March 1st, 2011
President's Day sales boosted a number of holdovers back into the top 30 on this week's sales chart. However, it was a new release, Unstoppable, that led the way with 796,000 units sold for opening week sales of $12.73 million.
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February 23rd, 2011
Due to a mixture of weak holdovers and depth in the new releases, we had seven DVDs debut in the top 30 sales chart this week. This includes a new number one, For Colored Girls, which sold 517,000 units and generated $8.41 million in consumer spending at retail.
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February 15th, 2011
Overall, new releases were rather weak, but we did see four films reach the top 30 on the sales chart this week, including a new number one. That film was Beverly Hill Chihuahua 2, which sold 712,000 units, generating $10.67 million in opening week revenue. Granted, this was half as many sales as the original, but that was a theatrical release and this was direct-to-DVD, so I think Disney has to be very happy with this release. In fact, they might be thinking franchise.
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February 8th, 2011
Among the new releases to reach the top 30 on the sales chart this week, there were two that were in a relatively close race for first place. At least it was close compared to the third place film. Coming out on top was Red with 1.12 million units sold for $15.07 million in opening week consumer spending.
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January 24th, 2011
It's bit of an oddball week on the home market. There are four first-run releases, if you include The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Granted, that film was a limited release, but it did earn more than $5 million, and it appears to be selling quite well, especially for a foreign language film. On the other hand, none seem like they will be particularly impressive in terms of sales. Of the four biggest releases, Red on Blu-ray is the best bet, but for Pick of the Week, I'm going with Broadcast News: Criterion Collection on Blu-ray.
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January 20th, 2011
When Secretariat came out, many people compared it to The Blind Side for a number of reasons. They are both sports movies, they are both based on real life events, and they both came out at the same time of year. However, while they both earned similar reviews, The Blind Side became a surprise hit earning more than $250 million, while Secretariat struggled to find an audience. So, did Secretariat deserve better?
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October 31st, 2010
With an estimated 92% of box office receipts coming from 3D shows, Saw 3D became the highest-grossing horror franchise in history this weekend, overtaking Friday the 13th.
Its $22.4 million opening is still down from the peak for the franchise, which topped $30 million on four occasions, but is up significantly from the disappointing $14.1 million debut of Saw VI last year.
(See full franchise history here.)
Paranormal Activity 2, meanwhile had a steep drop to $16.5 million in its second weekend, although 59% isn't terrible for the genre, and the low-budget sequel has racked up over $65 million in just 10 days.
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October 18th, 2010
After more than a few films missed expectations over the past few weeks, it is nice to see a film crush expectations so soundly. Jackass 3D slapped around the naysayers so thoroughly that it nearly helped turn around 2010's losing streak. It did help the overall box office grow 42% from last weekend to $132 million, but that was still roughly 5% lower than the same weekend last year. (This was due to better depth at the box office last year.) 2010 is still ahead of 2009 at $8.48 billion to $8.22 billion, but I'm a little concerned that lead won't last till the end of the year.
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October 17th, 2010
Jackass 3D is set to record the biggest October weekend ever, according to Paramount's Sunday estimate.
With $50 million over the weekend, the movie will also set a new mark for a factually-based movie, beating the record held by its predecessor in the series, Jackass: Number Two.
Although the debate on 3D's long-term future continues, this is a movie that seems to be perfectly suited to the medium.
Expect to see talk of Jackass 4D very soon.
We don't even dare to speculate what the 4th D will entail.
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October 14th, 2010
The past few weeks haven't exactly been kind to the box office, with more films struggling than soaring. The industry as a whole is obviously hoping things turn around this weekend and 2010 ends its losing streak against 2009. We've lost ground four of the past five weekends. Worse still, three of those times 2010 failed to get within 10% of 2009's weekend number. Turning things around might be more than a little difficult, as this time last year there were five films that earned $10 million or more, while this year we might not have three films do the same.
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October 11th, 2010
The race for top spot was pretty close this weekend with the first and second place films finishing within $1 million of each other. On the other hand, combined there were significantly weaker than last year's number one film, Couples Retreat. Because of this, it should come as no surprise that the overall box office was down, falling 2% from last weekend to $93 million and 15% from last year. 2010 still has a massive lead over 2009 at $8.31 billion to $8.04 billion, but year-over-year declines like this mean that lead is not safe.
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October 7th, 2010
There could be a real tight race for top spot at the box office this week, which is good news as it gives us something to talk about while we avoid the year-over-year comparison. There are three wide releases coming out this week; however, it is very possible that their combined opening weekend results will be less than last year's number one film, Couples Retreat. Even if 2010 avoids that fate, there's almost no chance it will keep up with last year's pace.
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October 1st, 2010
September is nearly over and the Fall box office season is about to begin in earnest.
September wasn't too bad this year, with more films matching or exceeding expectations than missing them, and we managed to keep pace with last year, more or less.
Can October do the same? Well, last year there was only one $100 million hit, Couples Retreat (not counting Paranormal Activity, which opened in September). We might not see any film hit $100 million this time around.
In fact, we might not even see any that come all that close.
On the other hand, there were also five wide releases that clearly bombed last year, and on that end, 2010 looks a lot better.
Not every film that opens over the next five weekends will be a mid-level hit or better, but most should get there.
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September 30th, 2010
It's the beginning of October, so it should come as no surprise there are a couple of horror films are coming out. More surprisingly, a couple of films released this week are also earning Oscar- or near Oscar-worthy reviews.
(There's only three films, so there's some crossover.)
Direct competition between the films could hurt, but hopefully not so much that 2010 falls behind last year's pace.
It's not like last year was explosive at the box office, as Zombieland just missed $25 million at the box office, and it was the clear winner.
Will any of the wide releases top that figure? And will the overall box office help 2010 maintain its lead over 2009?
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