March 5th, 2013
It's a strange week for home market releases. On the one hand, there are some terrific films that should do really well. On the other hand, after the top couple of titles, the quality of the releases plummets really fast. By the time we get outside of the top ten, we start to get mostly filler. The best film coming out this week is Schindler's List, which makes its Blu-ray debut this week. It is absolutely a must have; however, the Blu-ray is shovelware, which precludes it from being the Pick of the Week. The release that gets that honor is Wreck-It Ralph on either Blu-ray or 3D. It is worth paying the extra money for 3D, but not a lot of people have made the leap to 3D just yet.
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March 31st, 2007
A trio of new releases led the sales chart this week, and those three all managed to place in the top five on the rental charts as well. This includes the new number one film, Blood Diamond with $9.00 million.
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March 20th, 2007
It's a busy week for DVDs, and it's even busier next week.
Not only are the overall numbers high, the quality is good too, with several films from last year's award season / holiday rush coming to the home market.
One of these films, Rocky Balboa - Buy from Amazon, was a serious contender for DVD Pick of the Week, as was a TV on DVD release, NewsRadio - The Complete Fifth Season - Buy from Amazon.
But in the end I went with a cult classic that more people should experience, Re-Animator - Limited Edition - Buy from Amazon.
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December 23rd, 2006
Curse of the Golden Flower started its international run in its native
China with a record breaking $12.27 million on 826 screens. That was almost enough to reach the top five falling just short to
Arthur & the Invisibles and its $12.47 million.
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December 17th, 2006
Open Season solidified its chances to reach $100 million with a first place debut in Italy. Over the weekend the film just managed to beat
Happy Feet $1.68 million to $1.66 million over the weekend, (with midweek numbers
Open Season earned $1.82 million on 430 screens). The film was not as successful in Japan with just $968,000 on 441 screens; with such a small per theatre average, it will likely disappear quickly from charts. Overall it earned $4.97 million on 3451 screens in 51 markets for a total of $87.16 million; and even with no major markets left to open in, it does have a great shot at $100 million before its run is over.
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December 12th, 2006
2006 has hit a real losing streak since Happy Feet and Casino Royale opened three weeks ago. This week only one of the four wide releases matched expectations while their combined box office was well below last year's number one film.
And while the overall box office was up 4% from last weekend at $97 million, it was down a huge 22% from the same weekend last year.
Things need to turn around soon, or ticket sales may dip below last year's pace.
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December 11th, 2006
Saw III slipped another spot to sixth with $4.46 million on 1518 screens in 29 markets for an international total of $54.27 million. Its best opening of the weekend came in South Korea where it placed third with $1.08 million on 144 screens, which is the last major opening for the film this year.
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December 5th, 2006
Over the weekend all the holdovers were within a rounding error of expectations, but none of the new releases were able to come close to that.
This left the overall box office down 42% from last weekend at $93 million.
However, it was a post-holiday weekend and the large drop-off should surprise no one.
Compared to the same weekend last year, the overall box office was up 7% and that is a much more significant figure.
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December 2nd, 2006
Good week with plenty of strong site, but there was not a whole lot of competition at the very top as
The Good Shephard -
Official Site took home the Weekly Website Award.
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December 1st, 2006
Looking at my calendar I see that it's March 11th. ... March 11th, 2003. This means it's time for me to get a new calendar, but more importantly, it's time for the December preview. December is an insanely busy time of year with studio release major blockbusters in hopes of cashing in on the holidays, as well as a ton of Oscar bait movies hoping to remain fresh in voters' minds by the time the ballots are handed out. On a side note, this is the first time in several years that's there not an obvious Must See movie opening during the month. Sure, there are quite a few that should crack $100 million at the box office, maybe even $200 million, but nothing like
The Lord of the Rings. In addition to the ton of wide releases and limited releases scheduled to open wide this month, there are several more movies opening in limited release this month before expanding in the new year. Movies like
Home of the Brave,
Arthur & the Invisibles,
The Painted Veil,
Letters from Iwo Jima,
Children of Men,
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,
Fast Track, and
Pan's Labyrinth, and possibly some others.
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November 30th, 2006
The first weekend of December rarely brings us a big blockbuster, and this year is no different. Three films open wide, or in varying degrees of wideness, but none look to have the chops to take first place.
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November 27th, 2006
The box office calms down this week but our box office prediction contest continues in high gear. The target this week is
The Nativity Story, which is this week's widest new release, although it is unlikely to win the weekend race. . In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of
The Nativity Story. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday),
without going over, win
Pride & Prejudice collector's edition. While the person who comes the closest to the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday,
without going under, will win a copy of
Pulse Unrated Edition. In addition, both winners will take home a copy of
Tales of the Rat Fink 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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June 30th, 2006
It seems a lot of people are starting their holidays early, but not this column as it's the busiest it's been in more than a month. Including in this list are a few newly released teaser trailers and a handful of flash sites, most of which are worth checking out. But the best of the best is the
Running With Scissors -
Official Site.
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