August 26th, 2008
TV on DVD is starting to dominate the weekly DVD releases, including the top tier releases. In fact, four of the top five picks for the week are TV on DVD. However, while Heroes - Blu-ray - Season One & Season Two, NCIS - The Fifth Season, and The Shield - The Complete Season Six are all easily contenders for the crown, Nightmare Before Christmas - Collector's Edition on DVD or Blu-ray is the DVD Pick of the Week. One last note, it's been another big week for total releases, and the list had to be split into two. You can part Part II here.
More...
March 3rd, 2008
New releases dominated the rental charts taking three of the top five spots, as well as five of the top ten and the best of the best was American Gangster with $9.67 million during its opening week.
More...
February 19th, 2008
With the Oscars less than a week away, we have a few Oscar contenders on this week's list. However, for DVD Pick of the Week I've made what many might consider a weird choice and went with Walker - Criterion Collection - Buy from Amazon.
More...
December 23rd, 2007
For many people reading this, it is December 24th. Christmas Eve. If you haven't got all of your Christmas shopping done, may I offer a word of advice... AAAAHHHHHHHHHH! But don't worry, you are not along. December 24th is the busiest shopping day of the year. Granted, a lot of it is people buying food for the next day, but at least a few people are looking for last minute gifts. This week we are looking at the... well... anything. Anything that pops into my head that I think would make a good gift. And there are some that might not, but we are getting into desperation time.
More...
December 16th, 2007
The Heartbreak Kid slipped a spot to sixth with $5.04 million on 2029 screens in 46 markets for a total of $79.44 million internationally, which is more than twice what it earned domestically. This includes France where it pulled in $1.10 million on 320 screens while lifting its running tally to $3.37 million in that market.
More...
December 13th, 2007
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their Golden Globe nominations this week, but there were no truly dominate films out of the 14 theatrical categories.
More...
December 9th, 2007
Bee Movie returned to the charts in sixth place with $6.71 million on 1288 screens in 11 markets for an early international total of $19.43 million after a month of release. This includes a pair of first place debuts in Spain and Mexico. In the former it earned $2.81 million on 421 screens while in the latter is earned $2.60 million on 389 screens. While Spain is the larger marker, I thought the family friendly nature of Mexico would give it the edge. Even so, there are great openings for the film.
More...
December 3rd, 2007
Lions for Lambs climbed a spot to sixth place with $4.34 million on 2453 screens in 53 markets for a total of $25.97 million, while only managing $1 million or more in one market this past weekend, ($1.40 million on 390 screens during its sixth place debut in France). It opens in Italy later this month and Japan in the spring of '08, but there's almost no chance the film will show a profit at this point. Normally one movie losing money isn't a big issue because the studio can rely on one or two monster hits to pay for their misses, (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix made enough money to pay for the entire budgets of half-a-dozen misses for Warner Bros. this year, and that's before the home market). However, United Artists is a newly relauched studio and they don't have a war chest built up from past victories. Stumbling out of the gate like this hurts.
More...
November 29th, 2007
It's the official start of award season as the Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced. Several films received nods, but I'm Not There and Juno were the big hits.
More...
November 25th, 2007
Elizabeth: The Golden Age nearly reached the top five with $5.79 million on 1579 screens in 12 markets for a total of $21.80 million. This includes a first place, $1.89 million opening on 470 screens in Russia, while the film added $933,000 on 394 screens in the U.K. for a total of $8.40 million so far.
More...
November 18th, 2007
Stardust fell out of the top five, but still added $5.80 million on 2327 screens in 48 markets lifting its running tally to $83.50 million. Its best market remained the U.K. where it climbed a spot to second place with $2.66 million on 459 screens for a total of $23.59 million. The film has no major openings left, but $100 million internationally is still within reach.
More...
November 11th, 2007
Surf's Up grew by 77% in France adding $3.44 million on 628 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.36 million in total. This growth was due to the Toussaint holiday while it was enough to lift the film's weekend box office to $5.84 million on 1996 screens in 32 markets for a total of $72.34 million. The film has yet to open in Scandinavia as well as Japan and should hit $100 million internationally before it is done, which is significantly more than the $58.87 million it earned domestically, but not enough to show a profit just yet.
More...
November 6th, 2007
The overall box office leader, American Gangster, was also the champion on the per theater chart with $14,265. The only other film to crack $10,000 was Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten with an average of $10,440 in two theaters.
More...
October 23rd, 2007
While there were plenty of new releases this past weekend, most failed to make an impact at the box office and that left Control an opportunity to capture first place with $19,121. This represents a drop-off of only 30% in its per theater average despite doubling its theater count.
Meanwhile, Wristcutters: A Love Story opened in second place with an average of $14,269 in three theaters. Finally, Blade Runner managed more than $10,000 on the per theater chart for the third weekend in a row with $13,004.
More...
October 16th, 2007
Blade Runner climbed into first place on the Per Theater Chart with an average of $32,681 in two theaters during its second week of re-release. Control debuted in second place with $27,674 in its one theater. Lars and the Real Girl opened with just over $90,000 in 7 theaters for an average of $12,917. This is a good start, better than most limited releases can hope for, but less than I was expecting. The Darjeeling Limited continues to perform marvelously as it expands as it earned an average of $11,425 in nearly 100 theaters. The overall box office leader, Why Did I Get Married? opened with an average of $10,618.
More...
October 14th, 2007
The Heartbreak Kid missed the top five by less than $20,000 over the weekend earning $5.74 million on 819 screens in 4 markets during its opening weekend on the international charts. This includes openings in to major markets including the U.K. where it opened in first place with $2.52 million on 409 screens, but this was still a disappointing debut, much like it was domestically. Conversely, the film opened in second place in Russia with $2.31 million on 360 screens, but this is a much better performance compared to the overall box office size of the marketplace.
More...
October 9th, 2007
As has been the case for the past few weeks, we had a limited release with a monster start.
This time it was Michael Clayton and its $700,000 opening in just 15 theaters for an average of $47,994; this bodes very well for the film's wide expansion this weekend.
Second place went to the re-release of Blade Runner, which earned just under $90,000 in 2 theaters for an average of $44,575; this bodes very well for the sales of the Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition, which comes out this December on DVD, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD.
Last week's winner, The Darjeeling Limited, showed strong resilience in the face of expansion, earning an average of $29,559 during its first full weekend.
The same can be said of Lust, Caution as the film went from a single theater to 17 while averaging $21,342.
Finally, Finishing the Game was a surprise entrant into the $10,000 club with $11,903 in its lone theater.
More...
October 7th, 2007
Hairspray managed to climb into sixth place by the narrowest of margins earning $4.59 million on 2073 screens in 37 markets for a running tally of $54.35 million. This includes a third place, $1.36 million opening on 302 screens in Italy, which is close to its opening domestically, when you take into account the relative size of the two markets. On the other hand, many muscials prove to be difficult to market internationally and it was never likely that this film would match its domestic run. However, it has already made enough to be considered a financial success.
More...
October 2nd, 2007
The Darjeeling Limited was the top pick for limited releases over the weekend, earning nearly $140,000 in just two theaters for an average of $67,469.
This is the best opening for a Wes Anderson film since The Royal Tenenbaums, at least in terms of raw dollars, and this film still earned a better average.
Second place went to Lust, Caution with $63,918, which is one of the best averages we've seen all year.
Into the Wild performed marvelously during its expansion this past weekend, earning an average of $19,135 in 33 theaters.
On the other hand, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford fell nearly 40% without any expansion; it still earned an average of $18,470 in five theaters, but I was expecting more given its start.
Finally, Itty Bitty Titty Committee opened with $11,505 in its lone theater.
More...
September 28th, 2007
A couple more award season hopefuls debut this week, including one of the most talked about releases of the season, Lust, Caution. It will be interesting to see if its NC-17 rating will prevent it from earning mainstream success, or even turn off award voters.
More...
September 1st, 2007
After a record-breaking summer, we come to the worst month of the year. There are a few films that look promising, but for the most part the month is filled with projects that should probably never been given the greenlight to begin with. September is a dumping ground for failed projects, and like most similar times of the year, it is crowded with 20 movies that at least have a shot at opening or expanding wide over a period of just four weeks. Five new releases a week is far too many, even if they were all high quality at least half will fail just due to the competition.
More...
September 24th, 2006
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Horton Hears a Who, Black Snake Moan and more.
More...
