April 1st, 2006
Despite a weak DVD, Derailed topped the rental charts with $8.39 million during its first week of release.
Last week's winner, A History of Violence, fell 28% to $6.42 million and now has $15.42 million during its home market run. A pair of family films, Chicken Little and Dreamer - Inspired by a True Story, came in third and fourth with $5.68 million and $5.45 million respectively. Rounding our the top five was Walk the Line, which added $5.10 million to its four-week total of $34.19 million.
More...
March 20th, 2006
Another busy week in terms of total releases, but only one jumps out as a must have.
That's Capote - Buy from Amazon, the DVD pick of the week.
More...
November 13th, 2005
Chicken Little started its international run with day-and-date debuts in 9 markets earning $5.54 million on 900 screens, just missing the top five in the process. Its best market was kid-friendly Mexico with $3.1 million on 600 screens, which is about on par with its opening domestically. On the other hand, the film broke records in Malaysia with $477,000 on 40 screens. Other results include a first place debuts in Russia with $1.1 million on 197 screens and in Taiwan with $463,000 on 18 screens, (including previews).
More...
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.
More...
November 6th, 2005
With
The Legend of Zorro earning a nearly worldwide release this past weekend, and the imminent release of another
juggernaut, there was little room for other releases this weekend on the international scene.
More...
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.
More...
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.
More...
October 30th, 2005
Oliver Twist opened in two major markets over the weekend, placing second in both France with $2.4 million on 547 screens and Italy with $1.3 million on 301 screens.
Other markets include $360,000 in the U.K. for a $3.6 million total there and $140,000 in Poland for $1.1 million. Add it up and you have $4.2 million for the weekend and $9.6 million in total.
More...
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.
More...
October 24th, 2005
The box office wasn't knee deep in doom, it was more like ankle deep in Doom. With almost every film missing expectations, there was another steep decline at the box office this weekend, at least on the year-to-year comparison. Week-to-week the box office was up just 0.7%, but it was down 16.5% from last year.
Year-to-date, 2005 has now brought $6.957 billion, which is about 8% lower than this time last year.
More...
October 21st, 2005
Another week, another four movies opening wide.
But only one of those films is earning positive reviews.
And with the overall weakness in the market, the four films combined openings could be less than last year's number one film.
But hopefully the box office numbers will be strong enough to avoid that fate.
More...
October 20th, 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,
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang -
Official Site.
More...
October 14th, 2005
A trio of wide releases hit the theatres today, but none of them seem to have what it takes to become a breakout hit. With very few strong contenders at the box office this weekend, however, all three should still make it into the top five.
More...
October 13th, 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,
Prime -
Official Site.
More...
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.
More...
September 8th, 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,
Tideland -
Official Site.
More...
June 16th, 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,
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -
Official Site.
More...