June 19th, 2005
Just when the International Details column was getting back to normal we have another film dominating the international scene. Mr. and Mrs. Smith led in nearly every major / midlevel market and those it didn't were mostly owned by Revenge of the Sith. Because of that there isn't as much news to tell as usual, and with Batman Begins opening worldwide this weekend and in two weeks, War of the Worlds doing the same, this trend will last until mid-July at the earliest.
More...
June 5th, 2005
It was a slightly busier weekend as several studios were brave enough, or foolhardy enough to try and sandwich their film between the worldwide release of
Revenge of the Sith and
Batman Begins, which debuts in just 10 days. With
War of the Worlds' worldwide release just two weeks after that, there's very little room for smaller films to survive.
More...
May 16th, 2005
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases, classics and a few from the growing TV on DVD section. While this week's releases are very deep, there are two very, very strong TV on DVD releases. First we have the greatest sitcom on TV today,
Scrubs - The Complete First Season -
Buy from Amazon and second we have possibly the greatest sitcom of all time
Seinfeld - The Complete Fourth Season -
Buy from Amazon.
More...
March 27th, 2005
Million Dollar Baby has again slipped off the radar screen, but we do know it hit $52 million internationally, which means it made $9 million during the week. The film didn't earn $1 million in any single market, but is still doing strong in South Korea, ($970,000), Spain, ($840,000), Italy, ($600,000) and Australia, ($350,000.) Best estimate has the film earning just shy of $5 million of that over the weekend and taking sixth place on the international box office charts.
More...
March 20th, 2005
After gathering in all the data the winner for the race for fifth place is
Million Dollar Baby, I think. It would need to lost more than 40% from last week's total and that's not taking into account its openings in South Korea at $1,515,672 and second place, its $110,000, third place debut in Finland, $86,000 in Russia, $50,000, second place debut in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, exact weekend totals are unknown but it is estimated at $6 million raising its international total to $43 million so far.
More...
March 13th, 2005
Shark Tale finished its international run with a second place $2.08 million opening in Japan on 485 screens. Its $4,296 per screen average it quite low for the market and generally means the film won't have the usual legs films in Japan have. The film performed much better in Italy where it finished first again with $3.0 million, down just 23% during its sophomore stint. Overall it took in $5.2 million to raise its international total to $181 million, but without any more openings it might struggle to hit $200 million.
More...
February 27th, 2005
Ocean's Twelve may have dropped out of the top five, but it is still going strong with $4.5 million on 1400 screens in 35 markets for an international box office of $225.8 million so far. No new openings means the
heist film had to rely on holdovers likes its $2.5 million during its third weekend in the U.K. and $1.4 million during its fifth week of release in Japan, finishing second in both those markets.
More...
February 20th, 2005
Iznogoud: Calife a la place du calife, a movie based on a Asterix and Obelix
spin off of sorts, dominated the French box office taking in $7.1 million, more than double the second place film and more than a third of the top ten total. It is also enough to push it into the
Top Five on the international scene, dropping
Finding Neverland into sixth place. Unfortunately, like the several films made in the Asterix and Obelix series, this one is unlikely to make much of an impact outside the French speaking markets.
More...
February 2nd, 2005
Meet the Fockers open in the U.K. over the weekend with an astounding $14.8 million on 456, which is more than four times the
original's earnings there in 2000.
That figure was also more than 8 times the second place film , and more than half the market's total box office.
Add in a handful of openings in other, mostly smaller markets and the film brought in $19.2 million on 1,700 screens in 15 markets for a $58.8 million total so far.
More...
January 31st, 2005
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases and a few from the growing TV on DVD section including this week's winner Penn & Teller: Bullshit! - Season 2 - Buy from Amazon and Sealab 2021 - Season 2 - Buy from Amazon and Wonderfalls - The Complete Season - Buy from Amazon and Degrassi Junior High - Season 1 - Buy from Amazon. Wow - busy week.
More...
January 26th, 2005
The International Box Office Race is certainly interesting, as Ocean's Twelve recaptured the lead this weekend with $14.4 million on 4,600 screens in 58 markets and now sits at $170.4 million internationally and $292.8 million worldwide. A large chunk of that total came from Japan, where the film earned $6.8 million (including sneak peaks) on 510 screens, while ending Howl's Moving Castle's nine week reign on top.
While this was a strong performance, it was 20% lower that the original's debut in the same market.
More...
January 12th, 2005
The race for first in the international marketplace continued to be close with three films within a couple million of each other. Leading the way was
Ocean's Twelve with $17.5 million on 5200 screens in 54 markets; the film's international total now sits at $137 million, slightly more than half of what
Ocean's Eleven finished with. The
heist film did open well in several markets, which mostly balances out severe drop-offs due to the post-holiday. For instance, the film opened well in South Korea with $2.1 million on 150 screens and debuted in first place in Argentina, ($500,000), Portugal, (with $720,000) and in the Philippines, ($370,000.)
More...
December 29th, 2004
Ocean's Twelve opening in another two markets, (Mexico and Belgium) helped the
heist film finish first on the international charts with $22.6 million on 5,183 screens in 46 markets. The film opened well in Belgium where it easily took first place with $1.2 million on just 75 screens. That's up nearly 40% compared to the the
original, but down nearly 10% in Euros. In Mexico the film could only manage $1.8 million on 550 screens for a rather limp per screen average. However, in most markets the film is not holding up as well as the studio would have liked. For instance, in Germany the film dropped by more than 50%, in France the decline was 44%. The only exception appears to be Italy where holidays and a serious boost to screen count helped the film climb 33% to $2.9 million over the weekend.
More...
December 1st, 2004
With a nearly 3-1 lead over its nearest competitor,
The Incredibles took top spot on the International Box Office charts this week with $44.3 million on 4,362 screens in 22 markets for a running tally of $59.1 million. The film opened number one in all twelve markets and in a few of the markets the film debuted in this week it was able to break the record for biggest debut by an
animated films. However, in others it fell short to either
Finding Nemo, (France) or
Shrek 2 (the U.K. and Spain.) Its biggest single market was the U.K., where the brought in $18.1 million, including sneak peaks, which was a
Disney record. Other highlights include $9.2 million in France, $5.6 million in Spain, $5.4 million in Italy, and $1.3 million in Belgium. Considering the results so far it should challenge for supremacy among the elite
animated films and $400 million to $500 million isn't out of the question.
More...
November 24th, 2004
Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason's second round of openings was no quite as strong as last week's, but it was still more than enough to keep its first place finish at the international box office. Overall the British
comedy took in $20.6 million on 1,854 screens in 18 markets lifting its tally to $59 million. Out of the new openings, the film was most impressive in Spain with $2.6 million while its best market overall was the U.K. where the film dropped just 29% to $9.3 million. The film is still tracking well ahead of the
original and is becoming one of the monster hits of the fall.
More...
November 19th, 2004
Two new films open this weekend, but
The Incredibles still look almost unbeatable at the box office with the primary competition coming from a certain yellow sponge. I think I feel a song coming one ...
Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh!
Who Lives in a Pineapple under the sea?
SpongeBob SquarePants
More...
November 17th, 2004
Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason opened in a mere half a dozen international markets over the weekend, but what an opening it was. Despite place on fewer than 1000 screens the film was able to pull in an amazing $26.7 million, the lion's share coming from the U.K. where the film took in $19.1 million on 496 screens, (including $5.9 million from sneak peaks.) That was the best opening for a Working Title film smashing the previous record of $11.1 million for
Love Actually. In each market the film broke the record for Working Title films and more than doubled the
original's debut. And even with legs that are expected to be much lower, it should be able to break $300 million internationally, although it may have trouble hitting $50 million domestically.
More...
November 10th, 2004
It's a rare feat for a non-Hollywood film to top the international charts, but that's just what the German spoof, Seven Dwarfs, did this week. Playing in just three markets the film took in $10.6 million on under 1,000 screens. In its home market of Germany the film eased just 19% to $9.2 million; the result was not quite as good in Austria where it dropped a respectable 30% to $915,000, but it was in Switzerland where it shined -
increasing 4% to $500,000. Overall the film has now made $29.0 million so far but the real test comes with increased competition from holiday fare and the ability to find an audience in non-German speaking markets.
More...
November 8th, 2004
The
top film on the charts wasn't as impressive as predicted, but that helped some of the holdovers hold up better. Overall, there was a massive leap from last weekend at 43.8%, but a troubling 5.8% drop from last year. This extended pseudo-slump the box office has been in has cut 2004's lead over 2003 to just 2.1%, $7.641 billion to $7.480 billion. Unless 2004 can close strong, we will see the second year in a row with declining ticket sales.
More...
November 5th, 2004
Predicting which movie will finish on top of the charts this weekend is a simple matter. The real question is will
The Incredibles break records, and if so, how many.
More...
November 3rd, 2004
Holidays throughout Europe, and a $1.5 million, first place finish in Russia helped
Shark Tale remain in top spot for the fourth straight week, although it was a much closer contest this week. Highlights include $4.3 million in the U.K., off just 24% compared to its sophomore weekend, $4.0 million in France, which was
up 47% from last weekend for a $15.5 million in 4,300 theatres in 27 markets weekend. Its international running total topped $100 million, the 13th film to do so this year, and now sits at $109.6 million.
More...
November 1st, 2004
With four of the films in the top five beating expectations, this Halloween wasn't as bad as predicted. It was still down about 5.0% from last weekend and 1.5% from last year, but that's not as bad as it could have been. At first glance that's not too bad, however, last year Halloween was on a Friday and there were no new wide releases, which undoubtedly lead to last year under-performing.
More...
October 29th, 2004
Traditionally, Halloween is not a good day for the movies, with kids and families staying away from the theatres in order to trick or treat. The only films that really benefit from Halloween are
horror films aimed at High School and College students.
More...
October 26th, 2004
Thanks in part to
Paul Giamatti's second Oscar worthy performance in as many years,
Sideways easily topped the Per Theatre Charts with a $51,761 average in four theatres. Let's hope Paul Giamatti is at least nominated this year unlike what happened last year with
American Splendor.
More...
October 25th, 2004
Thanks to a much better than expected debut of the number one film we saw a large jump in the box office for the week, 8.75% to be more precise. However, with the rest of the films on the list just able to live up to expectations, the overall box office was still well short of last year's performance. The 18.25% drop on the yearly comparison is quite troubling, and it probably won't get much better next week either.
More...
October 22nd, 2004
It's one week from Halloween, and that can only mean one thing. It's Christmas time! That's right, the first Christmas movie of the year is coming to theatres. Sigh. The only Christmas movie you can legitimately watch at this time of year is
The Nightmare Before Christmas.
More...
October 21st, 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
Blade: Trinity -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
More...
October 7th, 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
Beauty Shop -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
More...
October 1st, 2004
October is generally a transition month. Not the dumping ground that September is, but without a major holiday, it's not as prosperous as November. Also, the month is usually good to horror movies for the obvious reason. One last note, the movie industry as a whole is in a bit of a slump right now, of the 11 films that opened wide in September, only 2 will beat expectations by any reasonable degree. This has caused me to downgrade some of my predictions, especially for earlier in the month.
More...
September 23rd, 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
I ♥ Huckabees -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
More...
July 23rd, 2004
Today sees the opening a few more limited releases, but perhaps more significantly, it also will see the expansion of a few other, previously released limited release films.
More...
July 8th, 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 the winner for the week,
The Bourne Supremacy -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
More...
July 4th, 2004
Japanese horror films are experiencing a new burst of popularity among moviegoers in the domestic market with many being remade for American audiences. The first that really capture the attention of moviegoers was
The Ring, which grossed more than $100 million at the box office. The latest movie to receive this treatment is Ju-On, which is being remade as
The Grudge and stars
Sarah Michelle Gellar
More...
July 2nd, 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 the winner for the week,
Spider-Man 2 -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
More...
June 24th, 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 the winner for the week,
Suspect Zero -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
More...
June 10th, 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 the winner for the week,
Garfield -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
More...
February 6th, 2004
This week's new batch of movie release dates has some more shuffling around of this Summer's blockbusters, and even next Summer's blockbusters.
We also have release dates for some smaller (and more interesting) movies.
Among movies with moved dates: Welcome to Mooseport,
13 Going on 30,
Raising Helen,
Mr. 3000,
The Notebook and Shall We Dance?.
We also have a announced date for Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, and a new name and date for the XXX Sequel.
More...