wowing critics.
More...
January 25th, 2007
The final weekend in January gives us plenty of new releases, but not much in terms of quality.
Of the four wide releases opening this week, two are earning roughly 30% positive reviews and the other two are not being screened for critics.
However, movie fans should not fret as several Oscar hopefuls are expanding this week and are giving moviegoers plenty of choice.
More...
January 24th, 2007
Night at the Museum remained in first place, as it has since it opened four weeks ago, but this time it was involved in a relatively close race. The film added $14.84 million on 4391 screens in 45 markets for a total of $173.86 million. The film only had one new opening this weekend and that was in Uruguay where it opened with $38,000 on 13 screens; that may not seem like much, but it represents the fifth biggest opening ever in the market.
More...
January 23rd, 2007
The lone wide release of the weekend struggled to find an audience and even though most of the rest of the top five were able to beat expectations, the weekend box office was still way down.
At just $100 million, the weekend was down 22% from last week and 17% from the same weekend last year.
More...
January 19th, 2007
Just the one new wide release this weekend, which is surprising since there are five films opening or expanding wide next weekend.
This weekend could handle one or two more wide releases and take some of the pressure off next weekend.
But as it is now, The Hitcher will have little competition this weekend while next weekend at least two films will be squeezed out at the box office.
More...
January 18th, 2007
While
Night at the Museum saw its weekend haul drop by more than a third this weekend, it still took first place with $20.16 million on 5193 screens in 34 markets for a total of $151.34 million. In Brazil the film earned an estimated $3 million on 502 screens and if that holds up it would be
Fox's third biggest opening ever in that market. Other strong markets include $2.71 million on 803 screens in Germany for a total of $17.24 million after three weeks. At this pace the film will have no trouble reaching $200 million, and that's not taking into account markets it has yet to open in, markets including France, Spain, Italy, and Japan.
More...
January 17th, 2007
Martin Luther King Jr. long weekend saw a new film take top spot while several films in the top five outperformed expectations.
However, overall the box office was 3% lower from last weekend at $128 million and just 2% higher than the same weekend last year.
That's likely not enough to keep up with ticket price inflation.
Obviously it is too early to panic, or even make predictions, but this is not the start the industry was hoping for.
More...
January 12th, 2007
The weekend prospects are pretty weak, with none of the wide releases / expanding films looking like they have what it takes to top the box office charts.
This is not particularly surprising, as the Martin Luther King long weekend is not known as a powerhouse at the box office.
With a returning champion and a selection of new and expanding films, moviegoers have a lot of choice, but come Tuesday, there won't be a lot of celebrating in the movie studios.
More...
January 10th, 2007
2007 started the same way that 2006 ended, with
Night at the Museum on top of the international charts. During its second weekend of release the film pulled in $29.8 million on 5,000 screens in 38 markets crossing the $100 million mark in the process; so far the film has pulled in $116.7 million internationally and is on pace to hit $200 million. Most of the film's weekend haul came from holdovers like the U.K. where it remained in first place with $5.71 million on 487 screens for a two-week total of $26.85 million. It also held well in Germany adding $4.99 million on 794 screens to its total of $13.95 million in that market. The film's few openings were mostly of the samller variety including first place debuts in Greece, ($900,000 on 66 screens), and Peru, ($471,000 on 82).
More...
January 9th, 2007
There were a couple of pleasant surprises this week, including a generally stronger than expected performance by the holdovers. Better than expected still resulted in an 18% drop-off from last weekend to $133 million, but that's 3.5% better than 2006's start.
More...
January 5th, 2007
The first weekend of the year is not known for producing many hits. In fact, perhaps only the first weekend after Labor Day is worse.
This year is no exception: the three wide releases are not earning strong reviews, only one new film is able to crack 2,000 theaters, and none of them have a real shot at first place.
More...
January 4th, 2007
Night at the Museum stormed into the international marketplace with $47.3 million on 4,722 screens in 26 markets.
In the U.K. the film made $7.80 million on 488 screens over the weekend and $15.05 million since Boxing Day.
In Australia it had to settle for second place with $3.19 million on 365 screens over the weekend and $5.10 million in total.
In Mexico the film shot up to first place with $2.24 million on 972 screens during its first full weekend of release and $7.04 million since Christmas day.
After just two weeks Museum has pulled in $58.1 million with many major markets still to come as it rolls out from now until March.
More...
January 3rd, 2007
It was a fairly predictable weekend as far as box office numbers go. No film really beat expectations by a wide margin, nor did any fail to do so.
This meant nearly every film in the top ten showed significant growth (the lone exception was Rocky Balboa), while the only film in the top twenty to see a serious drop-off was the Christmas film, The Nativity Story, which plummeted more than 67%.
More...
December 29th, 2006
It's the New Year's Day long weekend, and not surprisingly, there are no new wide releases this week.
There are, on the other hand, two movies that are playing their first weekend, Dreamgirls and Black Christmas.
However, it looks as if neither has what it takes to wrestle top spot from Night at the Museum.
More...
December 28th, 2006
Most films missed expectations this weekend and that hurt the overall box office, which was off 8% compared to last year.
But there were still reasons to celebrate with Pursuit of Happyness and Rocky Balboa matching their production budget over the weekend while Dreamgirls exploded on Christmas Day.
More...
December 22nd, 2006
An abridged list with just the sites for movies opening this week, and maybe one or two others. Because it is such a short list, there's no real strong choice for Weekly Website Award.
Rocky Balboa -
Official Site comes the closest, but it doesn't quite get there.
More...
December 21st, 2006
Christmas is one of the busiest times of year and this year is no exception with five films opening wide from now to the 25th and another expanding. Because of the crowd, at least one or two will be lost, squeezed out by the competition. However, there are also two or three films that are aiming at $100 million, or more.
More...
December 18th, 2006
Our last box office prediction contest of the year has prize packs from The Good German and Children of Men and all you have to do win is predict the opening weekend of Night at the Museum. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win The Good German prize pack consisting of a poster and a T-shirt. While the person who comes the closest to the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win Children of Men prize pack (also a poster and apparel).
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
More...
December 16th, 2006
The end of year big movie rush continues, the last few big movies are launching their sites. And one such movie,
Night at the Museum -
Official Site, is the winning of the Weekly Website Award.
More...
December 3rd, 2006
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Hairspray, Becoming Jane and more.
More...
December 1st, 2006
Looking at my calendar I see that it's March 11th. ... March 11th, 2003. This means it's time for me to get a new calendar, but more importantly, it's time for the December preview. December is an insanely busy time of year with studio release major blockbusters in hopes of cashing in on the holidays, as well as a ton of Oscar bait movies hoping to remain fresh in voters' minds by the time the ballots are handed out. On a side note, this is the first time in several years that's there not an obvious Must See movie opening during the month. Sure, there are quite a few that should crack $100 million at the box office, maybe even $200 million, but nothing like
The Lord of the Rings. In addition to the ton of wide releases and limited releases scheduled to open wide this month, there are several more movies opening in limited release this month before expanding in the new year. Movies like
Home of the Brave,
Arthur & the Invisibles,
The Painted Veil,
Letters from Iwo Jima,
Children of Men,
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,
Fast Track, and
Pan's Labyrinth, and possibly some others.
More...
November 24th, 2006
This week the list is abridged due to the holidays, but there are still a few good sites here. In fact, percent-wise, there are more good site than most weeks. However, the best site has already won the award while the rest don't quite reach the level of an Award-winning site. If I were to pick the best of the rest it would be
Dhoom 2: Back in Action -
Official Site.
More...
November 22nd, 2006
Happy Feet set a record on IMAX earning $2.4 million on 79 screens, the best ever opening for and animated film.
More...
November 12th, 2006
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Halloween, Saw 4, The Incredible Hulk and more.
More...
August 11th, 2006
The torrid pace of website updates continues with more than 30 films on this week's list. There were a few sites that really caught my eye, but it was
Trust the Man -
Official Site and its interactive map of New York City and its more than 2 dozen clips that won the Weekly Website Award.
More...
August 4th, 2006
Third week in a row where the number of sites featured on this list has topped 30. With such a busy week it would take something different to win the award, and that's something
Michel Gondry excels at delivering giving
The Science of Sleep -
Official Site the Weekly Website Award.
More...
