August 3rd, 2010
It was yet another week of soft DVD sales with none of the new releases lighting up the sales chart. That said, Cop Out was able to take top spot with 325,000 units and $5.45 million in consumer spending at retail.
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July 19th, 2010
The dead zone on the home market continues with only three wide releases... well, two and a half wide releases, none of which matched expectations at the box office.
There's not even a lot of limited releases, catalog titles, or TV on DVD releases to compensate.
There are some, just not a lot.
My favorite title on this week's list is actually a late review: White Collar: Season One on DVD and Blu-ray.
Meanwhile, the two best new releases this week have a Canadian Connection, Degrassi: The Next Generations: Season 9 and NHL: Greatest Stanley Cup Moments, both of which earn Puck of the Week honors.
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May 9th, 2010
A prime launch date, inflated ticket prices, and the unbeatable formula of a superhero sequel combined to give Iron Man 2 a massive opening weekend, according to Paramount's estimate, released on Sunday.
Their projected $133.6 million would make the movie the fifth-biggest opener of all time, and cements Iron Man's place among the industry's mega-franchises, alongside Batman, Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, Twilight and Harry Potter.
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May 3rd, 2010
The new releases were a little weaker than anticipated, while the holdovers could only compensate so much. The overall box office was $102 million, which was 2% higher than last weekend. That's the good news. The bad news is that it was down 36% from the same weekend last year. Of course, this weekend last year was the first weekend of May, so the comparison is fundamentally unfair and 2010 still has a 6.4% lead over 2009 at $3.46 billion to $3.25 billion. I expect it to increase its lead next weekend.
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April 28th, 2010
The winners of our Be A Winner contest were determined and they are...
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April 27th, 2010
It was not a particularly strong week at the box office, but that should surprise few people. Four of the top five films reached expectations or at least came within a rounding error of doing so. The overall box office brought in $100 million. This is 17% lower than last weekend and 12% lower than the same weekend last year. That said, 2010 still has a large lead over 2009 at $3.32 billion to $3.06 billion.
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April 25th, 2010
In another sign of the dominance of 3D at the box office right now, How to Train Your Dragon enjoyed another strong performance and returned to the top of the box office chart this weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
With a drop of just 23% from last weekend, Dragon now stands at $178 million, and it's likely to grow that number considerably between now and the release of Shrek Forever After on May 21.
The Back-up Plan, meanwhile, posted a somewhat disappointing $12.25 million.
That's considerably better than CBS Films' previous release, Extraordinary Measures, but decidedly middle-of-the-pack compared to Jennfier Lopez' other opening weekends.
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April 22nd, 2010
While there are three wide releases coming out this week, including one debuting on Thursday, most box office analysts think that it will be a holdover, How to Train Your Dragon, that will take top spot. This is partially due to that film's strong holds so far, but also partially due to weakness in the three new releases. Expect a sizable drop-off from last weekend, but more importantly, a large drop-off from the same weekend last year.
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April 16th, 2010
According to early numbers, the widest release of next week is The Back-up Plan; however, I think The Losers will be an easier sell at the box office and will finish number one. Regardless if I'm right or not, it is the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for The Losers.
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 The Hills: Season Five, Volume Two on DVD and the Buena Vista Social Club DVD/CD combo.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win a copy of Beyond the Sea DVD/CD combo.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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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.
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