December 18th, 2005
Just Like Heaven dipped at the box office falling out of the top five with $4.53 million on 1609 screens in 30 markets over the weekend for an early total of $18.04 million internationally. Its best opening was in Belgium where it debuted in second place with $252,000 on 40 screens over the weekend and $290,000 in total. It also had debuts in Holland with $139,000 on 57 screens over the weekend and $167,000 overall, and in Greece with $116,000 on 24 and Norway with $113,000 on 26. Holdovers include Germany where the film dropped 24% to $890,000 on 273 screens for a total of $2.41 million so far, while in Spain the film fell 39% to 718,000 on 200 screens for a two-week total of $3.09 million.
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July 17th, 2005
Mr. and Mrs. Smith continues its excellent run in Asia with a $2.2 million opening in 450 theatres in China. The film also added $1.8 million in South Korea for an $18 million running total in that market, (although it was pushed out of the top spot in that market. Overall the film made $4 million pushing its total to $117 million internationally and $275 million worldwide.
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May 28th, 2005
For the third weekend in a row National Treasure come out on top spot on the combined rental charts. It was a much closer race this week and the film fell 28% to $7.72 million in combined rentals, lifting its three week total to $30.45 million.
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May 21st, 2005
Assault on Precinct 13, the
remake to the
John Carpenter cult classic hit theatres in January. And while the film failed to make much of an impact at the box office it should get a second life on the home market. It works better on the small screen and the
DVD release is very well done.
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May 21st, 2005
Three new films in the top five and two more than just missed could push
National Treasure out of top spot. The film fell just 11% this week for $9.40 million in DVD rentals and $1.30 million in VHS rentals for a combined rentals of $10.70. The film also held up well in DVD dropping to second place.
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May 9th, 2005
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases, classics and a few from the growing TV on DVD section. It usually takes over four months for a film's theatrical release till its debut in DVD, and just over four months ago was the middle of January, which explains why there are some real low quality films on this week's list. However, there are also some top-notch choices, leading the way is the DVD pick of the Week - In Good Company - Buy from Amazon.
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April 24th, 2005
Hitch is just coasting on holdovers now, and will be until it opens in Japan at the beginning of June. This week it added $5.1 million from 3000 screens in 55 markets to its already impressive $170.4 million international total and with soft week to week drop-offs and a good showing in Japan and it will have a $200 million future. This week the film added $643,359 in its fifth weekend in France for a $12,785,670 total in the market, $110,000 in its second weekend in Argentina, (rising to first place in the meantime) as well as other, smaller markets.
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April 17th, 2005
The Pacifier finally debut across Australia after playing in Queensland and Victoria for the past two weeks; the massive expansion allowed the film to climb to first place with $1.125 million on 267 screens. That lifted its total in the market to $3.41 million so far and the film should have strong legs. Add to that its $1.75 million opening in Spain and $590,000 in Belgium and the film managed $4.1 million over the weekend, which doubled its early total to $8.1 million.
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April 10th, 2005
It was a slow week at the international box office, the slowest of the year, and without much activity at the box office hit there were little in the way of details published by the studios. Therefore this week's column is much shorter than usual. Leading the best of the rest was
Be Cool with an estimated $5 million for a disappointing $12.7 million international tally. Its best single market was the U.K. where the film finished second with $2.2 million on 336 screens after an exclusive engagement last weekend. The film also did well in the Netherlands with $190,000 on 43 screens but really struggles in Germany opening in fifth place with just $930,000 on 321 screens, a result mirrored in Austria, (fifth place, $165,948.)
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April 3rd, 2005
Million Dollar Baby performed brilliantly this week earning $8.8 million for an international total of $60 million, placing fourth on the international box office charts. In France the film dominated the marketplace with $4.94 million on 450 screens and in Germany the film earned $760,000 in semi-limited release (120 screens) for the best per screen average in the market. On the other hand, the film flopped in Slovakia where it missed the top ten in its debut. On the holdover front, the multi-
Oscar winning front saw its weekend haul climb by 20% in Spain to $980,000 and it's still doing well in Australia, Italy and South Korea.
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March 27th, 2005
Million Dollar Baby has again slipped off the radar screen, but we do know it hit $52 million internationally, which means it made $9 million during the week. The film didn't earn $1 million in any single market, but is still doing strong in South Korea, ($970,000), Spain, ($840,000), Italy, ($600,000) and Australia, ($350,000.) Best estimate has the film earning just shy of $5 million of that over the weekend and taking sixth place on the international box office charts.
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March 20th, 2005
After gathering in all the data the winner for the race for fifth place is
Million Dollar Baby, I think. It would need to lost more than 40% from last week's total and that's not taking into account its openings in South Korea at $1,515,672 and second place, its $110,000, third place debut in Finland, $86,000 in Russia, $50,000, second place debut in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, exact weekend totals are unknown but it is estimated at $6 million raising its international total to $43 million so far.
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March 13th, 2005
Shark Tale finished its international run with a second place $2.08 million opening in Japan on 485 screens. Its $4,296 per screen average it quite low for the market and generally means the film won't have the usual legs films in Japan have. The film performed much better in Italy where it finished first again with $3.0 million, down just 23% during its sophomore stint. Overall it took in $5.2 million to raise its international total to $181 million, but without any more openings it might struggle to hit $200 million.
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February 27th, 2005
Ocean's Twelve may have dropped out of the top five, but it is still going strong with $4.5 million on 1400 screens in 35 markets for an international box office of $225.8 million so far. No new openings means the
heist film had to rely on holdovers likes its $2.5 million during its third weekend in the U.K. and $1.4 million during its fifth week of release in Japan, finishing second in both those markets.
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February 20th, 2005
Iznogoud: Calife a la place du calife, a movie based on a Asterix and Obelix
spin off of sorts, dominated the French box office taking in $7.1 million, more than double the second place film and more than a third of the top ten total. It is also enough to push it into the
Top Five on the international scene, dropping
Finding Neverland into sixth place. Unfortunately, like the several films made in the Asterix and Obelix series, this one is unlikely to make much of an impact outside the French speaking markets.
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February 9th, 2005
A higher than expected opening in Spain and a lower than expected decline in the U.K. allowed
Meet the Fockers to retain top spot on the international charts. The film opened first in a handful of markets, including a $4.7 million opening in Spain on 356 screens, $377,000 in Denmark, $352,000 in Taiwan and $275,000 in Israel. Its most prolific market continues to be the U.K. where the film brought in $8.5 million during its second weekend there; that's a 42% drop-off, which is a little high for the market, but not as high as expected given its huge start last weekend. That one market represented more than half of its weekend total of $16.3 million on 1700 screens in 28 markets for a running tally of $82.9 million.
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February 2nd, 2005
Meet the Fockers open in the U.K. over the weekend with an astounding $14.8 million on 456, which is more than four times the
original's earnings there in 2000.
That figure was also more than 8 times the second place film , and more than half the market's total box office.
Add in a handful of openings in other, mostly smaller markets and the film brought in $19.2 million on 1,700 screens in 15 markets for a $58.8 million total so far.
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January 24th, 2005
A massive snowstorm hit the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and New England over the weekend, and while we're usually skeptical about the effects weather patterns have on the box office, this was a particularly widespread storm.
Even so, it alone cannot explain the 29.3% drop from last weekend, even after taking into account the post-holiday drop-off.
Comparing this weekend to last year we see a much smaller 3.4% drop.
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January 21st, 2005
The weekend after the Golden Globe Awards will not be remembered for the high quality of the new releases.
With most of the awards going to smaller films, the awards probably won't have any impact on the top five.
In fact, there probably won't be any change at the top spot and only one change in the top five.
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January 20th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
Fantastic Four -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
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January 19th, 2005
Assault on Precinct 13, the
remake of the
John Carpenter low budget, cult classic gets a jump on its targets ... I mean competition, but opening tonight in roughly 2300 theatres.
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January 8th, 2005
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases and a few from the growing TV on DVD section, including the winner of the DVD Pick of the Week,
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle -
Unrated Extended Edition
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January 1st, 2005
January is one of two main dumping grounds for bad movies on the calendar, September being the other one. And while the average box office is lower in September the quality of films has been dropping for a while so by comparison September's entries don't feel so bad. January, on the other hand, comes after the best month in terms of Box Office and Award Season combined. Throughout December the quality of films builds to a crescendo and then it suddenly falls flat.
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