March 20th, 2013
New releases took four of the top five spots on the Blu-ray sales chart for the week of February 3rd, 2013. Hotel Transylvania led the way with 633,000 units / $14.54 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 37%, which is very healthy for a kids movie.
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March 20th, 2013
New releases dominated the DVD sales chart for the week of February 3rd with three in the top five and five in the top ten. This includes Hotel Transylvania, which opened in first place with 1.08 million units / $19.52 million and it is already in second place for the year.
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March 14th, 2013
New releases did well on the Blu-ray sales chart for the week of January 27th, 2013. This includes End of Watch, which earned first place with 428,000 units / $9.41 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was just a hair over 50%, which is really impressive for this type of release.
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March 14th, 2013
There were four new releases in the top five of the DVD sales chart for the week of January 27th. However, Taken 2 was able to remain in first place with 516,000 units / $7.73 million over the week for totals of 1.68 million units / $27.55 million after two.
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March 13th, 2013
There are not many first run releases coming out on the home market this week, but two of them, Life of Pi and Rise of the Guardians, rose to Pick of the Week status. For that honor, we have to turn to an older release, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which celebrated its 25th Anniversary by coming out on Blu-ray for the first time. Yes, it is shovelware, but it is still the best movie on this week's list. If you don't have the DVD already and really don't like Pan & Scan, you might want to wait till Disney fixes the mix-up with the DVD portion of the Combo Pack.
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March 9th, 2013
The original Taken cost just $25 million to make and was released in January, so expectations were limited. However, it nearly broke the record for a January release and earned more than $200 million worldwide. Needless to say, a sequel was given the greenlight. Taken 2 cost much, much more to make, but did the higher budget translate into a more entertaining product?
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March 5th, 2013
We had a new release on top of the Blu-ray sales chart for the week of January 20th, 2013. Taken 2 sold 838,000 units and generated $16.75 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 42%, which is good for the genre, but not great.
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March 5th, 2013
A couple new releases topped the DVD sales chart of the week of January 20th, but they were nowhere near each other in terms of sales. Taken 2 led the way with 1.17 million units / $19.82 million. This is substantially lower than the original's opening week; however, it instantly became the best selling DVD of 2013. Plus, it sold substantially more on Blu-ray than its predecessor did.
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March 2nd, 2013
New releases dominated the top five of the Blu-ray sales chart for the week of January 13th, 2003. Dredd led the way in terms of units with 184,000 units, but was second in terms of revenue with $3.68 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was just 37%, which is weak for an action film like this.
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January 15th, 2013
It is a rather shallow week on the home market. Taken 2 should come away with an easy win, but after that, there's almost nothing that will reach the top 30 for the week. Also, Taken 2 is not Pick of the Week material. I don't know if there is anything that is truly Pick of the Week material. Wake in Fright comes the closest, but the DVD or Blu-ray is still late, I hate giving this title when I'm still waiting for the screener.
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November 13th, 2012
Most people were expecting Skyfall to be a monster hit, but the film actually beat great expectations. Its opening helped the box office grow by 25% from last week to $173 million, which was 26% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2012 reached the $9 billion mark and not sits at $9.10 billion. By comparison, at this point in 2011, the total box office was $8.72 billion giving 2012 a 4.4% lead over last year.
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November 8th, 2012
There's only one wide release this weekend, but Skyfall could become one of the biggest hits of the holiday season. Nearly all analysts assume it will be the fastest opening Bond film of all time. It might make more that last year's top three films made combined. Wreck-It-Ralph should still be strong at the box office, while Flight should hold on better than most other films do. Overall it should be a very good week at the box office.
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November 8th, 2012
Skyfall expanded worldwide earning $156.09 million on 12,545 screens in 81 markets for a two-week total of $289.81 million. This is already more than Die Another Day finished with internationally, while it is on pace to top $500 million. This week it opened in first place in Germany with $21.28 million on 789 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $23.67 million It also earned first in Italy with $7.02 million on 632 screens over the weekend and $7.87 million in total. It had to settle for second place in Spain with $3.97 million on 639 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $6.50 million. Likewise, it only managed second place in Mexico with $2.67 million on 1,151 screens over the weekend for a total opening on $3.01 million. It dipped just 20% in the U.K. earning $25.74 million on 593 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $85.40 million. It is the biggest hit in that market all year. The film grew by 31% in France to $13.91 million on 845 screens over the weekend for a total of $28.26 million. It remained in first place in Russia with $5.74 million on 1,254 screens over the weekend for an early total of $16.67 million. It rose 1% in Brazil to $3.23 million on 558 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.78 million after two. The film was pushed into second place in South Korea, but still did well with $3.20 million on 581 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $11.59 million. The film has yet to open in Australia and Japan, while it makes its debut here this weekend.
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November 5th, 2012
Wreck-It-Ralph's opening was on the very high end of expectations, which was a pleasant surprise over the weekend. Also, Flight beat all but the most bullish predictions. Even The Man with the Iron Fists did a little better than expected. Overall, the box office soared 49% from last weekend to $138 million. It was also higher compared to this weekend last year by a very impressive 21%. November certainly got off to a great start. Year-to-date, 2012 is ahead of 2011's pace by just under 4.0% at $8.89 billion to $8.55 billion. After a couple weak months, the box office has shown great strength and it would take a disastrous collapse for 2012 to not come out ahead.
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November 4th, 2012
Wreck-It Ralph is breathing new life into the box office this weekend, after a few slow weeks, and with some help from an impressive opening for Flight this weekend will be a healthy 20% or so ahead of last year. Disney is projecting that Ralph will open with $49.1 million, which is a very creditable performance, if well behind the openings of The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc., both of which were released on the equivalent weekend in years gone by. The Pixar brand still counts for a lot, evidently. Flight's $25.01 million projection is well ahead of expectations (take a bow Denzel Washington and Robert Zemeckis), and has strong enough reviews to have good chances of legs into the Holiday Season.
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November 1st, 2012
In what has to be one of the least surprising events of the year, Skyfall opened in first place on the international box office chart. It pulled in $83.05 million on 5,077 screens in 25 markets, this includes first place debuts in all 25 markets. It was surprisingly strong in its native U.K. with $32.41 million on 587 screens, which was the second best three-day opening in that market behind only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. The film was also huge in France with $9.70 million on 820 screens and in Russia with $8.27 million on 1,254 screens. In South Korea, the film made $6.02 million on 749 screens and in Brazil it earned $3.18 million on 537 screens. The film was also a multi-million dollar hit in a number of smaller markets. This includes $3.58 million on 116 screens in Denmark, $3.13 million on 179 in Norway, $2.82 million on 222 in Sweden, and 2.49 million on 217 in Poland. On average, the film was 30% stronger than Quantum of Solace's opening weekends in these market, and 76% higher than Casino Royale.
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October 25th, 2012
Paranormal Activity 4 opened in first place on the international chart with $26.35 million on 3,900 screens in 32 markets. This includes a number of major markets. It earned first place in Australia with $3.73 million on 321 screens and in Germany with $3.30 million on 316. It was also strong in Mexico topping the chart with $2.20 million on 956 and in Brazil with $1.81 million on 268. The film had to settle for second place in the U.K. with $4.08 million on 416 screens and in Russia with $3.90 million on 810 screens. While it missed first place, it still did well in both markets. On the other hand, it really struggled in Spain earning fourth place with just $918,000 on 238 screens. It is still too early to tell where the film will end up, but this is a good start
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October 22nd, 2012
As everyone was expecting, Paranormal Activity 4 led the way on the box office chart this past weekend; however, it did so with much weaker than expected numbers. The other new release, Alex Cross, also missed expectations. On the other hand, the holdovers held on a lot better than expected. The overall box office was still weaker than last weekend, but only by 0.9%. We can call that a tie. Compared to last year, the overall box office rose by 6%. That's not a huge amount, but considering this weekend last year saw Paranormal Activity 3 break the record for biggest October opening, a victory by any margin is worth celebrating. Year-to-date, 2012 is maintaining its lead over 2011. 2012 currently has a 3.9% advantage over 2011's pace at $8.59 billion to $8.26 billion. Since 2011 didn't have a strong winter run, 2012 should be able to maintain, if not expand, its lead.
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October 18th, 2012
It's the weekend before Halloween, so that must mean Paranormal Activity. The fourth installment in the franchise should dominate the box office, but the challenge is for Paranormal Activity 4 to top Paranormal Activity 3. The only other wide release of the week is Alex Cross, Tyler Perry's attempt to build a mainstream acting career. There's not a lot of buzz for that film. Last year Paranormal Activity 3 broke the record for biggest October opening. There's a slim chance that will happen this year as well, but probably not. On the other hand, the other three releases made roughly $14 million combined, so while we are not as strong at the top, there's better depth in 2012.
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October 18th, 2012
After just two weeks of release, Taken 2 has already earned more internationally than the original did in total. Over the weekend, the sequel pulled in $45.09 million on 6,889 screens in 63 markets for a two-week total of $134.76 million, while its worldwide total rose to $220.89 million. The film had to settle for second place in Germany with $3.55 million on 437 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $3.88 million. It only managed fourth place in Italy with $1.26 million on 265. Its best market of the weekend was the U.K. with $6.01 million on 510 screens over the weekend for a total of $23.29 million after two. The film has very few markets left to open in, but it has already made enough to cover its production budget and likely a good chunk of its P&A budget. It will reach profitability before it reaches the home market.
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October 15th, 2012
It was another good week at the box office with just about every film in the top ten at least doing as well as expected. Granted, none of the new releases were monster hits, but the depth was very good with five films topping $10 million over the weekend. Taken 2 remained in first place, so it should come as no surprise that the box office was lower than last weekend; however, it only fell 8.6% to $130 million. This is 48% more than the same weekend last year, which is a huge boost. Year-to-date, 2012 expanded its lead to 3.8% at $8.42 billion to $8.11 billion. Just a few weeks ago, it looked like 2012 would fall below 2011's pace in the end, but now things are looking a lot more optimistic.
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October 14th, 2012
Taken 2 is set for a second weekend at the top of the box office charts with $22.5 million, although its 55% decline from last weekend makes it clear that the film won't have anything like the legs of its predecessor, which fell only 17% in its second outing. That will make for a tight pack of films at the top of the chart this weekend, with Argo leading the charge. Ben Affleck's film is set for $20.1 million this weekend and is showing signs of having very good word of mouth: it was up 47% from Friday to Saturday and looks likely to fall by around 35% on Sunday -- impressive figures these days. Sinister will have the rare distinction of opening at the top of the chart on Friday and finishing the weekend in third place (Lionsgate has its gross pegged at $18.25 million over three days).
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October 11th, 2012
There could be as many as five new releases to reach the top ten this week. It is also very possible that Taken 2 will remain in first place on the weekend chart, so while there's a high quantity of new releases, the quality isn't there. Argo likely has the best shot at becoming the new number one film, but some think Sinister will benefit from the close proximity to Halloween and steal a victory. On the other hand the buzz for Here Comes the Boom just hasn't grown like it should and it could struggle to grab fifth place, despite playing in more than 3,000 theaters. On the other hand, Seven Psychopaths has excellent buzz, but is only playing in 1500 theaters. Finally there's Atlas Shrugged: Part II, which is opening in just over 1,000 theaters, but with no chance outside of its politically motivated target demographic. Last year was disappointing at the box office with none of the three new releases becoming hits, while the box office was led by Real Steel for the third weekend in a row. We should do better this time around, unless all of the new releases miss expectations.
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October 11th, 2012
Taken 2 was just as strong internationally as it was domestically earning first place with $55.23 million on 6,319 screens in 50 markets for a total of $66.79 million. The film had a trio of first place openings in major markets, starting with the U.K. with $11.85 million on 506 screens. It also opened in first place in France with $8.29 million on 561 screens and in Australia with $7.92 million on 246. On the other hand, the film had to settle for second place in Mexico with $2.54 million on 930 screens, in Russia with $2.00 million on 750, and in Spain with $1.24 million on 320.
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October 9th, 2012
The winners of our Give and Take contest were determined and they are...
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October 9th, 2012
Taken 2 was the only film to top the $10,000 mark on this week's per theater chart earning an average of $13,525. The best new limited release was The Paperboy, which came very close with an average of $9,337 in eleven theaters.
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October 8th, 2012
Taken 2 took the competition and went to work on them. It opened much, much better than its predecessor did, doubling its opening weekend haul. It also made nearly twice as much as Hotel Transylvania and easily more than last year's number one film, Real Steel. This helped the overall box office grow by 20% from last weekend to $142 million, which is nearly 50% higher than the same weekend last year. Finally there's a reason to celebrate the box office again. One win could have been a fluke, but two is officially a streak. Year-to-date, 2012 is ahead of 2011 by 3.2% at $8.24 billion to $7.99 billion. Granted, that's off its peak from earlier in the year, but I'm happy the bleeding has stopped.
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October 7th, 2012
After Hotel Transylvania's record-breaking September opening last week, Taken 2 will make its mark on the October record book this weekend, with Fox projecting a $50 million opening, most likely enough for a place in the top 3 October weekends. The film still has a shot at ousting Paranormal Activity 3 from the top of that list, although it would have to have a very strong Sunday to break the record. Regardless of that, we're looking at another up weekend and 2012 will pull further ahead of last year's pace.
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October 5th, 2012
There are three wide releases coming out next week, and another opening semi-wide. Here Comes the Boom could win the box office race, especially if Kevin James returns to his earlier box office success. Sinister could be a low-level hit, especially if horror fans are excited by Halloween, but it doesn't have the hype to compete for first place. Seven Psychopaths might win an Oscar given its reviews, but it is opening in less than 2000 theaters and likely won't reach the top five. This leaves Argo as the most likely candidate for number one film next weekend. (Here Comes the Boom does have a shot, while Taken 2 might repeat on top of the chart during its second weekend of release.) Argo is the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Argo.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), regardless if they go over or under, will win a copy of Dark Shadows on Blu-ray Combo Pack.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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October 4th, 2012
This weekend, there are two wide releases making their debuts, Taken 2 and Frankenweenie. Plus a previous limited release is aiming for a spot in the top five, Pitch Perfect, and another limited release that could expand into the top ten, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It's an all around busy weekend. Taken 2 should easily win the box office race earning more than the original, although it very likely won't have the same legs. More importantly, it should open with more than last year's number one film, Real Steel. The second best wide release should open better than Ides of March did, plus the holdovers this year are better than last year. Am I getting optimistic again? Yes. Keep in mind that I have had the optimism crushed a lot this year.
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October 1st, 2012
2012 continues its downward path. After a record-breaking spring, thanks to The Hunger Games, and a record-breaking start to the summer, thanks to The Avengers, the box office hasn't been able to maintain any real momentum. For most of the month, September was no better than August and now the year-over-year gains are just a little more than inflation. October will need to improve or 2012 will be in real trouble. Unfortunately, that might be tough. There's not a single film coming out in October that looks like it will be a guaranteed $100 million hit and there are only two films with a realistic chance, Taken 2 and Paranormal Activity 4. (There's also Cloud Atlas, which is a wild card. That movie could bomb or be the biggest hit of the month and I wouldn't be surprised either way.) There is a chance all three will get to the century mark, but there's a better chance none of them will. Last October, two films cracked $100 million: Paranormal Activity 3 and Puss in Boots, with the latter nearly reaching $150 million. I don't see any film coming close to matching that figure. On the other hand, last year there were six films that one could accurately describe as bombs. So while 2012 is weaker at the top, it could have better depth than 2011 did. Let's hope so, because we can't afford more bad news.
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September 28th, 2012
We are getting close to Halloween, so we have a couple of horror related prizes to give away this week. But before we get to the prizes, we have to figure out the target film. Taken 2 is one of only two films coming out in October that has a real shot at $100 million, plus it should be very front-loaded, so it is an easy pick for the target film in this week's box office prediction contest, no matter how much I want Frankenweenie to be the number one film next weekend. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Taken 2.
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 American Horror Story: Season One on Blu-ray.
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 Triangle 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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