November 14th, 2006
With Thanksgivings just around the corner, there are a lot of releases coming out this week.
You see, every time this year there's a media report that the day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year.
However, this is not true.
Christmas Eve is actually the biggest shopping day of the year (talk about last minute gifts).
Even so, Thanksgiving is still a massively important time of the year and there's no surprise that studios are trying to get out as many gift ideas as possible just in time for the holiday rush.
With that in mind, there are several full series sets coming out this week, including DVD Pick of the Week contender Get Smart - The Complete Series - Buy Direct.
However, when it comes to the winner, there's really only one choice and that is Looney Tunes - Golden Collection - Volume Four - Buy from Amazon.
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August 20th, 2005
Guess Who was able to repeat as the champion on the home market thanks in part to the weak competition, but also due to the miniscule 8% drop-off from its
opening week numbers. The film earned $8.01 million in DVD rentals, $630,000 in VHS rentals for a combined total of $8.64 million this week, which lifted its two-week total to $18.23 million.
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August 6th, 2005
Despite two new openers in the top five,
Constatine remained the best on the rental market with $6.76 million in DVD rentals and $620,000 in VHS rentals. Its combined total of $7.38 million was 27% lower than
last week, but it wasn't the worst drop-off in the top five.
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July 30th, 2005
Constatine captured top spot on the home market taking first place on the DVD rentals, ($9.23 million); VHS rentals, ($930,000); and DVD sales, (no numbers announced.) And while the film's combined rentals of $10.17 million was a strong performance, the rest of the top five weren't so lucky.
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July 24th, 2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opened in three French speaking markets over the weekend and while it didn't finish first, it still had a great start.
In France the film earned $3,741,793 in 670 theaters for the best per theater average in the top ten.
The result was similar in Belgium ($250,000) and Switzerland ($190,000), giving the film $4.2 million for the weekend.
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July 23rd, 2005
To call Million Dollar Baby's debut on the home market a knockout is very apt.
Perhaps too apt.
Not only did the film easily win the week with $12.42 million in combined rentals, every other film in the top five saw serious drop-offs, sending the overall market sharply downwards.
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July 11th, 2005
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, classics and a few from the growing TV on DVD section. We finally have a big box office hit as the best DVD release of the week with
Million Dollar Baby -
Delux Edition with Soundtrack being the clear favorite. But that doesn't mean there are no TV on DVD releases worth picking up as both Titus - Seasons 1 & 2 -
Buy from Amazon and Sealab 2021 - Season 3 -
Buy from Amazon and included on the list DVD pick of the week releases. On the flip side, there are a dozen films on this week's list that range from really bad to atrociously bad. It's like the stars have aligned and unspeakable cinematic horrors from another dimension are flooding in. That might be a tad overly dramatic, but I can't recall a time when there were more really bad movies being released in one week.
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July 10th, 2005
With the last of this summer's worldwide releases opening last weekend, the international details are once again dominated by smaller films. And to compound matters, most of those are only making noise in one of two markets. However, over the next few weeks there are plenty of big films opening in big markets and the International Details column should start showing signs of life soon.
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June 26th, 2005
The international box office is suffering even more than the domestic box office is. In Germany the first six months of 2005 are down 14% compared to the same period in 2004 and Australia also saw double digit decline slipping by 12%. In Spain the total box office is down 8% and it was little better in France at 6%. The U.K. also fell, but at a much more reasonably 1.9%.
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June 19th, 2005
Just when the International Details column was getting back to normal we have another film dominating the international scene. Mr. and Mrs. Smith led in nearly every major / midlevel market and those it didn't were mostly owned by Revenge of the Sith. Because of that there isn't as much news to tell as usual, and with Batman Begins opening worldwide this weekend and in two weeks, War of the Worlds doing the same, this trend will last until mid-July at the earliest.
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June 12th, 2005
The Longest Yard opened in second place in Australia with $2.5 million. On the other hand, the film could only manage $750,000 on 260 screens in Mexico, not surprising since
Adam Sandler has never been a big draw internationally, especially outside English speaking markets.
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June 5th, 2005
It was a slightly busier weekend as several studios were brave enough, or foolhardy enough to try and sandwich their film between the worldwide release of
Revenge of the Sith and
Batman Begins, which debuts in just 10 days. With
War of the Worlds' worldwide release just two weeks after that, there's very little room for smaller films to survive.
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May 29th, 2005
Revenge of the Sith dominated nearly every market it opened in and in most of them it was the only new film in the top ten. Because of this there's almost no international details to report and those details that are available are single market releases.
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May 22nd, 2005
It was another slow weekend for international details as few studios were brave enough, or foolish enough to try and squeeze in a release between
Kingdom of Heaven and
Revenge of the Sith. It was hard to find many films that earned more than $1 million over the weekend and most of the activity came from smaller releases in midlevel markets. Next weekend there could be even fewer details as
Revenge of the Sith should dominate every market, but after that the summer blockbuster season should be in full swing and things should pick up.
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May 16th, 2005
Friday the 13th proved to be an unlucky omen as the box office continued its slump. We did see a massive 17.3% increase from last weekend, but more importantly 9.5% drop-off from the same time last year, which is the 12th down weekend in a row.
As for year-to-date, 2004 has brought in $2.715 billion, off 7% from the same time last year.
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May 16th, 2005
The summer got off to a really, really slow start international this week and while
Kingdom of Heaven didn't wasn't quite the blockbuster most people were looking for, it did cannibalized what little box office there was. There were a few local films to make noise, including Negotiator: Bayside Shakedown 3, which easily topped the Japanese market with $5,275,685 on just 280 for a huge $18,842 per screen average.
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May 8th, 2005
Golden Week helped
Shall We Dance? climb 19% to $2,250,195 for the weekend and $7,270,348 during its run. The film now has $90.3 million internationally and could break $100 million if it continues to show strong legs in Japan.
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May 1st, 2005
It was a good news, bad news kind of weekend for
Constantine. The film remained in top spot in Japan with $2,330,027 on 349 screens for a $9,011,671 running tally in the market. Bad news, it dropped 37% during its second weekend in the market, which is really steep for Japan. Overall the film brought in $3 million on 1,200 screens in 40 markets for a international box office of $136.4 million.
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April 24th, 2005
Hitch is just coasting on holdovers now, and will be until it opens in Japan at the beginning of June. This week it added $5.1 million from 3000 screens in 55 markets to its already impressive $170.4 million international total and with soft week to week drop-offs and a good showing in Japan and it will have a $200 million future. This week the film added $643,359 in its fifth weekend in France for a $12,785,670 total in the market, $110,000 in its second weekend in Argentina, (rising to first place in the meantime) as well as other, smaller markets.
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April 17th, 2005
The Pacifier finally debut across Australia after playing in Queensland and Victoria for the past two weeks; the massive expansion allowed the film to climb to first place with $1.125 million on 267 screens. That lifted its total in the market to $3.41 million so far and the film should have strong legs. Add to that its $1.75 million opening in Spain and $590,000 in Belgium and the film managed $4.1 million over the weekend, which doubled its early total to $8.1 million.
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April 10th, 2005
It was a slow week at the international box office, the slowest of the year, and without much activity at the box office hit there were little in the way of details published by the studios. Therefore this week's column is much shorter than usual. Leading the best of the rest was
Be Cool with an estimated $5 million for a disappointing $12.7 million international tally. Its best single market was the U.K. where the film finished second with $2.2 million on 336 screens after an exclusive engagement last weekend. The film also did well in the Netherlands with $190,000 on 43 screens but really struggles in Germany opening in fifth place with just $930,000 on 321 screens, a result mirrored in Austria, (fifth place, $165,948.)
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April 6th, 2005
For the first time in four weeks we have a new numbers one on the international charts as
The Ring 2 opened in several major markets helping propel the film to $18.8 million on 3,476 screens in 37 markets for an international total of $34.7 million. That was enough to push its worldwide total passed $100 million to $102.7 million. It's biggest single market was the U.K. where the film $3.86 million on 419 screens, but this was not up the performance of the
original. On the other hand, the film saw its biggest gain in France where its $2.15 million on 403 screens was 50% more than the $1.4 million
original made in 2002. Other major market debuts include $3.0 million on 445 screens in Germany and $2.9 million on 320 screens in Spain. Holdovers were not kind to the film, again, as it dropped 54% in Australia to just $717,420. This has been a problem throughout the film's run and will likely result in the film earning substantially less than
original when all is said and done.
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April 3rd, 2005
Million Dollar Baby performed brilliantly this week earning $8.8 million for an international total of $60 million, placing fourth on the international box office charts. In France the film dominated the marketplace with $4.94 million on 450 screens and in Germany the film earned $760,000 in semi-limited release (120 screens) for the best per screen average in the market. On the other hand, the film flopped in Slovakia where it missed the top ten in its debut. On the holdover front, the multi-
Oscar winning front saw its weekend haul climb by 20% in Spain to $980,000 and it's still doing well in Australia, Italy and South Korea.
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March 27th, 2005
Million Dollar Baby has again slipped off the radar screen, but we do know it hit $52 million internationally, which means it made $9 million during the week. The film didn't earn $1 million in any single market, but is still doing strong in South Korea, ($970,000), Spain, ($840,000), Italy, ($600,000) and Australia, ($350,000.) Best estimate has the film earning just shy of $5 million of that over the weekend and taking sixth place on the international box office charts.
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March 20th, 2005
After gathering in all the data the winner for the race for fifth place is
Million Dollar Baby, I think. It would need to lost more than 40% from last week's total and that's not taking into account its openings in South Korea at $1,515,672 and second place, its $110,000, third place debut in Finland, $86,000 in Russia, $50,000, second place debut in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, exact weekend totals are unknown but it is estimated at $6 million raising its international total to $43 million so far.
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March 16th, 2005
Not only is
Hitch the undisputed champion of 2005 for the domestic market, it is also the new number one worldwide, topping
Howl's Moving Castle $216.5 million to $211.9 million. And with $28.1 million this weekend on 4,600 screens in 40 markets, the film sits at $66.0 million internationally and could become the first film from 2005 to reach the $100 million milestone on the international scene.
The film's biggest opening of the weekend came from the U.K., where it racked up $8.1 million including sneak peaks, which represented more than 50% of total box office in the market.
Add in first place debuts in Italy with $2.5 million on 300, Belgium with $820,000 on 57, Netherlands with $670,000 on 93 and $225,000 on 16 screens in the U.E.A. The film also performed admirably in South Korea with a third place, $1.4 million weekend on 175 screens. Notable holdovers include its $6.3 million in Germany, down less than 30% to $17.2 million in that market alone and $1.83 million in Australia, down 34% and still first place in both markets. The film was also first place in Scandinavia, but exact numbers are currently unavailable.
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March 9th, 2005
We have a new number one at the international box office this week, as Hitch has expanded into 19 more markets, with number one debuts in all but one; it added $21.1 million on 3,000 screens in 25 markets to its early $29.6 million total.
Its biggest debut came in Germany, where Will Smith is a huge box office draw; the film brought in $8.8 million on 905 screens, becoming the biggest opening ever for a Romantic Comedy.
The film also did amazing business in other German speaking markets (Austria and Switzerland), plus Australia at $2.76 million, making it the biggest opening of the year in all four markets.
The only market it failed to crack the top spot was Spain, where it went head to head with Hide & Seek and narrowly missing top spot with 2.56 million on 373 screens.
It should be pointed out that horror films do particularly well in Spain, so this result is not unexpected. One last note, the film also debuted in London on one screen earning $101,395.
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March 8th, 2005
A dozen films took home
Oscars a little over a week ago, and while this usually results in a significant bounce at the box office, this year the returns were less than impressive.
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March 7th, 2005
Overall it was a good weekend as every movie in the top five matched expectations, or at least came very close, and the number one film topped predictions by a wide, wide margin. However, the news was not all good, as the weekend was relatively flat from last week with just a 1.1% increase. Compared to last year the figure was much worse at 14.5% decrease.
2005's lead over 2004 evaporated to just 1%, $1.427 billion to $1.413 billion.
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March 6th, 2005
The Aviator beat weekend estimates by a substantial margin leading to a $5.9 million box office on 3000 screens in 34 markets. The multi-
Oscar winning movie has hit $86.2 million internationally and will cross $200 million worldwide before too long. The film dropped a spot to fifth place in South Korea with $834,660 for the week and slipped to second in Australia with $798,000. The only market the film opened it was Argentina, where it easily took top spot with $232,000.
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March 4th, 2005
Three new films open in wide release (or, in the case of one of the films, semi-wide release), one more film expands at the box office, while another could be propelled back into the top five thanks to a significant Oscars bounce. All in all, it's a very busy weekend for moviegoers.
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February 27th, 2005
The Aviator started out Oscar evening extremely well, but it was Million Dollar Baby that won the biggest prizes at the 77th annual Academy Awards.
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February 27th, 2005
February 27th, 2005
Ocean's Twelve may have dropped out of the top five, but it is still going strong with $4.5 million on 1400 screens in 35 markets for an international box office of $225.8 million so far. No new openings means the
heist film had to rely on holdovers likes its $2.5 million during its third weekend in the U.K. and $1.4 million during its fifth week of release in Japan, finishing second in both those markets.
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February 22nd, 2005
The long weekend helped boost ticket sales to higher than expected levels, with almost every film meeting or exceeding predictions.
Percentage-wise, the three-day weekend was up 10.9% from last weekend and more than 40% from last year.
However, this weekend last year was not Presidents' Day Weekend and thus that comparison is misleading.
Comparing 2005 Presidents Day Weekend to 2004 and the results are still very strong, just not overwhelmingly so; 3-day 2005 was up 7.0% and 8.4% for the 4-day weekend.
Year to date, 2005 is up 13.4% on 2004, with $1.121 billion. However, 2004 had a slow start and didn't really take off until late February.
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February 20th, 2005
The Annual Writers Guild Awards held their 57th annual awards on Saturday. Among the more than a dozen awards handed out were three for theatrical releases, including the inaugural award for best
documentary, (which had been handed out earlier.)
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February 20th, 2005
Iznogoud: Calife a la place du calife, a movie based on a Asterix and Obelix
spin off of sorts, dominated the French box office taking in $7.1 million, more than double the second place film and more than a third of the top ten total. It is also enough to push it into the
Top Five on the international scene, dropping
Finding Neverland into sixth place. Unfortunately, like the several films made in the Asterix and Obelix series, this one is unlikely to make much of an impact outside the French speaking markets.
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February 18th, 2005
Presidents' Day Long Weekend isn't the busiest holiday of the year, but it should give a boost to the box office nonetheless.
Looking at the reviews of the three new releases, this weekend is going to need a boost.
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February 14th, 2005
Valentine's Day brought a lot of love to both Will Smith and Sony, as records were set. This led to a massive 16.6% increase from last weekend, however, the box office was down 3.6% from last year. But the latter comparison isn't completely accurate since this time last year was the President's Day Long Weekend. Year to date 2005 is up on 2004 by 9%, but before the industry starts to celebrate, 2004 got off to a very slow start before taking off mid-way through the month, so the race is far from over.
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February 11th, 2005
It's Valentine's Day weekend, sort of. Valentine's Day is actually on Monday, but I don't think that's going to stop a lot of people from seeing a date movie this weekend. With that extra boost we should have a first mega-hit of the year as romantic comedies should reign supreme.
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February 9th, 2005
A higher than expected opening in Spain and a lower than expected decline in the U.K. allowed
Meet the Fockers to retain top spot on the international charts. The film opened first in a handful of markets, including a $4.7 million opening in Spain on 356 screens, $377,000 in Denmark, $352,000 in Taiwan and $275,000 in Israel. Its most prolific market continues to be the U.K. where the film brought in $8.5 million during its second weekend there; that's a 42% drop-off, which is a little high for the market, but not as high as expected given its huge start last weekend. That one market represented more than half of its weekend total of $16.3 million on 1700 screens in 28 markets for a running tally of $82.9 million.
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February 7th, 2005
With two new releases going up against the media juggernaut that is the Super Bowl, everyone was expecting at least one movie to flop hard, but that didn't happen. Granted, the weekend box office was down 16.8% from last weekend, but that wasn't as steep a drop as expected.
Comparisons to last year are a less accurate as Super Bowl happened a weekend earlier.
Compared the last year this weekend was down 8.3%, but compared to last Super Bowl weekend, it was up 8.0%
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February 5th, 2005
More than a dozen awards were handed tonight in Los Angeles at the Shrine Exposition Center, and with only five theatrical awards there were more than a few surprises.
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February 5th, 2005
The 11th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are handed out tonight and while there are numerous awards only five are for theatrical releases.
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February 4th, 2005
Super Bowl weekend is usually a horror story for theaters as most people stay at home to watch the game, or at least soak in the hype surrounding the game.
The big game is such a threat to the box office that the Super Bowl Weekend is historically the third worst weekend of the year, (the Post Labor Day and Post Thanksgiving weekends being numbers one and two respectively).
This year, two films are being released with two different strategies for success.
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February 2nd, 2005
Meet the Fockers open in the U.K. over the weekend with an astounding $14.8 million on 456, which is more than four times the
original's earnings there in 2000.
That figure was also more than 8 times the second place film , and more than half the market's total box office.
Add in a handful of openings in other, mostly smaller markets and the film brought in $19.2 million on 1,700 screens in 15 markets for a $58.8 million total so far.
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February 1st, 2005
Oscar Nominations gave a box office boost to many films this past weekend while other films are too far into their runs for it to make a difference, (
The Motorcycle Diaries) or out of theatres completely, (
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.) But of the 35 films that received
Oscar Nominations, 17 saw increases in either their overall box office, per theatre average or both.
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January 31st, 2005
January ended on an amazing note, with most of the top five beating expectations.
This led to huge increases of 26.4% from last weekend and 29.6% from last year.
But there is some bad news.
Firstly, last weekend the box office was pushed down because of the snowstorm and secondly, last year the box office was pushed down because of the Super Bowl.
However, even taking those into account this was still a good weekend, and 2005 is off to a great start - up more than 12%, for an early $75 million lead on 2004.
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January 31st, 2005
On Saturday, the Directors Guild of America celebrated their 57th annual awards. And while there were many winners, only two awards were for theatrical releases.
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January 28th, 2005
Two new Horror movies open this weekend.
However, the scariest part about the films could be their Rotten Tomatoes scores, as they are currently earning just 13 and 65.
On the plus side, several Oscar Nominated films are earning serious expansions and should figure in the top five.
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January 26th, 2005
The International Box Office Race is certainly interesting, as Ocean's Twelve recaptured the lead this weekend with $14.4 million on 4,600 screens in 58 markets and now sits at $170.4 million internationally and $292.8 million worldwide. A large chunk of that total came from Japan, where the film earned $6.8 million (including sneak peaks) on 510 screens, while ending Howl's Moving Castle's nine week reign on top.
While this was a strong performance, it was 20% lower that the original's debut in the same market.
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January 25th, 2005
Over the weekend The Producers Guild of America handed out their 15th Annual awards with The Aviator taking top prize for Darryl F. Zanuck as Producer of the Year Award - Theatrical Motion Pictures. This is the first of four Guild Awards that will be handed out over the next few weeks leading up to the Oscars on February 27th.
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January 25th, 2005
Of the eight films that won Golden Globes last weekend, only a handful saw their box office take increase this weekend.
This can be partially explained by the snowstorm, and partially by how late in the film's run it was by the time the awards were announced.
However, it may also be an indication of the declining influence the awards ceremony has.
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January 25th, 2005
Just a lone film in the $10,000 club this week as Million Dollar Baby continued its amazing run, earning $1.65 million in 147 theaters for a $11,239 average.
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January 25th, 2005
The Oscar Nominations were announced this morning and at first glance it appears that most of the nominations went to films with smaller budgets and box office results.
Box office hits were nearly shut out of the major nominations.
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January 21st, 2005
It's another light week for limited releases.
However, several that won Golden Globes this past Sunday will see their theater counts increase.
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January 19th, 2005
After a massive opening last week in Spain,
Alexander took top spot on the international charts thanks to a strong opening in Italy, Brazil and Hong Kong. The film managed first place in all three markets with $3.87 million on 446 screens in Italy, $906,900 on 193 screens in Brazil and $275,244 on 30 screens in Hong Kong. Holdovers were not as kind to the
Sword and Sandal epic as it dropped nearly 50% in the U.K., Spain and France. Overall the film brought in $14.5 million on 3600 screens in 51 markets for a running tally of $88 million. And while the film will easily cross $100 million internationally, which is roughly 3 times its domestic figure, it has to be looked at as a disappointment financially.
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January 18th, 2005
Million Dollar Baby climbed back into first place on the per theater charts with an average of $14,868 in 122 theaters. The only other film to beat the $10,000 mark was Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbh Mela with $12,127 in its lone theater.
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January 17th, 2005
The Golden Globe were handed out tonight with no one film really dominating the night.
The Aviator led the night with three awards with a few others films taking home two apiece.
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January 11th, 2005
Four of last week's five films in the $10,000 club managed to repeat that feat this week with In Good Company continuing its reign on the charts. The film, which opens wide this week, dropped a mere 5% at the box office earning an average of $48,050 in three theatres. Well back at $17,619 was Million Dollar Baby, which did an amazing job holding onto its per theatre average despite increasing its theatre count from just 9 to 109. On the other hand, The Merchant of Venice dropped almost 30% to $12,237 even though its theatre count was unchanged. Another film holding up well despite massive gains in its theatre count was Hotel Rwanda with $11,155 on average in 105 theatres. Rounding out the $10,000 club was the only new wide release this weekend, White Noise with $10,665.
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January 7th, 2005
Just a pair of new openings on the limited release front, but there are also a few more films expanding wider tonight as well.
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January 4th, 2005
As you can probably guess from the grammatically incorrect headline,
In Good Company took top spot on the Per Theatre Charts with an amazing $50,583 average in three theatres over the weekend and a total of $225,000 since the film opened on Wednesday. Coming in second is the oldest film in the $10,000 club,
Million Dollar Baby, which saw its per theatre average jump to $30,164 in nine theatres and has already topped $1 million during its limited run.
Hotel Rwanda also saw its per theatre average climb and earned $20,340 in 7 theatres and needs to expand quickly to take advantage of its strong start. Oscar hopeful,
The Merchant of Venice, started well with nearly $70,000 over the weekend and over $100,000 since its Wednesday opening, which works out to a $17,467 average in 4 theatres. Rounding out the $10,000 club was the overall box office leader,
Meet the Fockers with an average of $11,845.
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December 28th, 2004
While it didn't actually earn $1 million this weekend, Million Dollar Baby did top the per theatre charts with an average of $21,066, while fellow Oscar hopeful, Hotel Rwanda, came in second place with a respectable $14,299 average in 7 theatres. Rounding out the $10,000 club was overall box office champion, Meet the Fockers with $13,110.
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December 21st, 2004
During its second weekend of release,
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou saw its per theatre average drop just 12.6% to land at $49,394, easily the best result this weekend. Next on the list are two new award season hopefuls,
Million Dollar Baby with $22,494 in 8 theatres and
The Aviator with $21,451 in 40 theatres. The second returning member of the $10,000 club rounds out the list as
Bad Education earned an average of $12,816 to spend its fifth week on the list.
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December 17th, 2004
The limited releases this weekend have combined for more than a dozen
Golden Globe nominations and could come close to matching that when Oscars nominations are announced late in January.
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December 16th, 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 this week's winner
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events -
Official Site and all subsidiaries. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
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December 14th, 2004
Golden Globe Nominations were announced on Monday and as with the
IFP Independent Spirit Awards,
Sideways lead the pack with 7 nominations. This does not mean it is the favorite in any particular category, but it does help its chances of taking home some hardware on January 16th.
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October 12th, 2004
A number of upcoming movies have been added to the site. Most noticeable of these new movies are a spin-off to the X-Men movies:
Wolverine, Michael Mann directing a
Miami Vice movie based on his own eighties television series and a sequel to last year's surprise hit The Italian Job,
Italian Job 2.
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