April 10th, 2013
As expected, Skyfall dominated the list of new releases and easily earned first place on the February 17th, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart. It sold an outstanding 1.62 million units and generated $32.33 million in sales while its opening Blu-ray share was just shy of 60%. That's a fantastic start.
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April 2nd, 2013
Peter Pan led a group of six new releases earning first place on the Blu-ray sales chart for the week of February 10th, 2013, with 515,000 units / $14.40 million, which is a strong opening for a catalog release.
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April 2nd, 2013
There were five new releases to reach the top six on the February 10th edition of the DVD sales chart. This includes Flight with 585,000 units / $8.76 million during its first week of release.
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March 20th, 2013
New releases took four of the top five spots on the Blu-ray sales chart for the week of February 3rd, 2013. Hotel Transylvania led the way with 633,000 units / $14.54 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 37%, which is very healthy for a kids movie.
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February 21st, 2013
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we will look at the two writing categories, finishing with Best Original Screenplay. There are actually three films that could win that and it wouldn't be a total shock if they did. That said, there is still a favorite to contend with.
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February 21st, 2013
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. This week we will look at the four acting categories, continuing with Best Lead Actor. This category is not truly competitive, but I'm supporting an underdog.
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February 21st, 2013
Thanks to the Chinese New Year, Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons rocketed into first place with $94.26 million in 5 markets over the weekend for a total run of $113.09 million. The film broke a number of records in its native China, including biggest opening day for a Chinese film ($12.3 million) and biggest single day of all time ($19.6 million) and fastest to $100 million in China (8 days). At this point, someone in North America should be interested in grabbing the film for a domestic release.
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February 6th, 2013
Django Unchained won the international race with $30.28 million on 5,990 screens in 65 markets for a running total of $158.36 million. Worldwide, its total has reached $309.31 million. It is just a week away from overtaking Inglourious Basterds as Quentin Tarantino's biggest hit of his career. The film had no major market openings, which makes its hold more impressive. Its best market was Germany, where it made $6.61 million on 708 screens over the weekend for a total of $30.78 million after three.
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February 4th, 2013
It's not a bad week as far as first run releases go with three of them appearing high on the chart. This includes Flight, which has earned some major nominations during Awards Season. However, it is a shallow week, as there are also Direct-to-DVD kids releases and even a workout DVD in the top ten, according to Amazon.com. Leading the way is Peter Pan on Blu-ray Combo Pack or Blu-ray Combo Pack with Storybook App. This is not only the best-selling Blu-ray of the week, but it is also the best and is the Pick of the Week.
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January 10th, 2013
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and there's certainly a lot to talk about. There are some nominations that should surprise no one. For instance, Lincoln led the way with twelve nominations, and it has been seen as the major contender for a long time. However, there were also a few surprise nominations and some major snubs. Here are the list of nominations, and some reactions.
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January 7th, 2013
Surprises seems to be the word of the day, as the WGA nominations included a number of them. Granted, Zero Dark Thirty and a lot of the other films that have earned Awards Season success thus far were here, but there were almost as many surprises as there were obvious choices.
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December 13th, 2012
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations and the same list of films that have been mentioned since the beginning of Awards Season were rewarded today. Lincoln led the way with seven nods, while Argo and Django Unchained were close behind with five.
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December 12th, 2012
SAG nominations were announced and there were only a few surprises to deal with. Leading the way for total nominations was The Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, and Les Miserables, all of which earned nominations in four of the six categories.
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November 26th, 2012
The Thanksgiving long weekend was stronger than anticipated with nearly every film topping predictions, some by pretty big margins. In fact, some earned more over three days than they were expected to earn over five days. Despite this, the box office was actually down 17% from last weekend to $208 million over the three-day portion of the weekend. This was 26% higher than the three-day portion of last year's Thanksgiving long weekend. Over five days, the box office pulled in $291 million, which is the most ever for a Thanksgiving weekend and 25% higher than last year. Year-to-date, 2012 has pulled in $9.75 billion, which is 5.5% higher than last year's running tally of $9.24 billion. If 2012 can simply match 2011 the rest of the way, then we will set a new all-time yearly box office total with about $10.7 billion.
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November 19th, 2012
While The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 wasn't quite as strong as predicted, it still had a monster opening. Likewise, the two big holdovers both fell a little further than anticipated. The only film in the top five that really beat expectations was Lincoln. Fortunately, all of the films in the top five came close enough to matching the predictions that the overall box office was still very strong. Compared to last week, the box office grew by 44% to just under $250 million. Compared to last year, the box office grew 12%, which is a much more important number. Year-to-date, 2012 has pulled in $9.41 billion and is now 4.8% above last year's pace. It is still technically possible that 2012 will fail to match last year at the box office, but it is ferociously unlikely.
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November 15th, 2012
As The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 prepares to re-write the record book, it would be easy to overlook the rest of the top five. However, there are a few other films of note. Firstly, Lincoln, which is expanding this weekend and will nearly be at the truly wide level. Nearly everyone thinks this film will grab a spot in the top five. Also, despite a lot of people predicting Breaking Dawn will break records, a lot of people think Skyfall will hold up pretty well over the weekend. By comparison, last year, Breaking Dawn, Part 1 had an impressive opening, but it was the only thing about the weekend that was impressive, as Happy Feet 2 crashed and burned. There's a slim chance Breaking Dawn, Part 2 will open with more than the combined openings of those two films. Adding in Skyfall and 2012 should come out with a major win this week.
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November 13th, 2012
Most people were expecting Skyfall to be a monster hit, but the film actually beat great expectations. Its opening helped the box office grow by 25% from last week to $173 million, which was 26% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2012 reached the $9 billion mark and not sits at $9.10 billion. By comparison, at this point in 2011, the total box office was $8.72 billion giving 2012 a 4.4% lead over last year.
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November 8th, 2012
There's only one wide release this weekend, but Skyfall could become one of the biggest hits of the holiday season. Nearly all analysts assume it will be the fastest opening Bond film of all time. It might make more that last year's top three films made combined. Wreck-It-Ralph should still be strong at the box office, while Flight should hold on better than most other films do. Overall it should be a very good week at the box office.
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November 7th, 2012
Flight earned top spot on the Per Theater Chart with an average of $13,217, just ahead of the overall box office leader, Wreck-It-Ralph, which earned an average of $13,070.
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November 5th, 2012
Wreck-It-Ralph's opening was on the very high end of expectations, which was a pleasant surprise over the weekend. Also, Flight beat all but the most bullish predictions. Even The Man with the Iron Fists did a little better than expected. Overall, the box office soared 49% from last weekend to $138 million. It was also higher compared to this weekend last year by a very impressive 21%. November certainly got off to a great start. Year-to-date, 2012 is ahead of 2011's pace by just under 4.0% at $8.89 billion to $8.55 billion. After a couple weak months, the box office has shown great strength and it would take a disastrous collapse for 2012 to not come out ahead.
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November 4th, 2012
Wreck-It Ralph is breathing new life into the box office this weekend, after a few slow weeks, and with some help from an impressive opening for Flight this weekend will be a healthy 20% or so ahead of last year. Disney is projecting that Ralph will open with $49.1 million, which is a very creditable performance, if well behind the openings of The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc., both of which were released on the equivalent weekend in years gone by. The Pixar brand still counts for a lot, evidently. Flight's $25.01 million projection is well ahead of expectations (take a bow Denzel Washington and Robert Zemeckis), and has strong enough reviews to have good chances of legs into the Holiday Season.
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November 2nd, 2012
There's only one truly wide release this week, Wreck-It-Ralph, but it is opening in more than 3,700 theaters and with reviews that match its pre-release buzz. There are also two films opening in a little under 2,000 theaters, Flight and The Man with the Iron Fists, but both are earning good reviews and could have some impact at the box office by earning places in the top five. Last year the box office was led by Puss in Boots with $33.05 million during its sophomore stint. I think Wreck-It-Ralph will easily top that. The new releases were Tower Heist and A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas, which combined pulled in $36.98 million. I really doubt Flight and Iron Fists will do the same. So unless Wreck-It-Ralph has close to a $50 million opening, November will start off on a losing note in the year-over-year comparison.
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November 1st, 2012
October was pretty good with a few films really crushing expectations, which made up for the few duds that opened at the end. 2012 gained about $100 million over 2011 during the month of October. We really needed this success and hopefully November will continue this push forward. However, November is a bit of a weird month. There are five weekends, but only eight true wide releases, half of which open on the Thanksgiving long weekend, leaving the other four weeks with just one true wide release each. There are a couple others opening in the semi-wide level and another opening in limited release with a planned wide release, but even so, it is not a busy month. That said, it is a case of quality over quantity. There are four films that are pretty much guaranteed to reach $100 million, one of which should reach $300 million. By comparison, last November only produced one $100 million film. Granted, that film was The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, which made nearly $300 million, which is a huge number no matter how you look at it. But this year, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 should top that number and with the other $100 million movies pulling in more than $400 million combined, it should be a very profitable month at the box office.
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October 26th, 2012
Wreck-It-Ralph is the only film opening truly wide next week and it might open in more theaters than the combined theater counts of Flight and The Man with the Iron Fists. So it is obviously the film in this week's Box Office Prediction Contest, right? Not so fast. This week we don't have a Box Office Prediction Contest. We have a Presidential Election Prediction Contest. In order to win, one must predict the Electoral College results for the 2012 Presidential Election as reported by CNN on their official site at noon, Pacific Time, on Wednesday, November 7th. As a tie-breaker, we will be using the percentage of the vote earned by the two main candidates, again as reported by CNN on their official site at noon on Wednesday November 7th. While you are researching your predictions, it is very important to keep in mind that the chances all 50 states and D.C. will be called by noon on Wednesday is roughly 0%. To emphasize, last time around, it took three weeks for Missouri to be called. This time around one of two things are guaranteed to happen. Either one candidate will win with a surprisingly strong margin, in which case the news networks will not be in a rush to call a state that is close. Or the candidates will be so close that at least one close state could tip the balance, in which case no network will want to get the call wrong and have another Florida 2000 on our hands. So read your favorite political sites, head over to 270towin.com, or another similar site, to play with the map to figure out how many Electoral College votes Obama and Romney will have, as well as the number of states that will remain undecided by the next day. And don't forget the popular vote tie-breaker.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the actual results, without going over Obama's total, will win a copies of The American President on Blu-ray and Dave on Blu-ray.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the actual results, without going over Romney's total, will win a copies of The American President on Blu-ray and Dave on Blu-ray.
Update
We've had a question regarding exactly what you need to send in for the contest. Here's a good sample entry based on 2008's election results:
Barack Obama Electoral Votes = 350
TIEBREAKER: Popular Vote = 53.7%
John McCain Electoral Votes = 162
TIEBREAKER: Popular Vote = 46.7%
The Electoral Votes do not add up to 538, because two states were uncalled by noon on Wednesday. If you've already sent in your prediction and it doesn't follow this format, send it in again and we will use your original date in case we need to go to the double tie-breaker. (First entry wins.)
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Monday November 5th to be eligible, so don't delay!
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