September 23rd, 2013
There were a lot of new releases for the week of July 14th, 2013, but none of them were monster releases. In fact, The Host was the only film to sell more than 100,000 Blu-rays. Because of this, it should come as no surprise that the overall Blu-ray market was soft. Overall, 646,000 units were sold and $13.93 million in revenue was generated. This is a substantial increase from last week, up 19% in terms of units and 15% in terms of revenue. It was more or less flat compared last year, down 2% in terms of units, but up 9% in terms of revenue. The overall Blu-ray share rose to 24% in terms of units and 35% in terms of revenue. That will rise more when the summer blockbusters start coming out.
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September 23rd, 2013
The week of July 14th, 2013 was a bit strange on the home market, as the Blu-ray sales chart and the DVD sales chart didn't line up very well. Granted, in both cases, new releases dominated, but unlike on DVD, The Host led the way on Blu-ray. It sold 103,000 units and generated $2.38 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 42%, which isn't bad for a film with a decidedly weak box run.
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September 23rd, 2013
There were a ton of new releases to reach the top 30 of the July 14th, 2013 edition of the DVD sales chart. This includes five films in the top six, which is impressive. (One could argue it is more a matter of quantity over quality.) Leading the way was Tyler Perry's Temptation, which sold 401,000 units and generated $2.97 million in revenue. This is a fine start, but nothing more.
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July 8th, 2013
It is a very busy week on the home market with four wide releases, five if you count Spring Breakers, which expanded semi-wide during its second weekend of release. None of these films were big hits at the box office. In fact, the five of them combined made $122 million. Additionally, only one of them earned good reviews. Fortunately, not only did Spring Breakers earn good reviews, its DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack are loaded, enough to be a contender for Pick of the Week. The other main contender is The Legend of Korra - Book One: Air. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for the screener for both of those releases, and I hate handing out the Pick of the Week when the screener is on its way. Because of that, I'm going with a late review, Wilfred: Season Two on DVD or Blu-ray.
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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 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 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 31st, 2013
There's something for (almost) everyone this weekend, as a diverse group of films leads the pack over Easter. G.I. Joe: Retaliation will easily top the chart with an estimated $41.2 million from 3,719 theaters. While that's a little softer than the first film in the franchise, it can still claim a $11,000 per theater average and with a small boost from Spring Break this week it should hit $100 million domestically. Overseas prospects look even stronger. Tyler Perry's Temptation will be less of a draw internationally, but it has made a very solid start here with $22.3 million over opening weekend, also enough for a $10,000 average, and to secure third place.
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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 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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