December 4th, 2012
Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings held off the new releases, all two of them, earning first place on the DVD sales chart with 360,000 units / $7.19 million for the week for totals of 1.12 million units / $20.04 million after two. Selling 1 million units is an impressive feat for a direct-to-DVD release.
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November 15th, 2012
Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings was one of six new releases to reach the top 11 on the Blu-ray sales chart this week. It was surprisingly strong for a direct-to-DVD release aimed at kids selling 424,000 units and generating $12.10 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 36%.
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November 14th, 2012
Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings continues the franchise's impressive run on the home market leading all new releases earning first place on the DVD sales chart. It sold 756,000 units and generated $12.85 million in opening week sales. This is amazing for a direct-to-DVD release.
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October 23rd, 2012
There are not a lot of major releases on this week's list. The biggest box office hit was Magic Mike, which did cross $100 million, but I'm not sure its target audience is going to support it on DVD and especially not on Blu-ray Combo Pack. According to Amazon.com, Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings is the best selling new release, and the DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and 3D Combo Pack are selling very well. However, while that film is absolutely worth picking up, the Pick of the Week goes to The Invisible War on DVD. It could be an Oscar winner next year.
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July 9th, 2012
The Amazing Spider-Man started faster than expected, but stumbled a little bit over the weekend. Additionally, the other two wide releases, Savages and Katy Perry: Part of Me, were mixed and weak respectively. This left the overall box office down 6.5% from last weekend to $196 million. However, this was 26% higher than the same weekend last year. 2012 increased its lead over 2011 to 8% at $5.78 billion to $5.36 billion, so even if the rest of the year is completely flat compared to last year, it would still be a solid win.
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July 5th, 2012
The Amazing Spider-Man opened on Tuesday to better than expected numbers and should cruise to victory over the weekend, but it is not the only wide release this week. Katy Perry: Part of Me opens tonight while Savages opens tomorrow. They are not going to compete for top spot. In fact, very few people think they will compete with last week's winner, Ted, for second place and one or both could miss the top five entirely. Fortunately, the combined strength of the new releases, plus healthy holdovers, should help 2012 easily win over last year.
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July 4th, 2012
Beasts of the Southern Wild was the latest limited release to have a monster start on the per theater chart. It earned $170,000 in four theaters for an average of $42,426. To Rome With Love was pushed into second place with an average of $23,872 in 29 theaters. Up next was a trio of wide releases starting with Ted with $16,800. Magic Mike and Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection were close behind with $13,354 and $11,749. It's rare for three wide releases to reach the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart.
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July 2nd, 2012
The box office wasn't as close a race as some had predicted, as Ted ran away with things breaking records in the process. That's not to say the competition was weak. Both Magic Mike and Tyler Perry's Madeas Witness Protection beat expectations and this helped the overall box office grow 61% from last weekend. It also grew 4% from last year, which normally wouldn't seem like a big deal, but this weekend last year was the Independence Day long weekend. For 2012 to win despite the misalignment is amazing and hopefully this is a good sign for the coming weeks. Year-to-date, 2012 still holds a solid lead over 2011, $5.43 billion to $5.06 billion. Percentwise the lead is now 7%, which is a great position to be in at the halfway mark of the year.
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July 1st, 2012
A huge opening for Ted and better-than-expected starts for both Magic Mike and Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection will add up to an impressive weekend for the industry, based on Sunday's studio estimates. Even with a tough comparison (July 4 fell on a Monday last year), the total for this weekend should be about on par with the same weekend last year.
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June 28th, 2012
There are three new releases and a holdover looking to battle for top spot over the weekend. Magic Mike will likely be the best of the new releases, but Ted could be close behind. Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection is a wild card and could earn first or could struggle to reach $20 million. The only one of the four new releases that will not have a shot at first place is People Like Us, which at its lowest might not reach the top ten. Brave will also be in the race for first place and many believe it has the advantage over the newcomers. As for the year-over-year comparison, forget about it. This weekend last year was the Independence Day long weekend and the misalignment will result in 2012 taking a beating. In fact, the combined openings of the four wide releases will likely not be as much as Transformers: Dark of the Moon opened with last year. June is going to end on a really soft note, but July should start strong due to the same holiday misalignment.
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June 22nd, 2012
Next weekend there are four films opening wide and I really have no idea which one will be the best. (I'm pretty sure Brave will remain in first place.) People Like Us is earning great early reviews, but it is the film mostly likely to slip between the cracks. Madea's Witness Protection is opening in just 2000 theaters, more or less, but his fans will come out regardless. That said, his recent box office numbers are down, so perhaps his fans have moved on. Magic Mike could be a surprise hit, but a film about male strippers could alienate moviegoers. Ted is the latest R-rated comedy to come out this summer, but while there were a string of hits in the past, this year the genre has struggled. This could mean moviegoers are waiting for one that looks good. Or it could mean we passed the point of saturation. Madea, Mike, and Ted have roughly the same chance to be the best of the new releases, but we are going with Ted as the target film for this week's box office prediction contest, because it has the largest early theater count estimate. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Ted.
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 Louie: Season Two 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 also win a copy of Louie: Season Two 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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June 1st, 2012
As May ends and we look forward to June, we have some good news and some bad news to report from last month. First the bad news. Nearly every film missed expectations, sometimes by massive levels. The good news? The Avengers was a record-breaking hit and it managed to compensate for every miss of the month and May of 2012 was just as strong as May of 2011. Unfortunately, the month has ended on a low note and The Avengers is shedding theaters, so new releases will be really important for June's chances. There are two films that were supposed to open wide this month that are no longer doing so, although we did have one film moved up to replace G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but that still leaves just twelve films opening wide over the five weekends in June. This does include six films that have a real shot at earning $100 million or more at the box office, and three of those have a shot at $200 million. Prometheus is earning a ton of buzz and there are some that think it will be the biggest hit of the month. It might even be a $300 million hit. However, you can't count out Brave in the race to become the biggest hit of the month, as Pixar's average is over $250 million and $300 million is also not out of the question. It's hard to compare last June, because there were only four weekends last June, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon opened on the Wednesday before the July 1st long weekend, which throws off the numbers. If you consider Dark of the Moon a June release, then there were six $100 million movies and one $300 million this month last year. We will need nearly every film to match expectations in order for 2012 to continue to strengthen its lead on 2011.
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