September 21st, 2010
While there were plenty of new releases on this week's sales chart, it was a case of quantity over quality, as none of them really made an impact on the chart. Leading the way was Killers with a mere 325,000 units sold for opening week sales of $5.15 million.
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September 6th, 2010
It's TV on DVD season, as five of the top six best-selling new releases for the week are in that category, while the sixth is an exercise DVD. Of the many, many TV on DVD releases coming out this week, there are plenty that are worth picking up, but not many that are worth of Pick of the Week Honors. The top pick in my mind is Stardust, which is making its Blu-ray debut this week. However, Solitary Man might also be added to that list if / when the DVD / Blu-ray screeners arrive.
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June 8th, 2010
Well, that was bad. After the worst Memorial Day long weekend in nearly two decades (at least in terms of tickets sold) we had another weekend full of disappointing new releases. The overall box office was $129 million, which was down 15% from last weekend. Since it is a post-holiday weekend, this drop-off is not surprising. However, it was also down 22% from the same weekend last year, which is the third weekend in a row where we've seen double-digit declines year-over-year. Year-to-date, 2010 is still ahead of 2009, but the lead has shrunk to less than 4% at $4.47 billion to $4.31 billion.
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June 2nd, 2010
May is over, and not a moment too soon. I remember at the beginning of last month that a lot of people were suggesting this was going to be the highest grossing summer of all time and that May was going to be the highest grossing month of all time. Since this summer is a weekend shorter than most and this missing weekend was at the beginning of May, this was never going to happen. However, now that the month is over, we can see just how unrealistic those predictions were. Even Memorial Day long weekend wasn't enough as the total box office take was $152 million over three days and $193 million over four. Compared to last week, this was up just over 1%. While any increase is welcome, this it hardly a reason to celebrate. Compared to last Memorial Day, this was down 14% over three days and 13% over four. Not good. Year-to-date, 2010 is still ahead of 2009, but the lead has been cut to 4.7% at $4.30 billion to $4.10 billion. Perhaps it's not quite time to hit the panic button, but I'm starting to do warm up exercises for when running around in a panic will be required.
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May 25th, 2010
I'm starting to get a little concerned about summer. Granted, we are only three weeks in, but so far we have had two films that came short of high expectations and another that was expected to struggle at the box office and did. This time around, the number one movie failed to meet even the low end of expectations and the overall box office managed just a hair under $150 million. This was 8% more than last weekend, but 15% lower than the same weekend last year. Granted, this time last year was Memorial Day long weekend, so the comparison isn't entirely fair. But still troubling. Year-to-date, 2010 has amassed $4.04 billion, which is 4.8% higher than last year, but the boom in 3D films and the higher ticket prices that go with it means that attendance is down 1.7%.
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May 23rd, 2010
Perhaps DreamWorks Animation saw the writing on the wall before anyone else, but their decision to make Shrek Forever After the last film in the series is looking wise after the Ogre comedy/adventure posted what has to be considered a very ordinary opening.
Paramount's weekend estimate is $71.25 million, over $50 million less than Shrek the Third's debut in 2007, and it will take incredible legs through the Summer for the movie to deliver the kind of box office enjoyed by previous movies in the franchise.
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May 20th, 2010
It's the first long weekend of the summer; at least it is up here in Canada. What effect will this have on the box office? Not a whole lot, but Canada does represent about 10% of the total domestic box office and every little bit will help. This time last year saw the debut of two box office hits and we only have Shrek Forever After this time around. Granted, even the low end estimates have the pseudo-final chapter in the Shrek franchise crushing either Night at the Museum or Terminator, individually. The question is, can it top their combined opening? It might need to if 2010 is to keep pace with 2009.
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May 1st, 2010
It's summertime! April started off okay, but ended with a thud. In fact, How to Train Your Dragon was arguably the biggest box office draw of the month, and it opened in March. That said, it's May, and that means there's a clean slate for the box office, as even under the best of circumstances holdovers mean very little at the beginning of the month. As long as the overall box office is healthy, we should be fine. And given the number of $100 million hits that have opened in 2010 so far, plus the $300 million hit that is Alice in Wonderland, I think it is fair to say that we will be fine. The real question is how well May 2010 will compare to last year, when we had six $100 million movies including two that reached $200 million. This time around there's one less weekend, so we will need help from some of the counter programming to match that number. Since there are only three films that you could call counter programming, this could be a problem.
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