January 20th, 2007
There were plenty of
new releases this week, but all but two missed the top 10. However, those two DVDs finished one-two on the charts.
Crank topped
The Illusionist $6.09 million to $5.59 million.
More...
January 13th, 2007
A slow week for
new releases helped
Little Miss Sunshine climb from third to first on the rental charts. Over the week the film earned $5.46 million for a three-week total of $20.95 million.
More...
January 3rd, 2007
Wow. This is a terrible week for DVD releases. There are only a handful worth mentioning, and none that are must haves. Snakes on a Plane - Buy from Amazon is the best of the short list, but even here there's legitimate reasons not to buy. Interestingly, there are a ton of re-releases coming out tomorrow. So many that there are drowning out the real releases.
More...
December 17th, 2006
Open Season solidified its chances to reach $100 million with a first place debut in Italy. Over the weekend the film just managed to beat
Happy Feet $1.68 million to $1.66 million over the weekend, (with midweek numbers
Open Season earned $1.82 million on 430 screens). The film was not as successful in Japan with just $968,000 on 441 screens; with such a small per theatre average, it will likely disappear quickly from charts. Overall it earned $4.97 million on 3451 screens in 51 markets for a total of $87.16 million; and even with no major markets left to open in, it does have a great shot at $100 million before its run is over.
More...
September 19th, 2006
Not a single film in the top five beat expectations by any significant margin.
Even so, with the terrible result last weekend the overall box office was still able to rebound a little, up 7.7% to $78 million.
However, that was still 9.0% lower than the same weekend last year.
So far the fall season has not kept up the winning ways we saw throughout the summer, but 2006 still has a bit of time to turn things around before we need to worry again.
More...
September 14th, 2006
With the football season just under way, it seems the NFL is the biggest hurdle for new movies to overcome.
This is especially true for the odds-on favorite, Gridiron Gang, but all the films playing this weekend will have to deal with divided attentions.
More...
September 12th, 2006
The second weekend in September is quite often the slowest weekend of the year, and that appears to be the case here. Overall the total box office was a mere $71 million.
To put that into perspective, if that was earned by just one film this weekend, it would only place fourth on the list of 2006's biggest openings.
Needless to say, the overall box office was down this weekend, by a massive 31.3% from the last weekend.
Compared to the same weekend last year the decline was smaller at 18.2%, but that was a more devastating result in the overall scheme of things.
More...
September 8th, 2006
After a very busy month, the number of site on this week's list dropped off dramatically. The decline in quantity was accompanied by a decline in quality with no site jumping out as the obvious choice for the Weekly Website Award.
The Guardian -
Official Site came the closest, but it will have to wait till more features are added for that honor.
More...
September 7th, 2006
This week we have a trio of new releases opening wide, but only one of them managed a theater count above 2,000.
I suppose the studios for the other two films are hoping to earn high per theater averages and expand in the coming weeks based on strong word-of-mouth.
But that almost never works.
More...
September 4th, 2006
With school starting for millions of kids tomorrow have prizes based on that theme. The movie you need to predict the opening weekend box office for is
The Covenant, which is the only true wide release of the week. Both the person who comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday),
without going over and
without going under, will win the same prize pack. For the kids we have Two Gerald McBoing Boing DVDs,
Adventures and
Fairytales while for the college crowd we have
Dorm Daze 2. Finally, a third winner will be chosen at random from the pool of eligible entries and that person will win a T-shirt and Hat from
This Film is Not Yet Rated. This is for the high school student who wants a day off as it says, "Censorship get..." and you can guess the rest. It is edited, but wearing it to class will still probably get you sent home. And when you do, don't mention my name. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
More...
September 1st, 2006
I've said it before and I'll say it again, September is the worst month of the year for movies.
Not only are there usually very few hits released at this time of year, but the average is dragged way down by the large number of movies simply dumped on the market.
This year the September dumping ground doesn't look quite as bad as years past.
In fact, several low-level hits and maybe even an Oscar contender are opening wide.
However, those few bright spots will be buried due to the sheer number of releases -- an average of 3 and a half films are opening wide each week.
More...
August 11th, 2006
The torrid pace of website updates continues with more than 30 films on this week's list. There were a few sites that really caught my eye, but it was
Trust the Man -
Official Site and its interactive map of New York City and its more than 2 dozen clips that won the Weekly Website Award.
More...
August 4th, 2006
Third week in a row where the number of sites featured on this list has topped 30. With such a busy week it would take something different to win the award, and that's something
Michel Gondry excels at delivering giving
The Science of Sleep -
Official Site the Weekly Website Award.
More...
July 21st, 2006
Another busy week, but unlike last week there was no massive blockbuster launching its flash site. Two sites stood out this week, (not counting past winners), and they are wildly different both in terms of style and in terms of the movie they are selling:
Accepted -
Official Site and
World Trade Center -
Official Site. The former is goofy and seriously immature, while the latter is one of the most emotional sites I've ever seen. In was nearly a coin flip, but in the end I went with
Accepted -
Official Site, but I would be willing to bet the other site will win before the movie comes out.
More...