October 23rd, 2013
It was a mixed week for new releases. There was one major release, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but not much else. Fortunately, it and the "not much else" all did very well on Blu-ray helping the overall Blu-ray market grow when compared to last week and last year. Compared to last week, there were 91% more units sold growing to 943,000 units, while the revenue rose 83% to $19.41 million. The growth compared to last year was just as strong up 85% in terms of units and 104% in terms of revenue. This growth combined with the sunken DVD sales week helped the overall Blu-ray share skyrocket to 39% in terms of units and 48% in terms of revenue.
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October 23rd, 2013
New releases were more prevalent on the August 4th, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart than they were on the DVD sales chart. G.I. Joe: Retaliation again led the way with 585,000 units / $11.67 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 52%. Granted, this is a near perfect film for Blu-ray (visually intensive action film aimed at a Fanboy audience) but this is still an impressive result.
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October 23rd, 2013
We had the biggest new release in nearly two months leading the way on the August 4th, 2013 edition of the DVD sales chart. G.I. Joe: Retaliation opened in first place with 544,000 units / $8.16 million, which is an okay start given its box office numbers / production budget. Fortunately, it was better on Blu-ray.
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July 29th, 2013
It's a good thing I didn't get Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Four on Blu-ray reviewed last week. I was tempted, because there were so few new releases worth considering for Pick of the Week; however, there are even fewer contenders for Pick of the Week this week. Both Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Four and Redemption are worth picking up, but the former is better value and it is the Pick of the Week. The only other real contender is Cloudburst on DVD, which is the winner of this week's Puck of the Week, for best new Canadian release. Samurai Pizza Cats: The Complete Series is also worth picking up, but I would wait till the price drops.
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May 2nd, 2013
Iron Man 3 debuted internationally a week ahead of its domestic debut and its was record-breaking. The film earned $198.4 million on 13,633 screens in 45 markets, which is technically more than The Avengers made during its opening weekend. Granted, The Avengers were playing in fewer markets and on fewer screens, while it also had previews that boosted its total opening to $218.2 million, but this is still nothing short of fantastic.
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April 25th, 2013
After getting pushed back into third place last weekend, G.I. Joe: Retaliation returned to first place this weekend with $40.0 million on 13,616 screens in 62 markets for totals of $211.7 million internationally and $322.9 million worldwide. Of its weekend haul, $33.14 million was earned in China. That's really close to what it earned during its domestic opening weekend. Granted, it did open on a Thursday and that likely diluted its weekend number, while the Chinese results are for the full week, but this is still an impressive result.
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April 22nd, 2013
The overall box office was in line with expectations, more or less, which is unfortunately bad news, as expectations were low. Oblivion easily won the weekend, but the overall box office still fell 5.7% from last weekend to $110 million. Worse still, this is 19% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2013 has pulled in $2.77 billion, which is 11% lower than 2012's pace. 2013 is already $350 million behind 2012 and even with Iron Man 3 looming large, I don't see how 2013 is going to turn things around any time soon.
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April 18th, 2013
It is no secret that 2013 has been a bad year at the box office so far. There's only one film debuting wide this week, Oblivion, which should benefit from the lack of competition this weekend. (Although we are already seeing plenty of hype for Iron Man 3, which could hurt this film's chance at the box office.) There are also several films opening in more than 100 theaters: Filly Brown, Home Run, and The Lords of Salem. There's a chance one of them will be a better than expected hit and reach the top ten; it's a slim chance, but a chance. Finally, The Place Beyond the Pines is expanding to an additional 1,000 theaters and should climb higher in the top ten. Last year, there were three wide releases led by Think Like a Man. That film was a bigger than expected hit, but hopefully Oblivion will have an even better start, but not everyone is positive it will.
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April 17th, 2013
Oblivion started its international run a week before its domestic debut and it did so earning first place in 48 of the 52 markets it opened in. Overall, the film finished first with $60.43 million on 7,637 screens in 52 markets. This is a good start, but not a great start. Fortunately, the studio was only expecting a good start, so they should be happy. Its biggest market was Russia, where it earned $9.30 million on 873 screens, while it also did well in the U.K. with $7.59 million on 520. Its performance in South Korea was not as strong at $3.60 million on 631 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $4.17 million. The film had similar openings in France ($3.82 million on 574 screens) and in Australia ($3.46 million on 353). Spain ($2.95 million on 373); Mexico ($2.79 million on 1,091); and Germany ($2.77 million on 600) produced nearly identical results. Finally, Brazil ($2.09 million on 479) and Italy ($2.04 million on 503) were virtually tied. The film finished in first place in all of these markets, and going by these results, it should open in first place here with $40 million, or at least relatively close to that figure.
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April 15th, 2013
42 earned an easy win at the box office, in part due to a better than expected performance, but also in part due to really weak competition. It did manage 16th place on the list of April openings and 20th best April weekend overall, which is worth celebrating. Scary Movie 5, on the other hand, struggled and only a low production budget will save it or the franchise. The overall box office was down 13% from last week to $117 million; however, that's 2% higher than the same weekend last year, so there's another reason to celebrate. Year-to-date, 2013 is still taking a beating and is off 2012's pace by 11% at $2.62 billion to $2.95 billion.
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April 14th, 2013
Sports movies can be a risky proposition financially. While they potentially have a built-in audience among fans of the sport in question, they can also turn off people who don't much care for the sport. It takes a really compelling story to reach out to non-fans, and it seems as though the story of Jackie Robinson is compelling enough to draw in a broad audience for 42, which will open atop the box office chart this weekend with a projected $27.25 million, according to Warner Bros.' Sunday morning estimate. A 25% uptick on Saturday suggests good word of mouth for the film so far. Less good word of mouth is being earned by Scary Movie 5, which is projected to end in second place with $15.15 million. That's well behind previous outings for the franchise, which have clustered around the $40 million mark.
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April 12th, 2013
It's a two-way race for top spot at the box office this weekend with both Scary Movie 5 and 42. Just last week it looked like Scary Movie 5 would win, but as 42's box office prospects have risen, its have fallen. It is not a sure thing that 42 will win and it should be a close race, but it does have a slight edge. This weekend last year was led by... The Hunger Games ... for the fourth week in a row. It's the last time I have to say that. There were two other new releases that made an impact at the box office: The Three Stooges and The Cabin in the Woods. I think the new releases this year will be better than last year, but The Hunger Games will be the tie-breaker.
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April 11th, 2013
Despite falling 50%, G.I. Joe: Retaliation remained in first place on the international chart with $40.2 million on 9,220 screens in 60 markets for a two-week total of $145.2 million. This is already more than it cost to make, but this decline is troubling. Its biggest market of the weekend was Russia, where it slipped to second place with $2.57 million on 1,267 screens over the weekend for a total of $13.25 million so far.
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April 8th, 2013
Evil Dead led the way at the box office matching predictions (nearly) perfectly. It fell just a little short of the predicted $26 million, and it was the only film in the top five to miss expectations. This helped the overall box office hold up better than expected. Granted, it did fall 8.7% from last weekend to $134 million, but that was 8.8% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2013 is still taking a beating down 11% at $2.47 billion to $2.79 million, but this win is still helpful. If 2013 can string together a few more wins, then the start of summer and The Avengers won't sting quite as bad.
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April 4th, 2013
There are no truly absolutely new releases this weekend. That's not to say there's nothing sort of new to check out. The Evil Dead remake is coming out and its buzz is growing louder than I was expecting. It could be a surprisingly strong release. Also, Jurassic Park 3D re-release is coming out, and while its buzz is much lower, it should still earn as much as it cost to convert into 3D during its opening weekend, or at least come close. This weekend last year, American Reunion debuted with disappointing numbers earning second place while Titanic's 3D re-release did relatively well placing third. I think the combined opening weekend of the two new releases this year will top those from last year. Unfortunately, last year The Hunger Games led the way and that will be enough to keep 2013 behind 2012 in the year-over-year comparison for yet another weekend.
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April 3rd, 2013
G.I. Joe: Retaliation opened in first place with $80.3 million in 54 markets, which is already more than its domestic pace, and it has yet to open in Japan and China. Clearly this film is going to do better internationally than it will domestically, which is a trend we have been seeing for a long time. The film's biggest opening came from Russia with $8.84 million on 1,267 screens. It was also the number one film in South Korea with $5.14 million on 761 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $5.98 million. Germany was close behind with $4.29 million on 461 screens for a total opening of $4.67 million. The film topped the chart in Mexico with $4.13 million on 1,503 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $5.94 million. It also earned first place in Australia ($4.04 million on 412 screens), in France ($3.42 million on 487), and in Brazil ($2.77 million on 492 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $3.08 million). On the other hand, it only managed second place in both the U.K. with $4.25 million on 419 screens and in Spain with $1.71 million on 515 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $2.51 million.
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April 2nd, 2013
The winners of our Better Late than Never contest were determined and they are...
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April 2nd, 2013
There was a huge selection of films in the $10,000 club, led by The Place Beyond the Pines, which earned an average of $69,864 in four theaters. This is the second-best per theater average for the year thus far, behind only Spring Breakers. Space Station rose back to the $10,000 club with $15,301 in two theaters. This film has amazing legs, even compared to other IMAX films, and pops into the $10,000 from time to time. Room 237 opened with an average of $14,847 in two theaters. This is a good start, but as a documentary its potential to expand is very limited. The overall box office leader, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, earned an average of $10,891 over the three-day portion of its opening weekend. Renoir was right behind with an average of $10,866 in six theaters. Temptation also managed to earn a spot in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,572.
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April 1st, 2013
While Easter Monday is a holiday up here in Canada, it's not in the United States and the weekend numbers have arrived. The numbers are good, or close enough to being good that I'm choosing to focus on the positive. G.I. Joe: Retaliation won the race for the top with an opening weekend that was a little better than expected. Meanwhile, Temptation also opened on the high end of expectations. On the other hand, The Host failed to live up to lowered expectations. Overall, the box office rose 6.1% from last week. Granted, it did fall compared to the same weekend last year, but it fell by less than 1% (0.99%) and compared to the year-to-date decline, that's positively glowing. I'm calling it a victory. That's right, 2013 has been so bad so far that I'm willing to call a 1% decline a victory. 2013 is still well behind 2012's pace at $2.27 billion to $2.59 billion, which is a deficit of 12% or nearly $330 million.
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March 29th, 2013
It's Easter long weekend and three films will be battling for box office domination. G.I. Joe: Retaliation is the only one that really has a shot at success. The Host is earning some of the worst reviews for a wide release for the entire year, which is not surprising given the source material. Meanwhile, Temptation is not being screened for critics. It is likely The Croods will be pushed into second place, but should remain strong thanks to the holiday. This weekend last year was led by The Hunger Games with $58 million. There's almost no chance any new release will match that. In fact, there's a chance no film will top last year's second place film, Wrath of the Titans. 2013 is going to get slapped around again.
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March 22nd, 2013
While there are a few wide releases opening next week, G.I. Joe: Retaliation is the only one with a real shot at top spot. (Although I'm not sure if the year-long delay in its release will hurt or help its box office chances.) Because of this, it is the target film for this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
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 This is 40 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 also win a copy of This is 40 on Blu-ray
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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March 1st, 2013
February is over, and for the most part, we should be very happy it is done and buried. The biggest hit of the month turned out to be Identity Thief, which will cross $100 million shortly. There were also a couple of impressive midlevel hits, like Warm Bodies and Escape from Planet Earth, but for the most part, it was miss after miss. This is bad news for March, which is not only dealing with a slumping 2013 box office, but will be compared with a strong March of 2012. Last March started with The Lorax, which earned more than $200 million. There's a good chance no March release this year will reach this milestone. Last March was also the month The Hunger Games opened, which earned more than $400 million. There's a chance the top three films opening this month won't earn that much combined. 2013 is going to take a beating in the year-over-year comparison and it is already $100 million behind last year's pace.
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