July 26th, 2015
There was not a single first run release among the new releases for July 7th, which meant Get Hard remained on top of the combined DVD and Blu-ray chart for July 12th. It sold an additional 268,000 units and generated $5.21 million for the week, giving it totals of 760,000 units / $13.75 million after two.
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July 22nd, 2015
Only one of the new releases for June 30th was a really big seller on the DVD and Blu-ray chart for July 5th. That was Get Hard, which led the way with 503,000 units / $8.81 million during its first week of release. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 31%. This is lower than the market average, but not that bad for a comedy.
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March 29th, 2015
Despite there being five new releases on this week's DVD sales chart, there was a holdover hanging onto top spot. Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 sold 472,000 units and generated $6.36 million in sales during its first full week of release for early totals of 1.19 million units / $16.28 million.
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February 15th, 2014
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Animated Feature Film, which looked like it would be competitive for most of the year, then Frozen came out and instantly became the favorite. Is it the favorite? Or is there a dark horse out there?
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February 5th, 2014
It's Chinese New Year and the international box office was led by two Chinese films. The Monkey King earned first place with $46 million in 7 markets for a total opening of $54 million. Like most Chinese films, we don't have breakdowns of individual markets.
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January 29th, 2014
The Wolf of Wall Street remained in first place with $35.27 million on 5,472 screens in 40 markets for an international total of $125.49 million. This is already substantially more than the film has pulled in domestically, plus it has a number of major market debuts ahead. This past weekend, the film opened in first place in Australia with $4.46 million on 325 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $4.68 million. Meanwhile, it remained in first place in the U.K. with $5.95 million on 506 screens over the weekend for a total of $17.94 million after two weeks of release. It had a very similar weekend at the box office in Germany with $5.49 million on 597 screens, while it is $14.11 million in that market, also after two weeks of release.
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January 23rd, 2014
The Wolf of Wall Street rocketed from fifth place to first place with $32.84 million in 4,446 screens in 36 markets for an international total of $80.86 million over four weeks of release. The film opened in first place in the U.K. with $7.65 million on 500 screens, while in Germany it earned first place with $6.66 million on 502 screens. Meanwhile, it made $3.62 million on 327 screens in Spain, earning first place in that market as well.
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January 19th, 2014
Producers Guild of America announce the winners tonight, but it seems I forgot to upload the story when they announced their nominations. In my defense, they announced them on January 2nd. You don't make an announcement on January 2nd, not unless you are trying to bury a story. As for the actual nominations, there are very few differences between this group and others, except when it comes to documentaries. Then again, that's been the norm this year. No one seems to agree on what the best documentaries were.
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January 16th, 2014
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning and there are some surprises mixed in with the predictable results. Gravity and American Hustle led the way with ten nominations each while 12 Years a Slave was right behind with nine. The fact that 12 Years a Slave wasn't the leader is the first of the surprises.
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January 15th, 2014
After being in second place for a long time, Frozen finally scored first place with $27.8 million in 50 markets for totals of $394.6 million internationally and $711.9 million worldwide. The film had no major market openings this past weekend, but it opens this weekend in South Korea and in Japan in March.
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December 14th, 2013
Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their Golden Globe nominations this week, and a clear picture is forming. 12 Years a Slave was again the recipient of the most nominations, but this time it was a tie, as it and American Hustle both grabbed seven nominations. If you look down the list of other multi-nominated films, you will find a number of familiar faces.
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December 10th, 2013
It's a good week / bad week when it comes to new releases. On the positive side, there are a couple big first run releases, a couple big TV on DVD releases, and even a classic film hitting Blu-ray for the first time. On the other hand, the depth is really bad. If you look at Amazon.com's list of best selling new releases, you will find filler on the second page. That's not to say there are no contenders for Pick of the Week. Despicable Me 2 is the best selling release and the Blu-ray Combo Pack or 3D Combo Pack are also among the best, as is Mary Poppins: 50th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray. There are also a few more contenders where I'm waiting for a screener (Berberian Sound Studio, The Hunt, etc.). and it is a busy week for top notch releases. In the end, I went with Despicable Me 2 for that honor, but it was a real coin toss.
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December 9th, 2013
Despicable Me came out in 2010 and it was the first digitally animated film released by Universal. There was a lot of pressure to do well, because its level of success would not only determine if more Despicable Me movies would be made, but if the studio would continue to release digitally animated films in general. It beat expectations. Not only was it a great movie, but it earned more than $500 million worldwide on a $69 million budget. Needless to say, Despicable Me 2 was given the greenlight right away. However, can it live up to its predecessor? If not, is it still worth checking out?
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December 6th, 2013
Next week there are two wide releases, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas. The Desolation of Smaug is clearly going to be the winner and it is the only real choice for the target film for this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
On the other hand, there's no clear prize for this week's winner. We have something a little different this time around. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), regardless if they go over or not, will win a random Blu-ray from the following list...
Just look at the app...
There are 21 possibly Blu-rays on that list, and the winner won't know which one they won till it arrives. I think this is kind of fun.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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November 24th, 2013
Thanksgiving is less than a week away and that means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and a ton of shopping. It also means the first installment of our Holiday Gift Guide. Over the next month, we will talk about TV on DVD releases, independent releases, foreign language releases, classics, etc. but this week we start with Major Movie Releases. These are first run releases, franchise box sets, etc. However, this year seems weaker than years past. Last year the biggest new release was The Avengers, which was also one of the best reviewed wide releases of the year. This year the biggest release is Iron Man 3, which earned good reviews, but not great reviews. Last year there were a ton of franchise box sets. This year has been pretty barren. In fact, I think the only franchise box set that's truly new and really worth picking up is...
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November 14th, 2013
Thor: The Dark World debuted last weekend, but thanks to a number of new markets this weekend, it was even more dominant on the international chart. It pulled in $94 million in 66 markets, which lifts its running tally to $240.9 million internationally and $326.6 million worldwide. Its biggest market was China where it made $20.98 million. In comparison, Thor made about $15 million there, in total. This is incredible growth. It grew in Russia rising to $11.44 million on 1,500 screens for a total of $24.04 million after two weeks of release. The original Thor finished with $268.30 million internationally, which is a figure Thor 2 will smash through by the weekend. It might make more internationally than the first film made worldwide and it could help Disney break the all-time single year global box office record, currently at $3.791 billion, which it earned in 2010.
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October 30th, 2013
Gravity earned first place for the fourth week with $37.7 million on 7,340 screens in 53 markets for a total of $164.4 million internationally and $364.0 million worldwide. This weekend it debuted in first place in France with a very impressive $10.76 million on 398 screens. It also remained in first place in South Korea with $5.29 million on 531 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $15.55 million. It also repeated in top spot in Mexico with $3.79 million on 1,563 screens over the weekend for a total of $12.04 million after two. The film will likely pull in close to $100 million in just these holdovers, plus it has yet to open in the U.K., Japan and China, so it could make another $100 million in those three markets as well.
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October 24th, 2013
For the third weekend in a row, Gravity led the way on the international chart and reached a major milestone in the process. This past weekend, it pulled in $33.5 million on 7,900 screens in 51 markets for an international total of $114.2 million and a worldwide total $283.8 million. It opened in first place in two major markets led by South Korea where it earned $6.30 million on 636 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $7.29 million. Meanwhile in Mexico, it made $5.75 million on 1,783 screens. Its biggest market overall is Russia where it has earned $17.60 million in total, including $2.19 million on 700 screens this past weekend.
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October 16th, 2013
Gravity remained in first place with a nearly identical result as last weekend. It was up a barely noticeable amount to $28.5 million on 5,785 screens in 38 markets for a two-week total of $68.3 million internationally. This hold is even more impressive, as its only major market debut came in Brazil, where it opened in second place with $1.67 million on 219 screens. On the other hand, it was down just 9% in Australia with $3.03 million on 471 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $8.29 million. It fell a little more in Germany down 17% to $3.04 million on 614 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $8.12 million. In both of those markets, it remained in first place. It fell faster in Russia down 48% landing in second place with $3.88 million on 1,155 million screens over the weekend for a total of $14.12 million after two weeks of release.
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October 3rd, 2013
Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon opened in China with $17.0 million earning first place in that market and on the overall international chart. The original earned a limited release here and was a great movie, so I'm hoping this film will also get a release here. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing it.
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September 25th, 2013
There was an international film leading the way on the international chart this week. Gwansang jumped into first place internationally with $15.27 million on 1,239 screens in South Korea, lifting its total in that market to $46.58 million after just two weeks of release. It isn't the best South Korean film of the year, at least not yet, as Snowpiercer has made $62.1 million in that market. Meanwhile, Iron Man 3 earned about $65 million there.
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September 19th, 2013
New releases were even worse on the July 7th, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart than they were on the DVD sales chart. Leading the way was Despicable Me with 88,000 units / $1.23 million for the week and 2.35 million units / $58.37 million after more than two-and-a-half years of release. This puts it just outside of the top 20 on the All-Time Blu-ray Chart, and it has already made it there as of the writing of this column.
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September 19th, 2013
The new releases were terrible this week with only two of them reaching the top 30 and none of them reached the top 5 on the July 7th, 2013 DVD sales chart. Despicable Me rose to first place with 196,000 units / $2.19 million for the week for totals of 8.96 million units / $147.10 million.
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September 8th, 2013
The weekend after Labor Day is traditionally the slowest of the year in terms of ticket sales, but it is also potentially one of the more interesting in terms of movies because it can be the busiest weekend of the year for art house releases. This year, we have no less than 24 of them on our release schedule, and there's a good chance that we'll break the record for the most limited releases to report box office results (currently held by the weekend of September 10, 2010 with 16 -- there's an obscure movie stat for you). In fact, this weekend's chart looks very similar to that weekend three years ago.
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September 1st, 2013
Hollywood's Summer ends this weekend with a suitably back-to-school winner in the form of One Direction: This is Us. The 3D concert movie will pick up $17 million Friday-Sunday, largely on the back of an impressive $8.9 million gross on Saturday. While that won't set it up to challenge Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus among the top grossers in this particular sub-genre, it does show the solid business model for 3D films that cater to pop fans. Performances among other films playing this weekend were more varied.
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August 28th, 2013
Jurassic Park earned first place in China with $32.08 on 3,000 screens, but that was for the full week. Over the weekend, the film's international weekend haul was $28.9 million on 3,373 screens in 11 markets for a total of $43.37 million during its 3-D re-release. Even with the tiny studio share in China, it makes sense to release films like this in 3-D there, because they didn't get a chance to see it in theaters the first time around.
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August 23rd, 2013
Elysium rushed to top spot with $24.04 million on 4,588 screens in 41 markets for an early total of $40.08 million. This week it opened in France with $4.16 million on 466 screens, which was enough for first place. It also debuted in first place in Australia ($3.38 million on 317 screens); and in Germany ($3.20 million on 584); and Spain ($3.04 million on 450). It was pushed into third place in Russia with $2.98 million on 976 screens for a total of $12.50 million after two weeks of release. It fell 58%, which is actually better than average for a sophomore film in Russia.
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August 15th, 2013
The Smurfs 2 rose to top spot with $35.57 million on 11,102 screens in 65 markets for a total of $111.01 million internationally. Its biggest market of the weekend was Germany, where it added $3.16 million on 1,075 screens over the weekend to its total, which now sits at $8.78 million. There is a virtual tie for biggest market overall with Russia and the U.K. sitting at $9.94 million and $9.87 million respectively. Getting to the century mark internationally so quickly is good news for the studio. That said, it is behind the first film in most markets and I don't think it will finish with a profit, at least not on its own. Perhaps merchandizing will push it into the black.
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August 8th, 2013
Pacific Rim earned first place over the weekend with $53.0 million in 58 markets for a total of $200.4 million internationally and $293.3 million worldwide. It has made more internationally than it cost to make, but it will still need a lot of help to break even. The film's biggest market over the weekend was China, where it debuted in first place with $45 million. Unfortunately for the film, while studios take about 60% of the box office numbers in the United States (it varies per film) they only get about 20% of the box office in China. Or to be more accurate, they will only get about 20% of the box office, once the sales tax dispute is settled. Right now, they are getting nothing.
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August 6th, 2013
Unless the box office bounces back next weekend, it will be safe to say summer ended over the weekend. 2 Guns did finish in first place, but it underperformed, while The Smurfs 2 only managed third place. Overall, the box office plummeted 20% from last weekend to $138 million. On the other hand, this is still better than last year, up 12%, thanks to much better depth. 2012 was led by The Dark Knight Rises, which no movie this year could match, but there were only three films to top $10 million last year compared to five films this year.
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August 2nd, 2013
August begins with two films, 2 Guns and The Smurfs 2, one action film and one kids movie. Neither film is likely going to break records, but I think 2 Guns should at least do well enough to be a financial success, eventually. The Smurfs 2 probably won't be a hit here, but its international numbers are looking a lot better. Like this year, this weekend last year there were two wide releases, Total Recall and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, one action film and one kids movie. This year's new releases should easily trump last year's new releases; however, last year the box office was led by The Dark Knight Rises, which will keep the year-over-year comparison a little closer.
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July 29th, 2013
The Wolverine did not live up to expectations, but it still dominated the weekend box office chart, earning more than double the second place film, The Conjuring. Overall, the box office fell nearly 12% when compared to last weekend hitting $172 million. This is still 28% higher than the same weekend last year, which is a great result. In total, 2013 has pulled in $6.40 billion, which is just under $20 million or 0.3% below last year's pace. This is fantastic; however, had The Wolverine performed as well as some were expecting, 2013 would have pulled into the lead over the weekend.
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July 25th, 2013
It's the final weekend of July and there is only one wide release to deal with, The Wolverine. It should be the easy winner of the weekend, it might pull in enough to become the biggest opening weekend of the month. This isn't likely, but there is a slim chance. There is one other film that might make an appearance in the top ten, The To Do List. Again, it doesn't have a strong chance, but it could happen. The holdovers should be far behind The Wolverine, as only The Conjuring has a shot at $20 million. This weekend last year, both new releases bombed, which is good news for 2013 in the year-over-year comparison. Granted, The Dark Knight Rises took in $62.10 million, which is something The Wolverine should have no trouble topping, while the holdovers should provide more depth.
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July 22nd, 2013
The weekend box office was mixed with two of the four wide releases matching predictions, Turbo and R.I.P.D.. There was one movie failing to reach expectations, Red 2. And finally there was one more beating nearly all predictions, The Conjuring. Fortunately, The Conjuring did so well that it made up for the weak films and helped the overall box grow to $195 million. Granted, that was within a rounding error of last weekend, but any growth is good news. There is also some bad news, as this was 16% lower than the same weekend last year, but since that was the weekend The Dark Knight Rises opened, this is actually better than expected. Year-to-date, 2013 has pulled in $6.12 billion. This is still lower than last year's pace ($6.16 billion), but it is close enough that it would only take one surprise weekend result to catch up. Earlier in the year, I thought 2013 was a lost cause. Now I'm much more optimistic.
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July 21st, 2013
This is a Summer packed with big-budget proto-franchise films, which makes it a risky season for the studios. Predictably enough, we've had some success stories among them, like Man of Steel and World War Z, and some disasters (with The Lone Ranger and Pacific Rim standing out). Overall, the batting average for these films is running around 50%, which makes it a particularly dicey proposition to have two of them opening in the same weekend.
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July 18th, 2013
There are four new releases coming out this week, but there is a wide range of predictions for some of these films. Turbo opened on Wednesday to mostly good reviews and some think it will earn first place over the weekend. Red 2's early reviews are weaker than anticipated, but it still has an impressive cast and could come out on top. The Conjuring is earning some of the best reviews of any wide release opening this summer. It is a horror film and those rarely open in first place in the summer, but the buzz is growing and it could be a surprise hit. Then there's R.I.P.D., which has bad buzz and no reviews. It will likely not make the top five. This weekend last year was the weekend The Dark Knight Rises opened and there's no chance 2013 will come out on top on the year-over-year comparison. In fact, the total box office this year might be lower than The Dark Knight Rises opening alone.
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July 16th, 2013
Fruitvale Station earned top spot on the per theater chart with an outstanding average of $53,898 in seven theaters. This is the third best per theater average for the year, behind Spring Breakers and The Place Beyond the Pines. Last week's winner, The Way Way Back, slipped to second place with $14,201 in 79 theaters. Its theater count tripled and this average suggests it will expand a lot more before it is done. Crystal Fairy was right behind with an average of $12,526 in two theaters. There were three wide releases in the $10,000 club, led by Grown Ups 2 with an average of $11,890, while Pacific Rim was right behind with an average of $11,385. The overall box office leader, Despicable Me 2, rounded out the $10,000 club with an average of $10,965.
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July 15th, 2013
There were two strong new releases this week, but Despicable Me 2 remained on top, even though it fell a little faster than expected. Grown Ups 2 was further evidence that bad reviews actually help Adam Sandler movies. Finally, Pacific Rim struggled, at least compared to its massive production budget. Overall, the total box office was $194 million, which is 15% lower than last weekend. However, last weekend was a holiday weekend, so this is a good hold. Compared to last year, the overall box office was 17% higher, which is a great result. Year-to-date, 2013 is still behind 2012, but by less than 1% at $5.81 billion to $5.86 billion. Unfortunately, next weekend 2013 will have to go against The Dark Knight Rises, so 2013 will likely lose a lot of ground.
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July 14th, 2013
A three-way battle for box office supremacy this weekend will be won by the reigning champ, Despicable Me 2, dealing a major blow to Warner Bros. potential franchise starter Pacific Rim, which will end up in 3rd place. The action movie is set to post around $38.3 million, in spite of generally good reviews and an A- CinemaScore, and will land behind Grown Ups 2, which has been panned by critics but will still gather $42.5 million. Despicable Me 2 takes the prize though, with a drop of around 46% to $44.75 million for the weekend and $229 million to date.
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July 11th, 2013
There are two wide releases coming out this week, Grown Ups 2 and Pacific Rim, and depending on who you talk to, either one has shot at first place. However, most agree that Despicable Me 2 will repeat as the box office champ. There is a chance all three films could top $40 million at the box office, which would be great news in the year-over-year comparison. This weekend last year, Ice Age: Continental Drift opened with $46.63 million. That's a fine start, but I think Despicable Me 2 will top that during its sophomore stint and give 2013 a clear victory over 2012.
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July 11th, 2013
The winners of our Independent Spirit contest were determined and they are...
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July 9th, 2013
The Way Way Back earned top spot on the per theater chart with an average of $29,094 in nineteen theaters. This suggests a lot of room to expand, while it should reach its first milestone shortly. The overall box office leader, Despicable Me 2 was next with an average of $20,895. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain was a surprise entrant in the $10,000 club with an average of $11,450 in nearly 900 theaters. The final film in the $10,000 club was Museum Hours with an average of $10,427 in three theaters.
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July 9th, 2013
The July 4th long weekend resulted in a delay for some of the final box office numbers, but now that we have them, it was worth the wait. Despicable Me 2 scored an easy win with The Lone Ranger coming in a very, very distant second place. Fortunately, Despicable Me 2 made enough to compensate and the overall box office numbers were very strong. Over the three-day portion of the holiday weekend, $227 million was brought in. This is 19% higher than last weekend and 16% higher than the same three-day weekend last year. (Because July 4th falls on a different day each week, there's no way to compare the full holiday year-over-year.) Year-to-date, 2013 has earned $5.53 billion, which is 2.1% lower than last year's pace. It would only take a couple of solid wins for 2013 to earn the $118 million needed to catch up to 2012, but with The Dark Knight Rises looming ahead, that seems unlikely for now.
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July 4th, 2013
It's July 4th, which means it is the Independence Day long weekend, one of the busiest weekends of the year. There are two wide releases looking to compete with the holdovers for box office dollars, but it is clear that Despicable Me 2 has far more box office potential than The Lone Ranger has. Meanwhile, Kevin Hart: Let-Me-Explain should grab a spot in the top ten. Meanwhile, Monsters University, The Heat, and the rest of the holdovers should help the overall box office climb higher than last year.
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July 1st, 2013
For the most part, June was a really strong month at the box office with nearly every film either matching expectations, or at least coming close enough to call it a victory. Looking forward, there are a dozen films opening wide in July, more or less. One of them, The Smurfs 2, is opening on a Wednesday, so I'm going to hold off talking about that movie till the August preview. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain is opening in less than 1000 theaters, but it has a shot at reaching the top ten during its opening weekend. If we include both of them, there are twelve films, but I think it is better to stick with the ten truly wide, truly July openings. Of these, Despicable Me 2 is clearly going to be the biggest hit at the box office. It could become the second biggest hit of the year so far. It is not the only film that could be a $100 million hit. In fact, there are six films opening in July that I think have a better than 50% chance of reaching that level. There is currently only one film that I think won't at least become a midlevel hit. By comparison in 2012, there were three $100 million movies, led by The Dark Knight Rises, but the rest of the new releases struggled. There's no chance any movie opening this month will top $400 million, in fact, it is quite possible no film will get to $300 million. That said, 2013 has a lot better depth, so it might come out on top in the end.
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June 28th, 2013
Next weekend is the Fourth of July long weekend, which is a great time to release a potential monster hit. However, while there are two or three films opening wide (one of them is semi-wide) it seems clear that Despicable Me 2 will be the clear winner. As such, it is the easy choice for the target film for this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Despicable Me 2.
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 6 Souls 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 6 Souls on Blu-ray.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
Important Note: While Despicable Me 2 opens on Wednesday, we only care about the Friday through Sunday box office.
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