October 23rd, 2012
There are not a lot of major releases on this week's list. The biggest box office hit was Magic Mike, which did cross $100 million, but I'm not sure its target audience is going to support it on DVD and especially not on Blu-ray Combo Pack. According to Amazon.com, Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings is the best selling new release, and the DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and 3D Combo Pack are selling very well. However, while that film is absolutely worth picking up, the Pick of the Week goes to The Invisible War on DVD. It could be an Oscar winner next year.
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December 12th, 2009
Black Friday sales gave a decidedly retro look to the DVD sales chart for the week ending November 29.
All major retailers were offering deeply discounted prices of catalog titles, including $4 deals at Target for Elf, Sex and the City and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, among others, and Best Buy offering Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Forgetting Sarah Marshall at the same price.
Walmart wasn't going to be outdone though, and offered some DVD titles, including Hellboy 2, Mummy 3, I am Legend and Casino Royale in limited quantities at just $2.
The real champion of the bargain basement, however, was The Dark Knight, which was available for $5 at Walmart, and $4 at both Target and Best Buy.
With low, low prices, the unit volumes for the week were astronomical, but overall spending was actually down from 2008 thanks to the price cuts.
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December 3rd, 2008
Thanksgiving is over and that can only mean on thing,
Christmas shopping! And that means it is time for our annual Holiday Gift Guide. This week we will look at some of the recent releases, as well as some soon to be released Blu-ray films.
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October 21st, 2008
The number of DVDs reaching my door is increasing each week (so are the number of ones that are late, or so it would seem). However, while there was a wide selection, the choice for DVD Pick of the Week was easy: Looney Tunes - Golden Collections - Volume 6. ... And
James Bond - Blu-ray Uber Collection, as well as Casino Royale on Blu-ray. One last note, as has happened more often than not, this week's list is split into two. The first part can be seen here.
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October 21st, 2008
The number of DVDs reaching my door is increasing each week (so are the number of ones that are late, or so it would seem). However, while there was a wide selection, the choice for DVD Pick of the Week was easy: Looney Tunes - Golden Collections - Volume 6. ... And
James Bond - Blu-ray Uber Collection, as well as Casino Royale on Blu-ray. One last note, as has happened more often than not, this week's list is split into two. The second part can be seen here.
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April 7th, 2007
New releases were a source of happiness on the home market as they first one - two this week. Leading the way was Pursuit of Happyness with an impressive $9.95 million while fellow happy release, Happy Feet, placed second with $8.26 million.
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March 31st, 2007
A trio of new releases led the sales chart this week, and those three all managed to place in the top five on the rental charts as well. This includes the new number one film, Blood Diamond with $9.00 million.
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March 24th, 2007
There was another new releases to top the rental charts this week as Casino Royale earned $9.20 million during its opening weekend on the home market. This is not particularly strong compared to the film's theatrical run, but it was more dominant on the sales chart.
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March 12th, 2007
Not much worth talking about this week.
However, that's because one of the biggest hits of last year is coming out, and studios don't want to go head-to-head with such a behemoth.
The behemoth in question is Casino Royale - Buy from Amazon.
But while this release is keeping the overall traffic a bit light, there's more than one DVD that's worth picking up, including the aforementioned Bond blockbuster.
But the best of the best is Without a Trace - The Complete Second Season - Buy from Amazon.
And if you want to see season 3 come out on DVD anytime soon, buy this DVD A.S.A.P.
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February 25th, 2007
The Blood Diamond fell from second to sixth this past weekend, mainly due to the lack of new openings. The film still pulled $8.52 million on 3409 screens in 59 markets for a total of $77.51 million and is still on pace for $100 million internationally, but that's the last milestone in its future.
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February 18th, 2007
Charlotte's Web's return to the international charts was a successful one as it just missed the top five with $6.37 million on 2192 screens in 40 markets. However, its international tally of $32.57 is still a terrible result given the film's production budget, which has been estimated to be north of $100 million. The film has one strong opening this weekend as it earned second place in the U.K. with $3.69 million on 489 screens. On the other hand, the film flopped in France missing the top ten with $762,000 on 347 screens and that was for the full week. It did little better in South Korea with $872,000 on 150 screens over the weekend and $969,000 in total while scoring $218,000 on 54 screens over the weekend in Belgium and $271,000 in total.
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February 11th, 2007
Babel just missed the top five this past weekend and showed that
Oscar nods still meant something at the box office, at least internationally. The film added $5.16 million on 1467 screens for a total of $61.31 million so far. It was aided by a first place, $1.23 million opening on 256 screens in Russia, but that is one of the film's last significant openings.
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February 4th, 2007
For the second weekend in a row
Apocalypto earned sixth place on the international charts, this time pulling in 7.03 million on 2308 screens for a total of $47.42 million. Its best market of the weekend was Mexico where it had an easy first place finish with $2.43 million on 502 screens over the weekend and $2.66 million including previews. It was also strong during its second weekend in Spain as it was down 40% to $1.17 million on 284 screens for a total of $3.64 million.
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January 28th, 2007
Apocalypto climbed into sixth place despite dropping 13% to $6.72 million on 2072 screens for a total of $37.90 million. Its best market of the week was Spain where it opened in first place with $1.94 million on 283 screens.
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January 18th, 2007
While
Night at the Museum saw its weekend haul drop by more than a third this weekend, it still took first place with $20.16 million on 5193 screens in 34 markets for a total of $151.34 million. In Brazil the film earned an estimated $3 million on 502 screens and if that holds up it would be
Fox's third biggest opening ever in that market. Other strong markets include $2.71 million on 803 screens in Germany for a total of $17.24 million after three weeks. At this pace the film will have no trouble reaching $200 million, and that's not taking into account markets it has yet to open in, markets including France, Spain, Italy, and Japan.
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January 10th, 2007
2007 started the same way that 2006 ended, with
Night at the Museum on top of the international charts. During its second weekend of release the film pulled in $29.8 million on 5,000 screens in 38 markets crossing the $100 million mark in the process; so far the film has pulled in $116.7 million internationally and is on pace to hit $200 million. Most of the film's weekend haul came from holdovers like the U.K. where it remained in first place with $5.71 million on 487 screens for a two-week total of $26.85 million. It also held well in Germany adding $4.99 million on 794 screens to its total of $13.95 million in that market. The film's few openings were mostly of the samller variety including first place debuts in Greece, ($900,000 on 66 screens), and Peru, ($471,000 on 82).
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January 4th, 2007
Night at the Museum stormed into the international marketplace with $47.3 million on 4,722 screens in 26 markets.
In the U.K. the film made $7.80 million on 488 screens over the weekend and $15.05 million since Boxing Day.
In Australia it had to settle for second place with $3.19 million on 365 screens over the weekend and $5.10 million in total.
In Mexico the film shot up to first place with $2.24 million on 972 screens during its first full weekend of release and $7.04 million since Christmas day.
After just two weeks Museum has pulled in $58.1 million with many major markets still to come as it rolls out from now until March.
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December 29th, 2006
Eragon remained in first place on the international charts with $21.9 million on 6,300 screens 52 markets for a total of $63.9 million. While the film has won the weekend race two weekends in a row, its running tally is far below studio expectations given its $100 million budget. The film opened in first place in France, ($4.4 million on 754 screens), and Belgium ($579,000 on 90), but had to settle for second place in Italy, ($2.1 million from 477). Holdovers were mixed; the film rose to first place in Russia with $1.1 million on 490 screens, but that was still nearly 50% lower than last weekend. It held on better in the U.K. down 37% to $1.64 million, but that was barely enough for fifth place and lifted its total to just $5.94 million.
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December 20th, 2006
There was a new winner on the international box office charts as
Eragon claimed top spot with $30.09 million on 6,195 screens in 76 markets. This included first place finishes in nearly three dozen markets, but finished third or worse in half, including some major markets. For instance, the film placed fourth in the U.K. with just $2.26 million on 431 screens. Its best market was Spain where it pulled in $4.2 million at 500 while Germany was close behind with $3.88 million on 781 screens. Other million dollar markets include Mexico, ($2.28 million on 807 screens); Russia, ($2.2 million on 490); Japan, ($2.16 million on 558); Australia, ($1.67 million on 321); and Thailand, ($1.1 million on 220). The film has yet to open in France, Italy, Brazil, and smaller markets, but there's little room to expand beyond this point and while it did claim first place, it was not a dominate display especially considering its
competition has been in release for a month.
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December 14th, 2006
A busy week for new releases didn't stop
Casino Royale earning its fourth first place finish in a row with $35.68 million on 4688 screens in 63 markets for a total of $246.65 million. The film opened in 10 new markets (and setting
franchise records in each). This included Australia where the film's $5.42 million on 401 screens was more than the rest of the market combined and was equally dominate in New Zealand with $827,000 on 92 screens. The film wasn't as fortunate in Mexico where it had to settle for second place with $1.49 million on 564 screens, which was just $30,000 behind the by
box office champ. Speaking of close races, the film was knocked out of top spot in the U.K. with $5.39 million on 495 screens, also falling victim to
Happy Feet in a very close battle. So far the film has made $82.52 million in that one market, and with Christmas on its way it is heading for $100 million and the year's best box office there. Overall the film is rapidly closing in on
Die Another Day international final tally of $271 million; in fact, it should get there by this time next week. However, it is also likely that this time next week it will no longer be in top spot on the international charts.
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December 12th, 2006
2006 has hit a real losing streak since Happy Feet and Casino Royale opened three weeks ago. This week only one of the four wide releases matched expectations while their combined box office was well below last year's number one film.
And while the overall box office was up 4% from last weekend at $97 million, it was down a huge 22% from the same weekend last year.
Things need to turn around soon, or ticket sales may dip below last year's pace.
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December 6th, 2006
A slow week for
Casino Royale with only four openings, and only one of those in a major market. In Japan the film had to settle for second place with $2.34 million on 443 screens over the weekend and $3.25 million in total; this was a tiny margin behind local film, Love and Honor. The film also opened in a trio of African markets: South Africa with $509,000 on 77 screens, Kenya, $59,000 on 8, and Nigeria with $44,000 on 4. (Although I've received an e-mail saying the movie made $25 million there and I can earn 12.5% of that if I help a certain theatre owner smuggle it out of the country.) The film's best market remains the U.K. where it added $10.51 million on 506 screens for a total of $73.45 million. The film has already topped
Die Another Day in that markets and is gunning for
Dead Man's Chest, which ended its run in the market with $98.63 million. Overall, the film earned an easy first place with $43.73 million on 6728 screens in 53 markets for a total of $194.65 million. And with openings in Australia, South Korea, Italy, Mexico and other significant markets left to go, it should have no trouble topping $300 million before long.
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December 5th, 2006
Over the weekend all the holdovers were within a rounding error of expectations, but none of the new releases were able to come close to that.
This left the overall box office down 42% from last weekend at $93 million.
However, it was a post-holiday weekend and the large drop-off should surprise no one.
Compared to the same weekend last year, the overall box office was up 7% and that is a much more significant figure.
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November 30th, 2006
The first weekend of December rarely brings us a big blockbuster, and this year is no different. Three films open wide, or in varying degrees of wideness, but none look to have the chops to take first place.
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November 29th, 2006
Casino Royale's dominance of the worldwide box office continued as it opened in 18 new markets scoring first place in every one of them. In fact, it was number one in 40 of the 50 markets it is currently playing in. Overall the film earned $64.94 million on 6460 screens in 50 markets for a two-week total of $129.06 million. The biggest opening of the weekend was in Germany where it crushed the competition with $12.84 million on 839 screens, more than 10 times its
nearest competition. France was also a major contributor to its weekend success with $8.4 million on 823 screens while it captured $3.90 million on 500 screens in Spain, and a combined $8.02 million on 392 screens in the four Scandinavian markets. Not surprisingly, holdovers were led by the U.K. where it dipped just 25% to $16.51 million on 506 screens for a total of $53.96 million, which is nearly what
Die Another Day earned in total in that market. Next up for the film is Japan this weekend, Australia the weekend after and South Korea the weekend after that. As for the film's long term potential, it is likely to crack the $500 million milestone worldwide with $600 million being a tough but achievable goal.
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November 28th, 2006
As was the case last year, the Thanksgiving long weekend was dominated by holdovers, with the number one film earning almost as much as the four new wide releases combined.
Over the 3-day weekend the total box office was $162 million, which was more than 10% higher than last weekend but more importantly it was just over 2% lower than the same weekend last year.
Over 5 days the top ten pulled in $197 million, or about 5% lower than the same weekend last year.
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November 23rd, 2006
Casino Royale dominated the weekend box office earning $42.2 million on 3,063 screens in 27 markets, only one of them a true major markets. The film's biggest was the
U.K., no surprise there, but the magnitude of the opening caught a lot of people off guard. Its weekend total of $21.55 million on 505 screens was the third biggest opening of all time behind just
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Add in Thursday and the film earned $25.33 million, roughly 47% more than the previous best opening for a
Bond film in the market, and
Goldeneye had 5 days to earn its $17.2 million. The second biggest market was Russia where the film took in $4.55 million on 540 screens, which was more than four times the
nearesst competition and the highest opening ever for a non-
Russian film there. It had a similar result in Indian earning $3.2 million on an unprecedented 427 screens beating
Spider-man 2's record for a non-
Indian film by 87%. Other million dollar markets include Greece with $1.34 million on 111 screens, Thailand with $1.1 million on 154 and Taiwan with $1 million on 116. The film opens in most of the rest of Europe next weekend and should have no trouble remaining on top of the charts.
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November 22nd, 2006
The Thanksgiving long weekend marks the beginning of the holiday season and is traditionally one of the biggest weekends of the year.
This year is no exception with four films opening wide, and two others adding a massive number of theaters.
However, despite the glut of new and expanding films, there's a very good chance that it will be a holdover that claims the top spot over the weekend.
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November 21st, 2006
Bobby finished on top of the Per Theater Chart this weekend after taking in nearly $70,000 in two theaters for an average of $34,520.
That was more than $10,000 above its nearest competition, Volver, which pulled in an average of $24,095 during its third week of release.
For Your Consideration placed third on the charts with an average of $16,174, which is a really good start, but still well below the average opening for Christopher Guest's previous mockumentaries.
In fourth was the first of two wide release to top $10,000 as Casino Royale scored a very impressive $11,891 in 3,434 theaters.
The re-release of Two or Three Things I Know About Her earned $11,214 in its lone theater, while Flannel Pajamas brought in $11,069, also in one theater.
Finally we have the overall box office champ, Happy Feet, with an average of $10,918.
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November 21st, 2006
There were a few surprises on the charts this week, including the number one film.
But overall things played out almost exactly as expected, leading to a total of $146 million at the box office.
This was 15% higher than last weekend but 19% lower than the same weekend last year.
However, that was the weekend when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire opened and no-one was expecting this year to be able to keep pace.
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November 16th, 2006
What do penguins and secret agents have in common? (Not counting the fact that they both wear tuxedos.) Not a whole lot. However, movies featuring both will be in a close battle this weekend for top spot on the box office charts. Personally, in these battles I usually put my money on the guy with the gun, but cuteness might win out.
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November 13th, 2006
The biggest movie of the month,
Casino Royale, opened in just a few days. To celebrate we have a whole lot of prizes. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of
Casino Royale. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday),
without going over and the person who comes the closest to the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday,
without going under, will both win a copy of Barry Manilow's latest DVD, First & Farewell, and his latest CD, The Greatest Songs of the Sixties, and the companion book from
Wordplay. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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November 11th, 2006
There was a clear winner amongst this week's batch of websites as
Stranger than Fiction -
Official Site took home the Weekly Website Award.
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November 1st, 2006
Note: Article updated 11/18/2006 with correct budget for Harsh Times
It's that time of the month again, a time to look forward, but it is also a time to look back.
October was a stronger month than expected and, while there are a lot of reasons for that, I think one must pay particular attention to the play of Taylor Pyatt.
The departure of Anson Carter to free agency over the summer was troublesome and many felt finding a right winger for the Sedin twins was a key in maintaining or even improving upon last year's numbers.
Without good chemistry, Daniel and Henrik might have taken a step back this year.
However, with a team leading 6 goals, Taylor Pyatt is more than proving he can play with the speedy Swedes. ...
What?
Oh right, movies.
It was a pretty good month for movies as well.
November sees the beginning of the most important time of year for the movie industry.
Not only do the holidays start with Thanksgiving, but this is also the time of year that award season really heats up.
This means there is an excellent mix of blockbusters, especially family films, and critically acclaimed films hoping that first impressions are lasting impressions.
It also means there are several limited releases that could expand wide later in their run; these include Fur, Bobby, For Your Consideration and others.
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October 28th, 2006
There was a good selection of sites this week in terms of updates, but unlike last week there were fewer contenders for the Weekly Website Award. That's not to say
Let's Go to Prison -
Official Site didn't deserve to win, it just had a lot less competition than it would have had if it launched last week.
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October 14th, 2006
With more and more Oscar contenders getting ready to start their theatrical runs, it is fitting that a satire of such films,
For Your Consideration -
Official Site, takes home the Weekly Website Award.
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October 7th, 2006
Good week for websites, but most were smaller updates or new sites with just a few features. Two sites,
Happy Feet -
Official Site and
The Prestige -
Official Site, stood out above the crowd, but both will need a few more update to take home the Weekly Website Award.
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September 23rd, 2006
Slow week with just over half a dozen sites on the list. Of them,
Renaissance -
Official Site is clearly the best with a few others showing promise.
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September 16th, 2006
High quantity on sites this week, but many of them were for new releases, most of which haven't had any updates in a while. Those that did have updates were generally quite small, but one site stood above them all,
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny -
Official Site, which is easily the winner of the Weekly Website Award.
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September 8th, 2006
After a very busy month, the number of site on this week's list dropped off dramatically. The decline in quantity was accompanied by a decline in quality with no site jumping out as the obvious choice for the Weekly Website Award.
The Guardian -
Official Site came the closest, but it will have to wait till more features are added for that honor.
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September 2nd, 2006
Another busy week with plenty of top-notch films to chose from In the end, however, it was a two-way race between
The Black Dahlia -
Official Site and
Stranger than Fiction -
Official Site with the former site winning out by a narrow margin.
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August 26th, 2006
It's another busy week with nearly three dozen films being represented here. Taking top prize is
Invincible -
Official Site, although there were a few others that could take that claim before all is said and done.
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August 11th, 2006
The torrid pace of website updates continues with more than 30 films on this week's list. There were a few sites that really caught my eye, but it was
Trust the Man -
Official Site and its interactive map of New York City and its more than 2 dozen clips that won the Weekly Website Award.
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August 4th, 2006
Third week in a row where the number of sites featured on this list has topped 30. With such a busy week it would take something different to win the award, and that's something
Michel Gondry excels at delivering giving
The Science of Sleep -
Official Site the Weekly Website Award.
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July 28th, 2006
Another big week for movie sites with several excellent entries. In this crowded field there were a lot of sites that showed promise and could be just one big update away from winning the award. But this week the best of the best was
World Trade Center -
Official Site. Let's hope that the movie can live up to the site.
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July 21st, 2006
Another busy week, but unlike last week there was no massive blockbuster launching its flash site. Two sites stood out this week, (not counting past winners), and they are wildly different both in terms of style and in terms of the movie they are selling:
Accepted -
Official Site and
World Trade Center -
Official Site. The former is goofy and seriously immature, while the latter is one of the most emotional sites I've ever seen. In was nearly a coin flip, but in the end I went with
Accepted -
Official Site, but I would be willing to bet the other site will win before the movie comes out.
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July 14th, 2006
It's a good week for website with what could be the last big hit of the year launching its flash site. That movie,
Miami Vice, and its
Official Site, is the winner of the Weekly Website Award.
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July 7th, 2006
After the busiest week in more than a month, we have the slowest. While there are several good sites on this week's list, they are either a bit below the award-worthy level, or they are all award winners. So the Weekly Website Award is taking a vacation this week.
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June 30th, 2006
It seems a lot of people are starting their holidays early, but not this column as it's the busiest it's been in more than a month. Including in this list are a few newly released teaser trailers and a handful of flash sites, most of which are worth checking out. But the best of the best is the
Running With Scissors -
Official Site.
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June 23rd, 2006
Just an average week with
You, Me and Dupree -
Official Site taking the prize for the best of the week.
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June 16th, 2006
This is actually a pretty busy week with more than two-dozen site on the list. That makes it the busiest week in a month. However, it was one of the site that had no real updates this week that won the Weekly Website Award this week and it was,
Nacho Libre -
Official Site.
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May 19th, 2006
It was a good week for movie sites, although it's hard to tell looking just at the number of sites featured here. However, while the numbers of sites is low, the quality is very high with three sites in the running for the Weekly Website Award, (four if you include
Casino Royale -
Official Site, which I preemptively gave the award to when the placeholder site went live). Both
The Break-Up -
Official Site and
Pulse -
Official Site were also in the running, but in the end I went with
See No Evil -
Official Site. However, I expect the other two sites to win the award in later weeks.
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May 5th, 2006
It was not a great week when it comes to new websites with most of the really interesting updates coming in the form of new trailers. However, it was one of those sites,
Casino Royale -
Official Site, that was awarded the Weekly Website Award. I just hope when the site goes live in two weeks by Fanboy enthusiasm is rewarded.
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November 24th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
The Producers -
Official Site.
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October 20th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang -
Official Site.
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October 14th, 2005
The world can finally sleep easy, with the announcement of the actor who will play
James Bond in the 21st James Bond Movie, Casino Royale (or 22nd if you count Never Say Never Again).
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February 13th, 2004
This week's batch of new movie release dates is highlighted by MGM announcing the release date of the as-yet-untitled 21st James Bond Movie,
a confirmed release date for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,
a curious move for the
Bridget Jones sequel and the usual shuffling about as studios try to position their movies for the greatest chance of success.
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January 3rd, 2004
The New Year makes for an interesting time to look at how last year's blockbusters have affected our All Time Top Box Office Stars list.
As usual, there are some familiar names doing well, and some surprise new entries.
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