November 16th, 2010

It's getting really close to Black Friday, which is sometimes reported as the busiest shopping day of the year. (It's not. That would be Christmas Eve.) So it should come as no surprise that there's a prime release this week, or should I say re-release. Avatar: Extended Collector's Edition on Blu-ray is the biggest, and arguably the best, release of the week and it is the Pick of the Week. However, there was some competition from The Kids Are All Right on DVD or Blu-ray. More...



December 23rd, 2008

The Wrestler had one of the best opening per theater averages this year, pulling in just over $200,000 in 4 theaters for an average of $50,679; this impressive beginning is even more impressive once one realizes it was a Wednesday opener, which undoubtedly cut its weekend average. Gran Torino tripled its theater count but its per theater average held well at $24,643 during its second weekend of release. Likewise, Doubt saw a significant increase in its theater count while earning an average of $17,460 over the weekend. The Reader remained in 8 theaters with an average of $11,599, and it will be interesting to see how well it expands at this point, but momentum is not on its side. More...



October 28th, 2008

A slower week in terms of first run releases with a second tier summer release topping that particular list. However, there are a few other releases that are more interesting, including the direct-to-DVD release, Tinker Bell, which is worth picking up on either DVD or Blu-ray, but the latter is better than the former. While that release is the DVD Pick of the Week, two non-DVD releases are worth mentioning above the fold: The Mental Floss History of the World - Buy from Amazon and The Best Of Bond... James Bond - Buy from Amazon. It goes without saying that it was another busy week in terms of total DVDs on this week's list, so much so that it had to be split into two. The second part of the list can be found here. More...



November 27th, 2007

Starting Out in the Evening earned first place on the per theater chart with and average of $10,888 in seven theaters. This should be enough for it to expand over the holidays, but probably not enough to get noticed during award season. Margot at the Wedding was in second place with and average of $10,767 after increasing its theater count to 35. Finally, the re-re-re-release of The Polar Express added just over $150,000 in 15 theaters for an average of $10,024 and a total of $338,000 during its latest round in theaters. More...



November 25th, 2006

The Da Vinci Code led a large group of new releases, taking top spot on the charts with $11.05 million in rentals while it also topped the sales chart with ease. More...



October 10th, 2006

The Thanksgiving long weekend signifies the start of the holiday shopping season... Of course, that's the American Thanksgiving, which occurs sometime in November. The Canadian Thanksgiving, which occurred this weekend, is most closely associated with the start of Hockey season. (Have I mentioned how much I hate the New York Rangers ? I have. Good.) However, just because shopping season has officially started, doesn't mean it's a slow week. Far from it. This week there was a bumper crop of contenders for the DVD Pick of the Week. I narrowed the list to two TV on DVD releases ( Scrubs - The Complete Fourth Season - Buy from Amazon and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law - Volume 2 - Buy from Amazon ) and two limited releases, ( Twelve and Holding Buy from Amazon and A Prairie Home Companion Buy from Amazon ). If I was forced at gunpoint to choose just one, it would be Scrubs - The Complete Fourth Season - Buy from Amazon , but I can all but guarantee all four, and a few others, will end up in my DVD collection. More...

December 23rd, 2005

The 40-Year Old Virgin not only did it lead the way on the rental chart bringing in $10.18 million in combined rentals, ($9.82 million from DVDs and $370,000 from VHS), but it also led the way in sales with 3.7 million units sold. Sales totaled $65 million in its opening week. To put this in perspective, the home market release made more than $75 million during its opening week, which is more than the film earned during its first three weeks of theatrical release. More...

December 10th, 2005

December 3rd, 2005

War of the Worlds easily won the race on the rental charts with $15.54 million in combined rentals, which is one of the best results of the year. This is more of a surprise than it may first seem, since people usually buy blockbusters like this and not rent them as much. More...



November 21st, 2005

As Christmas approaches, each week more and more DVDs are being released that theoretically would make perfect gifts. But for the DVD Pick of the Week I went with the perfect Re-Gift, Seinfeld - Re-Gift Set. There are a couple others I would recommend (like the King Kong - Collector's Edition), but overall it feels like a really slow week. More...



February 27th, 2005

IMAX numbers are hard to find, for international IMAX number it's doubly so. Working on the international numbers I was able to come across box office figures for half a dozen IMAX films from four markets. More...

January 26th, 2005

The International Box Office Race is certainly interesting, as Ocean's Twelve recaptured the lead this weekend with $14.4 million on 4,600 screens in 58 markets and now sits at $170.4 million internationally and $292.8 million worldwide. A large chunk of that total came from Japan, where the film earned $6.8 million (including sneak peaks) on 510 screens, while ending Howl's Moving Castle's nine week reign on top. While this was a strong performance, it was 20% lower that the original's debut in the same market. More...



January 25th, 2005

The Oscar Nominations were announced this morning and at first glance it appears that most of the nominations went to films with smaller budgets and box office results. Box office hits were nearly shut out of the major nominations. More...

January 19th, 2005

After a massive opening last week in Spain, Alexander took top spot on the international charts thanks to a strong opening in Italy, Brazil and Hong Kong. The film managed first place in all three markets with $3.87 million on 446 screens in Italy, $906,900 on 193 screens in Brazil and $275,244 on 30 screens in Hong Kong. Holdovers were not as kind to the Sword and Sandal epic as it dropped nearly 50% in the U.K., Spain and France. Overall the film brought in $14.5 million on 3600 screens in 51 markets for a running tally of $88 million. And while the film will easily cross $100 million internationally, which is roughly 3 times its domestic figure, it has to be looked at as a disappointment financially. More...

January 12th, 2005

The race for first in the international marketplace continued to be close with three films within a couple million of each other. Leading the way was Ocean's Twelve with $17.5 million on 5200 screens in 54 markets; the film's international total now sits at $137 million, slightly more than half of what Ocean's Eleven finished with. The heist film did open well in several markets, which mostly balances out severe drop-offs due to the post-holiday. For instance, the film opened well in South Korea with $2.1 million on 150 screens and debuted in first place in Argentina, ($500,000), Portugal, (with $720,000) and in the Philippines, ($370,000.) More...

December 29th, 2004

Ocean's Twelve opening in another two markets, (Mexico and Belgium) helped the heist film finish first on the international charts with $22.6 million on 5,183 screens in 46 markets. The film opened well in Belgium where it easily took first place with $1.2 million on just 75 screens. That's up nearly 40% compared to the the original , but down nearly 10% in Euros. In Mexico the film could only manage $1.8 million on 550 screens for a rather limp per screen average. However, in most markets the film is not holding up as well as the studio would have liked. For instance, in Germany the film dropped by more than 50%, in France the decline was 44%. The only exception appears to be Italy where holidays and a serious boost to screen count helped the film climb 33% to $2.9 million over the weekend. More...

December 24th, 2004

The busiest weekend of the year starts off with Christmas Eve, one of the slowest holiday nights of year. Because of this, it make predicting the weekend results much more difficult. Also adding to the difficulty, several films only open / go wide on Saturday. More...

December 22nd, 2004

For the first time in many weeks there was a real race for top spot on the international charts, also, for the first time in many weeks The Incredibles didn't win that race. Boosted by debuts in 22 additional markets, Ocean's Twelve took top spot with $28.9 million on 3900 screens in 27 markets for a early total of $35.2 million. Compared to the original the results are mixed. IN many places it is a lot lower when compared in local currency, but thanks to the Dollar's extended losing streak, it's much higher in American funds. For instance, the film opened in first place in France with 5.7 million Euros, down 16% from its predecessor, however, that's $7.5 million in American funds, a increase of 28%. Other highlights include $5.3 million in Germany, $3.5 million in Spain, $2.2 million in Italy and $1.4 million in both Holland and Switzerland and just shy of $1 million in Sweden. The film remained in first place in Australia despite dropping 50% at the box office to just $1.8 million. More...

December 20th, 2004

This weekend was the first year anniversary of the last of the Lord of the Rings movies, and the box office really missed its impact. The weekend was almost exactly flat with last weekend, but down 24.6% from last year. However, if you discount the top movie for each, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events this year and Return of the King for last year, then 2004 is up by more than 11%. The year-to-date comparisons have 2004 up by a mere 1.4% at $8.66 billion. More...



December 17th, 2004

The look for this weekend is much different than it was at the beginning of the month as a few films had their release dates shuffled. That won't change what film will take first place, but the rest of the top five might be affected. More...

December 15th, 2004

Several films made their international debuts this weekend, but that didn't stop The Incredibles from taking top spot on the international box office, again. This weekend the film brought in an addition $32.1 million on 6,343 screens in 37 markets to lift its international tally to $152.1 million so far. The films busiest weekend in terms of raw dollars was the $5.7 million it earned in Germany, but with a theatre count of more than 1000, that wasn't as strong as the studio would have liked. The film did break the record for biggest opening for an animated movie with $1.7 million in Brazil. The film also opened first in Switzerland with $1.2 million, Austria with $931,000 and South Africa with $310,000. More...

December 14th, 2004

Golden Globe Nominations were announced on Monday and as with the IFP Independent Spirit Awards Sideways lead the pack with 7 nominations. This does not mean it is the favorite in any particular category, but it does help its chances of taking home some hardware on January 16th. More...

December 13th, 2004

The two wide openings fell short of expectations, but by a combined margin just several million dollars, even so, this weekend was nearly 23% ahead of last weekend. And comparing it to last year's trio of disappointing wide releases results in a 19% increase. And while 2004 now sits 2.4% ahead of 2003 with $8.52 billion, that margin could evaporate as there's no sure thing, $300 million monster hit left to be released this year. More...



December 10th, 2004

Two movies open wide this weekend, both looking to attract the same audience. In the end both films will suffer because of this, but both films should also do well enough to earn a profit while jumpstarting the box office. More...

December 8th, 2004

A few big opening and very strong holdovers helped The Incredibles continue its torrid pace with $36.3 million in 24 markets, lifting its international tally to $104.6 million. It was the 16th film to cross that mark this year, and one of two films to do so this weekend. The film's biggest opening of the weekend was in Japan where it took in $7.3 million to finish in second place to local phenomenon, Howl's Moving Castle. Ironically, out of all the new openings, Japan was the only market where the film failed to open in first place. The biggest holdover was in the U.K. where the film took in another $8.1 million, down just 29%, and now sits just shy of $30 million there. The film was equally strong in other major markets: France, ($6.5 million, down 29%); Italy, ($4.4 million, down 19%); Spain, ($3.7 million, down 33%.) With major openings in Germany, among other markets, the film looks like it will keep up this torrid pace for quite some time, perhaps hitting $200 million before Christmas. More...

December 6th, 2004

As expected, there was a big drop at the box office over the weekend, but there were a couple of surprises as the semi-limited release, Closer , out performed expectations to finish in fifth place. Overall the box office dropped to $87 million over the weekend, that's a massive 46% drop from last week, but more importantly, a nearly 11% drop from last year. That dropped 2004's lead over 2003 to just 2.2%, but things should pick up this week with the Wednesday release of Blade: Trinity and the Friday release of Ocean's Twelve

December 3rd, 2004

The first weekend in December follows one of the busiest weekends of the year, and the studios are usually reluctant to put out their A-List material. This year it's an extreme example as there are no wide releases and while one of the limited releases has a reasonable shot at earning a place in the top 10, there will probably be no change in the top five, other than massive drops in box office dollars. Because of this, this week's column will be shorter than usual. More...

December 1st, 2004

With a nearly 3-1 lead over its nearest competitor, The Incredibles took top spot on the International Box Office charts this week with $44.3 million on 4,362 screens in 22 markets for a running tally of $59.1 million. The film opened number one in all twelve markets and in a few of the markets the film debuted in this week it was able to break the record for biggest debut by an animated films . However, in others it fell short to either Finding Nemo , (France) or Shrek 2 (the U.K. and Spain.) Its biggest single market was the U.K., where the brought in $18.1 million, including sneak peaks, which was a Disney record. Other highlights include $9.2 million in France, $5.6 million in Spain, $5.4 million in Italy, and $1.3 million in Belgium. Considering the results so far it should challenge for supremacy among the elite animated films and $400 million to $500 million isn't out of the question. More...

November 29th, 2004

It was the leftovers that ruled Thanksgiving weekend as neither of the new films could meet expectations. That helped the some of the holdovers excel, but not enough for any big gains over the weekend. Comparing the 3-day weekend we see gains of just 7.0% from last weekend and 0.25% from last year. Over the 5-day weekend, this year was up a mere 0.55% from last year. Year to date, 2004 know sits at $8.277 billion at the box office, up approximately 2.4% from the same point in 2003. More...



November 24th, 2004

Overall, Polar Express continues to struggle both domestically and internationally. However, there's one place that the digitally animated film is doing strong, and that's on IMAX. This weekend the film earned $2.05 million on its 59 IMAX screens, down just 5% from last week, (compared to its 33% drop overall.) That's a per theatre average of $34,746, more than 9 times its regular screen average. And the future looks very bright indeed as many IMAX theatres are reporting heavy presales all the way into January. More...

November 24th, 2004

Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason 's second round of openings was no quite as strong as last week's, but it was still more than enough to keep its first place finish at the international box office. Overall the British comedy took in $20.6 million on 1,854 screens in 18 markets lifting its tally to $59 million. Out of the new openings, the film was most impressive in Spain with $2.6 million while its best market overall was the U.K. where the film dropped just 29% to $9.3 million. The film is still tracking well ahead of the original and is becoming one of the monster hits of the fall. More...

November 22nd, 2004

Not only did we have a new winning at the box office, it wasn't the film expected to challenge for top spot. More importantly, there was a significant increase at the box office both from last weekend (3.5%) and especially from last year (11.7%.) Year to Date 2004 extends its lead to 2.4%, $8.0 billion to $7.8 billion. More...

November 19th, 2004

Two new films open this weekend, but The Incredibles still look almost unbeatable at the box office with the primary competition coming from a certain yellow sponge. I think I feel a song coming one ...Who Lives in a Pineapple under the sea?

November 16th, 2004

While the overall performance of Polar Express was a disappointment, its performance on IMAX was anything but. Since opening on Wednesday, the film earned $3 million in just 59 IMAX theatres, nearly 10% of its total box office. That represents a per theatre average of nearly $51,000, which is six times its overall average. More...



November 15th, 2004

A busy weekend resulted in four new films in the top five, but that didn't help the overall box office, which was only up 0.1% from last weekend. The comparison with last year is a lot better with a 8.7% improvement. This was the first serious improvement on the yearly comparison in over a month. Year-to-date 2004's box office now sits at $7.841 billion, just 2.2% ahead of 2003's box office at this point. Unless December shows a marked improvement, 2004 will be the second year in a row with drops in total admissions. More...



November 12th, 2004

This weekend also sees the opening of three more films in wide release, (including Polar Express , which opened on Wednesday) and another with opens in just several hundred theatres, but should still finish in the top ten. It's a busy weekend for moviegoers indeed, one reminiscent of the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. More...

November 10th, 2004

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 Closer Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

November 10th, 2004

Polar Express not only opens in conventional theatres tonight, it also opens in 70 IMAX theatres with a special 3-D version, the first film from a major studio to open in both formats simultaneously. Famed critic, Roget Ebert, even went so far as to say the film is " the best 3-D viewing experience I've ever had ." One last note, because this film is playing in both conventional and IMAX theatres, separate figures will most likely not be published for its IMAX run but will instead be lumped in with the regular box office numbers. More...

November 10th, 2004

Opening just five days after the debut of The Incredibles is the latest digitally animated offering, Polar Express

November 5th, 2004

Predicting which movie will finish on top of the charts this weekend is a simple matter. The real question is will The Incredibles break records, and if so, how many. More...

November 4th, 2004

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 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

November 1st, 2004

Award season kicks into high gear and the Thanksgiving Holiday means one thing: Christmas movies. Christmas In November movies are becoming frustratingly common these days and this year is no different, with two such movies coming out. There are also a few more award season hopefuls that span the whole spectrum of box office possibilities. More...



October 28th, 2004

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 Kung Fu Hustle - Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

October 14th, 2004

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 A Very Long Engagement Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

October 7th, 2004

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 Beauty Shop Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

September 23rd, 2004

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 I ♥ Huckabees Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

September 9th, 2004

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 A Dirty Shame Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

August 12th, 2004

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 the winner for the week, Silver City Official Site - sort of. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

June 10th, 2004

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 the winner for the week, Garfield Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...

March 5th, 2004

This week's round of new movie release information includes the announcement of a big screen adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and new dates for Surviving Christmas and The Polar Express among many, many others. If you hear of a change in date, please email us at releases@the-numbers.com. More...



November 27th, 2003

During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here's a list of highlights, plus one last look at websites for films opening this week. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details. More...



October 23rd, 2003

August 20th, 2003