March 28th, 2010
New releases were able to dominate the sales chart this week in a way they were not able to last week. The best of the best was 2012, which sold 1.59 million units and generated $26.09 million in opening week sales.
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March 2nd, 2010
The first of the fall season mega-hits comes out this week with the release of 2012. However, while that movie is getting a major release on DVD and Blu-ray, the film itself is only worth a rental. The best of this week's releases is Ponyo and its Blu-ray / DVD Combo is worthy of the Pick of the Week honor.
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January 24th, 2010
Up in the Air started its international run in sixth place with $5.83 million on 936 screens in 9 markets. This includes a fifth place debut in the U.K. where it earned $2.13 million on 325 screens while it also managed fifth in Australia with $1.61 million on just 173 screens. While it is hard for films to open in limited release domestically and expand wide, it is usually a lot harder for these films to thrive internationally. After all, many international markets are simply too small to have a thriving limited release marketplace. It will be interesting to see if this film will be able to take its performance during Awards Season and turn it into a successful international run despite this.
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December 20th, 2009
Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard fell out of the top five, but still did relatively well, earning $8.14 million on 2,198 screens in 19 markets for an early total of $23.58 million. In its native France it added $6.27 million on 925 screens over the weekend for a total of $17.57 million after two. This is not that much weaker than the original, which at this point had made just over $20 million in France.
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December 16th, 2009
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations this week, but looking over the list of films chosen, it is hard to declare any one film as the big winner. Up in the Air did pick up six Golden Globe nominations, including several of the most prestigious nominations, but it is far from the only major player.
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December 13th, 2009
A number of international releases reached the top 30 this week, including Zweiohrkuken, a.k.a. The Chicken With Two Ears, from Germany, which placed sixth with $10.72 million on 839 screens in 3 markets.
It made $9.39 million on 714 screens in its native market, which was easily enough for first place and more than twice what the original,Keinohrhasen, a.k.a., No Ear Hare, opened with in 2007.
Keinohrhasen went on to earn $74 million worldwide, of which more than $60 million was earned in Germany.
However, I don't think this film will have the same legs.
That said, since it was written, directed, and stars Til Schweiger who was recently in Inglourious Basterds, it could earn see releases in more markets.
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November 2nd, 2009
It was a tough weekend at the box office, then again, that's always the case when Halloween lands on a weekend. Halloween in one of the worst days at the box office; it's almost as bad as Christmas Eve. And at least with Christmas Eve, you have Christmas Day to look forward to. The overall box office was down 21.8% from last weekend to just $91 million; however, that was 3.5% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2009 remains well head of 2008 at $8.56 billion to $7.95 billion.
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October 29th, 2009
This Is It got off to a record-breaking start, kind of, while the rest of the top five will be filled with holdovers over Halloween weekend. This weekend last year Halloween was on a Friday, while this year it is on Saturday, neither of which help the box office one bit. But it won't take too much for the number one film this year to top the number one film from last year, and the rest of the box office should follow suit.
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October 27th, 2009
We had three wide releases this weekend, and not one of them matched expectations. Additionally, last week's number one film fell dramatically at the box office. This led to an equally dramatic decline at the box office with overall ticket sales at just $116 million. This is 16% lower than last weekend, but more importantly 13% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2009 still has a 7.6% lead over 2008 at $8.43 billion to $7.84 billion, which is a lead that might be insurmountable at this point.
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October 22nd, 2009
It's the weekend before Halloween and among the three wide releases, there are two with a horror feel to them.
(One is straight up horror while the other features Vampires.)
Among the holdovers that should land in the top ten, there are three more horror or horror-like films, so there's a lot of competition for a rather narrow target audience.
In comparison, last year there was only one such movie, and it didn't even come in first place.
The level of competition will likely prevent the number one film this weekend from topping last year's number one film, High School Musical 3, but overall the box office should be a bit stronger this year.
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October 21st, 2009
The winners of our Kids and Cardio contest were determined and they are...
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October 19th, 2009
It was an excellent weekend at the box office even though the number one film didn't live up to me admittedly bullish expectations. It came close enough to be considered a hit, while the other two new releases topped expectations by substantial margins.
Overall, $138 million was spent on movie tickets over the weekend, which was 26% higher than last weekend and more importantly 38% higher than the same weekend last year.
So far this year, 2009 has earned $8.28 billion, which is 7.9% higher than 2008's pace.
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October 18th, 2009
Where The Wild Things Are got off to a strong start over the weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
The Spike Jonze adaptation of the Maurice Sendak book earned a very healthy $30.47 million, according to Warner Bros. estimates, making it one of October's biggest openers (see full list).
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October 15th, 2009
There are a trio of three wide releases this week, including one opening in close to 4,000 theaters.
This time last year there were four wide releases, but none were sizable hits, which gives 2009 a great chance for expanding its lead over 2008 at the box office race.
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October 9th, 2009
Could be a tough week for the box office prediction contest as the widest release of the week, and this week's target film, Where the Wild Things Are, has a wide range of expectations associated with it from possible record opening for an October release to outright bomb. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of Where the Wild Things Are.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a copy of Baby Einstein - World Animal Adventure on DVD, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan - Kai-Lan's Carnival on DVD, and Yo Gabba Gabba - Meet My Family on DVD.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win a copy of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders - Power Squad Bod! - Body Slimming Yoga, Calorie Blasting Dance, and Hard Body Boot Camp, all on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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October 1st, 2009
September ended with a thud, but at least there's good news. September has finally ended. Last month more movies missed expectations that topped them, which has put a cooling effect on the overall box office and that could hurt the business going into this month. October should still be stronger than last month, and since October of last year wasn't particularly great, 2009 should at least maintain its lead over 2008 going into the holiday season, even if it isn't as strong every single week.
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August 4th, 2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince finally opened in IMAX theaters last Wednesday and it didn't take long to see the impact. Over the weekend the film made $3.2 million on 166 IMAX screens for a total of $4.7 million after five days of release. This represents nearly 18% of the film's weekend haul while its per theater average was just over $19,000 on IMAX. Internationally the film added $900,000 on 62 screens over the weekend for a total of $8.4 million internationally and $13 million worldwide.
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September 14th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Box, Hangover, The Fast and the Furious 4 and more!
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July 6th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Quarantined, Drag Me To Hell, Cats and Dogs 2 and more!
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March 2nd, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, Where the Wild Things Are, How to Train Your Dragon and more!
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December 16th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains not only the general weekly update, but also an a number of release updates we had missed earlier.
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February 11th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Indiana Jones 4, The Mummy 3, Hellboy 2 and more.
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