el sid

Challengers is doing fine in almost all of my theaters. A bit weaker between the coasts but by far not as uneven as e.g. Monkey Man. So, now it gets complicated: Unsung Hero, counted some hours ago, had 496 sold tickets for today (in 6 theaters, no shows in the AMC Fresh Meadows). With another big theater in NY added as compensation, the AMC Lincoln Square 13 (not exactly a theater for the target audience but I could be wrong) Unsung Hero had 757 sold tickets. Comps: Sound of Freedom (14.2M OD but it was also Independence Day so it had a full day and way more shows) had on Tuesday for Tuesday 1.189 sold tickets. Christmas with the Chosen (2021, could not find any number) had in the same 6 theater counted on December 3 for December 3 273 sold tickets. American Underdog (1M from these shows) had also on Wednesday for Wednesday 139 sold tickets in 4 theaters (would be 413 sold tickets for Unsung Hero in the same 4 theater) = 3M OD for Unsung Hero (but I don't know if American Underdog had so few shows). And Father Stu (1.7M OD) had, counted on Good Friday for Good Friday (so probably with way more shows and walk-ups), 67 sold tickets. So after all the annoying search, I still can't provide you with a concrete number but you see that in comparison it looks really good for that film. Yesterday I knew something must be wrong. A movie which at least partly reminds (me) of I Can Only Imagine (maybe a little less drama) could not have such bad presales 😉. And what surprised me most: It's doing fine almost everywhere (despite having only 1-2 shows/theater): NY: 261 sold tickets, Miami 75, Michigan 96, Texas 79, Arizona 4 (probably very recently added because in other theaters around it looks way better), San Francisco 117, LA 125. All this film needs now is good WOM ;).

Challengers, counted today for tomorrow, had 669 sold tickets. Best sales in San Francisco. Up nice 36% since yesterday. Comps (all four movies counted on Wednesday for Thursday): TLC (2.5M from previews) had 520 sold tickets = 3.2M. Death on the Nile (1.1M) had 359 = 2.05M. Lisa Frankenstein (700k) had 209 = 2.25M. Argylle (1.7M) had 847 = 1.35M. (Marry Me (525k) finally had 198 sold tickets = 1.75M plus 1 day left. And No Hard Feelings (2.15M) finally had 368 sold tickets = 3.9M plus 1 day left.) Average (without MM and No Hard Feelings): 2.2M. With the other two comps included it would look (even) better, so I stick with 2.5M.

Please forget everything I said about Unsung Hero having weak presales in my theaters. Yesterday I was stupid enough to look for EA shows but couldn't find them because I counted the Thursday first and then forgot to change the name on Wednesday, to add 'Early Access' 😉. Its sales for today are very good - around 500 sold tickets (without the AMC in NY where it has no shows). Even status "Almost Full" in the AMC Lincoln Square in NY and my normal AMCs in San Francisco and LA. Details later, hopefully with some comps.

Thank you :). Fits quite well.

Challengers, counted today for Thursday, had 492 sold tickets (in 6 of the 7 tracked theaters). Comps (all counted for Thursday): The Lost City (2.5M from previews) had on Wednesday of the release week (= 1 day left for Challengers to overtake which will very probably happen) 520 sold tickets = 2.5M+ for Challengers. Don't Worry Darling (3.1M but from previews on Monday and Thursday) had also on Tuesday 589 sold tickets = ? Lisa Frankenstein (700k from previews) had again also on Tuesday 177 sold tickets = 1.95M. And Marry Me (525k from previews, 7.9M OW) had 128 sold tickets = 3.84x for Challengers = 2M. Rough average: 2-2.5M.

Unsung Hero, had, counted today for Thursday, 49 sold tickets (in only 4 theaters). Comps (all over the place): Sound of Freedom (a Tuesday release, 14.2M OD, 19.7M OW 3-day, 41.7M OW 6-day) had on Tuesday for Friday 380 sold tickets. After Death (2.1 OD, 5.1M OW) had on Wednesday for Thursday (= 1 day left for Unsung Hero to come closer) 71 sold tickets. The Shift (4.4M OW) had on the same day as Unsung Hero, Tuesday for Thursday, 107 sold tickets (in 5 theaters). And Overcomer (775k from previews/8.1M OW) finally (= on Thursday for Thursday) had 91 sold tickets. I'm surprised that the sales are so low, even in Michigan (20 sold tickets) because IMO the trailer is likeable. But maybe low presales don't matter that much. Maybe it has good walk-ups and probably it will have good WOM and could develop nice legs so let's see.

Two disappointments today and one positive surprise. I start with a disappointments. The Garfield Movie. Of course I still think that this movie has the potential to become a big hit (I'm almost sure) but the start in my theaters was very modest. It had today for Thursday, May 23, combined 19 sold tickets (in all of my 7 theaters). So so far no need to add comps. I'll check its sales from time to time over the next few weeks. I don't want to be mean ;). The positive surprise is Challengers and the not so positive counting was for Unsung Hero which is no film that would need great presales and could have good legs.

The Monday update from insidekino.de: #1 Chantal 252.5k/2.065M total admissions #2 Back to Black 115k/245k #3 Kung Fu Panda 4 102.5k/1.53M #4 GxK 90k/447.5k #5 Civil War 100k (with previews) #6 Dune 2 65k/2.98M ... Abigail 35k

The final trend from insidekino.de - again many increases: #1 Chantal 250k #2 Back to Black 115k #3 Kung Fu Panda 4 100k #4 GxK 90k #5 Civil War 95k (with previews) #6 Dune 2 62.5k #7 Abigail 35k #8 Morgen ist auch noch ein Tag 27.5k #9 Die Dschungelhelden auf Weltreise 25k #10 The First Omen 25k #11 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire 25k

Well, I'm a horror film fan (no matter if supernatural or survival etc.) and I can only speak for myself but I'm not too surprised that so far the horror films weren't successful this year. Besides the lack of (decent or clever) marketing and sometimes too late dropped good reviews many of the trailers just were less appealing than they could have been e.g. that of Night Swim or not appealing at all, e.g. those of Immaculate and The First Omen. The trailer for Abigail was ok IMO (the first half was promising but after that not much new material was shown). But who knows, the year is still young. I don't expect wonders when it comes to "Trap" but it could be decent and successful and I also saw some other interesting marketing for other horror films.

The second trend from insidekino.de - even better holds than in the first trend: #1 Chantal 240k #2 Back to Black 100k #3 Civil War 100k #4 Kung Fu Panda 4 80k #5 GxK 80k #6 Dune 2 65k #7 Abigail 35k #8 The First Omen 27.5k #9 Morgen ist auch noch ein Tag 25k

The first trend from insidekino.de - rainy and cold weather and several movies increased compared to last weekend: #1 Chantal 200k #2 Back to Black 90k/220k total admissions #3 Civil War 110k #4 Kung Fu Panda 4 75k/1.502.5M #5 GxK 65k/422.5k #6 Dune 2 60k/2.975M ... Abigail 32.5k

Abigail, counted today for today, had 351 sold tickets. Up nice 41.5% since yesterday. Comps (all films counted on Thursday for Thursday): The Invitation (775k) had 218 sold tickets = 1.25M. M3gan (2.75M) had 782 = 1.25M. Prey for the Devil (660k) had 164 = 1.4M. Frankenstein (700k) had 276 = 900k. Candyman (1.9M) had 555 = 1.2M. The First Omen (725k) had 184 = 1.35M. The Pope's Exorcist (850k) had 257 = 1.15M. And Firestarter (375k) had 171 sold tickets = 750k. Average: 1.15M. Also exactly the same number as yesterday ;). PS: It had a quite good jump till today so I could imagine that the true Friday number went a little bit up (it were 3.15M in my theaters yesterday).

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, counted today for today, had 237 sold tickets (in 7 theaters). Up modest 17% since yesterday. Comps (all 3 films counted on Thursday of the release week for Thursday): Midway (925k from previews) had 300 sold tickets = 730k. 1917 (3.25M) had 879 sold tickets in 5 theaters (it had no shows in my AMCs in Texas and NY). Ungentlemanly Warfare has in the same 5 theaters 144 sold tickets = 550k. And Amsterdam (550k) had 289 sold tickets = 450k. Average: 575k (without EA shows). On the one hand that's a bit better than on Monday, OTOH the jump till today was really pretty small. So my guess would still be that it reaches high single digits.

Not that bad IMO. I mean, I was also excited when I saw the trailer for Old and then the film was IMO only quite decent, but I'm a little more curious now.