May 11th, 2007
For the past few weeks, new releases have dominated the home market, and while this week saw two holdovers in the top two spots, there were still plenty of new releases to place high on the charts. Leading the way were Night at the Museum with $9.08 million for the week and $20.64 million overall with Deja vu remaining in second place with $7.02 million this past week and $15.66 million in total.
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May 5th, 2007
New releases again dominated the rental charts as there were able to capture the top three spots, in fact, all three of these new releases were able to score more than last week's top film was able to. Leading the way was Night at the Museum with $11.56 million; this quite low compared to its theatrical box office of just over $250 million, but the younger target demographic explains this.
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April 24th, 2007
It's a busy week for DVD releases, but the signal to noise ratio is a little high, and that made it harder to find the DVDs that were truly worthy of attention.
(And even then, I went off track a couple of times.)
As for the DVD Pick of the Week, there is really only one choice for me, The Queen - Buy from Amazon.
However, I'm also giving that honor to Burning Annie - Buy from Amazon, which would have won a few weeks ago if I had got the right information on the quality of the DVD.
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March 11th, 2007
Music and Lyrics remained in sixth place with $5.64 million on 1645 screens in 18 markets for a total of $32.01 million internationally. The film disappointed domestically, but it appears to be making up for that softness on the international scene. The film's best opening of the weekend came from South Korea where it placed second with $2.06 million on 144 screens while it also grabbed second place in Brazil with $490,000 on 140. Holdovers were led by the U.K. where the film earned $1.09 million on 364 screens during its fourth week of release for a total of $15.71 million in that market alone. That's close to a $100 million run here, taking into account the relative sizes of the two markets.
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February 26th, 2007
Last night's Oscars were a interesting mix of clear favorites and surprising upsets.
There were enough surprises to keep people talking for a while while enough favorites won that most will be satisfied with the overall outcome.
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February 25th, 2007
The Oscars have all been handed out, but that's not the end of our coverage. Tune in tomorrow for more thoughts as well as next week when we look at the Oscar bounce. And later on we'll announce the winners of our contest,
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February 25th, 2007
The Blood Diamond fell from second to sixth this past weekend, mainly due to the lack of new openings. The film still pulled $8.52 million on 3409 screens in 59 markets for a total of $77.51 million and is still on pace for $100 million internationally, but that's the last milestone in its future.
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February 21st, 2007
Avenue Montaigne intersected with the per theater chart in first place with an average of $14,689 in its two theaters.
Second place went to the overall box office leader as Ghost Rider averaged $12,542 in its 3,619 theaters.
Next up was last week's winner, The Lives of Others, which showed very strong potential for mainstream success as it expanded.
Despite seeing its theater count grow from 13 to 32, it per theater average fell just 33% to $10,965.
The final film to top $10,000 was Bamako, which barely made it with $10,183.
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February 18th, 2007
Charlotte's Web's return to the international charts was a successful one as it just missed the top five with $6.37 million on 2192 screens in 40 markets. However, its international tally of $32.57 is still a terrible result given the film's production budget, which has been estimated to be north of $100 million. The film has one strong opening this weekend as it earned second place in the U.K. with $3.69 million on 489 screens. On the other hand, the film flopped in France missing the top ten with $762,000 on 347 screens and that was for the full week. It did little better in South Korea with $872,000 on 150 screens over the weekend and $969,000 in total while scoring $218,000 on 54 screens over the weekend in Belgium and $271,000 in total.
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February 11th, 2007
Babel just missed the top five this past weekend and showed that
Oscar nods still meant something at the box office, at least internationally. The film added $5.16 million on 1467 screens for a total of $61.31 million so far. It was aided by a first place, $1.23 million opening on 256 screens in Russia, but that is one of the film's last significant openings.
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January 30th, 2007
Mafioso narrowly topped the Per Theater Chart this weekend in second weekend of re-release with an average of $11,118.
Salaam-e-Ishq - A Tribute to Love was right behind it, with just under $1 million in 86 theaters for an average of $11,035.
Early reports actually had Salaam-e-Ishq topping the chart, but its total gross to date includes $60,000 earned on Thursday.
Without that money, it wasn't quite able to hold on to top spot.
The only other film to top $10,000 was Breaking and Entering with an average of $10,580 in two theaters.
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January 28th, 2007
The
Screen Actors Guide were handed out tonight and while there are plenty of awards, only five dealt with theatrical releases.
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January 28th, 2007
Apocalypto climbed into sixth place despite dropping 13% to $6.72 million on 2072 screens for a total of $37.90 million. Its best market of the week was Spain where it opened in first place with $1.94 million on 283 screens.
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January 24th, 2007
Just the one film in the $10,000 Club this weekend, but it was a real stand up movie, if you know what I mean. The re-release of Mafioso took in nearly $30,000 in 2 theatres for an average of $14,983.
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January 23rd, 2007
The
Oscar nominations were handed out today and for the most part they've followed the script written by previous awards committees fairly closely.
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January 23rd, 2007
The
Golden Globes were handed out last week, but the real winners were rewarded this weekend as the Golden Globe Bounce was in full effect.
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January 23rd, 2007
The lone wide release of the weekend struggled to find an audience and even though most of the rest of the top five were able to beat expectations, the weekend box office was still way down.
At just $100 million, the weekend was down 22% from last week and 17% from the same weekend last year.
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January 21st, 2007
The Holiday slipped out of the top five this week, but still has plenty of reason to celebrate as the film hit $100 million on the international scene. Over the weekend it added $8.16 million on 3104 screens in 45 markets to its running tally of $102.54 million. This includes Mexico where the film opened with a respectable third place earning $711,000 on 230 screens while it took fourth place in Argentina with $153,000 on 40.
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January 17th, 2007
Seven films made it into the $10,000 club at the weekend, but none of them were able to earn much more than $11,000.
Pan's Labyrinth continues to show very strong legs on the per theater chart despite expanding ever wider.
This weekend the film earned nearly $2.2 million in 194 screens for an average of $11,180.
Comedy of Power grew by nearly 9% to $10,945 in its lone theater, placing it second, less than $20 ahead of God Grew Tired of Us.
Next up was Guru, which earned an estimated $760,000 in 71 theatres for a preliminary average of $10,704.
The overall box office leader, Stomp the Yard, was next with an average of $10,645 in its 2,051 theaters.
Long-term resident, Letters from Iwo Jima saw its first expansion this past weekend, growing from 5 theaters to 35 while its average remained strong at $10,464.
Venus grew by more than 11% this week to reenter the $10,000 club with an average $10,079.
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January 16th, 2007
Only two films were repeat winners on tonights
Golden Globes,
Dreamgirls with three wins and
The Queen with two. There were a few surprises along the way and some troubling signs for Oscar hopefuls.
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January 12th, 2007
The
Writers Guild of America is the last of the guilds to hand out nominations, which they did so this week. And while there are 20 or so categories, only two of them are theatrical.
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January 5th, 2007
The
Screen Actors Guide handed out their nominations yesterday and of the 5 theatrical categories, there were more than a dozen films to pick up at least one nomination.
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January 4th, 2007
The
PGA announced their nominations today, two of which deal with theatrical releases.
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December 19th, 2006
Dreamgirls set a new record per theater average for a live action film over the weekend by pulling in $380,000 in three movie houses for an average of $126,317.
While this is significantly ahead of the previous record holder, Brokeback Mountain, it is important to note that tickets for Dreamgirls were $25, meaning there were 5,000 tickets sold per theater compared to 10,000 for Brokeback.
On a tickets-per-theater average the film is more in line with Sideways or In Good Company, which is still a very good result.
The only other film to crack $10,000 was The Good German at $15,363.
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December 15th, 2006
Babel led the way when the
Golden Globe nominations were announced today with seven nominations while
The Departed was close behind with six.
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November 28th, 2006
Volver returned to the top of the per theater charts for the third time in its four week run.
Over the 3-day portion of the weekend it earned an average of $17,071 in its 30 theaters and the movie is on pace to top Talk to Her as the biggest grossing film in Pedro Almodovar's career.
Second place went to Dhoom 2: Back in Action with a very impressive average of $15,540 in 63 theaters.
Even if the film sees the usual step drop-off for niche market films, the distributor has to be happy with its run. The History Boys didn't make history, but they did earn $100,000 in 7 theaters over the weekend for an average of $14,400.
The final film to make it into the $10,000 club was Two or Three Things I Know About Her with $10,764 in its lone theater.
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November 21st, 2006
Bobby finished on top of the Per Theater Chart this weekend after taking in nearly $70,000 in two theaters for an average of $34,520.
That was more than $10,000 above its nearest competition, Volver, which pulled in an average of $24,095 during its third week of release.
For Your Consideration placed third on the charts with an average of $16,174, which is a really good start, but still well below the average opening for Christopher Guest's previous mockumentaries.
In fourth was the first of two wide release to top $10,000 as Casino Royale scored a very impressive $11,891 in 3,434 theaters.
The re-release of Two or Three Things I Know About Her earned $11,214 in its lone theater, while Flannel Pajamas brought in $11,069, also in one theater.
Finally we have the overall box office champ, Happy Feet, with an average of $10,918.
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November 19th, 2006
Desu Noto 2, a.k.a., Death Note 2: The Last Name held on strong adding $5.12 million on 397 screens in 2 markets for a two week total of $20.85 million. In
Japan the film remained in top spot with $4.66 million on 346 screens for a two week total of $19.34 million.
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November 5th, 2006
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals saw impressive growth this week up 52% to $4.26 million on 2035 screens in 20 markets for an international total of $16.58 million. The film opened in a handful of markets including placing first in Mexico with $927,000 on 310 screens, but that's a little low for this type of film in that market. Also, it missed the top five in Spain opening in sixth place with $651,000 on 220 screens. The film's biggest market of the weekend was the U.K. where it was down just 27% to $1.41 million on 446 screens over the weekend for a total of $5.66 million after two.
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October 31st, 2006
It was a busy week on the per theater charts with five films topping $10,000 and another coming awfully close.
Leading the way was Oscar bait, Babel with nearly $400,000 in 7 theaters for an average of $55,622, which was four times the next highest earner.
That film, The Queen, earned nearly $2 million in 152 for an average of $12,560 during its fifth week of release.
Shut Up and Sing was in a virtual tie for second place with an average of $12,526 in its four theaters, while The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D wasn't that far behind with $11,409.
The final film to top $10,000 was the overall box office leader, Saw III, which managed an average of $10,613 in its 3,167 theaters.
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October 24th, 2006
Running With Scissors ran away with the crown on the per theatre charts, earning an average of $28,264 in its 8 theatres. However, with reviews that are less than impressive, it could have serious troubles expanding.
The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D opened in second place with $3.3 million in 168 theatres for an average of $19,506.
The only other film to crack $10,000 was The Queen with $15,253 during its fourth week of release.
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October 17th, 2006
The Queen led the per theatre charts for the third weekend in a row, taking in an average of $22,228 in its 46 theatres.
Granted, the film has a while to catch up to the more than 50 year reign of Queen Elizabeth II, but this is still a very rare feat for a film to accomplish.
Second place went to newcomer Sweet Land with an unexpected opening weekend average of $20,930.
The only other film to top $10,000 was Little Children as the film held up very well, dipping less than 14% to $16,910.
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October 10th, 2006
For the second weekend in a row,
The Queen top the per theatre charts with an average of $36,543, down just over 10%. This is even more impressive since the movie saw its theatre count climb from 3 to 11.
Little Children came in next after earning nearly $100,000 in 5 theatres for an average of $19,591 while
Shortbus earned just over $100,000 in 6 theatres for an average of $17,985. The former film has a much better shot at earning some mainstream success as the latter is just too much for the average moviegoer.
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October 8th, 2006
Indigenes, a.k.a. Days of Glory, opened in first place in its native
France with $5.53 million on 460 screens while it managed ninth in Switzerland with $76,000 despite opening on only 8 screens. The film opened on Wednesday in Belgium before expanding to other European market in the coming weeks.
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October 3rd, 2006
The Queen was crowned champion of the per theatre charts this weekend after it earned an astounding $122,000 in 3 theatres for an average of $40,671. Even more impressive is the fact that it earned that in just two days as Friday's debut was actually part of the New York Film Festival and not a theatrical release. Second place went to another regally titled film, The Last King of Scotland; this film brought in $143,000 in 4 theatres for an average of $35,725. Even more impressive is the fact that it opened on Wednesday, which undoubtedly kept its weekend box office lower than it otherwise would have been. Both films seemed poised to earn some measure of mainstream success, which will really help their chances come awards season.
There were two other films to top $10,000 on the per theatre charts, Old Joy at $13,029 and A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints at $11,848.
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October 1st, 2006
Ye Yan, a.k.a., The Banquet opened in third place in South Korea with $1.04 million on 183 screens over the weekend and $1.24 million in total. That helped the
Chinese film place sixth overall with $5.52 million on 734 screens in 6 markets lifting its international total to $15.94 million, which is just above its production budget.
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September 30th, 2006
It's a very, very short list this week with only the movies opening this weekend on the list. The reason for this is simple, I have come down with a rather nasty cold and after four or five days of cold medication have taken their toll. Fortunately, although the quantity is low, the quality is high including this winner of the Weekly Website Award:
Open Season -
Official Site.
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September 29th, 2006
It's a great week for fans of limited releases. Among the seven limited releases coming out this week, two are being singled out as early Oscar favorites. Not only that, but most are earning overwhelming positive reviews.
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September 24th, 2006
Little Man shot up the charts into sixth place with $5.97 million on 1597 screens in 23 markets for a total of $22.63 million internationally. The film had million dollar debuts in both Spain, ($2.06 million on 250 screens), and Mexico, ($1.04 million on 352), while came reasonably close in Russia, ($960,000 on 217 screens, including midweek numbers). In all three markets, the film placed second on the charts. More amazingly is the film's performance in the U.K. as it dipped just 17% to $1.05 million on 315 screens over the weekend and a three-week total of $5.75 million.
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September 8th, 2006
After a very busy month, the number of site on this week's list dropped off dramatically. The decline in quantity was accompanied by a decline in quality with no site jumping out as the obvious choice for the Weekly Website Award.
The Guardian -
Official Site came the closest, but it will have to wait till more features are added for that honor.
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September 2nd, 2006
Another busy week with plenty of top-notch films to chose from In the end, however, it was a two-way race between
The Black Dahlia -
Official Site and
Stranger than Fiction -
Official Site with the former site winning out by a narrow margin.
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