December 9th, 2009
Star Trek led all new releases and holdovers to dominate the rental chart this week.
It took top spot with two-and-a-half times the rentals of last week's winner and this week's second place film, The Ugly Truth.
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November 25th, 2009
As expected, Up dominated new releases on this week's sales chart as it earned first place with $88.13 million in consumer spending at retail and 5.30 million units.
This instantly places it fourth on the overall chart for 2009.
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November 25th, 2009
The same two new releases that topped the sales chart this week also topped the rental chart, although they were in the opposite order.
The Ugly Truth took first place with more than 50% more rentals than Up.
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November 18th, 2009
There were five new releases sprinkled throughout the top 30 on this week's sales chart, mostly in the top ten. This includes a new number one best selling DVD, G.I.Joe - The Rise of Cobra, which sold 2.54 million units and accounted for $41.00 million in consumer spending at retail.
This is on par with Wolverine sales late in September.
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November 18th, 2009
There were five new releases top reach the top 30 of the rental charts, including the top two rentals. G.I.Joe - The Rise of Cobra generated roughly 28% more rentals than The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. This is obviously much closer than they were theatrically.
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November 2nd, 2009
Another week with a large selection of great releases, including several contenders for DVD Pick of the Week. (There are also more than a few releases that could have been contenders, but the screeners still have not yet arrived. I fear they will all arrive on the same day and the sheer number of them will cause my head to explode.) The best new release this week is Food, Inc. on either DVD or Blu-ray. Classic releases like North By Northwest on Blu-ray and It's a Wonderful Life on Blu-ray are must haves, as is the James Bond Blu-ray Box Set. Despite there being more than a dozen releases this week where I'm still waiting for the screener to arrive, the list as still too long to fit on one page. The second part can be found here.
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September 26th, 2009
Vicky the Viking fell to sixth place with 7.40 million on 898 screens in 3 markets for a total of $24.55 million. Of that, $5.92 million was earned on 751 screens in Germany and it now has $18.94 million in its native market.
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September 19th, 2009
Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs fell out of the top five this past weekend earning $7.08 million on 3521 screens in 35 markets for a total of $670.44 million internationally and $865.11 million worldwide. It is now the third highest grossing film internationally of all time, while it is 18th place worldwide. That's quite a gap. The film remained in first place in Italy earning $3.14 million on 690 screens over the weekend for a total of $33.63 million after three. So far the film has earned more than 77% of its worldwide box office internationally, which is a very high percentage, and it will keep creeping higher as its international run comes to a close.
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September 12th, 2009
The Proposal had massive gains this past weekend and just failed to reach the top five with $5.83 million on 2160 screens in 42 markets for a total of $124.60 million internationally and $285.57 million worldwide. It is now the biggest worldwide hit for Sandra Bullock, and it still has a chance to overtake Speed internationally. This week it debuted in third place in Italy with $1.43 million on 354 screens over the weekend for a total of $1.86 million during its opening, which is much weaker than its performance here. It has yet to open in France, which is key in its quest to overtake Speed, but even if it bombs there and in Japan, it will still hit $300 million worldwide.
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September 5th, 2009
G-Force just missed the top five with $7.09 million on 2964 screens in 30 markets for a total of $67.97 million. The film had no major market openings this week, but it did add $2.17 million on 409 screens in Russia for a total of $8.93 million after two weeks there. Up next is Spain this weekend, which means it could climb back into the top five, if it performs well there.
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August 31st, 2009
It was a great weekend at the box office as all but one film in the top five films met or exceeded expectations, some by large margins. This helped the box office pull in a very healthy total of $125 million over the weekend, which was just 1.7% lower than last week. More importantly, it was a stunning 28% higher than the same weekend last year. Wow. Granted, this weekend last year was Labor Day weekend, which is a terrible time at the box office, but this is still a fantastic result. Year-to-date, 2009 has pulled in $7.24 billion, which is 7.4% higher than last year's pace.
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August 28th, 2009
There are two horror sequels opening at saturation-level theater counts this week, both of which could open with near identical numbers over the next three days.
This close race should add interest to the weekend box office, while 2009 should have little trouble maintaining its lead over last year, which had four wide releases, none of which topped $10 million.
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August 26th, 2009
Inglourious Basterds made its debut on the international market taking first place with $27.49 million on 2650 screens in 22 markets. This includes first place openings in a number of major markets, led by France where it opened with $6.09 million on 500 screens; this is not really surprising as Quentin Tarantino is extremely popular in that market. The U.K. was close behind with $5.92 million on 444 screens, while it also topped the charts in Germany ($4.20 million on 439 screens) and in Australia ($2.56 million on 266). On the other hand, the film was stuck in second place in Russia, but still performed well with $2.55 million on 340 screens. So far the film is tracking well ahead of Kill Bill - Volume 1 and should become his biggest hit of all time topping Pulp Fiction.
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August 24th, 2009
Overall the box office was weaker than expected this weekend with only one of four releases meeting expectations, while the holdovers were not able to completely compensate. This led a 10.5% drop-off in ticket sales from last weekend; however, the $127 million total box office take is still 20% higher than the same weekend last year.
2009 stretched its year-to-date lead over 2008 to 6.9%, earning $7.06 billion to $6.60 billion so far.
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August 21st, 2009
This week we have two saturation level releases and two releases that don't even qualify as truly wide but could still reach the top ten. Realistically, even with four wide-ish releases, only one of them has a real shot at top spot and that will hurt the overall box office. On the other hand, this week last year was much worse in terms of high powered releases and 2009 should continue its winning ways.
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August 19th, 2009
G.I.Joe remained in top spot on the international chart with $26.12 million on 6875 screens in 49 markets for a total of $91.58 million. The film had only one major opening of note, Germany, but while it finished first there, it still struggled with just $1.74 million on 474 screens. It earned more in South Korea with $2.70 million on 488 screens over the weekend and $10.48 million after two. It added $1.75 million on 514 screens over the weekend in France for a total there of $5.66 million. It had near identical results over the weekend in Japan ($1.36 million on 385 screens) and in the U.K. ($1.35 million on 442 screens) and it now has $6.99 million and $6.32 million in those two markets. So far it is hard to be overly impressed by these results, especially when compared to its production budget. The only way this film gets a sequel is if it is a massive hit on the home market, and even then I think the studio will demand a cut in costs.
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August 18th, 2009
Nine was the lucky number over the weekend as District 9 topped the charts with better than expected results.
Also, nine of the ten film talked about in Thursday's column met or exceeded expectations.
This helped the box office bring in $142 million overall, which was only 3% lower than last weekend.
More importantly, it was 14% higher than the same weekend last year, which was much better than expected.
Year-to-date, 2009 has earned $6.86 billion in total revenue, which is 6.6% higher than last year's pace.
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August 16th, 2009
District 9 showed that quality is still worth something at the box office this weekend by topping most predictions to score a healthy $37 million opening, according to Sony's estimate released on Sunday morning.
While that's some way behind the $54.7 million earned by G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra last weekend, it was made in almost 1,000 theaters, and at a much lower cost to the studio.
Profitability for the movie seems assured.
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August 14th, 2009
As summer slows down, the number of new releases speeds up. This week we have five films with a shot at reaching the top ten, but only three of those are opening truly wide, and only one is a saturation-level release.
It's hard to say if this week is much stronger or weaker than last year, but it should be close.
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August 12th, 2009
The final summer blockbuster release of the year, G.I. Joe, opened in first place on the international chart this weekend with $43.04 million on 6,381 screens in 35 markets.
However, while it came out first overall, its opening in most markets was just average.
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August 11th, 2009
The winners of our Knowing is Half the Battle contest were determined and they are...
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August 11th, 2009
Not only did G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra win the race to the top of the overall box office chart, it was also the only film to crack the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart.
Its average of $13,654 was about 50% more than the second place film, Cold Souls, which opened with an average of $9,043 in 7 theaters.
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August 11th, 2009
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra topped expectations and that helped 2009 finally snap its month-long slump at the box office. Overall the industry brought in $146 million, which was 17% higher than last weekend, and more importantly, 22% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2009 has brought in $6.64 billion, which is 6.6% higher than 2008's pace; however, while that's impressive, it is seriously off its highs for the year and 2009 will need to work to make sure ticket sales don't fall behind last year's pace.
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August 9th, 2009
While its hefty price tag means it's got a long way to go before it turns a profit, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra did enjoy a strong opening weekend at the US and international box office, according to Paramount's numbers, released on Sunday.
The action flick stormed to $56.2 million in the US, the 4th biggest August weekend ever (see complete list) and picked up an estimated $44 million internationally for a $100 million worldwide opening.
After a lukewarm reception from critics, Paramount reports a solid response from audiences, which bodes well for healthy numbers for a few weeks.
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August 7th, 2009
August begins with the movie industry hoping that summer will last at least one more week.
There is some hope that we will have a $60 or $70 million opener this weekend, but even if G.I.Joe earns just half of that, it will be a better start than the top film from last year and hopefully that means 2009 will finally end its recent slump.
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August 1st, 2009
July was a mixed month with several of the big hits failing to live up to great expectations, while still being big hits. There were no surprise hits, but no outright bombs either. No outright bombs is what the industry is hoping for August, but that seems less likely. We could see a monster hit opening on the first week, but that potential hit, G.I.Joe, could also be a monster bomb. There is at least one movie opening each week that I'm personally interested in, although for the most part it is not the widest release of the week that piques my interest.
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July 31st, 2009
The final potential monster hit of the summer comes out next week, but G.I.Joe - The Rise of Cobra also has the potential to be the most expensive bomb of the year, which complicates the box office prediction contest, as it is this week's target film. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of G.I.Joe - The Rise of Cobra.
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 Secret Diary of a Call Girl on DVD and the soundtrack to Funny People on CD.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win a copy of Echelon Conspiracy on DVD and Van Wilder - Freshman Year on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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April 4th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for The Informant, The Surrogates, War, Inc., and more!
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February 24th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Hoodwinked 2, Shanghai, and more!
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January 31st, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Duplicity, G.I. Joe, Public Enemies, and more!
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January 10th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Armored, Easy Virtue, Solomon Kane, and more!
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December 20th, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Four Christmases, My Sister's Keeper, Quarantined, and more!
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December 6th, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for A Christmas Carol, Milk, Seven Pounds, and more!
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November 25th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Lovely Bones, The Taking of Pelham 123, G.I. Joe and more!
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November 22nd, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Angels & Demons, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Pinkville and more!
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November 1st, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Game, Meet the Browns, The Taking of Pelham 123, and more!
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August 21st, 2007
Starting today we will provide a list of announced movies, new stars and directors on our website each Tuesday.
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