September 8th, 2010
Eight new releases reached the top 30 on this week's sales chart, including five TV on DVD releases. Leading the way was Lost: Season Six, which sold 339,000 units during its opening week and earned $12.88 million in consumer spending at retail.
More...
August 30th, 2010
New releases this week were dominated by The Last Song, which outsold the second place film on this week's sales chart by a two-to-one margin. It won the week with 761,000 units and $13.69 million in revenue.
More...
August 16th, 2010
The dog days of summer continue on the home market, but it is the calm before the storm. In this case the storm is a flood of TV on DVD releases, which we are starting to see show up in earnest. This is both good news and bad news. On the one hand, there are plenty of top notch releases coming out over the next few weeks. On the other hand, reviewing a full-season TV on DVD release takes a long time, which means my schedule will be packed for the next month or so. At least I get screeners for free, while consumers will see their wallet under assault week after week. The best selling release of the week is Dexter: Season Four, which is also the easy choice for Pick of the Week. I'm not sure if the DVD or the Blu-ray is the better deal, but regardless which format you choose, it is worth picking up.
More...
August 11th, 2010
When The Last Song hit theaters earlier this year, it was eviscerated by critics. A lot of them singled out Miley Cyrus, who was making her dramatic debut in this movie. Now that I've had a chance to see the film, were these critics fair in their assessment of the movie in general and of Miss Cyrus in particular?
More...
May 23rd, 2010
Iron Man 2 slipped to second place with $30.47 million on 10,223 screens in 57 markets for a total of $245.75 million internationally and $456.95 million worldwide. While this is impressive, its per theater average has become very weak and the competition is heating up. Look for sharp declines in the film's screen count over the next few weeks. That said, the original Iron Man earned a total of $264 million internationally and it is likely that the sequel has already topped that figure. It has also likely topped $500 million worldwide, while $600 million globally is a safe bet, so there's no reason for the studio to worry about shedding screens at this point. The film's biggest individual market so far is still the U.K. where it has made $25.80 million, including $2.30 million on 491 screens this past weekend. South Korea is right behind with $2.11 million on 600 screens over the weekend and $25.27 million after two.
More...
May 16th, 2010
For the fourth weekend in a row, Alice in Wonderland remained in second place, this time adding $13.28 million on 3843 screens in 54 markets for a total of $630.30 million internationally and $961.15 million worldwide. Since last week it has crossed the $600 million milestone on the international scene, making it just the 13th film to do so. It is now the seventh highest grossing film of all time. The film's per screen average has declined enough that it will likely shed screens and markets rather quickly. That said, if the worst thing you can say about a movie's box office run is, "It might not make it to $1 billion!" then the film is a massive success.
More...
May 9th, 2010
With Iron Man 2 debuting over the past weekend, Alice in Wonderland had one last gasp before the onslaught of summer blockbusters. It remained in second place with $23.54 million on 4263 screens in 54 markets over the weekend for a total of $592.23 million after two months of release. Worldwide, the film now has $921.92 million, which means that over the weekend it became just the 14th film to cross the $900 million milestone. It has already overtaken Shrek 2 for 13th place. By now, it is likely already in the top ten all-time and has a nominal shot at $1 billion worldwide.
More...
April 25th, 2010
There were more than a dozen foreign releases to reach the top 30 on the international chart, starting with Go Lala Go!. This Chinese film opened in first place in its native market and sixth place overall with $6.44 million on 655 screens.
More...
April 18th, 2010
Date Night started its international run in sixth place with $7.05 million on 1616 screens in 34 markets. While it is playing in a large number of markets, these were mostly of the smaller variety. The largest was Australia, where it placed third with $1.99 million on 304 screens. It also placed third in Brazil with $1.02 million on 174. It managed second place in Mexico, but with only $863,000 on 305 screens.
More...
April 12th, 2010
New releases opened a little on the lower end of expectations, but holdover performed admirably for the most part. There was a close race for the top spot this weekend. Overall, the box office pulled in $127 million, a 28% drop-off from last weekend. However, last weekend was a holiday weekend and so that's not that surprising. Box office was also down 4.6% from last year, but last year this was Easter weekend, so the decline is acceptable. Year-to-date, 2010 maintains its 10% growth over 2009 at $3.03 billion to $2.76 billion.
More...
April 8th, 2010
There could be quite a battle for top spot at the box office this weekend. It all depends on how fast Date Night can start, as well as how far Clash of the Titans will fall. There was a similar dynamic this time last year when the newcomer, Hannah Montana, was able to come away with a relatively comfortable win over the holdover, Fast & Furious. This time around, I think it will be a closer race, while overall the box office appears to be a little weaker.
More...
April 6th, 2010
Easter weekend resulted in records being broken as Clash of the Titans became the biggest Easter opener of all time. The strength of that film and others in the top five helped the box office pull in $177 million overall. That's 38% more than last weekend and 14% more than the same weekend last year. 2010 has now pulled in $2.83 billion, a 10% advantage when compared to 2009's pace. Double-digit growth is amazing and if it can keep this pace up, we could be in for an amazing ride this summer.
More...
April 4th, 2010
Clash of the Titans continued the domination of 3-D movies at the box office this year with an impressive $61.4 million opening weekend, according to Warner Bros.' estimate released on Sunday.
Among other things, that's by far the biggest opening weekend over Easter, topping the $40.2 million earned by Scary Movie 4 in 2006.
3-D movies have now topped the chart for ten out of the first fourteen weeks of 2010.
More...
April 1st, 2010
It's the start of a new month and many are predicting that we will get off to a record start. The big release of the week is Clash of the Titans and its only competition is Fast & Furious, which opened with nearly $71 million this time last year. Will this movie be able to meet or exceed that figure? We shall soon find out.
More...
April 1st, 2010
March was a mixed month, with only three films surpassing expectations.
On the other hand, Alice in Wonderland will beat expectations by more than $200 million, so it alone makes up for a lot of the disappointing films.
On a more troubling note, the final big release, How to Train Your Dragon didn't get off to as fast a start as I would have liked, which could affect the box office going forward. Last year April got off to a fast start and that should happen this month as well. It better, as the quality of films quickly declines as the prospect of May blockbusters begins to loom large on the horizon.
More...
March 31st, 2010
Hoping to get a jump on the competition, The Last Song opened tonight in roughly 2500 theaters. Is this a winning strategy? Or with the movie hit a sour note at the box office?
More...
