March 19th, 2010
While there were plenty of new releases reaching the top 30 on the sales chart this week, a holdover, Law Abiding Citizen, remained in top spot. During its second week of release it sold an additional 353,000 units, lifting its total to 1.18 million units sold and $11.97 million in total sales.
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March 18th, 2010
Only three new releases reached the top 30 on this week's sales chart, and only one of those reached the top five. However, that film, Law Abiding Citizen, was able to win the race to the top with 830,000 units sold for opening week sale of $8.29 million.
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March 10th, 2010
There were plenty of new releases spread throughout the top 30 on this week's sales chart. Leading the way was Couples Retreat with 1.36 million units sold, generating $21.79 million in opening week sales.
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February 9th, 2010
Not a particularly great week for DVD or Blu-ray releases. The biggest movie to hit the home market is Couples Retreat, but it was a terrible movie and should be avoided at all costs. The best film coming out this week is A Serious Man and while the DVD is worth picking up, the Blu-ray is the better deal. However, the Pick of the Week goes to The Guild: Season Three, which is one of the funniest things on the Web.
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December 20th, 2009
Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard fell out of the top five, but still did relatively well, earning $8.14 million on 2,198 screens in 19 markets for an early total of $23.58 million. In its native France it added $6.27 million on 925 screens over the weekend for a total of $17.57 million after two. This is not that much weaker than the original, which at this point had made just over $20 million in France.
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December 13th, 2009
A number of international releases reached the top 30 this week, including Zweiohrkuken, a.k.a. The Chicken With Two Ears, from Germany, which placed sixth with $10.72 million on 839 screens in 3 markets.
It made $9.39 million on 714 screens in its native market, which was easily enough for first place and more than twice what the original,Keinohrhasen, a.k.a., No Ear Hare, opened with in 2007.
Keinohrhasen went on to earn $74 million worldwide, of which more than $60 million was earned in Germany.
However, I don't think this film will have the same legs.
That said, since it was written, directed, and stars Til Schweiger who was recently in Inglourious Basterds, it could earn see releases in more markets.
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December 6th, 2009
Ninja Assassin started its international run in sixth place with $5.30 million on 665 screens in 9 markets over the weekend for a total of $5.97 million. Most of those markets were in Asia, including South Korea, where it opened in second place with $2.97 million on 401 screens over the weekend and $3.55 million in total.
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November 29th, 2009
Planet 51 started its international run in a limited fashion, but was only a little better than its domestic opening. Its biggest market was Russia, where it placed fourth with $1.49 million on 344 screens, which is on par with its opening here, perhaps a little bit stronger.
The film also placed fourth in Italy with $1.16 million on 255 screens, which is again on par with the US, but perhaps a little weaker.
Overall, it landed in sixth place with $3.22 million on 894 screens in 6 markets during its opening weekend, but should improve this weekend when it opens in Spain, Mexico, and Brazil.
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November 18th, 2009
2012 crushed the competition with $166.19 million on 12,943 screens in 76 markets and $231.43 million worldwide over its debut weekend.
This is the fifth best international opening of all time, and is massively better than expected.
The film's biggest market was Russia where it pulled in $16.31 million on 840 screens, while it topped $10 million in Germany ($12.53 million on 756 screens) and the U.K. ($10.83 million on 480 screens).
Other major markets included Spain ($8.56 million on 606 screens), South Korea ($8.26 million on 855 screens over the weekend and $10.04 million in total), Italy ($7.64 million on 532), Australia ($5.67 million on 405), Brazil ($5.29 million on 550) and Mexico ($5.03 million on 780).
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November 16th, 2009
Great news at the box office, as the number one film topped expectations by a significant margin.
In fact, the top three films all did much better than expected.
On the down side, the rest of the films we talked about on Thursday struggled and this hurt the overall box office.
The total take was up 16.9% from last weekend at $140 million, but this was 5.8% lower than the same weekend last year.
Year to date, 2009 has pulled in $8.91 billion, which is 7.0% higher than last year's pace, and by this time next week 2009 will be only the seventh year to cross $9 billion in total ticket sales.
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November 14th, 2009
Couples Retreat expanded this past weekend but just missed the top five with $5.84 million on 1,373 screens in 18 markets for a total of $28.92 million after a month of release.
The film opened in third place in Germany under the name All Inclusive, with $2.55 million on 338 screens while it also took third place in Mexico with $446,000 on 235 screens.
Next up for the film is Spain next weekend and Italy the weekend after that, while it doesn't end its run until March when it opens in France.
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November 8th, 2009
Disney's A Christmas Carol got off to a disappointing start over the weekend, according to studio estimates.
While a $31 million debut is nothing to sniff at, it's well below expectations and might leave the movie outside the top 50 November weekends (see list).
This might be a case of opening a Christmas movie too soon, and Disney will be looking for long legs through Thanksgiving and into the Holiday Season proper, so all is not lost yet, but the next couple of weeks will be key.
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November 7th, 2009
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs fell out of the top five but still earned $5.18 million on 2568 screens in 39 markets for a total of $52.45 million so far. This was only 31% lower than last weekend, with no major market openings. In fact, the film doesn't have another major market opening till it debuts in Australia at the end of the month, while it still has openings in Italy and Spain by the end of the year, and it doesn't end its run till early next year with openings in Germany and some midlevel markets.
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November 2nd, 2009
It was a tough weekend at the box office, then again, that's always the case when Halloween lands on a weekend. Halloween in one of the worst days at the box office; it's almost as bad as Christmas Eve. And at least with Christmas Eve, you have Christmas Day to look forward to. The overall box office was down 21.8% from last weekend to just $91 million; however, that was 3.5% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2009 remains well head of 2008 at $8.56 billion to $7.95 billion.
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October 31st, 2009
The Ugly Truth reached a major milestone over the weekend with $5.75 million on 2046 screens in 55 markets for a total of $102.27 million internationally. Its biggest market of the weekend was Spain, where it added $1.86 million on 360 screens for a total of $5.17 million. With a debut in Italy a few weeks away, it will likely fall sharply next weekend, but should have no trouble earning $200 million worldwide before its run is over.
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October 29th, 2009
This Is It got off to a record-breaking start, kind of, while the rest of the top five will be filled with holdovers over Halloween weekend. This weekend last year Halloween was on a Friday, while this year it is on Saturday, neither of which help the box office one bit. But it won't take too much for the number one film this year to top the number one film from last year, and the rest of the box office should follow suit.
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October 27th, 2009
We had three wide releases this weekend, and not one of them matched expectations. Additionally, last week's number one film fell dramatically at the box office. This led to an equally dramatic decline at the box office with overall ticket sales at just $116 million. This is 16% lower than last weekend, but more importantly 13% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2009 still has a 7.6% lead over 2008 at $8.43 billion to $7.84 billion, which is a lead that might be insurmountable at this point.
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October 21st, 2009
Up had its best weekend on the international stage thanks mainly to two factors: It's first place opening in Italy, and its first place hold in the U.K. In Italy the film opened with $6.67 million on 652 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.15 million, which is a little weaker than Ice Age but better than Transformers. It held on very well well in the U.K. down just 19% to $8.40 million on 746 screens over the weekend for a total of $22.62 million after just two weeks of release. Ny this time next week it could have more than Cars made in total in that market, while it should end its run somewhere between WALL-E ($41 million) and Ratatouille ($48 million). Overall the film added $29.77 million on 4602 screens in 26 markets for a total of $295.15 million internationally and $587.96 million worldwide and has very likely that the film has reached $300 million internationally.
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October 19th, 2009
It was an excellent weekend at the box office even though the number one film didn't live up to me admittedly bullish expectations. It came close enough to be considered a hit, while the other two new releases topped expectations by substantial margins.
Overall, $138 million was spent on movie tickets over the weekend, which was 26% higher than last weekend and more importantly 38% higher than the same weekend last year.
So far this year, 2009 has earned $8.28 billion, which is 7.9% higher than 2008's pace.
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October 19th, 2009
Agora opened in first place in Spain and sixth place internationally with $7.90 million on 462 screens. This is great news, as the film cost $70 million to make and it will need a massive run to break even. It won't have to earn all of it in Spain, on the other hand, and should perform well throughout Europe and when it opens here.
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October 15th, 2009
There are a trio of three wide releases this week, including one opening in close to 4,000 theaters.
This time last year there were four wide releases, but none were sizable hits, which gives 2009 a great chance for expanding its lead over 2008 at the box office race.
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October 14th, 2009
The winners of our No Retreat contest were determined and they are...
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October 13th, 2009
No less than six films broke the $10,000 per theater average barrier over the weekend.
Paranormal Activity topped the per theater chart with its record-breaking weekend, earning an average of $49,379 in 160 theaters.
An Education was relatively close behind with an average of $39,754 in 4 theaters, which is a spectacular result at any time.
A Serious Man remained strong with an average of $21,872, which is enough to suggest further significant expansion over the coming weeks.
The number one film at the box office, Couples Retreat, was next with an average of $11,429.
Yes Men Fix the World and Bronson had nearly identical averages at $10,956 vs. $10,940.
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October 12th, 2009
There was only one new release coming out this weekend, but it topped expectations, and there was a surprise film in the top five, and both these events helped the market as a whole earn $110 million over the weekend.
This was 2.9% higher than last weekend and 7.7% higher than the same weekend last year.
Year to date, 2009 has now brought in $8.10 billion so far, which is 7.5% higher than the same pace last year.
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October 11th, 2009
The Columbus Day holiday weekend produced two big winners, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
At the top of the chart, Couples Retreat exceeded expectations with $35.3 million.
A per theater average of nearly $12,000 for the poorly-reviewed comedy is a testament to Universal's marketing campaign and the box office power of its ensemble cast.
A great marketing campaign from Paramount can also be attributed to the success of the weekend's other big success: Paranormal Activity, which jumped into the top 5 with an estimated $7.066 million in just 159 theaters.
That's the smallest number of theaters for a movie to hit the top five ever, beating the performance of Platoon, which hit 4th place the weekend of January 16, 1987 playing in 174 theaters.
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October 8th, 2009
There is only one wide release coming out this week, but at least it's a saturation level release, so it should be a major player. In fact, it could make more than the two biggest releases this week last year made combined, which could help 2009 end its mini-slump on the year-over-year comparison.
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October 1st, 2009
There's only one wide release next week, Couples Retreat, which makes it easy to pick the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of Couples Retreat.
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 Important Things with Demetri Martin - Season One on DVD and One Step Beyond - Season One 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 also win a copy of Important Things with Demetri Martin - Season One on DVD and One Step Beyond - Season One on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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October 1st, 2009
September ended with a thud, but at least there's good news. September has finally ended. Last month more movies missed expectations that topped them, which has put a cooling effect on the overall box office and that could hurt the business going into this month. October should still be stronger than last month, and since October of last year wasn't particularly great, 2009 should at least maintain its lead over 2008 going into the holiday season, even if it isn't as strong every single week.
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