June 11th, 2007
The Summer is traditionally the weakest time of the year for DVD releases and this is not surprising as the target audience is too busy checking out the latest theatrical releases to be bothered with the home market.
First-run releases are also weak because the delay from theater to home means we are not getting prime offerings here.
TV on DVD releases are likewise weak because it is too late to take advantage of season finales and too soon to take advantage of season premieres.
So, to find the best offering, one has to look to limited releases like Grbavica - Buy from Amazon, or TV movies like Masters of Horror - The Screwfly Solution.
But the DVD Pick of the Week goes to a classic, The Hustler - Two-Disc Collector's Edition
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May 25th, 2007
New releases took top spot on both the rental and the sales charts, but there were different films. On the rental chart Pan's Labyrinth was this week's champion after earning $6.48 million.
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May 20th, 2007
The competition is still being pushed down by Spider-Man 3 and although there were half a dozen new releases to chart this week, it was still impossible to fill out a top 30 chart with any real details. For instance, Next had no major openings and its best midlevel was a second place debut in Malaysia with $115,000 on 30 screens. However, it was still able to remain in sixth place with $2.45 million on 1347 screens in 19 markets while its running total has grown to $18.94 million.
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May 19th, 2007
It was not a good week for new releases on the DVD rental chart.
None were able to take a spot in the top three, and this left Night at the Museum in first place with $7.38 million for the week and $28.01 million during its run.
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May 13th, 2007
With Spider-Man 3 dominating the global market last weekend, there was very little else happening on the international charts that was newsworthy. With little in the way of new releases, or even expansion for holdovers, it was impossible just to fill out a top 30 chart. And with several films expected to attempt a worldwide opening over the next couple months, it will likely be that way till mid-August.
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May 8th, 2007
It is not a particularly strong week for DVD releases, and I think Spider-Man 3 had a lot to do with that as it is dominating the news so much that it scared studios enough to keep them from putting out their A-list releases.
There were a few TV on DVD releases that caught my eye, like The 4400 - The Complete Third Season, as well as a few Special Editions, like Big - Extended Edition.
But in the end I'm going with a double-shot of Canadian releases, Things to Do and Trailer Park Boys - Season 6, because I'm such a hoser.
(Important note, you must import the latter title from Canada, but it's worth it.)
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May 6th, 2007
300 was knocked out of the top five this week but still added $3.82 million on 3,537 screens in 52 markets for a total of $223.77 million.
The film has yet to open in Japan, but that's about it at this point and there's little hope that the movie will hit any more milestones from now until then.
However, it is already a massive hit and a huge financial boon for the studio, so everything it does earn will be pure gravy.
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April 29th, 2007
The Reaping climbed into sixth place this past weekend with $5.98 million on 2634 screens in 39 markets for a total of just $20.38 million. The film had a couple respectable openings including South Korea where it made $1.17 million on 129 screens over the weekend and $1.34 million in total while it took in $335,000 in Brazil. However, in most markets the film stumbled, like in France where is placed seventh with $684,000 or the the U.K. where it placed eighth with $622,000 on 282 screens. The film debuted in ninth place in Australia, ($405,000 on 133 screens); in Russia, ($261,000 on 111); and in Germany, ($247,000 on 201). Mexico became the film's best market as it has pulled in $4.45 million in three weeks, including $589,000 on 350 screens this past weekend; this is just ahead of the $4.25 million the film has earned in Spain, but it only managed $334,000 on 299 screens this past weekend and will quickly disappear there.
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April 22nd, 2007
Sunshine climbed into sixth place with $5.20 million on 1866 screens in 30 markets for a total of $10.20 million. However, while it nearly doubled last week's opening, this was entirely due to the film's expansion. Its biggest market of the weekend was France where it placed fourth with $1.36 million on 339 screens while it placed eighth in its debut in Australia with just $611,000 on 161 screens. On the other hand, the film only managed $508,000 on 192 screens during its debut in Japan and while likely see a sharp drop-off next weekend given its weak per screen average. Meanwhile in the U.K. the film suffered the worst week-to-week drop-off in the top ten down 57% to $879,000 on 409 screens over the weekend and a total of $4.45 million in total.
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April 15th, 2007
Wild Hogs had its best performance of its run so far climbing into sixth place with $3.33 million on 817 screens in 8 markets for a total of $18.43 million after a month of release. About half of that came from the film's number one debut in Mexico where it earned $1.33 million on 355 screens over the weekend and $1.67 million including previews while the film did reasonable business in Taiwan with $345,000 on 40. Its best market to date has been Australia where the film has earned $11.30 million, including $907,000 on 263 screens this past weekend.
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April 4th, 2007
Mr. Bean's Holiday won the weekend race on the international charts.
Maybe.
It all depends on how you count previews.
Without last week's previews in the U.K. the film finished a very close second with $29.28 million, just behind 300's $30.26 million.
Including previews, Bean topped the charts with $34.27 million on 3,085 screens in 26 markets for a total of $36.59 million.
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March 28th, 2007
300 was miles ahead of its nearest competition and dominated the international box office with $48.21 million on 4,435 screens in 32 markets for a total of $79.35 million.
The film opened in first place in a number of key markets including the U.K. where it took in $9.30 million on 369 screens while it was just as dominant in Spain with $6.71 million on 536 screens. Other multi-million dollar openings came in France ($5.6 million on 485 screens); Russia ($5.05 million on 417); Italy ($4.58 million on 459); and Mexico ($2.56 million on 526).
The film also held strong in holdovers remaining in first place for the second weekend in a row in South Korea with $3.67 million on 350 screens over the weekend and $12.68 million in total while it topped the Greek market for the third weekend in a row with $1.3 million for a total of $9.4 million.
In that latter market, 300 is now the fifth highest grossing film of all time.
The film has peaked at the box office, but should still have a very strong month before the summer blockbusters start opening.
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March 21st, 2007
It was a good week for international releases with a dozen of them charting, although none made it into the top five.
The number one film was 300 as the film expanded into its first major market, scoring first place with $6.3 million on 353 screens over a 5-day period.
The film was also a massive hit in Turkey with $1.5 million on 115 screens while just missing the $1 million mark in Thailand with $917,000 on 120 screens.
Other openings include $730,000 on 33 screens in Hong Kong, $582,000 on 161 screens in India and $546,000 on 73 in Puerto Rico.
Even more impressive were its holdovers, with it remaining in first place in all three, including a record-setting pace in Greece ($2.5 million for the weekend and $7.2 million in total).
Overall, the film made $14.17 million on 1,262 screens in 12 markets for a very early international total of $25.23 screens.
It's too early to tell if the film will be as big a hit internationally as it is domestically, but it is off to a great start.
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March 14th, 2007
It was a soft weekend in international markets, with no film topping $10 million.
Music and Lyrics was the closest, pulling in $9.67 million on 2,542 screens in 26 markets for a total of $44.45 million, which is just ahead of its domestic total so far.
Its biggest opening of the weekend came in Germany where it placed first with $3.12 million on 606 screens but it also placed first in Austria ($511,000 on 92 screens), and The Netherlands ($494,000 on 95 screens over the weekend and $637,000 in total).
The film wasn't as strong in Mexico where it made $678,000 on 319 screens, which was a distant second to a local hit, Ninas Mal.
Holdovers were led by South Korea, where is actually grew by 4% to $1.29 million on 136 screens for a two-week total of $3.96 million.
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March 11th, 2007
Music and Lyrics remained in sixth place with $5.64 million on 1645 screens in 18 markets for a total of $32.01 million internationally. The film disappointed domestically, but it appears to be making up for that softness on the international scene. The film's best opening of the weekend came from South Korea where it placed second with $2.06 million on 144 screens while it also grabbed second place in Brazil with $490,000 on 140. Holdovers were led by the U.K. where the film earned $1.09 million on 364 screens during its fourth week of release for a total of $15.71 million in that market alone. That's close to a $100 million run here, taking into account the relative sizes of the two markets.
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February 26th, 2007
Practically every new release missed expectations this weekend, some by small margins while others were significantly off the mark. On the other hand, holdovers held as well as expected, which helped the box office total reach $117 million.
This was a 25% drop-off from last weekend; however, that can be explained by the holiday last weekend and the Oscars this weekend.
Year-to-year the drop-off was a much more reasonable 3%.
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February 25th, 2007
The Blood Diamond fell from second to sixth this past weekend, mainly due to the lack of new openings. The film still pulled $8.52 million on 3409 screens in 59 markets for a total of $77.51 million and is still on pace for $100 million internationally, but that's the last milestone in its future.
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February 21st, 2007
It was a record-breaking President's Day weekend as 2007 produced it first blockbuster.
Overall, total box office hit $158 million from Friday to Sunday, $188 million including Monday.
That 3-day figure represents a 40% increase over last week and 22% over the same weekend last year.
In addition, the 4-day portion was 20% higher than last year.
This is great news for a year that hasn't gotten off to a fast start.
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February 19th, 2007
It's President's Day today and that can only mean one thing, millions of Americans are celebrating by cutting down cherry trees and lying about it. I think. Truth be told, I'm not exactly sure what people do to celebrate President's Day. But I do know it will cause a slight delay in a couple of weekly columns. For instance, the weekend wrap-up and the per theatre charts will both be pushed back one day while the DVD Release column will be a bit late. It might still be published late today, but it might not come out till sometime after midnight. In the meantime, here are the studio estimates for the weekend numbers...
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February 18th, 2007
Ghost Rider made a fiery box office debut this weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
Its $44.5 million opening makes it the new record holder for the best President's Day opening weekend, and if the estimate holds, it will record the 3rd-best February weekend (see Best February weekends).
The opening was considerably ahead of most predictions, and the weekend as a whole looks very healthy.
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February 18th, 2007
Charlotte's Web's return to the international charts was a successful one as it just missed the top five with $6.37 million on 2192 screens in 40 markets. However, its international tally of $32.57 is still a terrible result given the film's production budget, which has been estimated to be north of $100 million. The film has one strong opening this weekend as it earned second place in the U.K. with $3.69 million on 489 screens. On the other hand, the film flopped in France missing the top ten with $762,000 on 347 screens and that was for the full week. It did little better in South Korea with $872,000 on 150 screens over the weekend and $969,000 in total while scoring $218,000 on 54 screens over the weekend in Belgium and $271,000 in total.
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February 17th, 2007
While the big summer blockbusters are sill M.I.A., there are plenty of other films to pick up the slack. This includes this week's winner,
Bridge to Terabithia -
Official Site.
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February 15th, 2007
Now that romance is out of the way, we have a big-budget action flick looking to take advantage of Presidents' Day long weekend to score the biggest opening of the year so far.
But Ghost Rider isn't the only new release this weekend; along with the two romantic comedies that opened on Wednesday, there are three films opening wide, or at least wide-ish, this Friday.
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February 14th, 2007
It's Valentine's Day, which can only mean one thing: Romance is in the air. Millions of happy couples will be heading out on romantic dates, candle-lit dinners, slow dancing, walks on the beach, all the time hoping that their spouses don't find out. Okay, I admit my opinion on Valentine's Day is rather low, but I promise that's the last I'll make crack. (Although I will recommend a couple
anti-
love songs for those not in the mood. And chocolate. I recommend lots of chocolate.) This year the movie industry is giving two
romantic comedies for those in love, while the rest of us will have to wait till Friday for an
action flick to wash the palate of sticky romance.
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February 3rd, 2007
Busy week for limited releases and a busy week for websites, which explains why I'm wrapping things up at midnight. There wasn't a whole lot on this week's list that really attracted my attention, but I'm giving the Weekly Website Award to
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters -
Official Site, mainly for their ... extracurricular activities of the viral marketers in Boston. And remember people, real bombs are meant to be inconspicuous, they won't sing you a song or make rude gestures at you.
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February 1st, 2007
February is the shortest month of the year, but not the slowest at the box office. It doesn't have the stigma of being a dumping ground, and with Valentine's Day fitting nicely in the middle,
romantic comedies have a leg up at the box office. However, for the most part, movies released during this month are aiming for midlevel hit and there are few, if any, that will become blockbusters.
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December 9th, 2006
Good week for websites with a number of candidates for the top spot. In the end I went with
Ghost Rider -
Official Site, but there's a few others here that will undoubtedly win in the coming weeks.
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December 2nd, 2006
Good week with plenty of strong site, but there was not a whole lot of competition at the very top as
The Good Shephard -
Official Site took home the Weekly Website Award.
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October 23rd, 2006
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for In the Land of Women, Firehouse Dog, Foodfight! and more.
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August 13th, 2006
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Emilio Estevez' Bobby, Frank Miller's 300 and more.
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