December 29th, 2008
This week is a mess because we are dealing with DVDs released on the 26th, the 27th, and the 30th. Additionally, we are dealing with the latest two waves of Paramount Blu-rays, so there are a lot of spotlight reviews this week. (Although when it comes to those particular Blu-rays, I have previously reviewed nearly half of them previously, and I have seen more than half of the rest, so it was easy to review.) It was so easy, in fact, I was able to get a couple reviews done in advance, which lead to a record number of spotlight reviews. There are more spotlight reviews this week than the previous four weeks combined. Needless to say, the column had to be split into two, with the second part found here. As for the best of the best, Serenity - Blu-ray easily won the DVD Pick of the Week, while Duckman - Season Three and Four is the DVD Pick of Next Week. Also worth grabbing are Event Horizon on Blu-ray, Ghost Town on either DVD or Blu-ray, Greek - Chapter Two, and The Truman Show on Blu-ray
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February 11th, 2006
For the second week in a row,
Flightplan lead the way on the rental charts taking in $8.22 million in DVD rentals. That was down just 15% from its opening, which pushed its total to $18.07 million so far.
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February 4th, 2006
Flightplan was the clear winner on this week's home market charts taking first on the rental charts with $9.66 million and also finishing first in sales, (as usual, no sales numbers were released).
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January 28th, 2006
Lord of War won the weekly race on the rental charts, taking in $7.40 million, or just over 30% of what it earned during its theatrical release.
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January 21st, 2006
It was a busy week for new releases with three newcomers in the top five, but that didn't stop Wedding Crashers from keeping its home market crown.
The DVD was able to top the charts for the second week in a row with $10.29 million, which was down 24% from last week and enough to lift its total to $24.18 million after just two weeks.
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January 14th, 2006
We had a new number one this week as Wedding Crashers took top spot on both the rental and the sales charts.
The film earned $13.57 million in combined rentals, $12.80 million of that from DVDs.
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January 2nd, 2006
After the recent shopping frenzy, it's no wonder this week's list is a little on the light side. There are a couple of releases that piqued my interest (Alien Nation -
The Complete Series, for instance), but the winner of the DVD Pick of the week was a limited release,
Broken Flowers -
Buy from Amazon.
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October 30th, 2005
Oliver Twist opened in two major markets over the weekend, placing second in both France with $2.4 million on 547 screens and Italy with $1.3 million on 301 screens.
Other markets include $360,000 in the U.K. for a $3.6 million total there and $140,000 in Poland for $1.1 million. Add it up and you have $4.2 million for the weekend and $9.6 million in total.
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October 23rd, 2005
The Brothers Grimm dropped just 35% during its second weekend in France adding $2.1 million to its $5.7 million total there. In Germany, the film performed a nearly the same level falling 36% to $950,000 over the weekend and $2.9 million during its run. Overall the film made $4 million for a $27.8 million runny tally and that places it fourth on this week's charts. While the film struggled domestically, it is doing quite a bit better on the international scene, and could show a profit sometime during its home market run.
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October 16th, 2005
Company 9 remained in first place in Russia, its home market, down just 13% to $4.3 million for a running total of $14.3 million, which is well ahead of Revenge of the Sith's final box office in the market (which was just shy of $10 million).
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October 9th, 2005
Company 9 opened in its native market of Russia with a stunning $5.0 million over the weekend and $6.25 million including the midweek numbers, which is better than Revenge of the Sith's opening in that market.
This also means there were two films that did so well in their local markets that they managed to place in the top five overall.
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October 2nd, 2005
Red Eye added another $3.7 million on 2,057 screens in 37 markets to its $22 million international total. The film opened in second place in both Spain with $850,000 on 215 screens and in the Netherlands with $250,000 on 59 ($300,000 including previews).
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September 25th, 2005
Marrying the Mafia 2 again led its native market of
South Korean with $4.81 million over the weekend and $12.78 million during its two-week run. And like
last week, this was enough for the film to secure a place in the top five overall just beating out
Pride and Prejudice.
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September 18th, 2005
Marrying the Mafia 2 is the latest local film to lead the South Korean box office as it opened with $5.555 million on 449 screens, $7.515 million including Thursday.
Not only was that easily enough for first place in its home market, but also put the film in third place on the overall international box office charts.
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September 12th, 2005
The fall box office season got off to a fast start over the weekend thanks almost entirely to one movie. The surprisingly fast start of the box office champ helped the overall box office climb by 8.7% from last year. (Although it was down by 7.3% from last weekend, but that's better than one would expect from a post-holiday weekend.) Continuing the yearly comparison, 2005 is still behind 2004, but the margin was narrowed to 7.2% with $6.129 billion so far.
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September 11th, 2005
The 40-Year Old Virgin topped the U.K. marked with an impressive $3.26 million on 394 screens in the U.K., but this is probably not indicative of its potential in other international markets. The film should do well in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, but will likely struggle in non-English speaking markets. (Germany may be an exception.)
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September 4th, 2005
War of the Worlds opened in its last international market over the weekend making $3.0 million on 583 screens in China. That's about 10% more money that
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith earned, but
War of the Worlds needed nearly double the number of screens. Overall the film added $4.5 million to its $345 million international total, easily the second best of the year so far.
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August 28th, 2005
The Skeleton Key opened in 10- more markets over the weekend and in now playing on 1400 screens, however, it still hasn't found the success the studio was hoping for. It did open in first place in Germany, but it still had a very soft opening with $1.6 million. It also opened in first place in Russia with $625,000 over the weekend and $780,000 since Thursday, but in Australia and New Zealand it had to settle for a distant second place with $760,000 and $110,000 respectively.
The Skeleton Key also open in Austria with $230,000 for the week, but its placing is unknown at the moment. Add in holdovers in France, ($250,000 for $2.2 million) and the U.K., ($130,000 for $4.5 million) and you have roughly $4 million for the weekend and $16.5 million so far.
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August 22nd, 2005
It was another mixed weekend at the box office as the overall box office was down, again. However, the margin was very close dipping just 5.0% from last weekend and 3.4% from last year. That helped lift the year-to-date comparison with 2005 behind 2004's pace by 7.4% at $5.722 billion while the summer session is off by 9.4% at $3.221 billion. You know you've lowered your standards when losing by a small margin is considered a victory.
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August 21st, 2005
Mr. and Mrs. Smith opened in first place in both the Czech Republic with $180,000 on 20 screens and in Slovakia with $50,000 on 8 screens. The film also remained in first place in France with $2.675 million, Belgium with $635,000, The Netherlands with $490,000 and Poland with $266,000. Strangest of all, the film stayed in second place for the fourth weekend in a row in Germany adding $2.12 million to its $20.6 million running tally in the market. Overall the film has made $143 million in markets where
Fox is handling the distribution and may have hit $200 million overall, but there's no conformation on that yet.
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August 19th, 2005
Today's my birthday and as a gift the movie industry has given me not one, but two films with overwhelmingly positive reviews. Of course, this is also the week that Supercross: The Movie opened so we'll call it a draw.
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August 15th, 2005
Practically every new film beat expectations this weekend, albeit by a narrow margin in some cases. And even with the holdovers slipping slightly faster there was a week-to-week increase of 5.1% at the box office. On the other hand, the weekend of $120 million was 12.7% lower than last year. The year-to-date comparison has 2005 at $5.551 billion, 8% lower than 2004, while the summer box office has a running tally of $3.05 billion down by 9.7% from last year.
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August 14th, 2005
Mr. and Mrs. Smith opened in Belgium with $1.7 million on 80 screens, easily enough for first place and had a similar result with $480,000 in Poland. It also remained in first place in France with $2.88 million, (despite falling 54% there) and in the Netherlands with $740,000. In Germany the film remained in second place for the third straight week with $3.06 million for a $17.06 million running tally. The film now have $140 million in territories where
Fox is handling the distribution and $192 million overall.
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August 12th, 2005
Three films open wide this weekend, with another opening in roughly 800 theatres. Of the wide releases, there's a strange pattern with the wider the release the weaker the reviews leading to a battle of quality vs. quantity. Normally quality means little to the overall box office, but hopefully this weekend will be different.
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August 8th, 2005
The weekend unfolded almost exactly as predicted, and even though the number one film was the biggest opening at the box office since Charlie and the Chocolate Factory debuted, there was still a 6.5% drop-off from last weekend.
On the other hand, compared to last year the box office was up by 1.6%.
Year-to-date 2005 is still well back of 2004 by 7.5% at $5.369 billion and the summer session is faring even worse down 9.5% to $2.868 billion.
However, there is hope the overall box office will start to recover from this point on.
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August 7th, 2005
The Island managed a couple of first place finished over the weekend, but the results were still less than impressive. In Australia the film opened with $1.404 million for a close victory while in Hong Kong it earned a disappointing $490,000 over the weekend and $520,000 including previews. It's best market continued to be South Korea with $3.167 million, down 38% from last weekend dropping to second place along the way. On the other hand, no wide openings and a mere 23% drop-off allowed the film to rise to first in New Zealand. Overall the film added $7.64 million to its $24.1 million running tally on the international scene and will opens in several markets this weekend including the U.K., Germany and Spain.
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August 5th, 2005
Due to a pretty last minutes scheduling change,
The Dukes of Hazzard is the only new film to open wide this weekend. And while this should help its opening box office, it's too soon to tell how it will affect the overall box office. On a positive note, this time
last year was really soft so the box office should recover on a year-to-year comparison.
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August 1st, 2005
It was the second weekend of massive declines at the box office with the overall total falling by 12.4% from last weekend and an astounding 21.4% from last year.
(Those figures are based on studio estimates and could change, slightly.)
Year-to-date 2005 has now brought in $5.183 billion, off of last year's pace by 8%, while summer is even softer at $2.683 billion down by 10%.
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July 31st, 2005
Early numbers had
Mr. and Mrs. Smith taking fifth place on the overall international box office charts, but better than expected results has
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory overtaking them $6.7 million to $5.4 million. It's biggest single market continues to be France where the film dipped just 6% during its second weekend there earning $3,533,857 for a $9,034,141 running tally. But it was even more impressive in Belgium where the film shot up by 68% to $400,000 for the weekend and $785,000 in total. The film also opened in first place in three markets, Brazil with $1.1 million on 200 screens, Holland with $625,000 on 124 screens, and South Africa with $275,000 on 41 screens.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has $13.3 million so far and opens in a couple of important markets this weekend, (The U.K. and Mexico.)
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July 29th, 2005
For almost a week it looked like the 2005 box office was recovering. Then last weekend we saw a massive drop-off at the box office and it doesn't look like this weekend will do much better. This time last year we had a $50 million opener and two more films that cracked $20 million. This year, on the other hand, there is a distinct possibility that no film will earn $20 million at the box office over the weekend. On the other hand, every film in the top five could finish with between $15 million and $20 million, so at least there should be some interesting races at the box office.
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July 25th, 2005
I guess analysts got caught up in the recent bit of good news at the box office because nobody was able to predict this weekend's disaster.
Only one film in the top five was able to beat expectations by any real margin and every new film came up short.
Speaking of coming up short, the overall box office fell by 16% from last weekend and 8.8% from last year.
However, strong weekday numbers helped on the year-to-date comparison with 2005 at $4.983 billion, down 7.7% from 2004 while the summer season is 9.6% below last year's pace.
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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 22nd, 2005
It looks like there will be a hard fought contest at the box office this weekend, but Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has a good shot at remaining number one.
That's not to say there's no competition.
In fact, there are two films opening at saturation levels, two more opening semi-wide and a limited release expanding enough that it should reach the top ten.
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July 19th, 2005
Wide releases finished first and second on the Per Theater Charts this weekend, with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory leading with $14,901 average in 3,770 theaters.
The Wedding Crashers didn't open in nearly as many theaters but its $11,590 average was impressive nonetheless.
While March of the Penguins did yield the crown on the Per Theater Charts to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it is still the big story on this week's chart.
The Documentary more than doubled its theater count, again, but its average dropped just 28% to $11,478.
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July 18th, 2005
The weekend box office was even busier than expected, despite the incredible competition on Saturday from the release of the latest Harry Potter novel.
Every film in the top ten topped Sunday estimates and landed within a couple million of predictions, leading to a 10.5% increase from last week, and more importantly, a 7.1% increase from last year.
Year-to-date things are not as rosy: 2005 is still down 8.1% from last year with $4.751 billion, while the summer is down by 10.5% at $2.25 billion.
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July 15th, 2005
Now that The Slump is over, the movie industry is looking to
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to make sure the box office doesn't start a new slump.
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July 14th, 2005
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,
Skeleton Key -
Official Site.
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July 1st, 2005
July Starts with a bang, thanks to the long Independence Day weekend, but the rest of the month is solid, with a potential $100 million movie being released practically every weekend.
It is also the first full month where school children are free meaning weekday numbers are almost as important as weekend grosses.
On the other hand, the month isn't as strong as last year and there's a good chance the record breaking slump the box office is in will continue throughout the month.
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June 30th, 2005
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,
Pretty Persuasion -
Official Site.
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May 26th, 2005
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,
Cinderella Man -
Official Site.
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May 12th, 2005
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,
Layer Cake -
Official Site.
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April 21st, 2005
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, Kicking and Screaming - Official Site.
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April 14th, 2005
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, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Official Site.
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December 9th, 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
In Good Company -
Official Site. 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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