March 30th, 2009
It's a big list this week with nearly 50 DVDs here (including a few that are late reviews). This includes this year's big Oscar winner, Slumdog Millionaire, which is coming out on DVD and Blu-ray. Also coming out this week is two foreign language thrillers: Tell No One on DVD and Blu-ray, and Timecrimes on DVD. All three are worthy picking up. In fact, all three are DVD Picks of the Week. With so many releases, it comes as no surprise that this week's list has to be split into two, with the first part found here.
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March 23rd, 2009
Technical difficulties with Amazon's site meant this column was a lot harder to get done than usual. However, I won't hold that against this week's releases, and there are a number that are worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week from practically every category. TV on DVD has Andy Richter Controls the Universe - The Complete Series, from the classics we have The Odd Couple - Centennial Collection, from new releases we have Bolt - Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack, Blu-ray offers us James Bond Blu-ray Collection - Volume 3. We even have a late entry, as Let the Right One In - Blu-ray arrived. All five are worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week, but if I was forced to chose just one, Bolt - Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack would probably please the most people. After a couple of "slow" weeks, we are back to splitting the column into two parts. The second part can be found here.
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April 27th, 2008
Bienvenue Chez les Ch'its, a.k.a. Welcome to the Sticks, remained in first place in France with $4.79 million on 867 screens over the weekend for a total of $175.67 million after 8. However, it fell out of the top five internationally with $5.33 million on 963 screens in 4 markets for a total of $187.13 million. In its native market, the film has ticket sales of 19.25 million putting it about three weeks away from topping Titanic's record of 20.64 million while it is closing in on $200 million internationally. Both of those are amazing records, and the film is hardly showing signs of slowing down.
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April 20th, 2008
Nim's Island made its first push onto the international chart landing in sixth place with $4.53 million on 970 screens in 7 markets for a very early total of $5.64 million. The film opened in first place in Italy with $1.71 million on 304 screens while it expanded into fourth place in Australia with $780,000 on 196 screens over the weekend for a total of $1.69 million after two. The film also made its debut in France with $1.65 million on 399 screens, which was only enough for fifth place. Nim's Island is using a graduated release schedule and doesn't have a major opening for the rest of the month. On the other hand, it has major openings practically every month right through till the end of summer.
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April 13th, 2008
No new openings left 10,000 B.C. tumbling from second to sixth, but it still pulled in $5.83 million on 4302 screens in 61 markets for a total of $155.16 million. This is substantially more than it made stateside while it is about a week away from $250 million worldwide.
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April 7th, 2008
New releases didn't have a major impact on the DVD sales chart this week and that helped I Am Legend remain in top spot with 803,000 units sold for revenue of $15.32 million for the week. Its total sales have reached $81.71 million from 4.36 million units making it the best-selling DVD of the year so far.
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April 7th, 2008
There were only two new releases to chart this week while I Am Legend repeated on top with $9.08 million in rentals for the week and $20.08 million in total.
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April 6th, 2008
Step Up 2 The Streets fell more than 40% last weekend while dropping out of the top five. This was mainly due to the lack of major openings, while its holdover results were merely average. In the U.K. it was down 42% to $2.74 million on 351 screens over the weekend for a total of $11.32 million and in Australia it was down 44% to $1.31 million on 188 screens lifting its total to $5.10 million after two. Overall it added $7.38 million on 1615 screens in 27 markets for a total of $53.21 million, which was enough to lift its worldwide total to more than $100 million.
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March 24th, 2008
According to Amazon, there are more than 700 DVDs coming out this week; however, this is certainly a case of quantity over quality and I'm having trouble finding 30 releases worth mentioning. It is also a rather light week when it comes to spotlight reviews with only three of them. To end the trifecta of weakness, there are not a lot that are even in contention for DVD Pick of the Week. War Made Easy is arguably the best movie of the week, but the DVD is devoid of extras. Likewise, Bonnie and Clyde on Blu-ray is a good choice, but there are no exclusive features and the Ultimate Collector's Edition has more physical features. Another contender was PTU - Police Tactical Unit, which is a strong movie with equally strong extras. However, in the end none of these releases really lived up to the title of DVD Pick of the Week.
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March 2nd, 2008
Juno nearly climbed into the top five with $7.08 million on 1745 screens in 25 markets for a total of $39.17 million. This includes a surprise first place opening in Brazil with $808,000 on 146 screens over the weekend and $1.26 million in total. On the other hand, it struggled in South Korea with $222,000 on 203 screens over the weekend and $283,000 in total. As for holdovers, the film was down just 7% in Mexico to $454,000 on 150 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $1.37 million while it added $2.11 million on 368 screens in the U.K. for a total of $13.41 million there.
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February 24th, 2008
Rambo climbed five spots just missing the top five with $6.96 million on 1989 screens in 25 markets for a total of $25.63 million. The film opened in second place in Germany with $2.78 million 405 screens while it managed third in Mexico with $704,000 on 300. Next up is the U.K., Australia, and Italy, where it opens this weekend, while it enters South Korea next weekend.
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February 20th, 2008
Jodhaa Akbar opened on top of the per theater averages chart with an estimated $1.3 million opening 100 theaters. The only other member of the $10,000 club was U2 3D with an average of $10,198 during its fourth week of release.
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February 10th, 2008
National Treasure: The Book of Secrets slipped out of the top five, again, earning $6.94 million on 2702 screens in 34 markets for a total of $169.62 million. This includes a first place finish in Germany with $3.42 million on 641 screens for a total of $10.03 million after two there. The film opens in the U.K. this weekend and should have little trouble reaching $200 million before long.
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February 4th, 2008
The Italian movie, Scusa Ma Ti Chiamo Amore, opened in first place in Italy with $7.55 million on 491 screens, which was more than double its nearest competition.
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January 27th, 2008
National Treasure: The Book of Secrets fell from second to sixth, but it was relatively close with $8.37 million on 3883 screens in 36 markets for a total of $143.30 million. Even if the film had no more markets left to open in, it would reach $150 million and beyond. However, it has yet to open in Germany, the U.K., and France and should top its domestic total before it is done.
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January 22nd, 2008
The Oscar nominations were announced today and there is no shortage of contenders.
In fact, with no real juggernaut to deal with, the competition is more up in the air that most years.
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January 20th, 2008
Enchanted fell out of the top five but still had a very impressive weekend box office adding $8.12 million on 4348 screens in 43 markets for a total of $151.50 million. This includes a fifth place opening in South Korea where the film earned $1.08 million on 322 screens over the weekend and $1.34 million in total. Meanwhile it also earned fifth place in the U.K. with $1.59 million on 472 screens over the weekend for a total of $29.46 million after a month of release. Its chances at $200 million internationally depend heavily on its run in Japan staring mid-March, but $300 million worldwide is all but assured now.
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January 15th, 2008
There Will Be Blood again won the race to top the per theater average chart with an average of $14,421, despite expanding from 51 to 129 theaters. The only other release to top $10,000 was Persepolis, which saw its average decline a mere 5.5% to $10,374 despite more than doubling its theater count.
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January 8th, 2008
There Will Be Blood expanded into 50 or so theaters over the weekend but was still able to come out on top of the per theater charts with an average of $25,905. Second place went to The Bucket List, which was down less than 3% to $20,424 and is poised to do very well in its wide expansion this weekend. Persepolis was the only other film to top $10,000 as it earned an average of $10,981 in 7 theaters.
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December 19th, 2007
Despite expanding from 7 theaters to 40, Juno remained in first place on the per theater chart with an average of $35,686. The number one overall film, I Am Legend, had to settle for second place with a still very impressive $21,412.
Another holdover, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, remained nearly flat, earning an average of $18,855 in three theaters, but it better expand soon before it's too late.
Atonement earned nearly $2 million over the weekend in just 117 theaters for an average of $15,443.
Despite weaker than expected reviews, The Kite Runner opened with nearly $500,000 in 35 for an average of $13,478.
The final film in the $10,000 club was the second wide release to reach that mark this weekend; Alvin and the Chipmunks opened with an average of $12,750 in nearly 3,500 theaters over the weekend.
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December 15th, 2007
Only two sites with an intense amount of flash, sadly the bigger of these two sites features some of the worst music I have heard in a long, long time. This left I Am Legend - Official Site - as the clear winner for the Weekly Website Award.
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December 14th, 2007
After two great weeks for limited releases, this week's selection is rather soft with no big names coming out. On the other hand, both Juno and Atonement are expanding this weekend.
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December 13th, 2007
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their Golden Globe nominations this week, but there were no truly dominate films out of the 14 theatrical categories.
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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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September 1st, 2007
As we enter the slowest month of the year, the number and quality of website updates has slowed to a crawl as well. I suspect that within a few weeks we will start getting website launches for films opening during the holidays, and that will again give us plenty of award-worthy sites.
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June 9th, 2007
There are a lot of movies on this week's list, but many have just the synopsis, image gallery, and the trailer, and many don't even have that. There were very few that stood out, but at least Speed Racer - Official Site got off to a great start. Perhaps it will win the award before it hits theaters.
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January 29th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Hills Have Eyes II, Pathfinder, Lucky You and more.
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January 9th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains the announcement for Indiana Jones 4 and more.
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