November 30th, 2011
As it does every year, Independent Spirit Award nominations kick off the unofficial start of Awards Season. This year there were two films that topped the list of nominations: The Artist and Take Shelter. Both of those films earned five nominations, but they weren't the only films to be singled out.
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November 4th, 2011
While both Jack and Jill and The Immortals appear to be opening in saturation level theater counts next week, the former should have little trouble holding off the latter at the box office and we're going with Jack and Jill as the 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 Jack and Jill.
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 Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe on Blu-ray.
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 Cedar Rapids 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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July 7th, 2011
The Adjustment Bureau led the way on this week's Blu-ray sales chart, but with just a fraction of last week's winning total. It sold 122,000 units and generated $2.87 million in consumer spending, which is very low for the number one film. However, its Blu-ray ratio was 35%, which is good for this type of film. (At its heart it is a romance, with a slice of science fiction thrown in.)
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July 6th, 2011
Several new DVD releases charted this week, and new releases even earned the top three spots on the chart. However, sales were very weak and they only placed that well due to the lack of substantial competition. The number one film on this week's DVD sales chart was Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Rodick Rules with just 255,000 units sold and $5.01 million in opening week consumer spending at retail. To put this into perspective, that's on par with the original film's second week on the home market.
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June 21st, 2011
It's another busy week for DVD / Blu-ray with four first-run releases coming out this week. Five if you include Cedar Rapids, which was had surprisingly brisk ticket sales in limited release. Cedar Rapids is also the only one of the big releases that I would consider for Pick of the Week honors. Despite the number of wide releases on this week's list, I'm going with an unorthodox choice for Pick of the Week, "Weird Al" Yankovic - Alpocalypse, but Louie: Season One on Blu-ray earns an honorable mention.
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June 20th, 2011
It's been a pretty good year for limited releases with several films able to escape their limited roots and grab some measure of mainstream success. Win Win cracked $10 million, which is very rare for a limited release; Cave of Forgotten Dreams has made $4 million, something most documentaries never come close to; while Midnight in Paris is rapidly becoming one of Woody Allen's biggest hits, after topping $20 million over the weekend. One of the year's first limited release success stories was Cedar Rapids. This week it comes out on the home market, but will it find even more success on DVD / Blu-ray?
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June 17th, 2011
It's another week where choosing the target film for the box office prediction contest is an easy task, as Cars 2 is expected to dominate the competition. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Cars 2.
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 Cedar Rapids on DVD.
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 Nickelodeon Favorites: Summer Vacation on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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March 22nd, 2011
There were a quartet of strong performers on the per theater chart this past weekend with Bill Cunningham New York coming out on top with $33,677 in its lone theater. However, while Win Win came in second, it was close behind with $30,072 while it was playing in five theaters, instead of just one, so you could argue it had the better start. Jane Eyre remained potent with an average of $17,939, while its theater count grew from 4 to 26. It will start hitting major milestones very soon. Nostalgia for the Light was the final $10,000 film with $10,681 in one theater.
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March 15th, 2011
It was an amazing week on the per theater chart, even if you ignore Red State's special showings. The latest Kevin Smith offering added more than $100,000 over the weekend, at two special showings, for an average of $51,283. At this pace, it's going to start hitting major milestones before its theatrical debut this fall. Meanwhile, Jane Eyre had the best per theater average for a regular release this year at $45,721 in four theaters. The good news doesn't end there as Kill The Irishman opened with an average of $29,086 in five theaters, which also suggests the ability to expand significantly. Certified Copy earned close to $80,000 in five theaters for an average of $15,587. That would have been enough to lead the way many weekends so far this year. 3 Backyards opened with $11,000 in one theater, while the overall number one film, Battle: Los Angeles opened with an average of $10,411 in more than 3400 theaters.
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March 8th, 2011
Red State started its box office run over the weekend, sort of. It played at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City at a special engagement, bringing in $161,590 for one showing. However, with ticket prices at $54, it's hardly a regular showing, so some are saying it shouldn't count. There is an argument to be made that people were paying for the Q&A with Kevin Smith and it is more accurate to consider this part of his popular speaking tour. That said, Dreamgirls also started with a premium showing at higher that usual prices and that counted. Given the number of tickets sold, even if they cost the average amount, it still would have earned $30,000, which would have still led the way on the Per Theater Chart. The only real competition was from Happythankyoumoreplease, which opened with an average of $17,532 in two theaters.
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March 1st, 2011
There were no films that managed a per theater average of $10,000 or more over the weekend, but I Am came the closest with an average of $9,649 in two theaters. Meanwhile the best new release was Of Gods and Men with an average of $9,360 in 33 theaters.
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February 23rd, 2011
There were a pair of $10,000 films on the per theater chart this week, led by The Last Lions with an average of $13,336 in four theaters. I Am was relatively close behind with $10,500 in one theater.
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February 15th, 2011
Strong reviews and an impressive cast helped Cedar Rapids top the per theater chart with an average of $20,198 in 15 theaters. Vidal Sassoon: The Movie was the only other film to reach an average of $10,000 with $13,053 in its lone theater.
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February 13th, 2011
Justin Bieber's popularity may not be restricted to Twitter after all.
This weekend's box office race is too close to call on Sunday morning after Justin Bieber: Never Say Never posted an impressive $30.26m opening weekend, enough to put it within striking distance of Just Go With It for top spot.
The Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy is pegged at $31m by Sony Pictures, which makes it the favorite to win, but a 2% difference between the two films means that Bieber could still take the title if fans turn out in greater numbers than expected today.
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February 11th, 2011
For the past several weeks, the Oscars have scared off a lot of competition for art house crowds. However, this week not only do we have Oscar Shorts opening, there are several films earning award-worthy reviews. My only concern is that there are so many strong choices, some of them will fall between the cracks and won't find the audience they deserve.
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