Limited Releases run Scared

May 18th, 2005

The prosect of going against Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith has caused most studios to avoid this weekend at all costs. There are no wide releases and only two limited releases willing to take the chance. More...

Ladder Climbs to the Top

March 19th, 2005

Ladder 49 topped both the DVD rental charts, ($8.39 million) and the VHS rental charts ($1.61 million) for $10.00 million total rentals for its first week of release. Granted, it was a slow week for releases as no other new release made it in the top twenty on combined rentals. More...

Phoenix is Reborn on the Home Market

March 12th, 2005

Flight of the Phoenix was clearly a disappointment when it was release in theatres last December, but it's fortunes turned around at the home market. Opening week of release saw the remake bring in $7.27 million in DVD rentals and $1.23 million in VHS rentals. Combined they represent nearly half the film's $21.0 million domestic box office. More...

DVD Releases for March 1, 2005

February 28th, 2005

Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh!
Who Lives in a Pineapple under the sea?
SpongeBob SquarePants!
Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!
SpongeBob Squarepants!
As you can probably tell, SpongeBob SquarePants - The Movie - Buy from Amazon - is my DVD pick of the week. Granted, it is a bit of a slow week when it comes to quality releases, but I think the Oscars may have had something to do with that. More...

Incredibles have a Super Weekend

December 1st, 2004

With a nearly 3-1 lead over its nearest competitor, The Incredibles took top spot on the International Box Office charts this week with $44.3 million on 4,362 screens in 22 markets for a running tally of $59.1 million. The film opened number one in all twelve markets and in a few of the markets the film debuted in this week it was able to break the record for biggest debut by an animated films. However, in others it fell short to either Finding Nemo, (France) or Shrek 2 (the U.K. and Spain.) Its biggest single market was the U.K., where the brought in $18.1 million, including sneak peaks, which was a Disney record. Other highlights include $9.2 million in France, $5.6 million in Spain, $5.4 million in Italy, and $1.3 million in Belgium. Considering the results so far it should challenge for supremacy among the elite animated films and $400 million to $500 million isn't out of the question. More...

Bridget Slims Down but Still Number One

November 24th, 2004

Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason's second round of openings was no quite as strong as last week's, but it was still more than enough to keep its first place finish at the international box office. Overall the British comedy took in $20.6 million on 1,854 screens in 18 markets lifting its tally to $59 million. Out of the new openings, the film was most impressive in Spain with $2.6 million while its best market overall was the U.K. where the film dropped just 29% to $9.3 million. The film is still tracking well ahead of the original and is becoming one of the monster hits of the fall. More...

Bridget has 26 million Reasons to Celebrate

November 17th, 2004

Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason opened in a mere half a dozen international markets over the weekend, but what an opening it was. Despite place on fewer than 1000 screens the film was able to pull in an amazing $26.7 million, the lion's share coming from the U.K. where the film took in $19.1 million on 496 screens, (including $5.9 million from sneak peaks.) That was the best opening for a Working Title film smashing the previous record of $11.1 million for Love Actually. In each market the film broke the record for Working Title films and more than doubled the original's debut. And even with legs that are expected to be much lower, it should be able to break $300 million internationally, although it may have trouble hitting $50 million domestically. More...

Dwarves Tower Above All

November 10th, 2004

It's a rare feat for a non-Hollywood film to top the international charts, but that's just what the German spoof, Seven Dwarfs, did this week. Playing in just three markets the film took in $10.6 million on under 1,000 screens. In its home market of Germany the film eased just 19% to $9.2 million; the result was not quite as good in Austria where it dropped a respectable 30% to $915,000, but it was in Switzerland where it shined - increasing 4% to $500,000. Overall the film has now made $29.0 million so far but the real test comes with increased competition from holiday fare and the ability to find an audience in non-German speaking markets. More...

Sharks 4 - Dwarves 7

November 3rd, 2004

Holidays throughout Europe, and a $1.5 million, first place finish in Russia helped Shark Tale remain in top spot for the fourth straight week, although it was a much closer contest this week. Highlights include $4.3 million in the U.K., off just 24% compared to its sophomore weekend, $4.0 million in France, which was up 47% from last weekend for a $15.5 million in 4,300 theatres in 27 markets weekend. Its international running total topped $100 million, the 13th film to do so this year, and now sits at $109.6 million. More...

Sharks Sink but Still Stay on Top

October 27th, 2004

Despite a 45% drop in its weekend haul, Shark Tale was able easily able to earn it third first place finish on the international charts. Still early in its run, the film took home $16.2 million in 4,368 theatres in 24 markets pushing its total to $80.3 million internationally. Without any openings the film relied on strong holdovers like in the U.K. where it drop 39%, in France it was off 32% and 35% in Germany. More...

Sharks do a Double-Take

October 20th, 2004

Thanks to mostly unopposed openings several more markets, Shark Tale was able to repeat as the international box office champ this week. Not only that, but its $29.6 million more than doubled its international tally prior to the start of the weekend as the film now sits at $56.2 million. The best opening of the weekend, and most likely of its international run, was in the U.K. where the film managed to take in $9.1 million, ($13.6 million if you include last week's previews.) In France the result was strong with $4.2 million but in the face of local competition, it could only manage $3.4 million in Germany. More...

Shark Attack

October 13th, 2004

With openings in nearly a dozen new markets, Shark Tale was able to take top spot on the international charts with $9.4 million in 16 markets, pushing its early total to $19.2 million internationally and over $100 million worldwide. Highlights include $4.4 million in the U.K., (including previews) and $2.05 million in Mexico. How happy the studio is with these results depends on their expectations. Compared to the average film, Shark Tale is a massive hit. But compared to Dreamworks previous digitally animated film, Shrek 2, it is a large drop. More...

Village's Population Grows

September 29th, 2004

For the fifth week in a row The Village finished in first place with $14.0 million on 4000 screens in 38 markets. The biggest opening of the week was $5.2 million in Spain, but suffered another collapse in Mexico dropping 55% during its second weekend there. Its international total hit $100 million over the weekend, the fifth Disney film to do so this year, and the 17th overall. More...

Spider Swings into Italy but Can't Top Village

September 21st, 2004

The Village once again top took spot on the international scene, but by a very narrow margin. Still being plagued by sharp drop-offs, the film earned $11.2 million on 3,500 screens in 34 markets. So far the film has taken it $117 million internationally, higher than its $113 million it earned domestically. Although, it is much lower than M. Night Shyamalan's previous movie Signs. More...

A Hero's Welcome

August 30th, 2004

We had a surprise number one at the box office this weekend, and add to that a few holdovers that held up better than expected and the weekend wasn't as bad as it could have been. It was still down by 12.1% from last weekend, but was nearly flat with last year up just 1.24%. Granted, this time last year it was the Labor Day Long Weekend, which even as the slowest long weekend of the year will throw off the comparison by a little bit. Year to date 2004 continues to see its lead shrink and it now sits at just over 4%, barely more than ticket price inflation. More...

August Ends with a Whimper

August 27th, 2004

While it may look like a busy weekend at first glance as there are four wide releases, their average theatre count is under 2000. Also, three of the four are receiving some of the harshest responses from the critics seen this summer. Because of that, there should be a real drop at the overall box office this weekend, a downturn that won't end till mid-October, give or take a week. More...

Exorcist has a Scary Start

August 23rd, 2004

It was a very strange weekend; going in no movie was the obvious choice for number one and most analysts were predicting that most of new films would flop. I went one step further and predicted that all of them would flop. In the end, the new movies did better, on average, while the holdovers held up about as well as expected. This helped avoid a complete collapse at the box office, but it was still down 14.1% from last weekend. However, it was up 17.1% from last year, ending a mini-streak of year-to-year drops. That help 2004 from slipping any further in the year-to-date comparison, which 2004 currently leads 2003 $6.201 billion to $5.935 billion, or 4.48%. More...

It's Going to be One of Those Weekends

August 20th, 2004

Like last weekend, all three movies opening wide this weekend are receiving less than stellar reviews. But unlike last weekend, there's no built in audiences for most of these movies, so look for a sharp drop at the box office. On the plus side, there should be quite a battle for top spot with five films within striking distance of each other. More...

Movie Websites Launches for August 13 - August 19

August 19th, 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, Vanity Fair - Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

DVD Releases for August 17, 2004

August 16th, 2004

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 and a few from the growing TV on DVD section, including the winner of the DVD Pick of the Week, Goodfellas - Two-Disc Special Edition - Buy from Amazon or better yet, as part of the Martin Scorsese Collection - Buy from Amazon. More...

2004 Summer Preview - Part 5: August

August 1st, 2004

August is a weird month. While summer lasts till September 21st for normal people, in Hollywood summer just sort of ends halfway through. There aren't enough of the holidays left for films that open in late August to take advantage of. So a lot of also-rans get dumped at this time of year. However, earlier in the month there's still a few potential $100 million movies, plus one of the later movies might surprise us as well. More...

Movie Websites Launches for June 25 - July 1

July 2nd, 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, Spider-Man 2 - Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

Movie Websites Launches for June 4 - June 10

June 10th, 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, Garfield - Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

New Movie Release Dates

March 5th, 2004

This week's round of new movie release information includes the announcement of a big screen adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and new dates for Surviving Christmas and The Polar Express among many, many others. If you hear of a change in date, please email us at releases@the-numbers.com. More...

Movie Websites Launches for February 20 - February 26

February 26th, 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, Dawn of the Dead - Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

New Movie Release Dates

December 12th, 2003

This week's round of release planning includes new dates for Against the Ropes, Catch That Kid, The Dreamers, J.M. Barrie's Neverland, Dawn of the Dead and Exorcist: The Beginning. More...

Territory	Release Date	Opening Weekend	Opening Weekend Screens	Maximum Screens	Theatrical Engagements	Total Box Office	Report Date
Australia	10/29/2004	$0	0	127	239	$882,268	8/28/2020
North America	8/20/2004	$18,054,001	2,803	2,813	11,395	$41,814,863
Rest of World						$1,260,410
Worldwide Total						$43,957,541	8/28/2020