August 21st, 2013

There were five new releases to reach the chart on the June 23rd, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart, but most of them missed the top five. Jack the Giant Slayer earned first place with 234,000 units / $5.42 million, giving it an opening week Blu-ray share of 42%. This is acceptable, but not great. More...



August 21st, 2013

New releases were rather sparse on the June 23rd, 2013 edition of the DVD sales chart. Granted, Jack the Giant Slayer did earn first place, but it was the only new release in the top five. It sold 319,000 units and generated $4.79 million in revenue, which is weak given the film's production budget. More...



July 29th, 2013

There were a lot of new releases on the Blu-ray sales chart this week. This includes Oz the Great and Powerful, which led the way with 472,000 units / $13.21 million during its first week of release. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 46%, which is a good start for a visually impressive adventure film. More...



July 29th, 2013

New releases earned the top three spots on the DVD sales chart, but there was only one other to earn a spot in the top 30. Oz the Great and Powerful earned first place with 549,000 units / $9.97 million, which is a good result, given the time of year. More...



June 12th, 2013

Another typical summer week on the home market. There are a few first-run releases, but nothing that is a blockbuster. There are more TV on DVD releases, including a couple that were contenders for Pick of the Week. This includes Burn Notice: Season Six, but the screener is late, so I'm holding off. Enter the Dragon gets an Anniversary Edition Blu-ray and it is a contender. However, in the end I went with The Newsroom: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray Combo Pack. More...



June 10th, 2013

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters was a high concept action film that came out in January. That suggests it was a good idea on paper, but the execution was weak. On the other hand, it did become a surprise hit earning more than $200 million worldwide. Did the studio underestimate what they had? Or did the film thrive merely by being better than the January competition? More...



March 21st, 2013

Oz the Great and Powerful remained in first place with $48.2 million on 10,433 screens in 55 markets for totals of $138.6 million internationally and $282.7 million worldwide. The film took top spot in France with a hair under $5.00 million on 620 screens. During its second weekend in Russia, the film added $4.93 million on 1,137 screens for a total of $21.63 million so far. At this pace, it should have no trouble earning a profit. The only question is whether or not it will get there before it reaches the home market. More...



March 15th, 2013

Oz the Great and Powerful began its international run in first place with $69.2 million on 11,250 screens in 46 markets. It crushed the competition is Russia with $14.65 million on 1,137 screens, but this particular market tends to reward fantasy films. It wasn't quite as strong in the U.K., but still earned first place with $5.53 million on 530 screens. It also topped the charts in Mexico ($5.26 million on 207 screens); in Australia ($4.88 million on 268); in Brazil ($4.39 million 732); Italy ($3.76 million 588); Germany ($3.74 million on 548); and in Spain ($2.62 million on 649). On the other hand, it had to settle for second place in Japan with $2.81 million on 584 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $3.50 million. It could do no better than fourth in South Korea with $1.58 million on 425 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $1.73 million. It is too soon to tell where it will end up, but this is a good start. More...



March 6th, 2013

Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons earned first place for the third weekend in a row earning $23.37 million in 8 markets for a running tally of $193.09 million. A few years ago, a Chinese film earning nearly $200 million would have been the biggest news of the year, but this is becoming almost common. More...



February 21st, 2013

Thanks to the Chinese New Year, Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons rocketed into first place with $94.26 million in 5 markets over the weekend for a total run of $113.09 million. The film broke a number of records in its native China, including biggest opening day for a Chinese film ($12.3 million) and biggest single day of all time ($19.6 million) and fastest to $100 million in China (8 days). At this point, someone in North America should be interested in grabbing the film for a domestic release. More...



February 14th, 2013

For the third weekend in a row, Django Unchained earned first place on the international chart. This weekend it earned $19.55 million on 5,090 screens in 65 markets for totals of $187.71 million internationally and $342.23 million worldwide. It has now made more than Inglourious Basterds made worldwide, and it is a week away from becoming Quentin Tarantino's undisputed biggest hit of his career. Plus, it has yet to open in Japan and a few other markets, so it might have more milestones ahead. More...



February 12th, 2013

It was a great week at the box office, all things considered, with Identity Thief crushing expectations and all of the holdovers matching theirs. Only Side Effects struggled at the box office. This helped the overall box office climb 18% from last week to $104 million. This was 47% lower than the same weekend last year; however, this weekend last year was Valentine's weekend, which is one of the biggest non-holiday weekends of the year, so the comparison isn't fair. As I predicted last week, the lead 2013 had built up has evaporated and it is now 1.2% lower than 2012 at $1.05 billion to $1.06 billion. Since Valentine's Day is this Thursday, we should make up the difference quickly. More...



February 7th, 2013

There are two wide releases this week, Identity Thief and Side Effects. One of these films is earning amazing reviews and one of them is the overwhelming favorite to win the box office race. Identity Thief looks like it is going to finish in first place and it's only real competition is from last year. Last year the box office was led by a one-two punch of The Vow and Safe House, both of which earned more than $40 million. No movie is going to do that this year, so 2013 is going to lose big this week. More...



February 6th, 2013

Django Unchained won the international race with $30.28 million on 5,990 screens in 65 markets for a running total of $158.36 million. Worldwide, its total has reached $309.31 million. It is just a week away from overtaking Inglourious Basterds as Quentin Tarantino's biggest hit of his career. The film had no major market openings, which makes its hold more impressive. Its best market was Germany, where it made $6.61 million on 708 screens over the weekend for a total of $30.78 million after three. More...



February 4th, 2013

There were a number of factors that hurt the box office over the weekend, not the least of which was the rather exciting Super Bowl game. (At least it sounds like it was exciting. I Googled the score a couple times, but I didn't watch the game.) Warm Bodies easily won the weekend race and finished on the high end of expectations, while Silver Linings Playbook remains on pace to reach $100 million. On the other hand, Bullet to the Head bombed. Overall, the box office fell 21% to just $89 million. Again, the Super Bowl had a lot to do with that. Compared to last year, the box office was down 23%. 2013 is still ahead of 2012 by 3.4% at $917 million to $887 million but that lead could be gone by the end of next weekend. More...



January 31st, 2013

February begins with two wide releases, Warm Bodies and Bullet to the Head. Both will have to deal with holdovers, and more importantly, The Super Bowl. Bullet to the Head's target audience is nearly identical to that for the Super Bowl, while at least Warm Bodies has at least some chance of a breakout success. Last year there were three wide releases, two of which opened with more than $20 million. It is going to be almost impossible for 2013 to match that result. More...



January 30th, 2013

There was a relatively close race on top of the international chart, but Django Unchained came out on top for the second week in a row. This time it earned $43.10 million on 6,421 screens in 64 markets for a total of $111.61 million after just two weeks of release. It is rapidly closing in on Inglourious Basterds as Quentin Tarantino's biggest hit of his career. It is also the most expensive film in his career. The film opened in first place in Australia with $3.95 million on 330 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $5.61 million. It also remained in top spot in Germany with an incredible $8.08 million on 650 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $21.32 million. More...



January 29th, 2013

The winners of our Witch Prize Will You Win? contest were determined and they are... More...



January 28th, 2013

January ended, and we should all be glad it did. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters did beat modest expectations, but most of the rest failed that test with Movie 43 crashing worse than even my low expectations. The overall box office fell 20% from last weekend to $112 million. This was 11% less than the same weekend last year; fortunately, this was the first miss of 2013 and the year still has a lead of 10% over 2012 at $797 million to $721 million. More...



January 27th, 2013

January will go out like a lamb at the box office, with three new releases failing to catch on with moviegoers this weekend and not much action among the holdovers. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters will win the weekend more-or-less by default, with a modest $19 million bow from 3,372 theaters. That spells financial disaster for a film that reportedly cost $50 million to make. FilmDistrict's $30 million-budgeted Parker will have a similarly tough time recouping its investment, although lower marketing costs will help. It starts out with $7 million and a per theater average of $3,147. Even more disappointing is Movie 43, which is set to open with $5 million, although its $6 million budget and likely long shelf life on video will avert catastrophe. More...



January 24th, 2013

There are three wide releases during the final weekend of January, but it looks like none of them will please critics. As I write this, the three films have a total of seven reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, none of them are positive. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters should easily be the biggest hit of the three new films, but not everyone thinks it will come out on top, as Mama could remain potent. Parker and Movie 43 will likely struggle and getting to just $10 million over the weekend might be asking too much. Fortunately, the combination of new releases and holdovers is very similar to last year, so 2013 could win yet another weekend to start the year. More...



January 23rd, 2013

Django Unchained began its international run in first place with $49.70 million on 5,863 screens in 54 markets. It opened in first place in a number of major markets, led by Germany, where it made $9.84 million on 482 screens, while it was nearly as potent in France with $7.54 million on 610 screens. It also earned first place in Italy with $4.60 million on 541 screens and in Spain with $3.40 million on 541. It had to settle for second place in the U.K. ($4.45 million on 445 screens); in Russia ($5.52 million on 736); and in Mexico ($999,000 on 451). It only managed third place in Brazil with $1.27 million, but it was only playing on 187 screens. Overall, this debut was 30% better than Inglourious Basterds' debut in the same markets. More...



January 18th, 2013

Next weekend there are three films opening wide, but only one of them is opening in saturation level theater count, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunter. (Parker and Movie 43 are opening in barely more than 2000 theaters.) Hansel and Gretel should have no trouble winning the weekend and it is the clear choice for target film for this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunter. 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 Dora the Explorer: Dora Loves Boots on DVD. (This is the French-language bilingual edition.) 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 Dora the Explorer: Dora Loves Boots on DVD. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay! More...



January 1st, 2013

December ended on a positive note with 2012 topping 2011 with a week to spare. Hopefully this will translate into strong box office numbers going forward. There are several January releases that actually look very interesting, but you always have to ask, if the films are as good as they look, why are they opening in January? The biggest hit on this list will likely not be a January release, but a limited release from December that is expanding wide in January. Zero Dark Thirty opened in limited release the Wednesday before Christmas and right away it got off to an incredible start. If it can turn some of its Awards Season nominations into wins, which seems very likely at this point, it should be the biggest hit of January. If it can earn some major Oscars, then it might crack $100 million. Unfortunately, no other film on this release list is likely to come close to the $100 million mark. Last January was unseasonably strong with three films opening with $20 million or more and four films finishing with $50 million or more. It is possible that none of the new releases will reach those relatively weak standards. More...

