Quigley

Are we seriously discussing Transformers 4? That piece of crap doesn't even qualify as a film.

Thanks for the input. Had you ever compiled a list with the biggest opening weekends of all time?

Weekend of November 12-15, 2015 Ranking Title Weekend admissions % Change from last weekend Total admissions Week 1 Spectre 166,068 N/A 166,068 1 2 The Peanuts Movie 14,838 -20.5% 36,669 2 3 Hotel Transylvania 2 10,124 -29.3% 137,929 4 4 Saul Fia (Son of Saul) 5,352 N/A 5,352 1 5 Ο Αστακός (O Astakos or The Lobster) [GR] 5,128 -44.2% 51,902 4 6 The Last Witch Hunter 4,437 -56.7% 45,487 3 7 Legend 3,894 -65.8% 23,223 2 8 Love the Coopers 3,708 N/A 3,708 1 9 Minions 2,780 -33.1% 281,918 8 10 Youth 2,248 no accurate data available 42,856 5 Sources: http://www.grandmagazine.gr/ngine/article/2788/to-box-office-tou-4hmerou-12-15-11-15 http://www.flix.gr/news/box-office-05112015.html 'Spectre' managed to surpass 'Skyfall''s opening weekend (165,301 admissions) but only by a bit, which means it remains to be seen whether 'Spectre' will surpass its predecessor in total gross. It nevertheless posted the biggest opening weekend of the year, pushing 'Fifty Shades of Grey' (140,443) and 'Fast and Furious 7' (137,711) to second and third place respectively. With the lurking threat of 'Star Wars 7', 'Spectre' may or may not finish in first place for the year but it will almost certainly be in 2015's Top 2 [update: it's been suggested that 'Star Wars 7' isn't actually much of a threat, based on the performance of the prequels]. None of the above was unexpected but the ongoing financial crisis always raises worries when it comes to moviegoing behaviour. Clearly playing as an adult and teen film, 'Spectre' annihilated all copmetition with no other major release opening above 10,000 admissions and most other non-kid films dropping by more than 50%. Only 'O Astakos' managed to drop less than that, although not much less. The latter has now reached 50,000 admissions, playing in only 20 venues last weekend, but seems to be losing steam. It remains a significant achievement for the director, George Lanthimos, whose films often enjoy critical appraisal (one of his films even receieved an Oscar nomination for foreign films). Animated films seemed to be the only genre immune to 'Spectre''s onslaught, since 'The Peanuts Movie', 'Hotel Transylvania 2' and 'Minions' all dropped less than 35%. 'Inside Out', which dropped out of the Top 10, reached 300,000 admissions, becoming the first Pixar film to do so since 2007's 'Ratatouille'. Unless 'The Good Dinosaur' becomes a major hit, 'Inside Out' will be the highest-grossing animated film of the year. On another note, Hungarian film and foreign-Oscar contender 'Saul Fia' scored a higher per-theater average (1,338) than 'Spectre' and earned much more than 'Love the Coopers', despite playing in only 4 theaters (compared to 19 for the latter). Furthermore, Italian film 'Youth' re-entered the Top 10 and has now earned more than 40,000 admissions, which is nothing to frown upon, since it never played in more than 20 venues and played in only 12 last weekend. Next weekend will see the release of 8 (!) new films, including Greek film 'The Republic', although none of them are expected to stand a chance against the second weekend of 'Spectre'.

*Sorry for the late report. Another for this past weekend coming soon.* Weekend of November 5-8, 2015 Ranking Title Weekend admissions % Change from last weekend Total admissions Week 1 The Peanuts Movie 18,672 N/A 18,672 1 2 Hotel Transylvania 2 14,323 -46.0% 125,745 3 3 Legend 11,371 N/A 18,672 1 4 The Last Witch Hunter 10,247 -28.6% 34,087 2 5 Ο Αστακός (O Astakos or The Lobster) [GR] 9,183 2.4% 41,539 3 6 Crimson Peak 8,228 -43.0% 78,556 3 7 No Escape 6,849 -37.9% 25,055 2 8 Pan 4,414 -55.9% 44,669 3 9 Minions 4,156 -27.9% 278,600 7 10 Inside Out 3,765 -15.4% 298,008 10 Source: http://flix.gr/news/box-office-05112015.html For a fourth time in the past three months, an animated feature film opened in first place. This time there was definitely a nostalgia factor although some older fans may have chosen not to watch the dubbed version of 'The Peanuts Movie'. The original English version was not offered in all venues. The weekend saw some impressive holds for many films. Most notably, 'O Astakos' expanded to 24 venues and stayed about flat from last weekend. The hype around this movie in Athens was definitely expected to fuel its grosses elsewhere however the admissions increase was not as big as some were hoping for. It remains to be seen whether word-of-mouth is good enough to propel it to above 100,000 admissions. 'The Last Witch Hunter' and 'No Escape', both in their sophomore frame, had impressive holds, whereas films in their third weekend dropped slightly more ('Hotel Transylvania 2', 'Crimson Peak' and 'Pan'). The most impressive results were posted by 'Minions' and 'Inside Out', the latter which re-entered the Top 10, despite the competition from other animated entries. Most hurt from 'The Peanuts Movie''s launch were family/kid-oriented films 'Hotel Transylvania 2' and 'Pan'. The weekend was generally quiet since adult and teenage moviegoers are anticipating 'Spectre', which comes out next weekend.

How does the 2015 box office compare with previous years to date? (either Jan-to-Oct or Jan1-to-Nov15) Thanks :)

Major cinema chains in France will close on Saturday and may even remain closed for the entire 3-day national mourning period, according to Deadline. http://deadline.com/2015/11/paris-cinemas-to-close-from-early-saturday-afternoon-paris-attacks-1201623327/ I guess opening weekend record for Spectre is no longer likely.

I mean if someone had said that for Frozen before its release, I would've called them crazy. As much as I want TGD to reach a billion, I'm still calling you crazy. There is no way this will come close to a billion.

Updated with actuals: $495.0M!! Still on track for $500M (at least the possibility is still there but defo not a lock). http://deadline.com/2015/11/spectre-james-bond-peanuts-movie-snoopy-maze-runner-china-international-box-office-results-1201614437/

Question is, why would they?

Toy Story 3 made more than Harry Potter. So happy.

How does it compare to Skyfall's second Friday?

This weekend's new releases: Miss You Already The Peanuts Movie Legend

It looks as if they're finally getting their sh*t together. Although I still don't read the weekend articles.

Well that's because Monday and Tuesday were weekdays. Friday and Saturday would definitely generate more business than those two days.

Holy shit I just read this sentence and I'm mind-blown: "According to WSJ, co-financing and marketing and releasing Skyfall brought Sony $57 million on a film that grossed $1.1 billion globally. MGM, in turn, made $175 million, while Danjaq made $109 million." https://deadline.com/2015/10/daniel-craig-james-bond-sony-warner-bros-mgm-daniel-craig-1201528241/ $57M is nothing to complain about but you'd expect a studio to make more than 5% profit out of a billion-dollar film.

Another $800M overseas is under way I guess... if not more due to - surprise surprise! - China.

Yes, I had to choose a definition for opening weekend so this was my only choice. In-depth analysis over at Jurassic World's thread: http://forums.boxofficetheory.com/topic/16909-jurassic-world-os-1013b-os-1664b-ww-china-228m-united-kingdom-1004m/?do=findComment&comment=2261913

Ahead of Toy Story 3, nearly as much as Up. It's a shame cuz of the exchange rate, but otherwise well done.

To add a bit more perspective, if we look at total-gross-to-opening-weekend ratios: HP7 - P2: 2.79 JW: 3.09 FF7: 3.48 FF7 has a much bigger mutliplier. However, HP7 - P2 and JW had a full 3-day weekend in China (and possibly previews - can't remember about HP7 - P2). FF7 had a single-day opening in China (Sunday). If it had been released on Friday, it would now hold the overseas opening-weekend record but it would also have a lower multiplier. Therefore this mulitplier doesn't indicate less front-loadedness. If anything, it demonstrates how much China can influence the numbers because it is a really big market. We can work backwards to show this might be the case: FF7 grossed $390.91M in China. If it had had a 3-day opening, its Chinese multiplier would have been, let's say, 2.8. Therefore to earn $390M in total, its 3-day opening should have been $139.61M (=390.91/2.8), instead of $64.32M Sunday opening. That adds up to a $409.05M (=333.76-64.32+139.61) overseas opening weekend and a 2.84 multiplier (=1162/409.05), which makes much more sense for a blockbuster and is in line with the values for HP7- P2 and JW.

Now that the first trailer is out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiEG3Zr_Jxs we can discuss a bit more on its potential. Although, the story does seem significantly different, they are sticking to the same dark formula and the same characters (with Mr. Time being an exception). The cheshire cat is narrating, Depp is as weird and unfathomable as ever, the evil queen laughs, the good queen looks helpless and Alice will come to save the day. Business as usual. A drop is definitely more likely than not at this point.

Dunno if anyone's interested but I added up all the openings of Furious 7 and Jurassic World in all countries outside North America (I defined "opening" as anything earned by the film up to its first Sunday). The results are: Furious 7: $333.76M Jurassic World: $328.4M Pretty close but still Furious 7 is the winner. They are second and third all time respectively, behind none other than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 which made $343.72M.

Dunno if anyone's interested but I added up all the openings of Furious 7 and Jurassic World in all countries outside North America (I defined opening as anything earned by the film up to its first Sunday). The results are: Furious 7: $333.76M Jurassic World: $328.4M Pretty close but still Furious 7 is the winner. They are second and third all time respectively, behind none other than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 which made $343.72M.

BY THE WAY, a record no one pointed out (or at least, that I didn't notice anyone pointing out), is that Minions broke the record for the fastest animated film to reach $1 billion, achieving it in 72 days. Toy Story 3, the previous record holder, achieved it in 73 days.

It's a shame for Ant-Man. It was doing so well. Sub-50% drops and whatnot.

It all sounds exciting to me. If the Good Dinosaur also reaches $800M (like Inside Out) and Star Wars 7 out-grosses Jurassic World, then Disney can really dominate the end-of-year headlines. I still think Universal will be #1 in yearly studio gross, but if Star Wars 7 can leave Jurassic World in the dust, no one will care. The thing is I'd rather not belive the hype for SW7 yet. Better to be surprised than disappointed. As for the UK, I'm not really a fan of either Bond (especially Spectre) or Star Wars, so whichever finishes in first place, it's fine by me.