August 3rd, 2010
It was yet another week of soft DVD sales with none of the new releases lighting up the sales chart. That said, Cop Out was able to take top spot with 325,000 units and $5.45 million in consumer spending at retail.
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July 27th, 2010
Sales numbers continued to be soft this week with none of the new releases doing strong business. We did have a new number of seller, as The Bounty Hunter opened with 560,000 units and $9.71 million in consumer spending at retail.
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July 12th, 2010
The dog days of summer continue on the home market.
The best selling release of the week is also one of the worst films of the year.
Also, there are not a lot of limited release / TV on DVD releases to pick up the pace, so the odds are that it will be a slow week in terms of sales.
Looking for a Pick of the Week contender, there are a couple of TV on DVD releases that are prime contenders, Psych: The Complete Fourth Season and Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XVIII.
Both are worth picking up, but I'm going with MST3K as the Pick of the Week.
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May 9th, 2010
With Iron Man 2 debuting over the past weekend, Alice in Wonderland had one last gasp before the onslaught of summer blockbusters. It remained in second place with $23.54 million on 4263 screens in 54 markets over the weekend for a total of $592.23 million after two months of release. Worldwide, the film now has $921.92 million, which means that over the weekend it became just the 14th film to cross the $900 million milestone. It has already overtaken Shrek 2 for 13th place. By now, it is likely already in the top ten all-time and has a nominal shot at $1 billion worldwide.
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May 2nd, 2010
Date Night fell out of the top five, but added $7.47 million on 3120 screens in 48 markets for a total of $28.31 million. The film opened in first place in the U.K., but only made $1.97 million on 400 screens, which is about the same as $11 million here. That's not a great start and there's little hope that the film will match its domestic total overseas, but it is still a solid midlevel hit and should show a profit by the time it reaches the home market.
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April 21st, 2010
Clash of the Titans tread water, down just 2% to $52.67 million on 10,165 screens in 55 markets for a total of $191.64 million internationally and $324.24 million worldwide. The film had a surprisingly strong start in Mexico, earning $7.18 million on 980 screens, which is close to the amount Alice in Wonderland opened with last month. It also placed first in Italy with $4.26 million on 533 screens. With an opening in Japan this weekend and Brazil next month (as well as some smaller markets), hitting $300 million internationally shouldn't be an issue. It could reach $500 million worldwide.
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April 14th, 2010
Clash of the Titans nearly doubled its reach over the weekend as it remained in top spot with $53.87 million on 6629 screens in 32 markets for a still early total of $120.95 million internationally and $231.18 million worldwide. The film opened in first place in Russia with $11.82 million on 920 screens. That's a lot given the size of the market, but Russia has a history of rewarding fantasy films. In France it also opened in first place, earning $6.41 million on 576 screens, while in Germany it showed similar strength with $5.93 million on 628 screens. As far as holdovers were concerned, it remained in first place in South Korea with $4.11 million on 642 screens over the weekend for a total of $14.17 million after two. It also remained on top in the U.K. with $3.77 million on 468 screens over the weekend for a total of $19.56 million after two.
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April 7th, 2010
Clash of the Titans started its international run in first place with $41.14 million on 3458 screens in 17 markets over the weekend for a total opening of $45.96 million. This includes first place openings in a number of major markets, led by the U.K. where it opened with $8.68 million on 446 screens. In Australia, the film debuted with $5.90 million on 351 screens. In Spain it managed $5.52 million on 544 screens over the weekend and $8.53 million, including midweek numbers.
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April 4th, 2010
The Bounty Hunter slipped a spot to sixth place with $6.33 million on 1671 screens in 29 markets for a total of $17.04 million. It opened in a number of markets, mostly on the smaller side. Its largest new market was Mexico, where it debuted in fourth place with $656,000 on 300 screens. Meanwhile, it added $1.49 million on 393 screens during its second weekend in the U.K. for a two-week total of $5.86 million. It was right behind in Russia with $1.40 million on 445 screens over the weekend for a total of $5.52 million after two.
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March 30th, 2010
How to Train Your Dragon became the third 3D film to top the box office this year, but its opening didn't match my lofty expectations. Additionally, the rest of the box office wasn't able to compensate and that left the overall box office a little on the soft side. On a positive note, it did rise 1.7% from last weekend to $129 million. On the negative side, that represents a 12% decline from the same weekend last year, ending 2010's winning streak at four weeks. Year-to-date, 2010 has pulled in $2.59 billion at the box office. This figure is still 8.9% higher than the same point last year, which is fantastic.
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March 25th, 2010
After three weeks on top, there's really no doubt that Alice in Wonderland will surrender its crown to How to Train Your Dragon this weekend.
The real question is whether or not the newcomer can earn more than Monsters vs. Aliens did last year.
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March 24th, 2010
Alice in Wonderland remained in first place for the third weekend in a row, adding $47.50 million on 6,827 screens in 49 markets for a total of $299.78 million internationally.
I guarantee it reached $300 million internationally early on Monday. In fact, weekend estimates had it topping $300 million on Sunday, before the revised final numbers were released. The film again had no major market openings this weekend, but it remains a powerhouse in many countries.
This includes the U.K., where it pulled in $7.26 million on 525 screens over the weekend for a total of $45.65 million after just three weeks of release.
The film now has made $565.22 million worldwide after just three weeks of release. With openings in France, Spain, Japan, and Brazil ahead of it, it is on track for $750 million.
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March 24th, 2010
The winners of our Doubling the Bounty contest were determined and they are...
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March 22nd, 2010
For the third weekend in a row, Alice in Wonderland topped the chart at the box office. The number one new release was also bigger than expected. However, the rest of the chart failed to live up to expectations, which led to a total weekend of $126 million, a nearly 14% drop-off from the previous weekend. That said, this was a 20% increase from the same weekend last year, which is obviously a much more important number. Year-to-date, 2010 has pulled in $2.42 billion, 9.0% higher than the same pace last year. It's still way too early to crack open the champagne, but this is a great start.
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March 21st, 2010
Alice in Wonderland is enjoying a third straight win on the box office charts this weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
With another $34.5 million or so in the bank, Alice will have rung up over $265 million by the end of the day.
After Avatar's domination at the beginning of the year, 2010 is really shaping up to be the year of 3D movies.
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March 18th, 2010
After Alice in Wonderland held on better than expected last weekend, almost all analysts think it will repeat on top again this weekend.
The three new releases should at least come close to matching last year's new releases, and with Alice leading the way, it should be another strong week on a year-to-year basis.
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March 11th, 2010
There appear to be two films opening at saturation levels next week. It looks like the widest will be Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but The Bounty Hunter will probably be the number one film. It is the target film this week. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for The Bounty Hunter.
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 Double Identity on DVD
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 Double Identity on DVD
Entries must be received by 10 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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March 1st, 2010
February was a stronger than expected month, for the most part, but 2010 continued to lose ground to 2009. Hopefully this trend will reverse itself, but it could be tough. Last March started with Watchmen, which earned just over $100 million at the box office. The month ended with Monsters vs. Aliens, which earned nearly $200 million. Granted, between these two releases there were a fair number of bombs, but it might be hard for this year to match last year at the top.
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