July 20th, 2009
Two of the most anticipated home market releases of the summer come out this week, and both of them are contenders for DVD Pick of the Week.
The Watchmen and Coraline Blu-ray releases are both worth picking up, and must-haves for their fans.
Also in the mix is The Middleman - The Complete Series, which despite its short run packs a lot of entertainment.
If I were forced to choose just one to buy, it would probably be Coraline, but all three are DVD Picks of the Week.
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November 25th, 2007
Shrek the Third was the second digitally animated film to debut on top of the sales chart in two weeks. Preliminary numbers have the DVD selling 4.10 million units for $62.42 million in sales. The Thanksgiving holiday delayed full numbers and this could change when final updates are in, although they won't change by enough to drop it out of first place.
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November 25th, 2007
There were only four new releases to chart this week on the DVD rental chart, including Shrek the Third, which opened in top spot with $11.01 million in rentals.
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November 19th, 2007
Ratatouille led a large group of new releases on this week's sales chart selling a massive 3.86 million units for first week sales of $57.82 million.
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November 19th, 2007
There were just four new releases to chart on this week's rental charts, but three of them placed in the top five. This includes the new number one renter, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which pulled in $9.26 million in rentals.
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November 6th, 2007
Now that Halloween is over, the Christmas shopping season has (un)officially started and there is a flood of DVDs coming out this week, so much so that we again had to split the list into two parts. (And looking at next week's list, we might have to do it again.) Despite this long list, it was an easy choice for DVD Pick of the Week: Cars - Blu-Ray Release. Although when the other two Blu-Ray Pixar screeners show up, I might have to revise that choice.
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November 4th, 2007
The Orphanage may have fallen out of the top five internationally, but it remained the top draw in Spain with $4.11 million on 373 screens over the weekend for a three-week total of $20.78 million. This is more than Ratatouille has earned in that market after three months of release and equivalent to $200 to $300 million here. It won't make $200 to $300 million here, in fact, it might not make $20 million here. It all depends on how well it does with critics and award committees.
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October 28th, 2007
Superbad climbed into sixth place with $4.26 million on 1836 screens in 27 markets for a total of $31.79 million. Most of that growth came from Spain where the film debuted in second place with $2.24 million on 350 screens while it also opened in Brazil with $511,000 on 192 screens. The film doesn't have many major markets left to open in, but it has already earned more than most comparable films do during their entire run.
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October 21st, 2007
Bhool Bhulaiyaa became the latest in a long line of Indian films to strike it rich on the international box office as it scored sixth place with $4.59 million on 756 screens in 17 markets. The supernatural comedy even scored a top ten finish in Britain with $600,000 on 45 screens topping a few major Hollywood releases that week.
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October 10th, 2007
Ratatouille climbed to the top on the international charts thanks to a first place opening in Germany, which is one of its last major markets. The film pulled in $11.71 million on 853 screens, which is almost four times what Cars made during its opening and more than twice what The Incredibles debuted with. It isn't as strong as Finding Nemo but that's such a high standard that no one will be disappointed that it didn't make it there. Overall the film added $19.33 million on 3265 screens in 30 markets for a total of $245.83 million, including $63.92 million in France.
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October 3rd, 2007
The summer blockbuster season may have ended a month ago, but The Bourne Ultimatum is still ruling the international box office. This week the film added $9.61 million on 2875 screens in 47 markets for a total of $162.78 million so far. The film had no major, or even midlevel openings this past weekend, but it still managed an estimated $1.5 million in France for a total of $12.6 million after three weeks there. Even if the film had no more markets left to debut in, it could still cross $200 million internationally, and with openings in Italy and Japan still ahead, the goal is to earn more than the first two installments in the franchise combined.
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September 26th, 2007
This week, three of the top five films were not in the top five last week, but despite all of the changes, The Bourne Ultimatum still earned an easy win. Over the weekend the spy thriller added $14.16 million on 3902 screens in 49 markets for a total of $145.59 million. The film had very few openings this past weekend, but did come out in first place in Portugal with $364,000 on 56 screens. The film was able to remain in first place in a number of markets, including France at $2.60 million on 510 screens for a total $7.53 million and Germany at $1.68 million on 717 screens for a total of $11.09 million. The film does have a few more markets to open in, (including Italy and Japan), and given its strong holds, it should hit $200 million before long and should earn more than the previous two installments of the franchise combined.
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September 23rd, 2007
Rush Hour 3 missed spending its fifth week in fifth place by less than $4000 at $5.69 million on 2443 screens in 31 markets for a total of $69.71 million. This weekend the film opened in first place in Russia with $2.28 million on 385 screens while it had to settle for second place in Denmark with $485,000 on 41 screens over the weekend and $517,000 in total.
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September 16th, 2007
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry soared into sixth place with $4.72 million on 1521 screens in 21 markets for a total of $14.61 million internationally. The film finally hit big in a non-English speaking market earning first place with $1.27 million on 364 screens in Russia, but was soft in its debuts in South Korea and Italy. In Italy it managed $683,000 on 198 screens, but that was a tiny fraction of the first place film, while in South Korea it managed just ninth place with $275,000 on 123 screens over the weekend and $312,000 in total.
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September 9th, 2007
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix may have fallen out of the top five, but it was able to cross $900 million worldwide since last week making it only the tenth film to do so. Over the weekend the film added $7.08 million on 4486 screens in 53 markets for a total of $626.30 million internationally, which places the film sixth place on that chart just $16 million behind Dead Man's Chest. There's not much to report for individual markets with the film down 43% during its second weekend in Greece adding $612,000 on 129 screens for a total of $2.91 million. Its best market remains Japan at $1.67 million on 605 screens over the weekend for a total of $75.18 million after seven weeks. Meanwhile, the film continues to march towards $100 million in the U.K. and after earning $796,000 on 306 screens over the weekend it now sits at $97.89 million in total.
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August 26th, 2007
The Transformers fell out of the top five but still cracked 8 digits with $11.10 million on 54.92 screens in 52 markets for a total of $354.33 million. The film is mostly coasting on holdovers at the moment, but it did top the Polish market with $664,000 on 106 screens while its best market was Japan where it added $2.49 million on 592 screens over the weekend for a total of $23.98 million.
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August 13th, 2007
As expected, Rush Hour 3 took first place this weekend and helped the overall box office hit $155 million.
This was 12% lower than last weekend, but the summer season is wrapping up, so week-to-week drop-offs like this are to be expected.
More importantly, it was up nearly 20% from the same weekend last year.
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August 7th, 2007
The Bourne Ultimatum helped 2007 continue its record setting pace and helped the overall box office hit $178 million over the past weekend. That was down 4% from last weekend, but the summer is slowing down and these declines and expected. On the other hand, it was up an amazing 27% from the same weekend last year.
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August 5th, 2007
No, this is not a repeat, May 18 is the name of a South Korean film that opened last weekend with $7.40 million on 534 screens over the weekend and $9.66 million in total. This was enough for first place finish in its native market and a sixth place finish internationally.
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August 2nd, 2007
What could be the last major opening this summer debuts today.
The Bourne Ultimatum opens in more than 3,600 theaters.
The summer has been an overwhelming success to date, up 8% from last year and 3% from 2004's record-setting run.
If Bourne can maintain the winning streak, and most analysts agree that it will, then a new record is almost guaranteed.
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July 30th, 2007
Practically every film in the top five beat expectations, including The Simpsons Movie, which crushed expectations. This helped push the overall box office to $185 million over the weekend and that was roughly 19% higher than the last weekend and a stunning 40% higher than the same weekend last year. With one or two more summer releases that could top $200 million, this has been a very lucrative season and one that helped to put 2007 in the record books.
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July 27th, 2007
One of the most important and anticipated films of modern times opens in theaters this weekend.
The Simpsons Movie looks to change how we look at culture and perhaps change the very way we humans interact.
OK, probably not, but it should make a boatload of money at the box office this weekend.
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July 24th, 2007
As expected, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix traded spots during the weekend.
However, they both finished lower than expected in raw dollars.
Fortunately Hairspray and the rest of the films were able to compensate.
The overall box office was down 14% from last weekend to $155 million, but that was still up close to 3% compared to the same weekend last year.
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July 22nd, 2007
One of the closest battles at the box office this Summer ended with a narrow win for I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which carved out a decent $34.78 million opening, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
That was just a couple of million dollars more than the $32.19 million earned by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which fell a thumping 58% from its opening weekend.
Potter's box office take was almost certainly significantly hurt by the release of the final book in the series on Saturday, so its week-to-week performance is still hard to discern.
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July 21st, 2007
Big list in terms of numbers, not so much in terms of quality. In fact, the best film in terms of updates this week was The Simpsons Movie - Official Site, which has already won the Weekly Website Award. Because of that, there are no new winners this week.
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July 19th, 2007
The buddy comedy with Adam Sandler and Kevin James opens this weekend, and while it won't be seen as one of the major hits of the summer, it should still be in a relatively close battle with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for top spot on the charts this weekend.
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July 14th, 2007
One of the last summer blockbusters launched its full site this week. This means two things, The Bourne Ultimatum - Official Site is the clear winner of the weekly website award. And secondly, there will likely be a slowdown in top-notch sites as we approach the dog days of summer, and the even worse days of September.
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July 13th, 2007
We finally return to a normal schedule for our box office prediction contest after all of the midweek openings. This time the target film is I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which is also where the prize packs are from.
To win, one must simply predict the box office opening for I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry prize pack consisting of a T-shirt and a hat.
And a poster.
And a sweatshirt.
And a duffel bag, which you'll need for your other prizes.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win the exact same prize pack.
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, 2007
After a record-breaking start, the summer has slowed down considerably. Granted, it is still hot with a number of big, big blockbusters coming out. In fact, every week in July there's at least one potential $100 million movie. But that's nothing compared to what we saw in May when we have three films open with $100 million. Even worse, outside the four main releases, none of the counter-programming releases look like they will become hits and that will hurt the overall box office.
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June 17th, 2007
There weren't as many websites on this week's list as in the past few weeks, but there were at least three that earned some consideration for the Weekly Website Award. In the end, that honor went to I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry - Official Site.
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March 31st, 2007
Awesome. We are finally getting some major updates to the summer blockbuster movies. The ones people are watching to see if they break records. This includes the first half of the massively interactive website for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - Official Site. And while the site isn't done yet, it is still more than enough to win the Weekly Website Award.
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