The Numbers

Releasing films on DVD-R is a convenient way to deal with lesser known catalog titles. Being able to burn a DVD on demand reduces the upfront cost, you don't need a warehouse to store the Blu-rays, etc. It has become popular for studios releasing their third and fourth titles that no one expects special features for. Last November 23rd, there was a flood of such releases, including Inside Out, but the screener for that film arrived just last week. Is the 1975 film worth checking out? Or was is best forgotten?

2012 has beaten 2011 every single weekend so far and we could see that streak survive at least one more weekend thanks to three wide releases: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Safe House, and The Vow, plus a re-release, Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace. That's a crowded slate and normally I would assume one or more of the films would be squeezed out at the box office, but now I'm not so sure, as even the weakest amongst them is tracking for close to $20 million. By comparison, this weekend last year three films earned more than $25 million and only one new release failed to connect with audiences. So it could be a tough race, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Feature-Length Documentary, which is about as competitive as Best Animated Feature Film, for the same reasons. The two films I thought were most likely to win, Bill Cunningham New York and Project Nim, weren't even nominated. There are still favorites and long shots, but there should be a competitive race.

With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Animated Feature Film, which is surprisingly competitive this year, especially compared to most years. There's no Pixar film nominated, one of the best-reviewed cartoons was snubbed, the winner at the Golden Globes and PGAs was also snubbed, and two of the nominees were virtually unknown films before they were announced. It could be hard to pick a winner.

Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol has reached two milestones since last week, reaching $400 million internationally and $600 million worldwide. It added $24.31 million on 6,259 screens in 51 markets over the weekend and now has $420.83 million internationally and $626.03 million worldwide. Of its weekend haul, $20 million came from China, which was $7 million more than last week's opening.

The winners of our Black Friday contest were determined and they are...

An Inconsistent Truth repeated on top of the per theater chart with $12,176 in one theater. However, while it won, it fell more than 40%, which is closer to a wide release than a limited release. W.E. was very close behind with an average of $11,769 in four theaters.

There was no competition on the Blu-ray sales chart, as Real Steel topped all new releases and holdovers by a healthy margin. It sold 799,000 units and generated $22.36 million in sales giving it an opening week Blu-ray share of 54%. Hopefully we will see a lot more films crack 50% as the winter blockbusters start to come out.

This was not a deep week for new releases, as only two of them cracked the top 30. (One major new release was only released as a Blu-ray / DVD combo pack, so we will get to those numbers shortly.) We did have a new number one on the DVD sales chart, as Real Steel sold 691,000 units and generated $12.03 million in revenue. This is not a great start, but it performed better on Blu-ray.

The biggest release of the week on the home market is The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, which comes out on DVD and Blu-ray ... on Saturday. So you still have a few more days to wait. As for the best release of the week, that's Lady and the Tramp, which is making its Blu-ray and is our Pick of the Week.