November 5th, 2013
Twilight came out in 2008 to a mixture of high buzz and abject horror. There were a lot of people who were major fans of the book series by Stephenie Meyer, while others consider Stephenie Meyer the worst author of all time. That might be a bit harsh. The first movie opened with mixed reviews, but smashed through all expectations with nearly $200 million domestically. A year later, New Moon came out and despite earning just 27% positive reviews. That's awful any way you look at it, but even so, it earned nearly $300 million at the box office. Clearly this franchise is critic-proof and I'm under no delusion that any of my criticisms will stop anyone from buying this 10-disc Blu-ray box set. I'm so convinced that no one will change their minds over my opinion of the movie that I'm going to keep that portion of the review to a minimum and concentrate on the extras instead. After all, anyone interested in this box set has already made up their mind about the movie and just want to know if this box set has enough extras to be worth the price.
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February 22nd, 2012
Despite being released on Saturday, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 led all new releases scoring an easy first place finish on the DVD sales chart. In just two days, the DVD sold 2.36 million units and generated $42.74 million. This is on par with the previous film's opening week.
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January 4th, 2011
There were plenty of new releases on the sales chart this week, but none came close to unseating Despicable Me. The film repeated on top with 1.38 million units for the week and 5.13 million units after two. It has already brought in $86.13 million in revenue, while it will have little trouble hitting $100 million shortly.
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December 28th, 2010
There were seven new releases to chart this week, including the new number one. In fact, that new number one dominated in a surprising way and none of the other new releases managed to make much of an impact at the box office. Despicable Me led the way with 3.75 million units sold and $62.70 million. If there were any doubts about a sequel, this ended them, as the film is already in the top ten for the year.
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December 21st, 2010
A couple of very high profile new releases hit the home market this week, but despite this, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was able to top the DVD sales chart during its first full week of release with 3.15 million units / $56.62 million for a running tally of 5.54 million units / $99.68 million. This is practically identical to the sales of the first two films at the same point.
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December 15th, 2010
The best new release of the week didn't actually come out this week. This is because The Twilight Saga: Eclipse wasn't released on Tuesday like the rest of the new releases, but on the weekend. Despite having fewer days to sell DVDs, it still topped the sales chart with 2.39 million units / $43.06 million; however, this was lower than the opening sales of its predecessors, both of which had the same release strategy.
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December 6th, 2010
It's the first Tuesday of December, and the last real week with multiple major releases. After this, the next few weeks are rather shallow in terms of first run releases. This week there are a number of titles that are worth adding to you collection, including the Pick of the Week, Inception on Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack. Restrepo is also worthy of consideration for that honor, as was either of the Criterion Collection releases, Cronos and Videodrome.
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November 29th, 2010
This is the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, which means it is the day after Cyber Monday and the end of the busiest gift buying weekend of the year. So it should come as no surprise that there's a bit of a lull when it comes to DVD / Blu-ray releases. In fact, the biggest selling film of the week doesn't come out till Saturday. There are still more than a few releases that are worth checking out, including this week's Pick of the Week, Fantasia / Fantasia 2000 on Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack. However, there is no real depth to this week's list and the drop from top tier to second tier is fast and steep.
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September 20th, 2010
This weekend saw a new industry record set, with The Twilight Saga: Eclipse becoming the fifth film to earn $300 million in 2010 (full 2010 details here), beating the four movies that topped $300 million in 2007 (2007 details).
The Expendables also became the 18th film of the year to reach $100 million at the box office, although that is off last year's record-setting pace.
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August 8th, 2010
Over the past weekend, Toy Story 3 fell to second place on the international chart with $38.69 million on 7806 screens in 42 markets. However, it rose to second place for 2010 on the international chart with $436.65 million overtaking Shrek Forever After. The only 2010 release that has made more internationally is Alice in Wonderland. Worldwide it now has $826.41 million and it has very likely already surpassed Finding Nemo to become Pixar's biggest hit. The film's only major release of the week came in Germany over the weekend, where it made $4.03 million on 740 screens, bringing the total to $4.35 million. While this is a good result, its not great, and prior to this the film had been doing great. It also remained in the top spot in the U.K. over the weekend, with $12.81 million on 564 screens, for a two week total of $62.82 million. It has likely overtaken Alice in Wonderland to become the biggest hit of 2010 released in that market. As for the film's future, it has yet to open in South Korea and Scandinavia. If it does well in those markets, $1 billion worldwide is still within reach.
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August 1st, 2010
After opening in a few markets last weekend, Inception got its international run off in earnest last weekend and climbed into second place with $56.78 million on 5,177 screens in 36 markets for a still early total of $87.86 million.
It opened in a number of major markets and debuted in first place in most of them.
The biggest was Japan with $7.86 million on 525 screens over the weekend and $8.94 million in total.
France was also a lucrative market for the film with $8.01 million on 626 screens, while in South Korea it made $6.01 million on 583 screens over the weekend and $7.89 million in total.
Russia added $7.08 million on 895 screens to its weekend haul, while Australia produced $6.67 million on 413.
The film only managed seventh in Mexico with just $467,000 on 152 screens, but this was a low screen count.
In the U.K. the film was down just 29% to $6.47 million on 456 screens over the weekend for a total of $22.01 after two.
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July 25th, 2010
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse slipped to second place with $43.82 million on 9,527 screens in 61 markets for a total of $295.66 million internationally and $560.45 million worldwide.
This includes a first place debut in Germany with $9.76 million on 767 screens over the weekend and $12.30 million in total.
On the other hand, the film was down a stunning 75% in the U.K. to $5.19 million over the weekend and $33.84 million after two.
The amazing growth the franchise saw from installment one to two is gone, but this is still a fantastically profitable movie.
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July 20th, 2010
Neither of the two new releases were able to match expectations, while the holdovers were not able to compensate. This left the overall box office down 7% to $178 million for the weekend. That was still 11% higher than last year, lifting 2010's lead over 2009 to $6.22 billion to $5.97 billion.
Attendance is still down by 2%, but revenue is higher by 4% thanks to the increased price for 3D tickets.
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July 15th, 2010
Inception, one of the most anticipated films of the summer, hits theaters this weekend, which should help the box office keep up its torrid pace of the past few weeks.
It will need to, because this time last year saw the release of The Half-Blood Prince, which was one of the most anticipated films of last summer.
Inception likely won't top Half-Blood Prince at the box office, though it could come close.
But combined with the other wide release and holdovers, 2010 should put another win under its belt.
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July 14th, 2010
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse remained in top spot on the international chart for the second weekend in a row, and it also crossed another major milestone.
It added $73.73 million over the weekend on 9,157 screens in 53 markets for a total of $216.04 million internationally, while it has $451.41 million worldwide.
This is already more than the original Twilight earned in total.
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July 12th, 2010
It was a great weekend at the box office with four of the top five films beating expectations. The helped the overall box office climb to $192 million, which was an increase of 2% from last weekend and considering last weekend was a holiday, this is impressive. (Granted, July 4th did land on a Sunday, which undoubtedly hurt the industry's three-day weekend haul, but I'm still impressed.) Additionally, the weekend saw 34% growth from the same weekend last year, which is beyond impressive. Year-to-date, 2010 now has a 4.9% lead over 2009, $5.94 billion to $5.66 billion.
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July 11th, 2010
The long wait for an out and out hit is over for Universal this weekend, thanks to a great opening weekend for Despicable Me.
The kids comedy had been getting good reviews, and benefited from a great marketing campaign, but was going head-to-head with Toy Story 3, and had to fight for every screen (2D and 3D) that it played on.
So the studio will be delighted with its estimated $60.1 million opening.
With good word-of-mouth, the film can set its sights on $200 million, and strong video revenues to come.
With a production budget of $69 million, the studio will be reaping big profits on this one.
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July 8th, 2010
It's a post-holiday weekend and that usually means a serious drop-off at the box office. Add in two films with serious Fanboy, and Fangirl, issues, and this is twice as true this weekend. However, we do have two films that are earning strong reviews and this could help mitigate the losses. Also, this time last year wasn't particularly strong either, so we won't need a $40 million debut to keep 2010 close to 2009's pace. Although that would certainly help and it is not out of the question.
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July 8th, 2010
As it did domestically, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse dominated the international chart over the weekend, earning $75.48 million on 7,760 screens in 39 markets for a total opening of $103.73 million.
In comparison, New Moon opened with $124.22 million on 6,578 screens in 24 markets for a total of $136.01 million.
The previous installment in this franchise earned more than $400 million internationally, so if this film makes half of that, it will still make enough profit to pay for the next two movies.
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July 8th, 2010
The winners of our Hunting for a Winner contest were determined and they are...
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July 7th, 2010
As expected, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse had a huge opening on IMAX; in fact, it set a record, pulling in $1 million during midnight screenings alone. This broke the previous record of $950,000 held by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Over the six days, the film made $9 million on 193 IMAX screens domestically, while it added $235,000 on just 11 IMAX screens internationally.
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July 7th, 2010
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse not only led the way on the overall chart, but also topped the per theater chart with an average of $14,510 over three days and $18,719 over four. The second placed film overall, The Last Airbender, was second on the per theater chart as well with an average of $12,725 over three days and $16,347 over four. Cyrus expanded to 77 theaters, and earned an average of $10,058 / $14,209, which was enough to reach the top ten on the overall four-day chart. Finally, Toy Story 3 missed the $10,000 club over the three-day weekend with an average of $7,517, but made it there when you add in Monday with an average of $10,689.
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July 6th, 2010
Independence Day long weekend may not have seen as many records fall as some were hoping, but every film in the top five topped expectations (albeit by tiny margins in some cases). Overall the box office pulled in $188 million over the three-day weekend, which was an increase of 15% from last weekend, and $250 million over the four-day weekend, which was up 16% from last year. Year-to-date, 2010 has now amassed $5.66 million in ticket sales, up close to 4% from last year's pace. Higher ticket prices for 3D movies does have something to do with that, but I think the studios should still be happy with these results.
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July 1st, 2010
Yesterday was the first of July, Canada Day! It was also the start of the CFL season. ... Oh yeah, and apparently there's a holiday in the United States. On a serious note, the Independence Day long weekend is usually the second most lucrative weekend of the year (only the Memorial Day long weekend tops it). The Twilight Saga: Eclipse will dominate the box office having already set a few records, while it isn't the only film that should pull in big bucks over the next four days. The overall box office should top last year's totals, even with the front-loaded nature of the top film.
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July 1st, 2010
The summer has really started to get depressing, not just disappointing. It's getting to the point where a film merely matching expectations is enough to celebrate, while beating expectations is practically unheard of. Speaking of which, of the ten wide releases that opened in June only four matched expectations. Granted, that's better than May, but still disappointing. Going forwards, what is likely the biggest hit of July actually opens on the last day of June. Given how front-loaded The Twilight Saga: Eclipse could be, this could have a serious effect when we compare this year's box office to last July.
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June 30th, 2010
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse starts the Independence Day long weekend early. In fact, it started last night with midnight shows in more than 4000 theaters. How well did it do? And does this bode well for the weekend as a whole?
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June 30th, 2010
An opening day record still seems possible for
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse after the movie opened with a massive $30 million in midnight shows in 4,000 theaters nationwide.
That betters the $26.3 million opening night record that was held by The Twilight Saga: New Moon on its way to an all-time record $72 million opening day.
The record for IMAX midnight shows was also beaten, with $1 million earned in 192 locations.
The big question now is what this means for Eclipse's chances of breaking the opening day record.
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June 29th, 2010
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse will open in 4,416 theaters on Wednesday -- the all-time widest opening for a movie, Summit announced on Tuesday morning.
A Twilight/New Moon double-header will play in 2,037 theaters for one night only on Tuesday evening.
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June 24th, 2010
Next week is the first weekend of July, and there's no question that the number one film will be Eclipse, although it opens on a Wednesday, which complicates things.
It will be the target film for this week's box office prediction contest.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a copy of Predator: Ultimate Hunter Edition on Blu-ray.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a copy of Predator: Ultimate Hunter Edition on Blu-ray.
Finally, one additional person will be chosen at random and they will win the final copy of Predator: Ultimate Hunter Edition on Blu-ray.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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June 21st, 2010
Toy Story 3's record-breaking opening included its run on IMAX, opening with $8.4 million on 180 IMAX screens. That's the record for an animated film. Additionally, it earned $1.2 million on 47 IMAX screens internationally for a worldwide opening of $9.6 million, with scheduled openings in 29 more theaters on the international scene yet to come.
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June 1st, 2010
So far this summer the disappointments are outnumbering the pleasant surprises by a disturbing margin. Granted, we've only just finished May, but none of the May wide releases met expectations. None. Iron Man 2 was still a massive hit, but no film since then has come close to matching its box office prowess and we are coming close to hitting the panic button at the box office. Worse still, June of 2009 was better than expected with two massive hits that came out of nowhere. Plus, there was the release of the Revenge of the Fallen, which for much of the year looked like it would be the biggest hit of 2009. So, do we have any films likely to do as well as Revenge this June? Maybe. And hopefully we will have more depth, because outside those three films, the rest of June 2009 struggled.
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