January 17th, 2013
Men in Black 3 led all new releases earning first place on the Blu-ray sales chart with 241,000 units / $6.75 million during its opening week of release. Its Blu-ray share was just under 40%, which is low for this type of release.
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January 17th, 2013
There were a quartet of new releases to reach the December 2nd edition of the DVD sales chart, but none of them were able to challenge for top spot. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax and Brave were in a battle for first place with the former winning if you go by units at 637,000 to 584,000. However, the latter wins in terms of revenue at $11.65 million to $8.09 million. Brave is still a little behind in terms of total units at 4.33 million to 4.75 million; however, after just three weeks of release, it has overtaken The Lorax's 17-week total revenue at $73.45 million to $72.32 million.
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November 26th, 2012
It's not a good week on the home market, but for different reasons than last week. There are five first-run releases coming out this week, which is actually very busy. However, it is a bad week, because I'm supposed to receive screeners for for four of those five films, but so far none of have arrived. At least with Men in Black 3, there's a few more days before it is officially late, as it doesn't come out till Friday. Men in Black 3 also made more at the box office than the rest of the first run releases made combined, so there will likely be a huge gap between the first and second best selling new-release of the week. As for the best releases for the week, ParaNorman is the only real contender for Pick of the Week. The Blu-ray Combo Pack is worth owning, but if you've made the leap to 3D, then the 3D Combo Pack is worth the extra money.
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August 27th, 2012
Ugh. That's really all I have to say. None of the new releases were able to make an impact at the box office; in fact, none of them even reached the top five. There was a new entrant in the top five, as The Dark Knight Rises rose to fifth place. That's how bad the box office was over the weekend. A film that's more than a month old returned to the top five. The best new release was Premium Rush, which only managed eighth place. Overall, the box office plummeted by 30% to just $97 million. Amazingly, this was still higher than the same weekend last year, albeit by just 4.6%. Year-to-date, 2012 maintains its lead over 2011. It is ahead of last year's pace by 4.2% at $7.43 billion to $7.13 billion.
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August 20th, 2012
Apparently summer ended over the weekend. It didn't go out with a thud, but more just faded away. The Expendables 2 was able to earn first place, but missed even the low end of expectations. In fact, the only new release to not struggle as much as analysts were expecting was Sparkle, and even that film missed expectations, it just did so by a tiny margin. There is some good news. There was a lot of depth with seven films earning more than $10 million over the weekend and overall the box office only slipped 2.3% from last weekend hitting $139 million. This was actually 12% higher than the same weekend last year. Analysts were obviously hoping for something more, but at this point, a win is a win. Year-to-date, 2012 is still ahead of 2011, but that lead has shrunk to 3.3% at $7.22 billion to $6.99 billion. Attendance is only up by 2.1%, so if the rest of August and September don't pull their weight, we might see 2012 lose that lead entirely.
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August 19th, 2012
The Expendables 2 will enjoy a comfortable win at the box office this weekend, even though its debut number looks as though it will fall somewhat behind the first film in the franchise. Lionsgate currently has the film pegged at $28.75 million for the weekend, well ahead of The Bourne Legacy's $17 million second weekend. ParaNorman will scare up about $14 million for third place, and a total of seven films will top $10 million this weekend, including the two other debutants, Sparkle (which is set for $12 million, per Sony), and The Odd Life of Timothy Green (shooting for $10.9 million, according to Disney).
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August 16th, 2012
It looks like summer will be extended by one more week, as The Expendables 2 is tracking for an opening of close to $40 million, maybe a little more. Even better for the market, it isn't the only new release of the weekend. I think ParaNorman could be a solid hit in a counter-programming role. Not everyone agrees with me, on the other hand. ParaNorman is competing with The Odd Life of Timothy Green, but as a live action family film, it's chances are a lot weaker. The final new release is Sparkle, which only has a 50/50 chance of reaching the top five. Last year there were also four wide releases, but combined they made less than $40 million. The Expendables 2 could make more than that by itself. 2012 should finally break out of its losing streak.
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August 1st, 2012
July was another bad month with five of the seven films missing expectations. Only one matched expectations, or came close enough to call it a victory, while another film is too close to call. 2012 is still ahead of 2011, but that margin did shrink last month, despite the performance of The Dark Knight Rises, which earned $300 million during the month. Looking ahead to August, there are fourteen films opening wide, maybe fifteen, making it the busiest month in a long time. Of those releases, five or six have a shot at $100 million, while none will get much beyond that point. Maybe The Bourne Legacy will be a surprise hit and match the average of its predecessors, but most analysts wouldn't be willing to bet money on that. By comparison, last August only had two films that topped $100 million, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Help. I don't think any film opening this August will match those two films, but we have much better depth this time around. Hopefully we will be able to extend our lead this month, unlike the last two months.
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