July 28th, 2011
Despite only going on sale on Friday, Rango led all new releases and took top spot on the Blu-ray sales chart. It wasn't even really close, as it sold 353,000 units and generated $7.05 million. Its opening week Blu-ray ratio of 37% is strong, especially for a kids movie.
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July 26th, 2011
Despite only coming out on Friday, Rango was the best new release and led the weekly DVD sales chart. From Friday through Sunday, the film sold 611,000 units while generating $9.77 million in sales.
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June 14th, 2011
It's not common for a TV on DVD release to top the sales chart, but that's what True Blood: Season Two did. It led all new releases and holdovers during its first week of release with 786,000 units, and generated $23.92 million in consumer spending at retail. To put this into perspective, Season Two took about a month to sell that many units.
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June 8th, 2011
Two films could make legitimate claims for top spot on this week's Blu-ray Sales Chart. Gnomeo and Juliet topped I Am Number Four if you rank them by units at 271,000 units to 241,000 units; however, the pair finished in opposite order if you rank by dollars at $6.02 million to $5.42 million. As far as opening week ratios are concerned, Gnomeo managed 29%, which is in line with expectations for a family film, while Number Four was stronger at 34%, but that's not quite what you would want for a visual effects heavy film.
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June 7th, 2011
New releases took the top two spots on this week's DVD sales chart with Gnomeo and Juliet leading the way with 666,000 units sold while generating $10.74 million in opening week sales. This is not a bad result, for this time of year.
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May 31st, 2011
It's not like there were no new releases, but Justin Bieber: Never Say Never didn't have a lot of trouble keeping top spot on the DVD sales chart to itself. During its first full week of release it sold an additional 476,000 units, lifting its totals to 967,000 units / $17.26 million after two. Given its target demographic, Fangirls, it's not exactly surprising that it is selling so well on DVD.
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May 25th, 2011
As I mentioned at the time, the list of Blu-rays were weak this week, so weak that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I was able to return to top spot. That said, its weekly sales of 94,000 units and $2.16 million was terribly weak for the number one Blu-ray. On the other hand, its totals after five weeks of release are 2.79 million units and $63.26 million, which are the best of the year so far.
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May 24th, 2011
Despite coming out a few days later than the rest of the new releases, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never topped the DVD sales chart this week with 471,000 units sold and $7.26 million in consumer spending at retail.
No Strings Attached opened in second place with 315,000 units / $5.41 million, which is not particularly strong, but not too bad, all things considered. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I remained in third place adding 168,000 units / $2.68 million for the week for running tallies of 4.92 million units / $68.61 million after five. It should quickly become the second DVD release of 2011 to sell 5 million units.
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May 18th, 2011
Few new releases were able to make a real impact on the Blu-ray sales chart this week, but we did have a new number one. The Green Hornet earned top spot by selling 291,000 units and generating $5.82 million in opening week sales. By units, 38% of its market share was in High definition, which is quite strong.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I slipped to second place with 166,000 units for the week and 2.70 million after a month of release. It remains the best-selling Blu-ray of the year, so far.
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May 12th, 2011
While no new release made much of an impact on the Blu-ray sales chart this week, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I was still able to show some strength on top with 313,000 units sold for the week and 2.62 million units sold after three. Its total revenue is now $60.37 million and by comparison, only Avatar has been able to crack $100 million in Blu-ray sales.
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May 10th, 2011
No new release reached the top five on the DVD sales chart this week. This left Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I in first place with 636,000 units / $9.62 million for the week and 4.93 million units / $70.01 million after three. It's not quite the best selling DVD of 2011, but its solidly in second place.
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May 3rd, 2011
The combination of factors ranging from the Fanboy Effect to Easter sales were in relative balance, and this helped Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I remain strong. It led all new releases to earn first place on the DVD sales chart this week with sales of 1.99 million units / $27.89 million for the week for totals of 4.43 million units / $62.35 million.
Tangled grew more than 100% thanks to Easter sales, selling an additional 1.04 million units for the week to give the film total sales of 5.59 million units / $85.30 million after a month of release. The King's Speech opened in third place with 893,000 units / $13.39 million, which is great for a limited release, but a little soft for the big Oscar winner.
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April 26th, 2011
Despite coming on out on Friday, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I easily won the race on the DVD sales chart this week defeating new releases and holdovers alike. It sold 2.66 million units for total sales of $37.55 million. It will be interesting to see how well it holds up during its first full week of release.
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April 19th, 2011
Despite having to deal with several new releases, Tangled was able to remain on top of the sales chart this week, albeit in a close race. It sold an additional 807,000 units over the week for a total of 4.27 million units, while its revenue rose to $65.17 million.
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April 11th, 2011
It was an awesome week for new releases on the sales chart, or should that be "new release". While there were five new releases to chart, one of them, Tangled, dominated selling 3.46 million units while generating $51.92 million in sales. It is already the biggest selling DVD of 2011.
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March 30th, 2011
It's a very busy week for DVD and Blu-ray releases with several top-tier releases, as well as plenty of interesting catalog titles. Paradoxically, this week's list could be rather short, as I've previously reviewed most of the major releases, while I'm still waiting on about half of the catalog titles to show up. So this week's list is mostly just links to the reviews already done and notices of what reviews to look forward to if / when late screeners arrive. In the meantime, the best of the best is a three-horse race between Tangled, Black Swan, and Mad Men: Season Four. All three are absolutely worth picking up, but for Pick of the Week I'm going with the Mad Men: Season Four on Blu-ray.
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March 28th, 2011
Tangled hit quite a snag trying to get to theaters. The film was originally supposed to be more of a faithful adaptation of Rapunzel, but after The Princess and the Frog missed expectations, they decided they needed to refocus the film. This resulted in spiraling costs and in the end, the production budget topped out at $260 million. That makes it the most expensive animated movie of all time and the second most expensive movie ever. Were those dollars well spent? Can you see the quality in the final product?
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March 16th, 2011
Rango climbed into first place on the international chart this weekend adding $24.05 million on 5214 screens in 46 markets to its two-week total of $47.18 million. It opened in first place in Australia with $2.73 million on 296 screens, while it finished a very close second in Brazil with $1.75 million on 330 screens over the weekend for a total opening on $2.75 million. As far as holdovers go, it was down just 6% in the U.K. to $2.48 million on 471 screens over the weekend for a total of $5.82 million after two. It was able to remain in first place in Mexico with $2.13 million on 927 screens over the weekend and $5.82 million after two. With debuts in Russia, France, Italy, Japan, and other markets still ahead, it should have little troublen hitting $100 million internationally and $250 million worldwide making it the biggest hit of the year, so far.
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March 2nd, 2011
For the third weekend in a row, Black Swan led the way on the international chart, pulling in $17.50 million on 3,950 screens in 45 markets for a total of $123.37 million internationally and $226.95 million worldwide. In Spain it remained in first place with $2.52 million on 319 screens over the weekend for a total of $6.47 million after two. It added $2.81 million on 363 screens over the weekend for a total of $13.74 million after three. It doesn't have many markets left to open in, but the film has already made nearly a quarter billion dollars on a production budget of just $13 million, so it is fantastically profitable.
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February 23rd, 2011
As I've stated in the past, it is quite rare for a film that opened in limited release in the United States to go on and have success internationally. Most markets are simply too small to have the infrastructure to support limited releases. So it's quite a pleasant surprise to find two such films atop the international box office. Leading the way for the second weekend in a row is Black Swan, this time earning $17.60 million on 3,699 screens in 39 markets. In total it has $98.24 million and it has likely already reached the century mark. It opened in first place in Spain with $2.91 million on 296 screens, but it was not as strong in Italy with $1.50 million on 257 screens, which was only enough for third place. Oscar contenders tend to perform really well in Italy, so this is a bit of a disappointment. As far as holdovers are concerned, the film was down just 18% in France, adding $3.82 million on 338 screens over the weekend for a total of $9.77 million after just two weeks of release.
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February 16th, 2011
Black Swan rose to top spot with $19.41 million on 3041 screens in 34 markets for a total of $72.90 million internationally. The film is about to cross $100 million domestically, and it looks assured at repeating that feat internationally, which is very impressive for an art house film. It opened in France scoring second place with $4.58 million on 300 screens, giving it the best per screen average in the market. It also opened in Russia earning fourth place with $1.34 million on 329 screens over the weekend and $1.73 million in total. Over the weekend, it earned twice as much as True Grit opened with, despite opening in fewer theaters. On the other hand, even including Wednesday and Thursday, it made less than The Eagle made from Friday to Sunday. This makes it hard to judge its opening. In the meantime, the film added $1.71 million on 481 screens in the U.K. for a total of $20.47 million in that country. It will have little trouble overtaking Dawn Treader in that market, possibly as early as this time next week.
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February 9th, 2011
Tangled's international run is coming close to an end, but it has a couple of major milestones left to reach. Over the weekend it added $23.90 million on 5186 screens in 42 markets for a total of $288.33 million internationally and $479.40 million worldwide. At this point next week it will have $300 million internationally and $500 million worldwide. In order to reach profitability before it hits the home market, it will need to get past the $600 million mark worldwide, which is likely out of reach. However, assuming it does well on the home market, reaching profitability is inevitable at this point. This week it opened in Spain with $5.61 million on 650 screens, which was enough for first place over the weekend and the third best Disney debut in that market. Meanwhile, the film was down just 11% during its second weekend of release in the U.K., adding $7.38 million on 448 screens over the weekend for a running tally of $17.35 million. And, it has yet to open in Japan, so it is not done yet.
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February 3rd, 2011
Tangled opened in first place in the U.K. and that helped it climb back into first place internationally this weekend. In the U.K., it earned $8.11 million on 445 screens, which is roughly equivalent to its opening here. It's a little complicated comparing the two, as it opened on a Wednesday domestically, and it also opened on a major holiday. It was a better opening than Despicable Me, and that film earned just over $30 million in the U.K. along and almost $300 million internationally. Overall Tangled added $17.34 million on 4,534 screens in 37 markets for totals of $256.54 million internationally and $446.12 million worldwide. At this pace, $500 million worldwide is practically a lock.
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January 26th, 2011
Thanks to a combination of solid openings and better than expected holds, The Green Hornet was able to climb into top spot with $18.53 million on 4706 screens in 43 markets for a total of $37.55 million after just two weeks of release. In Australia, the film earned first place with $2.99 million on just 289 screens for a very impressive per screen average. It was also the biggest hit in Mexico with $2.55 million on 439 screens. On the other hand, it struggled in Japan opening in third place with $1.80 million on 459 screens. With a per screen average of well under $5000, it will likely disappear quite quickly in that market. On the up side, the film held well in most major markets down just 30% in France to $1.37 million on 495 screens over the weekend for a total of $3.66 million after two. In Germany it was down just 35% to $2.69 million on 612 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.81 million, also after two. While it was down 37% in the U.K. to $1.90 million on 431 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $6.11 million. With openings in South Korea, Italy, Russia, and Brazil ahead, it could top $100 million internationally and $200 million worldwide. That would be more than enough to be considered a success.
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January 25th, 2011
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, thus ending months of speculation. Along with a (very) few surprises, the list of nominees is mostly a case of Deja Vu. Leading the way, as it has so often this year, was The King's Speech, with 12 nominations, including six in seven of the most prestigious categories (Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and the four acting categories). But it was far from the only multi-nominated film on the list.
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January 20th, 2011
International numbers were a day late due to the holiday, but there were some interesting stories to report. Firstly, Tangled climbed to top spot with $16.01 million on 4187 screens, in 38 markets, for a total of $214.02 million internationally and $395.03 million worldwide. It was able to climb to the top, despite no major market openings. It did add $3.33 million on 432 screens during its second weekend in Australia. That was enough for second place in that market over the weekend, while it lifted its total there to $13.23 million. In Brazil it remained in first place with $2.69 million on 447 screens over the weekend and $12.98 million after two. Up next is the U.K., while it has yet to open in Spain, Scandinavia, and Japan and by the time its done, it could have $500 million worldwide.
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January 12th, 2011
We are again stuck with studio estimates, which is a bit troubling, as I was hoping the schedule would have returned to normal. Also, this has resulted in a bit of confusion with Tangled and The Tourist finishing in a very close race for the number one position. Tangled led the way according to the studio estimate with $26.3 million on 3,636 screens in 43 markets for a total of $179.3 million internationally and $355.1 million worldwide. This week it debuted in first place in Australia with $5.74 million on 462 screens over the weekend, for a total opening of $6.08 million. Meanwhile in Brazil it topped the charts with $4.53 million on 446 screens over the weekend and $5.98 million in total. In both cases the film opened better than it did here.
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January 5th, 2011
The Christmas break is just ending, but as it is normally the case, international numbers are late. We do have studio estimates for a few films, as well as last week's final numbers, which had a surprise change at the top. We'll start with this week's possible number one film. Gulliver’s Travels led the list of studio estimates with $24.9 million on 3,964 screens in 33 markets for a total of $48.9 million. This includes a massive $10.98 million opening on 497 screens in the U.K. That's like a $50 to $60 million opening here; granted, that was since boxing day, but since it won't make that much in total domestically, it is still an impressive opening. On the other hand, it opened in second place in Australia with $2.85 million on 411 screens. Still better than its opening here, but more inline with expectations.
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January 3rd, 2011
2011 has begun but it didn't get off to a strong start. It didn't even get off to a better than expected start, as only one film in the top five really topped expectations. Overall, the box office grew by 10% from last week hitting $159 million, but that's not great given Christmas Eve landed on a Friday. It was also down 28% from the same weekend last year, so 2011 is off to a bad start. Granted, it's incredibly early, but there are not a lot of hopeful signs for the rest of the month and double-digit declines will likely be the norm.
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January 2nd, 2011
With no new wide releases over New Year's weekend, this week's was a battle of the holdovers at the box office, and thanks to the fact that Christmas Eve (a slow day at the box office) fell on a Friday in 2010, the weekend-to-weekend comparison for each movie generally looked good.
Curiously, though, the top three movies all declined from last weekend while all the other movies in the top 20 saw increases.
With plenty of films to choose from, audiences spent over $4 million on at least 13 different films, seven of which topped $10 million.
That's not quite a record (no less than nine movies earned over $10 million over MLK weekend in 2001), but it is unusual.
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December 29th, 2010
With Christmas just behind us and New Year's Day just ahead, a lot of studios are on vacation, so there are not a lot of details when it comes to box office numbers and we are stuck with studio estimates for the most part. According to these estimates, Little Fockers took top spot with $27 million on 3933 screens in 37 markets during its opening. However, it was such a tight race that once final figures are in, it might slip to second, or even third. Its biggest market was the U.K., where it opened in first place with $7.3 million on 487 screens. By comparison, Meet the Parents made twice that during its debut in 2005. Ouch.
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December 22nd, 2010
The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader remained in top spot over the weekend, but it fell more than 50% to $31.53 million on 10,107 screens in 61 markets for a total of $126.02 million internationally. Over the weekend it opened in Germany, but only managed second place with $2.46 million on 893 screens, which is about 40% less than Prince Caspian made during its opening weekend and less than half of what the original opened with. It was down 50% in Russia, but still going strong with $3.89 million on 1284 screens over the weekend for a total of $16.29 million after two. In France it held well, down just 40% to $3.10 million on 739 screens over the weekend and $8.77 million in total. It will not match its predecessors at the box office, but it should make enough internationally that it will break even, eventually.
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December 20th, 2010
The weekend numbers were mixed with only one film performing really well and a few more pulling in middling numbers for this time of year. Overall the box office was up 47% from last weekend adding $135 million to its running tally, meaning it crossed the $10 billion mark over the weekend. The good news is this was a weekend faster than that milestone was reached last year and the second highest in history. The bad news is that it was down 2% from last year, while the year-to-date race now has 2010 up by just 1.2% at $10.07 billion to $9.94 billion. There is a chance that by this time next week, 2010 will have surrendered its lead.
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December 15th, 2010
Like the previous films in the franchise, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader will clearly be a bigger hit internationally than it will domestically. This weekend it climbed into top spot with $66.18 million on 10,0159 screens in 58 markets for a total of $80.22 million. It opened in first place in Russia with $7.85 million on 1284 screens over the weekend for a total of $10.87 million. Its debut in France was a little stronger than its opening here at $5.15 million on 739 screens, likewise in South Korea with $3.89 million on 562 screens over the weekend and $5.28 million in total. In Mexico it made $3.36 million on 522 screens over the weekend and $7.01 million including previews. On the other hand, it only made $3.87 million on 536 screens in the U.K. By comparison, the first film made more than $15 million in its opening and the second more than $8 million. Its going to need strong holds going forward if it is to have any shot at breaking even. The fact that it fell just 23% during its second weekend in Spain is a hopeful sign. However, it still only managed $2.21 million on 598 screens, while this strong hold was in part due to the total lack of wide releases in that market this past weekend.
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December 14th, 2010
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations early this morning, and there are some interesting surprises included in the mix. Leading the way was The King's Speech, which has long been seen as one of the major players this Awards Season. Meanwhile, The Fighter and The Social Network were right behind with six each. There were many, many other films nomination, including more than a few shocks. ... Mostly in one category.
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December 13th, 2010
Well that sucked. Both new releases underperformed at the box office this past weekend, by a large margin. In fact, combined Dawn Treader and The Tourist earned less than many were thinking Dawn Treader alone would earn. Needless to say, this hurt the overall box office. It was still able to grow by 6.5% from last weekend to $92 million, but that's more than 5% lower than the same weekend last year, and the same weekend last year was a disappointment to begin with. 2010 still has a lead over 2009, but that lead is down to 1.5% at $9.90 billion to $9.75 billion, and by this time next weekend, that lead could be cut in half. And by the end of Christmas weekend, it could be gone entirely.
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December 9th, 2010
It could be a strong weekend at the box office with two wide releases, both with the potential of earning more than $100 million, perhaps a lot more in one case. This is great news for 2010, as this week last year was not strong. Both Dawn Treader and The Tourist should open with more than The Princess and the Frog did during its debut in wide release, although it could be close for the latter. Combined the two films could make more than the top five did last year. If so, 2010 should win big over 2009, but it will be the last win for 2010, and it still might not be enough to maintain its lead over 2009 in the end.
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December 8th, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I maintained its lead on top of the international box office chart; however, it saw its weekend haul sliced in half to $57.12 million on 14,188 screens in 62 markets for a total of $473.52 million internationally and $718.04 million worldwide. It became just the 43rd film to reach $700 million worldwide, while it will shortly overtake Up for 40th place overall.
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December 6th, 2010
The past weekend brought very little holiday cheer and the box office plummeted more than 50% from last weekend to just $86 million. To be fair, this was a post-holiday weekend, so that decline was expected, if a little more extreme than we would like. However, it was 13% lower than the same weekend last year and there's no way to sugarcoat that. Year-to-date 2010 still has a lead over 2009, but that lead is now under 2% at $9.78 billion to $9.63 billion. This means in less than a month 2010's lead has been cut in half. This is not a good sign going forward.
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December 2nd, 2010
The weekend after the Thanksgiving long weekend is historically one of the weakest weekends of the year, and by far the weakest during the winter holiday season that runs from November to New Year's. This year it is no exception with only one wide release, The Warrior's Way, and it's not even opening truly wide. This means for the second weekend in a row, there will be a holdover leading the way. However, it might not be the same holdover as last weekend. As for last year, there were three wide releases, none of which did well, but all of which provide some indication on how The Warrior's Way might perform.
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December 1st, 2010
For the second weekend in a row, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I was able to top $100 million on the international box office chart, adding $115.62 million on 16,093 screens in 61 markets for a total of $386.10 million internationally and $605.16 million worldwide. It became only the 56th film to reach $600 million worldwide, and some analysts are now predicting $1 billion is more likely than not.
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December 1st, 2010
The winners of our Tasty Treats contest were determined and they are...
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November 30th, 2010
Oscar hopeful, The King's Speech, took one giant leap forward in its quest to bring home the hardware as it topped the weekend per theater chart with and average of $88,863. You can't vote for a movie you haven't seen, so strong box office numbers usually mean more Awards Season Buzz, which in turn usually means better box office numbers. As it did on the overall box office chart, Tangled had to settle for second place on the per theater chart, but its average of $13,535 is still excellent for a saturation level release. The Legend of Pale Male was very close behind with $12,910 in its lone theater. Rounding out the $10,000 club was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, with an average of $11,900. This is way lower than last week, but not many films earn an average of more than $10,000 during their second weekend of release while playing in more than 4000 theaters.
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November 29th, 2010
As expected, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I led the way on the box office chart, but Tangled was stiffer competition than almost anyone thought it would be. Both were able to outperform the New Moon / The Blind Side one-two punch from last year. But the rest of the chart was not as strong, leading to three-day declines of 3% from last weekend and 6% from last year with $183 million. Over five days, the box office pulled in $264 million, which is again 3% lower than last year. 2010's lead over 2009 has been cut to 2% at $9.66 billion to $9.46 billion, which is not enough to assume 2010 will come out on top in the end, but it should be close.
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November 28th, 2010
A close battle for top spot at the box office led to a generally healthy Thanksgiving weekend, which looks set to be the second-biggest overall, behind last year's Twilight-dominated feast.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I lays claim to the number one berth with a very solid $50.345 million estimate, according to Warner Bros., but Tangled is close behind with Disney putting its opening three day weekend at $49.1 million.
Tangled has posted better day-to-day numbers, particularly since Thanksgiving Day itself, and topped the chart on Saturday.
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November 24th, 2010
Its the Thanksgiving long weekend and the official start of the winter holiday blockbuster season. While there are four wide releases making their debut tonight, it will likely be a holdover, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, that wins the box office race. Such was the case last year when New Moon repeated on top. It will be interesting to see whether or not Harry Potter will have stronger legs, whether or not the new releases get off to faster starts, and whether or not the overall box office is better.
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November 19th, 2010
It's Thanksgiving long weekend next weekend, which could make our weekly box office prediction contest a little more complicated for a couple reasons. First of all, our target film, Tangled, opens on Wednesday, but we are only interested in the Friday to Sunday number. Secondly, Thanksgiving is just a confusing weekend much of the time. You would think family films would do huge business, but a lot of the time, families are too busy eating to see a movie. Fortunately, we do have a really big prize to entice people to enter. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Tangled.
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 Avatar: Extended Collector's Edtion on Blu-ray.
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 a different "Humans fighting on an alien world" movie, Predators on Blu-ray.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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November 1st, 2010
November's here and expectations are all over the place. October saw 2010 lose ground to 2009, which is a bad sign going forward, but we also saw records fall. This month will undoubtedly see an increase in ticket sales over last month, what with the start of Awards Season and the Holidays, but the real question is how well it will compare with last year. Last November saw the release of a couple of surprise hits, none more surprising than The Blind Side, while in the end there were five $100 million movies and two that reached $200 million. Will that happen this year? Maybe. I count six films with a statistically significant shot at reaching $100 million, including three that might reach $200 million, and one of those has a shot at $300 million. That is on the high end, but even on the low end there are three $100 million movies coming out this month, including one that is all but guaranteed to reach $200 million in the end.
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April 13th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Valkyrie, The Wolf Man, Public Enemies and more!
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October 11th, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Avatar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Star Trek XI, and more!
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