November 26th, 2008
The number of new releases reached double digits on the sales chart this week, if you include Kung Fu Panda, which got a two-day jump on sales last week. This week it took first place with 3.76 million units sold and $63.91 million in revenue for totals of 4.54 million and $77.42 million.
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November 26th, 2008
While there were four new releases in the top five on the sales chart this week, it was the exact opposite on the rental charts as there was only one new release to reach top five. That new release, Hellboy II - The Golden Army, came out on top, and generated over 40% more revenue than second place Kung Fu Panda.
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November 11th, 2008
I have just one word to describe this week's DVD Release Report, and that word is, 'Ggrrghfuul.' 'Ggrrghfuul' is the sound one makes after reviewing 19 DVDs in one week, and I wasn't even able to put a dent in my pile of late DVDs. (On a related note, I have never been late reviewing a movie, as long as it arrives before the weekend before the movie is released. Given how busy some weeks have been, that's quite a feat.) As for the actual releases, there are a number of top-notch offerings coming out on Tuesday, and one that came out on Sunday. These include Firefly - The Complete Series - Blu-ray - Buy from Amazon, Hellboy 2 - The Golden Army - Buy from Amazon: 3-Disc DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray Collector's Edition, and Sunset Boulevard - Centennial Collection - Buy from Amazon. All three are worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week, and I'm not going to bother to narrow it down further. Additionally, there are two late releases featured on this week's list, Futurama - Bender's Game - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray and Kung Fu Panda - Buy from Amazon: DVD, With Secrets of the Furious Five, or Blu-ray, and both of these are also worthy of DVD Pick of the Week Honors. As expected with such a massive amount of releases, the list has been split into two and the first part can be found here.
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November 11th, 2008
I have just one word to describe this week's DVD Release Report, and that word is, 'Ggrrghfuul.' 'Ggrrghfuul' is the sound one makes after reviewing 19 DVDs in one week, and I wasn't even able to put a dent in my pile of late DVDs. (On a related note, I have never been late reviewing a movie, as long as it arrives before the weekend before the movie is released. Given how busy some weeks have been, that's quite a feat.) As for the actual releases, there are a number of top-notch offerings coming out on Tuesday, and one that came out on Sunday. These include Firefly - The Complete Series - Blu-ray - Buy from Amazon, Hellboy 2 - The Golden Army - Buy from Amazon: 3-Disc DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray Collector's Edition, and Sunset Boulevard - Centennial Collection - Buy from Amazon. All three are worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week, and I'm not going to bother to narrow it down further. Additionally, there are two late releases featured on this week's list, Futurama - Bender's Game - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray and Kung Fu Panda - Buy from Amazon: DVD, With Secrets of the Furious Five, or Blu-ray, and both of these are also worthy of DVD Pick of the Week Honors. As expected with such a massive amount of releases, the list has been split into two and the second part can be found here.
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December 11th, 2007
The box office has been soft practically since summer ended, but things are starting to get desperate.
This was another week of significant declines at the box office, with overall business of just $82 million.
That's down more than 2% from last weekend, and, more significantly, down more than 15% from the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2007 is still ahead in terms of raw dollars, but ticket sales are now trailing last year's pace.
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December 6th, 2007
It's another slow week for wide releases -- like last weekend, there's only one.
However, His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass should do significantly better than last week's Awake.
It better do significantly better or the holiday season is in real trouble.
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December 3rd, 2007
There were very few shocks at the box office this weekend as Enchanted remained the dominant film.
However, there was an unsettling malaise as the overall box office reached just $85 million.
This is barely more than half of last weekend's $162 million holiday-inflated haul, but that was to be expected.
What wasn't as expected was the 8% drop-off from the same weekend last year.
At the moment, 2007 is ahead of 2006 in terms of box office and ticket sales.
However, while a gain at the box office is academic at this point, a slide in ticket sales is likely if things don't turn around.
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November 29th, 2007
The weekend after Thanksgiving is the only slow weekend during the entire Holiday Season.
So it comes as no surprise that only one movie is opening wide, but it is a bit surprising that the weekend is a weak as it is.
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November 27th, 2007
Thanksgiving provided plenty of reasons for studios to give thanks, especially since every single film managed to earn enough to be called a hit in one form or other.
Even the weakest releases of the week did well compared to their modest costs.
Overall, the box office brought in $162 million over three days, which is 55% more than last weekend.
More importantly, it is virtually identical to the same weekend last year.
Over five days, movies earned an estimated $229 million, which is up just shy of 2% from last year.
This is great news after a Fall that most would like to forget, but the growth is still lower than ticket price inflation, meaning actual attendance was down.
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November 25th, 2007
As expected, Enchanted won the Thanksgiving box office race, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
With a solid $35 million over the three day weekend, and $50 million in five days, the family fantasy had an excellent debut.
If strong reviews translate into good word-of-mouth, this could be the first blockbuster of the Holiday Season.
The biggest surprise of the weekend, though, was This Christmas, which blew past its tracking numbers and beat everyone's expectations with an estimated $18.6 million in just 1,858 theaters.
It has already notched up $27.1 million in its first five days.
Also out-performing expectations was Hitman, which finished fourth with a very creditable $13.035 million.
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November 24th, 2007
There are not a whole lot of movies on this week's list, but at least we had a race for top spot with both This Christmas - Official Site and Enchanted - Official Site. Both had their strong points, but in the end Enchanted was able to take home the crown.
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November 21st, 2007
The five-day Thanksgiving long weekend officially starts tonight, as does the lucrative holiday weekend. From now until the New Year, there we should see hit after hit released, as well as a number of Oscar contenders.
With the box office slowing down, this couldn't come at a better time.
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November 1st, 2007
After a horrible October, we finally get to November and the start of the holiday season.
Just like the summer season doesn't officially begin until Memorial Day, the winter holiday season doesn't officially begin until the Thanksgiving long weekend.
However, studios are trying to stretch the lucrative box office season as long as possible and the holiday-like releases start during the first weekend of the month.
This means practically every weekend this month, there's at least one potential $100 million movie. There are also a few that might be Oscar contenders, although not as many as I had expected.
In fact, so far Award Season has been particularly slow, but at least this means there should be more buzz surrounding the upcoming films as the race is wide open.
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March 11th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Shooter. Pathfinder, Speed Racer and more.
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