March 11th, 2009
A combination of terrible new releases and two massive store sales (including the Circuit City Going out of Business sale) meant this week's sales chart was dominated by some of the biggest hits from last year. However, the number one DVD remained High School Musical 3 - Senior Year, which sold an additional 543,000 units for the week to give it a total of 2.05 million units sold and $36.14 million in consumer retail spending.
More...
March 11th, 2009
There were only three new releases to reach the top 30 this past week on the rental chart, and only one of those reached the top five. This left Body of Lies in first place, again close to 20% ahead of the second place film, Changeling.
More...
February 24th, 2009
Is it national drug dealer week and no one told me? I have four, count them, four spotlight reviews this week dealing with drug dealers. This includes The French Connection, which is making its debut on Blu-ray this week and is a clear contender for DVD Pick of the Week. The other main contender is Futurama - Into the Wild Green Yonder on either DVD or Blu-ray. I can't decide which is better, so both are awarded the DVD Pick of the Week. As is the case more often than not, this week's list of reviews has to be split into two with part two found here.
More...
November 11th, 2008
After Halloween basically cut last weekend by a third, this weekend bounced back, and did it with a vengeance. Not only did the number one film beat expectations, the overall box office did as well. Total tickets sales were $142 million, a stunning 62% more than last weekend, which is impressive, even after taking into account Halloween falling on a Friday last weekend and the beginning of November this weekend. Even more importantly, this weekend was 26% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2008 has earned $7.96 billion, which is higher than 2007's pace, but by less than 1% as last year at this time the running tally was $7.94 billion.
More...
November 4th, 2008
With Halloween falling on a Friday, the box office practically lost one day out of three over the weekend, which explains why the overall box office was down 34% to $87 million. Coincidentally, the box office was down a nearly identical 35% from the same weekend last year. However, not only did Halloween cut into the box office, this time last year was the beginning of November, which is historically a much more lucrative month at the box office, and both of these are mitigating factors. Year-to-date, 2008 has brought in just under $7.79 billion, compared to 2007, which earned just over $7.79 billion during the same time period.
More...
November 2nd, 2008
High School Musical 3 recovered from a very poor performance on Friday evening to win the weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday morning.
The teen musical picked up another $15 million, which, while down 64% from its opening, can be considered a very healthy result given that it had to contend with both a huge opening weekend and Halloween on Friday.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno finished second with an estimated $10.7 million -- director Kevin Smith's second best opening weekend ever.
More...
November 1st, 2008
Bad week for websites with four films that did not have one, and another movie's site consisted of nothing but the trailer. That said, there was one site, Zack and Miri Make a Porno's Official Site, that was worthy of the Weekly Website Award.
More...
October 30th, 2008
It's Halloween tomorrow, and let me tell you something, Halloween sucks when you are on a diet. However, this year I get to share my pain, as the only thing worse than Halloween without Tootsie Rolls, is Halloween at the box office. With so many kids out trick or treating, they won't be heading to the movie theaters. Neither will their parents, or people who want to stay at home and hand out candy, or those who just want to avoid dealing with all of the pedestrian traffic. It is such a headache that the last time Halloween fell on a Friday, which was 2003, no movies opened wide that day. (Although Brother Bear expanded wide the next day.) This time around we have two movies opening wide (Zack and Miri Make a Porno and The Haunting of Molly Hartley) and two films are expanding wide (RocknRolla and Changeling). Perhaps these risky moves will pay off. However, there is almost no chance it will keep up with last year's pace, since this time last year was the beginning of November instead of the end of October.
More...
October 1st, 2008
September ends, and for that we are all very grateful. However, while we are entering the final push for 2008 at the box office, things don't look too rosy for the upcoming month. First of all, there are way too many films opening, including eight that are opening or expanding on the first weekend. Of those two, maybe three will thrive. Most will sink without being noticed, which could negatively affect the overall box office going forward. On the other hand, there are a few films opening this month that could be players come Awards Season, which is just around the corner. Perhaps this will help a few mid-level hits rise above the crowd.
More...
August 7th, 2008
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
More...
August 3rd, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Haunting of Molly Hartley, Nothing Like the Holidays, Not Easily Broken and more!
More...
