August 22nd, 2012
It is an amazing week on the home market, if you count The Hunger Games. That film made its DVD and Blu-ray debut on Saturday, so it didn't quite come out this week, but it is still selling well. The best-selling Tuesday release was NCIS: Season Nine - Buy from Amazon, while the top five is dominated by Blu-ray catalog releases. I think Bernie comes close to being a Pick of the Week Contender and A Separation is even better, but I'm going with The Hunger Games as top pick.
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March 21st, 2012
The Kid with a Bike took top spot on the per theater chart with an average of $15,311 in three theaters, while Jiro Dreams of Sushi was in a virtual tie with an average of $15,202 in six. Gerhard Richter Painting was next with $13,537 in its lone theater. The overall box office leader, 21 Jump Street, was next with an average of $11,632, while last week's winner, Footnote, was right behind with $11,181.
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March 13th, 2012
Footnote led the way on the per theater chart with an average of $23,764 in two theaters, while Jiro Dreams of Sushi was right behind with an average of $21,018, also in two theaters. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was playing in a lot more theaters, but it managed an average of $12,550 in 18 theaters. Even more impressively, it saw growth from Friday to Sunday of 85%, which is amazing for a new release. This bodes very well for its long term potential. Finally, the overall box office leader, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, rounded out the $10,000 club with an average of $10,370.
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March 7th, 2012
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax was surprisingly strong during its opening and that helped it win the race on top of the per theater chart with an average of $18,830. The only other two films in the $10,000 club, Being Flynn and Boy, were neck-and-neck at $10,998 and $10,622 respectively.
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March 4th, 2012
Universal will be celebrating this weekend as their good year gets a whole lot better thanks to the estimated $70 million opening of The Lorax. While not a record for March (a mark held firmly by Alice in Wonderland with $116 million), that will be enough for either second or third on the all time March openers list, basically level with 300's debut in 2007. Given its $65 million - $70 million production budget, the film will be a huge boost for the studio's animation arm. It also means that this weekend will be about 25% ahead of the same weekend last year.
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February 26th, 2012
This weekend's box office charts will feature two hits and two misses, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. Very much in the hit column, and leading the weekend overall, is Act of Valor, a reality-tinged actioner from Relativity that is set to open with around $24.7 million, which is on the high end of expectations. With a $13 million acquisition cost and $30 million committed to marketing, Relativity should see a profit from the film after several recent misses. In second place, Tyler Perry's Good Deeds will pick up around $16 million for the weekend, which is on the low side for Perry -- in fact it will most likely be his worst opening weekend ever -- but will still earn money in the end thanks to a low production and marketing budget.
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February 26th, 2012
It's Oscars night. (Actually, it's 3:43 in the morning as I'm typing this, but I thought I would get a jump on the celebration.) As I do every year, I will follow the announcements live and update our list of Oscar winners. However, this year I will be doing it a little differently and the list of nominees below will include the favorites as picked by our readers in Italics and as picked by me in Bold. So you can watch live and tell when I'm out of the running for our Oscar contest. (I figure it will take at least 17 wins out of 24 to come out on top. Maybe even 18 or 19 wins.) So, will The Artist be the big winner tonight as our readers predict? Or will Hugo score the upset? Stay tuned to fine out.
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February 26th, 2012
While the Independent Spirit Award unofficially kick off Awards Season with their nominations, they are one of the last to hand out their actual awards, which they did on Saturday. As it has most of the time, The Artist led the way by earning four wins out of the five categories it was nominated it. So which one did it lose? And what were the other winners?
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February 23rd, 2012
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we will look at the two writing categories, finishing with Best Original Screenplay. This race could be closer than it looks at first, as differences in rules affected the WGA nominations, but will there be an upset?
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February 22nd, 2012
No films topped $10,000 on the per theaters chart; in fact, none of them come close. The Vow came closest with an average of $7,798. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was the best new release at an average of $6,968, while the best new limited release was Undefeated at $6,633.
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February 8th, 2012
An Inconsistent Truth repeated on top of the per theater chart with $12,176 in one theater. However, while it won, it fell more than 40%, which is closer to a wide release than a limited release. W.E. was very close behind with an average of $11,769 in four theaters.
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February 5th, 2012
The industry's healthy start to 2012 will continue this weekend thanks to two more good opening weekends. Chronicle is currently favorite to win the weekend, with Fox predicting a $22 million opening. CBS Films is pegging The Woman in Black at $21 million (a record for the fledgling studio). Both figures are predicated on historical models for SuperBowl Sunday, which can be a difficult day to predict, so the final order between the two could yet switch, although Chronicle is heavily favored to win at this point. Overall box office will be up about 35% from last year, although that reflects the very weak start to 2011. This weekend looks as though it will be about average for a SuperBowl weekend overall.
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January 29th, 2012
The industry will enjoy another weekend of increased revenue compared to last year, based on studio estimates released on Sunday, with The Grey starting out on the high end of expectations with $20 million, according to Open Road -- comfortably beating the $9.3 million of their previous film, The Killer Elite. In third place, One for the Money will post a surprisingly strong $11.75 million, according to Lionsgate, which will get to claim bragging rights over its new division Summit Entertainment, which is predicting $8.25 million for its new release, Man on a Ledge. The two films would most likely have ended up on different weekends if the combined studio had have had longer to rearrange their schedules.
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January 25th, 2012
There were only three films this past weekend to reach the $10,000 mark on the per theater average, and none of them were new releases. Pina finally expanded playing in ten theaters, while it climbed to the top of the per theater average with $13,667. It should hit its first major milestone soon. A Separation doubled its theater count and saw its per theater average grow to $12,986. It too should reach its first milestone sooner rather than later. The final member of the $10,000 club was We Need to Talk About Kevin with an average of $10,530 in seven theaters. The best new release of the week was Crazy Horse with $7,963 in its lone theater. However, it was a Wednesday release and if you include its first two days of release, it earned $12,336. If it were a Friday release, it likely would have reached the $10,000 market.
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January 24th, 2012
Yesterday was one of the biggest days during Awards Season as The Oscar nominations were announced in the morning. It was a two horse race for top spot as far as the big winners are concerned. Hugo earned the most nominations with eleven, while The Artist was right behind with ten. However, one could argue The Artist is the bigger winner, as more of its nominations were in the more prestigious categories.
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January 22nd, 2012
A solid $25.4 million projected opening for Underworld: Awakening this weekend, backed by a better-than-expected $19.1 million for Red Tails will help give the industry a healthy start to 2012. Based on studio estimates released on Sunday, business this weekend should be up about 30% from the same weekend last year, and 2012 is currently running about 11% ahead of 2011. Obviously there's a long way to go, but early momentum is always useful.
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January 18th, 2012
It was a busy week on the per theater chart with five films in the $10,000 club; however, all but one of those films were holdovers. Leading the way was We Need to Talk About Kevin, which returned to theaters after its week-long Oscar qualification run. It earned an average of $21,123 in two theaters. Pina doubled its theater count, but remained strong in second place with an average of $20,740 in six theaters. Even if it doesn't expand significantly, it will reach some major milestones. Despite mixed reviews, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is earning very strong legs. This past weekend it dipped just 8% while earning an average of $15,172 in six theaters. It expands wide on Friday and it should do quite well. The only new release of the week to reach the $10,000 club was Sophomore, which opened with an estimated $13,000 in its lone theater. Finally, we get to A Separation, which earned an average of $11,977 in six theaters. Hopefully it will expand to take advantage of is success thus far.
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January 16th, 2012
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out the Golden Globes last night, and after an Awards Season most notable for the lack of surprises, there were not a lot of surprises either. In fact, the biggest storyline of the night was how many different movies earned wins. The Artist led the way with just three, while The Descendents was the only other film to win more than once.
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January 15th, 2012
With Beauty and the Beast disappointing slightly over the 3-day MLK frame, Contraband will take first place by a fairly comfortable margin, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. The action movie is set to pick up about $24.1 million, per Universal, while Disney pegs Beast's Friday-Sunday total at $18.5 million. Joyful Noise will bring in a solid, if slightly disappointing, $11.3 million for Warner Bros..
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January 10th, 2012
The $10,000 club was again crowded this week and, as expected for this time of year, it was filled almost entirely by holdovers. Iron Lady remained the top film with an average of $35,275 in five theaters and it should start hitting major milestones very soon. Pina's average grew, again, reaching $27,676 in three theaters. Hopefully it will start expanding quickly, before its momentum fades. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close earned an average of $16,521 in six theaters. Its mixed reviews haven't taken too much of a toll, yet. A Separation doubled its theater count, but its per theater average remained relatively steady at $15,440. The overall box office leader, The Devil Inside, was next at $14,763. Finally, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia opened with $10,652 in one theater.
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January 8th, 2012
The Devil Inside came out of nowhere to win this weekend's race at the box office, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. Its $34.5 million debut is well ahead of expectations and will likely place it second or third on the list of all-time January opening weekends when final numbers are released on Monday. (See full list of January record weekends.) This performance is a welcome boost to overall business, which is coming off a disappointing 2011. Total box office for the weekend should be about 30% up from this weekend last year.
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January 4th, 2012
Iron Lady led a group of six films in the $10,000 earning a per theater average of $55,102. This is better than expected and shows the Oscar buzz for Meryl Streep is overcoming the middling overall reviews. Last week's winner, Pina, remained strong with an average of $23,874 in three theaters. I expect it will expand somewhat and earn a small measure of mainstream success. A Separation opened with an average of $19,827 in three theaters and with possible Oscar glory, it continues to do well. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has already earned a significant measure of mainstream success and with an average of $19,043 in 55 theaters this past weekend, it had its best weekend yet. It did cost $21 million to make, so it will need to continue to do well for quite some time before it makes profitability likely. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close's first full weekend went well earning an average of $18,463 in three theaters. It has a shot at expanding wide in a couple weeks, assuming it holds on relatively well over the next couple weeks. The final film in the $10,000 club was Pariah, which earned an average of $12,145 in four theaters. It earned just over $100,000 from Wednesday through Monday.
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January 1st, 2012
Mission: Impossible will enjoy another weekend at the top of the chart, according to studio estimates released on Sunday, and 2011 will end on a small uptick from 2010, but a lackluster Holiday Season overall will cap a year where the total box office will fall around 3% and ticket sales will be down 4%, making the year as a whole the worst for ticket sales since 1995 (full historical analysis here).
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December 30th, 2011
It's the last chance for films looking to earn some Oscar glory and there are three films on this week's list looking to do just that. Unfortunately, the film earning the most buzz, The Iron Lady, is also earning the weakest reviews out of those three. Fortunately, the other two films are earning perfect reviews (A Seperation) or near perfect reviews (Pariah) so moviegoers have options.
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