March 8th, 2011
There was a close race for top spot on the sales chart this week between two new releases. Megamind won that race with 949,000 units / $13.28 million to 923,000 units / $12.92 million for Due Date. But to be fair to Megamind, it went on sale on Friday not Tuesday like Due Date did.
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February 23rd, 2011
Due to a mixture of weak holdovers and depth in the new releases, we had seven DVDs debut in the top 30 sales chart this week. This includes a new number one, For Colored Girls, which sold 517,000 units and generated $8.41 million in consumer spending at retail.
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February 8th, 2011
Wow. It's a bad week for DVD / Blu-ray releases. While there are a number of first run releases, none of them exactly shout Pick of the Week. The best bet as far as first run releases goes is Paranormal Activity 2, but the screener hasn't arrived yet. Same goes for Thelma & Louise, which is making its Blu-ray debut this week. So in the end I went with Doctor Who: Story 63: The Mutants as the pick of the week. Great story, powerful message, and lots of extras.
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October 27th, 2010
Mirroring its domestic debut, Paranormal Activity 2 opened in first place internationally with $22.32 million on 2752 screens in 21 markets. The film opened in first place in the U.K. with $5.92 million on 389 screens, while it also topped the charts in Australia with $2.68 million on 185 screens and in Mexico with $1.86 million in 452. On the other hand, it had to settle for second place in South Korea with $1.05 million on 218 screens over the weekend and $1.18 million in total. While in Italy it could do no better than fourth place with $1.55 million on 250.
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October 18th, 2010
After more than a few films missed expectations over the past few weeks, it is nice to see a film crush expectations so soundly. Jackass 3D slapped around the naysayers so thoroughly that it nearly helped turn around 2010's losing streak. It did help the overall box office grow 42% from last weekend to $132 million, but that was still roughly 5% lower than the same weekend last year. (This was due to better depth at the box office last year.) 2010 is still ahead of 2009 at $8.48 billion to $8.22 billion, but I'm a little concerned that lead won't last till the end of the year.
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October 14th, 2010
The past few weeks haven't exactly been kind to the box office, with more films struggling than soaring. The industry as a whole is obviously hoping things turn around this weekend and 2010 ends its losing streak against 2009. We've lost ground four of the past five weekends. Worse still, three of those times 2010 failed to get within 10% of 2009's weekend number. Turning things around might be more than a little difficult, as this time last year there were five films that earned $10 million or more, while this year we might not have three films do the same.
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October 14th, 2010
The winners of our Don't Be Trolling contest were determined and they are...
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October 11th, 2010
The race for top spot was pretty close this weekend with the first and second place films finishing within $1 million of each other. On the other hand, combined there were significantly weaker than last year's number one film, Couples Retreat. Because of this, it should come as no surprise that the overall box office was down, falling 2% from last weekend to $93 million and 15% from last year. 2010 still has a massive lead over 2009 at $8.31 billion to $8.04 billion, but year-over-year declines like this mean that lead is not safe.
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October 7th, 2010
There could be a real tight race for top spot at the box office this week, which is good news as it gives us something to talk about while we avoid the year-over-year comparison. There are three wide releases coming out this week; however, it is very possible that their combined opening weekend results will be less than last year's number one film, Couples Retreat. Even if 2010 avoids that fate, there's almost no chance it will keep up with last year's pace.
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October 1st, 2010
"And then like yous peoples were like, 'Yous trollin'!' and I was like 'I am not trollin'!'"
Sorry, Internet Geek Attack.
Since it is October, it should come as no surprise that horror films will be popular in the box office prediction contest. This includes the target film this week, Life As We Know It, which could be the scariest film of the month. On the other hand, one of the prizes is a comedy, Troll 2, which is unintentionally funny. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Life As We Know It.
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 Troll 2 on DVD, as well as Stargate Universe: 1.5 on DVD. (The full season comes out on Tuesday.)
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 Troll 2 on DVD, as well as Stargate Universe: 1.5 on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday, October 8 to be eligible, so don't delay!
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October 1st, 2010
September is nearly over and the Fall box office season is about to begin in earnest.
September wasn't too bad this year, with more films matching or exceeding expectations than missing them, and we managed to keep pace with last year, more or less.
Can October do the same? Well, last year there was only one $100 million hit, Couples Retreat (not counting Paranormal Activity, which opened in September). We might not see any film hit $100 million this time around.
In fact, we might not even see any that come all that close.
On the other hand, there were also five wide releases that clearly bombed last year, and on that end, 2010 looks a lot better.
Not every film that opens over the next five weekends will be a mid-level hit or better, but most should get there.
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