November 5th, 2013
Twilight came out in 2008 to a mixture of high buzz and abject horror. There were a lot of people who were major fans of the book series by Stephenie Meyer, while others consider Stephenie Meyer the worst author of all time. That might be a bit harsh. The first movie opened with mixed reviews, but smashed through all expectations with nearly $200 million domestically. A year later, New Moon came out and despite earning just 27% positive reviews. That's awful any way you look at it, but even so, it earned nearly $300 million at the box office. Clearly this franchise is critic-proof and I'm under no delusion that any of my criticisms will stop anyone from buying this 10-disc Blu-ray box set. I'm so convinced that no one will change their minds over my opinion of the movie that I'm going to keep that portion of the review to a minimum and concentrate on the extras instead. After all, anyone interested in this box set has already made up their mind about the movie and just want to know if this box set has enough extras to be worth the price.
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April 29th, 2013
New releases did better on Blu-ray than they did on DVD with eight films charting on the March 17th, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart. They were led by Rise of the Guardians, which sold 584,000 units / $11.77 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 42%, which is strong, for a kids movie.
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April 29th, 2013
There were not a lot of new releases on the March 17th, 2013 edition of the DVD sales chart, but one of them took top spot. Rise of the Guardians sold 804,000 units and generated $12.45 million in sales. This is a solid opening for this type of release.
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April 24th, 2013
Wreck-It Ralph led a group of five new releases earning first place on the March 10th, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart. The film sold 1.01 million units and generated $28.29 million in opening week sales, for an opening week Blu-ray share of 50%. This is is amazing for a kids film. Granted, it does have a high nerd nostalgia factor, which helped on Blu-ray, but this is still impressive.
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April 24th, 2013
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 remained on top spot on the March 10th, 2013 edition of the DVD sales chart, while there were seven new releases to put in an appearance in the top 30. Part 2 sold an additional 1.35 million units / $20.23 million during its first full week of release for early totals of 3.47 million units / $51.87 million. It is the best selling DVD of the year.
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April 19th, 2013
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 was one of four releases from the franchise to come out this week on Blu-ray. Normally it would be great news for the Blu-ray market when a monster hit like this comes out; however, the target demographic isn't the prime demographic for Blu-ray. The overall sales actually fell when compared to last week, albeit by less than 2% in terms of units and 15% in terms of revenue. Additionally, sales of 1.61 million units / $37.46 million for the week were 94% / 79% higher than the same weekend last year. You can't complain about that. The overall Blu-ray share took a beating falling to 27% in terms of units and 32% in terms of revenue. This is just an anomaly given the top release(s).
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April 19th, 2013
A pair of new releases led the way on the March 3rd, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart. Or perhaps there was only one. It depends on how you look at things. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 earned first place with 649,000 units / $12.96 million. However, second place went to the Breaking Dawn double-shot, which sold 173,000 units / $3.77 million. Technically those are two different releases, but one could count them as one movie. Individually, they have opening week Blu-ray shares of 23% and 29%, which is pretty bad for a first-run release. However, this franchise has always pulled in more women than men, and movies aimed at women tend not to do as well on Blu-ray.
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April 19th, 2013
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 dominated the new releases and easily took first place on the March 3rd, 2013 edition of the DVD sales chart. It sold 2.12 million units and generated $31.64 million, and did so during a shortened sales week. (It came out on Friday.) Second place went to a Breaking Dawn double-pack, which was an exclusive release. The double-shot sold an additional 418,00 units and generated $16.70 million more in sales. Add them together, and this film is already the best selling DVD of 2013, at least so far.
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April 14th, 2013
The one-two punch of Argo / Game of Thrones: Season Two helped the Blu-ray sales hold on rather well from last week. Granted, overall the new releases were not as strong and sales fell 30% in terms of units and 19% in terms of revenue, but 1.83 million units and $49.39 million is still a good week. More importantly, this was 39% more units sold and 51% higher revenue generated when compared to last year. It also boosted the overall Blu-ray share to 39% in terms of units and 51% in terms of revenue.
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February 26th, 2013
It's a good week on the home market with not only one of the biggest films of the last year coming out, but also one of the best. The biggest is The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2, which should be the best selling DVD and Blu-ray for the week, but it isn't a contender for Pick of the Week. For that honor, we go back a few weeks to Frankenweenie. The screener arrived late, but it was worth waiting for and the 3D Combo Pack, while a little pricey, is worth picking up. Also in contender for Pick of the Week is Rocko's Modern Life: The Complete Series.
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December 27th, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey remained on top of the international chart with an estimated $96 million on 18,417 screens in 59 markets for a total of $288.5 million. This includes a first place, $17.8 million opening on 2,115 screens in Russia. It also had an amazing hold in Germany down just 6% to $14.2 million on 1,408 screens over the weekend for a total of $36.7 million after two. The film's best market remained the U.K. where it has made $38.4 million, including $9.8 million on 1,546 screens this past weekend, but that is a pretty steep drop-off.
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December 20th, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey entered the international chart in first place with $138.0 million on 18,165 screens in 56 markets. Leading the way was the U.K. with $18.80 million on 598 screens, while it also cracked $10 million in Germany with $15.13 million on 877 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $17.19 million. It also came very close in France with $9.77 million on 958 screens. The film had similar strong openings in Spain with $7.98 million on 1,052 screens and in South Korea with $7.29 million on 1,028 screes over the weekend, although it had a total opening of $8.50 million.
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December 13th, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens this weekend and it will clearly be the biggest hit of the month and likely the biggest hit of the winter. There is roughly a 100% chance that The Hobbit will earn first place and nearly all analysts think it will earn more than the entire box office earned last week. It might even earn more than the entire box office made last year. Last year, the box office was led by Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which made just under $40 million, while second place went to Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked with just over $23 million. If The Hobbit doesn't make more than those two films made combined, then the box office is in serious trouble.
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December 13th, 2012
Rise Of The Guardians reached first place on the international chart with $26.71 million on 9,620 screens in 58 markets for a total of $91.33 million. The film had no major market openings, but it did rise to first place in the U.K. with $2.57 million on 495 screens over the weekend for a total of $6.51 million after two. It also remained in first place in France with $2.86 million on 649 screens, giving it a two-week total of $7.79 million. The film does have a few more markets left to open in, including Australia this coming weekend, so it should earn enough to break even sooner rather than later.
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December 10th, 2012
Skyfall returned to the top of the box office chart, which is fitting, because it was the last film released that truly beat expectations at the box office. The only wide release this week, Playing For Keeps, barely remained above the Mendoza Line and failed to reach the top five. The overall box office fell 30% to just $80 million. Ugh. There are a couple of pieces of good news we should focus on. Firstly, $80 million is still 7% higher than this weekend last year. Secondly, it was enough to push 2012 over the $10 billion market. At the moment, the total box office for 2012 is $10.02 billion, which is 6% higher than 2011 had managed at the same point in the year. By this time next week, 2012 might be ahead of 2011's final figure of $10.28 billion.
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December 9th, 2012
Skyfall returns to the top of the chart this weekend as another new release fails to catch on with audiences and films playing for a 3rd, 4th or 5th weekend battle for top billing. The new release that has missed out this time around is Playing for Keeps, which will land in 6th place with around $6 million. Above it, Rise of the Guardians, Lincoln and Life of Pi are all holding up well on a week-to-week basis (down 21%, 32% and 32% respectively), but Skyfall will win the weekend thanks to its existing momentum. Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 continues to tumble -- it will be down 47% this weekend -- but it will still come in third with just over $9 million.
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December 7th, 2012
For the third weekend in a row, holdovers are expected to dominated the box office. In fact, there are many analysts that think Playing For Keeps won't even reach the top five. That doesn't mean there won't be a race for top spot, as Skyfall, Lincoln, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 were within $100,000 of each other on Wednesday. Will Lincoln finally gets its place at the top? Or will Skyfall return to the clouds? Meanwhile, how will the overall box office compare to last year, which was led by the one-two punch of New Year's Eve and The Sitter. That was a pretty weak effort from 2011, so 2012 does have an opening for a victory, despite the lack of significant new releases.
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December 6th, 2012
We are still stuck with studio estimates for the international numbers, but we can confidently say The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 is in top spot. The film pulled in $48.8 million on 11,800 screens in 73 markets for totals of $447.8 million internationally and $702.40 million worldwide. It has likely already become the biggest hit in the franchise. The film had no major market openings, but it has yet to debut in Japan, but it will likely get past $800 million before then, which will be its last major milestone.
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December 3rd, 2012
It was a close race for top spot as The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 just held off Skyfall by less than $1 million. Unfortunately, the best new release, Killing Them Softly, failed to match low expectations, while The Collection barely managed a spot in the top ten. The overall box office fell 45% to $114 million. However, as sharp as that decline was, it was still 41% higher than the same weekend last year and December begins with 2012 ahead of 2011 by 5.9% at $9.91 billion to $9.36 billion.
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December 2nd, 2012
The weekend after Thanksgiving is not known for its box office prowess, and this year is proving no different. Most films in the top 10 are down around 50% from last weekend, and the new wide releases are both falling short of their respective distributor's hopes. Killing Them Softly is headed for a $7 million debut, according to Weinstein, which is Brad Pitt's worst wide opening since Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas back in 2003, and worst live action wide release since 1994's The Favor. Meanwhile, LD Distribution is projecting $3.4 million for The Collection in 1,403 theaters, which is less of a surprise, but still a disappointment. With those two misfires, the top of the chart is once more populated by Breaking Dawn, Part 2 and Skyfall, which are essentially neck and neck at this point, with Twilight topping $250 million domestically this weekend and Bond set to reach that landmark in the next few days.
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November 30th, 2012
Like last weekend, holdovers will again dominate the new releases this weekend. However, one could argue the headline is inaccurate, as Killing Them Softly is really the only new film opening truly wide, so it should be "release", singular. The Collection is opening in more theaters than originally anticipated, perhaps enough to grab a spot in the top ten, but it is not opening truly wide. That said, there are some who think The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 will relinquish top spot at the box office with some thinking Skyfall will regain the title, while others think Lincoln will climb to first place. This weekend last year was a total disaster with the best new release playing in just 10 theaters. This year we should be a little stronger at the top and with a lot more depth.
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November 29th, 2012
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 held firm in first place with $104.21 million on 12,818 screens in 73 markets for a two-week total of $365.46 million intentionally and $592.83 million worldwide. By this time next week, it should be the biggest hit in the franchise. This past weekend, the film opened in Germany earning first place with $12.82 million on 765 screens for a total opening of $16.67 million. Its best holdover was in the U.K. where it made $8.56 million on 559 screens over the weekend for a total of $43.22 million. This is a strong result, but it was down 66%, which is troubling. It was better in Russia down 62% to $8.30 million on 1,380 screens for a total of $36.28 million after two. A 62% decline is actually average for the market, more or less. The film has very few markets left to open in, but it is already profitable, so the studio should be very happy.
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November 27th, 2012
It was a particularly busy week on top of the per theater chart with seven films topping the $10,000 mark. Leading the way was Hitchcock with an average of $16,924 in 17 theaters. This is good for a limited release, but not great, and given the competition at this time of year, it needed to be great to survive. Anna Karenina expanded from 16 theaters to 66 earning an average of $13,580. Again, this is good, but not great. Rust and Bone was next with an average of $13,577 in two theaters. If it had sold just one more ticket, it would have earned second place instead of third on this list. Lincoln actually saw its per theater average grow reaching $12,724. It has already expanded truly wide and it should expand at least a little bit more. Likewise, Silver Linings Playbook should also expand more, as its per theater average this week was $11,945; however, it likely won't expand wide. The overall box office leader, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2, was next up with an average of $10,723. The Central Park Five topped $10,000 on the per theater chart, barely, with an average of $10,190 in three theaters. Skyfall was the final film in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,069. It is pretty rare for a film to remain above that mark for three weeks in a row.
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November 26th, 2012
The Thanksgiving long weekend was stronger than anticipated with nearly every film topping predictions, some by pretty big margins. In fact, some earned more over three days than they were expected to earn over five days. Despite this, the box office was actually down 17% from last weekend to $208 million over the three-day portion of the weekend. This was 26% higher than the three-day portion of last year's Thanksgiving long weekend. Over five days, the box office pulled in $291 million, which is the most ever for a Thanksgiving weekend and 25% higher than last year. Year-to-date, 2012 has pulled in $9.75 billion, which is 5.5% higher than last year's running tally of $9.24 billion. If 2012 can simply match 2011 the rest of the way, then we will set a new all-time yearly box office total with about $10.7 billion.
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November 25th, 2012
As expected, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 and Skyfall are dominating the Thanksgiving charts, and, with some help from three new releases and two strong holdovers, will produce the most lucrative Thanksgiving holiday in history. All told, we should see something a little over $200 million in revenue for the three-day portion of the weekend, placing it in the top 20 weekends of all time. Breaking Dawn, Part 2 is tracking about in line with Part 1 at this point in its run. In contrast, Skyfall is well ahead of James Bond's previous outing, and has become the first Bond movie to top $200 million domestically (before adjusting for inflation).
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November 23rd, 2012
Next weekend after Thanksgiving long weekend is usually a slow on, and this week it is no different, as the only wide release is Killing Them Softly. This film has almost no chance to top The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 at the box office; in fact, it might not reach the top five. Regardless, 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 Killing Them Softly.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a signed copy of Tiffany Alvord's EP "My Heart Is" on CD.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a signed copy of Tiffany Alvord's EP "My Heart Is" on CD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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November 21st, 2012
It's the beginning of Thanksgiving long weekend tonight, which means it is a busy day for new releases. There are three new releases opening wide, plus another film that is expanding wide enough that is has a shot at the top ten. Unfortunately for the new films, there's little hope any of them will top The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 over the weekend. In fact, there's a chance none of them will top Skyfall for second place. Rise of the Guardians is the only one with a real shot at second place, while Life of Pi and Red Dawn will be in a tough battle for fifth place. Finally, Silver Linings Playbook is expanding to more than 400 theaters and could grab tenth place. The box office last year looks very similar to the box office potential this year. With a little luck, there will be mostly pleasant surprises rather than serious disappointments and 2012 will have another solid win.
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November 21st, 2012
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 opened internationally and dominated the chart with $199.45 million on 13,400 screens in 61 markets during its first weekend of release. It opened in a number of major markets, scoring first place in all of them. In the U.K., the film made $25.20 million on 558 screens, while it also topped $20 million in Russia with $21.97 million on 1,366. In France, the film pulled in $16.56 million on 823 screens, while in Brazil it earned $12.24 million on 1,213 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $17.87 million. In Spain it made $11.76 million on 1,052 screens over the weekend and $12.11 million including previews. It earned $10.58 million on 856 screens over the weekend in Italy for a total opening on $13.34 million. Mexico was close behind with $9.94 million on 2,642 screens over the weekend and $12.29 million in total. It didn't hit the $10 million market in South Korea; in fact, it barely earned first place there with $5.91 million on 665 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $7.17 million. A local hit, A Werewolf Boy was right behind, but more on that below.
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November 20th, 2012
The winner of our Get the Picture (Frame) contest was determined and it is...
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November 20th, 2012
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 led the overall chart and the per theater chart. Its average was $34,660, which is especially impressive, as it was playing in more than 4,000 theaters. The next best release was Silver Linings Playbook, which earned an average of $27,688 in 16 theaters. This suggests a strong potential to expand, while its reviews suggest a strong word-of-mouth and some Awards Season buzz. Anna Karenina was next up with an average of $20,043, also playing in 16 theaters, but the reviews suggest it will struggle if it tries to expand. The Comedy opened in New York this week after playing in Los Angeles last week and it did really well earning $13,150. Both members of last week's $10,000 club remained above that mark this week with Lincoln earning an average of $11,859 and Skyfall earning an average of $11,727. One final note, while Jab Tak Hai Jaan didn't quite reach that mark with an average of $8,022 in 160 theaters, it debuted on Tuesday. In total, it made $1.94 million, which would have given it an average of $12,136, had it made that over the weekend.
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November 19th, 2012
While The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 wasn't quite as strong as predicted, it still had a monster opening. Likewise, the two big holdovers both fell a little further than anticipated. The only film in the top five that really beat expectations was Lincoln. Fortunately, all of the films in the top five came close enough to matching the predictions that the overall box office was still very strong. Compared to last week, the box office grew by 44% to just under $250 million. Compared to last year, the box office grew 12%, which is a much more important number. Year-to-date, 2012 has pulled in $9.41 billion and is now 4.8% above last year's pace. It is still technically possible that 2012 will fail to match last year at the box office, but it is ferociously unlikely.
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November 18th, 2012
The beginning of the end for the Twilight franchise is here, and, as expected, big money is being made by Lionsgate/Summit. While this installment doesn't look like it will break franchise records, Lionsgate is predicting a $141.3 million opening weekend, which will be the 8th-best of all time, assuming it holds up. New Moon will most likely remain the top opener for the franchise with $142.8 million, although it will be a close-run thing. Twilight will most likely end up the 5th-highest-grossing franchise at the domestic box office, behind only the "box office gods", Harry Potter, Star Wars, Batman and James Bond.
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November 15th, 2012
As The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 prepares to re-write the record book, it would be easy to overlook the rest of the top five. However, there are a few other films of note. Firstly, Lincoln, which is expanding this weekend and will nearly be at the truly wide level. Nearly everyone thinks this film will grab a spot in the top five. Also, despite a lot of people predicting Breaking Dawn will break records, a lot of people think Skyfall will hold up pretty well over the weekend. By comparison, last year, Breaking Dawn, Part 1 had an impressive opening, but it was the only thing about the weekend that was impressive, as Happy Feet 2 crashed and burned. There's a slim chance Breaking Dawn, Part 2 will open with more than the combined openings of those two films. Adding in Skyfall and 2012 should come out with a major win this week.
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November 14th, 2012
Skyfall started its domestic run and included in its $90 million weekend haul was $12.75 million in 320 IMAX theaters. Internationally, it added another $2.7 million in 127 IMAX theaters, for a three-week total of $14.5 million internationally and $27.25 million worldwide. Up next for the format is The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 this weekend, which should be huge.
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November 9th, 2012
Like last week, there's only one new wide release this week, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2. That film should have no trouble topping the box office charts. In fact, it could break the November weekend record and might even start so strong it has the momentum to win three weekends in a row. It is clearly the only choice for the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. However, while the choice for target film is boring, we do have a fun prize, as we are giving away something we rarely get a chance to do: merchandise! To celebrate the release of Friends: Blu-ray Megaset, we have some merchandise from the show to give away. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), regardless if they go over or under, will win a limited Edition Friends prize pack with two oversized cappuccino mugs and a picture frame just like the one on Monica’s door. (See the image above for what they look like.)
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, 2012
October was pretty good with a few films really crushing expectations, which made up for the few duds that opened at the end. 2012 gained about $100 million over 2011 during the month of October. We really needed this success and hopefully November will continue this push forward. However, November is a bit of a weird month. There are five weekends, but only eight true wide releases, half of which open on the Thanksgiving long weekend, leaving the other four weeks with just one true wide release each. There are a couple others opening in the semi-wide level and another opening in limited release with a planned wide release, but even so, it is not a busy month. That said, it is a case of quality over quantity. There are four films that are pretty much guaranteed to reach $100 million, one of which should reach $300 million. By comparison, last November only produced one $100 million film. Granted, that film was The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, which made nearly $300 million, which is a huge number no matter how you look at it. But this year, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 should top that number and with the other $100 million movies pulling in more than $400 million combined, it should be a very profitable month at the box office.
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