December 28th, 2010
There were seven new releases to chart this week, including the new number one. In fact, that new number one dominated in a surprising way and none of the other new releases managed to make much of an impact at the box office. Despicable Me led the way with 3.75 million units sold and $62.70 million. If there were any doubts about a sequel, this ended them, as the film is already in the top ten for the year.
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December 13th, 2010
This week we have the last of the major summer blockbusters hitting the home market, and not only did Despicable Me earn $250 million domestically and more than $500 million worldwide, it also earned amazing reviews. This makes it an obvious contender for Pick of the Week. Unfortunately, the screener is late, and I hate to award that honor to a release when this is the case. As far as its competition is concerned, there are two main releases vying for that title: The Quintessential Guy Maddin! on DVD and The Town on Blu-ray. Despite my well-documented pro-Canada bias, I'm giving it to the latter.
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August 30th, 2010
There was an upset at the box office with Takers pulling out a last minute win. However, it wasn't enough for the overall box office, as that sunk 12% from last weekend to $113 million. More importantly, it was down nearly 10% from last year. 2010 still has a $300 million lead over 2009 at $7.53 billion to $7.23 billion and I'm not concerned about the big picture, yet.
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August 26th, 2010
The winners of our Dora and the Big Swag contest were determined and they are...
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August 23rd, 2010
If it wasn't for The Expendables, there would be very little good news to report this weekend. None of the five new releases were major hits at the box office, but on the other hand, none were complete bombs either and even the weakest of them had some reason for optimism. The overall box office was down 11% from last weekend to $128 million, but that was close to 1% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2010 has a $300 million lead on 2009 at $7.36 billion to $7.05 billion.
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August 22nd, 2010
Five openers with a decidedly end-of-Summer feel to them all posted so-so numbers this weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday morning, which left The Expendables as the weekend winner.
The ensemble action movie was down 53% in its second weekend to $16.5 million and has now earned a respectable $64.89 million.
Vampires Suck topped the openers with $12.2 million Friday to Sunday.
The spoof movie is projected to finish the weekend with $18.56 million since its opening on Wednesday.
Perhaps surprisingly, none of the openers has completely disastrous weekends.
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August 19th, 2010
Five new releases should enter the top ten this weekend, including a few that at least have a reasonable chance at top spot.
But there's also a reasonable chance that The Expendables will squeak out another win.
Regardless, there's almost no chance the box office will keep up with last year's pace when Inglourious Basterds opened with nearly $40 million.
We will be lucky if any film makes half of that this weekend.
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August 13th, 2010
It is unlikely that Nanny McPhee Returns will be the widest release next week. However, it is a kid friendly release and since we have a lot of kids DVDs to give away this week, it makes sense to choose it as the target film for this week's box office prediction contest. (It's not like any of the other four wide releases are any more likely to finish in first place.) In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Nanny McPhee Returns.
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 Dora's Big Birthday Adventure on DVD and The Backyardigans on DVD.
Meanwhile, 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 First Day of School on DVD and Happy Halloween 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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August 1st, 2010
July started out rather well, and while there was a little weakness in the end, four films surpassed $100 million, and another could join them soon.
That said, there don't appear to be any $100 million movies opening in August; in fact, there is a chance none will come close.
Worse still, August of last year saw three $100 million movies open in the first three weeks.
There's almost no chance that will happen this year, so 2010 will likely lose ground to 2009 in the yearly box office race.
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May 9th, 2010
With Iron Man 2 debuting over the past weekend, Alice in Wonderland had one last gasp before the onslaught of summer blockbusters. It remained in second place with $23.54 million on 4263 screens in 54 markets over the weekend for a total of $592.23 million after two months of release. Worldwide, the film now has $921.92 million, which means that over the weekend it became just the 14th film to cross the $900 million milestone. It has already overtaken Shrek 2 for 13th place. By now, it is likely already in the top ten all-time and has a nominal shot at $1 billion worldwide.
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May 2nd, 2010
Date Night fell out of the top five, but added $7.47 million on 3120 screens in 48 markets for a total of $28.31 million. The film opened in first place in the U.K., but only made $1.97 million on 400 screens, which is about the same as $11 million here. That's not a great start and there's little hope that the film will match its domestic total overseas, but it is still a solid midlevel hit and should show a profit by the time it reaches the home market.
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April 25th, 2010
There were more than a dozen foreign releases to reach the top 30 on the international chart, starting with Go Lala Go!. This Chinese film opened in first place in its native market and sixth place overall with $6.44 million on 655 screens.
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April 18th, 2010
Date Night started its international run in sixth place with $7.05 million on 1616 screens in 34 markets. While it is playing in a large number of markets, these were mostly of the smaller variety. The largest was Australia, where it placed third with $1.99 million on 304 screens. It also placed third in Brazil with $1.02 million on 174. It managed second place in Mexico, but with only $863,000 on 305 screens.
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April 7th, 2010
Clash of the Titans started its international run in first place with $41.14 million on 3458 screens in 17 markets over the weekend for a total opening of $45.96 million. This includes first place openings in a number of major markets, led by the U.K. where it opened with $8.68 million on 446 screens. In Australia, the film debuted with $5.90 million on 351 screens. In Spain it managed $5.52 million on 544 screens over the weekend and $8.53 million, including midweek numbers.
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April 4th, 2010
The Bounty Hunter slipped a spot to sixth place with $6.33 million on 1671 screens in 29 markets for a total of $17.04 million. It opened in a number of markets, mostly on the smaller side. Its largest new market was Mexico, where it debuted in fourth place with $656,000 on 300 screens. Meanwhile, it added $1.49 million on 393 screens during its second weekend in the U.K. for a two-week total of $5.86 million. It was right behind in Russia with $1.40 million on 445 screens over the weekend for a total of $5.52 million after two.
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