September 23rd, 2006
The rental chart was not overburdened by numerous
new releases, however, the top two DVDs were both new to the charts. Leading the way was
Lucky Number Slevin at $7.37 million, which is a good start given its theatrical run.
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September 16th, 2006
There was only one
new release to crack the top five, or the top ten for that matter, but it was the number one rental.
United 93 was that release with $8.27 million during its first week of release.
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September 9th, 2006
A ton of
new releases to chart this week led by
The Sentinel with $8.34 million. That's a reasonable start compared to its theatrical total, but weak given its production budget.
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August 28th, 2006
A busy week with nearly 50 films making the list. Of those, there are more than half-a-dozen that are easily worth picking up and with several being contenders for DVD Pick of the Week. I was able to narrow it down to two, Arrested Development - Season 3 - Buy from Amazon and The Tick Vs. Season One - Buy from Amazon, with a couple of honorable mentions, Duck Season - Buy from Amazon and Friends with Money - Buy from Amazon.
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July 30th, 2006
A first place debut in China lifted
Mission: Impossible 3 into sixth place overall with $5.74 million on 838 screens in 21 markets for a total of $239.82 million. In China it earned $2.8 million on 394 screens while in Japan it managed $2.50 million on 540 for a total of $29.92 million after three weeks of release.
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July 23rd, 2006
A
South Korean film, Hanbando, a.k.a. The Korean Peninsula, topped its native market with a huge $6.14 million on 520 screens over the weekend and a total of $9.85 million overall. That was good enough for sixth place on the international charts.
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July 16th, 2006
The Da Vinci Code slipped out of the top five with $3.85 million on 3037 screens in 55 markets for a total of $515.15 million. This is the 11th best international total ever, while its worldwide mark of $728.36 million places it 23rd on the
all-time worldwide chart.
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July 9th, 2006
Last minute updates in weekend numbers showed that it was
The Da Vinci Code and not
Poseidon grabbing the final spot in the top five. It was an exceedingly close race with the former film topping the latter by less than $3000 both with $5.68 million.
The Da Vinci Code earned its box office on 4352 screens in 57 markets while
Poseidon needed just 3584 in 48. On the other hand, their running tallies are worlds apart with
The Da Vinci Code leading $507.68 million to $94.72 million. That film became just the 12th film to cross $500 million internationally and is less than $20 million from overtaking
Finding Nemo for 10th place on the international charts.
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June 25th, 2006
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift started its international run last weekend but missed the top five with $7.93 million on 810 screens in 8 markets. The film took first place in five markets, including the U.K. with $3.35 million on 415 screens, in Australia with $2.28 million on 221 screens, and New Zealand with $444,000 on 53 screens. This is inline with what the
original opened with in those markets, but with shorter legs due to
Sequelitis it won't have as high a final box office.
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June 18th, 2006
Trick 2 opened in its native
Japan finishing in a close second with $3.83 million on 282 screens. That was enough for sixth place on the overall charts and the best per screen average in the top 30.
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June 11th, 2006
The final weekend before the start of World Cup saw
Volver become the latest best of the rest finishing sixth with $4.46 million on 863 screens in 5 markets for a total of $27.25 million. The film was again led by its performance in France where it grew for the second week in a row up 14% to $3.02 million on 404 screens for a total of $9.09 million while in Italy it grew by 28% to $1.44 million on 268 screens for a total of $5.61 million after three weeks. In both of those markets the film is on pace to top such worldwide blockbusters as
Mission: Impossible 3, something nobody would have predicted before the start of the summer. Even more impressively, it is about a week away from France becoming the film's most lucrative market topping the $11.94 million it made in its native
Spain.
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June 4th, 2006
The one major change from the studio estimates was in fourth place as the
Spanish film,
Volver, grew by 15% to $4.55 million on 835 screens in 5 markets for a total of $21.33 million. The big surprise came in France where the film was up a massive 41% from its opened taking in $2.64 million on 333 screens for a two-week total of $5.53 million. Meanwhile, in Italy is was down a mere 16% to $1.11 million on 309 screens for a total of $3.30 million.
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May 21st, 2006
Silent Hill's weekend numbers were better than earlier estimates and that helped place the film fourth overall with $4.99 million on 1398 screens in 11 markets. The film finished first in Russia with $1.45 million on 213 screens over the weekend and $1.61 million in total while it had to settle for second in Germany with $1.10 million on 308 screens. It also opened in second place in Hong Kong with $462,000 on 34 screens and $580,000 including the previews mentioned last week. So far the film has earned $18.92 million at the international box office, the largest single chunk coming from the U.K.; in that market the film has made $6.32 million including $439,000 on 285 screens this week.
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May 14th, 2006
With
Mission: Impossible 3 dominating the international charts, most films saw a serious drop-off and those that didn't were able to climb the charts, or at least remain stable. For instance,
Eight Below fell 27% to $3.67 million on 1951 screens in 27 markets, but despite there being two new releases in the top five, it was able to remain in sixth place on the overall charts. The film was not able to crack $1 million in any single market, but did perform well in Spain with $587,000 on 225 screens and that lifted its total box office to $2.15 million in the market, $30.35 million internationally, and $111.42 million worldwide.
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May 7th, 2006
A pair of openings in major markets helped
Eight Below climb a spot to sixth with $5.05 million on 2129 screens in 24 markets for a total of $24.26 million so far. The film opened in France but could only manage sixth place with $1.85 million on 473 screens while in Spain it opened in first place, but only managed $981,000 on 224 screens. In the meantime, the film dipped just 4% during its second weekend in Australia adding $769,000 on 258 screens to its total of $2.29 million there.
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April 30th, 2006
The Wild added a few more markets but still fell out of the top five down 54% to $4.37 million on 2868 screens in 27 markets for a two week total of $17.77 million. Its best market was Spain where the film was down just 43% to $875,000 on 382 screens over the weekend and $3.49 million in total. It had a hard time in family friendly Mexico where it was down 59% to $702,000 on 501 screens over the weekend and $3.60 million in total while in Italy it plummeted an unheard of 84% to just $216,000 on 343 screen for a two-week total of $2.75 million.
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April 23rd, 2006
The latest Asterix & Obelix movie, Asterix and the Vikings, opened in second place in native
France with $3.64 million on 606 screens. The film also made $167,000 during its second weekend in Belgium for a $454,000 two week total. These films are very popular in France and other parts of Europe, but have never made the transition here.
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April 17th, 2006
It was a great weekend at the box office, with the box office growing and records falling.
The total box office rose 4.4% to just shy of $120 million, which was $43.7% higher than last year.
In fact, the week's number one film earned nearly half of what the total box office brought in this time last year.
With two weeks of incredible year-to-year growth, 2006 has pulled ahead of 2005 by 4%, but remember, this time last year was the weakest part of the entire year, so don't celebrate prematurely.
If 2006 can keep the growth up even when it goes against Revenge of the Sith, that's when we celebrate.
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April 14th, 2006
We should have a new winner atop the box office this Easter weekend with two new films opening wide.
Strangely, it is not the digitally animated film from Disney that is leading the charge to the top.
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April 10th, 2006
Only one film mentioned in Friday's preview was able to beat expectations to any real degree, and this pushed this week's box office down 19.5% from last weekend.
However, at $114 million it was still 31.5% higher than last year, which is more important.
Even better news, 2006 has moved ahead of 2005's pace, albeit by a narrow 1% margin, meaning ticket sales are still slower than a year ago.
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April 7th, 2006
There's little doubt that Ice Age: The Meltdown will repeat as box office champion, the real question is how far will it fall. Also of interest, which of the new releases will come in second and how many of the four newcomers will finish in the top five?
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April 6th, 2006
It's a much busier week this week including several sites that I found through e-mails. Thanks for the tips. (On a side note, if you sent me an e-mail regarding a movie site and I forgot it, please send it again. It was a big list this week and I'm almost positive one or two sites slipped between the cracks.) Unfortunately, while there are plenty of sites on this week's list, there's not a lot of top notch ones. The movie on this list that made me the most excited was
The Simpsons Movie, and that one doesn't even have an official movie site, just the
teaser trailer.
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April 3rd, 2006
This week we have another double-shot Box Office Prediction contest, with a prize pack for Phat Girlz (including tank top, hat, emery board and nail polish), and the DVD for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe going to two lucky winners.
To win the first prize just predict Phat Girlz' opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going over.
To win the DVD, predict Take the Lead's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going over.
Entries must be received by 10am, Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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April 1st, 2006
March wasn't as strong as expected and April doesn't seem to have what it takes to turn things around. IMDb has a poll they run every month on what film you are looking forward to the most. This time the number one film is
Silent Hill was in first with 16.5% of the vote. Number two went to 'Other' at 13.0% of the vote. This is a really, really bad sign. With no advanced buzz, many films will have a hard time attracting an audience, which not only means less people are seeing the movies, but also less people are seeing the trailers for the big summer releases, which means less buzz about the summer releases... On the other hand, there are several limited releases that look promising including
Friends with Money,
Hard Candy,
The Notorious Bettie Page, and
Kinky Boots. Unfortunately, all but the first are being released on April 14th.
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March 31st, 2006
We have the first event movie of the year coming out this weekend. Yes, I realize I said that when V for Vendetta came out, but this time I mean it. In all seriousness, if Ice Age: The Meltdown doesn't have the best opening of the year, then the 2006 box office is pretty much sunk.
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February 23rd, 2006
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Just when I thought the slump was over, we have the shortest list in a few weeks. The best site of the week was
Brick -
Official Site, which helped sell the movie well and that is the most important job of a movie site.
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February 16th, 2006
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. It's another busy week as the winter slump starts to subside. As for the best site on this week's list, it came down to the interactive feature of
Freedomland -
Official Site and the atmosphere of
Night Watch -
Official Site. After looking over the sites a few times, I still can't decided which one should get the award, so I'm giving it to both.
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December 8th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Despite being there being two weeks between updates, this was not a very strong week. Sure, there were plenty of websites updated, but not a lot that really stood out as being award worthy. In the end it was
Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks -
Official Site that was the best of the bunch and hopefully it will continue to grow and earn that award.
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