October 19th, 2010
Several films could claim to be the champion of the home market this week, including one of the many new releases.
The Karate Kid opened on top of the DVD sales chart with 1.22 million units compared to Iron Man 2 with 1.10 million units.
However, the latter topped the former in terms of consumer spending at $22.15 million to $20.80 million.
More...
October 5th, 2010
One of the busiest weeks on the DVD / Blu-ray release report; in fact, I set a record for most reviews in a single week. With so much competition, one might think it would be tough picking the Pick of the Week, but that was not the case, as Beauty and the Beast - Blu-ray / DVD Combo walked away with that distinction. The only other release that really came close to it was Phineas and Ferb: A Very Perry Christmas, while there are about a dozen or so other releases worth picking up on this week's list.
More...
June 13th, 2010
Rajneeti was the second Indian film within a few weeks to open strong on the global scene. Internationally, it earned third place with $11.01 million on 925 screens in 16 markets, which is an excellent start for this type of film. After Kites opened respectively well, it quickly collapsed. Thanks to a higher than average production budget, it will end up costing the studio money. However, this film is already well on its way to profitability and hopefully it will show much better legs.
More...
June 6th, 2010
Sex and the City 2 started its international run in second place with $23.98 million on 2739 screens in 18 markets for a total opening of $27.11 million. The film's biggest opening came in the U.K., where it made $8.93 million on 530 screens, 24% more than the original's opening. It had the biggest opening of the year in Germany with $5.90 million on 736 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.72 million. This was 23% higher than the original managed. On the other hand, it only saw 4% growth in Italy, with $2.4 million on 499 screens. This is not enough to keep pace with inflation. However, it is still better than it managed here.
More...
May 30th, 2010
Iron Man 2 is starting to see sharp declines in its theater count, but it still hit a major milestone during the past weekend. It added $13.90 million on 8739 screens in 55 markets for a total of $269.30 million internationally, which is just ahead of the total earned by Iron Man. Additionally, the film reached the half billion dollar mark with total ticket sales of $520.32 million worldwide. By the time it opened in Japan on the 11th, it will have surpassed its predecessor on the worldwide stage, while it has likely already broken even at this point.
More...
May 23rd, 2010
Iron Man 2 slipped to second place with $30.47 million on 10,223 screens in 57 markets for a total of $245.75 million internationally and $456.95 million worldwide. While this is impressive, its per theater average has become very weak and the competition is heating up. Look for sharp declines in the film's screen count over the next few weeks. That said, the original Iron Man earned a total of $264 million internationally and it is likely that the sequel has already topped that figure. It has also likely topped $500 million worldwide, while $600 million globally is a safe bet, so there's no reason for the studio to worry about shedding screens at this point. The film's biggest individual market so far is still the U.K. where it has made $25.80 million, including $2.30 million on 491 screens this past weekend. South Korea is right behind with $2.11 million on 600 screens over the weekend and $25.27 million after two.
More...
May 17th, 2010
The overall box office this past weekend was adequate. While three of the top five films were unable to match Thursday's predictions, none were off by a significant degree. All combined, the box office brought in $139 million, which was down 22% compared to last week. Again, this was expected. Compared to last year it was higher, but by a mere 1.3%. Not enough to keep pace with inflation. Year-to-date, 2010 is still ahead of 2009 at $3.85 billion to $3.62 billion. However, due to the influx of 3D ticket sales and the much higher ticket prices they command, attendance is actually down by a fraction of a percent. It's nothing to worry about at the moment, but it is still interesting.
More...
May 16th, 2010
For the fourth weekend in a row, Alice in Wonderland remained in second place, this time adding $13.28 million on 3843 screens in 54 markets for a total of $630.30 million internationally and $961.15 million worldwide. Since last week it has crossed the $600 million milestone on the international scene, making it just the 13th film to do so. It is now the seventh highest grossing film of all time. The film's per screen average has declined enough that it will likely shed screens and markets rather quickly. That said, if the worst thing you can say about a movie's box office run is, "It might not make it to $1 billion!" then the film is a massive success.
More...
May 13th, 2010
The second weekend in May tends to be weak at the box office; for instance, it was the second weekend of May that saw the release of Speed Racer and Poseidon, just to name two recent examples. It is unlikely that Robin Hood will do that poorly at the box office; in fact, it might open with more than Speed Racer made in total. If it can, it will go a long way towards helping 2010 keep pace with last year. But even if it does, it will likely have to settle for second place.
More...
May 10th, 2010
Iron Man 2 started off the summer in style with the biggest opening weekend of the year and the fifth biggest of all time. This helped the overall box office hit $174 million, which was 76% higher than last weekend. More importantly, it was 20% higher than the same weekend last year. This is extra important, because last year we were already a week into summer and we couldn't afford any weakness at the box office if 2010 was to maintain its lead over 2009. It was able to do so. In fact, it increased its lead slightly to 6.5% at $3.66 billion to $3.44 billion.
More...
May 9th, 2010
A prime launch date, inflated ticket prices, and the unbeatable formula of a superhero sequel combined to give Iron Man 2 a massive opening weekend, according to Paramount's estimate, released on Sunday.
Their projected $133.6 million would make the movie the fifth-biggest opener of all time, and cements Iron Man's place among the industry's mega-franchises, alongside Batman, Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, Twilight and Harry Potter.
More...
May 7th, 2010
The winners of our Prizes of Nightmare Proportions contest were determined and they are...
More...
May 6th, 2010
Summer has finally begun. It feels a week late because May 1st fell on a Saturday. However, the wait could be worth it, as a number of analysts are expecting a record-breaking performance by Iron Man 2 over the weekend. The movie has no competition at the box office. There's not even competition when compared to last year, as practically everyone thinks it will open with much more than Star Trek. For that matter, most think it will easily top Iron Man's opening weekend and perhaps even break records.
More...
May 5th, 2010
Please Give opened on top of the per theater chart with an impressive average of $23,625 in 5 theaters. This suggests significant room for expansion. With summer less than a week away, it could even be the first limited release of the season to expand enough to earn some measure of mainstream success. It wouldn't be the first Nicole Holofcener film to do so. The Human Centipede earned $12,424 in its lone theater during its opening weekend. Meanwhile, the overall box office leader, A Nightmare on Elm Street, just missed the $10,000 club with an average of $9,875.
More...
May 3rd, 2010
The new releases were a little weaker than anticipated, while the holdovers could only compensate so much. The overall box office was $102 million, which was 2% higher than last weekend. That's the good news. The bad news is that it was down 36% from the same weekend last year. Of course, this weekend last year was the first weekend of May, so the comparison is fundamentally unfair and 2010 still has a 6.4% lead over 2009 at $3.46 billion to $3.25 billion. I expect it to increase its lead next weekend.
More...
May 2nd, 2010
A Nightmare on Elm Street continued what is now practically a tradition of impressive performances for franchise reboots by opening with $32.2 million this weekend, according to Warner Bros.' Sunday estimate.
That's the second-best opening performance for a movie in the franchise, behind only the franchise-crossover Freddy vs. Jason.
It also helped shake up the market a little after a few sluggish weeks.
More...
April 29th, 2010
It's the final weekend of April, which is normally a very bad time to release a big hit. But it appears that one of this year's two wide releases may make it. A Nightmare on Elm Street should be able to open faster than the two films did last week, but comparing it to last year is a bit more confusing. Last year, the last weekend in April of saw the release of Obsessed, which earned close to $30 million. A Nightmare on Elm Street should match that figure. However, the same weekend last year was actually the first weekend of May, which saw the release of Wolverine. There's a chance that overall box office combined won't match that film's opening.
More...
April 22nd, 2010
A Nightmare on Elm Street will likely be the only saturation level release next week and it is clearly the best shot at top spot. But I think the studio would agree, more importantly, it 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 A Nightmare on Elm Street.
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 Planet Hulk 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 Wolverine & X-Men: Fate of the Future on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
More...
April 1st, 2010
March was a mixed month, with only three films surpassing expectations.
On the other hand, Alice in Wonderland will beat expectations by more than $200 million, so it alone makes up for a lot of the disappointing films.
On a more troubling note, the final big release, How to Train Your Dragon didn't get off to as fast a start as I would have liked, which could affect the box office going forward. Last year April got off to a fast start and that should happen this month as well. It better, as the quality of films quickly declines as the prospect of May blockbusters begins to loom large on the horizon.
More...
