January 20th, 2010
Thanks to the holidays, DVD sales numbers were not reported on our usual schedule, but next week we should be back to normal, so it's a perfect time to wrap up some of the interesting notes from over the holidays.
The week after Black Friday saw the release of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Terminator Salvation, neither of which matched expectations, although made up for their poor DVD performance somewhat by selling well on Blu-ray.
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December 8th, 2009
According to Amazon, there are about 300 DVDs and Blu-ray being released or re-released this week and about half of them are Harry Potter releases. Well, maybe not, but it almost feels that way. The only one of these that is really worth picking up is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Blu-ray; in fact, it is the DVD Pick of the Week. Also sharing that honor is The Cove on DVD, Julie & Julia on DVD or Blu-ray, and Lost - Season Five on Blu-ray. My bank account is going to take a big hit this week.
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November 22nd, 2009
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus climbed into sixth place with $3.20 million on 764 screens in 6 markets for a total of $21.40 million after a month of release. The film opened in fifth place in France with $2.14 million on 234 screens, but that was for the full week. It cracked $10 million in Italy during its run with a total of $10.36 million, including $861,000 on 247 screens this past weekend.
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November 14th, 2009
Couples Retreat expanded this past weekend but just missed the top five with $5.84 million on 1,373 screens in 18 markets for a total of $28.92 million after a month of release.
The film opened in third place in Germany under the name All Inclusive, with $2.55 million on 338 screens while it also took third place in Mexico with $446,000 on 235 screens.
Next up for the film is Spain next weekend and Italy the weekend after that, while it doesn't end its run until March when it opens in France.
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September 5th, 2009
G-Force just missed the top five with $7.09 million on 2964 screens in 30 markets for a total of $67.97 million. The film had no major market openings this week, but it did add $2.17 million on 409 screens in Russia for a total of $8.93 million after two weeks there. Up next is Spain this weekend, which means it could climb back into the top five, if it performs well there.
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August 30th, 2009
Summer is mostly over and we're moving back to the normal schedule for the international box office columns. Mostly. There are still not enough multi-million dollar films to fill out the top 30, but as the blockbusters make way for smaller releases, that will change. Meanwhile, The Hangover remained in sixth place with $7.65 million on 2782 screens in 46 markets for a total of $152.38 million internationally and $420.65 million worldwide. The film opened in first place in Brazil with $1.13 million on 205 screens, while it remained in first place in Mexico with $1.04 million on 398 screens over the weekend for a total of $3.56 million after two. Other million dollar markets include Spain where it was down just 18% to $1.27 million on 319 screens over the weekend for a total of $3.88 million after two, and Germany where it added $1.02 million on 427 screens giving the film a total of $15.29 million after a month of release.
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August 22nd, 2009
Public Enemies remained in fifth place with $8.74 million on 2919 screens in 49 markets for a total of $76.20 million. The film opened in first place in Spain with $2.44 million on 460 screens, but had to settle for fifth in South Korea with $1.22 million on 375 screens over the weekend and $1.70 million in total. With Debuts in Italy and Japan still ahead, the film should have no trouble topping $100 million internationally and $200 million worldwide. However, it was a costly film to make, so it will have to show some strength on the home market to show a profit.
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August 16th, 2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince became just the second film of the year to reach $500 million on the international chart, but the sixth film of that franchise to reach that milestone. Over the weekend it earned $22.85 million on 9346 screens in 63 markets for a total of $548.68 million internationally and $822.53 million worldwide after just four weeks of release. The film is running on holdovers, but it did place third in France adding $3.78 million on 918 screens over the weekend for a total of $45.08 million in that market. Meanwhile it remained in first place in Germany with $2.74 million on 908 screens giving it $54.68 million in total. Its best market overall remains the U.K. where it has made $73.85 million, including $2.25 million on 535 screens over the past weekend.
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August 8th, 2009
Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs became the all-time highest grossing animated film on the international scene during the past week. Over the weekend it earned $24.66 million on 8844 screens in 68 markets for a total of $551.39 million internationally, which tops the $526.88 million earned by Finding Nemo. On the other hand, that film made $866.59 million worldwide compared to this film's running tally of $733.45 million. Ice Age isn't done yet, and should reach a couple milestones before it is done. but the record is likely safe.
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August 1st, 2009
It took Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs just a month to reach $500 million internationally becoming just the seventeenth film to reach that milestone. Over the weekend it added $40.37 million on 10,518 screens in 102 markets for a total of $505.18 million internationally and $676.68 million worldwide. The week the film opened in Japan, but it went nowhere in that market finishing in 10th place with $428,000 on 233 screens. The film opens in South Korea in a couple of weeks and in Italy at the end of the month, and when it does it should be at $600 million internationally and $800 million worldwide.
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July 26th, 2009
Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs was pushed into second place by The Half-Blood Prince, but it became the biggest international hit of the year topping Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen. Over the weekend the film added $61.90 million on 11,089 screens in 102 markets for a total of $430.88 million internationally and $582.75 million Worldwide. It is possible that the film is already the biggest his in the franchise, but we won't know for sure till this weekend's numbers are released.
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July 19th, 2009
Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen became the biggest hit of the year on the international scene, at least for a little while. Over the weekend it added $34.27 million on 8210 screens in 62 markets for a total of $371.24 million internationally and $710.46 million worldwide. It has overtaken Angels and Demons for the biggest international hit of 2009, for the time being, while it is just ahead of the original's worldwide total.
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July 15th, 2009
2009 has hit a bit of a rough patch when compared to 2008, and it is unlikely to get better this weekend. That is not to say there are no prime releases — far from it. However, this time last year saw the release of The Dark Knight, and there are very few who think any movie this year will be able to compete with that film. That said, the number who think we could have a huge weekend is growing.
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July 14th, 2009
The weekend at the box office was rather boring, at least as far as box office numbers go. We had no records broken, no blockbuster releases, and no films that shocked analysts, either on the high end or the low end. Total ticket sales were at $143 million, which is 12% lower than last weekend and 5.5% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-day, 2009 is still ahead of 2008 by 11.2%, $5.68 billion to $5.11 billion.
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July 12th, 2009
Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen fell to second place with $57.50 million on 9158 screens in 61 markets for a total of $301.64 million. This puts the film less than $100 million behind the original internationally, which is a lead that won't last long. The film's biggest market of the weekend was South Korea where it placed first adding $7.76 million on 1076 screens to its total of $27.81 million. It also was impressive in China adding $5.2 million on 1009 screens for a total of $41.6 million, while it remained in first place in Australia with $4.95 million on 456 screens over the weekend and $21.51 million after two, and in Italy with $1.39 million on 565 screens over the weekend for a total of $8.06 million, also after two.
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July 10th, 2009
There's a bit of a lull in blockbusters this week with no saturation level releases coming out, but that's not to say there isn't a potential $100 million movie. Compared to last year, the selection of new releases are not as strong, but overall 2009 might keep pace with 2008.
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July 7th, 2009
New releases were not as strong as expected, and Independence Day itself hurt a little more than I was expecting, but the overall box office was still solid at $162 million.
Granted, this was nearly 19% less than last weekend, but more importantly it was 1.4% higher than the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2009 has made $5.44 billion, which is 11.6% ahead of last year's pace.
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July 6th, 2009
July 5th, 2009
This weekend's box office race looked close, but how close only became apparent on Sunday morning when Fox and Paramount announced their weekend estimates.
For the first time that we know of, the estimates have the two top movies in a tie, with each movie estimated to have earned $42.5 million over the weekend.
Final numbers on Monday are virtually guaranteed to break the tie one way or the other, but the larger point is that both movies had strong weekends.
(For the record, the closest weekend result in history was a virtual tie between CB4 and Fire in the Sky back in March, 1993.
On that occasion, just $6,000, or less than 0.1% separated the two top movies.)
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July 5th, 2009
It's week's like this that make me think dropping this column to concentrate on DVD reviews is a wise move. Half the film's on this week's list had no sites to review. Of the half that did, all had something that stood out from the norm, but it was Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs's Official Site that stood out the most and it is the winner of this week's Weekly Website Award.
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July 1st, 2009
While the movie industry has been in summer mode for a full two months, for many, the July 4th weekend marks the official start of summer.
To celebrate, there are two saturation level releases coming out this week, and both are opening tonight and not Friday.
Both could be major hits, but they could have real trouble topping Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen over the weekend.
Compared to last year, I don't think anything will top Hancock's opening weekend, but combined they should help 2009 maintain its strong pace compared to last year.
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July 1st, 2009
June gave us some unexpected hits in The Proposal and The Hangover, as well as expected hits like Up, not to mention the biggest hit of the year, so far, in Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen. However, despite this, 2009 lost a bit of ground to 2008, and this will likely continue this month, as this month last year saw the release of The Dark Knight.
This year we have a couple of potential $300 million hits, but nothing likely to perform on that scale.
Then again, I only predicted Dark Knight would make $250 million, so we could be surprised again this year.
The box office is certainly hot, and is currently running more than 12% ahead of last year's pace.
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June 19th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for 2012, Public Enemies, Transformers 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 4th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for The Informant, The Surrogates, War, Inc., and more!
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February 24th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Hoodwinked 2, Shanghai, and more!
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January 31st, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Duplicity, G.I. Joe, Public Enemies, and more!
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January 17th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Public Enemies, The Road, Whip It, and more!
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January 15th, 2008
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
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