March 21st, 2008
Next week we don't have a wide release that screams number one, so to choose a target film for our ongoing box office prediction contest, we simply picked the widest release, which happens to be Superhero!. In order to win, one must simply predict Superhero!'s three-day, opening weekend box office.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a prize pack from Alvin and the Chipmunks that includes the DVD, soundtrack, etc., as well as Bratz Kidz - Fairy Tales 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 Legend of the Black Scorpion on DVD and P.T.U. on DVD.
Additionally, both the above winners will also take home 30 Days of Night 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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March 17th, 2008
There were only four new releases to chart this week, and only one made it into the top five. This left Beowulf with an easy road to first place as it added $9.02 million in rentals for the week and $19.94 million after two.
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March 11th, 2008
A rather slow week for new releases, which is good because three DVDs arrived late last week and I was able to get caught up on spotlight reviews. (Actually, I'm not completely caught up as at least one failed to show up in time for this week.) As for the DVD Pick of the Week, the obvious choice would seem to be No Country for Old Men, but the lackluster DVD just screams double-dip and in the end I went with Stargate - Ark of Truth - Buy from Amazon instead.
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March 10th, 2008
There were plenty of new releases to hit the sales chart this week, as well as an older release that returned to the top five. Number one was Beowulf with 902,000 units sold for $17.08 million in revenue in its first week.
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March 10th, 2008
New releases were spread pretty evenly on the rental charts and included a new number one, Beowulf, which opened with $10.93 million.
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February 26th, 2008
It's the Oscar-delayed edition of the DVD Release Report and we have a good mix of releases for so early in the year. Granted, there are not as many prime first-run releases, but there are a few worth picking up. This includes the DVD Pick of the Week, Death at a Funeral - Buy from Amazon.
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February 24th, 2008
Rambo climbed five spots just missing the top five with $6.96 million on 1989 screens in 25 markets for a total of $25.63 million. The film opened in second place in Germany with $2.78 million 405 screens while it managed third in Mexico with $704,000 on 300. Next up is the U.K., Australia, and Italy, where it opens this weekend, while it enters South Korea next weekend.
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February 17th, 2008
Thanks to an opening in the U.K., Juno shoot up the charts nearly reaching the top five with $8.28 million on 1111 screens in 15 markets for a still early total $17.15 million. In the U.K. the film placed second with $3.91 million on 363 screens, but had the best per screen average in the top 10 there. It also opened in France scoring sixth place with $1.22 million on 149 screens, which gave it the second best per screen average in the top ten there. Meanwhile in Spain the film grew by 5% to $1.03 million on 170 screens over the weekend and a total of $2.34 million after two.
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January 20th, 2008
Enchanted fell out of the top five but still had a very impressive weekend box office adding $8.12 million on 4348 screens in 43 markets for a total of $151.50 million. This includes a fifth place opening in South Korea where the film earned $1.08 million on 322 screens over the weekend and $1.34 million in total. Meanwhile it also earned fifth place in the U.K. with $1.59 million on 472 screens over the weekend for a total of $29.46 million after a month of release. Its chances at $200 million internationally depend heavily on its run in Japan staring mid-March, but $300 million worldwide is all but assured now.
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December 9th, 2007
Bee Movie returned to the charts in sixth place with $6.71 million on 1288 screens in 11 markets for an early international total of $19.43 million after a month of release. This includes a pair of first place debuts in Spain and Mexico. In the former it earned $2.81 million on 421 screens while in the latter is earned $2.60 million on 389 screens. While Spain is the larger marker, I thought the family friendly nature of Mexico would give it the edge. Even so, there are great openings for the film.
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December 3rd, 2007
Lions for Lambs climbed a spot to sixth place with $4.34 million on 2453 screens in 53 markets for a total of $25.97 million, while only managing $1 million or more in one market this past weekend, ($1.40 million on 390 screens during its sixth place debut in France). It opens in Italy later this month and Japan in the spring of '08, but there's almost no chance the film will show a profit at this point. Normally one movie losing money isn't a big issue because the studio can rely on one or two monster hits to pay for their misses, (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix made enough money to pay for the entire budgets of half-a-dozen misses for Warner Bros. this year, and that's before the home market). However, United Artists is a newly relauched studio and they don't have a war chest built up from past victories. Stumbling out of the gate like this hurts.
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November 25th, 2007
Elizabeth: The Golden Age nearly reached the top five with $5.79 million on 1579 screens in 12 markets for a total of $21.80 million. This includes a first place, $1.89 million opening on 470 screens in Russia, while the film added $933,000 on 394 screens in the U.K. for a total of $8.40 million so far.
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November 18th, 2007
Stardust fell out of the top five, but still added $5.80 million on 2327 screens in 48 markets lifting its running tally to $83.50 million. Its best market remained the U.K. where it climbed a spot to second place with $2.66 million on 459 screens for a total of $23.59 million. The film has no major openings left, but $100 million internationally is still within reach.
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November 11th, 2007
Surf's Up grew by 77% in France adding $3.44 million on 628 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.36 million in total. This growth was due to the Toussaint holiday while it was enough to lift the film's weekend box office to $5.84 million on 1996 screens in 32 markets for a total of $72.34 million. The film has yet to open in Scandinavia as well as Japan and should hit $100 million internationally before it is done, which is significantly more than the $58.87 million it earned domestically, but not enough to show a profit just yet.
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October 29th, 2007
We finally had a massive box office hit at the box office this week as Saw IV lived up to expectations. This helped the overall box office grow to $102 million, which is 6% more than last weekend. However, it was weaker than the same weekend last year by 3%, which stretches the losing streak to 6 weeks.
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October 25th, 2007
It's the last chance for October to make a splash at the box office.
On the one hand, Saw IV is opening, and it should be the biggest hit of the Fall so far.
On the other hand, it is tracking more weakly than Saw III, which opened this weekend last year.
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October 22nd, 2007
It's been more than a month since we've seen the weekend box office numbers top last year's figures. This time around the overall box office was $97 million, which was down 2% from last weekend and 8% from the same weekend last year. So far this fall is behind lasts year's pace by more than 6%, 10% if you are using tickets sold and not dollars. Year to date, on the other hand, is still showing a 6% growth, and up more than $400 million on last year's pace. Even ticket sales are still up a strong 1.4%, so there's no reason to panic just yet, but the recent weakness is still a cause for concern.
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October 21st, 2007
Busy week in terms of wide and limited releases with well over a dozen sites on this week's list. Although most struggled to stand out, there were a couple that helped sell their respective movies very well, including the winner of the Weekly Website Award, 30 Days of Night - Official Site.
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October 18th, 2007
I miss September. Sure, the box office was weak, but everyone expected it to be weak so it wasn't depressing like it is now. The overall box office has been in a slump the past few weeks, and so has my prediction record. To make matters worse, there are six films opening wide, or semi-wide, which complicates matters when you are trying to predict opening weekends. This level of competition will also hurt the individual films and it is very likely that at least four of them will fail to live up to potential.
Which four those are is the question.
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October 12th, 2007
The weekend of October 19 is busy for new releases with five earning some degree of wideness.
Out out of those five films, 30 Days of Night has the best shot at first place and it is the target film in this week's box office prediction contest.
To win one must simply predict the box office opening for 30 Days of Night.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a Lars are the Real Girl poster, Resevation Road poster and Soundtrack, as well as the Gone, Baby, Gone novel.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win the exact same prize pack mentioned above.
Finally, one lucky entrant will be chosen arbitrarily and that person will win a Gone, Baby, Gone poster.
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, 2007
October means one thing: Free candy. ... Oh yeah, and the unofficial start of Award Season.
And Halloween brings us a few horror films as well.
Unfortunately, this year October is rather weak, with no film looking like a strong contender for $100 million and most of the films with early Oscar buzz having performed poorly with the critics.
The only good news is last October was also weak at the box office, meaning there's at least a reasonable shot at 2007 maintaining its box office lead over 2006.
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September 9th, 2007
Another week without any top-notch websites, at least one that hasn't previously won the award. At least there are a few with possibilities and the fall blockbusters should start coming launching their sites shortly so the pace should pickup soon.
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July 29th, 2007
Server upgrades went... less smoothly than anticipated, which delayed this column, but at least there are a huge number of sites to check out. Many of these sites are making their first appearance on the list while quite a few are making their last appearance. Unfortunately, while it's a big list, there are not many that are even close to being award worthy at the moment. 30 Days of Night - Official Site comes the closest, but I'm waiting for the missing features to be added before I make that decision.
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June 9th, 2007
There are a lot of movies on this week's list, but many have just the synopsis, image gallery, and the trailer, and many don't even have that. There were very few that stood out, but at least Speed Racer - Official Site got off to a great start. Perhaps it will win the award before it hits theaters.
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