December 9th, 2009
New releases were not that plentiful on the sales chart this week, but they did dominate the top of the chart, scoring first place and three of the top four.
The new number one was Star Trek, which sold 3.58 million DVD units and generated $53.00 million in consumer spending at retail.
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December 9th, 2009
Star Trek led all new releases and holdovers to dominate the rental chart this week.
It took top spot with two-and-a-half times the rentals of last week's winner and this week's second place film, The Ugly Truth.
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November 16th, 2009
There's an excellent mix of new releases this week, including Star Trek on DVD and Blu-ray.
There are a few TV on DVD releases, including Andy Barker, P.I. - The Complete Series, as well as several Blu-ray releases of note: Galaxy Quest, Gone With the Wind - The Ultimate Collector's Edition, and The Professional.
All of these are contenders for the DVD Pick of the Week, but if I were to narrow them down to one selection, it would be Star Trek on Blu-ray.
There are plenty of spotlight reviews this week, enough to split the column into two parts, with the second part found here.
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November 14th, 2009
Bruno is Sacha Baron Cohen's follow-up to Borat, which is a movie that holds a special place in my heart... right next to the New York Rangers.
I'm kidding.
Borat is a very funny movie and one that I recommend picking up on DVD.
However, it remains the single biggest blunder in my career as a box office analyst and that still stings three years later.
With Borat being such a surprise success, people were expecting big things from Bruno, both at the box office, and with critics, but can it live up to heightened expectations?
Or was the secret of Borat's success the fact that no one knew what to expect?
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August 8th, 2009
Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs became the all-time highest grossing animated film on the international scene during the past week. Over the weekend it earned $24.66 million on 8844 screens in 68 markets for a total of $551.39 million internationally, which tops the $526.88 million earned by Finding Nemo. On the other hand, that film made $866.59 million worldwide compared to this film's running tally of $733.45 million. Ice Age isn't done yet, and should reach a couple milestones before it is done. but the record is likely safe.
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August 1st, 2009
It took Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs just a month to reach $500 million internationally becoming just the seventeenth film to reach that milestone. Over the weekend it added $40.37 million on 10,518 screens in 102 markets for a total of $505.18 million internationally and $676.68 million worldwide. The week the film opened in Japan, but it went nowhere in that market finishing in 10th place with $428,000 on 233 screens. The film opens in South Korea in a couple of weeks and in Italy at the end of the month, and when it does it should be at $600 million internationally and $800 million worldwide.
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July 26th, 2009
Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs was pushed into second place by The Half-Blood Prince, but it became the biggest international hit of the year topping Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen. Over the weekend the film added $61.90 million on 11,089 screens in 102 markets for a total of $430.88 million internationally and $582.75 million Worldwide. It is possible that the film is already the biggest his in the franchise, but we won't know for sure till this weekend's numbers are released.
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July 21st, 2009
The year-to-year box office comparison has been hit hard over the weekend due to the competition from The Dark Knight, which opened this weekend last year. That film alone made $158.41 million over three days.
This year, the total box office was $160 million, or 38% lower than last year.
It was 12% more than last weekend, and 2009 is still ahead of 2008 by a 10% margin, $5.98 billion to $5.44 billion.
But there's no chance things will rebound this coming week.
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July 19th, 2009
Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen became the biggest hit of the year on the international scene, at least for a little while. Over the weekend it added $34.27 million on 8210 screens in 62 markets for a total of $371.24 million internationally and $710.46 million worldwide. It has overtaken Angels and Demons for the biggest international hit of 2009, for the time being, while it is just ahead of the original's worldwide total.
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July 19th, 2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has posted a $79.5 million opening weekend, according to Warner Bros.' estimate released on Sunday.
The movie's daily box office was an estimated $26.8 million on Friday, $29.2 million on Saturday and $23.4 million on Sunday -- and represents a remarkable level of consistency over the first five days in release, after a huge performance at midnight screenings on Wednesday.
The five-day total of $159.7 million is a new record for the franchise at this stage of a run (see comparison chart for Harry Poter Movies), although it does leave the movies somewhat behind the blistering early pace of The Dark Knight and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
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July 15th, 2009
2009 has hit a bit of a rough patch when compared to 2008, and it is unlikely to get better this weekend. That is not to say there are no prime releases — far from it. However, this time last year saw the release of The Dark Knight, and there are very few who think any movie this year will be able to compete with that film. That said, the number who think we could have a huge weekend is growing.
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July 15th, 2009
The winners of our A Night With Bruno contest were determined and they are...
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July 14th, 2009
There was a mix of old and new on the top of the Per Theater Chart this week with Humpday opening in first place with an average of $14,369. The Beaches of Agnes was in second place with $13,584 in one theater during its second weekend of release. The overall box office leader, Brüno, was in third place with $11,110. Meanwhile, last week's per theater champ, The Hurt Locker, just managed to remain in the $10,000 club with $10,686, but it also expanded significantly, which makes this achievement even more impressive.
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July 14th, 2009
The weekend at the box office was rather boring, at least as far as box office numbers go. We had no records broken, no blockbuster releases, and no films that shocked analysts, either on the high end or the low end. Total ticket sales were at $143 million, which is 12% lower than last weekend and 5.5% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-day, 2009 is still ahead of 2008 by 11.2%, $5.68 billion to $5.11 billion.
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July 12th, 2009
July 12th, 2009
Sacha Baron Cohen showed he is no one-hit-wonder over the weekend as Bruno topped the box office chart with an impressive $30.4 million, according to Universal's estimate, released on Sunday morning.
That's marginally better in total dollars than Borat's $26.5 million debut, although the 2006 release played in only 837 theaters against 2,756 this time around.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs dropped an impressive 31% to an estimated $28.5 million, helped in part by a comparison that includes the July 4 holiday last weekend, which dragged sales down across the board.
Fox, however, will be encouraged by the performance, and the family pic continues to do incredibly well internationally.
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July 12th, 2009
There is nothing on this week's list of movie sites that stands out as award worthy. There's nothing on this week's list of movie sites that stands out as above average. On the plus side, it's making my decision to end this column much easier.
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July 10th, 2009
There's a bit of a lull in blockbusters this week with no saturation level releases coming out, but that's not to say there isn't a potential $100 million movie. Compared to last year, the selection of new releases are not as strong, but overall 2009 might keep pace with 2008.
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July 8th, 2009
July 3rd, 2009
I Love You, Beth Cooper opens in less than 2,000 theaters next weekend, so it is not truly wide.
This leaves Bruno as the only obvious choice for target film for this week's box office prediction contest.
In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of Bruno.
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 Elsewhere on Blu-ray and The Pink Panther 2 on DVD.
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 Pink Panther 2 on DVD and Night Train 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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July 1st, 2009
June gave us some unexpected hits in The Proposal and The Hangover, as well as expected hits like Up, not to mention the biggest hit of the year, so far, in Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen. However, despite this, 2009 lost a bit of ground to 2008, and this will likely continue this month, as this month last year saw the release of The Dark Knight.
This year we have a couple of potential $300 million hits, but nothing likely to perform on that scale.
Then again, I only predicted Dark Knight would make $250 million, so we could be surprised again this year.
The box office is certainly hot, and is currently running more than 12% ahead of last year's pace.
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June 22nd, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Accidental Husband, Bruno, The Box and more!
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September 11th, 2007
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
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September 6th, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Valkyrie, the Love Guru, and more!
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