DVD and Blu-ray Releases for August 28th, 2012

August 28th, 2012

We are clearly in TV on DVD season on the home market as there are five TV on DVD releases among the top six selling releases, with Battleship being the only first run release to break up the TV on DVD dominance. There are many such releases that are contenders for Pick of the Week: Boardwalk Empire: Season Two on Blu-ray, Homeland: Season One on Blu-ray, Once Upon a Time: Season One on Blu-ray, and The Walking Dead: Season Two on Blu-ray. However, in the end I went with The Pirates! Band of Misfits on 3D Combo Pack as the Pick of the Week. Meanwhile, Monsieur Lazhar on DVD or Blu-ray earns a rarely awarded Puck of the Week. More...

Blu-ray Sales: Hugo's Huge in High Definition

March 14th, 2012

Hugo led a limited number of new releases on top of the Blu-ray sales chart. It sold 523,000 units while generating $14.37 million in sales. This is a good result compared to its theatrical run, but not great given the film's production budget. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 51%, which is fantastic for a family film, although this is not your typical family film. More...

2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Part I

November 23rd, 2011

This weekend is Thanksgiving and as always that means Black Friday and Cyber Monday plus 48 hours of shopping in-between. And as always, I've already done my Christmas shopping, for the most part. (I'm still waiting to see if the B.C.Lions win the Grey Cup. If not, I'll need to look for an alternative gift.) For everyone else who is still searching, we present the first part in our annual Holiday Gift Guide. As usual, the gift guide is divided into several sections, starting with Major Movie Releases. These are first run releases, franchise box sets, etc. However, before we get into the individual titles, we will start with an update on... More...

Blu-ray Sales: Holdovers Lord Above New Releases

July 20th, 2011

Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition Trilogy remained on top of the Blu-ray sales chart this week selling 104,000 units / $5.08 million for the week. It now has generated just over $30 million in sales in just two weeks, and even if you split that between the three movies, it's still an excellent run for a catalog title. More...

Blu-ray Sales: Ring Sucker Punches New Releases

July 12th, 2011

While it's not common for a box set to lead the way on the Blu-ray sales chart, it is also no real surprise that Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition Trilogy managed to do just that, as it was clearly the biggest new release of the week. It took top spot with sales of 336,000 units, and thanks to its premium pricing, it generated $25.21 million in opening week consumer spending. More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for June 28th, 2011

June 27th, 2011

It's a bit of a madhouse in terms of DVD and Blu-ray releases this week: Amazon.com has more than 400 listed. That said, a lot of them are catalogue titles that would barely warrant a mention during a slow week. The most intriguing first run release is Sucker Punch on Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy Combo Pack, but while I think it's worth picking up, it's appeal is limited enough that it is not worthy of the Pick of the Week honors. Fortunately, one of the catalogue titles is clearly Pick of the Week material. In fact, Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Extended Edition - Blu-ray is one of the most anticipated releases in the history of Blu-ray. More...

DVD Sales: Toys Retake Top Spot

December 7th, 2010

It was the Thanksgiving long weekend recently and the sales numbers this week include Black Friday. It should come as no surprise that there was an uptick in sales this week, with a number of older releases seeing a massive jump. This includes Toy Story 3, which shot into top spot with 1.27 million units / $21.19 million for the week and 6.78 million / $124.60 million after a month. It is now the third-best-selling DVD of the year. More...

2010 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part II

December 2nd, 2010

Christmas shopping season is in full swing and this week we have the second part of our Holiday Gift Guide. Last week, Part I talked about big first run releases, while this week we look at box sets and TV on DVD releases. When it comes to the latter, this list is limited to Full Series Megasets and the first season of shows that made their home market debut this year, mostly. This is because when it comes to full season sets from the middle of a show's run, they don't really make good gifts, unless the person is already collecting the series. "Here's season three of a great show. You'll have to buy the first two yourself and get caught up before watching this one." Anyhoo, there are still plenty of releases worth giving as gifts this season, starting with... More...

Polly Wants the Number One Position?

March 16th, 2004

Without an international breakout hit, the domestic slowdown is still affecting the international box-office. This week a single massive opening in a major market could have put a film in the top five. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. But a string of strong openings helped push Along Came Polly into first place with $12.4 million. It's still early in its international run, but with $40.2 million so far and with some big markets left it should beat its domestic total. More...

Effective Marketing

January 26th, 2004

There seems to be a pattern developing for 2004. The number one movie surprises, but the overall box office is lower than expected. This week was no different. The total box office was down from last weekend's 3-day total, which is not surprising as last weekend was a long weekend. But it dropped by a massive 24.7%. The performance compared to last year that is more troubling. Before the weekend 2004 was 7% behind 2003 and at first glance this weekend was almost flat compared to last year, down less than $200,000 or just 0.002%. But this weekend last year was Superbowl weekend, so the performance is really more equivalent to a 10% drop. More...

Will it be Three in a Row for the Trilogy?

January 2nd, 2004

This week there are no new wide openings, so the top five should look a lot like last weekend. This includes another winning weekend for Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. The lack of new releases is not uncommon for this time of the year, nor is the number of potential $100 million movies. Of the top five, one has already crossed $100 million and three more could follow. More...

Returning as King

December 29th, 2003

No one was surprised that Lord of the Ring: Return of the King remained on top for the second weekend in a row, but most of the new entries did surprise at the box office. It is also not surprising that the box office shot up from last week by over 30%, but the yearly increase was a much more modest 4%. That is less than the average increase in ticket prices. More...

Will it be a Record Weekend for the King?

December 19th, 2003

While there are two major and a few smaller releases, only one movie is getting talked about this weekend. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King will crush all competition, but there still is some question if records can be broken and how well the other competition will fare. More...

Lord of Wednesday

December 18th, 2003

Anther day and another record for Lord of the Ring: Return of the King. It is now the largest Wednesday opening of any film, surpassing Star Wars: The Phantom Menace by more than $5 million. It also topped last year's opening of The Two Towers by nearly $8 million. Any fears that the long running time would hurt the box office too much are now alleviated. More...

They Can't Blame the Snow This Time

December 15th, 2003

While the weekend after Thanksgiving is usually soft, the weekend after that usually sees a bit of a rebound. Last year, for instance, we saw a nearly 20% week-to-week increase at the box office. This year we weren't so lucky. No movie in the top five beat box office expectations, while a couple did place higher on the charts due to weaker than expected competition. This led to a drop of nearly 9% from last week and 13% from last year. More...

Two Way Race for Top Spot

December 12th, 2003

It's a two-way race for top spot this weekend with Something's Gotta Give targeting a mature audience while Stuck on You goes for the decidedly immature. A third movie, Love Don't Cost a Thing is also opening wide but it might have trouble just making the top five. More...

Neo Wins Race but Nemo's Journey is Only Beginning

November 18th, 2003

Global Revolution

November 12th, 2003

Matrix Opens Huge, But not Huge Enough

November 7th, 2003

It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Arr!

September 19th, 2003

Return of the King Becomes Return of the Rings

August 22nd, 2003

Horta's View from the Stalls: Digital Overkill in a Digital World - Visual Effects in the Movies

April 25th, 2003

Better Luck Tomorrow is This Weekend’s Best

April 15th, 2003

75th Oscar Awards Handed Out

March 23rd, 2003

Follow Up: The Two Towers Takes on Japan

February 26th, 2003

The Two Towers Last Major Opening

February 21st, 2003

75th Oscar Nominations Announced

February 11th, 2003

More Milestones for The Two Towers

February 2nd, 2003

SAG Nominations Announced

January 28th, 2003

Chamber of Secrets sneaks pasts Jurassic Park

January 28th, 2003

The Two Towers hits another milestone

January 21st, 2003

$00

Territory	Release Date	Opening Weekend	Opening Weekend Screens	Maximum Screens	Theatrical Engagements	Total Box Office	Report Date
Australia	12/26/2002	$7,929,284	424	424	436	$11,001,055	8/12/2024
China	4/23/2021	$4,010,000	39412	39412	54945	$7,820,000	5/26/2021
Czech Republic	1/17/2003	$0	0	2	4	$3,276,232	1/1/2019
Finland	5/5/2023	$0	0	0	0	$62,477	6/16/2023
Italy	1/16/2003	$0	0	0	0	$24,985,868	8/12/2024
Japan	12/31/2022			0	0	$0
Netherlands	10/16/2020	$113,850	94	94	148	$316,381	10/3/2024
New Zealand	12/11/2003	$0	0	11	60	$7,975,384	9/16/2024
North America	12/12/2003	$62,007,528	3,622	3,622	34,999	$345,115,396	12/8/2019
Russia (CIS)	1/23/2003	$0	0	583	592	$514,676	5/25/2021
South Korea	1/17/2017	$144,851	56	176	261	$306,611	3/31/2021
Spain	11/17/2023	$0	0	201	207	$211,179	12/7/2023
Turkey	12/20/2002	$0	0	133	228	$320,881	10/5/2023
United Kingdom	12/20/2002	$0	0	260	346	$83,972,415	10/5/2023
Rest of World						$435,836,621
Worldwide Total						$921,715,176	10/3/2024