August 24th, 2011
New releases were particularly weak this past week, and none of them were able to unseat Rio on the DVD sales chart. It sold an additional 636,000 units and generated $9.53 million more dollars in sales, pushing its running tallies to 2.27 million units and $34.01 million. It is already in six place for 2011 (fifth place if you don't count Despicable Me, which was released in 2010).
More...
August 17th, 2011
As previously stated many, many times recently, the summer is the worst time of year for the home market. However, there was a bright spot this week with the release of Rio, which not only topped the Blu-ray sales chart, it topped studio estimates. During its opening week, the film sold 1.02 million units on Blu-ray generating $21.37 million in opening week sales, which was the best figures since we debuted the weekly Blu-ray sales chart at the beginning of summer, and in fact the best summer release in the history of the format. Its Blu-ray ratio for its opening week was 37%, which is stunning for a kids movie and certainly raises the bar for the summer CG blockbusters.
More...
August 16th, 2011
It has been more than three months since any DVD has sold more than 1 million units during any given week, but finally that streak is over this week. It should come as no surprise that Rio led all new releases, as it was for a time the biggest hit of 2011. However, the fact that it sold 1.77 million units and generated $26.58 million during its opening week is better than expected.
More...
August 2nd, 2011
It's not a particularly strong week on the home market with only two first-run releases of note. Coincidentally, I'm waiting on screeners for both Rio and Soul Surfer. While both are likely worth checking out at the least, the latter's Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack is the best bet for Pick of the Week. Normally I'd like to wait till the screener arrives before handing out that honor, but there is a pretty big gap between first and second place this time around.
More...
May 8th, 2011
Thor couldn't quite emulate Fast Five's debut, but a very solid $66,000,000 opening weekend for the Marvel superhero movie keeps the promising early Summer season rolling along very nicely. Respectable weekends for Jumping the Broom and Something Borrowed also helped this weekend continue the winning streak over 2010.
More...
April 19th, 2011
Woo hoo! 2011 finally won a week without having to rely on a misaligned holiday. Granted, the overall box office was about $20 million lower than expected, but I don't care. At this point I will take any win we can get. The overall box office was $130 million, which is 12% higher than last weekend and 8% higher from the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2011 is still down by a tragic amount, 19% to be precise at $2.65 billion to $3.29 billion, but at least we are moving in the right direction and if we can add a couple more wins before summer starts, it would be great.
More...
April 14th, 2011
While 2011 has been a year to forget, we could see that turn around this weekend with two potentially massive hits, at least compared to the average April release. Historically, April has the fewest $100 million hits over the past several years, but this year should buck that trend with Hop well on its way to that milestone, and both wide releases this weekend could also get there. Scream 4 and Rio are both tracking head of Hop's opening and by Monday could both be in the top five April openings of all time. Will that be enough to help 2011 finally earn an uncontested win in the year-over-year comparison? The total box office this time last year was $120 million, while the top two films should earn more than $40 million each. If the rest of the box office can't at least earn another $40 million, we are in serious trouble.
More...
April 11th, 2011
Ugh. It's time to break out the thesaurus to look up different ways of saying, "disappointing". This past weekend three of the four new releases missed expectations, while the holdovers were not able to compensate. This led to a 7% drop-off from last weekend to $116 million, which was 9% lower than the same weekend last year. 2011 continues its depressing pace and is now behind 2010 by 21% at $2.49 billion to $3.13 billion. Hopefully things will turn around next weekend. We need at least one win going into summer, or we could be in desperate trouble.
More...
April 10th, 2011
It's looking like another disappointing weekend at the box office, with Arthur performing well below expectations with a weak $12.6 million opening to leave Hop as the clear winner for a second consecutive weekend. The bunny movie posted an estimated $21.7 million, down 42% from its opening, which isn't bad, and it will be helped by Easter, one suspects. There were also some signs of life from two other openers: Hanna and Soul Surfer.
More...
April 7th, 2011
So far 2011 has been a disappointment and the industry is desperate for a win before we get into the lucrative summer blockbuster season. We don't want to start summer with a slump hanging over our heads. Last weekend Hop got off to a faster than expected start, and if one or two of this week's new releases do the same, we could have our first legitimate win in the year-over-year comparison. That's not likely. Last Year we had three films earn more than $20 million, while this year Hop's the only one likely to do the same. We do have some good news, as three of the four new releases have a good shot at topping original expectations and perhaps the depth further down the box office chart will be enough.
More...
April 1st, 2011
Another month has gone by and 2011 has slipped further behind 2010's pace. March was a bit of an improvement over the first two months, but only in the most generous of terms. It still lost ground to 2010, but not at the same disastrous pace as January and February did. There is some good news, as last April was rather weak and there's a chance 2011 could actually gain ground. After all, only Clash of the Titans earned $100 million last year (although Date Night came awfully close). This year, there are three or four films that could hit the century mark. That would be welcome news indeed. On a side note, April is usually a bit of a dumping ground as studios fear going head-to-head with summer blockbusters opening in May. However, I get the feeling that this year they are hoping to extend summer by having it open a couple of weeks early. Maybe they'll succeed.
More...