April 28th, 2010
None of the new releases were able to reach the top five and only four were able to reach the top 30 on this week's sales chart. This left Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel in first place for the third week row as it sold an additional 263,000 units, lifting its running tally to 3.22 million units sold for $54.59 million total.
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April 13th, 2010
The latest DVD sales chart reflects heavy discounts for pre-Easter sales, so it comes as no surprise that family films did so well. This includes Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, which led all new releases, scoring first place with 1.98 million units sold and $33.75 million in sales.
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April 7th, 2010
There were several new releases on the sales chart this week; as many as nine, depending on how you look at things. The best selling DVD was definitely a new release: The Blind Side sold 2.54 million units generating $41.63 million in sales.
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April 7th, 2010
There were eight new releases to reach the top 30 on this week's sales chart, including two that were able to chart despite not coming out until Sunday. This includes The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which sold 3.16 million units in just two days, generating $74.41 million in the process.
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March 28th, 2010
Just Another Pandora's Box started its international run in sixth place with $7.57 million on 417 screens in 2 markets. These two markets include Hong Kong, where it placed third with $333,000 on 33 screens.
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March 21st, 2010
The Round Up opened in sixth place with $6.32 million on 632 screens in 3 markets. Of that, $5.67 million was earned on 602 screens in France, which was easily enough for first place in that market.
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March 16th, 2010
Not a big week in terms of total releases, but there are plenty of top-notch choices from every category. The best wide release on this week's list is The Princess and the Frog, which is a contender for Pick of the Week. It's not the only contender for that title. In fact, there are contenders in nearly every category, including limited releases (Bandslam on DVD), Foreign Language films (Broken Embraces on Blu-ray), TV on DVD (Breaking Bad: The Complete Second Season on Blu-ray), and even Canadian (High Life on DVD). While all are worthy of adding to your DVD / Blu-ray collection, I'm going with The Princess and the Frog on Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack as the Pick of the Week.
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March 15th, 2010
With The Princess and the Frog, Disney marked its return to 2D animation (tough not really... more on that later). A 2D animated film from the same studio that brought us Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Bambi, etc. The expectations for this film couldn't be higher.
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March 14th, 2010
The Princess and the Frog remained in sixth place with $5.18 million on 3019 screens in 35 markets for a total of $149.82 million internationally and $253.53 million worldwide. This past week it opened in Japan, struggling into fifth place with $1.02 million on 363 screens. Even with that disappointing result, it should do well enough on the home market to show a profit relatively soon.
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March 7th, 2010
The Princess and the Frog may have slipped out of the top five internationally, but it still added $8.32 million on 3053 screens in 28 markets for a total of $143.18 million. It had no major market openings again this week, but it added $2.84 million on 689 screens over the weekend in France for a total of $27.30 million after a month of release there. This weekend the film debuted in Japan, which could help it return to the top five. Regardless, it has made enough money that it should show a profit, eventually.
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March 3rd, 2010
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out which films are the favorites and which should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Animated Feature Film, which is the least competitive category that we will be dealing with this year.
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February 24th, 2010
As it has for ten weeks in a row, Avatar topped the international box office, this time pulling in $48.49 million on 7247 screens in 71 markets for a total of $1.78 billion internationally and $2.47 billion worldwide. Big news this week came from South Korea where it crossed the $100 million mark before the weekend. In South Korea, it has now reached $103.52 million after 10 weeks of release, including $1.76 million on 242 screens this past weekend. The next market where the film will reach that milestone should be Spain where it made $2.62 million on 352 screens over the weekend for a total of $93.70 million. The movie could also have enough left in the tank to do the same in Australia, where its current total is $94.70 million, but it only managed $1.68 million on 254 screens over the weekend. Meanwhile, it is still in first place in Italy with $3.74 million on 402 screens over the weekend for a total of $79.73 million. In both markets, reaching $100 million might be a little tight, but the Oscars could certainly help along the way.
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February 21st, 2010
As expected, The Princess and the Frog reached $100 million internationally just before the weekend started, ultimately overtaking its domestic total. It had no major market openings over the past weekend, but it managed to rise to first place in France with $4.09 million on 697 screens for a total of $17.31 million after three. It also remained solid in the U.K., adding $2.36 million on 501 screens for a total of $6.58 million. Overall, it pulled in $11.29 million on 3349 screens in 34 markets for a total of $111.94 million internationally and $213.69 million worldwide.
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February 10th, 2010
Avatar's legs on the international scene are as strong as they come.
It remained in first place for the eighth weekend in a row, this time down just 17% to $79.44 million on 10,298 screens in 94 markets for a total of $1.59 billion internationally and $2.21 billion worldwide.
Japan was added to the list of markets where the film has hit the century mark with $108.04 million, including $6.41 million on 650 screens this weekend.
Other results of note came in the U.K, where it became the biggest hit of all time, at least in terms of British Pounds.
In American Dollars, the film has $112.19 million after making $6.77 million on 417 screens this weekend.
Additionally, we can now report that China has overtaken France as the film's most lucrative market, leading now by $144.4 million to $141.4 million.
This is not only big new for this film, but huge news for the industry as a whole.
China is now a major player at the international box office, both as a consumer and also as a producer.
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February 3rd, 2010
It was another milestone weekend for Avatar as it became the first film to ever reach $2 billion worldwide.
It did so despite falling below $100 million over the weekend for the first time during its run.
That said, it still pulled in an incredible $95.44 million on 11,088 screens in 84 markets for a total of $1.45 billion internationally and $2.05 billion worldwide.
Its biggest market was Italy where it added $10.38 million on 800 screens over the weekend for a total of $52.94 million after three.
Its best market overall remains France where it has $133.9 million, but China is catching up with $126.3 million.
The film also reached the century mark in the U.K. with $103.52 million, including $7.74 million on 424 screens over the weekend and in Germany with $102.03 million including $7.88 million on 599 screens.
It may have already gotten there in Russia, while it is about a week away from that milestone in Japan, Australia, South Korea.
Additionally, it looks like it is just a matter of time for Spain and Italy.
That would be ten markets with $100 million or more, to go with the countless other records the film has already set.
The next major milestone is $1.84 billion internationally, which is what Titanicmade worldwide.
And with its impressive list of Oscar nominations, $2 billion internationally becomes a lot more likely.
And who knows, perhaps even $3 billion worldwide?
We are dealing with unprecedented numbers, so the usual rules about Oscar bounces just don't apply.
Winning could result in a flood at the box office, or its publicity could be at saturation levels already and it won't have a major effect.
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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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February 2nd, 2010
It was a good new / bad news weekend at the box office. On the one hand, Avatar continued to set records and that helped 2010 start with the highest-grossing January of all time.
On the other hand, new releases continue to under-perform, leading the overall box office to slump to $125 million.
That was 13% lower than last weekend, but more importantly 1.1% lower than the same weekend last year, which is the third weekend in a row that 2010 was below 2009's pace.
Granted, year-to-date 2010 is still ahead of 2009 by 5.5% at $1.06 billion to $1.00 billion, but if new releases are not stronger in February, that could change.
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January 31st, 2010
It's Complicated saw its weekend haul climb 16%, but it still fell out of the top five.
It added $10.37 million over the weekend on 2,665 screens in 32 markets for a total of $50.92 million after a month of release.
The film opened in third place in Germany with $2.40 million on 552 screens over the weekend and $2.74 million in total.
Meanwhile in the U.K. it added $1.84 million on 431 screens over the weekend for a total of $8.72 million after three weeks of release.
With debuts in Japan, South Korea, and Italy still ahead of it, it could reach $100 million internationally to go with its $100 million domestic total.
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January 28th, 2010
The consensus among box office trackers has Avatar remaining in top spot, again.
The real question is whether or not the new releases will pull their weight and help 2010 stop its mini-slump.
The best new release from last year was Taken, which didn't start like a movie destined to reach nearly $150 million, but it is unlikely either of the new releases will come that close to its nearly $25 million opening.
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January 24th, 2010
Up in the Air started its international run in sixth place with $5.83 million on 936 screens in 9 markets. This includes a fifth place debut in the U.K. where it earned $2.13 million on 325 screens while it also managed fifth in Australia with $1.61 million on just 173 screens. While it is hard for films to open in limited release domestically and expand wide, it is usually a lot harder for these films to thrive internationally. After all, many international markets are simply too small to have a thriving limited release marketplace. It will be interesting to see if this film will be able to take its performance during Awards Season and turn it into a successful international run despite this.
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January 17th, 2010
More than half the films on this week's International Details column were international films, starting with sixth place Io, loro E Lara. That film placed first in Italy with $7.56 million on 608 screens over the weekend, giving it $12.91 million in total.
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January 6th, 2010
For only the fifth time in history, a film has reached $1 billion at the worldwide box office. That film is, of course, Avatar, which again dominated the international chart with $138.85 million on 13,784 screens in 88 markets over the weekend for totals of $676.88 million internationally and $1.03 billion worldwide.
The film's biggest single market of the weekend was France, where it added $16.88 million on 730 screens over the weekend for a total of $65.52 million after three.
It also topped $10 million in South Korea with $11.00 million on 728 screens and in Germany with $10.79 million on 738.
The film has made $48.34 million and $53.97 million in those two markets respectively, also after three weeks of release.
It just missed the $10 million mark in Spain with $9.66 million on 794 screens over the weekend for a total of $44.45 million and in the U.K. it earned a nearly identical weekend result with $9.60 million on 493 screens over the weekend for a total of $53.05 million.
By this time next week, Avatar will be the second highest grossing film all time and while Titanic's record seems safe, for now, it is not inconceivable that Avatar could reach $1 billion internationally.
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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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January 4th, 2010
2010 continued the record-breaking ways of 2009 thanks to incredible holds by most films in the top ten.
In fact, all but one film we talked about on Thursday topped expectations, sometimes by margins that are difficult to believe.
Overall ticket sales were $220 million, which is 21% lower than last weekend, but a stunning 44% higher than last year.
2009 ended the year with an estimated total of $10.60 billion, which was more than 10% higher than last year's final tally, and almost $1 billion more than the previous record.
Simply amazing.
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January 3rd, 2010
Avatar continued its record-setting pace over the weekend, easily breaking the record for the biggest third weekend for a movie (see chart) and also setting a new record for a weekend in January (see chart).
Fox estimates a $68.3 million weekend, down a little under 10% from Christmas weekend.
Total box office after 17 days is $352 million in the US, and an incredible $670.2 million internationally, for $1.022 billion worldwide, which will put it 4th in the all-time list of global earners by Monday (see chart).
Although it's too soon to tell where it will end up in the US (beyond stating the obvious that $400 million is a formality at this point, and $500 million looks all but certain), the movie will clearly end up either number one or two on the list of biggest global earners in theaters.
Titanic's all-time record looks under severe threat already.
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December 28th, 2009
The final weekend of 2009 turned into a record-breaker with two massive new releases and a holdover that still managed to come out on top.
Overall the box office pulled in an estimated $278 million over the weekend, which crushed the previous record for the biggest weekend by all movies combined.
Additionally, this was 39% higher than the same weekend last year and pushed 2009's running tally to $10.38 billion.
This is 9.2% higher than last year's pace and more than 7% more than the previous record, and there is another week left to go.
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December 23rd, 2009
It's Christmas on Friday, but one new release got the jump on the competition on Wednesday night. With three wide releases and two movies expanding wide, or at least wide-ish, this weekend will be just as busy as it was last year.
However, despite all of these new films, it looks like we could have a repeat on top as Avatar continues its strong run.
Meanwhile, the 2009 box office running tally surpassed the $10 billion mark early on Tuesday.
This is of course the first time the yearly box office total has hit eleven digits and there are more records remaining to be broken.
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December 22nd, 2009
It was a fantastic weekend at the box office as the top film topped expectations and broke records, admittedly by narrow margins, but records nonetheless.
Overall the box office pulled in $138 million, which was 42% higher than last weekend and an outstanding 56% higher than the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2009 has earned $9.96 billion, extending its record and moving closer to the $10 billion milestone.
This time last year the cumulative box office was $9.15 billion, meaning 2009 has an 8.8% lead.
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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 17th, 2009
There are two wide releases this weekend, but mostly everyone is just talking about Avatar, its box office potential, and its obvious comparisons to Titanic.
It should have no trouble beating the combined $43 million made by all three wide releases this weekend last year, and will almost certainly make more during its opening weekend than the $53 million that Titanic made during its opening week.
And that's the low end of expectations.
On the high end, it has a number of records in its sights.
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December 16th, 2009
The winners of our Kiss That Frog contest were determined and they are...
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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 14th, 2009
The box office was a little mixed this weekend with good news balancing the bad news. For instance, the two new releases in the top five both disappointed, but all three holdovers topped expectations.
Overall business was down 2.3% from last weekend, but up 6.0% from the same weekend last year, which is always the more important number.
Year-to-date, 2009 has now pulled in $9.79 billion, which is 8.6% higher than the same pace last year and more than $100 million more than the previous record.
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December 13th, 2009
Disney claimed top spot at the box office this weekend as The Princess and the Frog expanded nationwide.
But with a weekend box office estimated at $25 million, the movie will need to have great legs over the holidays if Disney's going to recoup its investment.
The movie has good reviews and is ideal family fare, so its chances are good, but the studio is looking at the same nail biting exercise as they're going through with A Christmas Carol, which opened with $30 million and reached an estimated $124 million this weekend.
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December 10th, 2009
It's official: 2009 has broken the record for the highest total box office, surpassing the total earnings for 2007 this week.
And the box office should only get hotter as we near Christmas.
This weekend, Disney releases its first "hand animated" film in more than five years, which should help it top the charts with ease.
In fact, I think it will top last year's number one film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, although I appear to be in the minority in that opinion.
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December 9th, 2009
Fewer films reached the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart this weekend than last weekend.
The Princess and the Frog, saw its per theater average drop a minuscule 5% to $373,855, which likely represents nearly universal sellouts throughout the weekend in both theaters.
Second place went to Up in the Air with an average of $78,763 in 15 theaters.
That is an impressive start and with the film already proving itself to be an Awards Season player, its future is indeed bright.
Broken Embraces continues to perform in limited release and earned an average of $44,285 in two theaters, but it better expand fast before momentum is lost.
Mystery Team was a surprise entry in the $10,000 club earning a reported $11,259 in one theater.
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December 6th, 2009
The Blind Side rode tremendous word of mouth to a 3rd weekend victory at the box office, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
Although the movie fell nearly 50% from its Thanksgiving performance, that was better than any other movie in the top ten, and gave the drama a safe $5 million lead over second place New Moon.
Blind Side is estimated at $20.44 million for the weekend, New Moon will come in around $15.7 million.
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December 4th, 2009
While it opened last weekend, The Princess and the Frog expands wide next weekend. More importantly, it is the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the weekend box office of The Princess and the Frog for its first weekend of wide release, which we will refer to as the "opening" weekend box office for the purposes of this contest.
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 Girlfriends - Season Seven 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 win a copy of Dora the Explorer - Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure 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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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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December 1st, 2009
November turned out to be a good month with more films meeting or exceeding expectations that missing.
We also saw records broken as 2009 marches closer to the all-time record, and the possibility of becoming the first year to hit $10 billion in total ticket sales growing.
It won't need that much to get there, and even if just one or two of the predicted $100 million hits this month get to that milestone, we will still finish the year by breaking records.
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November 29th, 2009
The Twilight Saga: New Moon held on to top spot at the box office over the weekend, but only by a couple of million dollars, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
The Blind Side had a fantastic second weekend, with an 18% increase from its opening, and came close to pulling off a surprise victory.
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November 26th, 2009
Only four wide releases this week, and only one of them has a Tomatometer Score above the 80% level usually associated with films that thrive in limited release. That said, the other three all have Tomatometer Scores in the 70s, and all could earn at least a slice of mainstream success. Also coming out this week is a Canadian movie, which doesn't have as rosy a box office future.
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November 1st, 2009
October was not a month to remember, as only two films really beat expectations. (Although Paranormal Activity was the most unexpected hit during the October, it actually opened in September, so one could argue it's not really an 'October hit'.) This month we have a massive collection of potential blockbusters, some potential Oscar contenders, as well as a few unfortunate films that might be squeezed out by the competition. Compared to last November, we might have the same number of $100 million hits, assuming all movies match expectations (fat chance); we have a limited release from this month become the Awards Season darling and reach that milestone (monstrously unlikely); and we count The Princess and the Frog as a November releases (intellectually dishonest). That said, if three or four legitimate November releases reach that milestone, then 2009 will be on pace to tie or break the record for most $100 million released in one calendar year. But overall, 2009 will likely see its lead over 2008 shrink during the next 30 days.
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October 2nd, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Paper Man, Sherlock Holmes, Kung Fu Panda 2, and more!
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April 13th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Valkyrie, The Wolf Man, Public Enemies and more!
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April 10th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Bride Wars, I Love You Phillip Morris, New York, I Love You, and more!
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