All articles by Robert Mitchell – Page 5
-
News
Limited releases chalk up success at UK box office
Adventurestory Sahara might have claimed the lead at the UK box officeover the weekend, but a string of titles on limited release chalked up notablesuccesses. MomentumPictures had a second powerful weekend for Downfall (Der Untergang). TheGerman film slipped a mere 1% week-on-week ahead of an aggressive expansionfrom Friday (Apr 15) ...
-
News
European box office on the slide in 2005
The UKmarket appears to be the only major European territory showing box office oradmissions growth this year, according to the latest first quarter figures.Frenchadmissions figures are down nearly 13%, German figures have slipped 11% whilethe Spanish box office has leveled off compared to the first three months of2004. Figures for ...
-
News
Phantom scares up $100m international gross
The filmversion of Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running musical hit The Phantom Of TheOpera has passed the $100m mark at the international box office.The success has been led by a triumphant turn in Japanwhere a collosal $36.5m has been taken to date, 35.6% of the internationaltotal and 23.8% of the worldwide ...
-
News
UK box office soars 13% in first quarter of 2005
The UKbox office rose by 13% to £191.5m in the first three months of 2005 compared tothe same period last year, according to figures compiled by Nielsen EDI.Themassive success of UIP sequel Meet The Fockers and a wealth of solidsupport largely account for the impressive rise. The figures put the ...
-
News
Local films flourish in international box office chart
Local films continued to make an impact on theinternational chart this week with 13 films in the top 30 produced outside theUS.Fourof these came from the powerhouse territory for local product, South Korea. Thetop four films in the territory all made the international chart including newlaunches Crying Fist (Show East) ...
-
News
Ring Two opens top in UK
TheRing Two won over UK audiences on another hot weekend taking$3.9m (£2.1m) from 419 sites including $558,783 (£295,853) of previews.UIP'shorror sequel finished top ahead of 20th Century Fox's Be Cool which expandedinto wide release (336 sites) after a single-week single-site platform releaseat the UCI Empire Leicester Square in London's West ...
-
News
Downfall gains Momentum in UK
Germanhit Downfall (Der Untergang) continued its strong international run overthe weekend, claiming the highest opening ever for a German-language film inthe UK through Momentum Pictures.Thecritically-acclaimed drama, about the last days of Hitler, took $308,495(£163,336) from 49 locations over its opening weekend in the UK. This put itahead of 2003's Good ...
-
News
UIP shuffles summer release schedule in UK
UIP has shuffled its early July summer schedule in theUK, bringing forward Steven Spielberg's tentpole release War Of The Worldsby a week to July 1. UKexhibitors have also been informed that DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar willrelease on July 15 instead of July 1.Therelease of Spielberg's sci-fi drama, which stars Tom Cruise, ...
-
News
Family titles win international audiences over Easter
Family titles enjoyed strongturnouts internationally over the Easter weekend, led by 20th CenturyFox's Robots, which opened in 12 new territories to hold onto secondplace.Robots enjoyed new number one launches in Australia, taking$1.9m (A$2.5m), and Argentina, where over 140,000 bought tickets over theweekend for a $0.33m (pesos 0.95m) gross. It also ...
-
News
Valiant effort for UK animation at Easter box office
UK animation hopeful Valiant had to settle forfifth place in the UK box office charts over the Easter holiday weekend.The first CGI feature to be made in the UK put in acreditable performance - considering the warm weather and stiff competition -taking $2m (£1.1m) including $253,788 (£136,020) of previews.With schools ...
-
News
Italian Amore powers into international chart
GiovanniVeronesi's comedy-drama Manuale d'Amore powered its way onto theinternational chart last weekend thanks to a strong opening in Italy.Thefilm, which tells four stories about different stages in relationships from afirst kiss to abandonment, took the country's lead spot with a superb $3.8m off482 screens - both a high figure and ...
-
News
NORWAY 22 March
Amongstthe smaller European territories to receive The Ring Two day-and-datewith the US, Norway saw the horror sequel gain the lead position ahead of Robotsat the box office.Admissions favoured Robots but the lower ticketprices for children saw The Ring Two the champion in grosses. This wasalso reflected in screen averages as ...
-
News
DENMARK 22 March
While it took leadposition in several major territories over the weekend CGI-animated film Robotswas unable to take the lead in Denmark despite a superior screen count to everyother film on release in the country.However, the filmthat kept Robots off the top spot was not last weekend's leader Hitchenjoying strong holdovers ...
-
News
UK/IRELAND 22 March
The first warmweekend of weather this year in the UK resulted in a soft weekend at the boxoffice. Many titles saw massive drop offs and, despite the launch of four widereleases, box office for the weekend only managed a 4% week-on-weekimprovement.Both 20th Century Fox and Sony can lay claim to ...
-
News
Boudu bounds up international chart
Notcontent with starring in international hit The Chorus (Les Choristes) -which opened in the UK this week through Pathe with a $255,566 (£132,636) startat 64 locations - Gerard Jugnot's latest directorial effort, Boudu, wasthe highest new entry on the international chart.Based on a French stage play by Rene Fauchois that ...
-
News
Pathe's Chorus tunes into changing UK market
When Pathelaunches The Chorus (Les Choristes) into the UK on Friday, itwill do so in a way unthinkable for a foreign language film just a few yearsago.For a start, thefilm is launching at approximately 65 locations, a scale of release that wouldhave seen as wildly over-optimistic back in the 1990s.The ...
-
News
War epics take Japan, Russia by storm
WillSmith comedy Hitch ended Meet The Fockers' five week run at thetop of the international chart thanks to 19 territory launches includingGermany, Spain and Australia (see link below for full chart).Mostcountries awarded Hitch with number one positions except for Spain, where rivalopener Hide And Seek slipped in ahead with an ...
-
News
INTERNATIONAL 4 March
With a paltry 12% loss week-on-week Japanese animated smash Howl'sMoving Castle passed the $200m mark at the international box office overthe weekend. Over $170m of this has come from Japan with strong support fromSouth Korea and France.After seven weeks in France 1.2 million people have seen thefilm providing an $9m ...
-
News
Howl set to pass Spirited Away at int'l box office
With a paltry 12% loss week-on-week Japanese animated smash Howl'sMoving Castle passed the $200m mark at the international box office overthe weekend. Over $170m of this has come from Japan with strong support fromSouth Korea and France.After seven weeks in France 1.2 million people have seen thefilm providing an $9m ...
-
News
UK/IRELAND 2 March
There was no hiding from Robert De Niro at the UK box officethis week as 20th Century Fox's horror title Hide And Seek ended MeetThe Fockers' four week reign atop the chart.Hide And Seek saw a strong debut taking $3.1m (£1.6m)from 345 sites for a $8,852 location average. These figures ...