June 10th, 2007
With no worldwide opening this weekend, several studios tried to open / expand smaller films hoping to take advantage of the lull. Despite this influx of competition, Fracture was able to hold strong dipping just one place with sixth with $2.25 million on 1018 screens in 16 markets for a total of $22.33 million internationally. The film wasn't able to top $1 million in any single market, but came closest in France with $671,000 over the weekend for a $7.20 million running total.
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April 7th, 2007
New releases were a source of happiness on the home market as they first one - two this week. Leading the way was Pursuit of Happyness with an impressive $9.95 million while fellow happy release, Happy Feet, placed second with $8.26 million.
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March 26th, 2007
Yikes! It's a busy week for DVD releases with closing in on 50 DVDs on this week's list. Not only are there are a lot of films worth checking out, there's a very close race for the DVD Pick of the Week. It came down to Children of Men - Buy from Amazon and The Shield - The Complete Fifth Season - Buy from Amazon. It's practically a coin flip here, but I'm giving the DVD Pick of the Week to Children of Men - Buy from Amazon, after all, I couldn't let the film get passed over for yet another award. That would be just too cruel.
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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 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 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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