Bluebomb

Thursday December 24 Rank Movie LW TW % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 40,329 42,342 +5.0% 2 Ip Man 3 -- 40,617 -- 3 The Little Prince -- 15,546 -- 4 The Peanuts Movie -- 14,110 -- 5 Anniversary -- 10,602 -- 6 Yo-Kai Watch -- 7,150 -- 7 Initiation Love 567 1,296 +128.6% 8 Ten Years 745 832 +11.7% 9 Keeper of Darkness 1,840 638 -65.3% 10 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 825 487 -41.0% Before anyone jumps up and down for these numbers, many UA theaters and possibly others were not reported for Ip Man 3. Ip Man 3 actually crossed 40,000 admissions by 4 pm but as night came, admissions would go up and then come crashing down so in essence there are 2 fundamental problems with Ip Man 3's Thursday admissions. The first is that many theaters were not reported and the second is that admissions went down more than several times on Thursday. This calls into Ip Man 3's sneaks into question. It may have even made more than what was reported. The site that tracks admissions crashed Wednesday night which might be the cause of Ip Man 3's disappearing admissions. My best guess for Ip Man 3's Thursday admissions is 56,000 but we will never know Ip Man 3's ballpark admissions now. On the other hand, Star Wars 7 admissions don't seem to be affected. They steadily went up throughout the day and did not have anything major happen to them like Ip Man 3's. The Little Prince and The Peanuts are in a huge fight for #3. The Little Prince might have won in admissions but most are coming at the expense of 2D showtimes. Fewer theaters are showing the 3D version of The Little Prince than they are doing for The Peanuts Movie. Yo-Kai Watch did alright. Opening day reviews for the 4 new openers are quite solid. Peanuts is the highest with 4.5. Ip Man 3 is off to a very good start with a 4.3. The Little Prince is right behind with a 4.2 and Yo-Kai Watch recovers from its horrific start from this morning. I saw a lot of sellouts for Ip Man 3 on Thursday including this theater: Citygate is one of the absolute hardest places to sellout in HK. It's remote and pre-selling is practically unheard of at this theater. I think I've only seen 1 or 2 movies sell out a showtime at Citygate. Other places that reported a sellout: Windsor Cinema Kornhill Palace IFC Pacific Place Palace APM The ONE Tsuen Wan Kingswood Ginza (another incredibly hard one to sellout!) Kwai Fong Paris London New York Milano Theater Cinema City Broadway Mongkok Other places may have sold out showings too. Daily admissions (OW) Previews Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Total Ip Man 2 15,463 47,608 38,240 74,368 73,483 249,162 Ip Man 3 40,620 40,617 81,237 Gap 25,157 18,166 -20,074 -94,442 -167,925 Ip Man 3's Thursday is below its previews number which should not happen even with 5 days of previews. After all, Ip Man 3's opening day is Christmas Eve. Yeah, Christmas Eve is slightly depressed but Ip Man 3 was outperforming everything on Thursday by a significant margin. Friday adm. (so far) December 25 Rank Movie LW TW WKD % chg QD % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 28,528 37,201 +30.4% +31.8% 2 Ip Man 3 -- 34,652 -- +23.5% 3 The Peanuts Movie 1,816 13,332 +634.1% +32.1% 4 The Little Prince -- 12,202 -- +10.1% 5 Yo-Kai Watch -- 7,559 -- +34.3% 6 Anniversary -- 7,016 -- -5.3% 7 Initiation Love -- 700 -- -5.8% 8 Burnt 304 656 +115.8% +127.8% 9 Ten Years 565 604 +6.9% -6.6% 10 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 286 446 +55.9% +23.9% Even more UA theaters aren't being reported for Ip Man 3. Very good for Star Wars. Peanuts over The Little Prince on Friday...The Peanuts Movie might be playing to the slightly younger crowd than The Little Prince. Good for Yo-Kai Watch.

Thursday adm. (so far) December 24 Rank Movie LW TW % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 30,870 28,227 -8.6% 2 Ip Man 3 -- 28,064 -- 3 The Little Prince -- 11,079 -- 4 The Peanuts Movie -- 10,089 -- 5 Anniversary -- 7,412 -- 6 Yo-Kai Watch -- 5,629 -- 7 Initiation Love -- 743 -- 8 Ten Years 585 647 +10.6% 9 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 206 360 +74.8% 10 Burnt 194 288 +48.5% Ip Man 3 looks a bit low even with Star Wars 7's huge advantage in UA theaters/Palace IFC/Pacific Place/Cyberport. Pretty good for the rest of the top 6. Anniversary sneaks are shaping up to be very good. 12 PM update: Ip Man 3 has a slight lead of 1,700 admissions over Star Wars. GA reaction to the 3 major new releases is identical: 4.3/5. Yo-Kai Watch sits at a terrible 1.7/5.

What is the other movie? Weekly Gross (Mon-Sun) Dec 14-20 LW TW Title Last Week (HKD) This Week (HKD) Days in release % chg Total (HKD) This Week (USD) Total (USD) -- 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- $26,645,964 4 -- $26,645,964 $3,447,541 $3,447,541 1 2 Keeper of Darkness $3,520,281 $1,613,101 25 -54.2% $16,750,403 $208,708 $2,167,221 -- 3 The Peanuts Movie -- $1,561,533 0 -- $1,561,533 $202,036 $202,036 2 4 Point Break $3,477,090 $1,205,162 18 -65.3% $8,135,084 $155,927 $1,052,543 4 5 Port of Call $1,813,709 $878,818 18 -51.5% $4,368,464 $113,704 $565,206 6 6 Burnt $1,215,920 $741,068 11 -39.1% $1,956,988 $95,881 $253,201 5 7 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 $1,636,865 $724,375 32 -55.7% $26,003,436 $93,722 $3,364,409 7 8 Go Lala Go 2 $562,887 $724,181 11 +28.7% $1,287,068 $93,696 $166,525 -- 9 The Little Prince -- $607,461 0 -- $607,461 $78,595 $78,595 3 10 In the Heart of the Sea $2,372,132 $557,349 18 -76.5% $5,570,255 $72,111 $720,697 Biggest December opening weekend of all time for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It also landed inside the top 10 opening weekends of all time, just in front of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The Peanuts Movie and The Little Prince were close to estimates. Ip Man 3 not being in the table above just means the studio will roll all the previews into its opening weekend hoping to ensure it a #1 opening ahead of Star Wars Christmas weekend. Top 15 Opening Weekends Rank Movie HK Gross US Gross 1 Avengers: Age of Ultron $49,517,186 $6,405,895 2 Transformers 3 $39,672,804 $5,132,356 3 Transformers: Age of Extinction $37,274,585 $4,822,105 4 Iron Man 3 $36,625,419 $4,738,124 5 Minions $34,402,090 $4,450,499 6 The Avengers $34,252,069 $4,431,091 7 Jurassic World $31,253,631 $4,043,191 8 Spider-Man 3 $28,663,114 $3,708,064 9 Harry Potter 7-2 $28,203,934 $3,648,661 10 Star Wars: The Force Awakens $26,645,964 $3,447,541 11 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 $26,617,352 $3,443,409 12 Monsters University $25,768,640 $3,333,614 13 The Dark Knight Rises $25,762,940 $3,332,877 14 Toy Story 3 $25,703,435 $3,325,179 15 Harry Potter 6* $23,201,611 $3,001,525 *Kung Fu Hustle made 3.2m on its OW in 2004 but since no exact figures are given, Harry Potter 6 takes its place. Pretty good for a non-Marvel, Transformers franchise. Though I hate including previews into opening weekends, for the purposes of this chart, all previews will be included with a movie's opening weekend. Minions also drops to #10 OW if you exclude its previews ($27,877,377 for 4-day OW). _______________________________________________________ Ip Man 3 looks to do about 35,000-40,000 in pre-sales alone on Thursday while Star Wars 7 is zooming for 25,000-30,000.

There is no such thing as premium movie ticket prices on holidays. What theaters will do is when there's a holiday and a major release is releasing on that week, they will quietly raise the prices for all movies releasing from that date onward. Though some theaters do price weekend showings slightly higher, they are not higher than weekday night showings. All increases in ticket prices are included in a movie's box office otherwise Disney would throw a fit that they aren't getting the $80 extra in IMAX per showing than what they set for Avengers 2 earlier this year. Thursday schedules A note before we begin. Anniversary will get in on the action this weekend with sneaks and almost every theater will accommodate some showtimes to it. Broadway/AMC Palace APM New Holdovers Leaving Ip Man 3 - 10 showings Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 9 showings (▲ 8) Point Break The Peanuts Movie (3D Can.) - 4 showings Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 3 showings (▼ 8) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 The Peanuts Movie (Can.) - 2 showings Keeper of Darkness - 3 showings (=) Burnt The Little Prince (Can.) - 6 showings Initiation Love - 5 showings (▲ 4) Yo-Kai Watch - 3 showings Most Broadway/AMC theaters will push Ip Man 3 onto 10 or more showtimes on Christmas Eve. The business district, however, has Star Wars firmly entrenched with 3 screens and have left Ip Man 3 with half day showtimes. Pre-sales for Ip Man 3 have been lightning fast with more than half of Broadway/AMC's theaters needing to add Ip Man 3 showtimes on Thursday. The Little Prince will have an advantage over Peanuts here. In some cases, theaters have moved to Ip Man 3 into the biggest screen on Saturday/Sunday with The Little Prince on the 2nd biggest screen, sending Star Wars 7 down to the 3rd biggest screen. UA Cityplaza New Holdovers Leaving Ip Man 3 - 7 showings Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 16 showings (▼ 17) Love the Coopers The Peanuts Movie (3D Can.) - 6 showings Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 2 showings (▼ 4) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 The Little Prince (3D Can.) - 2 showings Port of Call - 3 showings (▼ 4) Before We Go The Little Prince (3D Eng.) - 1 showing Keeper of Darkness - 5 showings (▼ 7) In the Heart of the Sea Yo-Kai Watch - 3 showings The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - 4 showings (▼ 5) Scheduling politics are occurring at UA. Star Wars 7 is being shown on 2-3 screens with Ip Man 3/The Little Prince/The Peanuts Movie/Yo-Kai Watch sharing the rest of the available screens. Cityplaza even has Ip Man 3 on its smallest screen the entire Christmas weekend. Pre-sales here are great for Star Wars and weaker for everything else due to Star Wars 7 getting Christmas pre-selling nearly a week and a half early while the new openers started pre-selling today. MCL STAR Cinema New Holdovers Leaving Ip Man 3 - 12 showings Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 8 showings (▲ 4) Burnt The Peanuts Movie (3D Can.) - 2 showings Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 4 showings (▼ 12) Go Lala Go 2 The Peanuts Movie (3D Eng.) - 4 showings She Remembers, He Forgets The Little Prince (Can.) - 2 showings The Little Prince (Eng.) - 1 showing Yo-Kai Watch - 8 showings At this theater chain, Yo-Kai Watch is being heavily promoted while Ip Man 3 is getting over 10 showtimes average outside of JP theater. Star Wars 7 is still on the biggest screen here but its grip is loosening quite a bit with the other 2 getting scheduled with numerous showtimes. The Peanuts Movie will play at every theater here while The Little Prince is either not showing or playing in 1-3 showtimes per day. Golden Harvest Tsing Yi New Holdovers Leaving Ip Man 3 - 10 showings Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 2 showings (▲ 0) Keeper of Darkness The Peanuts Movie (3D Can.) - 1 showing Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 4 showings (▼ 12) She Remembers, He Forgets The Peanuts Movie (Can.) - 6 showings Go Lala Go 2 - 1 showing (=) The Little Prince (Can.) - 3 showings The Little Prince (3D Can.) - 1 showing Yo-Kai Watch - 5 showings Ip Man 3 is the general winner with it being scheduled on the biggest or 2nd biggest screen. Yo Kai Watch is in the 2nd position with The Peanuts Movie not far behind. Star Wars 7 drops to 4th position at this theater. Cinema City New Holdovers Leaving Ip Man 3 - 14 showings Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D 4DX - 3 showings (▼ 5) Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Atmos Ip Man 3 4DX - 4 showings Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 7 showings (=) Port of Call The Peanuts Movie (Can.) - 5 showings Star Wars: The Force Awakens Atmos - 1 showing (▲ 0) Keeper of Darkness The Little Prince (Can.) - 3 showings Star Wars: The Force Awakens 4DX - 1 showing (▼ 2) Point Break Yo-Kai Watch (Can.) - 3 showings Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 4 showings (▲ 3) Go Lala Go 2 - 1 showing (▼ 5) At Ip Man 3's home base, Ip Man 3 wins the showtime count with 18 showtimes on Thursday vs. 16 for Star Wars altogether. Ip Man 3 is killing it in pre-sales here on Thursday night with one midnight showing nearing 50% capacity. Tuesday adm. December 22 Rank Movie LW TW WKD % chg QD % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 33,947 -- +25.0% 2 Ip Man 3 -- 9,218 -- +92.0% 3 The Peanuts Movie -- 6,668 -- +95.0% 4 Keeper of Darkness -- 1,729 -- +25.7% 5 Point Break -- 1,130 -- +33.9% 6 Burnt -- 937 -- +15.1% 7 Port of Call -- 880 -- -- 8 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 -- 868 -- -14.8% 9 Go Lala Go 2 -- 856 -- +36.3% 10 Ten Years -- 715 -- +13.7% Very good for the top 3. Ip Man 3's increase is particularly impressive with it nearly matching Peanuts' increase. Wednesday adm. (so far) December 23 Rank Movie LW TW WKD % chg QD % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 17,377 -- -3.2% 2 The Peanuts Movie -- 3,529 -- +14.9% 3 Ip Man 3 -- 2,020 -- +32.4% 4 The Little Prince -- 1,163 -- -- 5 Anniversary -- 993 -- -- 6 Ten Years -- 359 -- -20.2% 7 Keeper of Darkness -- 272 -- +17.2% 8 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 -- 246 -- +16.0% 9 Burnt -- 212 -- -13.1% 10 Port of Call -- 169 -- -14.2% Star Wars 7 is giving back some of its pre-sales gain from yesterday. Decent for Peanuts. Very good for Ip Man 3. Thursday nights are filling up quite quickly which have caused spillage into Wednesday. The Little Prince is back with a good pre-sales number. Christmas Eve pre-sales at Palace APM (taken at 8 PM on Tuesday) Palace APM Star Wars: The Force Awakens (all v.) Ip Man 3 The Peanuts Movie (all v.) The Little Prince (all v.) Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Dec. 24 9:00 AM 15 112 13.39% Dec. 24 9:20 AM 152 286 53.15% Dec. 24 8:55 AM 46 98 46.94% Dec. 24 9:00 AM 30 167 17.96% 10:45 AM 18 98 18.37% 11:00 AM 69 167 41.32% 10:50 AM 59 114 51.75% 11:30 AM 61 112 54.46% 11:30 AM 49 286 17.13% 2:50 PM 40 167 23.95% 12:35 PM 27 114 23.68% 1:30 PM 15 112 13.39% 2:00 PM 41 286 14.34% 4:30 PM 106 286 37.06% 2:20 PM 16 114 14.04% 3:35 PM 63 112 56.25% 3:20 PM 19 98 19.39% 6:30 PM 173 286 60.49% 4:05 PM 31 114 27.19% 5:50 PM 65 98 66.33% 4:50 PM 65 167 38.92% 8:30 PM 214 286 74.83% 7:00 PM 75 98 76.53% 8:15 PM 92 112 82.14% 5:40 PM 40 112 35.71% 9:50 PM 23 114 20.18% 7:20 PM 35 163 21.47% 10:30 PM 214 286 74.83% 7:50 PM 46 98 46.94% 11:50 PM 4 114 3.51% 9:55 PM 69 163 42.33% 12:30 AM 45 286 15.73% 10:20 PM 20 98 20.41% 12:30 AM 34 167 20.36% Total 451 1848 24.40% Total 1040 2278 45.65% Total 254 652 38.96% Total 326 713 45.72% Star Wars 7 is having some trouble here as not even one showing is over half full. 2D is playing slightly better than 3D here as the 2 PM, 4:50 PM and midnight showings are doing pretty well. 5:40 pm showings and after are all 3D (- midnight showing). Ip Man 3 has had hot pre-selling that it has caused moviegoers to catch it at an earlier time. The 6:30 pm showing is nearly on par with the 8 and 10 pm shows and the 4 pm one is doing great. The 9:50/11:50 pm showtimes were added at 7 pm (one hour before I took these admissions). Decent for Peanuts and The Little Prince is doing very well but it's worthy of noting that all of The Little Prince's showtimes are in 2D while Peanuts has a mix of 3D/2D.

Most likely inflated. Will wait for MPIA's true numbers.

Oh ok. We don't know yet. Actuals will come out soon.

Source?

Monday adm. December 21 Rank Movie LW TW WKD % chg QD % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 27,159 -- -55.0% 2 Ip Man 3 -- 4,800 -- -46.7% 3 The Peanuts Movie -- 3,419 -- -52.4% 4 Keeper of Darkness -- 1,376 -- -42.9% 5 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 -- 1,019 -- -7.4% 6 Point Break -- 844 -- -37.6% 7 Burnt -- 814 -- -31.9% 8 Ten Years -- 629 -- -- 9 Go Lala Go 2 -- 628 -- -- 10 Initiation Love -- 623 -- -44.5% That is decent for Star Wars. It is down 33% from Thursday's admissions (- midnights). With midnights included, it is down around 36%. Good for Ip Man 3. Tuesday adm. (so far) December 22 Rank Movie LW TW WKD % chg QD % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 17,946 -- -- 2 The Peanuts Movie -- 3,071 -- -- 3 Ip Man 3 -- 1,526 -- -- 4 Ten Years -- 450 -- -- 5 Burnt -- 244 -- -- 6 Keeper of Darkness -- 232 -- -- 7 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 -- 212 -- -- 8 Port of Call -- 197 -- -- 9 Point Break -- 177 -- -- 10 Love the Coopers -- 164 -- -- Not bad for Star Wars.

No figures yet for Star Wars. We might have to wait for HKMPIA's numbers. Christmas Market Situation Star Wars 7 is really struggling to corral admissions. Though many locations have seen an uptick on admissions on Christmas Day, it is still below Ip Man 3 at most locations and even The Little Prince. Christmas weekend leans heavily on pre-sales though walk-ins are important as well. Harry Potter 7-1 had trouble with walk-ins on Christmas Day, mustering up only 35% in walk-in sales. Star Wars 7 has seen slightly more % of walk-ins since opening day but it is still well below normal for a December release. Ip Man 3 is looking good although it is starting to look like Twilight on Christmas Day. Sales are much slower on Christmas Day although the holiday is inclined to benefit longer blockbuster movies and animated films more. Still, the stalled momentum on Christmas does not look all that good. One advantage that it has over Star Wars 7 so far is that it is demonstrated excellent walk-in admissions with its weekend previews. If this continues, this should be #1 over the holiday period. The Little Prince is doing very well. It is not far behind Ip Man 3 on Christmas Eve and it is playing quite strongly on Christmas Day. The problem that it has is the theater count. It is most likely that this will not play in the same amount of theaters as The Peanuts Movie but admissions have been strong thus far and should bode well for this weekend. The Peanuts Movie has fallen off the map with poor admissions per showing this weekend. Theaters have started to slash showtimes on Thursday to make room for other movies. If it does not have any staying power, this could drop to #4 behind The Little Prince.

No, people will watch the latest blockbuster or movie if they want to. Harry Potter 7-1 was released 1 month later than most of the rest of the world and yet to this day, it is still the 2nd highest grossing Hollywood film released in December. Hotel Transylvania was released 5 months after US when DVD/Blu-Ray was already out and it still grossed a respectable $900k. Halloween is not a big day here so the film was never going to post a big gross. Sunday December 20 Rank Movie LW TW WKD % chg QD % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 60,394 -- +2.3% 2 Ip Man 3 -- 9,003 -- +11.2% 3 The Peanuts Movie -- 7,176 -- +58.3% 4 The Little Prince -- 2,896 -- +32.7% 5 Keeper of Darkness 7,548 2,409 -68.1% -17.4% 6 Port of Call 4,634 1,408 -69.6% -15.8% 7 Point Break 8,137 1,353 -83.4% -6.2% 8 Burnt 3,988 1,196 -70.0% +7.7% 9 Initiation Love 1,744 1,123 -35.6% -3.4% 10 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 3,974 1,101 -72.3% -10.9% Top 4 all posted increases. That is a very good increase for Ip Man 3 but The Peanuts Movie's jaw dropping 58% gain on Sunday is simply outstanding. The Little Prince also had a notable 90 people per showing average on Sunday, 2nd best of the top 4 behind Ip Man 3. Weekend adm. Dec 17-20 Rank Movie LW TW % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 201,418 -- 2 Ip Man 3 -- 17,098 -- 3 The Peanuts Movie -- 13,995 -- 4 Keeper of Darkness 26,027 9,139 -64.9% 5 Point Break 27,058 5,406 -80.0% 6 The Little Prince -- 5,285 -- 7 Port of Call 15,485 5,193 -66.5% 8 Burnt 14,104 3,932 -72.1% 9 Initiation Love 5,017 3,665 -26.9% Weekend Estimates December 17 Rank Movie TW % chg Total 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens $3,220,000 $3,220,000 2 The Peanuts Movie $190,000 $190,000 3 Ip Man 3 $180,000 $180,000 4 Keeper of Darkness $95,000 -67.9% $2,145,000 5 The Little Prince $70,000 $70,000 The top 3 all had better than expected holds on Sunday. This weekend will pass the 4m mark like last year's did though how Star Wars does in actuals will decide if this is the biggest weekend before Christmas of all time. ________________________________________________________ We will now turn our attention to the upcoming Christmas weekend where there is a surprise brewing. The ONE Star Wars: The Force Awakens (all v.) Ip Man 3 The Peanuts Movie (all v.) The Little Prince (all v.) Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Dec. 24 9:00 AM 6 163 3.68% Dec. 24 9:00 AM 13 163 7.98% Dec. 24 9:10 AM 7 111 6.31% Dec. 24 9:35 AM 13 163 7.98% 11:00 AM 4 163 2.45% 11:00 AM 8 111 7.21% 5:30 PM 28 111 25.23% 11:35 AM 6 163 3.68% 11:35 AM 6 163 3.68% 1:35 PM 6 163 3.68% 7:15 PM 56 111 50.45% 1:40 PM 4 163 2.45% 1:00 PM 4 111 3.60% 3:30 PM 14 111 12.61% 3:40 PM 33 163 20.25% 2:10 PM 6 163 3.68% 6:10 PM 70 163 42.94% 5:40 PM 76 163 46.63% 3:35 PM 4 163 2.45% 8:10 PM 107 163 65.64% 7:40 PM 59 163 36.20% 4:45 PM 18 163 11.04% 10:10 PM 114 163 69.94% 9:40 PM 70 163 42.94% 7:20 PM 36 163 22.09% 12:10 AM 19 163 11.66% 11:40 PM 16 163 9.82% 9:55 PM 39 163 23.93% 12:30 AM 12 163 7.36% Total 135 1578 8.56% Total 351 1200 29.25% Total 91 333 27.33% Total 277 1304 21.24% Strong sales from Ip Man 3 but look what's behind it. The Little Prince is doing exceptionally well here. I am surprised that the 5:40 Cantonese showing is doing the best because the English version of animations usually do the best at this theater. Star Wars is a complete disaster before the 4:45 pm showing and is not doing much better with the 7-9pm showtimes yet. Peanuts 7 pm looks OK but it does not have enough showtimes to really make a mark. The ONE Star Wars: The Force Awakens (all v.) Ip Man 3 The Peanuts Movie (all v.) The Little Prince (all v.) Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Dec. 25 9:00 AM 16 163 9.82% Dec. 25 9:00 AM 12 163 7.36% Dec. 25 9:10 AM 21 111 18.92% Dec. 25 9:35 AM 22 163 13.50% 11:00 AM 18 163 11.04% 11:00 AM 28 111 25.23% 5:30 PM 31 111 27.93% 11:35 AM 24 163 14.72% 11:35 AM 26 163 15.95% 1:35 PM 29 163 17.79% 7:15 PM 16 111 14.41% 1:40 PM 35 163 21.47% 1:00 PM 29 111 26.13% 3:30 PM 42 111 37.84% 3:40 PM 56 163 34.36% 2:10 PM 13 163 7.98% 6:10 PM 54 163 33.13% 5:40 PM 60 163 36.81% 3:35 PM 27 163 16.56% 8:10 PM 30 163 18.40% 7:40 PM 32 163 19.63% 4:45 PM 10 163 6.13% 10:10 PM 21 163 12.88% 9:40 PM 24 163 14.72% 7:20 PM 26 163 15.95% 12:10 AM 4 163 2.45% 11:40 PM 6 163 3.68% 9:55 PM 12 163 7.36% 12:30 AM 4 163 2.45% Total 181 1578 11.47% Total 220 1200 18.33% Total 68 333 20.42% Total 259 1304 19.86% The Little Prince overtakes Ip Man 3 on Christmas. Excellent job. Star Wars picks up from its slow Christmas Eve ticket sales. Peanuts falls from its Christmas Eve admissions.

Sunday adm. (so far) December 20 Rank Movie LW TW WKD % chg QD % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 41,626 -- +6.8% 2 The Peanuts Movie -- 3,727 -- +60.2% 3 Ip Man 3 -- 2,783 -- +25.8% 4 The Little Prince -- 1,688 -- +45.5% 5 Ten Years -- 562 -- -8.0% 6 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 1,000 538 -46.2% +26.9% 7 Burnt 1,385 495 -64.3% +27.9% 8 Point Break 2,476 470 -81.0% -- 9 Port of Call 1,515 448 -70.4% +2.5% 10 Keeper of Darkness 1,694 395 -76.7% -14.9% Eh for Star Wars. Nice for The Peanuts Movie. Decent for Ip Man 3. Good increase for The Little Prince. Early Christmas Day pre-selling Ip Man 3 continues its dominance over Star Wars at more rural locations. At places such as Festival Walk where Star Wars 7 is doing big business, it has leading Ip Man 3 by a slight margin. Really it does not tell us what we didn't know before, those theaters where Star Wars 7 is playing well this week will continue to do so into Christmas while others where Star Wars 7 has underwhelmed will shift their focus to Ip Man 3.

Opening Saturday 3D showings Pirates 4 Toy Story 3 Transformers 3 Harry Potter 7-2 The Avengers Iron Man 3 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Transformers: Age of Extinction Avengers: Age of Ultron Star Wars: The Force Awakens Pacific Place 21 28 28 22 27 27 22 22 29 22 Total 21 28 28 22 27 27 22 22 29 22 Palace APM 25 23 32 27 34 30 19 24 33 18 Total 25 28 35 34 37 34 28 29 37 19 Tsuen Wan 18 22 20 18 24 22 20 19 26 14 Total 18 22 22 21 24 25 22 21 26 17 Palace IFC 21 24 24 21 23 25 18 15 26 24 Total 21 24 24 21 23 25 18 15 26 24 Festival Walk N/A N/A 26 26 32 32 23 26 38 25 Total N/A N/A 33 32 32 36 29 27 38 27 The One N/A N/A N/A 31 34 33 29 30 36 18 Total N/A N/A N/A 33 34 35 33 31 37 21 The Grand Cinema N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 31 33 30 46 31 Total N/A N/A N/A N/A 40 37 39 34 53 35 After its Thursday underperformed, this is what happened to Star Wars on Saturday. Most theaters were not even close to Avengers 2 or Iron Man 3's showtimes and some theaters at Broadway/AMC went below the 20 showing benchmark. Saturday December 19 Rank Movie LW TW WKD % chg QD % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 59,026 -- +41.7% 2 Ip Man 3 -- 8,095 -- -- 3 The Peanuts Movie -- 4,533 -- +98.3% 4 Keeper of Darkness 8,702 2,917 -66.5% +47.8% 5 The Little Prince -- 2,183 -- -- 6 Port of Call 5,237 1,673 -68.1% +60.1% 7 Point Break 8,897 1,442 -83.8% +2.3% 8 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 4,130 1,235 -70.1% +17.6% 9 Initiation Love 1,739 1,163 -33.1% +43.2% 10 Burnt 4,508 1,110 -75.4% +18.6% Woah, this didn't even hit 60,000 admissions despite a number of theaters adding more 2D showtimes. Final tally: 59,026 admissions on 766 showtimes = 77 admissions per showing. Ip Man 3 sneaks towered over the 3D animated family fare previews to place 2nd with more admissions than both Peanuts/Little Prince combined. Its final admissions per showing average was a staggering 115. I saw a bunch of sellouts today. Highlights include recording 95% capacity at Kwai Fong for the entire day including the midnight showing. Hollywood averaged more than 200 people per showing on Saturday. The Peanuts Movie did not fare nearly as well. Its Friday night sneaks diluted its Saturday leading to only an average of 34 people per showing for the day. Sunday will be much stronger than Saturday. The Little Prince did better than Peanuts in the people per average showing department with 66 but Peanuts had 20+ Friday night sneaks vs. just 2 for The Little Prince. The Little Prince is doing better than Peanuts in the business district but everywhere else is Peanuts territory between the two. The holdovers outside of Initiation Love did poorly with all the sneak previews going on. Weekend Projections December 17 Rank Movie TW % chg Total 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens $3,210,000 $3,210,000 2 The Peanuts Movie $175,000 $175,000 3 Ip Man 3 $165,000 $165,000 4 Keeper of Darkness $100,000 -66.2% $2,150,000 5 The Little Prince $80,000 $80,000 Star Wars successfully completes its job with the biggest December weekend of all time and the highest OW in December. It's not bad but the 4 IMAX theaters are constituting 20%, maybe even 25% of its OW gross. The insane $60-$80 price jump in IMAX for Star Wars pretty much means that no other film will beat that record for a long long time unless if more IMAX's are built or if other studios follow suit with these hijinks. Also, it's kind of ridiculous that Disney resorted to these tactics to set the biggest December weekend on record and make it appear as if HK is a strong market for Star Wars. I'm still dumbfounded and a bit peeved by the Star Wars prices in IMAX. The Peanuts Movie holds the edge over Ip Man 3 with 3 days of sneaks vs. 2 and 3D prices in the weekend race for 2nd. Terrible but expected hold from Keeper of Darkness. OK sneaks for The Little Prince but it will be overshadowed by Ip Man 3/Peanuts beginning on Thursday. Early Christmas Eve schedules/pre-selling Christmas Eve schedules have been posted at various theater chains. At GH, Ip Man 3 is the frontrunner with the biggest or 2nd biggest theater. Star Wars drops to the 3rd of 4th biggest theater. Peanuts/The Little Prince/Yo-Kai Watch share the biggest screen or 2nd biggest screen with each other. MCL has Star Wars on the biggest theater and Ip Man 3 in the 2nd. Snoopy is in the 3rd biggest screen while The Little Prince will only have a couple of showtimes on the smallest screen here. Yo-Kai Watch is being promoted by MCL so it will receive 2-5 showtimes a day on the 2nd or 3rd biggest screen. At Broadway/AMC, Star Wars 7 is the winner at most locations over Ip Man 3 with Peanuts in 3rd and Little Prince in 4th. Pre-sales are telling a different story with Ip Man 3 way out in front at almost all locations at GH/MCL that have released pre-selling before Saturday. At one theater, Ip Man 3 is doing 17x Star War 7's business on Thursday night.

It depends on the movie and the amount of theaters the studio/distributor is booking sneaks into. If you look at The Little Prince for example, it does not have a lot of showtimes. When you check the theater count, it has less theaters playing it than The Peanuts Movie or Ip Man 3. That's a sign that come Thursday, it will be behind Ip Man 3/The Peanuts Movie in showtimes. As for Ip Man 3, a lot of places are only offering 1-2 sneak previews today while they are pretty much going full throttle with The Peanuts Movie on 4-6 showtimes. I'd say that has more to do with Ip Man 3 being the bigger movie of the 2 that Fox HK has asked/said to book Peanuts with as many sneaks as possible. Fox is doing this to generate buzz for the Christmas weekend because it's going to be crowded with just Star Wars/Ip Man 3 playing. Star Wars disappointing in HK has nothing to do with the ticket price hike. It's performing just as badly in 2D theaters from very busy locations. That tells me that people do not care for Star Wars in HK. The studio badly misjudged how well Star Wars would actually play in HK and theater owners are scrambling to replace showtimes this weekend and into Monday. Yes, it has the biggest December OD of all time but when you look at big December openings in the past: Avatar, Harry Potter 7-1, it was always going to break the OD record. Its number is not something to be happy about with insane IMAX prices ($60-$80 more expensive than Avengers 2!!), huge promotion, opening day midnights (exclusively used for blockbusters) and almost a total blackout in screen/showtime count. It will have over 3,000 showings in total this weekend. That is more than enough for it to set the biggest opening weekend on record with these premium prices. As for the other films, Ip Man 3 is performing very well in sneaks so far. If the GA reaction is even remotely the same as Ip Man films in the past, this will be the big winner this winter, small marketing/new studio hijinks notwithstanding. Star Wars 7 is losing another round of screens or moving to smaller theaters on Monday at most locations. Increasing The Peanuts Movie previews Ip Man 3 sneaks Keeper of Darkness Other holdovers Decreasing Star Wars: The Force Awakens Star Wars 7's Monday drop from Thursday will be very ugly.

Weekly Gross (Mon-Sun) Dec 7-13 LW TW Title Last Week (HKD) This Week (HKD) Days in release % chg Total (HKD) This Week (USD) Total (USD) 1 1 Keeper of Darkness $6,084,803 $3,520,281 18 -42.1% $15,137,302 $451,250 $1,940,387 2 2 Point Break $3,452,832 $3,477,090 11 +0.7% $6,929,922 $445,713 $888,317 4 3 In the Heart of the Sea $2,640,774 $2,372,132 11 -10.2% $5,012,906 $304,073 $642,583 5 4 Port of Call $1,552,880 $1,813,709 11 +16.8% $3,489,646 $232,491 $447,323 3 5 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 $3,335,108 $1,636,865 25 -50.9% $25,279,061 $209,822 $3,240,416 -- 6 Burnt -- $1,215,920 4 -- $1,215,920 $155,863 $155,863 -- 7 Go Lala Go 2 -- $562,887 4 -- $562,887 $72,154 $72,154 7 8 Spectre $1,090,529 $537,268 39 -50.7% $40,349,747 $68,870 $5,172,264 6 9 Victor Frankenstein $1,497,864 $443,787 18 -70.4% $4,213,931 $56,887 $540,166 -- 10 The Crow's Egg -- $437,425 11 -- $764,993 $56,071 $98,061 Friday December 18 Rank Movie LW TW WKD % chg QD % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 41,669 -- +3.3% 2 The Peanuts Movie -- 2,286 -- -- 3 Keeper of Darkness 5,479 1,973 -64.0% +7.2% 4 Point Break 5,816 1,410 -75.8% +17.4% 5 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 2,714 1,050 -61.3% +27.3% 6 Port of Call 3,315 1,045 -68.5% -2.1% 7 Burnt 3,523 936 -73.4% +35.7% 8 Love the Coopers -- 899 -- +82.4% 9 Go Lala Go 2 1,401 822 -41.3% +12.6% 10 Initiation Love 892 812 -9.0% +43.2% Though it seems it went up slightly on Friday, it lost 2,000 in admissions from Wednesday midnights. Peanuts Movie had decent sneaks. Bad holds all around from #3-#7. Love the Coopers might be gaining momentum. Good hold for Go Lala Go 2. Excellent for Initiation Love. Saturday adm. (so far) December 19 Rank Movie LW TW WKD % chg QD % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 38,988 -- +36.7% 2 The Peanuts Movie -- 2,326 -- +28.1% 3 Ip Man 3 -- 2,213 -- -- 4 The Little Prince -- 1,160 -- -- 5 Ten Years -- 611 -- +8.1% 6 Keeper of Darkness 1,624 464 -71.4% +19.9% 7 Port of Call 1,438 437 -69.6% +46.6% 8 Love the Coopers -- 426 -- +51.6% 9 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 952 424 -55.5% +48.3% 10 Burnt 1,377 387 -71.9% +27.3% One of the weakest increases I've seen for a December blockbuster. It should be able to get to 60,000 admissions today. 60,000 admissions on 782 showings would be 76 admissions per showing for the day. With showtimes spread out through 3 days, The Peanuts Movie had deflated admissions on Saturday. Good start for Ip Man 3. Ip Man 3 is right behind Peanuts Movie while having half the number of Peanuts' showtimes today (67 vs. 133). It will handily win #2 in admissions today. The Little Prince opens in 4th but with half of Ip Man 3's showtimes (33 in all). Love the Coopers led the top 10 increase thanks to proximity to the holidays and playing to families.

Different theater chains have different promotions. You should check all theater chains for their special discounts. OD is better than Jurassic World. Legs will be crap. Where did you read that? It made less than $6m HK with midnights.

Thursday estimates 1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - $717,840 (on 746 showings - 60 people per showing average, represents more than 85% of box office on Thursday) 2. Keeper of Darkness - $2,053,536 Point Break - $999,849 Port of Call - $512,743 Ten Years - $5,768 Love the Coopers - $4,486 Star Wars misses the top 10 opening days of all time. With that opening day number, it will crack 3m this weekend and become the biggest December opening of all time. It will also snag the largest December weekend on record beating Avatar's 2nd weekend record of 2.8m. Great total for Keeper of Darkness. Good for Point Break. Port of Call rebounded a bit from its opening weekend performance. Solid opening for Ten Years. This will break a $25,000 PTA this weekend. Horrible for Love the Coopers. _________________________________________________ Pre-sales for the sneak previews this weekend are on average solid. Ip Man 3 leads the way with solid sneaks. A couple of showtimes are already 70% full, with one 80% filled by yesterday. Most showtimes are closing in on 50% filled capacity. The Peanuts Movie/The Little Prince are behind but not by much. The Peanuts Movie is enjoying success in both rural and urban areas while The Little Prince is playing well in the business district and tourist areas. Peanuts is opening on December 24 but this is Peanuts Movie's first day of sneaks action hence calling it 'opening'. Sorry for any confusion.

Thursday December 17 Rank Movie LW TW % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 40,329 -- 2 Keeper of Darkness 4,298 1,840 -57.2% 3 Point Break 4,208 1,201 -71.5% 4 Port of Call 2,299 1,067 -53.6% 5 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 1,625 825 -49.2% 6 Ten Years -- 745 -- 7 Go Lala Go 2 1,225 730 -40.4% 8 Burnt 2,085 690 -66.9% 9 Initiation Love 642 567 -11.7% 10 Love the Coopers -- 493 -- Terrible for Star Wars 7. Walk-ins only represented 23.5% of Star Wars 7's admissions today. That signals that the general audience does not care for this movie. Opening day reviews have gone up from this morning's bad word of mouth to a good 4.1/5. Star Wars 7's OD falls -14.5% behind Harry Potter 7-1's OD in admissions. Star Wars 7's OD prediction - $657,362 Even though admissions are weaker than expected, its gross should make up for some of it. Question is how high will those premium prices be? Keeper of Darkness, Port of Call, Mockingjay 2 all had decent holds. Surprisingly, Mockingjay 2 had the best hold of the top 5. Excellent opening for Ten Years. It opened in just 1 theater, Cinematheque, and averaged 106 people per showing on Thursday. Nice for Go Lala Go 2. Strong for Initiation Love. Love the Coopers got squashed by Star Wars. Opening day score is a 4.5/5. Friday adm. (so far) December 18 Rank Movie LW TW WKD % chg QD % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 28,528 -- -7.6% 2 The Peanuts Movie -- 1,816 -- -- 3 Ten Years -- 565 -- -3.4% 4 Keeper of Darkness 1,157 387 -66.6% +46.0% 5 Point Break 1,677 319 -81.0% +53.4% 6 Burnt 1,114 304 -72.7% +56.7% 7 Port of Call 691 298 -56.9% +21.6% 8 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 787 286 -63.7% +38.8% 9 Love the Coopers -- 281 -- +136.1% 10 Go Lala Go 2 410 259 -36.8% +12.1% 11. The Little Prince - 196 adm. (+115 adm. on Wed.) After Star Wars 7's midnights were taken out, it still lost admissions from Thursday. Yikes. Good opening for The Peanuts Movie. Strong for Ten Years. It will add showtimes this weekend. Almost every holdover decreased from their Thursday week-to-week holds on Friday.

Yeah saw a few reviews earlier in the week that said that the story is excellent. It should be a satisfying conclusion to the franchise. __________________________________________________ Early reviews aren't looking good for Star Wars 7. It has a 3.3/5 from users so far. Fanboys don't look very pleased. Maybe the GA reaction will be better.

Usually yes especially for blockbusters although there are outliers. China is probably more receptive to Star Wars than HK but those expecting gigantic grosses in China should be very afraid of this number.

Thursday adm. (so far) December 17 Rank Movie LW TW % chg 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- 30,870 -- 2 Ten Years -- 585 -- 3 Keeper of Darkness 785 265 -66.2% 4 Port of Call 508 245 -51.8% 5 Go Lala Go 2 403 231 -42.7% 6 Point Break 881 208 -76.4% 7 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 420 206 -51.0% 8 Burnt 722 194 -73.1% 9 Love the Coopers -- 158 -- 10 Initiation Love -- 119 -- Disappointing number for Star Wars 7. That number includes midnights which accounted for at least 1,500 admissions. I see 45,000-50,000 for the day today. Movie OD pre-sales adm. % diff Star Wars: The Force Awakens 30,870 Avengers: Age of Ultron 3D 47,647 -35.2% Transformers: Age of Extinction 30,850 +0.1% The Amazing Spider-Man 2 54,986 -43.9% Captain America 2 13,794 +123.8% Monsters University 34,005 -9.2% Man of Steel 12,350 +150.0% Iron Man 3 46,074 -33.0% Iron Man 2 31,977 -3.5% The Dark Knight Rises 38,750 -20.3% The Amazing Spider-Man 32,580 -5.2% The Avengers 47,317 -34.8% Transformers 3 44,161 -30.1% Harry Potter 7-2 62,089 -50.3% Toy Story 3 32,294 -4.4% Pirates 4 21,559 +43.2% Shrek 3 49,634 -37.8% The Hobbit 18,440 +67.4% Mission Impossible 4 24,390 +26.6% 30,000 is OK but theaters were expecting way more. Judging from early weekend scheduling, Star Wars will lose showtimes and screens this weekend in favor of Ip Man 3/Peanuts/Little Prince sneaks. The only thing that will save Star Wars 7 now is word of mouth.

They began selling tickets for the 2D Star Wars version at Popcorn yesterday. Here's a tip: always wait until 2 days before release to see if they have 2D before buying because they always do that to get you into buying a 3D ticket. Theaters never release 2D pre-selling for blockbusters until 2 days before. If you check the theater chain's coming soon page, they will tell you if they will show 2D at this theater chain. ___________________________________________________________ Star Wars 7 is the most confusing blockbuster ever. Blockbusters no matter their size have some sort of consistency to them but this movie has a huge gap between those theaters performing well and those that are really lagging behind. I looked at raw admissions from several theaters last night to see how Star Wars 7 is shaping up in that theater and the results are astounding. Festival Walk Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Dec. 17 10:45 AM 25 138 18.12% 11:15 AM 214 354 60.45% 11:20 AM 37 144 25.69% 12:00 PM 16 156 10.26% 1:20 PM 4 138 2.90% 1:50 PM 114 354 32.20% 2:00 PM 8 144 5.56% 2:10 PM 5 156 3.21% 2:35 PM 35 156 22.44% 3:00 PM 12 127 9.45% 3:55 PM 9 138 6.52% 4:25 PM 153 354 43.22% 4:35 PM 6 144 4.17% 4:40 PM 8 156 5.13% 5:10 PM 37 156 23.72% 5:30 PM 9 127 7.09% 6:30 PM 7 138 5.07% 7:00 PM 236 354 66.67% 7:10 PM 11 156 7.05% 7:45 PM 97 156 62.18% 8:00 PM 15 127 11.81% 9:05 PM 35 138 25.36% 9:35 PM 222 354 62.71% 9:45 PM 11 156 7.05% 9:50 PM 6 144 4.17% 10:20 PM 27 156 17.31% Total 1359 4821 28.19% There is no need to discuss this one. Star Wars 7 is playing very well here almost to Avengers 2 esque numbers. There is a nice chunk of theaters, around 10-15, that are standing alongside or doing even better than Festival Walk, so much so that they could comprise nearly 2/3 of Star Wars business. Others (opening day) 394 admissions - Hollywood <300 admissions - tmtplaza 284 admissions - Broadway Mongkok 216 admissions - Kwai Fong <150 admissions - Megabox (does not include IMAX showings) I really wanted to see how poorly Star Wars is doing with a random selection of theaters. Hollywood is doing regular business although 3D has gotten more admissions than 2D so far, which should not be happening. This is a 2D stronghold theater that rejects 3D even for blockbusters. tmtplaza was weak before and is not doing much better now. One of the busiest theaters in HK, Mongkok has done shockingly terrible business. Hollywood's 3D admissions actually beat Mongkok's entire admissions and it is doing nearly less than 5 times the business of Festival Walk. Mongkok is a theater that sees a lot of walk-ins but these pre-sales are inexcusable. It should not be doing almost 1/5 of Festival Walk's business. Even a look at its admissions today, it only went up to 290 admissions (+6 admissions), 10 hours before Star Wars is supposed to be officially released. Kwai Fong hasn't picked up much from earlier. If you factor out the IMAX showings at Megabox which would put it over the 1,000 admissions mark combined, the regular theater has been doing horribly. It's no wonder they did not add any screens at this location. All in all though, I see Star Wars beginning with about 29,000-31,000 admissions in pre-sales on Thursday due to the overwhelming ticket selling at 1/3 of locations.

That sounds much more likely than the turnabout face of changing its release date due to competition. Thursday schedules Broadway/AMC Palace APM New Holdovers Leaving Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 22 showings Initiation Love - 3 showings (▼ 4) Legend Burnt - 1 showing (▼ 7) In the Heart of the Sea Point Break - 1 showing (▼ 6) The Vanished Murderer Port of Call - 4 showings (▲ 3) Return of the Cuckoo Keeper of Darkness - 6 showings (▼ 7) She Remembers, He Forgets The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - 1 showing (▼ 4) Our Times Star Wars will be shown on 3-4 screens throughout the day here. Pre-sales are great in some places with others are really bad. Love the Coopers, the other release this weekend will be shown in just 1 Broadway/AMC theater. The holdovers are getting cut left right and center for Star Wars. The best of the lot is EDKO's own Keeper of Darkness which will maintain engagements at most theaters this week. 1/3 will be giving it full day showtimes. Point Break and Port of Call are the only other winners as far as holdovers are concerned. Big losers are Freeheld, Legend and In the Heart of the Sea. UA Cityplaza New Holdovers Leaving Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 12 showings In the Heart of the Sea - 4 showings (▼ 6) Freeheld Love the Coopers - 4 showings Before We Go - 1 showing (▼ 5) Victor Frankenstein Port of Call - 3 showings (▼ 4) Spectre Keeper of Darkness - 5 showings (▼ 7) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - 4 showings (▼ 5) Star Wars will be played on 2-3 screens (IMAX included). At Megabox, it is only getting 1 screen in its regular theater despite tickets going on sale on November 28 though with IMAX included, it will play on 2 screens total. Love the Coopers will be shown at 3 UA HK locations. With the lower count for Star Wars here, holdovers were spared for the most part. Keeper of Darkness and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 maintains coverage at all theaters while Port of Call and Point Break are not far behind. MCL Grand Windsor Cinema New Holdovers Leaving Star Wars: The Force Awakens (3D Eng.) - 10 showings Point Break - 1 showing (▼ 6) In the Heart of the Sea Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Eng.) - 4 showings Port of Call (Dir. Cut) - 2 showings (▼ 6) She Remembers, He Forgets MCL is going kamikaze for Star Wars with theaters showing this on 4-5 screens. Interestingly, MCL is the only franchised theater chain that will show the 2D Cantonese version of Star Wars this week. At The GRAND including midnights, Star Wars will blast off on Thursday with 36 showtimes in total. As MCL is pimping Star Wars heavily, holdovers aren't so lucky. The only one that retains showings at every theater is MCL's own Point Break. GH Whampoa New Holdovers Leaving Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 7 showings In the Heart of the Sea - 2 showings (▼ 3) Sinister Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 7 showings Point Break - 4 showings (=) Victor Frankenstein The Vanished Murderer - 2 showings (▼ 3) Spectre Keeper of Darkness - 4 showings (▼ 5) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - 1 showing (▼ 3) Star Wars is going the UA route and posting Star Wars on 2-3 screens. Holdovers will get a reprieve here with the usual suspects (Point Break, Keeper of Darkness, Port of Call) all escaping with showtimes of some sort.

Part 5 of Star Wars: The Force Awakens pre-sales Festival Walk Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Dec. 17 10:45 AM 20 138 14.49% 11:15 AM 214 354 60.45% 11:20 AM 20 144 13.89% 12:00 PM 16 156 10.26% 1:20 PM 4 138 2.90% 1:50 PM 109 354 30.79% 2:00 PM 6 144 4.17% 2:10 PM 5 156 3.21% 2:35 PM 45 156 28.85% 3:00 PM 8 127 6.30% 3:55 PM 7 138 5.07% 4:25 PM 142 354 40.11% 4:35 PM 6 144 4.17% 4:40 PM 8 156 5.13% 5:10 PM 37 156 23.72% 5:30 PM 9 127 7.09% 6:30 PM 5 138 3.62% 7:00 PM 234 354 66.10% 7:10 PM 6 156 3.85% 7:45 PM 95 156 60.90% 8:00 PM 14 127 11.02% 9:05 PM 12 138 8.70% 9:35 PM 214 354 60.45% 9:45 PM 11 156 7.05% 9:50 PM 6 144 4.17% 10:20 PM 27 156 17.31% Total 1280 4821 26.55% At Festival Walk, Star Wars generated about 100 admissions since last night. Afternoon and evening shows have struggled a lot. The situation is even more precarious at Palace APM... Palace APM Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Dec. 17 10:25 AM 6 112 5.36% 11:10 AM 7 114 6.14% 11:35 AM 106 286 37.06% 12:00 PM 4 167 2.40% 1:00 PM 4 112 3.57% 1:45 PM 4 114 3.51% 2:10 PM 31 286 10.84% 2:35 PM 4 167 2.40% 3:35 PM 4 112 3.57% 4:20 PM 6 114 5.26% 4:45 PM 30 286 10.49% 5:10 PM 8 167 4.79% 7:00 PM 7 114 6.14% 7:20 PM 154 286 53.85% 7:45 PM 4 167 2.40% 8:05 PM 4 112 3.57% 9:35 PM 4 114 3.51% 9:55 PM 79 286 27.62% 10:20 PM 4 167 2.40% 10:40 PM 4 112 3.57% 11:50 PM 4 98 4.08% 12:25 AM 20 286 6.99% Total 498 3779 13.18% 11 showtimes starting at noon are empty. That includes 2 7 pm showtimes. It is doing less than half than what Iron Man 3 did at this theater (38% of Iron Man 3's pre-sales) although I took Star Wars pre-sales about 5 hours ahead of Iron Man 3's. I am still waiting for Star Wars admissions to kick in but it hasn't happened yet. It's been strange following its pre-sales from the beginning. Really fast pre-selling in the beginning and now it's very slow.

That's dumb. It is the opposite of what they did for Ip Man 3 before. They moved up its release to Christmas from a January playdate. If they are that worried about local competition/Star Wars in China then they should not have moved up its release date everywhere.

What?! Any specific reason why? I agree. The distributor is small time. They only own 1 theater in HK and they've done a terrible job with promoting the film so far. It's nearly a week left before release and I still see more The Little Prince/Peanuts Movie ads than Ip Man 3! How crazy is that? Not to mention that they are showing previews on Star Wars weekend. It's boggling. This movie is a tentpole not a release that needs good WOM to spread. By the way, several people have said this movie is really good so fingers crossed! December 10 Weekend Estimates 1. Point Break - $898,166 2. Keeper of Darkness - $1,942,155 3. In the Heart of the Sea - $645,234 Port of Call - $445,211 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - $3,226,172 Point Break won over Keeper of Darkness this weekend but it wasn't by much. Point Break will get to 1m before exiting theaters. Keeper of Darkness lost by a very slim margin to Point Break this weekend but I doubt EDKO is complaining. 2 weeks at #1 and a 2m finish in the dead of winter is an excellent gross. In the Heart of the Sea didn't drown but its opening weekend was a lost cause. Port of Call had a very good hold while The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 passed Mockingjay Part 1 to become the 2nd biggest grossing film in the franchise behind Catching Fire. Mockingjay won't reach CF's total though. I think we all know why. Onto the big one... Early Thursday schedules Festival Walk New Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 26 showings Not quite as big as Avengers 2 which got 31 showings despite a longer running time than Star Wars 7 and lower than Iron Man 3's 27 opening day showtimes. The ONE New Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 21 showings (incl. 2 midnights) Below both Iron Man 3 and Avengers 2's OD showtimes (26 for IM3/27 for Avengers 2). Opening day pre-sales at Palace APM Palace APM Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Dec. 17 11:35 AM 98 286 34.27% 2:10 PM 25 286 8.74% 4:45 PM 30 286 10.49% 7:20 PM 152 286 53.15% 9:55 PM 79 286 27.62% 12:25 AM 20 286 6.99% Total 404 1716 23.54% This has done about half of Iron Man 3's OD pre-sales at Palace APM even with its admissions taken at a later time than when Iron Man 3's was taken. Iron Man 3 also had an extra screen already scheduled while Star Wars 7 still only has the 1 screen for now. Opening Saturday pre-sales for Star Wars: The Force Awakens Festival Walk Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Day Time Seats sold Seats available % filled Dec. 17 8:40 AM 127 354 35.88% 11:15 AM 200 354 56.50% 1:50 PM 135 354 38.14% 4:25 PM 174 354 49.15% 7:00 PM 149 354 42.09% 9:35 PM 100 354 28.25% Total 885 2124 41.67% Slightly below Iron Man 3's opening Saturday admissions with an additional showtime. Full Thursday schedules will be posted tomorrow.