July 2nd, 2007
Wow. One of the slowest weeks for DVDs I can remember. First-run releases are led by... well... there are no first run releases. There's very little in the way of limited or classic releases either leaving TV on DVD to dominate. The best of the best include two Canadian shows, Degrassi The Next Generation - Season 5 and Slings & Arrows - Season 3, and another series that is filmed in Canada, Eureka - Season One. Any of them could be the DVD Pick of the Week and not too long ago I would have given them all but I'm trying to keep to the singular these days. (It is DVD Pick of the Week and not DVD Picks of the Week, after all). It was a very close call as Slings & Arrows - Season 3 is the best show and Eureka - Season One has the best special features, while Degrassi The Next Generation - Season 5 fits nicely in the middle of both of those shows. The tiebreaker came in the form of Kevin Smith, who did two guest shots in Degrassi The Next Generation - Season 5 and that pushed it over the top making it the DVD Pick of the Week.
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June 4th, 2007
It's the first week of the month, which is oftentimes the busiest time for DVD releases.
However, while there are plenty of releases this week, there are not that many that are top quality (and no spotlight reviews).
The DVD Pick of the Week is Seinfeld - Season 8, but there's little surprise there.
I would also recommend picking up The Dead Zone - The Complete Fifth Season and The Sergio Leone Anthology.
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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.
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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.
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April 21st, 2007
It was a slow week for new releases with only one able to make the top ten on the rentals charts. This left The Good Shepherd free to remain in top spot with $7.15 million for the week and $15.81 during its run so far.
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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.
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April 14th, 2007
The Good Shepherd led a flock of new releases earning $8.66 million. This was only a small, small margin ahead of the second place Pursuit of Happyness, which added $8.48 million to its two-week total of $18.43 million.
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April 7th, 2007
New releases were a source of happiness on the home market as they first one - two this week. Leading the way was Pursuit of Happyness with an impressive $9.95 million while fellow happy release, Happy Feet, placed second with $8.26 million.
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March 31st, 2007
A trio of new releases led the sales chart this week, and those three all managed to place in the top five on the rental charts as well. This includes the new number one film, Blood Diamond with $9.00 million.
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March 25th, 2007
The French film, Taxi 4, just missed the top five with $3.94 million on 1255 screens in 7 markets for a total of $49.56 million. Obviously, most of that has come from France, $35.70 million in fact, but the film is also doing well in Russia with $10.63 million so far, including $2.22 million on 466 screens over the weekend.
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March 20th, 2007
It's a busy week for DVDs, and it's even busier next week.
Not only are the overall numbers high, the quality is good too, with several films from last year's award season / holiday rush coming to the home market.
One of these films, Rocky Balboa - Buy from Amazon, was a serious contender for DVD Pick of the Week, as was a TV on DVD release, NewsRadio - The Complete Fifth Season - Buy from Amazon.
But in the end I went with a cult classic that more people should experience, Re-Animator - Limited Edition - Buy from Amazon.
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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.
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March 11th, 2007
Music and Lyrics remained in sixth place with $5.64 million on 1645 screens in 18 markets for a total of $32.01 million internationally. The film disappointed domestically, but it appears to be making up for that softness on the international scene. The film's best opening of the weekend came from South Korea where it placed second with $2.06 million on 144 screens while it also grabbed second place in Brazil with $490,000 on 140. Holdovers were led by the U.K. where the film earned $1.09 million on 364 screens during its fourth week of release for a total of $15.71 million in that market alone. That's close to a $100 million run here, taking into account the relative sizes of the two markets.
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February 25th, 2007
The Blood Diamond fell from second to sixth this past weekend, mainly due to the lack of new openings. The film still pulled $8.52 million on 3409 screens in 59 markets for a total of $77.51 million and is still on pace for $100 million internationally, but that's the last milestone in its future.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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January 28th, 2007
Apocalypto climbed into sixth place despite dropping 13% to $6.72 million on 2072 screens for a total of $37.90 million. Its best market of the week was Spain where it opened in first place with $1.94 million on 283 screens.
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January 23rd, 2007
The
Oscar nominations were handed out today and for the most part they've followed the script written by previous awards committees fairly closely.
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January 21st, 2007
The Holiday slipped out of the top five this week, but still has plenty of reason to celebrate as the film hit $100 million on the international scene. Over the weekend it added $8.16 million on 3104 screens in 45 markets to its running tally of $102.54 million. This includes Mexico where the film opened with a respectable third place earning $711,000 on 230 screens while it took fourth place in Argentina with $153,000 on 40.
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January 15th, 2007
Apocalypto was the best of the rest this weekend pulling in $8.3 million over the weekend for a running tally of $20 million on the international scene. Its biggest single market was the U.K. where the film opened in third place with $2.62 million on 385 screens, (including very limited previews), which was a record for a
foreign language film. It did even better in Italy with $3.17 million on 316 screens placing second. Given the film's R-rating, it should outperform its domestic total giving it a target box office of over $100 million worldwide.
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January 5th, 2007
The
Screen Actors Guide handed out their nominations yesterday and of the 5 theatrical categories, there were more than a dozen films to pick up at least one nomination.
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December 19th, 2006
After weeks of mediocre box office results, the box office finally started to show some life this past weekend, but even so, only one of the three wide releases beat expectations and the overall box office was still down more than 6% from the same weekend last year.
However, with an overall box office of $121 million there was still growth of 25% from last weekend and we'll take the good news where we can find it.
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December 15th, 2006
Babel led the way when the
Golden Globe nominations were announced today with seven nominations while
The Departed was close behind with six.
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December 12th, 2006
2006 has hit a real losing streak since Happy Feet and Casino Royale opened three weeks ago. This week only one of the four wide releases matched expectations while their combined box office was well below last year's number one film.
And while the overall box office was up 4% from last weekend at $97 million, it was down a huge 22% from the same weekend last year.
Things need to turn around soon, or ticket sales may dip below last year's pace.
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December 9th, 2006
Good week for websites with a number of candidates for the top spot. In the end I went with
Ghost Rider -
Official Site, but there's a few others here that will undoubtedly win in the coming weeks.
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December 8th, 2006
It's one of the most confusing weekend for box office analysts with four movies coming out, three of which have serious question marks regarding their box office potential. All four also have a shot at winning the box office race, but the extreme competition will probably result in the winning film earning less than $20 million.
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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.
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November 30th, 2006
The first weekend of December rarely brings us a big blockbuster, and this year is no different. Three films open wide, or in varying degrees of wideness, but none look to have the chops to take first place.
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November 18th, 2006
A lot of trailers on this week's list of websites. Not only were there a lot of site with just trailers, there were a few trailers without sites. On the other hand, there were also a few contenders for the Weekly Website Award. In the end it was
The Children of Men -
Official Site that took home that prestigious award.
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October 29th, 2006
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Blood Diamond, Dark Materials and more.
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October 7th, 2006
Good week for websites, but most were smaller updates or new sites with just a few features. Two sites,
Happy Feet -
Official Site and
The Prestige -
Official Site, stood out above the crowd, but both will need a few more update to take home the Weekly Website Award.
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