June 21st, 2011
It's another busy week for DVD / Blu-ray with four first-run releases coming out this week. Five if you include Cedar Rapids, which was had surprisingly brisk ticket sales in limited release. Cedar Rapids is also the only one of the big releases that I would consider for Pick of the Week honors. Despite the number of wide releases on this week's list, I'm going with an unorthodox choice for Pick of the Week, "Weird Al" Yankovic - Alpocalypse, but Louie: Season One on Blu-ray earns an honorable mention.
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June 18th, 2011
Michael Bay has been directing movies since 1995 and in that time, he's made eight films (not including the upcoming Transformers threequel). Of those eight films, only one, The Rock, has earned overall positive reviews. On the other hand, since his first place, Bad Boys, he's only had one film fail to reach $100 million at the box office. That film was The Island. In fact, this film is the least successful box office performer in his career, but does it deserve this distinction?
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November 18th, 2008
It's a weird week for the DVD release report. According to Amazon, seven of the top ten releases come from two movies: WALL-E and Tropic Thunder. Add in the Spanish language edition and there are five versions of the former movie coming out this week, including the 3-Disc DVD and the 3-Disc Blu-ray, either one of which is worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week. The overall group of releases feels weaker than last week, but it is more than enough that it had to be split into two parts. Part two can be found here.
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January 7th, 2006
For the third week in a row,
The 40-Year Old Virgin was the leader on both the rental and the sales charts. It ended the year on top with $8.51 million over the week, which was down just 1% from last week and enough to push its total to $27.48 after three weeks.
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December 23rd, 2005
The 40-Year Old Virgin not only did it lead the way on the rental chart bringing in $10.18 million in combined rentals, ($9.82 million from DVDs and $370,000 from VHS), but it also led the way in sales with 3.7 million units sold. Sales totaled $65 million in its opening week. To put this in perspective, the home market release made more than $75 million during its opening week, which is more than the film earned during its first three weeks of theatrical release.
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December 12th, 2005
It's Special Edition week, with several such releases just screaming to become last minute Christmas gifts.
Many of these are not A-List gifts and are more for people who are difficult to shop for.
Even so, just a quick glance reveals more than half-a-dozen releases worthy of consideration for the DVD Pick of the Week, with The 40-Year Old Virgin - Unrated Widescreen Edition leading the way.
Other choices include Airplane - Don't Call Me Shirley Edition, Gilmore Girls - The Complete Fifth Season, Rock 'n Roll High School - Rock On Edition, and The Simpsons - The Complete Seventh Season.
And from the Better Late Than Never Category, there's Nothing - Buy from Amazon.
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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 7th, 2005
Amazing openings in Italy and Scandinavia helped
Madagascar jump back into the lead on the international charts with $11.6 million in 47 markets, which pushed its box office total to $291.5 million. Its biggest market was Italy, where the film benefited from the end of the slow summer session; with most theatres open again the film was able to grab $5.91 million over the weekend and $7.29 million if you include previews. Other first place openings included $1.45 million on 112 screens in Norway, $645,000 on 114 screens in Sweden, $600,000 on 82 screens in Denmark and $340,000 on 52 screens in Finland. The film has just a couple more markets left to open in, Thailand and the end of this month and Greece at the end of next month, but by then the film will have topped $300 million internationally and $500 million worldwide.
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August 31st, 2005
With the summer box office session coming to a close, the overall international returns slowed. However, The Island was still able to come out on top of the sluggish box office with $9.7 million at more than 4,800 screens in 48 markets for a total of $101.6 million so far. The film had a trio of openings this weekend, the best in terms of raw dollars was in Italy where the film managed $1.144 million on 322 screens, less than $2000 out of first place. It didn't have to settle for second place in Greece with $625,000 on 73 screens or in Sweden with $295,000 on 88. Holdovers continue to be the bane of this film as it fell by 40% during its second weekend in France.
Even so, that was the best single market for the film at $2.1 million on 640 screens.
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August 24th, 2005
The Island again topped the international charts with a rather tepid $12.4 million on nearly 5000 screens in 44 markets over the weekend. With this week's haul the
Sci-Fi flick has reached $84.8 million internationally, which is nearly $50 million more than it earned domestically, allowing it to top $100 million worldwide. This weekend the film opened in a couple of French speaking markets in Europe earning the number one spot in France with $3.4 million on 640 screens and $694,000 on 64 screens in Belgium. Holdovers were generally weak including a 45% tumble in both the U.K. to $1.37 million on 412 screens and Germany to $859,500 on 725. On the other hand, the film is still performing well in South Korea adding another $511,000 to its $20.47 million total in that single market, which would be like earning more than $300 million domestically given the relative size of the two markets.
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August 17th, 2005
There are a lot of people at
Dreamworks breathing a sigh of relief over this weeks international box office numbers.
The Island, which was a huge bomb domestically, lead the international box office race with $13.9 million on 4200 screens in 33 markets. That's not a great result, but will probably save someone his or her job. Among its dozen or so debuts were second place finishes in the U.K. with $2.6 million on 413 screens, as well as a first place finish in Mexico with $1.91 million on 500 screens. Other openings include $1.2 million on 241 screens in Russia, $434,500 on 86 screens in the Netherlands, and $198,000 on 50 screens in Argentina. While holdovers were less impressive down 40% in Germany to $1.66 million, 55% in Spain to $1.13 million, and 55% in Australia to $435,000. Overall
The Island has brought in $63 million internationally, almost a third of which came from South Korea at $19 million, including another $1 million this weekend.
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August 10th, 2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had a reasonable drop-off during its second weekend in the U.K., which helped it maintain its first place position on the international charts with $14.36 million on more than 2,500 screens in 23 markets. In the U.K. the film fell 42% to $7.91 million for the weekend and a $34.6 million running tally, which is about 10% more than
War of the Worlds's take during the same time period. There were no major opens this weekend, but it did score first place finishes in a handful of midlevel markets, Taiwan with $720,200 on 63 screens, Philippines with $330,000 on 30, and Argentina with $209,400 on 47. It is still very early in the film's run, but it has so far amassed $67.2 million internationally and $236 million worldwide and is quickly climbing the yearly charts.
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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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July 27th, 2005
It was a close race for top spot on the international charts this weekend but
Madagascar just managed to pull ahead when the final figures were announced. The film added $24.6 million this weekend to its $190 million international total, including an incredible performances in both Germany and South Korea. The film was down just 14% during its second weekend adding $7.5 million to its $20.5 million running tally, if the film continues to show strong legs is could beat
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith in the market. In south Korea the film rose by 14% to $2.65 million for the week and $5.41 million during its tun. Things weren't quite as rosy in the U.K. where the film dropped by 40% to $5.7 million for a total of $19.7 million so far. The film remained in first place in both Hong Kong, ($574,000) and Taiwan, ($375,000) while its only opening was in Venezuela where the film earned $360,000.
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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 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 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,
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -
Official Site.
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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 8th, 2005
The futuristic
Sci-Fi Action movie,
The Island, has a sneak peak this Saturday. And as promised, here is a complete listing of all 200 theatres the film will be playing at tomorrow.
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July 8th, 2005
The Fantastic Four battle Dr. Doom and
invading aliens this weekend. But the real competition comes from
last year when
Spider-Man 2 took home $45 million during its second weekend of release. And while no film will top that figure, the combination of strong starts and healthy holdovers could stop The Slump, but I wouldn't bet on it.
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July 7th, 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,
Murderball -
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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June 23rd, 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,
Chicken Little -
Official Site.
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June 9th, 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,
Stealth -
Official Site.
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June 2nd, 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 Perfect Man - Official Site.
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May 18th, 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, New Police Story -
Official Site.
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March 24th, 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 Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy -
Official Site.
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