June 24th, 2009
The summer slump on the sales chart was not evident this week, even though there were not that many new releases to deal with. The number one film was Gran Torino, which sold an amazingly strong 2.61 million units for $42.94 million in consumer spending at retail during its opening week.
It just missed the top ten for 2009, and it will undoubtedly climb the chart over the coming weeks.
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June 24th, 2009
Gran Torino led all new releases and the rest of the DVDs on the rental chart with nearly two-and-a-half times the revenue of second place rental, He's Just Not That Into You.
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June 8th, 2009
It's another slow week for DVD releases, and that really won't change until late in the Summer when TV on DVD ramps up in time for the fall schedule.
There's not much in terms of must-have releases, with Gran Torino topping that short list, but I'm not sure if the Blu-ray is worth the price over the DVD.
Also, I'm not sure it's worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week.
On a side note, the Canadian release for Corner Gas - Season Six is also coming out this week, and it is the winner of the rarely-presented DVD Puck of the Week.
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March 3rd, 2009
We had a surprise film at the top of the chart as The Jonas Brothers proved they were no competition for Miley Cyrus. In fact, they were no match for Tyler Perry in a dress. Fortunately, while there was severe weakness at the top, the overall box office was still strong at $111 million. Yes, that was down 22% from last weekend, but it was 15% head of the same weekend last year. Meanwhile, 2009 continues to lead 2008 by a sizable margin at $1.79 billion to $1.53 billion, a 17% gap.
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February 24th, 2009
The Oscars combined with the post-holiday weekend left the overall box office dramatically lower this weekend compared to last. In fact, it was down 24% to $142 million; however, compared to the same weekend last year, that was up by just under 30%. Year-to-date, 2009 has pulled in $1.65 billion, which is 23% above last year's pace of $1.34 billion. There's no way 2009 can keep up this pace for too much longer, but each weekend it does will help future box office scores. After all, a lot of people see trailers, posters, and other advertisements for the first time when going to the movie theaters. More free advertising now will turn into more people going to the theaters later on.
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February 22nd, 2009
Madea Goes to Jail dominated Oscar weekend at the movies with an impressive $41.1 million opening, according to Lionsgate's Sunday estimate.
That's a record for Perry, topping the $30 million debut of
Madea's Family Reunion two years ago.
Even after factoring in the exhibitor's share of box office,
Madea Goes to Jail has already recovered its $17.5 million production budget.
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February 22nd, 2009
Oscar weekend means fans of quality cinema have better things to do that go out and watch quality cinema. This means there's a shortage of top-notch movie releases. And this means there's a shortage of top-notch movie site. The best site on this week's list, Fired Up's Official Site, is just average.
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February 20th, 2009
The Oscars are being handed out this weekend, which means a lot of moviegoers will be more interested in watching the ceremonies on TV than going to the theaters. Studios know this, which explains the weak slate of movies coming out this week. In fact, there's only one film opening truly wide this week, and only one other that comes close. That said, it's still better than last year and 2009 should continue its amazing pace.
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February 1st, 2009
2009 got off to a great start and February hopes to continue that run, but I don't think that's likely. First of all, none of the releases coming out this month look like they have what it takes to reach $100 million. Or even $80 million. This means the best film of this month will likely be lower than the biggest-earning film of last month and the biggest earner of this month last year.
Hopefully there will be fewer outright misses and more mid-level hits, which will help 2009 keep pace with 2008.
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April 17th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Mardi Gras, The Uninvited, A Thousand Words, and more!
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April 15th, 2008
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
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April 13th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Valkyrie, The Wolf Man, Public Enemies and more!
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