May 19th, 2009
There was only one major new release on DVD this week, and it comes as no surprise that it topped the sales chart. The movie was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and it sold 1.48 million units to generate $24.60 million in consumer spending at retail.
More...
May 19th, 2009
Just two new release charted this week, led by The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which had three times as many rentals as the second place Bride Wars.
More...
May 5th, 2009
The last of the Best Picture Oscar Nominees hits the home market this week. And while the Blu-ray arrived late, the Two-Disc DVD of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week. On the other hand, no other release on this week's list came close to be a contender for that title, and overall it was a rather slow week. Still not so slow that I didn't have to split this week's column into two parts, with the second part found here.
More...
May 5th, 2009
The last of the Best Picture Oscar Nominees hits the home market this week. And while the Blu-ray arrived late, the Two-Disc DVD of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week. On the other hand, no other release on this week's list came close to be a contender for that title, and overall it was a rather slow week. Still not so slow that I didn't have to split this week's column into two parts, with the second part found here.
More...
March 15th, 2009
The Reader nearly reached the top five with $5.14 million on 1169 screens in 17 markets for a total of $28.35 million. The film opened in a number of smaller markets, including Belgium where it placed fifth with $174,000 on 24 screens over the weekend and $225,000 in total. However, most of its money came from holdovers, like Germany, where the film added $2.89 million on 456 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.44 million after two.
More...
February 4th, 2009
There was only one film with a per theater average of more than $10,000 this week, and that film was Medicine for Melancholy, which opened with $12,625 in its lone theater.
More...
January 21st, 2009
Notorious opened in fourth place overall, but in first place on the per theater chart with an average of $12,514, which was just a fraction above The Wrestler and its average of $11,824. Revolutionary Road remained strong earning an average of $10,427 in 171 theaters. The overall number one film, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, was next with $10,125. Finally, Slumdog Millionaire saw amazing growth and returned to the $10,000 Club with $10,050.
More...
January 18th, 2009
2009 is only two weekends old, and has already produced two excellent weekends at the box office.
After three movies opened around $20 million last weekend, no less than four new movies will be close, or exceed that goal over the three-day part of the MLK weekend, and one of those has come from nowhere to top $30 million and record the second-biggest opening weekend in January (
see chart).
That movie is
Paul Blart: Mall Cop, a poorly-reviewed comedy starring
Kevin James, which opened with $33.8 million Friday-Sunday, according to Sony's estimate, and is set to reach $40 million with Monday's numbers included.
Sony puts the success down, at least in part, to James's extensive promotional efforts around the country.
Maybe hard work does pay off, even in the movie business.
More...
January 6th, 2009
Despite earning mixed reviews, Defiance topped the per theater chart with a massive average of $61,757 in two theaters, and that's over the weekend. In total the film made more than $200,000 in 2 theaters over five days. Gran Torino's per theater average grew by 26% to $34,957 in 84 theaters. At this point, it would be fair to say it has earned some measure of mainstream success, and it expands wide this weekend. Revolutionary Road saw its theater count grow from 3 to 38, while it still managed a per theater average of $25,946. The Wrestler also saw growth with an average of $24,323, and it should expand over the coming weeks. I'm not sure it will expand wide, but it should do reasonably well. Che continues its Oscar qualifying run earning an average of $17,742 in 2 theaters. Last Chance Harvey saw small growth to $17,034 in 6 theaters, but I'm not sure how far it will expand. Waltz with Bashir was the final film in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,713 in five theaters.
More...
December 30th, 2008
Revolutionary Road was nothing short of fantastic on the per theater chart earning a stunning $190,000 in just three theaters for an average of $63,304. Gran Torino saw both is theater count and per theater average grow earning more than $2 million in 84 theaters for a stunning average of $27,652; the film might not earn as many awards as some were expecting, but its box office potential is as high as ever. The Wrestler slipped to third place during is sophomore stint with an average of $21,529 in 18 theaters, but it too should earn some measure of mainstream success. Che continued its Oscar qualifying run with $35,000 in 2 theaters for an average of $17,252. Last Chance Harvey opened with nearly $100,000 in six theaters for an average of $16,210, which would have been very impressive though most of the year, but we've hit such a winning streak recently that is feels merely average. The overall box office leader, Marley & Me earned an average of $10,448, while Waltz with Bashir barely managed to enter the $10,000 club with an average of $10,004 in five theaters.
More...
December 28th, 2008
There are almost as many wide releases this week as there were total release last week. However, while there are several effective sites, and none that feel sub-standard, none rise to the level of the Weekly Website Award.
More...
December 24th, 2008
There's not much time for limited releases to come out if they want to qualify for this year's Oscars, and while most of the potential Oscar have already come out, this week there are a few film that have a shot at earning Oscar nominations at the very least.
More...
December 12th, 2008
The latest set of Awards Season nominations were handed out today as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations. There was not much in the way of surprises, and it is hard to look at one film and say it was the big winner, but Frost/Nixon and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button come the closest.
More...
August 7th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Edge of Darkness, Inglorious Bastards, Rachel Getting Married, and more!
More...
August 7th, 2008
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
More...
August 3rd, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Haunting of Molly Hartley, Nothing Like the Holidays, Not Easily Broken and more!
More...