lab276

A new cinema opened in Edmondson Park, just recently, in Ed Square shopping centre. It's got six screens, two Vmax and four regular, and it's quite nice. I've gone there twice now to see Mortal Kombat (poor) and Wrath of Man (a bit serious but not bad), it's now my closest theatre, so I'll probably be going there a lot. The whole centre is done up very nicely, and it's one of the few examples we have here in Australia (at least in Sydney) of building the infrastructure first, then putting everything else in. The South West Rail Link opened back in 2015 and at the time Edmondson Park Station was basically in the middle of nowhere. Now it's got new housing, both low and medium density, and a shopping centre and other amenities. It's basically like how development should occur instead of being retrofitted later on.

I'd estimate the YTD box office to be around $205m after four months, more than half the $401.2m made all last year. So the recovery, at least in Australia, is going quite well. The box office still isn't what it was pre-COVID, but we're slowly getting there.

And then there were fifty! We finally have fifty movies that have surpassed $1m in the pandemic era (since cinemas reopened at the beginning of July last year). You can see the gradual inflation of the number one movie, from Tenet which opened to ~2.5m and took six weeks to surpass 10m and 16 weeks to surpass $15m, to WW84 which reached 15m after two weeks and capped out just under 25m to GvK which as Jajang says will finish a bit shy of 30m. All Warners films too. 1 Godzilla vs. Kong 25/03/21 26,850,000 2 Wonder Woman 1984 26/12/20 24,860,000 3 The Croods: A New Age 26/12/20 21,480,000 4 The Dry 01/01/21 20,690,000 5 Peter Rabbit 2 25/03/21 19,550,000 6 Tenet 27/08/20 16,210,000 7 War with Grandpa 03/12/20 10,120,000 8 Raya and the Last Dragon 04/03/21 9,580,000 9 Trolls World Tour 17/09/20 9,390,000 10 Tom and Jerry 01/04/21 9,310,000 11 Penguin Bloom 21/01/21 7,500,000 12 Mortal Kombat 22/04/21 6,750,000 13 The Witches 10/12/20 6,160,000 14 The Little Things 18/02/21 5,650,000 15 Nobody 01/04/21 4,790,000 16 Rams 29/10/20 4,680,000 17 Promising Young Woman 07/01/21 4,680,000 18 Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train 25/02/21 4,210,000 19 Unhinged 30/07/20 3,910,000 20 Chaos Walking 04/03/21 3,810,000 21 The Courier 01/04/21 3,800,000 22 Nomadland 04/03/21 3,690,000 23 Honest Thief 22/10/20 3,620,000 24 After We Collided 10/09/20 3,450,000 25 The Marksman 21/01/21 3,430,000 26 Monster Hunter 01/01/21 3,340,000 27 The Secret Garden 17/09/20 3,270,000 28 High Ground 28/01/21 2,990,000 29 Dragon Rider 01/01/21 2,850,000 30 Happiest Season 26/11/20 2,250,000 31 The Father 01/04/21 2,010,000 32 Freaky 12/11/20 1,990,000 33 Paw Patrol: Jet to the Rescue 10/09/20 1,890,000 34 Wrath of Man 29/04/21 1,810,000 35 Cats and Dogs 3: Paws Unite 24/09/20 1,620,000 36 Minari 18/02/21 1,590,000 37 The New Mutants 03/09/20 1,580,000 38 The Personal History of David Copperfield 02/07/20 1,550,000 39 Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves 02/07/20 1,470,000 40 Made in Italy 13/08/20 1,470,000 41 Wrong Turn 04/02/21 1,460,000 42 The Unholy 15/04/21 1,460,000 43 Superintelligence 17/12/20 1,450,000 44 The King of Staten Island 16/07/20 1,240,000 45 Boss Level 25/02/21 1,150,000 46 Bill and Ted Face the Music 10/09/20 1,130,000 47 Wild Mountain Thyme 18/02/21 1,080,000 48 The Secret Dare to Dream 30/07/20 1,060,000 49 Antebellum 01/10/20 1,030,000 50 Detective Chinatown 3 13/02/21 1,030,000

Godzilla up to 20.8m now. It's still school holidays so weekdays will be good this week also.

It's school holidays, inflates the weekdays. In 2019, Easter was later in April.

GvK needs 7.4m to beat WW84, Tenet now down to fifth place. 1 Wonder Woman 1984 26/12/20 24,860,000 2 The Croods: A New Age 26/12/20 21,460,000 3 The Dry 01/01/21 20,560,000 4 Godzilla vs. Kong 25/03/21 17,420,000 5 Tenet 27/08/20 16,210,000 6 War with Grandpa 03/12/20 10,110,000 7 Trolls World Tour 17/09/20 9,390,000 8 Peter Rabbit 2 25/03/21 8,720,000 9 Penguin Bloom 21/01/21 7,470,000 10 Raya and the Last Dragon 04/03/21 6,650,000 11 The Witches 10/12/20 6,150,000 12 The Little Things 18/02/21 5,590,000 13 Rams 29/10/20 4,680,000 14 Promising Young Woman 07/01/21 4,430,000 15 Unhinged 30/07/20 3,910,000 16 Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train 25/02/21 3,900,000 17 Chaos Walking 04/03/21 3,680,000 18 Honest Thief 22/10/20 3,620,000 19 After We Collided 10/09/20 3,450,000 20 The Marksman 21/01/21 3,430,000 21 Monster Hunter 01/01/21 3,340,000 22 The Secret Garden 17/09/20 3,270,000 23 Nomadland 04/03/21 3,010,000 24 High Ground 28/01/21 2,970,000 25 Tom and Jerry 01/04/21 2,970,000 26 Dragon Rider 01/01/21 2,840,000 27 Happiest Season 26/11/20 2,250,000 28 Nobody 01/04/21 2,010,000 29 Freaky 12/11/20 1,990,000 30 Paw Patrol: Jet to the Rescue 10/09/20 1,890,000 31 Cats and Dogs 3: Paws Unite 24/09/20 1,620,000 32 The New Mutants 03/09/20 1,580,000 33 The Personal History of David Copperfield 02/07/20 1,550,000 34 Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves 02/07/20 1,470,000 35 Made in Italy 13/08/20 1,470,000 36 Wrong Turn 04/02/21 1,460,000 37 Superintelligence 17/12/20 1,450,000 38 Minari 18/02/21 1,340,000 39 The Courier 01/04/21 1,270,000 40 The King of Staten Island 16/07/20 1,240,000 41 Boss Level 25/02/21 1,140,000 42 Bill and Ted Face the Music 10/09/20 1,130,000 43 Wild Mountain Thyme 18/02/21 1,070,000 44 The Secret Dare to Dream 30/07/20 1,060,000 45 Antebellum 01/10/20 1,030,000 46 Detective Chinatown 3 13/02/21 1,030,000

Have you seen Shin Godzilla? I rewatched last night and I thought it was great. There's very little action, but it works really well as a political satire.

At C-town to watch Nomadland, and there’s loads of people around (for GvK). Haven’t seen it this full for ages.

Exactly! However it comes about, the balance sheet will say $0 for April-June 2020 and however many tens of millions for April-June 2021.

Good holds all round

These things are true, and I hadn't thought about that exchange rates might be worse now than back in the mid-2000s. But if you had put a gun to my head and asked me which of DMC or Frozen 2 sold more tickets WW, I would absolutely have said that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the third ever movie to break a billion, was the bigger movie. That might also be part of it, DMC was at one stage the third biggest movie ever, behind only Titanic and ROTK. Whereas Frozen 2 debuted as the 10th biggest movie ever.

It’s so weird to me that the movies that were huge when I was growing up (in the 2000s), like LOTR, HP, Pirates etc... felt so huge and in the zeitgeist at the time. But they pale in comparison to movies today, apparently, that feel much lesser to me like Frozen 2 and TLK ‘19, Jurassic World and the Fast movies. And frankly even the later Avengers movies. There’s a bit of cognitive dissonance there for me.

Some estimates for DMC and AWE So ~145m for DMC and ~130m for AWE Sources are BOM, Lumiere (for Europe), Corpse (for Japan), Focus Market Trends 2007, 2009 and 2009 (for the Americas and Asian countries other than Japan) and MPDAA/Screen Australia (for Australia).

Update to the millionaire list (since first weekend of July 2020). The Dry has been holding very well since it opened, but I don't think it has $5m left in the tank to overtake WW84. 1 Wonder Woman 1984 26/12/20 24,800,000 2 The Croods: A New Age 26/12/20 21,230,000 3 The Dry 01/01/21 19,580,000 4 Tenet 27/08/20 16,210,000 5 War with Grandpa 03/12/20 9,990,000 6 Trolls World Tour 17/09/20 9,390,000 7 Penguin Bloom 21/01/21 7,190,000 8 The Witches 10/12/20 6,150,000 9 Rams 29/10/20 4,680,000 10 The Little Things 18/02/21 4,310,000 11 Promising Young Woman 07/01/21 4,040,000 12 Unhinged 30/07/20 3,910,000 13 Honest Thief 22/10/20 3,620,000 14 After We Collided 10/09/20 3,450,000 15 The Marksman 21/01/21 3,400,000 16 Monster Hunter 01/01/21 3,340,000 17 The Secret Garden 17/09/20 3,270,000 18 Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train 25/02/21 3,060,000 19 Dragon Rider 01/01/21 2,820,000 20 High Ground 28/01/21 2,780,000 21 Happiest Season 26/11/20 2,250,000 22 Raya and the Last Dragon 04/03/21 2,000,000 23 Freaky 12/11/20 1,990,000 24 Paw Patrol: Jet to the Rescue 10/09/20 1,890,000 25 Cats and Dogs 3: Paws Unite 24/09/20 1,620,000 26 Chaos Walking 04/03/21 1,600,000 27 Nomadland 04/03/21 1,600,000 28 The New Mutants 03/09/20 1,580,000 29 The Personal History of David Copperfield 02/07/20 1,550,000 30 Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves 02/07/20 1,470,000 31 Made in Italy 13/08/20 1,470,000 32 Superintelligence 17/12/20 1,450,000 33 Wrong Turn 04/02/21 1,350,000 34 The King of Staten Island 16/07/20 1,240,000 35 Bill and Ted Face the Music 10/09/20 1,130,000 36 The Secret Dare to Dream 30/07/20 1,060,000 37 Antebellum 01/10/20 1,030,000 38 Detective Chinatown 3 13/02/21 1,020,000 39 Wild Mountain Thyme 18/02/21 1,010,000

We're also getting very close to being up year-on-year, this weekend last year was 6.452m, against this year 5.162m. Movie theatres will be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Wow, Raya at number one! Must have been doin much better outside Sydney, cause it didn't seem to be doing too well in the places I checked.

Something odd is going on with Urban Cinefile, it was back for a week or two after having been gone for several months. But now it's gone again, again. I assumed they paid their bills or whatever and the site would be around for at least another year, but now I'm uncertain.

Maybe Disney is making bank with this strategy in Australia, maybe they made more than $21m with the Premiere release of Soul, it's only 700,000 copies, they may have done it. But Soul really does feel like a film that didn't even exist here.

Well, in terms of the home video market, Trolls World Tour was out on video and still in the box office top ten at the same time. For a number of weeks even. Still not sure how that happened.

Disney really left money on the table wrt Soul in Australia. The Croods: A New Age opened the same weekend, just theatrically, and has made over $21m, not far off the first Croods. And it's still in the top 10 ten weeks later and during school time. I fully expect it to stay there until Easter. That sort of staying power is almost unheard for a kids movie. Though Raya doesn't look like it's selling many tickets. Demon Slayer might stay ahead of it despite being in its second weekend.

FWIW, here are all the millionaire films since reopening (first week of July last year: 1 Wonder Woman 1984 26/12/20 24,710,000 2 The Croods: A New Age 26/12/20 20,840,000 3 The Dry 01/01/21 19,010,000 4 Tenet 27/08/20 16,200,000 5 War with Grandpa 03/12/20 9,850,000 6 Trolls World Tour 17/09/20 9,380,000 7 Penguin Bloom 21/01/21 6,530,000 8 The Witches 10/12/20 6,100,000 9 Rams 29/10/20 4,670,000 10 Unhinged 30/07/20 3,910,000 11 Promising Young Woman 07/01/21 3,670,000 12 Honest Thief 22/10/20 3,620,000 13 After We Collided 10/09/20 3,450,000 14 The Little Things 18/02/21 3,430,000 15 Monster Hunter 01/01/21 3,320,000 16 The Secret Garden 17/09/20 3,270,000 17 The Marksman 21/01/21 3,220,000 18 Dragon Rider 01/01/21 2,750,000 19 Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train 25/02/21 2,270,000 20 High Ground 28/01/21 2,260,000 21 Happiest Season 26/11/20 2,250,000 22 Freaky 12/11/20 1,990,000 23 Paw Patrol: Jet to the Rescue 10/09/20 1,890,000 24 Cats and Dogs 3: Paws Unite 24/09/20 1,620,000 25 The New Mutants 03/09/20 1,580,000 26 The Personal History of David Copperfield 02/07/20 1,550,000 27 Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves 02/07/20 1,470,000 28 Made in Italy 13/08/20 1,470,000 29 Superintelligence 17/12/20 1,450,000 30 The King of Staten Island 16/07/20 1,240,000 31 Bill and Ted Face the Music 10/09/20 1,130,000 32 Wrong Turn 04/02/21 1,110,000 33 The Secret Dare to Dream 30/07/20 1,060,000 34 Antebellum 01/10/20 1,030,000

Biggest anime film since Pokemon: The First Movie. It will probably drop a fair bit this weekend. There's only so many anime fans around and I suspect most of them will have seen it on OW. But even a 60% drop takes it to $3m, so maybe $4m total? That still leaves it as one of the top 10 post-reopening movies.

2.27m for the full week

It's not even listed on Event Cinemas.