March 21st, 2011
Plenty of new releases reached the top 30 on this week's top 30 DVD sales chart; however, there were not many really worth lauding. Jackass 3D won the way, but with just 569,000 units / $9.80 million, it was not a huge seller.
Megamind was pushed to second place with 368,000 units / $5.20 million for the week and 2.07 million units / $28.95 million after three. It is rapidly becoming the biggest hit of 2011, at least so far. The Walking Dead: Season One placed third in terms of units with 324,000 sold. However, due to its TV on DVD pricing, it placed second in terms of dollars with $5.83 million. The Next Three Days opened in fourth place with 283,000 units / $3.40 million, which is in line with its disappointing theatrical run. Due Date remaining in fifth place, adding 244,000 units / $3.59 million its its total sales, which have reached 1.51 million units / $21.60 million after three weeks of release.
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March 15th, 2011
The top selling title on this week's sales chart depends on how you categorize the biggest new release of the week. Since the studio considers the Bambi release as a Blu-ray, Megamind was able to repeat on top with 733,000 units during its first full week of release, lifting its totals to 1.66 million units and $10.25 million.
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March 8th, 2011
There was a close race for top spot on the sales chart this week between two new releases. Megamind won that race with 949,000 units / $13.28 million to 923,000 units / $12.92 million for Due Date. But to be fair to Megamind, it went on sale on Friday not Tuesday like Due Date did.
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January 25th, 2011
A few films tend to cross the $100 million milestone every January, as late December releases finish their run and this year is no exception. For instance, late last weekend Due Date hit the century mark on the 73rd day of its theatrical release. That's not a record, but it is certainly unusual for a wide release to take that long to get there. This past weekend, Voyage of the Dawn Treader became the 27th film released in 2010 to hit that mark, and the first for 20th Century Fox to reach that milestone all year long. Just a year after they released Avatar and five other $100 million movies, Fox was nearly shut out of the century club. That's quite a slump.
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December 15th, 2010
Like the previous films in the franchise, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader will clearly be a bigger hit internationally than it will domestically. This weekend it climbed into top spot with $66.18 million on 10,0159 screens in 58 markets for a total of $80.22 million. It opened in first place in Russia with $7.85 million on 1284 screens over the weekend for a total of $10.87 million. Its debut in France was a little stronger than its opening here at $5.15 million on 739 screens, likewise in South Korea with $3.89 million on 562 screens over the weekend and $5.28 million in total. In Mexico it made $3.36 million on 522 screens over the weekend and $7.01 million including previews. On the other hand, it only made $3.87 million on 536 screens in the U.K. By comparison, the first film made more than $15 million in its opening and the second more than $8 million. Its going to need strong holds going forward if it is to have any shot at breaking even. The fact that it fell just 23% during its second weekend in Spain is a hopeful sign. However, it still only managed $2.21 million on 598 screens, while this strong hold was in part due to the total lack of wide releases in that market this past weekend.
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December 8th, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I maintained its lead on top of the international box office chart; however, it saw its weekend haul sliced in half to $57.12 million on 14,188 screens in 62 markets for a total of $473.52 million internationally and $718.04 million worldwide. It became just the 43rd film to reach $700 million worldwide, while it will shortly overtake Up for 40th place overall.
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December 1st, 2010
For the second weekend in a row, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I was able to top $100 million on the international box office chart, adding $115.62 million on 16,093 screens in 61 markets for a total of $386.10 million internationally and $605.16 million worldwide. It became only the 56th film to reach $600 million worldwide, and some analysts are now predicting $1 billion is more likely than not.
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November 24th, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I broke records on the international chart opening with a mind-blowing $192.98 million on 15,506 screens in 53 markets, for a total opening of $204.92 million internationally and $329.94 million worldwide. This is the largest worldwide opening ever, and it is enough to put the film in the top 200 after one weekend of release.
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November 23rd, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I helped the overall box office explode from last weekend. In fact, it earned more than all films last weekend combined, propelling the box office to a 60% week-over-week increase. Unfortunately, the rest of the box office was on the weak side, and the total of $194 million was 25% lower than the same weekend last year. Ouch. 2010 is still ahead of 2009 at $9.36 billion to $9.14 billion, but that lead isn't safe given the sharp drop-off we just suffered. Hopefully we will get back on the winning track soon. Even single-digit loses will ensure 2010 sets another box office record.
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November 18th, 2010
The Harry Potter franchise is almost done and records will be broken over the weekend. In fact, at least one record was broken last night, as The Deathly Hallows: Part I had the largest midnight showing ever and it also has the widest IMAX release this weekend.
On the down side, this time last year was also a record-breaking weekend, with New Moon earning top spot for biggest November weekend, so it might be impossible for 2010 to keep pace with 2009 over the next three days.
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November 17th, 2010
Unstoppable opened in first place on the international box office over the weekend. (It has likely already fallen to Harry Potter on the daily chart, which opened on Wednesday.) Its opening weekend haul was $18.72 million on 4137 screens in 39 markets giving it a total opening of $19.31 million. It earned first place in Spain with $1.56 million on 336 screens, but was not as potent in South Korea or Germany earning third place with $1.33 million on 323 screens and $1.20 million on 504 respectively. It only managed fourth place in France, with $2.63 million on 430 screens, while it barely squeezed into the top five in Italy with $755,000 on 251.
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November 16th, 2010
Only one film in the top five topped expectations over the weekend, while another film came within a rounding error of doing so. This left the overall box office down nearly 20% from last weekend, which combined with last year's monster opening for 2012 means 2010 is off last year's pace by 13%. Year-to-date, 2010 still has a more than $300 million lead at $9.14 billion to $8.84 billion, so a one-week stumble like this is hardly reason to panic.
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November 11th, 2010
There could be a three-way race for the top spot at the box office this weekend with two wide releases competing with last week's winner. That's the good news. The bad news is that none of them have a real shot at topping last year's winner. In fact, the worst case scenario has the three wide releases this year opening with less combined than 2012 opened with on its own. Actually, that's not the worst case scenario, as it is pretty damn likely. Even if that does happen, there is a lot more depth this year and 2010 might still earn a solid win overall.
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November 10th, 2010
Unlike its domestic debut, Due Date was able to open in first place internationally with $21.69 million on 3572 screens in 32 markets. It was tops in Germany with $3.90 million on 519 screens, while it also led the way in the U.K. with $3.78 million on 449 screens. On the other hand, it had to settle for second place in Russia, but with $3.88 million on 543 screens, it was still a huge success there. In comparison, the cumulative opening weekend was nearly identical to The Hangover, which bodes well for the film's chances internationally, even if it likely won't have the same long legs.
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November 9th, 2010
There were a few limited releases to reach the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart this past weekend. 127 Hours lead the way with an impressive average of $66,213 in four theaters. Fair*Game was well back with $14,154, but it opened in 46 theaters, so this is a much better indicator of its chances to expand. The overall box office leader, MegaMind, was the only other film in the $10,000 club with an average of $11,668, but the second place film, Due Date, came very close with an average of $9,743.
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November 8th, 2010
While practically every film in the top five missed expectations, none of them were complete misses and all made enough that they could be considered victories. The overall box office was an incredibly healthy $151 million, which was 59% higher than last weekend and 26% higher than the same weekend last year. In fact, it came within $2 million of the record for the opening weekend of November. 2010 was able to put more distance between it and 2009 and it now leads the year-to-date race $8.97 billion to $8.66 billion. It would take a fairly major collapse for 2010 to not break the record for highest box office, although it will likely fail to top last year in terms of ticket sales.
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November 7th, 2010
MegaMind posted a solid $47.65 million to top the weekend chart, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
That's very much in line with the performance of other opening weekends for non-sequels from DreamWorks Animation.
How to Train Your Dragon opened with $43.7 million earlier in the year; Monsters vs. Aliens posted $59.3 million in 2009, and fellow-November-opener Bee Movie scored $38 million back in 2007.
Bee Movie ended up with $126 million in total in the US, and $150 million looks like the minimum benchmark for MegaMind as it looks forward to the lucrative holiday season.
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November 4th, 2010
November could start on a high note with three wide releases poised to open one-two-three. If all three films only manage to reach just the midpoint of expectations, then the month will start with a big win year-over-year, as last year three of the four new releases struggled. If they reach the high end of expectations, then the top three films this week will earn more than the top ten films did last year. Even low end expectations has this year's likely number one film, MegaMind, topping last year's number one film, A Christmas Carol. The only bad news is the lack of depth, as none of the holdovers are poised to do much business. They are either pump and dumps, or have been in theaters so long that they are no longer a real factor.
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November 1st, 2010
November's here and expectations are all over the place. October saw 2010 lose ground to 2009, which is a bad sign going forward, but we also saw records fall. This month will undoubtedly see an increase in ticket sales over last month, what with the start of Awards Season and the Holidays, but the real question is how well it will compare with last year. Last November saw the release of a couple of surprise hits, none more surprising than The Blind Side, while in the end there were five $100 million movies and two that reached $200 million. Will that happen this year? Maybe. I count six films with a statistically significant shot at reaching $100 million, including three that might reach $200 million, and one of those has a shot at $300 million. That is on the high end, but even on the low end there are three $100 million movies coming out this month, including one that is all but guaranteed to reach $200 million in the end.
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