January 25th, 2011
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, thus ending months of speculation. Along with a (very) few surprises, the list of nominees is mostly a case of Deja Vu. Leading the way, as it has so often this year, was The King's Speech, with 12 nominations, including six in seven of the most prestigious categories (Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and the four acting categories). But it was far from the only multi-nominated film on the list.
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June 22nd, 2010
No new release was able to take top spot on this week's sales chart leaving Alice in Wonderland as the repeat champion. It added $12.34 million from 657,000 units sold to take its two-week totals to 2.75 million units and $52.47 million in consumer spending at retail.
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June 14th, 2010
There was a quartet of new releases that reached the top 30 on this week's sales chart, starting with the new number one film, Alice in Wonderland. The $1 billion hit sold 2.10 million units during its first week of release, generating sales of $40.13 million. It just missed the top ten for 2010 (one of the films ahead of it was actually released in 2009).
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June 2nd, 2010
This should be a strong week for DVD sales, as Alice in Wonderland hits the home market. While the $1 billion blockbuster is leading the way in terms of sales, it isn't the best release on this week's list. That would be Life (the version narrated by David Attenborough) on DVD or Blu-ray. Both formats of the show are excellent value, but the high definition is worth paying extra for and is our Pick of the Week. On a side note, there are two other releases that could vie for Pick of the Week, The Man with No Name Trilogy on Blu-ray and Burn Notice: Season Three.
We'll have more on those when the screeners arrive.
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May 31st, 2010
When it comes to the world of movie monsters, werewolves are second only to vampires when it comes to longevity. Remaking The Wolfman seems like a brilliant move, as the 1941 film contained one of the most iconic performances in monster movie history. However, with audiences raised on Underworld and Twilight, will a film that harkens back to Lon Chaney Jr. be able to connect?
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March 21st, 2010
The Round Up opened in sixth place with $6.32 million on 632 screens in 3 markets. Of that, $5.67 million was earned on 602 screens in France, which was easily enough for first place in that market.
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March 14th, 2010
The Princess and the Frog remained in sixth place with $5.18 million on 3019 screens in 35 markets for a total of $149.82 million internationally and $253.53 million worldwide. This past week it opened in Japan, struggling into fifth place with $1.02 million on 363 screens. Even with that disappointing result, it should do well enough on the home market to show a profit relatively soon.
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March 3rd, 2010
For the eleventh weekend in a row, Avatar was the biggest draw at the international box office, but this week its win was extra special. Over the weekend it made $39.75 million on 7247 screens in 70 markets for a total of $1.85 billion internationally. This is more than Titanic made worldwide, meaning the film has in effect lapped its nearest competition. Additionally, it has reached $2.56 billion worldwide, which is an astounding number. To put this in perspective, this would be enough for the film to earn seventh place on the list of highest grossing franchises worldwide, and it will likely top Batman and Pirates of the Caribbean with ease. The film has set records in many major markets, including Italy, France, and South Korea, while it is creeping up on $100 million in Spain, Australia, and Italy to go along with the seven other markets where it has already reached that milestone.
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February 24th, 2010
As it has for ten weeks in a row, Avatar topped the international box office, this time pulling in $48.49 million on 7247 screens in 71 markets for a total of $1.78 billion internationally and $2.47 billion worldwide. Big news this week came from South Korea where it crossed the $100 million mark before the weekend. In South Korea, it has now reached $103.52 million after 10 weeks of release, including $1.76 million on 242 screens this past weekend. The next market where the film will reach that milestone should be Spain where it made $2.62 million on 352 screens over the weekend for a total of $93.70 million. The movie could also have enough left in the tank to do the same in Australia, where its current total is $94.70 million, but it only managed $1.68 million on 254 screens over the weekend. Meanwhile, it is still in first place in Italy with $3.74 million on 402 screens over the weekend for a total of $79.73 million. In both markets, reaching $100 million might be a little tight, but the Oscars could certainly help along the way.
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February 23rd, 2010
While Shutter Island exceeded expectations, it was the only film in the top five to do so, which hurt the overall box office. The total box office during the weekend was $134 million, 35% lower than last weekend. Then again, it was a post-holiday, post-Valentine's Day weekend, so this collapse isn't as bad as it looks. However, it was 6.0% lower than the same weekend last year and that's certainly not good. Year-to-date, 2010 has pulled in $1.65 billion (1.6% higher than last year's pace) but unless 2010 starts putting together some wins, it won't be long before it loses its lead.
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February 18th, 2010
There's only one wide release opening this week, Shutter Island, which should help that film maximize its box office potential. However, there's little hope it will match last year's number one film, Madea Goes to Jail. Hopefully the post-holiday weekend won't be too hard on the holdovers and 2010 can add another win over last year. Perhaps it can even lift ticket sales over last year's pace.
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February 17th, 2010
There was only one holdover in the top five of the international chart this week, and it was no surprise which film it was. Avatar again led the way, this time pulling in $59.84 million on 8214 screens in 71 markets for a total of $1.69 billion internationally and $2.35 billion worldwide. It appears France overtook China as the film's biggest single market, $156.5 million to $155 million. The other most noteworthy market was South Korea, where the country added $2.85 million on 327 screens over the weekend for a total of $98.48 million, the seventh market where the film will cross the century mark. It won't be the last market where this happens.
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February 17th, 2010
My Name is Khan beat expectations by a large margin with an average of $16,200 in 120 theaters over the three-day weekend and $18,875 million over four. The overall box office champ, Valentine's Day, placed second with an average of $15,351 over the three-day weekend. The Red Riding Trilogy held on strong with averages of $13,374 / $17,056. The re-release of Ran took in $10,128 from Friday to Sunday and $13,470 including Monday in its lone theater.
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February 16th, 2010
Okay. Wow. All three wide releases beat expectations, some by massive margins, which helped this year shatter the previous Presidents' Day long weekend record. The three-day tally this year was $205 million, ahead of the previous record by more than $16 million. And, adding in Monday, the total box office over four days was $239 million, nearly $20 million more than the previous best.
(In both cases, the previous best was last year.)
This helped push the year-to-date box office to $1.48 billion, which is 1.6% higher than last year's pace.
However, ticket sales still lag behind, albeit by less than half a percent.
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February 11th, 2010
Its Valentine's Day on Sunday and Presidents' Day on Monday, which means there are two reasons to be bullish when predicting the box office this weekend.
On the other hand, none of the new releases are earning overall positive reviews, which is a bad sign.
There is good news, as the same was true last year and two of the three new releases struggled at the box office.
This leaves 2010 an opportunity to end the slump, which has reached four weeks, and prevent admissions from slipping further below last year's pace.
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February 1st, 2010
2010 started in record-breaking fashion with the most lucrative January of all time, and only the second time that the box office reached $1 billion before the end of the month.
The first year to do that was 2009.
There were two problems preventing real celebration, however.
Firstly, roughly 30% of the total box office for the month came from one film, Avatar, which was a holdover.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, most films that were released / expanded wide in January missed expectations.
Because of this, February starts on a bit of a down note.
Compared to last year, the top of the list is about as strong with a couple of films aiming for $100 million, while there are fewer films that seem like they will bomb at the box office.
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April 13th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Valkyrie, The Wolf Man, Public Enemies and more!
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February 24th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Hoodwinked 2, Shanghai, and more!
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January 31st, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Duplicity, G.I. Joe, Public Enemies, and more!
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November 1st, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Game, Meet the Browns, The Taking of Pelham 123, and more!
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October 14th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Wolf Man, The Fast and the Furious 4, The Land of the Lost and more!
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October 7th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Case 39, Inkheart, Four Christmases and more!
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February 11th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Indiana Jones 4, The Mummy 3, Hellboy 2 and more.
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