June 9th, 2010
New releases continue to struggle, but at least there is something of interest to report on top, as there are two releases that could legitimately the claim top spot. Dear John sold the most units, topping True Blood: Season Two 526,000 units to 480,000. On the other hand, True Blood generated more revenue $15.85 million to $9.46 million.
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June 9th, 2010
There were a handful of new releases that reached the top 30 on this week's sales chart, including the new number one. However, none of them were particularly strong. Valentine's Day led the way with 498,000 units sold, generating $8.46 million in opening week sales. Given its box office performance, this is a disappointing start.
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May 17th, 2010
It's an amazingly slow week. In fact, there is only one Featured Review on this week's list that is for a DVD coming out this week. (The other four are for screeners that arrived late.) Additionally, there's not a single first-run release on this week's list that managed to be a hit both at the box office and with critics. The film that came closest was Invictus, but for Pick of the Week I'm going with The Messenger on DVD or Blu-ray. Both are worth picking up, and High Definition is the better deal.
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March 21st, 2010
The Round Up opened in sixth place with $6.32 million on 632 screens in 3 markets. Of that, $5.67 million was earned on 602 screens in France, which was easily enough for first place in that market.
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March 14th, 2010
The Princess and the Frog remained in sixth place with $5.18 million on 3019 screens in 35 markets for a total of $149.82 million internationally and $253.53 million worldwide. This past week it opened in Japan, struggling into fifth place with $1.02 million on 363 screens. Even with that disappointing result, it should do well enough on the home market to show a profit relatively soon.
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March 3rd, 2010
For the eleventh weekend in a row, Avatar was the biggest draw at the international box office, but this week its win was extra special. Over the weekend it made $39.75 million on 7247 screens in 70 markets for a total of $1.85 billion internationally. This is more than Titanic made worldwide, meaning the film has in effect lapped its nearest competition. Additionally, it has reached $2.56 billion worldwide, which is an astounding number. To put this in perspective, this would be enough for the film to earn seventh place on the list of highest grossing franchises worldwide, and it will likely top Batman and Pirates of the Caribbean with ease. The film has set records in many major markets, including Italy, France, and South Korea, while it is creeping up on $100 million in Spain, Australia, and Italy to go along with the seven other markets where it has already reached that milestone.
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March 2nd, 2010
Overall, it was a solid weekend at the box office. While the new releases were not quite able to match expectations, holdovers were able to compensate, helping the overall box office to $119 million. This was down 11% from last weekend, but more importantly it was 6.9% higher than the same weekend last year. Ticket sales are still down by about 0.5%, but thanks to higher prices, 2010 is ahead of 2009 at $1.80 billion to $1.78 billion.
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February 25th, 2010
February ends with a couple of wide releases, both of which have a shot at taking first place. However, while both new films have a shot at top spot, Shutter Island will probably remain there over the weekend. This is not to say that the new releases are particularly weak, especially compared to the new releases that came out this time last year. In fact, the top three films from this year might all perform better than the top film last year, so 2010 has a real chance to stop the slide and maintain its record-setting pace.
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February 24th, 2010
As it has for ten weeks in a row, Avatar topped the international box office, this time pulling in $48.49 million on 7247 screens in 71 markets for a total of $1.78 billion internationally and $2.47 billion worldwide. Big news this week came from South Korea where it crossed the $100 million mark before the weekend. In South Korea, it has now reached $103.52 million after 10 weeks of release, including $1.76 million on 242 screens this past weekend. The next market where the film will reach that milestone should be Spain where it made $2.62 million on 352 screens over the weekend for a total of $93.70 million. The movie could also have enough left in the tank to do the same in Australia, where its current total is $94.70 million, but it only managed $1.68 million on 254 screens over the weekend. Meanwhile, it is still in first place in Italy with $3.74 million on 402 screens over the weekend for a total of $79.73 million. In both markets, reaching $100 million might be a little tight, but the Oscars could certainly help along the way.
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February 23rd, 2010
While Shutter Island exceeded expectations, it was the only film in the top five to do so, which hurt the overall box office. The total box office during the weekend was $134 million, 35% lower than last weekend. Then again, it was a post-holiday, post-Valentine's Day weekend, so this collapse isn't as bad as it looks. However, it was 6.0% lower than the same weekend last year and that's certainly not good. Year-to-date, 2010 has pulled in $1.65 billion (1.6% higher than last year's pace) but unless 2010 starts putting together some wins, it won't be long before it loses its lead.
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February 18th, 2010
There's only one wide release opening this week, Shutter Island, which should help that film maximize its box office potential. However, there's little hope it will match last year's number one film, Madea Goes to Jail. Hopefully the post-holiday weekend won't be too hard on the holdovers and 2010 can add another win over last year. Perhaps it can even lift ticket sales over last year's pace.
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February 18th, 2010
The winners of our Love These Prizes Too contest were determined and they are...
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February 17th, 2010
There was only one holdover in the top five of the international chart this week, and it was no surprise which film it was. Avatar again led the way, this time pulling in $59.84 million on 8214 screens in 71 markets for a total of $1.69 billion internationally and $2.35 billion worldwide. It appears France overtook China as the film's biggest single market, $156.5 million to $155 million. The other most noteworthy market was South Korea, where the country added $2.85 million on 327 screens over the weekend for a total of $98.48 million, the seventh market where the film will cross the century mark. It won't be the last market where this happens.
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February 17th, 2010
My Name is Khan beat expectations by a large margin with an average of $16,200 in 120 theaters over the three-day weekend and $18,875 million over four. The overall box office champ, Valentine's Day, placed second with an average of $15,351 over the three-day weekend. The Red Riding Trilogy held on strong with averages of $13,374 / $17,056. The re-release of Ran took in $10,128 from Friday to Sunday and $13,470 including Monday in its lone theater.
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February 16th, 2010
Okay. Wow. All three wide releases beat expectations, some by massive margins, which helped this year shatter the previous Presidents' Day long weekend record. The three-day tally this year was $205 million, ahead of the previous record by more than $16 million. And, adding in Monday, the total box office over four days was $239 million, nearly $20 million more than the previous best.
(In both cases, the previous best was last year.)
This helped push the year-to-date box office to $1.48 billion, which is 1.6% higher than last year's pace.
However, ticket sales still lag behind, albeit by less than half a percent.
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February 11th, 2010
Its Valentine's Day on Sunday and Presidents' Day on Monday, which means there are two reasons to be bullish when predicting the box office this weekend.
On the other hand, none of the new releases are earning overall positive reviews, which is a bad sign.
There is good news, as the same was true last year and two of the three new releases struggled at the box office.
This leaves 2010 an opportunity to end the slump, which has reached four weeks, and prevent admissions from slipping further below last year's pace.
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February 5th, 2010
You might notice a sense of déjà vu in this week's box office prediction contest, as we have some of the same prizes as last week, and another film with a love theme, Valentine's Day. (Granted, the only "love" in From Paris With Love is in its name while Valentine's Day is a Rom Com.) In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Valentine's Day.
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 Triangle on DVD, as well as Dynasty - Season Four - Volume 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 Triangle 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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February 1st, 2010
2010 started in record-breaking fashion with the most lucrative January of all time, and only the second time that the box office reached $1 billion before the end of the month.
The first year to do that was 2009.
There were two problems preventing real celebration, however.
Firstly, roughly 30% of the total box office for the month came from one film, Avatar, which was a holdover.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, most films that were released / expanded wide in January missed expectations.
Because of this, February starts on a bit of a down note.
Compared to last year, the top of the list is about as strong with a couple of films aiming for $100 million, while there are fewer films that seem like they will bomb at the box office.
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