December 15th, 2009
This is the last full week before Christmas, so in many ways this is the last chance studios have to release their top properties.
And you can tell.
There are four releases that are prime candidates for the DVD Pick of the Week, including two $100 million hits (Inglourious Basterds and The Hangover) and two TV on DVD releases (Robot Chicken and Star Trek - The Original Series).
All have their strengths and weaknesses, but if I were forced to choose just one, it would be Inglourious Basterds on Blu-ray.
On the other hand, all four are joining my collection, plus several others coming out this week.
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November 18th, 2009
There were five new releases sprinkled throughout the top 30 on this week's sales chart, mostly in the top ten. This includes a new number one best selling DVD, G.I.Joe - The Rise of Cobra, which sold 2.54 million units and accounted for $41.00 million in consumer spending at retail.
This is on par with Wolverine sales late in September.
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November 18th, 2009
There were five new releases top reach the top 30 of the rental charts, including the top two rentals. G.I.Joe - The Rise of Cobra generated roughly 28% more rentals than The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. This is obviously much closer than they were theatrically.
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November 2nd, 2009
Another week with a large selection of great releases, including several contenders for DVD Pick of the Week. (There are also more than a few releases that could have been contenders, but the screeners still have not yet arrived. I fear they will all arrive on the same day and the sheer number of them will cause my head to explode.) The best new release this week is Food, Inc. on either DVD or Blu-ray. Classic releases like North By Northwest on Blu-ray and It's a Wonderful Life on Blu-ray are must haves, as is the James Bond Blu-ray Box Set. Despite there being more than a dozen releases this week where I'm still waiting for the screener to arrive, the list as still too long to fit on one page. The second part can be found here.
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July 21st, 2009
The year-to-year box office comparison has been hit hard over the weekend due to the competition from The Dark Knight, which opened this weekend last year. That film alone made $158.41 million over three days.
This year, the total box office was $160 million, or 38% lower than last year.
It was 12% more than last weekend, and 2009 is still ahead of 2008 by a 10% margin, $5.98 billion to $5.44 billion.
But there's no chance things will rebound this coming week.
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July 14th, 2009
The weekend at the box office was rather boring, at least as far as box office numbers go. We had no records broken, no blockbuster releases, and no films that shocked analysts, either on the high end or the low end. Total ticket sales were at $143 million, which is 12% lower than last weekend and 5.5% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-day, 2009 is still ahead of 2008 by 11.2%, $5.68 billion to $5.11 billion.
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July 12th, 2009
July 12th, 2009
Sacha Baron Cohen showed he is no one-hit-wonder over the weekend as Bruno topped the box office chart with an impressive $30.4 million, according to Universal's estimate, released on Sunday morning.
That's marginally better in total dollars than Borat's $26.5 million debut, although the 2006 release played in only 837 theaters against 2,756 this time around.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs dropped an impressive 31% to an estimated $28.5 million, helped in part by a comparison that includes the July 4 holiday last weekend, which dragged sales down across the board.
Fox, however, will be encouraged by the performance, and the family pic continues to do incredibly well internationally.
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July 12th, 2009
There is nothing on this week's list of movie sites that stands out as award worthy. There's nothing on this week's list of movie sites that stands out as above average. On the plus side, it's making my decision to end this column much easier.
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July 10th, 2009
There's a bit of a lull in blockbusters this week with no saturation level releases coming out, but that's not to say there isn't a potential $100 million movie. Compared to last year, the selection of new releases are not as strong, but overall 2009 might keep pace with 2008.
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July 8th, 2009
July 1st, 2009
June gave us some unexpected hits in The Proposal and The Hangover, as well as expected hits like Up, not to mention the biggest hit of the year, so far, in Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen. However, despite this, 2009 lost a bit of ground to 2008, and this will likely continue this month, as this month last year saw the release of The Dark Knight.
This year we have a couple of potential $300 million hits, but nothing likely to perform on that scale.
Then again, I only predicted Dark Knight would make $250 million, so we could be surprised again this year.
The box office is certainly hot, and is currently running more than 12% ahead of last year's pace.
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August 17th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Bolt, Valkyrie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and more!
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January 29th, 2008
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
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January 17th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Public Enemies, The Road, Whip It, and more!
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