October 15th, 2008
The DVD Release Report finally comes out this week after a couple of delays. At least it is worth the wait as one of the most anticipated films of the year, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, comes out on both Two-Disc Collector's Edition and Blu-ray. This release is clearly the DVD Pick of the Week, on either format, while there are so many other releases that the list had to split into two. You can find the second part here.
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June 5th, 2006
It's like the week of the
Western with that genre making appearances in nearly every category, Special Edition, Box Sets, TV on DVD. But while there are certainly some that were in the running for DVD Pick of the Week, (
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid -
2-Disc Collector's Edition, for instance), it was a limited release that is the DVD Pick of the Week. And that film is
Sarah Silverman - Jesus is Magic -
Buy from Amazon, but I fully admit my pro-
Sarah Silverman bias has something to do with this decision.
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August 20th, 2005
Guess Who was able to repeat as the champion on the home market thanks in part to the weak competition, but also due to the miniscule 8% drop-off from its
opening week numbers. The film earned $8.01 million in DVD rentals, $630,000 in VHS rentals for a combined total of $8.64 million this week, which lifted its two-week total to $18.23 million.
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August 13th, 2005
There was a bit of a surprise on top of the Home Market this week as Guess Who led all releases and earned top spot with $8.67 million in DVD rentals, $750,000 in VHS rentals for a $9.42 million total.
The film also led the DVD sales chart, but as usual no numbers were released.
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August 6th, 2005
Despite two new openers in the top five,
Constatine remained the best on the rental market with $6.76 million in DVD rentals and $620,000 in VHS rentals. Its combined total of $7.38 million was 27% lower than
last week, but it wasn't the worst drop-off in the top five.
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July 30th, 2005
Constatine captured top spot on the home market taking first place on the DVD rentals, ($9.23 million); VHS rentals, ($930,000); and DVD sales, (no numbers announced.) And while the film's combined rentals of $10.17 million was a strong performance, the rest of the top five weren't so lucky.
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July 18th, 2005
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases, classics and a few from the growing TV on DVD section. It's another slow week as there are no wide releases that earned overall positive reviews, and there were only a few limited and older releases to pick up the slack. Again it was the TV on DVD section that came to the rescue with
Dead Like Me - The Complete Second Season and
This Is Wonderland - The Complete First Season being chosen as the DVD picks of the week.
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June 5th, 2005
It was a slightly busier weekend as several studios were brave enough, or foolhardy enough to try and sandwich their film between the worldwide release of
Revenge of the Sith and
Batman Begins, which debuts in just 10 days. With
War of the Worlds' worldwide release just two weeks after that, there's very little room for smaller films to survive.
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May 29th, 2005
Revenge of the Sith dominated nearly every market it opened in and in most of them it was the only new film in the top ten. Because of this there's almost no international details to report and those details that are available are single market releases.
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May 22nd, 2005
It was another slow weekend for international details as few studios were brave enough, or foolish enough to try and squeeze in a release between
Kingdom of Heaven and
Revenge of the Sith. It was hard to find many films that earned more than $1 million over the weekend and most of the activity came from smaller releases in midlevel markets. Next weekend there could be even fewer details as
Revenge of the Sith should dominate every market, but after that the summer blockbuster season should be in full swing and things should pick up.
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May 16th, 2005
The summer got off to a really, really slow start international this week and while
Kingdom of Heaven didn't wasn't quite the blockbuster most people were looking for, it did cannibalized what little box office there was. There were a few local films to make noise, including Negotiator: Bayside Shakedown 3, which easily topped the Japanese market with $5,275,685 on just 280 for a huge $18,842 per screen average.
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May 4th, 2005
While XXX: State of the Union easily took top spot on the international charts, its numbers were clearly lower than anticipated. The film opened in 64 markets, finishing first in 20 of them, but its per screen average was tiny at $14.8 million on 4,800 screens.
It did have a few bright spots, mostly in Asia.
For instance, the film's best single market performance came in South Korea where it brought in $1.3 million on just 174 screens, but was still a distant second to a local flick. The film did finish first in Thailand with nearly $390,000 on 60 screens ($500,000 including sneak peaks), $240,000 from 50 in the Philippines, $225,000 on 30 in Singapore and $170,000 on 19 in Taiwan.
The rest of the film's run was nearly uniformly awful.
XXX: State of the Union finished first in Spain with $950,000 on 400 screens, which was a pyrrhic victory at best. The film managed $1.8 million in the U.K. on 493 screens finishing a distant second to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the result was the same in Australia where the film took in $930,000 on 246 screens. Worst of all, the film opened in second place in Germany with $1.19 million on 598 screens, nearly 80% lower than the original managed.
The film had similar results in Latin America, $540,000 in Mexico, off more than 75% from the original; Brazil at $360,000 lower by more than 70%, etc. No one was expecting the film to reach the same level as the original, but at this pace the film won't hit $100 million worldwide.
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May 1st, 2005
It was a good news, bad news kind of weekend for
Constantine. The film remained in top spot in Japan with $2,330,027 on 349 screens for a $9,011,671 running tally in the market. Bad news, it dropped 37% during its second weekend in the market, which is really steep for Japan. Overall the film brought in $3 million on 1,200 screens in 40 markets for a international box office of $136.4 million.
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April 24th, 2005
Hitch is just coasting on holdovers now, and will be until it opens in Japan at the beginning of June. This week it added $5.1 million from 3000 screens in 55 markets to its already impressive $170.4 million international total and with soft week to week drop-offs and a good showing in Japan and it will have a $200 million future. This week the film added $643,359 in its fifth weekend in France for a $12,785,670 total in the market, $110,000 in its second weekend in Argentina, (rising to first place in the meantime) as well as other, smaller markets.
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April 17th, 2005
The Pacifier finally debut across Australia after playing in Queensland and Victoria for the past two weeks; the massive expansion allowed the film to climb to first place with $1.125 million on 267 screens. That lifted its total in the market to $3.41 million so far and the film should have strong legs. Add to that its $1.75 million opening in Spain and $590,000 in Belgium and the film managed $4.1 million over the weekend, which doubled its early total to $8.1 million.
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April 6th, 2005
For the first time in four weeks we have a new numbers one on the international charts as
The Ring 2 opened in several major markets helping propel the film to $18.8 million on 3,476 screens in 37 markets for an international total of $34.7 million. That was enough to push its worldwide total passed $100 million to $102.7 million. It's biggest single market was the U.K. where the film $3.86 million on 419 screens, but this was not up the performance of the
original. On the other hand, the film saw its biggest gain in France where its $2.15 million on 403 screens was 50% more than the $1.4 million
original made in 2002. Other major market debuts include $3.0 million on 445 screens in Germany and $2.9 million on 320 screens in Spain. Holdovers were not kind to the film, again, as it dropped 54% in Australia to just $717,420. This has been a problem throughout the film's run and will likely result in the film earning substantially less than
original when all is said and done.
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March 30th, 2005
The
romantic comedy,
Hitch, topped the international box office charts after hitting $100 million earlier in the week. After adding $18.4 million 5,000 prints in 55 markets the film's international box office now sits at $127.4 million and is less than a week from hitting $300 million worldwide. The film had strong openings in a handful of markets, $430,000 in New Zealand on 61 screens, $350,000 on 48 screens in Greece, $292,000 in Venezuela. But the heart of
Hitch's weekend haul came from holdovers like the U.K. with $3.1 million and Germany with $3.0 million, (and number one in both markets.) The film is also still doing strong in France, ($2.8 million and second place) and Italy, ($1.4 million up 5% from last weekend.) This is mostly likely the last weekend the film will reign on the international charts, but with Japan still ahead it should still make some noise at the box office.
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March 23rd, 2005
Not only did
Hitch win the weekend race on the international circuit, but it almost closed the gap between it and
Constantine for the race to $100 million. This week the
romantic comedy pulled in $22.7 million on 5,000 screens in 46 markets, lifting its international box office to $98.1 million as of Sunday, and the film has almost assuredly hit $100 million after Monday and Tuesday. It's biggest box office of the weekend came from France where the film debuted in top spot with $4.4 million on 560 screens and the film also took top spot in its debut in Malaysia with $230,000 on 30 screens while just missing the trifecta with a second place, $400,000 opening in Turkey. Holdovers include first place finishes in Germany, ($3.75 million) Austria and Australia, ($1.4 million) while the film slipped to second place in its second weekend of wide release in the U.K. with $4.3 million. The only downside for the film now is the lack of major markets left to open in with Japan having to wait till July 4th. By that time the film will have crossed $300 million worldwide and may climb high enough to become one of the ten biggest hits of the year.
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March 16th, 2005
Not only is
Hitch the undisputed champion of 2005 for the domestic market, it is also the new number one worldwide, topping
Howl's Moving Castle $216.5 million to $211.9 million. And with $28.1 million this weekend on 4,600 screens in 40 markets, the film sits at $66.0 million internationally and could become the first film from 2005 to reach the $100 million milestone on the international scene.
The film's biggest opening of the weekend came from the U.K., where it racked up $8.1 million including sneak peaks, which represented more than 50% of total box office in the market.
Add in first place debuts in Italy with $2.5 million on 300, Belgium with $820,000 on 57, Netherlands with $670,000 on 93 and $225,000 on 16 screens in the U.E.A. The film also performed admirably in South Korea with a third place, $1.4 million weekend on 175 screens. Notable holdovers include its $6.3 million in Germany, down less than 30% to $17.2 million in that market alone and $1.83 million in Australia, down 34% and still first place in both markets. The film was also first place in Scandinavia, but exact numbers are currently unavailable.
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March 9th, 2005
We have a new number one at the international box office this week, as Hitch has expanded into 19 more markets, with number one debuts in all but one; it added $21.1 million on 3,000 screens in 25 markets to its early $29.6 million total.
Its biggest debut came in Germany, where Will Smith is a huge box office draw; the film brought in $8.8 million on 905 screens, becoming the biggest opening ever for a Romantic Comedy.
The film also did amazing business in other German speaking markets (Austria and Switzerland), plus Australia at $2.76 million, making it the biggest opening of the year in all four markets.
The only market it failed to crack the top spot was Spain, where it went head to head with Hide & Seek and narrowly missing top spot with 2.56 million on 373 screens.
It should be pointed out that horror films do particularly well in Spain, so this result is not unexpected. One last note, the film also debuted in London on one screen earning $101,395.
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March 2nd, 2005
Meet the Fockers maintained their hold on the international box office crown with $20.8 million on 4200 screens in 48 markets for a running tally of $184.7 million. The film opened in only one market, New Zealand, which is strange since the film has been playing in Australia since Christmas. Like Canada and the U.S., most films tend to open in Australia and New Zealand on the same day, and it looks like the delay hurt the film's box office as $524,000 on 53 screens was lower than expected. The film maintained its pole position in several larger markets including Germany, where the film dropped just 15% to $5.0 million and Austria down just 7% to $1.0 million.
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February 28th, 2005
It was a shocking weekend at the box office, which is good, since the Oscars seemed safe and predictable this year.
However, not all the surprises were pleasant and even with the top film more than doubling its prediction the overall box office wasn't that much higher than expected.
It fell by 7.7% from last weekend and 22% from last year. Year to date 2005's lead was cut nearly in half to 8.6%, $1.244 billion to $1.145 billion.
Look for that trend to continue next weekend.
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February 25th, 2005
It's Oscar weekend, the weekend where the movie industry celebrates the best of the best, but ironically, the three movies having wide releases would hardly qualify for that description. It's so bad that two of the three films were not screened for critics. Ouch. Also ouch will be the effect the Oscar telecast will have on the box office, especially for films that are up for awards. Still, whatever they lose this weekend they'll make up for with the Oscar bounce next weekend. One last note, right now 2005 is about 14% up on 2004, that will change this weekend. In fact, the gab could be cut in half over the next three days.
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February 23rd, 2005
Aided by number one debuts in 8 markets, Meet the Fockers easily topped the international box office with $28.1 million on 3,750 screens in 33 markets for a total of $153.7 million internationally, which tops the original's $139.6 million total.
The film debuted in two major markets, bringing in $5.8 million on 629 screens in Germany and $4.3 million on 591 in France.
The film also had $1 million openings in Austria ($1.1 million on 110 screens) and Belgium (an incredible $1.3 million on just 51 screens).
In holdovers, the film was equally impressive, dropping just 25% during its second weekend in Italy and 36% in its fourth weekend in the U.K., where it remained in first place.
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February 23rd, 2005
Only two films were able to crack the $10,000 club this week, at least if you only count the three day weekend.
The charts were led by the German Oscar contender, Downfall, which opened in only one theater and earned $18,195 over the 3-day weekend, and $24,220 if you add in the holiday Monday.
In second place was Bride and Prejudice with a per theater average of $10,047 / $12,015.
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February 22nd, 2005
The long weekend helped boost ticket sales to higher than expected levels, with almost every film meeting or exceeding predictions.
Percentage-wise, the three-day weekend was up 10.9% from last weekend and more than 40% from last year.
However, this weekend last year was not Presidents' Day Weekend and thus that comparison is misleading.
Comparing 2005 Presidents Day Weekend to 2004 and the results are still very strong, just not overwhelmingly so; 3-day 2005 was up 7.0% and 8.4% for the 4-day weekend.
Year to date, 2005 is up 13.4% on 2004, with $1.121 billion. However, 2004 had a slow start and didn't really take off until late February.
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February 18th, 2005
Presidents' Day Long Weekend isn't the busiest holiday of the year, but it should give a boost to the box office nonetheless.
Looking at the reviews of the three new releases, this weekend is going to need a boost.
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February 17th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and a few updates, including this week's winner, Sin City - Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
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February 16th, 2005
Meet the Fockers easily topped the international marketplace while surpassing the $100 million milestone internationally. The film's biggest box office was in Italy where the film brought in $5.9 million on 497 screens, more than double what the
original opened with. The film is also opened well in several mid-level markets like Greece where the film took in $650,000 on 59 screens and $790,000 on 94 screens in Holland. Add in strong holdovers in the U.K. ($5.6 million down just 36%) and Spain, ($3.4 million down just 27%) and it all adds up to a $20.2 million on 2500 screens in 25 markets for an international total $114 million.
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February 10th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
The Jacket -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
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February 3rd, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner, Dear Wendy -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
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February 1st, 2005
Just one look at February and it feels like it's a worse month than January was. Maybe it's the fact that January was stronger than expected so February's releases look weaker by comparison. Or maybe it's the lack of a massive hit like we had last year. Regardless of the reason, there's little to be enthusiastic about this month.
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January 20th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
Fantastic Four -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
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June 3rd, 2004
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates including the winner for the week,
Two Brothers -
Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
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May 20th, 2004
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates. It was another deceptively slow week as there are lots of site on the list, but none stood out as an award winning site. Many were simple placeholders, others had just minor updates, and the only three flash sites to launch were mostly marked coming soon. I was even tempted to not give out an award or maybe even bring in a
ringer. But in the end I went with
The Incredibles -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
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