April 26th, 2015
Furious 7 will once more hold on to the title of top movie at the box office this weekend, becoming the first film since Guardians of the Galaxy to do so for four weekends, and the first since The Hunger Games to be number one for four straight weeks. Furious 7 will also become this weekend only the third title, after Avatar and Titanic, to hit $1 billion in international box office earnings. Universal is estimating an international total of $1.001 billion, including $323 million in China—an all-time record for that territory.
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November 28th, 2013
Independent Spirit Award started the Awards Season this week, handing out its nominations. 12 Years a Slave led the way with seven nominations, but it wasn't the only film to pick up multiple nominations.
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September 23rd, 2013
The week of July 14th, 2013 was a bit strange on the home market, as the Blu-ray sales chart and the DVD sales chart didn't line up very well. Granted, in both cases, new releases dominated, but unlike on DVD, The Host led the way on Blu-ray. It sold 103,000 units and generated $2.38 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 42%, which isn't bad for a film with a decidedly weak box run.
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September 23rd, 2013
There were a ton of new releases to reach the top 30 of the July 14th, 2013 edition of the DVD sales chart. This includes five films in the top six, which is impressive. (One could argue it is more a matter of quantity over quality.) Leading the way was Tyler Perry's Temptation, which sold 401,000 units and generated $2.97 million in revenue. This is a fine start, but nothing more.
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September 19th, 2013
As I mentioned last week, the new releases were terrible, so it is not a surprise that the overall home market numbers were so poor the week of July 7th. The best-selling new release on Blu-ray was An American Girl: Saige Paints the Sky, and it didn't even reach the top ten. Compared to the previous week, 16% fewer units were sold in total, 22% less revenue was generated, and the final figures were just 544,000 units / $12.08 million. Compared to last year, there were 20% fewer units sold, while the total revenue was 11% lower. The overall Blu-ray sunk even further to just 23% in terms of units and 31% in terms of revenue. Hopefully these numbers will bounce back once the summer blockbusters hit the home market. Unfortunately, TV on DVD releases will dominate for the next few weeks, so Blu-ray will suffer for a while.
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July 23rd, 2013
This week's new releases are so bad that I'm tempted to hold on to this story till I finish the review for Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Four on Blu-ray, just so I would have a real contender for Pick of the Week. According to Amazon.com, the best-selling new release of the week is an Anime title. Most weeks, Anime titles are filler, because of their are niche appeal. There are a few foreign releases and limited releases worth checking out, but there are not many contenders for Pick of the Week. The two best are Ginger & Rosa on DVD and Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXVII on DVD. I'm going with the former for Pick of the Week. Meanwhile, Starbuck's DVD earns Puck of the Week. See it before Hollywood ruins it with a bad remake.
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July 20th, 2013
Spring Breakers is one of the more unusual films to come out this week. The original buzz was pretty weak, with a lot of people dismissing it as "Disney Girls Gone Wild". When it was finally released, the critical response was divided. There were many critics who liked the movie, more so than those who disliked the movie, but there were also some who called it one of the worst movies ever. Its limited release was more lucrative than expected and the film currently has the best per theater average for 2013. So which side of the argument do I fall under? And is the DVD or the Blu-ray worth picking up?
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July 20th, 2013
The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex is the first review in our Selena Gomez double-shot. The second film is Spring Breakers. There's not a lot of crossover appeal between those two films. The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex is a TV movie from The Wizards of Waverly Place and it earned excellent ratings when it first aired. But is it as good as its ratings? Or did it unduly benefit from the long-running show?
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July 8th, 2013
It is a very busy week on the home market with four wide releases, five if you count Spring Breakers, which expanded semi-wide during its second weekend of release. None of these films were big hits at the box office. In fact, the five of them combined made $122 million. Additionally, only one of them earned good reviews. Fortunately, not only did Spring Breakers earn good reviews, its DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack are loaded, enough to be a contender for Pick of the Week. The other main contender is The Legend of Korra - Book One: Air. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for the screener for both of those releases, and I hate handing out the Pick of the Week when the screener is on its way. Because of that, I'm going with a late review, Wilfred: Season Two on DVD or Blu-ray.
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May 29th, 2013
As expected, Before Midnight led the way on the per theater chart with an average $49,383. This is the third best per theater average so far this year, behind just The Place Beyond the Pines and Spring Breakers. The overall box office leader, Fast and Furious 6, was next with an average of $26,620. Fill the Void was relatively close behind with an average of $19,721 in three theaters. The final film in the $10,000 club was The Hangover 3 with an average of $11,722.
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April 16th, 2013
There were no films able to reach the $10,000 club on this week's per theater average. However, while this is disappointing, it is not uncommon for this time of year. The best film was 42, which not only opened in first place on the overall chart, but also earned first place on the per theater average chart with an average of $9,153. The best limited release of the week was Disconnect, which earned an average of $8,240 in 15 theaters.
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April 2nd, 2013
There was a huge selection of films in the $10,000 club, led by The Place Beyond the Pines, which earned an average of $69,864 in four theaters. This is the second-best per theater average for the year thus far, behind only Spring Breakers. Space Station rose back to the $10,000 club with $15,301 in two theaters. This film has amazing legs, even compared to other IMAX films, and pops into the $10,000 from time to time. Room 237 opened with an average of $14,847 in two theaters. This is a good start, but as a documentary its potential to expand is very limited. The overall box office leader, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, earned an average of $10,891 over the three-day portion of its opening weekend. Renoir was right behind with an average of $10,866 in six theaters. Temptation also managed to earn a spot in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,572.
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April 1st, 2013
While Easter Monday is a holiday up here in Canada, it's not in the United States and the weekend numbers have arrived. The numbers are good, or close enough to being good that I'm choosing to focus on the positive. G.I. Joe: Retaliation won the race for the top with an opening weekend that was a little better than expected. Meanwhile, Temptation also opened on the high end of expectations. On the other hand, The Host failed to live up to lowered expectations. Overall, the box office rose 6.1% from last week. Granted, it did fall compared to the same weekend last year, but it fell by less than 1% (0.99%) and compared to the year-to-date decline, that's positively glowing. I'm calling it a victory. That's right, 2013 has been so bad so far that I'm willing to call a 1% decline a victory. 2013 is still well behind 2012's pace at $2.27 billion to $2.59 billion, which is a deficit of 12% or nearly $330 million.
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March 27th, 2013
Gimme the Loot led the way on the per theater chart with $21,065 in its lone theater. The overall box office leader, The Croods, was the only other film in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,786.
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March 25th, 2013
As expected, The Croods earned first place, but it didn't dominate as much as many thought it would, because Olympus Has Fallen did better than expected. The overall box office rose 29% from last weekend reaching $139 million. Unfortunately, again as expected, The Hunger Games earned more this weekend last year than the entire box office earned this year. The year-over-year decline was a massive 35%. That's stunning. That usually only happens when there is a misalignment in holidays. Year-to-date, 2013 is now behind 2012 by a 13% margin at $2.06 billion to $2.36 billion. Given the films coming out later this year and the films that came out last year, I just don't see a pathway to victory for 2013.
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March 22nd, 2013
This is one of those weekends where it is really hard to get excited about the box office. That's not to say there's nothing opening that isn't either earning good reviews or has a solid shot at the box office, there are. However, this weekend last year is the weekend The Hunger Games debuted. No film opening this weekend will compete with that. The entire box office this year won't make as much as that one film made last year. 2013 is going to be crushed in the year-over-year comparison and it could be more than a little depressing. As for this year, The Croods should walk away with the number one ranking and might even make more than twice as much as the number two film, which will probably be Olympus Has Fallen. The last new release of the week is Admission, but it might not make the top five. In fact, Spring Breakers is expanding to a little more than 1,000 theaters, but still has a better shot at the top five than Admission has.
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March 20th, 2013
Spring Breakers dominated the per theater chart earning the best per theater average for any film of 2013. It opened with an average of $87,667 in three theaters. Had it opened with a total of $87,667 in three theaters, it would have been a great start. A fellow A24 release, Ginger & Rosa, was next with an average of $14,279, also in three theaters. Somebody Up There Likes Me fell 64%, but still earned a spot in the $10,000 club with $12,310 in its one theater. Oz the Great and Powerful was the final film to earn more than $10,000 on the per theater chart with an average of $10,545.
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March 17th, 2013
There are definite signs of life at the box office this weekend, thanks to continued good numbers for Oz the Great and Powerful, an above-expected debut for The Call and a gigantic performance in limited release for Spring Breakers. Those three bright spots do something to compensate for a horrible $10 million opening for The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, which might have fared better with a Summer release, but still casts some doubt on the star power of Steve Carell and Jim Carrey.
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March 15th, 2013
It is a pretty busy week for limited releases with a number of them that could do well. Blancanieves should do well in art house cinemas, but it is too out there for mainstream success. Likewise, From Up on Poppy Hill should draw in fans of Anime, but there are not enough of them to allow the film to expand significantly. Ginger and Rosa has more appeal to mainstream audiences and strong buzz, but its reviews are only good and not great. Spring Breakers is also earning reviews that are good, but not great. However, it has a planned wide opening next week, so unless that falls apart, it will be the biggest hit on this week's list.
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March 1st, 2013
February is over, and for the most part, we should be very happy it is done and buried. The biggest hit of the month turned out to be Identity Thief, which will cross $100 million shortly. There were also a couple of impressive midlevel hits, like Warm Bodies and Escape from Planet Earth, but for the most part, it was miss after miss. This is bad news for March, which is not only dealing with a slumping 2013 box office, but will be compared with a strong March of 2012. Last March started with The Lorax, which earned more than $200 million. There's a good chance no March release this year will reach this milestone. Last March was also the month The Hunger Games opened, which earned more than $400 million. There's a chance the top three films opening this month won't earn that much combined. 2013 is going to take a beating in the year-over-year comparison and it is already $100 million behind last year's pace.
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