February 3rd, 2009
Wow. That was... Due to technical difficulties, late deliveries, and some misfiled DVDs, this week's list is a little later than normal (but it's still Tuesday, so it's not technically late). It is also a lot larger than normal with a record number of Spotlight reviews (23 in all, or 30 if you count individual movies). There are also some very high quality releases including Zack and Miri Make a Porno on either DVD or Blu-ray. However, given the subject matter of that film, I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. The best release of the week is, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist on DVD or Blu-ray, but especially Blu-ray, which is worth the upgrade. That film is the DVD Pick of the Week. With a record number of spotlight reviews, it goes without saying that the list had to be split up this week, with the first part found here, while the second part can be found here. (First time I had to separate the list into three parts.)
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January 27th, 2009
One of the longest lists in a while this week, but there's a lack of quality at the top. There are a number that are of interest, like Zodiac on Blu-ray, The Bourne Trilogy on Blu-ray, and others, none rise to the level of DVD Pick of the Week. The list was long enough that it has to be split up, and the second part can be found here.
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November 18th, 2008
It's a weird week for the DVD release report. According to Amazon, seven of the top ten releases come from two movies: WALL-E and Tropic Thunder. Add in the Spanish language edition and there are five versions of the former movie coming out this week, including the 3-Disc DVD and the 3-Disc Blu-ray, either one of which is worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week. The overall group of releases feels weaker than last week, but it is more than enough that it had to be split into two parts. Part two can be found here.
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January 22nd, 2008
More than 40 releases made it on to this week's list, however, after reviewing the whole selection, there's a real weakness at the top. There are plenty worth renting a more than a few worth picking up, but none that leap out and demand to be chosen the DVD Pick of the Week. Hopefully that will change next week.
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January 15th, 2008
The final three guilds handed out their nominations over the past week and while most deal with television, there are a handful of theatrical nominations for each of the Directors Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America, and the Writers Guild of America.
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January 8th, 2008
We are back to a relatively normal level of DVD releases this week, including a few that are worth considering for DVD Pick of the Week.
Both 3:10 to Yuma on Blu-Ray and The Riches - Season 1 on DVD are prime contenders.
If you don't have Blu-Ray, it's the latter, while if you do, it's the former.
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August 12th, 2007
New releases made their presence felt this week, earning five spots on the DVD sales chart, including the first two places.
The battle for first place wasn't even close, though, as
300 made a dominant debut, selling 5.10 million units, which was 2 million more than the rest of the top 30 combined.
Its opening week sales of $115 million was double the rest of the top 30.
Second place went to Hot Fuzz with a very respectable 676,000 units; you must remember, this is a film that only cost 8 million Pounds to make, roughly, which is about $17 million American.
The film made more than that in just one week on the home market in combined rentals and sales, so everyone involved must be very, very happy indeed.
Pathfinder's sales were stronger than its rentals as it moved 562,000 units for a total of $10.10 million in sales, which was more than it earned theatrically.
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August 5th, 2007
There was a close race on the DVD Sales Chart this week, with The Number 23 topping Zodiac 387,000 units to 352,000 units sold.
Premonition fell to third place with 190,000 units sold and 791,000 in total.
The Hills Have Eyes 2 placed third with 134,000 units sold for the week and 536,000 in total.
Rounding out the top five was Shooter with 109,000 units sold for the week and 1.90 million after a month of release.
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July 23rd, 2007
It's the busiest week in a long time and not only do we have more than three dozen films on this week's list (and six spotlight reviews), but we have plenty of releases worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week.
Hard Boiled - 2-Disc Collector's Edition, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law - Volume 3, The Host - 2-Disc Special Edition... and those are just the ones beginning with the letter H. All three of those deserve to be added to your DVD collections, as well as a few others, but I'm trying to limit the DVD Pick of the Week to one selection and that's The Host - 2-Disc Special Edition.
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July 22nd, 2007
As expected, The Transformers fell to second place this week, what wasn't expected was how well it held on. The film was down a mere 23% to $36.13 million on 3667 screens in 31 markets for a total of $146.66 million internationally. The film opened in China with a record-setting $12.6 million on 300 screens over the first five days while it earned $498,000 on 71 in Greece and $258,000 from 28 in Israel. The film's best market so far has been South Korea where it has taken in $39.52 million in three weeks, including $5.76 million on 540 screens this past weekend. This is a record for a non-South Korean film and an unexpectedly strong performance. Additionally, the film has yet to open in a number of major markets including the U.K., Japan, France, and Mexico and should hit $300 million internationally and $600 million worldwide, if not more.
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July 15th, 2007
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End remained in sixth place with $8.94 million on 5442 screens in 101 markets for a total of $624.93 million. Internationally the film is in fifth place all-time and should top Dead Man's Chest shortly. Worldwide, it is also in fifth place but Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone's $974.56 million seems safe. As for At World's End's individual markets, the U.K. is still ahead of Japan $80.06 million to $77.58 million. However, Japan is catching up $2.28 million on 674 screens compared to just $738,000 on 357 in the U.K. At this pace Japan will need just two weeks to become the film's biggest draw.
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July 8th, 2007
Some very interesting news on the international front this weekend regarding Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. First of all, it fell out of the top five; however, it was still able to pull in more than $10 million over the weekend. Not too long ago it was a chore to find a dozen films that cracked $1 million, while this past weekend we had 6 that earned $10 million or more. Over the weekend the film added $14.02 million on 5775 screens in 104 markets for a total of $608.89 million internationally. It is the sixth film to cross $600 million internationally and is now in fifth place on that chart. Worldwide the film has $906.89 million making it the ninth highest grosser of all time. The U.K. is still the film's best market at $78.51 million compared to second pace Japan where it has made $74.02 million. However, that gap continues to narrow with the film making $3.23 million on 691 screens in the latter and $1.37 million on 401 screens in the former.
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July 1st, 2007
There was a troubling lack of final results this week and this results in a few studio estimates with some of the numbers. However, it appears that Black House was able to place fourth on the international charts after winning the box office race in South Korea The film was able to top its native market with $2.71 million on 325 screens over the weekend and $3.35 million in total.
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June 20th, 2007
Not only did Shrek the Third climb to top spot this weekend, it also crossed $100 million internationally while hitting $400 million worldwide. Over the weekend the film added more than 10 new markets earning $46.64 million on 3564 screens in 32 markets for a total of $108.27 million, double its haul at this point last week. Its biggest new market of the week was France where it earned $12.5 million from 850 screens, 20% more than Shrek 2 opened with. The film was also tops in Mexico with $9.12 million on 418 screens and in Brazil with $5.9 million on 280. That last figure represents a record for animated films and is nearly triple what Shrek 2 opened with. On the other hand, the film fell nearly 50% in Australia to $4.41 million on 476 screens for a total of $16.78 million while its decline was even steeper in South Korea down 69% to $2.7 million over the weekend and $15.2 million in total. That said, it is still tracking for a $500 million international total and $800 million worldwide. On the other hand, poor critical reception and shorter legs suggest the franchise peaked with Shrek 2 and Shrek 4 and Shrek 5 might be pressing the studio's luck.
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June 13th, 2007
Weaker than expected competition helped Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End maintain its stranglehold on first place, despite losing more than 50% at the box office. Over the weekend the film added $50.70 million on 12,591 screens in 103 markets for a total of $495.16 million meaning it should crack $500 million internationally by this time this column in published while $600 million is still the target number. However, due to weaker than expected domestic numbers $1 billion worldwide is out of reach. The film hit $50 million in Japan over the weekend after earning $7.68 million on 842 screens, down just 20%. That was the film's biggest single market over the weekend, but its total there of $50.41 million is second place to the U.K.'s $66.22 million running tally. However, in that market the film is fading fast and Japan could eventually become At World's End's most lucrative market.
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June 6th, 2007
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End lost more than 50% of its international opening this past weekend, but it was still the clear winner with an outstanding $103.22 million on 17,500 screens in 103 markets. It also became the fastest film to reach $400 million internationally with $406.41 million after the weekend and that places it 25th on that particular chart. Worldwide the film had $623.96 million, which put it in 30th place just behind The Incredibles (it overtook that film during the week).
At this pace, the film should have no difficulty catching Spider-Man 3 and become the biggest international box office hit this year.
It should manage to become the worldwide leader shortly afterward.
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June 3rd, 2007
Spider-Man 3 earned a comfortable second place earning almost as much as the rest of the films on this list with $21.07 million on 10,365 screens in 76 markets for a total of $501.00 million. It is only the 14th film to reach that milestone while it became the 16th film to top $800 million worldwide and has already climbed into 14th place overall. The U.K. regained the lead as the best market for the film adding $2.58 million on 460 screens for a total of $61.09 million. Japan took in $2.36 million on 630 screens while France made $2.31 million on 866 screens as the only other two markets to top $2 million over the weekend and the film now has $47.79 million and $48.55 million respectively. There were a quartet of led by Brazil, ($1.29 million for the weekend and $21.55 million in total); Spain, ($1.29 million / $22.49 million); Mexico, ($1.22 million / $32.90 million); and Germany, ($1.01 million / $27.16 million).
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May 23rd, 2007
Spider-Man 3 earned its third, and likely last, first place finish on the international charts scoring $51.07 million on 13,491 screens in 73 markets. Internationally the film has amassed a total of $466.71 million, which places it 17th on the all-time chart while worldwide the film had pulled in $749.09 million and is in 23rd place there. Moving onto individual markets, France was the best bet over the weekend adding $6.5 million at 973, ahead of the U.K.'s $5.3 million on 508 screens, (although the U.K. still leads on the cumulative totals $57.2 million to $46.4 million).
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March 12th, 2007
The weekend was rather predictable, with three of the top five landing within a rounding error of expectations and another finishing close enough to call it a victory. ...
OK, I got skunked on 300, but I think I know why.
That film's record-breaking opening helped push the overall box office to $153 million over the weekend, up 23% from last weekend and 39% from the same weekend last year.
As for the yearly trend, we have seeing a lot more massive hits coming out this year than expected.
This could be a portent of things to come, and that would mean we might have more than a dozen films top $200 million this summer alone.
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March 8th, 2007
One of the most talked about March movies opens this weekend, but there are some concerns regarding 300's ability to turn this talk into box office dollars.
Should it fail to do so, Wild Hogs will be right there looking to become the second biker movie in a row to repeat at the top of the charts.
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March 6th, 2007
March came in like a lion, with Wild Hogs earning the third best opening ever for the month.
Even with the other new releases missing expectations, the overall box office still climbed to $124 million.
That's up nearly 6% from last weekend and 20% from the same weekend last year.
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March 2nd, 2007
Just an average week in terms of updates, but there are a couple sites of note including the winner of the Weekly Website Award, Wild Hogs - Official Site.
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March 1st, 2007
March starts off this weekend with three releases, two of which are currently earning overall positive reviews. However, it is the third wide release that is tracking well above the other two and is the clear favorite to win the weekend box office race.
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March 1st, 2007
March, a month without a holiday. In fact, It's the only month without any holidays to help boost the box office and this prevents studios from releasing big blockbusters. However, it is not the weakest month either and there are a few midlevel hits coming out over the next four weeks and even a couple that could top $100 million
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February 9th, 2007
Still waiting sites for the big summer blockbusters to come online. In the meantime, this week is relatively busy, but with only a couple sites that look like they could be award-worthy once the features are added. The best of the best, and I use that term loosely, is
Norbit -
Official Site with a site that could be more entertaining than the movie it promotes.
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November 18th, 2006
A lot of trailers on this week's list of websites. Not only were there a lot of site with just trailers, there were a few trailers without sites. On the other hand, there were also a few contenders for the Weekly Website Award. In the end it was
The Children of Men -
Official Site that took home that prestigious award.
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November 12th, 2006
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Halloween, Saw 4, The Incredible Hulk and more.
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