December 6th, 2011
I hate this time for year, because of the holidays. Due to the five-day Thanksgiving long weekend and the Christmas shipping rush, screeners are even more likely to arrive late. Most of the prime releases I'm supposed to review are still on route. It makes it hard to keep up to date on reviews, plus it makes it really hard to figure out what the Pick of the Week should be. The Help is in contention, but I want to see the Blu-ray first. In the end, I went with the The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Extended Trilogy Box Set on Blu-ray.
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February 22nd, 2011
It's a pretty good week on the home market, all things considered, with two $100 million first-run releases on this week's list. On the other hand, there doesn't feel like a whole lot of depth and there are about as many featured reviews as other releases, if you count late reviews and ones where I'm still waiting on the screeners. One of these late reviews, Megamind could be the Pick of the Week, but I'm giving the Blu-ray one last chance to arrive before its release on Friday.
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November 9th, 2010
New releases again failed to make much of an impact on this week's sale chart with only three placing in the top 30. However, one of those, Sex and the City 2, did take top spot with 989,000 units and $16.81 million during its opening week. This is weaker than its predecessor opened with, but in line with expectations, more or less.
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October 25th, 2010
Not exactly a busy week on the home market, as the biggest box office hit making its debut this week is Sex and the City 2, which I think is fair to call a disappointment at the box office. That doesn't mean there are no DVDs / Blu-rays that are worth picking up, including Winter's Bone on Blu-ray, which is this week's Pick of the Week.
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August 17th, 2010
One of the ways of telling when summer is over, is when the number one film on the overall box office chart doesn't top the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart. That didn't happen this weekend, but it came close, as The Expendables was the only film to earn better than $10,000 on the per theater chart, and it was close with an average of $10,650.
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August 10th, 2010
Leading the way on the per theater chart this weekend was Cairo Time with a healthy average of $13,249 in five theaters. The only other film to top $10,000 on the per theater chart was Avatar. Yes, that Avatar. It played in just one theater over the weekend and earned $10,511.
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August 3rd, 2010
Get Low opened in first place on the per theater chart with an impressive average of $22,046.
I expect it will be able to expand significantly.
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child was down barely more than 1% and added $17,226, while still playing in just one theater.
The final film to make the $10,000 club was The Concert with an average of $10,871 in two theaters.
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July 27th, 2010
The $10,000 club was busy this weekend with five films reaching that milestone. This includes Life During Wartime with $30,507 in its lone theater. Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child also opened in just one theater and earned $17,466 over the weekend.
Countdown to Zero was the second documentary in the $10,000 club with an average of $13,769 in three theaters.
The Kids are All Right spent its fourth week in the $10,000 club with an average of $12,909 in just over 200 theaters.
The overall box office leader, Inception, earned an average of $11,267.
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July 20th, 2010
The Kids are All Right continued to lead the way on the Per Theater Chart with a stunning average of $28,009 in 38 theaters that helped it earn more than $1 million over the weekend.
Its per theater average did fall 40%; however, its theater count rose from 7 to 38, so this is actually a very good result.
The only other film in the $10,000 club was the overall box office leader, Inception, with an average of $16,557.
That's a little below expectations, but if it holds really well, it might remain in the $10,000 club next week.
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July 13th, 2010
The Kids are All Right stunned box office analysts by earning nearly $500,000 in a mere seven theaters for an average of $70,282.
That's virtually unheard of.
I still look at that number and think, "Typo".
The only other confirmed entry in the $10,000 club was Despicable Me with an average of $16,225.
I say confirmed member, because it is likely that The Girl Who Played with Fire also earned an average of $10,000 in the United States; however, its weekend numbers included a number of theaters in Canada, where it has been playing for more than six months.
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July 11th, 2010
The long wait for an out and out hit is over for Universal this weekend, thanks to a great opening weekend for Despicable Me.
The kids comedy had been getting good reviews, and benefited from a great marketing campaign, but was going head-to-head with Toy Story 3, and had to fight for every screen (2D and 3D) that it played on.
So the studio will be delighted with its estimated $60.1 million opening.
With good word-of-mouth, the film can set its sights on $200 million, and strong video revenues to come.
With a production budget of $69 million, the studio will be reaping big profits on this one.
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July 9th, 2010
Not a huge list of limited releases this week, but all four have a chance at becoming hits. [REC] 2 is the sequel to a popular horror film, at least it's popular among genre fans. Grease is one of the biggest musicals of all time. The Kids Are All Right has an outstanding cast and it reviews are just as strong. While The Girl Who Played with Fire is a global phenomenon. I would be shocked if all four films thrived, but I would be even more shocked if at least one of them didn't.
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