June 3rd, 2008
This was a bad week for big movies, with not a single first run release is even worth rating a solid purchase, never mind being a contender for DVD Pick of the Week. There were a few other contenders for the title, including Dirty Harry Collection on DVD or Blu-ray. However, I found it impossible to decide which format was the better deal. Had the Blu-ray provided anything more than High Definition, or been a more reasonable price compared to the DVD, it would have been an easier choice. One of them is the DVD Pick of the Week, I just don't know which one. On a side note, there is an immense flood of Blu-ray releases, including a few I thought were coming out previously.
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May 20th, 2008
This week's list is dominated by Blu-ray releases. This is not surprising as this is the first week Paramount has released Blu-ray discs after dropping the format last August for an exclusive HD DVD commitment. However, it is another Blu-ray release that caught my eye: the National Treasure Blu-ray Two-Pack. This is the best format has to offer this week, but it is not the best movie coming out. If you want the DVD Pick of the Week, you have to grab Night of the Living Dead Buy from Amazon.
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April 14th, 2008
Only three new releases charted this week, but this includes the two top-selling DVDs. Leading the way was Alvin and the Chipmunks with an impressive 3.15 million units for opening week sales of $51.96 million. The movie is already in the top five for 2008.
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April 7th, 2008
New releases didn't have a major impact on the DVD sales chart this week and that helped I Am Legend remain in top spot with 803,000 units sold for revenue of $15.32 million for the week. Its total sales have reached $81.71 million from 4.36 million units making it the best-selling DVD of the year so far.
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April 7th, 2008
There were only two new releases to chart this week while I Am Legend repeated on top with $9.08 million in rentals for the week and $20.08 million in total.
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March 31st, 2008
New releases had an impressive one-two punch on the DVD sales chart with I Am Legend leading the way over second place Enchanted by 3.56 million to 2.82 million in terms of units and $66.39 million to $44.69 million in terms of dollars. They are not only the top two for the week, they are the top two openings of 2008 so far, and catapult both movies into the top four for the year to date.
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March 31st, 2008
Half a dozen new releases charted this week, including I Am Legend, which generated $10.99 million in rentals.
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March 23rd, 2008
There were eight new releases to chart this week, including seven of the top eight spots. Needless to say, we had a new sales champion with Bee Movie leading the way with 1.41 million units sold for total revenue of $23.09 million. That isn't the best start of the year, but it is close. In fact, the film is already the ninth best-selling DVD of 2008
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March 23rd, 2008
New releases took the top four spots on the rental chart this week including No Country for Old Men, which earned first place with $10.20 million during its opening week.
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March 18th, 2008
The movie business is cyclical with peaks (summer season and the winter holidays), as well as lulls (September and January). This translates into the peaks and lulls in the home market as well, just three to four months later. We are finally coming out of the latest home market quiet period and the biggest hit of the Christmas Holidays is hitting the home market. However it is not the DVD Pick of the Week. That honor goes to Enchanted, which is worth picking up on DVD but is a must-have on Blu-ray.
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March 11th, 2008
A rather slow week for new releases, which is good because three DVDs arrived late last week and I was able to get caught up on spotlight reviews. (Actually, I'm not completely caught up as at least one failed to show up in time for this week.) As for the DVD Pick of the Week, the obvious choice would seem to be No Country for Old Men, but the lackluster DVD just screams double-dip and in the end I went with Stargate - Ark of Truth - Buy from Amazon instead.
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February 4th, 2008
The Italian movie, Scusa Ma Ti Chiamo Amore, opened in first place in Italy with $7.55 million on 491 screens, which was more than double its nearest competition.
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January 27th, 2008
National Treasure: The Book of Secrets fell from second to sixth, but it was relatively close with $8.37 million on 3883 screens in 36 markets for a total of $143.30 million. Even if the film had no more markets left to open in, it would reach $150 million and beyond. However, it has yet to open in Germany, the U.K., and France and should top its domestic total before it is done.
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January 20th, 2008
Enchanted fell out of the top five but still had a very impressive weekend box office adding $8.12 million on 4348 screens in 43 markets for a total of $151.50 million. This includes a fifth place opening in South Korea where the film earned $1.08 million on 322 screens over the weekend and $1.34 million in total. Meanwhile it also earned fifth place in the U.K. with $1.59 million on 472 screens over the weekend for a total of $29.46 million after a month of release. Its chances at $200 million internationally depend heavily on its run in Japan staring mid-March, but $300 million worldwide is all but assured now.
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January 15th, 2008
The final three guilds handed out their nominations over the past week and while most deal with television, there are a handful of theatrical nominations for each of the Directors Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America, and the Writers Guild of America.
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January 13th, 2008
Bee Movie slipped to sixth place this weekend with $14.34 million on 4820 screens in 49 markets for a total of $131.97 million. This includes a first place opening in South Korea where it earned $1.96 million on 334 screens over the weekend and $2.30 million in total, but this is not a particularly strong start.
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January 4th, 2008
I Am Legend maintained first place with $43.94 million on 3176 screens in 24 markets for a total of $117.91 million during its run. Its best opening this week came in the U.K. where it pulled in $13.01 million on 440 screens over the weekend and $21.84 million since Boxing Day. At this pace, even if the film had no markets left to open in, it would be able to reach $200 million internationally. And with debuts in Germany, Italy, Australia, and other major markets left to go, it should hit $300 million internationally and more than $500 million worldwide.
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December 19th, 2007
With two weeks to go, the international box office set a record bringing in $8.6 billion in total ticket sales. Additionally, all six major studios crossed the $1 billion mark during the same year, which is a first. On the other hand, the celebration is tempered by the fact that the American dollar hit record lows against the Euro this year, and was at decade old lows against the Pound, and other international currencies, which helped to artificially inflate the box office numbers.
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December 13th, 2007
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their Golden Globe nominations this week, but there were no truly dominate films out of the 14 theatrical categories.
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December 12th, 2007
Like it did domestically, His Dark Material: The Golden Compass debuted in first place on the international charts. However, unlike its performance domestically, its international haul was a hefty $44.31 million on 5263 screens in 27 markets for a total of $50.96 million including midweek numbers. In the U.K. the film opened first with $11.63 million on 507 screens over the weekend and $14.79 million in total, but that is significantly lower than Sunday's estimates. In France the film also took first place with $6.00 million on 776 screens, and in Spain with $5.17 million on 505 screens over the weekend and $8.07 million in total. The number one debuts continued in Germany at $4.80 million on 836 screens and in Russia with $3.68 million on 521. The Golden Compass's release schedule is certainly front loaded, but it still has openings in Italy next week, South Korea the week after, and Australia on Boxing Day, as well as Japan in March, and should earn between $200 million and $300 million internationally. Depending on how well it does on the home market in these markets, it could show a profit, but becoming a franchise is unlikely at this point.
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December 9th, 2007
Bee Movie returned to the charts in sixth place with $6.71 million on 1288 screens in 11 markets for an early international total of $19.43 million after a month of release. This includes a pair of first place debuts in Spain and Mexico. In the former it earned $2.81 million on 421 screens while in the latter is earned $2.60 million on 389 screens. While Spain is the larger marker, I thought the family friendly nature of Mexico would give it the edge. Even so, there are great openings for the film.
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November 29th, 2007
The weekend after Thanksgiving is the only slow weekend during the entire Holiday Season.
So it comes as no surprise that only one movie is opening wide, but it is a bit surprising that the weekend is a weak as it is.
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November 27th, 2007
Thanksgiving provided plenty of reasons for studios to give thanks, especially since every single film managed to earn enough to be called a hit in one form or other.
Even the weakest releases of the week did well compared to their modest costs.
Overall, the box office brought in $162 million over three days, which is 55% more than last weekend.
More importantly, it is virtually identical to the same weekend last year.
Over five days, movies earned an estimated $229 million, which is up just shy of 2% from last year.
This is great news after a Fall that most would like to forget, but the growth is still lower than ticket price inflation, meaning actual attendance was down.
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November 25th, 2007
Elizabeth: The Golden Age nearly reached the top five with $5.79 million on 1579 screens in 12 markets for a total of $21.80 million. This includes a first place, $1.89 million opening on 470 screens in Russia, while the film added $933,000 on 394 screens in the U.K. for a total of $8.40 million so far.
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November 21st, 2007
The five-day Thanksgiving long weekend officially starts tonight, as does the lucrative holiday weekend. From now until the New Year, there we should see hit after hit released, as well as a number of Oscar contenders.
With the box office slowing down, this couldn't come at a better time.
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November 20th, 2007
It was another tough week at the box office. No film missed Thursday's prediction by a significant margin, but there was an overall weakness. This pushed the box office to $104 million, down 8% from last weekend. More importantly it was down 28% from the same weekend last year. It is getting close to the time to panic. Granted, this year is safe but there's little evidence that this slowdown at the box office, which has lasted almost the entire fall, is going to end now that the Holidays have started. The only good news is that last Thanksgiving was a terrible weekend for new releases.
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November 18th, 2007
Stardust fell out of the top five, but still added $5.80 million on 2327 screens in 48 markets lifting its running tally to $83.50 million. Its best market remained the U.K. where it climbed a spot to second place with $2.66 million on 459 screens for a total of $23.59 million. The film has no major openings left, but $100 million internationally is still within reach.
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November 15th, 2007
It's looking like 2007 is going to end on a really soft note. Since mid-September, only one weekend has been above the same weekend last year, and there's almost no chance that things will turn around this weekend. This time last year, we had two $40 million openers. This weekend, we might not have a single film top $30 million.
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November 12th, 2007
There was little to cheer over the weekend, as all four of the new releases missed expectations, some by substantial margins.
This left the overall box office struggling with $113 million over the weekend, down 16% from last weekend and 11% from the same weekend last year.
This means the streak of year-to-year growth ends at one.
On the other hand, had the four wide releases mere met expectations, the overall box office would have been within a rounding error of last year.
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November 11th, 2007
Surf's Up grew by 77% in France adding $3.44 million on 628 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.36 million in total. This growth was due to the Toussaint holiday while it was enough to lift the film's weekend box office to $5.84 million on 1996 screens in 32 markets for a total of $72.34 million. The film has yet to open in Scandinavia as well as Japan and should hit $100 million internationally before it is done, which is significantly more than the $58.87 million it earned domestically, but not enough to show a profit just yet.
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November 8th, 2007
With the streak of year-to-year declines finally over, the winter holiday season is looking to start earning back some of the loses from October. The good news is, this weekend there are three films that should top $20 million at the box office compared to just one that did last year. Bad news, that one film was Borat, which earned more than $28 million and there's a chance no film will replicate that performance this time around.
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November 7th, 2007
The winners of our
To Your Health! contest were determined and they are...
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November 5th, 2007
November got the box office back on track as a record-breaking opening for Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe, (and for that matter, Jerry Seinfeld), helped the overall box office earn $134 million over the weekend. That's 33% higher than the last weekend, but more importantly, it was 4% more than the same weekend last year. That growth doesn't even keep up with the growth in ticket prices, (although it is extremely close), however, it does stop the six-week slid we've been experiencing and hopefully this will mean bigger business over the holidays.
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November 3rd, 2007
Just like at the box office, we have two movie sites in a close battle it out for first place. But in this case it is Bee Movie - Official Site that takes the top prize while the movie will likely have to settle for second place at the box office.
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November 1st, 2007
Thankfully October is done, but it did a lot of damage in four weeks.
However, the damage has been done and the fall box office is down just under 1% from last year while ticket sales are down more than 5%.
However, this weekend we have two potential $100 million movies and both should be significantly stronger than last year's surprise champ, Borat.
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November 1st, 2007
After a horrible October, we finally get to November and the start of the holiday season.
Just like the summer season doesn't officially begin until Memorial Day, the winter holiday season doesn't officially begin until the Thanksgiving long weekend.
However, studios are trying to stretch the lucrative box office season as long as possible and the holiday-like releases start during the first weekend of the month.
This means practically every weekend this month, there's at least one potential $100 million movie. There are also a few that might be Oscar contenders, although not as many as I had expected.
In fact, so far Award Season has been particularly slow, but at least this means there should be more buzz surrounding the upcoming films as the race is wide open.
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October 26th, 2007
It's the first box office prediction contest for November and there's a bit of a toss up for the number one film. While American Gangster has a shot at first place, Bee Movie is this week's target film.
To win one must simply predict the box office opening for Bee Movie.
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 the Sicko on DVD, (which doesn't hit stores till November 6th).
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 The Other Conquest on DVD.
In addition, both above winners and one additional one chosen arbitrarily will also win a poster from Music Within signed by five members of the main cast and the director.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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October 18th, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Miracle at St. Ana's, Star Trek XI, Wolverine, and more!
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October 6th, 2007
We are starting to get full websites for some of the massive holiday season releases, which should mean there will be at least one award worthy website on each week's list. As for this week, there were a few that have potential assuming the sections marked coming soon live up to the rest of the site. But just one site, The Seeker: The Dark is Rising - Official Site, that was worthy of the Weekly Website Award.
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September 29th, 2007
Another slow week, but at least we have a clear contender for the Weekly Website Award. That site is The Kingdom - Official Site, which combines all the usual features with a good mix of extras as well as enough sound and animation to keep surfers interested.
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September 22nd, 2007
Not a long list this week, but at least we had a clear winner for the Weekly Website Award, Resident Evil: Extinction - Official Site. IN the coming weeks we should see some big sites launch as award season starts to heat up.
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September 20th, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Superhero!, The Women, and more!
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September 16th, 2007
A stronger week for website than we've seen in a few weeks, including the launch of a potential fall blockbuster. However, that site is mostly marked coming soon allowing Elizabeth - The Golden Age - Official Site to take the Weekly Website Award this week.
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July 21st, 2007
Big list in terms of numbers, not so much in terms of quality. In fact, the best film in terms of updates this week was The Simpsons Movie - Official Site, which has already won the Weekly Website Award. Because of that, there are no new winners this week.
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May 26th, 2007
Another slow week. If this keeps up I'm going to have to rethink my methodology. Not only were there not as many sites as I would like, there were none that really stood out as award-worthy. The best was Stardust - Official Site, but here I will wait for more of the content to be added before I make a final decision.
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February 17th, 2007
While the big summer blockbusters are sill M.I.A., there are plenty of other films to pick up the slack. This includes this week's winner,
Bridge to Terabithia -
Official Site.
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November 3rd, 2006
Slow week for websites with only one real contender for the weekly website award, (not counting those sites that have already won). Fortunately, that site,
Flushed Away -
Official Site, truly deserved to win.
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