September 9th, 2009
Despite an onslaught of ten new releases to reach the top 30 on the sales chart this week, and seven in the top ten, Hannah Montana the Movie remained in top spot for the second week in a row. During its second weekend of release the film sold 408,000 units to lift its total to 1.64 million after two, while it consumer spending at retail was $7.04 million for the week and $27.63 million after two.
More...
September 9th, 2009
There were five new release to reach the top 30 on the rental chart this week, led by a pair that took the top two spots. Duplicity came out ahead with roughly 40% more rentals than Fighting, which opened in second place.
More...
August 25th, 2009
As is usual this time of year, TV on DVD dominates the list of this week's releases. This includes two of the three DVD Pick of the Week contenders: Samantha Who? - Season Two and NCIS - Season Six. The best High Definition release is Adventureland on Blu-ray, while all three are worth of the DVD Pick of the Week honors. It was a pretty busy week, especially in terms of spotlight reviews, and the list had to be split into two with the first part found here.
More...
August 25th, 2009
As is usual this time of year, TV on DVD dominates the list of this week's releases. This includes two of the three DVD Pick of the Week contenders: Samantha Who? - Season Two and NCIS - Season Six. The best High Definition release is Adventureland on Blu-ray, while all three are worth of the DVD Pick of the Week honors. It was a pretty busy week, especially in terms of spotlight reviews, and the list had to be split into two with the second part found here.
More...
May 5th, 2009
There was only one film to top $10,000 on the per theater charts; in fact, there was only one film that care reasonably close. Wolverine was that one film as it topped both the per theater chart and the overall chart with an average of $20,751 in more than 4000 theaters. Second place went to Three Monkeys with $8,818 in just one theater.
More...
April 15th, 2009
There were only two films to get into the $10,000 club on the Per Theater Chart this past weekend, and both had a musical theme. Anvil! The Story of Anvil was first with $11,550, while Hannah Montana the Movie was second with $10,367.
More...
April 7th, 2009
The overall box office leader, Fast and Furious, was also the leader on the Per Theater Chart with an average of $20,500 during its opening weekend. Enlighten Up! returned to the chart in second place with $16,161 in second place. Valentino: The Last Emperor doubled its theater count, again, but remained strong with an average of $14,196 in four theaters. Strong buzz helped Gigantic earn $10,294 in its lone theater. Tulpan failed to reach $10,000 over the weekend with an opening of $8,620 in one theater; however, adding in Wednesday and Thursday and it made $10,357.
More...
April 5th, 2009
This is a weekend to remember for Universal, thanks to a huge opening for Fast & Furious.
The fourth movie in the action series smashed all projections with a $72.5 million opening, according to the studio's Sunday estimate, making it the biggest weekend ever in April by the small matter of $30 million (Anger Management used to hold the record with a modest-looking $42.2 million -- see full list of April weekends).
It's also Universal's biggest non-holiday opening, and the biggest weekend of the year so far.
Friday's $30 million day is the biggest day in 2009, and also a record for April (see list).
More...
April 1st, 2009
April is a transition month. At the beginning it is strong, but as we near May, the looming competition is just too great and that scares away the big-ticket releases. That said, there are still a few films that could reach the century mark this month, and it does look stronger than last April and that will help 2009 extend its lead in the box office race.
More...
March 31st, 2009
Valentino: The Last Emperor remained on the top of the per theater chart with an average of $15,553 in two theaters. The overall number one film of the past weekend, Monsters vs. Aliens, opened in second place on the per theater chart with an average of $14,454 in more than 4,000 theaters. Ramin Bahrani finally had a box office hit, as Goodbye Solo earned nearly $40,000 in three theaters for an average of $12,681. Hopefully it will continue its strong run in the coming weeks. Sin Nombre was down less than 14% to $70,000 in 6 theaters for an average of $11,695. Meanwhile, American Swing rounded out the $10,000 club with $10,174.
More...
March 29th, 2009
Monsters vs. Aliens got off to a great start over the weekend, according to Paramount's Sunday estimate.
The 3D movie earned an impressive $58.2 million, the best weekend of the year so far, and above even our bullish prediction.
Unless the final numbers are considerably lower, Monsters vs. Aliens will end up the third biggest opener in March (see complete list).
More...
March 24th, 2009
Valentino: The Last Emperor topped the per theater chart with $21,762 in one theater over the weekend and $33,170 since Wednesday. Hunger returned to theaters and scored $13,838 in its lone theater, which was just a tiny margin ahead of Sin Nombre's weekend of $13,574. Sunshine Cleaning expanded from 4 theaters to 64, but still finished in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,494.
More...
March 22nd, 2009
A fascinating box office face-off ended in a good win for
Knowing over the weekend as the Nicolas Cage thriller earned $24.814 million, according to Summit's Sunday estimate, and topped the latest from Paul Rudd and Julia Roberts.
Rudd's comedy, I Love You, Man did a decent $18 million, while Roberts' Duplicity was a little more disappointing with an estimated $14.4 million.
More...
March 17th, 2009
Sunshine Cleaning had the best per theater average of any film so far this year, pulling in an outstanding $220,000 in 4 theaters for an average of $54,798. Any doubts about the film's ability to expand wide should be greatly reduced after that. Opening in second place was Tokyo Sonata with an average of $14,173. The re-release of Z was the only other film to top $10,000 with an average of $10,144; however, Fados came close with $9,788.
More...
March 15th, 2009
Disney remake Race to Witch Mountain made a solid debut over the weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday morning.
The adventure movie picked up about $25 million, enough for a comfortable first place.
Watchmen, which was widely tipped to earn a second weekend on top, dropped 67% to $18.07 million, not far ahead of Universal remake Last House on the Left, which earned a decent $14.86 million opening.
More...
March 14th, 2009
After several weeks without much in terms of Award-worthy sites, we have two sites this week that are both worthy of the award: The Last House on the Left's Official Site and Race to Witch Mountain's Official Site. The former has better design, the latter has better interactive features. Both should sell the movie to their respective audiences, and both are recipients of the Weekly Website Award.
More...
March 13th, 2009
The first limited release with a real shot at expanding wide opens this week. However, Sunshine Cleaning isn't the only movie on this week's list worth checking out. If you live in Toronto or Vancouver, go and see Pontypool, while those in New York City can also catch Tokyo Sonata.
More...
March 1st, 2009
2009 got off to such a great start that I didn't think February would continue winning, but so far that has proven to be the case, for the most part. Now March has a great chance of continuing that run with several big hits, including three potential $100 million movies. At the beginning of the year, I didn't think there would be so many hits in March, but a high tide lifts all boats, and the more people see movies, the more trailers they see in theaters, and the more likely they are to watch the upcoming movies.
More...