March 30th, 2010
The trailing end of the winter blockbuster releases are hitting the home market over the next month. This week we have two $200 million hits, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and Sherlock Holmes. There are also a few Oscar nominated movies: An Education and The Baader Meinhof Complex. Three of these four are worth picking up (as are a number of smaller releases) but none scream Pick of the Week.
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March 6th, 2010
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Picture and we actually have a real race in this category.
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March 5th, 2010
While the Independent Spirit Awards are one of the first to announce their nominations, they are one of the last to hand out the awards. This year the clear winner was Precious, which swept all five categories it was nominated for. However, it wasn't the only winner.
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March 5th, 2010
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Actress in a Lead Role, which, unlike many others, I don't think is a slam dunk.
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March 4th, 2010
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Adapted Screenplay, which is one of the categories that I think could give us a surprise.
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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 2nd, 2010
Oscar nominations were announced at 5:38 this morning, continuing a tradition that have never been adequately explained to me. (Why so early in the morning? Does earning an Oscar nomination become sweeter if people have to wake you up to congratulate you?) Leading the way in nominations were Avatar and The Hurt Locker, both of which pick up nine nods each, many of them in the same categories.
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January 6th, 2010
The Producers Guild of America announced their nominations this week, and while there are only three categories for theatrical releases, they tend to be quite accurate predictors for the Oscar nominations.
This is great news for Up, which picked up nominations in two of the three categories.
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December 17th, 2009
The SAG nominations were announced this week, and the trend of the year continues with Up in the Air leading the way, but no one film dominating. This time around Up in the Air was in a three-way tie with Inglourious Basterds and Precious, which makes the race even more interesting.
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December 16th, 2009
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations this week, but looking over the list of films chosen, it is hard to declare any one film as the big winner. Up in the Air did pick up six Golden Globe nominations, including several of the most prestigious nominations, but it is far from the only major player.
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December 2nd, 2009
As always, the Independent Spirit Awards represent the unofficial start of Awards Season with the announcement of their nominations.
This year The Last Station and Precious topped the list of nominees with five each.
For the former, it should help build buzz for its 2010 release.
For the latter, it is the first step towards possible Awards Season glory and further enhances its already lofty box office potential.
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December 1st, 2009
There were more than half-a-dozen films to top $10,000 on the per theater chart, including The Princess and the Frog, which earned close to $800,000 in just two theaters for an average of $393,095. Broken Embraces saw its per theater average rise by more than 10% to $58,993, which bodes well for its chances to expand. Next up was Me and Orson Welles with an average of $15,910 in 4 theaters, while The Road opened with $1.5 million in 111 theaters for an average of $13,534. A trio of top ten moves rounded out the $10,000 club with The Blind Side earning an average of $12,774, Precious took in an average of $10,680, and finally The Twilight Saga - New Moon was right behind with $10,606.
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November 24th, 2009
Broken Embraces opened on top of the per theater chart with an impressive average of $53,556 in two theaters, while The Fantastic Mr. Fox was in a close second place with an average $50,878 in four theaters. The overall box office leader, The Twilight Saga - New Moon, placed third with $35,497 in more than 4,000 theaters. Precious saw its best numbers of its run so far, pulling in nearly $11 million in just over 600 theaters for an average of $17,300. The Sun opened with $11,588 in one theater while The Blind Side opened with an average of $10,971 in more than 3,000 theaters.
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November 17th, 2009
We have a new champion on the Per Theater Chart with The Fantastic Mr. Fox leading the way with an average of $66,475 in four theaters.
Precious expanded into more than 100 additional theaters but still pulled in an amazing average of $33,762, which was enough for second place.
La Danse climbed to $28,104, while playing again in a single theater (albeit now on two screens).
The overall box office leader, 2012, opened with an average of $19,165 in just over 3,400 theaters.
Uncertainty only earned mixed reviews, but it scored $13,075 in its lone theater.
The End of Poverty? was richly rewarded with $12,593 in its solitary theater.
Two other new releases were neck-and-neck with Four Season Lodge earning $11,667 while The Messenger managed an average of $11,131.
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November 10th, 2009
Precious had a record-breaking opening on the per theater chart with close to $1.9 million in just 18 theaters for an average of $104,025.
This is just shy of the record for best per theater average for a live action movie; however, the current record holder, Dreamgirls, opened in fewer theaters and with prestige pricing, so this is arguably the better result.
Precious did set the record for highest per theater average for a film playing in more than 10 theaters.
It wasn't the only film in the $10,000 club with La Danse earning $14,000 in its lone theater while Splinterheads opened with $10,515, also in one theater.
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November 3rd, 2009
The per theater chart took a hit over the weekend and no movie topped $10,000; however, An Education was close with an average of $9,737 in 48 theaters.
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November 1st, 2009
Michael Jackson's This Is It topped the box office chart in the United States this weekend, but with a relatively disappointing $21.3 million Friday to Sunday, according to Sony's estimates.
While that's good for a concert/documentary film, it's some way behind the $31.1 million opening three-day weekend of the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert released in 2008.
In fact, This Is It's five day total of $32.5 million only just beats out the Disney concert pic.
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October 27th, 2009
Antichrist was the only new release to reach the $10,000 club over the weekend earning a strong average of $11,900 in six theaters. An Education was just $49 behind at $11,851, which is about 5 or 6 tickets per theater. Finally, Paranormal Activity was able to reach first place on the overall chart while maintaining an average $10,850 in nearly 2000 theaters.
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October 20th, 2009
Paranormal Activity remained on top of the per theater chart with an average of $25,711. The film finally saw its per theater average drop this past weekend, but it should still have no trouble expanding. Second place went to The Maid, which earned $17,036 in one theater. An Education remained in the $10,000 club with an average of $12,882, while A Serious Man took in more than $800,000 in 82 theaters for an average of $10,275.
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October 18th, 2009
Where The Wild Things Are got off to a strong start over the weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
The Spike Jonze adaptation of the Maurice Sendak book earned a very healthy $30.47 million, according to Warner Bros. estimates, making it one of October's biggest openers (see full list).
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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 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 9th, 2009
Has Awards Season officially begun? There are more than 10 limited releases on this week's list, including three that have to be considered potential Awards Season players. These three films are The Damn United, An Education, and Good Hair , and in addition to earn strong reviews, could also be breakout hits. On the other end of the spectrum, there are a number of films coming out in too many theaters with too few positive reviews.
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