November 23rd, 2009
It's the week before Black Friday, which is widely reported as the busiest shopping day of the year. (It's not. Christmas Eve is the busiest shopping day of the year; however, on Christmas Eve a lot of the purchases are last minute food items.) If a studio wants its product to be part of Black Friday, this is the last Tuesday they can release the DVD or Blu-ray. Because of this, I'm a little surprised the week isn't busier than it is. The biggest release of the week is Angels & Demons, while there are a couple of Christmas releases that are also selling well. However, none of those come close to being the DVD Pick of the Week. Arguably the best of the best is Funny People, which isn't the best movie coming out this week, but it is a good movie and its Blu-ray is absolutely loaded.
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August 3rd, 2009
A rather slow week for new releases with very few real first run releases that stand out. The best releases on this week's list are Dollhouse - Season One on DVD or Blu-ray, as well as Watchmen - Three-Disc Director's Cut Blu-ray, but both of those came out in weeks past and are on this list because the screener arrived late. The best from this week is Flight of the Conchords - Season Two, which is the DVD Pick of the Week. However, if you are Canadian, you have to grab Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy on DVD; it's your patriotic duty.
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March 31st, 2009
Valentino: The Last Emperor remained on the top of the per theater chart with an average of $15,553 in two theaters. The overall number one film of the past weekend, Monsters vs. Aliens, opened in second place on the per theater chart with an average of $14,454 in more than 4,000 theaters. Ramin Bahrani finally had a box office hit, as Goodbye Solo earned nearly $40,000 in three theaters for an average of $12,681. Hopefully it will continue its strong run in the coming weeks. Sin Nombre was down less than 14% to $70,000 in 6 theaters for an average of $11,695. Meanwhile, American Swing rounded out the $10,000 club with $10,174.
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February 25th, 2009
The overall box office leader, Madea Goes to Jail, was also the leader on the Per Theater Chart with an average of $20,192. The only other member of the $10,000 club was Gomorrah, which barely managed that feat with an average of $10,087 over the weekend.
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February 18th, 2009
Gomorrah led the way on the per theater chart this weekend with an average of $15,540 in seven theaters. Second place went to Two Lovers with an average of $13,569, proving yet again there is no such thing as bad publicity. Under the Sea 3-D opened with $13,490, and it should be in theaters for at least a year, if not two. The final film in the $10,000 club was the overall box office leader, Friday the 13th, which opened with an average of $13,066 in more than 3,000 theaters.
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February 15th, 2009
Three wide releases and three limited releases on this week's list, and while most have good sites, none have great sites. And none are worthy of the Weekly Website Award.
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February 13th, 2009
Only three limited releases on this week's list, but all three are earning amazing reviews. This includes an IMAX documentary, a foreign language drama, and possibly the last film Joaquin Phoenix promotes before he is taken away in a straight-jacket. Or starts his rap career. For his sake, I hope it's the former.
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December 12th, 2008
The latest set of Awards Season nominations were handed out today as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations. There was not much in the way of surprises, and it is hard to look at one film and say it was the big winner, but Frost/Nixon and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button come the closest.
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December 2nd, 2008
It's the official start of award season as the Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced today. At first glance, no one film jumps out as the big player, but Frozen River did manage to pull in seven nods, while Rachel Getting Married and Ballast earned six each.
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June 15th, 2008
Kung Fu Panda started its international run in third place with $20.46 million on 1521 screens in 9 markets. The film reportedly set records in a number of its smaller, Southeast Asian debuts while its brought in an impressive $8.26 million on 821 screens in Russia and $7.84 million on 632 screens in South Korea (including midweek numbers). Next up for the film is Australia and Mexico next weekend while it has major market opening throughout the summer.
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June 1st, 2008
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian slipped 21% during its sophomore stint adding $19.35 million on 3681 screens in 13 markets for a still early total of $51.26 million. This includes a first place, $5.34 million opening on 782 screens over the weekend in Japan, while the film has $7.81 million including midweek numbers. This was below the original's opening in that market of $8.92 million, which is troubling. More troubling news came in Mexico where it was down 51% to $3.05 million on 842 screens over the weekend for a total of $11.58 million while in Russia it was down 55% to $3.03 million on 735 screens over the weekend for a total of $11.54 million after two.
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May 25th, 2008
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian opened in second place on the international charts with $23.31 million on 3037 screens in 12 markets giving it the best per screen average on this week's list. The film only opened in three major markets, but it finished first in all of them. This includes Russia where it managed $6.73 million on 735 screens and Mexico where it earned $6.27 million on 842 and in both cases it opened significantly higher than the original. On the other hand, while it managed first place in South Korea, its opening of $3.42 million on 670 screens over the weekend and a total of $3.90 million is significantly lower than the originals opening of $3.94 million on 262 screens over three days and $5.22 million in total. Next up for the film is its debut in Japan this weekend, while it has major openings all the way till late August.
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