lab276

FB2 opened to 8.6m. FB3 will be less than that, but hopefully around 5-6m like Eternals, Venom 2, Dune and Uncharted.

Potter, like some of the other greats of the 2000s (POTC, LOTR) should probably have been left there. I know we live in an IP world these days, but that doesn't mean beating these franchises to death is a good thing. Dreamworks not making anymore Shrek movies after the fourth one was a wise move.

Sonic beats Morbius

Also might be the first weekend under last year, when Godzilla vs Kong and Peter Rabbit 2 opened.

Huge for RRR, almost as big an OW as Demon Slayer, one of the biggest foreign language openings I can think of.

No, but I did see Dog, which was pretty good.

43% drop for Batman and a big opening for Jujutsu Kaisen 0, although that's still half what Demon Slayer opened to, it did way better than I expected.

Did you get your money back?

If anything is going to affect reviews negatively it's most likely to be David Yates mediocre direction. He's been the weak link since OoTP

Very good holds again, -37% for The Batman, -31% for Uncharted. The BTS thing I didn't even know was happening.

Dune's performance is an argument *for* theatrical releases. Prior to its release, Dune was practically a byword for box office failure, and as you say Denis Villenueve hasn't really made any huge hits (but he makes great movies), and it's the middle of a pandemic. And yet despite a day and date release, it still manages to break 100m DOM and 400m WW. It's a great success and a great theatrical success. Meanwhile Pixar has practically morphed into a DTV studio. Inside the walled garden of D+, people who aren't subscribers simply can't watch them.

So Disney's entire theatrical slate this year is what, two movies and a couple from Fox from before the merger? They were always leaner than the other studios, but that's ridiculous.

It looks like it's selling well in the CBD and Western Sydney locations where you'd expect it to do well, but it's only got like one or two sessions per theatre. So I wouldn't expect it to break the top 10. It won't be like Demon Slayer. Belle, which was released in January, has made about 300k. Around that or more can be considered successful.

Big opening for The Batman, second biggest of the Pandemic era ahead of Bond. So if it's legs are decent it's aiming for around 35m. Overall numbers are way up on last year when Raya opened (15.7m vs 5.2m).

Well if they keep doing hybrid releases they certainly won't get to be profitable. It's just a self fulfilling prophecy.

Biggest pandemic animated movies in Australia Peter Rabbit 2 22m The Croods 2 21.6m Sing 2 19.5m Space Jam 13m Tom and Jerry 10.8m Raya and the Last Dragon 10.2m Trolls World Tour 9.4m Encanto 6.3m 🤔

According to the BBFC: "No one younger than 15 may see a 15 film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a 15 rated video work." https://www.bbfc.co.uk/rating/15 They also have a full article explaining their decision to rate The Batman as 15, and not 12A (contains spoilers): https://www.bbfc.co.uk/about-us/articles/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-batman "In our last guidelines consultation in 2019, people told us they feel a heightened sense of anxiety when it comes to depictions of 'real world' scenarios, in which audiences – especially young people – are likely to be concerned that events depicted on screen could happen to them. For example, depictions of terrorism, kidnappings, murder and discrimination." "In 2008, we rated Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight 12A for theatrical release. Following this decision, we received 364 complaints - by far the largest number of complaints we have ever received about a single film. For context, out of all the films released in 2020 we received 93 complaints, and in 2019 we received 149." Interesting stuff tbh.

Under 15s in Australia can watch the equivalent to a 15 film if they're accompanied by a parent or guardian. It's interesting that Australia, which is usually considered a very OTT nanny state, is less restrictive in this one instance.

And this is going to be the nerdiest post of all, but which I find fascinating. The top 50 movies of the year have been published since 1992, and if you add up the total gross from that, you can see how much of the yearly total it makes up. I've put in admissions too, and highlighted and bolded the highest and lowest in each column. Not sure exactly what it says, but I reckon you can see the changes in exhibition and distribution trends in these numbers. With the expansion of suburban multiplexes in the mid-late 90s, an increasing number of people could see more films and as a consequence more of the year is made outside the top 50, reaching a zenith in 2006. But then it changes again. Blockbusters become more important and the mid-budget movies start disappearing, and in 2019 (the last normal year) we have essentially the opposite of 2006 when the top 50 makes up more than 3/4 of the total for the first time since 1993. The pandemic only exacerbates this trend. We will never again have such a diffuse year as 2006. Year Total Gross Total Admits Top 50 Gross Top 50 Admits Rest Gross Rest Admits Share Top 50 Share Rest 1992 $334,300,000 47,150,917 $261,727,618 36,915,038 $72,572,382 10,235,879 78.29% 21.71% 1993 $388,700,000 55,528,571 $314,154,217 44,879,174 $74,545,783 10,649,398 80.82% 19.18% 1994 $476,400,000 68,057,143 $351,879,473 50,268,496 $124,520,527 17,788,647 73.86% 26.14% 1995 $501,400,000 69,930,265 $358,213,556 49,960,050 $143,186,444 19,970,215 71.44% 28.56% 1996 $536,800,000 73,939,394 $385,582,069 53,110,478 $151,217,931 20,828,916 71.83% 28.17% 1997 $583,900,000 78,165,997 $415,017,142 55,557,850 $168,882,858 22,608,147 71.08% 28.92% 1998 $629,300,000 79,961,881 $457,213,964 58,095,802 $172,086,036 21,866,078 72.65% 27.35% 1999 $704,100,000 88,789,407 $498,252,029 62,831,277 $205,847,971 25,958,130 70.76% 29.24% 2000 $689,500,000 82,181,168 $474,352,298 56,537,819 $215,147,702 25,643,349 68.80% 31.20% 2001 $812,400,000 92,528,474 $594,028,107 67,656,960 $218,371,893 24,871,514 73.12% 26.88% 2002 $844,800,000 92,530,120 $609,677,598 66,777,393 $235,122,402 25,752,727 72.17% 27.83% 2003 $865,800,000 89,813,278 $608,312,061 63,102,911 $257,487,939 26,710,367 70.26% 29.74% 2004 $907,200,000 91,451,613 $613,260,027 61,820,567 $293,939,973 29,631,046 67.60% 32.40% 2005 $817,500,000 82,243,461 $565,128,271 56,853,951 $252,371,729 25,389,510 69.13% 30.87% 2006 $866,600,000 83,567,985 $544,104,899 52,469,132 $322,495,101 31,098,853 62.79% 37.21% 2007 $895,400,000 84,711,447 $625,678,635 59,193,816 $269,721,365 25,517,632 69.88% 30.12% 2008 $945,400,000 84,637,422 $657,533,843 58,866,056 $287,866,157 25,771,366 69.55% 30.45% 2009 $1,087,500,000 90,700,584 $757,681,417 63,192,779 $329,818,583 27,507,805 69.67% 30.33% 2010 $1,132,800,000 92,398,042 $814,265,063 66,416,400 $318,534,937 25,981,642 71.88% 28.12% 2011 $1,093,800,000 84,988,345 $748,131,754 58,129,895 $345,668,246 26,858,450 68.40% 31.60% 2012 $1,125,500,000 85,916,031 $812,249,662 62,003,791 $313,250,338 23,912,240 72.17% 27.83% 2013 $1,099,600,000 81,998,509 $787,604,976 58,732,660 $311,995,024 23,265,848 71.63% 28.37% 2014 $1,074,800,000 78,567,251 $752,684,822 55,020,820 $322,115,178 23,546,431 70.03% 29.97% 2015 $1,226,300,000 90,169,118 $917,037,705 67,429,243 $309,262,295 22,739,875 74.78% 25.22% 2016 $1,259,300,000 91,253,623 $859,263,761 62,265,490 $400,036,239 28,988,133 68.23% 31.77% 2017 $1,201,300,000 85,017,693 $863,636,905 61,120,800 $337,663,095 23,896,893 71.89% 28.11% 2018 $1,245,100,000 89,834,055 $900,103,802 64,942,554 $344,996,198 24,891,501 72.29% 27.71% 2019 $1,228,700,000 84,737,931 $925,867,794 63,852,951 $302,832,206 20,884,980 75.35% 24.65% 2020 $401,200,000 28,193,956 $328,004,363 23,050,201 $73,195,637 5,143,755 81.76% 18.24% 2021 $605,200,000 39,711,286 $498,179,026 32,688,912 $107,020,974 7,022,374 82.32% 17.68%

Full list of years, since 1976. Ironically enough, the delta last year was the highest on record in the positive direction for both gross box office and ticket sales lol. Although honestly when you put in the ticket price change in, some years start to look a bit suss, particularly the mid 80s. Decrease from 83 to 84, no change in 85, decrease again in 86 than a huge jump in 87 and a slight drop again in 88. Sure, sounds legit. Year Gross Box Office Change Ticket Price Change Admissions (est) Change 1976 $95,300,000 n/a $3.30 n/a 28,900,000 n/a 1977 $86,400,000 -9.34% $3.50 +6.06% 24,700,000 -14.53% 1978 $119,400,000 +38.19% $3.50 +0.00% 34,100,000 +38.06% 1979 $124,000,000 +3.85% $3.70 +5.71% 33,500,000 -1.76% 1980 $154,200,000 +24.35% $4.00 +8.11% 38,600,000 +15.22% 1981 $174,300,000 +13.04% $4.50 +12.50% 38,700,000 +0.26% 1982 $210,000,000 +20.48% $5.00 +11.11% 42,000,000 +8.53% 1983 $208,000,000 -0.95% $5.60 +12.00% 37,100,000 -11.67% 1984 $156,000,000 -25.00% $5.40 -3.57% 28,900,000 -22.10% 1985 $160,600,000 +2.95% $5.40 +0.00% 29,700,000 +2.77% 1986 $188,600,000 +17.43% $5.31 -1.67% 35,500,000 +19.53% 1987 $182,100,000 -3.45% $6.16 +16.01% 29,600,000 -16.62% 1988 $223,800,000 +22.90% $6.10 -0.97% 36,700,000 +23.99% 1989 $257,600,000 +15.10% $6.60 +8.20% 39,000,000 +6.27% 1990 $284,600,000 +10.48% $6.61 +0.15% 43,100,000 +10.51% 1991 $325,000,000 +14.20% $6.95 +5.14% 46,800,000 +8.58% 1992 $334,300,000 +2.86% $7.09 +2.01% 47,200,000 +0.85% 1993 $388,700,000 +16.27% $7.00 -1.27% 55,500,000 +17.58% 1994 $476,400,000 +22.56% $7.00 +0.00% 68,100,000 +22.70% 1995 $501,400,000 +5.25% $7.17 +2.43% 69,900,000 +2.64% 1996 $536,800,000 +7.06% $7.26 +1.26% 73,900,000 +5.72% 1997 $583,900,000 +8.77% $7.47 +2.89% 78,200,000 +5.82% 1998 $629,300,000 +7.78% $7.87 +5.35% 80,000,000 +2.30% 1999 $704,100,000 +11.89% $7.93 +0.76% 88,800,000 +11.00% 2000 $689,500,000 -2.07% $8.39 +5.80% 82,200,000 -7.43% 2001 $812,400,000 +17.82% $8.78 +4.65% 92,500,000 +12.53% 2002 $844,800,000 +3.99% $9.13 +3.99% 92,500,000 +0.00% 2003 $865,800,000 +2.49% $9.64 +5.59% 89,800,000 -2.92% 2004 $907,200,000 +4.78% $9.92 +2.90% 91,500,000 +1.89% 2005 $817,500,000 -9.89% $9.94 +0.20% 82,200,000 -10.16% 2006 $866,600,000 +6.01% $10.37 +4.33% 83,600,000 +1.70% 2007 $895,400,000 +3.32% $10.57 +1.93% 84,700,000 +1.32% 2008 $945,400,000 +5.58% $11.17 +5.68% 84,600,000 -0.12% 2009 $1,087,500,000 +15.03% $11.99 +7.34% 90,700,000 +7.21% 2010 $1,132,800,000 +4.17% $12.26 +2.25% 92,400,000 +1.87% 2011 $1,093,800,000 -3.44% $12.87 +4.98% 85,000,000 -8.01% 2012 $1,125,500,000 +2.90% $13.10 +1.79% 85,900,000 +1.06% 2013 $1,099,600,000 -2.30% $13.41 +2.37% 82,000,000 -4.54% 2014 $1,074,800,000 -2.26% $13.68 +2.01% 78,600,000 -4.15% 2015 $1,226,300,000 +14.10% $13.60 -0.58% 90,200,000 +14.76% 2016 $1,259,300,000 +2.69% $13.80 +1.47% 91,300,000 +1.22% 2017 $1,201,300,000 -4.61% $14.13 +2.39% 85,000,000 -6.90% 2018 $1,245,100,000 +3.65% $13.86 -1.91% 89,800,000 +5.65% 2019 $1,228,700,000 -1.32% $14.50 +4.62% 84,700,000 -5.68% 2020 $401,200,000 -67.35% $14.23 -1.86% 28,200,000 -66.71% 2021 $605,200,000 +50.85% $15.24 +7.10% 39,700,000 +40.78%

Non-Batman related content: A few days ago the MPDAA/Numero/Screen Australia finally released 2021 box office data. The total was 605.2m, 51% up on 2020, less than what I thought it would be. The average ticket price ($15.24) was higher than I expected. Why did I get it wrong? Because I underestimated how concentrated the box office would be last year. Over 81% of the yearly box office was contained in the top 50, higher than 2020, and the highest on record (since 1992). I was expecting this ratio to be more like 75%. Here's the top 50:

Weekend in Australia is Thur-Sun

3.13m Wed+Thur

I think you're underestimating the ticket price there tbh. Gold Class tickets are over $40 each and VMax tickets are over $25. Hoyts is just as bad.

Strong weekend, Uncharted down just 26% and Spider-Man crosses $80m!