June 10th, 2008
A rain-delayed DVD Report this week. (We didn't have any flooding, nor was there any real wind damage, but the weather was severe enough to disrupt power at times and my internet connection was not as solid as it should be making working online nearly impossible at times.) It wouldn't have been too bad, but there's a massive list of releases this week, so many in fact, that I had to split the list into two. There aren't many first run releases, and nothing stands out as a must-have, or even a solid purchase. There are some contenders for DVD Pick of the Week, but to find them you have to head over to the TV on DVD department (Army Wives - The Complete First Season - Buy from Amazon), the limited releases market (The Grand - Buy from Amazon), the classics category (High Noon - Buy from Amazon) or the foreign flicks (Invisible Target - Buy from Amazon). High Noon is the best of the group, but it is a double, or even triple-dip, and that costs it some points. I recommend picking up all four, but for DVD Pick of the Week, I'm going with Army Wives - The Complete First Season, which is a bit of a surprise as I didn't think I would enjoy the TV series as much as I did.
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June 3rd, 2008
This was a bad week for big movies, with not a single first run release is even worth rating a solid purchase, never mind being a contender for DVD Pick of the Week. There were a few other contenders for the title, including Dirty Harry Collection on DVD or Blu-ray. However, I found it impossible to decide which format was the better deal. Had the Blu-ray provided anything more than High Definition, or been a more reasonable price compared to the DVD, it would have been an easier choice. One of them is the DVD Pick of the Week, I just don't know which one. On a side note, there is an immense flood of Blu-ray releases, including a few I thought were coming out previously.
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May 5th, 2008
Cloverfield landed on top of the rental charts leading a group of five new releases with $7.52 million in rentals.
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April 27th, 2008
Doing what it couldn't do during its theatrical run, Juno finished first during its opening week on the rental charts. It led all movies with $8.38 million in rentals.
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April 21st, 2008
Despite numerous new releases that charted this week, seven in fact, Alvin and the Chipmunks remained in top spot on the DVD sales chart. It's rare for a film to repeat on top of the charts, but Alvin was able to do so despite a 72% drop-off from its opening and added 872,000 units and $14.38 million in spending. This lifts its total to 4.02 million units / $66.34 million making it the third best selling DVD of the year so far.
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April 21st, 2008
Like on the sales chart there were plenty of new releases. However, there was a new number on film on the rental chart as There Will Be Blood opened in first place with $8.54 million. I did find it strange that a critically acclaimed, Oscar winning movie would do better on the rental charts than the sales charts. Usually this happens when people want to try before they buy, but this doesn't seem the type of movie that would happen with.
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April 8th, 2008
Flight of the Red Balloon rose to the top of the Per Theater Chart this week scoring an average or $17,611 in its two theaters. The only other film to reach the $10,000 mark was My Blueberry Nights with an average of $12,358 in six theaters.
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April 7th, 2008
It was a good week for top-notch releases with plenty that are worth picking up. But there were two films that were obvious choices for DVD Pick of the Week: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Adventures of Baron Munchausen. In both cases, I would recommend the Blu-ray versions over the DVD. (On a side note, there were a few late spotlight reviews this week, and next week there will be a few more. Hopefully I will catch up by then, but there's always a chance that more screeners will arrive late in the meantime.)
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March 23rd, 2008
No Country For Old Men remained in sixth place with $4.92 million on 1660 screens in 44 markets for a total of $68.25 million. The film ended its international run in Japan where it earned $492,000 on 41, but it missed the top ten there. Perhaps it can expand there.
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March 16th, 2008
No Country For Old Men slipped out of the top five but still added $7.07 million on 1881 screens in 47 markets for a total of $60.56 million. It is on track to top its domestic box office shortly, which would give it $150 million worldwide.
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March 9th, 2008
Meet the Spartans made its first major push into the international market this past weekend earning sixth place with $7.94 million on 1653 screens in 14 markets for an early total of $12.90 million. Its biggest opening came in Germany where it scored second place with $3.01 million on 304 screens, however, it earned first place in both Mexico with $1.35 million on 543 screens and in Australia with $1.29 million on 211 screens. On the other hand, it fell by 59% during its second weekend in Russia pulling in $526,000 on 275 screens over the weekend for a total of $2.27 million after two.
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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 25th, 2008
The Oscars have all been awarded and No Country for Old Men was the big winner at the Oscars, taking home four major awards.
(It was shut out of the technical nominations.)
The second biggest winner of the night was The Bourne Ultimatum with three awards, all technical.
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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 23rd, 2008
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 Director and Best Picture.
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February 21st, 2008
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 Female Actor in a Lead Role and Best Male Actor in a Lead Role.
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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 15th, 2008
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 will look at Best Writing - Original Screenplay and Best Writing - Adapted Screenplay.
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February 12th, 2008
Three films earned per theater averages better than $10,000 this weekend. Two of those were the same 3D concert releases that topped the charts last week. However, the number one film this week was In Bruges with a very healthy average of $16,330 in 28 theaters. Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour did suffer a sophomore slump, but earned an average of $14,987, which is more than enough to keep theater owners happy. Finally, U2 3D was up more than 3% to $12,094, which bodes very well for the film's upcoming expansion.
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February 5th, 2008
Only two films topped $10,000 on the Per Theater Chart, and both of them were 3D concert releases. Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour led the way with a record-setting average of $45,561, which is the most earned by any film playing in more than 100 theaters.
U2 3D also topped $10,000 with $11,720, which was down just over 25% and that bodes well for its expansion next week.
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January 29th, 2008
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days may have been snubbed by Oscar, but moviegoers felt differently as it earned more than $50,000 in 2 theaters for an average of $25,856 over the weekend. U2 3D earned a million dollars during its opening, more or less. Less over the weekend, but more since Wednesday. This helped it into second place on the per theater chart with an average of $15,808 in 61 theaters. The final film to top $10,000 was L'Annee Derniere a Marienbad in its second weekend of re-release earning $13,719 in one theater.
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January 27th, 2008
The Screen Actors Guild nominations handed out the hardware tonight and there were five winners amongst the six theatrical awards.
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January 23rd, 2008
The re-release of L'Annee Derniere a Marienbad opened in first place on the per theater chart with $15,496 in its lone theater. Still Life was close behind with $12,744, also in one theater. The overall box office leader, Cloverfield, was the only other film to top $10,000 on the per theater chart with an average of $11,744 over the three-day portion of the weekend.
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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 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 15th, 2008
The final three guilds handed out their nominations over the past week and while most deal with television, there are a handful of theatrical nominations for each of the Directors Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America, and the Writers Guild of America.
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January 14th, 2008
The WGA strike meant the Golden Globes ceremony was cancelled last night and the winners were instead announced during a half-hour press conference. For people who think the awards have become bloated, this was welcome news.
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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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January 3rd, 2008
There Will Be Blood scored the best opening in limited release this year with an amazing $190,000 in 2 theaters for an average of $95,370, and that's for a Wednesday release. The Bucket List opened with an average of $20,990 in 16 theaters. Two imports earned nearly identical averages with Persepolis topping The Orphanage $12,689 to $12,280. While There Will Be Blood earned the best per theater average of the year, I was more impressed with Juno and Atonement, both of which topped $10,000 despite being in theaters for weeks now and undergoing massive expansions during that time. Juno earned over $10 million in less than 1000 theaters for an average of $10,436 while Atonement earned an average of $10,074 in just over 300 theaters thanks to a holiday boost.
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January 1st, 2008
It's the beginning of a new month, and a new year. This new beginning brings with it a sense of hope and exhilaration for many people, but this does not extend into the movie world. January is dominated by films from last year. Not only are holdovers going to overwhelm new releases at the box office for the next couple weeks, but with the award season heating up, most buzz is about who will win what. In fact, only Cloverfield seems to be able to rise above the award season buzz, but this is not a sure sign that the film will survive at the box office.
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December 29th, 2007
It was a mixed week for websites this time around. Not as many new releases didn't have a website, and most were a cut above average quality. However, none jumped out as award worthy. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem - Official Site has the best game, but The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep - Official Site has the best overall features. But like I said, neither wins the Weekly Website Award.
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December 28th, 2007
With the deadline for Oscar eligibility nearly here, we have several films that are contenders for Oscar glory. Those that can earn enough buzz will have a better shot at escaping their limited release and expanding wide. Or in the case of The Bucket List, even poor reviews won't prevent that now.
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December 23rd, 2007
The Screen Actors Guild nominations were announced this week, but again there were no clear front runners for the six theatrical categories.
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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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August 12th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Bucket List, Be Kind Rewind, Charlie Bartlett and more.
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