New releases were really weak with only one reaching the top ten on the DVD sales chart. That film was Dark Skies, which opened in first place with 136,000 units / $2.04 million. This is actually a little better than expected, given its box office numbers.
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We are starting to see the flood of TV on DVD releases that hit the home market this time every year.
It makes sense: after all, what better time to release the previous season on DVD than just before the next season starts?
Three such releases, The Middleman - The Complete Series, Battlestar Galactica - The Complete Series - Blu-ray Box Set, and Dollhouse - Season One - on DVD or Blu-ray are in contention for DVD Pick of the Week.
The Battlestar Galactica release is a tad too expensive for most people, while I am unsure of the exact nature of the extras on Dollhouse.
That leaves The Middleman - The Complete Series as the DVD Pick of the Week, for the second week in a row.
With the increasing number of TV on DVD releases, the list is large enough that it has to be split into two parts with part two found here.
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Technical difficulties with Amazon's site meant this column was a lot harder to get done than usual. However, I won't hold that against this week's releases, and there are a number that are worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week from practically every category. TV on DVD has Andy Richter Controls the Universe - The Complete Series, from the classics we have The Odd Couple - Centennial Collection, from new releases we have Bolt - Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack, Blu-ray offers us James Bond Blu-ray Collection - Volume 3. We even have a late entry, as Let the Right One In - Blu-ray arrived. All five are worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week, but if I was forced to chose just one, Bolt - Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack would probably please the most people. After a couple of "slow" weeks, we are back to splitting the column into two parts. The second part can be found here.
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The final film in the
X-Men franchise led the list of
new releases while topping the rental charts with $10.01 million.
X-Men: The Last Stand's start wasn't great compared to its theatrical run, but the
Fanboy Effect dictates a lose of rentals in exchange for more profitable sales.
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While three of the top five renters this week were
new releases, none of them did particularly well. Leading the way was
The Lake House with $7.92 million, which is merely adequate given the film's theatrical run.
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Ye Yan, a.k.a., The Banquet opened in third place in South Korea with $1.04 million on 183 screens over the weekend and $1.24 million in total. That helped the
Chinese film place sixth overall with $5.52 million on 734 screens in 6 markets lifting its international total to $15.94 million, which is just above its production budget.
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It was a difficult week to come up with a winner for the DVD Pick of the Week.
This was partially because of the huge list of movies being released tomorrow and partially because I'm on cold medication.
There were several contenders for the honor but in the end I went with Lady Vengeance - Buy from Amazon and Masters of Horror - Imprint - Buy from Amazon.
But be warned, their extreme storytelling means that they are not for everyone.
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Little Man shot up the charts into sixth place with $5.97 million on 1597 screens in 23 markets for a total of $22.63 million internationally. The film had million dollar debuts in both Spain, ($2.06 million on 250 screens), and Mexico, ($1.04 million on 352), while came reasonably close in Russia, ($960,000 on 217 screens, including midweek numbers). In all three markets, the film placed second on the charts. More amazingly is the film's performance in the U.K. as it dipped just 17% to $1.05 million on 315 screens over the weekend and a three-week total of $5.75 million.
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A first place opening in the U.K. helped You, Me & Dupree shoot up the charts nearly reaching the top five. While it did have to settle for sixth place, its $4.32 million on 914 screens in 8 markets was enough to push its still early international total to $13.01 million. Over in the U.K., the film picked up $3.10 million on 409 screens and that was more than double its nearest competitor. The film opened in Iceland over the weekend earning second place to Garfield's A Tail of Two Kitties with $42,000 in three theatres.
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Monster House climbed one spot to sixth with $4.48 million on 1498 screens in 14 markets for total of $20.33 million at the international box office. The film added two more midlevel markets but bombed in both. In the Netherlands the film missed the top ten with $89,000 on 65 screens over the weekend and $100,000 in total while it was only slightly better in Poland earning sixth place with $71,000 on 48 screens. Holdovers, on the other hand, were better than expected with the film down a mere 16% during its second weekend in the U.K. with $1.61 million on 425 screens for a total of $5.83 million.
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Over the Hedge may have slipped out of the top five landing in sixth place this week, but it is still bringing in plenty at the box office. After earning $7.12 million on 3877 screens in 33 markets the film now has $121.76 million internationally and is closing in on its domestic total with several more markets left to open in. Its biggest market was again Germany with $1.49 million on 743 screens over the weekend for a four-week total of $14.26 million. Should it perform well in Japan and Italy, it will have no trouble reaching $300 million worldwide. And while that is low compared to the historical averages for
digitally animated films, but is still a great result.
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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest added another 10 markets to its international run as it again top the charts with $60.10 million on 6079 screens for a total of $214.10 million internationally. The film became the fifth film of the year to earn $200 million internationally and the third to cross $500 million worldwide. Among the host of number one openings this week were Japan at $16.65 million on 761 screens and Mexico with $5.67 million on 791 screens. Other impressive debuts include Brazil, ($3.1 million), Argentina ($1.3 million), Poland ($1.17 million), and Chile ($1.1 million). Its biggest market overall continues to be the U.K. where it added $7.19 million on 520 screens to its running tally of $58.48 million while it has topped $20 million on both Australia, ($21.68), and Russia, ($20.51). The film opens in Germany, France, and Spain in consecutive weekends before closing its international run with its Italian debut in September.
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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest opened in another 17 markets over the weekend taking first place in all of them while adding $58 million on 3,336 screens. This gave it a two-week international total of $125 million and helped it become the seventh film this year to top $100 million internationally. The film's best opening of the week was in Russia where it captured 85% of the market while scoring a record-breaking $9.24 million on 552 screens over the weekend and $10.87 million in total. It also broke records in a trio of smaller markets: Singapore with $1.8 million on 65 screens, Malaysia with $1.1 million on 70 and in the Ukraine with $1 million on 125. Other multi-million dollar openings were Sweden, ($3.49 million on 127), Denmark, ($2.58 million on 85), and Netherlands, ($2.22 million on 132). Holdovers remained strong led by the U.K. at $11.14 million on 514 screens for a total of $49.23 million, but that was down 47% from its opening. On the other hand, the film was down just 32% in South Korea to $3.84 million on 396 screens over the weekend and $13.55 million in total and 37% in Australia to $5.31 million on 490 screens for a two-week total of $17.32 million.
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The Da Vinci Code slipped out of the top five with $3.85 million on 3037 screens in 55 markets for a total of $515.15 million. This is the 11th best international total ever, while its worldwide mark of $728.36 million places it 23rd on the
all-time worldwide chart.
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Superman Returns started its staggered international release schedule with a first place, $22.13 million opening on 1779 screens in 11 markets. Highlights include a $3.88 million Australian debut on 409 screens and a $3.79 million debut on 355 screens in South Korea, ($5.00 million including Thursday). In both markets the film finished first. The rest of the markets were decidedly smaller, but the film still cracked $1 million in the Philippines with $2.58 million on 81, (while bringign in 90% of the market), Taiwan with $1.58 million on 151 screens, India with $1.49 million 274, Thailand with $1.47 million on 204, and Singapore with $1.16 million on 73. The film has no major openings this weekend and will slip to second with the debut of
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, but the two should battle for supremacy over the coming weeks.
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Scary Movie 4 opened in first place in both France and Spain, helping the film into sixth place overall with $4.89 million on 1512 screens in 22 markets for a total of $74.72 million internationally. In Spain the film made $1.76 million on 400 screens over the weekend and $1.83 million in total, while in France it brought in $3.47 million on 571 screens, but that was for the full week.
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Overall, there were little in the way of surprises this weekend with no film beating or missing expectations by more than a few million dollars.
But with no breakout hit, the overall box office slumped by 7.8% from last weekend to $140 million.
This did represent an increase of 9.8% over the same weekend last year.
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The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift started its international run last weekend but missed the top five with $7.93 million on 810 screens in 8 markets. The film took first place in five markets, including the U.K. with $3.35 million on 415 screens, in Australia with $2.28 million on 221 screens, and New Zealand with $444,000 on 53 screens. This is inline with what the
original opened with in those markets, but with shorter legs due to
Sequelitis it won't have as high a final box office.
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The two releases coming out this week are almost exact opposites of each other. One is a mainstream, proto-blockbuster comedy / fantasy opening in nearly 4,000 theatres. The other is a gritty, violent film aimed at a more targeted audience and is barely opening in more than 1,000 theatres. The only this they really have in common is the critics' reaction, and that's not a good thing.
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Every film in the top five missed our Friday predictions this weekend and this led to a small 1.4% drop off from last weekend.
Overall, box office was in $152 million.
On the other hand, this was up by 11.6% from the same weekend last year.
Strangely, even though the weekend numbers were better this year, the 2006 summer season still slipped behind last year's pace $1.19 billion to $1.34 billion.
This was in part due to Batman Begins strong midweek opening.
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This is actually a pretty busy week with more than two-dozen site on the list. That makes it the busiest week in a month. However, it was one of the site that had no real updates this week that won the Weekly Website Award this week and it was,
Nacho Libre -
Official Site.
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There are enough new movies opening this weekend to cause a traffic jam, and none of them jump out as obvious box office smashes.
Then again, they all have a legitimate shot at $20 million, and along with last week's winner, Cars we could see 5 films top $20 million over the weekend.
The last time that happened was the weekend of June 11th, 2004 when the original Garfield opened.
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Our latest contest has a speed element to it with prizes including a copy of The World's Fastest Indian on DVD and using The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift as the target. Whoever comes closest to predicting the opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win the The World's Fastest Indian on DVD. While the person who closest to predicting the opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win The Sisters DVD. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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May might have gotten off to a slow start, but it sure made up for it in the end. June looks to keep up the fast pace, but out of the dozen or so movies opening wide this month, only two look like they have to potential to be monster hits and after that there is a huge drop-off in box office potential. There are a few others that should earn their keep, and maybe one or two that will surprise, but most look average at best.
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Not much this week in terms of new sites or updates and all the ones that are award-worthy have already won the weekly website award. The best of the rest is
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift -
Official Site, but it certainly doesn't deserve to win the awards.
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It's a much busier week this week including several sites that I found through e-mails. Thanks for the tips. (On a side note, if you sent me an e-mail regarding a movie site and I forgot it, please send it again. It was a big list this week and I'm almost positive one or two sites slipped between the cracks.) Unfortunately, while there are plenty of sites on this week's list, there's not a lot of top notch ones. The movie on this list that made me the most excited was
The Simpsons Movie, and that one doesn't even have an official movie site, just the
teaser trailer.
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