August 30th, 2010
New releases this week were dominated by The Last Song, which outsold the second place film on this week's sales chart by a two-to-one margin. It won the week with 761,000 units and $13.69 million in revenue.
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August 24th, 2010
Only three new releases managed to reach the top 30 on the DVD sales chart this week, led by Date Night.
The DVD sold an estimated 623,000 units, and generated $10.58 million in consumer spending at retail during its first week of release.
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August 24th, 2010
There are not a lot of prime releases on this week's list.
One release, or, to be more specific, the many releases of one TV show, Lost dominate.
Unfortunately, the screeners for that show won't be sent till today, so I wasn't able to get a review complete in time for this week's preview article.
Outside the four Lost releases, there's little that really grabs your attention, and while going down the list of best-sellers, it doesn't take long before you start running into second-tier and even third-tier releases.
Lost: The Complete Collection is likely the best release on this week's list, but I'm going to wait until I get a chance to check out the screener before awarding it the Pick of the Week.
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August 17th, 2010
Date Night opened in theaters on April 9th, which is not exactly a prime release date. In fact, April is a bit of a dead zone when it comes to the box office. The prospect of having to go against summer blockbusters tends to scare most studios, so they don't release their prime selections. However, it opened with good reviews and showed great legs nearly getting to $100 million. However, was this success warranted, or was it a matter of even weaker competition?
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August 9th, 2010
There are not a lot of prime releases on this week's list, but there are a few that I'm interested in. Date Night is the biggest release of the week and depending on how strong its home market debut is, it could be a worthy pick up, or even a contender for Pick of the Week. I won't know till the screener arrives. Crumb's Blu-ray review was also a tempting choice for Pick of the Week. As was Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire and Daffy Duck: Frustrated Fowl. But in the end I went with Max Headroom: The Complete Series as Pick of the Week.
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May 23rd, 2010
Iron Man 2 slipped to second place with $30.47 million on 10,223 screens in 57 markets for a total of $245.75 million internationally and $456.95 million worldwide. While this is impressive, its per theater average has become very weak and the competition is heating up. Look for sharp declines in the film's screen count over the next few weeks. That said, the original Iron Man earned a total of $264 million internationally and it is likely that the sequel has already topped that figure. It has also likely topped $500 million worldwide, while $600 million globally is a safe bet, so there's no reason for the studio to worry about shedding screens at this point. The film's biggest individual market so far is still the U.K. where it has made $25.80 million, including $2.30 million on 491 screens this past weekend. South Korea is right behind with $2.11 million on 600 screens over the weekend and $25.27 million after two.
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May 23rd, 2010
Perhaps DreamWorks Animation saw the writing on the wall before anyone else, but their decision to make Shrek Forever After the last film in the series is looking wise after the Ogre comedy/adventure posted what has to be considered a very ordinary opening.
Paramount's weekend estimate is $71.25 million, over $50 million less than Shrek the Third's debut in 2007, and it will take incredible legs through the Summer for the movie to deliver the kind of box office enjoyed by previous movies in the franchise.
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May 16th, 2010
For the fourth weekend in a row, Alice in Wonderland remained in second place, this time adding $13.28 million on 3843 screens in 54 markets for a total of $630.30 million internationally and $961.15 million worldwide. Since last week it has crossed the $600 million milestone on the international scene, making it just the 13th film to do so. It is now the seventh highest grossing film of all time. The film's per screen average has declined enough that it will likely shed screens and markets rather quickly. That said, if the worst thing you can say about a movie's box office run is, "It might not make it to $1 billion!" then the film is a massive success.
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May 16th, 2010
This Summer's first blockbuster face-off ended with a victory for Iron Man 2 as the superhero actioner saw off the medieval actioner, Robin Hood.
Both movies enjoyed weekends roughly in line with expectations.
Iron Man 2 posted a respectable 59% drop from its opening weekend to earn $53 million, and take its domestic box office total to $212 million.
With another $210 million internationally, the movie is well on its way to topping Iron Man's $582 million worldwide tally.
Robin Hood couldn't match that level of performance, but posted a decent $37.1 million opening in North America, and earned an estimated $77 million internationally, to take it past $100 million worldwide on its first weekend.
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May 10th, 2010
Iron Man 2 started off the summer in style with the biggest opening weekend of the year and the fifth biggest of all time. This helped the overall box office hit $174 million, which was 76% higher than last weekend. More importantly, it was 20% higher than the same weekend last year. This is extra important, because last year we were already a week into summer and we couldn't afford any weakness at the box office if 2010 was to maintain its lead over 2009. It was able to do so. In fact, it increased its lead slightly to 6.5% at $3.66 billion to $3.44 billion.
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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 9th, 2010
A prime launch date, inflated ticket prices, and the unbeatable formula of a superhero sequel combined to give Iron Man 2 a massive opening weekend, according to Paramount's estimate, released on Sunday.
Their projected $133.6 million would make the movie the fifth-biggest opener of all time, and cements Iron Man's place among the industry's mega-franchises, alongside Batman, Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, Twilight and Harry Potter.
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May 6th, 2010
Summer has finally begun. It feels a week late because May 1st fell on a Saturday. However, the wait could be worth it, as a number of analysts are expecting a record-breaking performance by Iron Man 2 over the weekend. The movie has no competition at the box office. There's not even competition when compared to last year, as practically everyone thinks it will open with much more than Star Trek. For that matter, most think it will easily top Iron Man's opening weekend and perhaps even break records.
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May 3rd, 2010
The new releases were a little weaker than anticipated, while the holdovers could only compensate so much. The overall box office was $102 million, which was 2% higher than last weekend. That's the good news. The bad news is that it was down 36% from the same weekend last year. Of course, this weekend last year was the first weekend of May, so the comparison is fundamentally unfair and 2010 still has a 6.4% lead over 2009 at $3.46 billion to $3.25 billion. I expect it to increase its lead next weekend.
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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 29th, 2010
It's the final weekend of April, which is normally a very bad time to release a big hit. But it appears that one of this year's two wide releases may make it. A Nightmare on Elm Street should be able to open faster than the two films did last week, but comparing it to last year is a bit more confusing. Last year, the last weekend in April of saw the release of Obsessed, which earned close to $30 million. A Nightmare on Elm Street should match that figure. However, the same weekend last year was actually the first weekend of May, which saw the release of Wolverine. There's a chance that overall box office combined won't match that film's opening.
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April 27th, 2010
It was not a particularly strong week at the box office, but that should surprise few people. Four of the top five films reached expectations or at least came within a rounding error of doing so. The overall box office brought in $100 million. This is 17% lower than last weekend and 12% lower than the same weekend last year. That said, 2010 still has a large lead over 2009 at $3.32 billion to $3.06 billion.
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April 22nd, 2010
While there are three wide releases coming out this week, including one debuting on Thursday, most box office analysts think that it will be a holdover, How to Train Your Dragon, that will take top spot. This is partially due to that film's strong holds so far, but also partially due to weakness in the three new releases. Expect a sizable drop-off from last weekend, but more importantly, a large drop-off from the same weekend last year.
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April 21st, 2010
Clash of the Titans tread water, down just 2% to $52.67 million on 10,165 screens in 55 markets for a total of $191.64 million internationally and $324.24 million worldwide. The film had a surprisingly strong start in Mexico, earning $7.18 million on 980 screens, which is close to the amount Alice in Wonderland opened with last month. It also placed first in Italy with $4.26 million on 533 screens. With an opening in Japan this weekend and Brazil next month (as well as some smaller markets), hitting $300 million internationally shouldn't be an issue. It could reach $500 million worldwide.
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April 19th, 2010
New releases were not able to live up to expectations over the weekend, but at least the holdovers were able to compensate. In fact, there were five films that earned more than $15 million at the box office over the weekend. So while the top film might have missed expectations, there was a lot of strength further down the list. The overall box office was down 5.8% from last weekend to $120 million, but that is still 10.7% higher than the same weekend last year. Meanwhile, year-to-date 2010 has made $3.19 billion and it is still 9.4% higher than last year's pace.
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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 18th, 2010
Another impressive hold from How to Train Your Dragon combined with a lacklustre opening for Kick-Ass to produce a second consecutive weekend where Sunday's estimates are too close to declare a weekend winner.
Paramount's estimate for Dragon is $20 million, while Lionsgate has Kick-Ass pegged at $19.75 million.
Lionsgate's second place position now may simply be because they've posted a more precise estimate.
Remarkably, there are three more movies within $5 million of top spot: Death at a Funeral opened with $17 million, which is just behind Date Night's second weekend $17.3 million (down just 31%), and Clash of the Titans did pretty well in its third weekend with an estimated $15.77 million.
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April 15th, 2010
A pair of new releases come out this week and almost all analysts expect them to finish one-two. There is some debate over which will take the top spot, with Kick-Ass holding a nominal but hardly insurmountable lead over Death at a Funeral. The same can be said when comparing Kick-Ass to 17 Again, which won the box office race last year. There's a chance that neither new release will be able to start faster than last year's champ, but there's also a chance that both will.
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April 12th, 2010
New releases opened a little on the lower end of expectations, but holdover performed admirably for the most part. There was a close race for the top spot this weekend. Overall, the box office pulled in $127 million, a 28% drop-off from last weekend. However, last weekend was a holiday weekend and so that's not that surprising. Box office was also down 4.6% from last year, but last year this was Easter weekend, so the decline is acceptable. Year-to-date, 2010 maintains its 10% growth over 2009 at $3.03 billion to $2.76 billion.
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April 11th, 2010
A strong opening for Date Night, a respectable drop-off for Clash of the Titans and a resurgent How to Train Your Dragon has produced a virtual three-way tie at the top of the chart this weekend, based on studio's Sunday estimates.
Things are so close, in fact, that each movie looks like it will claim top spot on one day of the weekend.
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April 8th, 2010
There could be quite a battle for top spot at the box office this weekend. It all depends on how fast Date Night can start, as well as how far Clash of the Titans will fall. There was a similar dynamic this time last year when the newcomer, Hannah Montana, was able to come away with a relatively comfortable win over the holdover, Fast & Furious. This time around, I think it will be a closer race, while overall the box office appears to be a little weaker.
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April 2nd, 2010
There's only one wide release next week, Date Movie, which makes it easy to pick the target film for this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Date Movie.
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 SuicideGirls: Guide to Living Limited Box Set and Strawberry Shortcake: The Berryfest Princess Movie 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 SuicideGirls: Guide to Living on DVD, SuicideGirls: Italian Villa on DVD, and LeapFrog: Math Adventure to the Moon on DVD.
(Because some of the prizes are "Adult Oriented", we do have a selection of prizes winners can choose from as alternatives.)
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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April 1st, 2010
March was a mixed month, with only three films surpassing expectations.
On the other hand, Alice in Wonderland will beat expectations by more than $200 million, so it alone makes up for a lot of the disappointing films.
On a more troubling note, the final big release, How to Train Your Dragon didn't get off to as fast a start as I would have liked, which could affect the box office going forward. Last year April got off to a fast start and that should happen this month as well. It better, as the quality of films quickly declines as the prospect of May blockbusters begins to loom large on the horizon.
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