February 11th, 2006
For the second week in a row,
Flightplan lead the way on the rental charts taking in $8.22 million in DVD rentals. That was down just 15% from its opening, which pushed its total to $18.07 million so far.
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January 30th, 2006
This week is busier than it has been for about a month, but there still isn't much in the way of contenders for the DVD Pick of the Week. The best of the bunch is
Corpse Bride -
Buy from Amazon, but the special features are not up to par and that prevents it from being a true DVD Pick of the Week.
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January 29th, 2006
Late updates have changed some of the results on in
International Top Five this week as My Boss, My Student crushed the competition in
South Korea with $7.59 million on 450 screens over the weekend and $9.31 million in total. This meant that despite
Brokeback Mountain earning a better than initially reported $7.39 million, it was pushed out of the top five and into sixth place.
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December 11th, 2005
Flightplan fell out of the top five with $5.13 million on 2,430 screens in 38 markets for a total of $94.65 million on the international scene.
It did fall from second to sixth on this week's charts, but it should still reach $100 million by this time next week. Its best market of the weekend was the U.K. where it remained in second place with $2.14 million on 416 screens for a two-week total of $6.59 million.
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December 4th, 2005
Here's this week's round-up of international box office numbers.
In Her Shoes fell out of the top five this week with $3.95 million on 2,050 screens in 23 markets for a $30.60 million international box office.
The film held up amazingly well in Spain, dropping just 8% to $810,000 on 290 screens, but it wasn't as fortunate in France where it lost more than half its opening, earning $400,000 on 293 screens, falling out of the top ten in the process.
It suffered a similar fate during its third weekend in the U.K. where it was down 55% to $736,000 on 268 screens, but the film already has $7.06 million there, which is better than its domestic run if you take into account the relative sizes of the two markets.
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November 27th, 2005
The Legend of Zorro fell from second to sixth this week and because of that its quest from $100 million internationally took a serious hit. Over the weekend the film pulled in $4.20 million on 4062 screens in 62 markets for a running tally of $80.73 million. In France the film fell 57% to $1.01 million over the weekend and $14.80 million during its four-week run while it had a similar drop-off in Spain where it was down 56% to $475,000 over the weekend and $9.10 million in total. The box office was less kind in Russia, (down 68% to $136,000); Germany, (down 70% to $232,000) and the U.K., (down 83% to $120,000).
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November 16th, 2005
It was a first place finish for
Flightplan this weekend with $15.2 million on 3,484 screens in 39 markets for a running tally of $60.2 million on the international scene. The film had several first place finishes including $2.8 million on 303 screens in Spain, $1.6 million on 313 screens in Australia, $570,000 on 85 screens in the Netherlands. It also performed well in France with $2.3 million on 500 screens finishing in third place, South Korea with $2.1 million on 120 screens in South Korea, and in Russia with $750,000 on 160 screens. Holdovers include a $1.3 million, first place finish on 303 screens in its second weekend in Italy and $1.3 million on 660 screens during its fourth weekend in Germany for a total of $12.4 million total in the market.
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November 9th, 2005
The Legend of Zorro saw serious declines in many major markets, but was still able to take top spot on the international charts with $17.5 million on 6,150 screens in 60 markets for an international total of $60 million so far. In France, the film fell by 57% to $2.46, and in Spain it fell by 46% to $1.71 million, but remained first in both markets.
Meanwhile, it was down 64% in the UK to $1.18 million.
It did show surprising legs in Germany, where it was down just 25% to $1.33 million, in Holland down 27% to $270,000, and in Turkey where it was down just 8% to $275,000. However, in that last market, it was one of only two films in the top ten to suffer week-to-week declines.
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November 7th, 2005
Both new releases beat expectations, as did every single holdover in the top five, and that led to a serious increase in total box office of 31.5% from last weekend.
However, this time last year saw a 43.8% increase, meaning the year-to-year comparison with 2004 was 6.8% down.
So far, the Fall season box office has been nearly keeping up with 2004, at $1.118 billion to $1.122 billion, but year-to-date 2005 is 6.4% behind with $7.153 billion.
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November 4th, 2005
There are just the two wide releases this weekend: the prime attraction and the counter programming.
While this usually means both films will maximize their box office, this probably won't be the case this weekend.
Part of the problem is the box office slump we're in; people are just not interested in going to the movies at the moment.
In May, it took a monster hit to start the summer box office session when it normally starts the first week of the month.
Likewise, November usually starts off with a bang, but since October was so weak it will probably take until the first monster hit of the month before we see a serious increase in the overall box office.
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November 2nd, 2005
The Legend of Zorro started its international run with a nearly worldwide day-and-date release, coinciding with its US domestic launch.
This allowed the film to take top spot easily on the international charts with $27 million.
However, it was playing on 6,140 screens in 50 markets, giving in a rather lame per screen average.
The film finished first in many markets, including France with $5.8 million on 690 screens, Spain with $2.8 million on 550 screens, Mexico with $1.4 million on 500, China with $1.38 million on 250, Brazil with $1 million on 319, and Russia with $1 million on 301.
But it also struggled in many of the major markets, finishing second in Germany with $1.65 million on 674 screens, third place in the U.K. with $2.8 million on 485 and, and fourth in Italy and South Korea with $1.25 million on 500 and $1.06 million on 160 screens respectively.
Even with the better legs most films have on the international scene and a few more markets left to open, The Legend of Zorro will struggle to reach $100 million internationally, which is well below the original.
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October 31st, 2005
October was a bad month at the box office, but at least it ended on a strong note.
Not only did the overall box office climb above the $100 million mark, but there was also substantial growth from last weekend at 14.5%, and even some growth from last year at 1.8%.
Granted, that's below the ticket price inflation, so actual admissions were still down.
And yes, Halloween did fall on a Sunday last year and that did depress the box office so the comparison isn't really fair.
And, fine, 2005 is still 7% behind last year's pace.
But in a year that brought us the longest evere year-to-year slump, we have to cherish all the good news we can find.
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October 28th, 2005
Another week, another four movies opening wide.
Only one of those films is earning positive reviews, and with the overall weakness in the market, none of the four films' openings is likely to be able to top last year's number one film.
However, hopefully the overall box office numbers will be strong enough to avoid a year-to-year decline.
Okay. I admit, that's a nearly exact copy of last week's intro, but it's almost as applicable here.
The only difference is last year Halloween fell on the Sunday, and Halloween is deadly to the box office, except for horror films.
So without that drag, the overall box office shouldn't be as bad as last weekend was on the year-to-year comparison.
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October 27th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
Jarhead -
Official Site.
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October 1st, 2005
October is a transition month. No holidays to boost the box office, but at least Halloween will help the few Horror films playing during the month. There are no sure-fire winners this month, nor does there appear to be any major flops. The competition will again hurt box office potentials as there are on average four wide releases each weekend, and that is way too many. Also worth noting, with award season heating up, there are more and more limited releases that could make noise at the box office (Good Night and Good Luck, for example).
Discuss the upcoming movies on our forums.
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September 29th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
The Greatest Game Ever Played -
Official Site.
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September 15th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
Cry Wolf -
Official Site.
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July 21st, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -
Official Site.
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May 5th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates. Slow week with most of the sites being merely average or too early in their development to tell if the film is an award winning site or not. So in the end I decided not to hand out the award to any site. Hopefully next week things will pick up.
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