May 5th, 2008
There were only a handful of new releases to chart this week, but we did have a new number one seller. Cloverfield started its home market run with $16.64 million in revenue from 1.04 million units sold.
More...
May 5th, 2008
Cloverfield landed on top of the rental charts leading a group of five new releases with $7.52 million in rentals.
More...
April 21st, 2008
It's a slow week by nearly every measure: big releases, overall quality, overall quantity, spotlight reviews, etc. This is great news for me since recently a package arrived with several DVDs, all of which were late. I'm not quite completely caught up, but I am very close. As for this week's releases, there were only a handful of releases that were even in contention for DVD Pick of the Week. Both The Savages - DVD and The Orphanage - DVD or Blu-ray earned excellent reviews, but their home market releases were only average. Cloverfield - DVD wasn't as good a movie, but the DVD had the best combination of movie quality and special features. The specter of a Blu-ray release notwithstanding, it is the DVD Pick of the Week.
More...
March 16th, 2008
No Country For Old Men slipped out of the top five but still added $7.07 million on 1881 screens in 47 markets for a total of $60.56 million. It is on track to top its domestic box office shortly, which would give it $150 million worldwide.
More...
March 9th, 2008
Meet the Spartans made its first major push into the international market this past weekend earning sixth place with $7.94 million on 1653 screens in 14 markets for an early total of $12.90 million. Its biggest opening came in Germany where it scored second place with $3.01 million on 304 screens, however, it earned first place in both Mexico with $1.35 million on 543 screens and in Australia with $1.29 million on 211 screens. On the other hand, it fell by 59% during its second weekend in Russia pulling in $526,000 on 275 screens over the weekend for a total of $2.27 million after two.
More...
February 24th, 2008
Rambo climbed five spots just missing the top five with $6.96 million on 1989 screens in 25 markets for a total of $25.63 million. The film opened in second place in Germany with $2.78 million 405 screens while it managed third in Mexico with $704,000 on 300. Next up is the U.K., Australia, and Italy, where it opens this weekend, while it enters South Korea next weekend.
More...
February 4th, 2008
The Italian movie, Scusa Ma Ti Chiamo Amore, opened in first place in Italy with $7.55 million on 491 screens, which was more than double its nearest competition.
More...
January 23rd, 2008
The re-release of L'Annee Derniere a Marienbad opened in first place on the per theater chart with $15,496 in its lone theater. Still Life was close behind with $12,744, also in one theater. The overall box office leader, Cloverfield, was the only other film to top $10,000 on the per theater chart with an average of $11,744 over the three-day portion of the weekend.
More...
January 15th, 2008
There Will Be Blood again won the race to top the per theater average chart with an average of $14,421, despite expanding from 51 to 129 theaters. The only other release to top $10,000 was Persepolis, which saw its average decline a mere 5.5% to $10,374 despite more than doubling its theater count.
More...
January 10th, 2008
This week, we have three new wide release and there are also a couple of expansions.
Add in several strong holdovers, and there could be quite a logjam on the top of the charts.
Not every new release / wide expansion will take part in this bounty, with In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, which could turn out to be the worst movie of the year, likely to miss out.
More...
January 3rd, 2008
There Will Be Blood scored the best opening in limited release this year with an amazing $190,000 in 2 theaters for an average of $95,370, and that's for a Wednesday release. The Bucket List opened with an average of $20,990 in 16 theaters. Two imports earned nearly identical averages with Persepolis topping The Orphanage $12,689 to $12,280. While There Will Be Blood earned the best per theater average of the year, I was more impressed with Juno and Atonement, both of which topped $10,000 despite being in theaters for weeks now and undergoing massive expansions during that time. Juno earned over $10 million in less than 1000 theaters for an average of $10,436 while Atonement earned an average of $10,074 in just over 300 theaters thanks to a holiday boost.
More...
January 1st, 2008
It's the beginning of a new month, and a new year. This new beginning brings with it a sense of hope and exhilaration for many people, but this does not extend into the movie world. January is dominated by films from last year. Not only are holdovers going to overwhelm new releases at the box office for the next couple weeks, but with the award season heating up, most buzz is about who will win what. In fact, only Cloverfield seems to be able to rise above the award season buzz, but this is not a sure sign that the film will survive at the box office.
More...
December 29th, 2007
It was a mixed week for websites this time around. Not as many new releases didn't have a website, and most were a cut above average quality. However, none jumped out as award worthy. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem - Official Site has the best game, but The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep - Official Site has the best overall features. But like I said, neither wins the Weekly Website Award.
More...
December 28th, 2007
With the deadline for Oscar eligibility nearly here, we have several films that are contenders for Oscar glory. Those that can earn enough buzz will have a better shot at escaping their limited release and expanding wide. Or in the case of The Bucket List, even poor reviews won't prevent that now.
More...
December 1st, 2007
It's been a while since we went into the final month of the year on such a down note.
Since mid-September the box office has been down on a year-to-year comparison every weekend but two.
There is some good news, including a competitive Oscar race and a strong group of films aiming for box office glory.
While there are no films that appear to be heading for the monster hits territory, there are also no films that look like outright bombs.
(Although a couple would be there if it weren't for the holidays.)
Every week at least one Oscar contender and one box office giant are being released.
This means that every weekend there is at least one film that should hit $100 million, or more.
If five or more can reach that milestone, 2007 will set the record for most $100 million films in a year.
More...
November 25th, 2007
Elizabeth: The Golden Age nearly reached the top five with $5.79 million on 1579 screens in 12 markets for a total of $21.80 million. This includes a first place, $1.89 million opening on 470 screens in Russia, while the film added $933,000 on 394 screens in the U.K. for a total of $8.40 million so far.
More...
November 18th, 2007
Stardust fell out of the top five, but still added $5.80 million on 2327 screens in 48 markets lifting its running tally to $83.50 million. Its best market remained the U.K. where it climbed a spot to second place with $2.66 million on 459 screens for a total of $23.59 million. The film has no major openings left, but $100 million internationally is still within reach.
More...
November 11th, 2007
Surf's Up grew by 77% in France adding $3.44 million on 628 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.36 million in total. This growth was due to the Toussaint holiday while it was enough to lift the film's weekend box office to $5.84 million on 1996 screens in 32 markets for a total of $72.34 million. The film has yet to open in Scandinavia as well as Japan and should hit $100 million internationally before it is done, which is significantly more than the $58.87 million it earned domestically, but not enough to show a profit just yet.
More...
November 4th, 2007
The Orphanage may have fallen out of the top five internationally, but it remained the top draw in Spain with $4.11 million on 373 screens over the weekend for a three-week total of $20.78 million. This is more than Ratatouille has earned in that market after three months of release and equivalent to $200 to $300 million here. It won't make $200 to $300 million here, in fact, it might not make $20 million here. It all depends on how well it does with critics and award committees.
More...
October 24th, 2007
Ratatouille remained in first place over the weekend as it topped $300 million internationally and $500 million worldwide. Over the weekend the film opened in first place in Italy with $6.29 million on 658 screens over the weekend and $7.26 million in total, which is the best opening for a Pixar film in that market. It also topped the charts in Sweden with $1.71 million on 183 screens over the weekend and $2.03 million in total and Poland with $1.24 million on 130 screens over the weekend and $1.49 million. Overall, Ratatouille added $30.11 million on 4168 screens in 29 markets for a total of $310.12 million internationally and $515.03 million worldwide. The film could reach $400 million internationally, especially with its impressive legs so far. In the U.K. the film was down only 31% to $6.26 million on 535 screens over the weekend and $18.38 million in total, while in Germany it was down just 1% to $6.40 million on 860 screens over the weekend and $29.24 million in total. The only Pixar film to make more in that latter market was Finding Nemo at $54 million, which is in all likelihood out of reach, but not completely out of the question.
More...
October 17th, 2007
Ratatouille remained in top spot with $21.07 million on 3721 screens in 39 markets for a total of $271.85 million. This includes a dominating first place, $9.08 million opening on 503 screens in the U.K. This was nearly twice as much as Cars debuted with in that market, but only half as much as The Incredibles. Meanwhile in Germany, the film was down 45% to $6.46 million for the weekend and $20.40 million in total. This is already more than Cars made in total in that market and is about a week away from also topping The Incredibles final figure of $24.22 million. Its best market is still France where it has made $64.76 million, just a hair below the $64.78 million Finding Nemo made in that market meaning Ratatouille has already become the all-time highest grossing Pixar movie in France.
More...
August 5th, 2007
Another big list of movie sites, but not much in the way of top-notch entries. For a movie site to be an award winner, I expect it to have all of the usual features, extras like clips, something interactive like a game, and background sound and animation. The film that best exemplifies that criteria is Stardust - Official Site, which is the winner of the Weekly Website Award.
More...
July 21st, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Big Stan, Valkyrie, Monsters vs. Aliens and more.
More...
