GREECE: 'Kung Fu Panda 4' punches through competition for 4th time in a row

[Quigley]

CORRECTION: 'Venom 2' has been moved to October 21. However, this Thursday will see the release of 'The Last Duel' and 'Dune'. The competition for screens will be steep and this seems to be more bad news for 'No Time to Die'. This has been corrected in last weekend's report.

Edited October 12, 2021 by Quigley

[Quigley]

Weekend: 14th–17th of October 2021

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	No Time to Die	27,488	-49.8%	120	-127	229,551	3
2	Dune	26,449	–	110	–	26,449	1
3	The Last Duel	5,079	–	58	–	5,079	1
4	Luca	3,076	-4.1%	38	-3	134,171	16
5	Condorito: La Película [Chilean–Peruvian]	2,294	–	55	–	2,294	1
6	Άνθρωπος του Θεού (aka Man of God) [GR]	1,744	-40.1%	21	-24	277,357	8
7	PAW Patrol: The Movie	1,554	-24.2%	28	-3	40,542	7
8	Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc [Romanian]	879	-50.0%	5	-6	3,424	2
9	Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings	483	-73.0%	5	-13	51,029	6
10	Colectiv [Romanian]	379	–	6	–	379	1

 

Source: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-14-10-21.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-no-time-to-drop-from-the-top/

 

The grand finale to the Daniel Craig era of Bond films barely managed to scrape past 'Dune' to achieve a threepeat at the top, despite losing more than half of its screens. Speaking of 'Dune', the sci-fi adaptation scored an opening in between Denis Villeneuve's two most recent directorial efforts, 'Blade Runner 2049' (31,814 admissions) and 'Arrival' (20,743 admissions). Cumulative weekend admissions stayed level at 70,710, while 'No Time to Die's' run at the top is destined to end next weekend, as it will lose more screens due to the arrival of 'Venom 2', 'Halloween Kills' and 'Ron's Gone Wrong'. It probably won't reach the 300K-admission milestone, but it is still homing in on 'Man of God', which is headed for 280K+ admissions. Meanwhile, 'The Last Duel' scored the lowest Ridley Scott opening on record:

 

Ridley Scott films
Title	National OW	Release date	Total admissions	Multiple
Kingdom of Heaven	68,500	Wed 4 May 05	210,000	3.07
American Gangster	61,300	Tue 25 Dec 07	206,300	3.37
Robin Hood	60,430	Thu 13 May 10	162,380	2.69
Body of Lies	48,100	Thu 20 Nov 08	121,335	2.52
Prometheus	33,605	Thu 7 Jun 12	95,189	2.83
Exodus: Gods and Kings	29,400	Thu 11 Dec 14	84,310	2.87
The Martian	28,585	Thu 1 Oct 15	116,453	4.07
The Counselor	27,598	Thu 21 Nov 13	76,861	2.79
Alien: Covenant	19,407	Thu 18 May 17	47,065	2.43
All the Money in the World	10,779	Thu 21 Dec 17	58,571	5.43
Matchstick Men	10,400	Fri 3 Oct 03	30,000	2.88
The Last Duel	5,079	Thu 14 Oct 21	5,079	–

 

*National 3-day opening (Fri-Sun) estimate based on 3-day opening (Fri-Sun) in Athens and national 5-day opening (Wed-Sun).

**Estimated final totals based on the films' totals when they exited the Top 10

 

Ridely Scott has, of course, directed 'Alien', 'Blade Runner' and 'Gladiator' as well, but we don't have any reliable numbers for these films' Greek box office performance.

 

Pixar's 'Luca' continues its run with impressive late legs, despite competition from 'Condorito' and 'PAW Patrol'. However, its legs are likely to be chopped off next weekend with the arrival of 'Ron's Gone Wrong'. In other news, 'Shang-Chi' finally surpassed the 50K-admission milestone and has barely managed to outgross 'Black Widow'

Edited October 25, 2021 by Quigley

[Quigley]

Weekend: 21st–24th October 2021

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Venom: Let There Be Carnage	31,650	–	121	–	31,650	1
2	No Time to Die	16,387	-40.4%	89	-31	257,953	4
3	Dune	15,288	-42.2%	74	-36	57,553	2
4	Ron’s Gone Wrong	7,264	–	107	–	7,264	1
5	Luca	1,977	-35.7%	31	-7	136,417	17
6	Minamata	1,828	–	21	–	1,828	1
7	Άνθρωπος του Θεού (aka Man of God) [GR]	1,187	-31.9%	21	0	279,312	9
8	The Last Duel	919	-81.9%	12	-46	8,767	2
9	PAW Patrol: The Movie	790	-49.2%	21	-7	41,424	8
10	Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc [Romanian]	641	-27.1%	5	0	4,473	3

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-21-october-2021.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-not-a-carnage-for-venom-2/

 

Last week's aliens were not popular enough to dethrone James Bond, but this week's aliens made it. 'Venom 2' scored Hollywood's second biggest opening of the year in Greece, only behind 'No Time to Die', but it was still less than half of its predecessor's opening. This was consistent with the performance of 'No Time to Die', which also opened to less than half of its immediate predecessors. Based on this opening, 'Venom 2' will struggle to reach the 100K-admission milestone. Total admissions for the weekend improved over the last one (79,579). Peculiarly, 'Halloween Kills' was not released this week and I suspect that something sketchy is going on at myfilm.gr, the website where I get this information from. 'No Time to Die' managed to stay ahead of 'Dune', although they had very similar drops. Fox's 'Ron's Gone Wrong' was far from a home run and I can imagine it easily falling behind 'Luca', which has demonstrated incredible legs. More animated films are bound to steal the attention away from 'Ron's Gone Wrong', including 'The Addams Family 2' and possibly 'Peter Rabbit'. 'Man of God' remains the top-grossing film of the year, but not for long, since James Bond is holding better than expected. Finally, Ridley Scott's 'The Last Duel' plummeted badly and may not make it to 10K admissions. Tomorrow, October 28, is a national holiday, so expect the weekend to be busier than usual.

Edited October 29, 2021 by Quigley

[Quigley]

Weekend: 28th–31st October 2021

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Venom: Let There Be Carnage	14,390	-54.5%	81	-40	63,561	2
2	No Time to Die	13,405	-18.2%	58	-31	280,010	5
3	Dune	13,191	-13.7%	62	-12	81,078	3
4	The Addams Family 2	11,477	–	103	–	11,477	1
5	Madres paralelas [Spanish]	9,731	–	34	–	9,731	1
6	Halloween Kills	8,671	–	64	–	8,671	1
7	Ron’s Gone Wrong	5,150	-29.1%	75	-32	14,535	2
8	Titane [French–Belgian]	1,456	–	13	–	1,612	1
9	Luca	1,385	-29.9%	21	-10	137,990	18
10	Άνθρωπος του Θεού (aka Man of God) [GR]	1,135	-4.4%	18	-3	281,309	10

 

Sources: https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-venom-2-steals-the-top-spot-on-the-edge/

https://flix.gr/news/box-office-28-10-2021.html

 

'Venom 2' stayed on top for a second weekend, but fell harder than its predecessor (-47%). It is now trailing its predecessor by 56%. 100K admissions will prove a difficult feat, especially with the arrival of the MCU's 'Eternals' this weekend. The Tom Hardy-led sequel even came scarily close to losing the top spot to James Bond, who is still at large with 'No Time to Die' in its fifth week. It is days away from suprassing 'Man of God' to become the biggest film of the year and the biggest since the start of the pandemic. The 300K-admission milestone seems an almost foregone conclusion at this point. 'Dune' had a very good drop, even better than Bond and it too is aiming for the 100K-admission milestone. It is however in a much better position to achieve this than 'Venom 2'. In terms of newcomers, both 'The Addams Family 2' and 'Halloween Kills' opened to lass than half of their predecessors, in what now seems to be a trend for this year's sequels. Meanwhile Spanish newcomer 'Madres paralelas' gave 'The Addams Family 2' and 'Halloween Kills' a run for their money despite opening on far far fewer screens. Next weekend, the two sequels will be facing competition from children's film 'Peter Rabbit 2' and horror film 'Last Night in Soho'. Finally, 'Ron Gone's Wrong', 'Luca' and 'Man of God' all had pretty solid holds. One thing to keep in mind is that the saint on which 'Man of God' is based, St Nectarios, is celebrated on November 9. I could imagine a re-expansion to accommodate for any last-minute interest in the film, although I have not read anything in particular about this in the news.

[von Kenni]

30 minutes ago, Quigley said:

Weekend: 28th–31st October 2021

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Venom: Let There Be Carnage	14,390	-54.5%	81	-40	63,561	2
2	No Time to Die	13,405	-18.2%	58	-31	280,010	5
3	Dune	13,191	-13.7%	62	-12	81,078	3
4	The Addams Family 2	11,477	–	103	–	11,477	1
5	Madres paralelas [Spanish]	9,731	–	34	–	9,731	1
6	Halloween Kills	8,671	–	64	–	8,671	1
7	Ron’s Gone Wrong	5,150	-29.1%	75	-32	14,535	2
8	Titane [French–Belgian]	1,456	–	13	–	1,612	1
9	Luca	1,385	-29.9%	21	-10	137,990	18
10	Άνθρωπος του Θεού (aka Man of God) [GR]	1,135	-4.4%	18	-3	281,309	10

 

Sources: https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-venom-2-steals-the-top-spot-on-the-edge/

https://flix.gr/news/box-office-28-10-2021.html

 

'Venom 2' stayed on top for a second weekend, but fell harder than its predecessor (-47%). It is now trailing its predecessor by 56%. 100K admissions will prove a difficult feat, especially with the arrival of the MCU's 'Eternals' this weekend. The Tom Hardy-led sequel even came scarily close to losing the top spot to James Bond, who is still at large with 'No Time to Die' in its fifth week. It is days away from suprassing 'Man of God' to become the biggest film of the year and the biggest since the start of the pandemic. The 300K-admission milestone seems an almost foregone conclusion at this point. 'Dune' had a very good drop, even better than Bond and it too is aiming for the 100K-admission milestone. It is however in a much better position to achieve this than 'Venom 2'. In terms of newcomers, both 'The Addams Family 2' and 'Halloween Kills' opened to lass than half of their predecessors, in what now seems to be a trend for this year's sequels. Meanwhile Spanish newcomer 'Madres paralelas' gave 'The Addams Family 2' and 'Halloween Kills' a run for their money despite opening on far far fewer screens. Next weekend, the two sequels will be facing competition from children's film 'Peter Rabbit 2' and horror film 'Last Night in Soho'. Finally, 'Ron Gone's Wrong', 'Luca' and 'Man of God' all had pretty solid holds. One thing to keep in mind is that the saint on which 'Man of God' is based, St Nectarios, is celebrated on November 9. I could imagine a re-expansion to accommodate for any last-minute interest in the film, although I have not read anything in particular about this in the news.

What's the average ticket price over there? E.g. how much is 100k admissions in euros or dollars?

[Quigley]

On 11/3/2021 at 7:00 PM, von Kenni said:

What's the average ticket price over there? E.g. how much is 100k admissions in euros or dollars?

6.36 euros in 2020. Largely stable over the last decade. More info on first page.

[Quigley]

Weekend: 4th–7th November 2021

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Eternals	27,144	–	120	–	27,144	1
2	The Addams Family 2	6,714	-41.5%	76	-27	19,794	2
3	Dune	6,371	-51.7%	40	-22	94,416	4
4	No Time to Die	6,367	-52.5%	37	-21	291,141	6
5	Madres paralelas [Spanish]	5,252	-46.0%	34	0	18,871	2
6	Venom: Let There Be Carnage	5,228	-63.7%	34	-47	76,087	3
7	Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway	3,192	–	74	–	3,192	1
8	Last Night in Soho	2,715	–	24	–	2,715	1
9	Halloween Kills	2,211	-74.5%	19	-45	15,969	2
10	Ron’s Gone Wrong	1,572	-69.5%	42	-33	16,334	3

Sources: https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-an-alert-for-the-greek-distributors/

https://flix.gr/news/box-office-4-11-2021.html

 

The 69,737 admissions sold this weekend represented a slight decrease from last week, but remained on par with the general levels of traffic seen over the last couple of months. The MCU's 'Eternals' opened slightly less than 'Venom 2' but bigger than 'Black Widow' and 'Shang-Chi', thus marking the biggest post-pandemic MCU opening. The rest of the weekend's results were a proper... carnage, with 'Venom 2', last week's number one, dropping 64%. 'Halloween Kills' also dropped very hard, while horror hilm 'Last Night in Soho' managed to outgross it. Second place for the weekend went to 'The Addams Family 2', which was not affected too much by 'Peter Rabbit 2. The same could not be said for 'Ron Gone's Wrong' which fell 70%. The 'Peter Rabbit' sequel opened to a third of its predecessor's opening. In terms of other holdovers, 'Dune' and 'No Time to Die' both dropped by more than 50%, but are still on track to reach significant milestones (100K and 300K admissions respectively). The latest Bond film has now officially become the biggest film of the year, surpassing Greek film 'Man of God'. Speaking of which, 'Man of God' dropped out of the Top 10 after spending 10 weekends there. This matched 'Eftyhia's' streak, but was one less than 'Worlds Apart'.

 

Another important thing to note is that 'Luca' finally dropped out of the Top 10, after spending 17 weeks there. This was a record number for the last decade. 'Hotel Transylvania 3' held the previous record, with 15 weekends in the Top 10. However, 'Luca's streak was interrupted. It only spent 9 consecutive weekends in the Top 10 before falling out of the Top 10 for one weekend and then spending another 8 weekends in the Top 10 after that. 'Hotel Transylvania 3' still holds the record for the most consecutive weekends in the Top 10.

 

Rank	Title	No of weekends in Top 10
1	Luca	17
2	Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation*	15
3	Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted	12
4	Home	12
5	La La Land	12
6	Green Book	12
7	Ice Age: Continental Drift	12
8	Ένας άλλος κόσμος (Worlds Apart) [GR]	11
9	The Secret Life of Pets	11
10	Smurfs: The Lost Village	11
11	The Boss Baby	11
12	Despicable Me 3	11
13	Sing	11
14	La Famille Belier**	11

 

 

Rank	Title	Consecutive weekends in Top 10
1	Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation*	15
2	Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted	12
3	Home	12
4	La La Land	12
5	Green Book	12
6	Ice Age: Continental Drift	11
7	Ένας άλλος κόσμος (Worlds Apart) [GR]	11
8	The Secret Life of Pets	11
9	Smurfs: The Lost Village	11
10	The Boss Baby	11
11	Despicable Me 3	11

 

Next week sees the release of 'Boss Baby 2' and, more importantly, another Greek historical drama film which aims to take Greece by storm: 'Kalavryta 1943'. This is a film centered around the execution of hundreds of men in a mountainous village of Southern Greece by the German forces during the occupation of Greece in WWII. Expect swarms who will wanna catch it in theatres...

[Quigley]

Weekend: 11th–14th November 2021

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Καλάβρυτα 1943 (Kalavryta 1943) [GR]	24,410	–	112	–	24,410	1
2	Eternals	13,059	-51.9%	66	-54	54,725	2
3	The Boss Baby: Family Business	8,150	–	80	–	8,150	1
4	The Addams Family 2	5,228	-22.1%	66	-10	25,483	3
5	No Time to Die	4,700	-26.2%	26	-11	298,489	7
6	Dune	4,364	-31.5%	28	-12	102,348	5
7	Madres paralelas [Spanish]	4,120	-21.6%	25	-9	25,577	3
8	Venom: Let There Be Carnage	3,022	-42.2%	20	-14	82,086	4
9	Antlers	2,975	–	44	–	2,975	1
10	Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway	1,447	-54.7%	45	-29	5,138	2

 

Sources: https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-not-really-a-holocaust/

https://flix.gr/news/box-office-11-11-2021.html

https://www.grandmagazine.gr/el/article/6310/box-office-i-sfagh-ton-kalabruton-sugkinise-to-koino

 

It came as a surprise to no one that 'Kalavryta 1943' topped the charts. However, the opening was underwhelming while cumulative admissions (76,520) remained bang average compared to the last two months. The increasingly tough coronavirus restrictions are partly to blame for this situation: unvaccinated people who have not been previously infected are either not allowed at all or need to have a negative test in order to enter a cinema. At the same time, the record positivity rates across the country are keeping some of the more fearful people from visiting closed public spaces even if they are vaccinated. In any case, the historical drama about the execution of hundreds of Greeks in a mountainous village during WWII paled in comparison to other similar movies. The most similar film in recent times that comes to mind is 'The Last Note' (a story about Greek communists executed in Athens by the Germans during WWII). That film opened to 45,109 admissions in October 2017. 'Ouzeri Tsitsanis', another film belonging to the same genre (although leaning more towards a dramatised rather than a historically accurate version of events), opened to 30,368 admissions in December 2015. And, in order to make a post-pandemic comparison, we can't overlook the 62,305-admission opening of Greek film 'Man of God' last August – although it does not belong to the same genre, strictly speaking.

 

Compared to other holdovers, second-place finisher 'Eternals' sophomore drop seems quite high and certainly not objectively impressive at -52%. However, for a superhero film, it is actually very good. 'Black Widow' had dropped 70% while 'Shang-Chi' dropped 59%. Although 100K admissions seem far-fetched, 'Eternals' has already become the biggest MCU film of the year, beating both aforementioned titles in less than a fortnight. Can it beat 'Venom 2'? The Tom Hardy sequel had its best hold yet, but has already bid farewell to the 100K-admission milestone.

 

Completing the top trio is 'Boss Baby 2', which opened to a third of the original's 23,936-admission opening back in April 2017. Unaffected by this dismal start was another animated sequel, 'The Addams Family 2', while the same cannot be said about 'Peter Rabbit 2'. 'No Time to Die' and 'Dune' continue their parallel destiny with very similar, and very small, drops. The prior is days away from reaching the 300K-admission milestone, while the latter has reached 100K admissions. Looking forward to the sequel. Last but not least, I have to mention 'Madres Paralelas' simply because it had the best hold of the Top 10, although there is not much else to say.

 

Minor news for titles below the Top 10: 'Luca' (138,937 admissions) has now overtaken 'Coco' (137,423 admission) in the Pixar film rankings. Next up is 'Cars 2' with 140,825 admissions, but 'Luca' hasn't got enough steam left to overtake it.

Edited November 18, 2021 by Quigley

[Quigley]

Weekend: 18th–21st November 2021

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Καλάβρυτα 1943 (Kalavryta 1943) [GR]	14,195	-41.8%	98	-14	53,637	2
2	The Boss Baby: Family Business	7,792	-4.4%	84	+4	18,295	2
3	Eternals	7,236	-44.6%	49	-17	69,064	3
4	Karditsa Forever [GR]	3,532	–	69	–	3,532	1
5	No Time to Die	3,441	-26.8%	24	-2	304,276	8
6	Dune	3,438	-21.2%	26	-2	106,550	6
7	The Addams Family 2	3,059	-41.5%	56	-10	28,870	4
8	Madres paralelas [Spanish]	2,538	-38.4%	26	+1	29,738	4
9	The Power of the Dog	2,442	–	25	–	2,442	1
10	Venom: Let There Be Carnage	2,104	-30.4%	13	-7	86,168	5

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-18-11-2021.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-frightening-tickets-drop/

https://www.grandmagazine.gr/el/article/6323/box-office-kalabruta-kai-pali-stin-korufh

 

This weekend was the worst since late September, selling only 56,818 admissions, which doesn't bode well for the remainder of the year. Basically, if the remaining five weekends don't sell 100,000 admissions on average, 2021 will probably be a worse year than 2020 in terms of cumulative admissions. This is looking like an increasingly likely scenario with restrictions on a tightening trend and, most importantly, with the banning of negative tests as a way for the unvaccinated to enter cinemas. Next weekend will be the first during which the unvaccinated will only be able to enter cinemas if they have proof of infection in the past 6 months. This evolving medical tyranny has exceeded the authoritarians' wildest dreams and its end is nowhere near in sight. Thus, expect the numbers seen last weekend to become the new norm.

 

'Kalavryta 1943' had an underwhelming and continues to have underwhelming run albeit not disastrous. It has nevertheless entered this year's Top 10, which probably says more about the dire state of the box office rather than about the film itself. 'Boss Baby 2' had the only barely impressive performance with a minuscule drop that pushed it up from #3 to #2. However, its chances of reaching the original's 158,090-admission total are next no none. 'Eternals' continued with favorable drops that are not as disastrous as other superhero films; it is now trailing 'Venom 2' by only 7,000 admissions at the same point in its run, with a weekend that is larger by 2,000 admissions. Its chances of beating 'Venom 2's' total, sitting currently at 86.2K admissions, are fair. Another Greek film entered the mix, 'Karditsa Forever', a sequel to 'I Love Karditsa', which had sold 354,619 admissions back in 2010. Looking at the sequel's opening, there is nothing I can say other than sigh in disappointment verging on despair. Bond's 'No Time to Die' and 'Dune' continue to be bright spots with minor drops and healthy totals.

 

Next weekend sees the release of Disney's animated flick 'Encanto' and Ridley Scott's 'House of Gucci'.

[Quigley]

Weekend: 25th–28th November 2021

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	House of Gucci	26,441	–	112	–	26,441	1
2	Encanto	11,743	–	108	–	11,743	1
3	Καλάβρυτα 1943 (Kalavryta 1943) [GR]	5,262	-62.9%	64	-34	69,721	3
4	Λούγκερ (Luger) [GR]	2,449	–	50	–	2,449	1
5	The Boss Baby: Family Business	3,943	-49.4%	68	-16	23,008	3
6	Eternals	3,546	-51.0%	32	-17	75,195	4
7	No Time to Die	1,979	-42.5%	19	-5	307,584	9
8	The Addams Family 2	1,437	-53.0%	36	-20	30,472	5
9	Dune	1,279	-62.8%	12	-14	110,838	7
10	Madres paralelas [Spanish]	1,208	-52.4%	26	0	31,967	5

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-25-11-2021.html

https://freecinema.gr/geek-box-office-house-of-gucci-is-fashionable/

 

Two high-profile Hollywood films were not enough to get the box office out of the doldrums caused by the worsening restrictions imposed by the government. This was the first weekend during which people must either have natural immunity from prior infection in the last 6 months or be vaccinated in order to enter a cinema. Negative tests can no longer be used in order to enter a cinema, as was the case up to now. We all know by now that the vaccinated can still catch and transmit the virus, but this doesn't stop the government from using euphemisms ("covid-free cinemas") to describe such restrictions. Anyway, I'm digressing. The new, apprently milder, omicron variant has also contributed to scaring people away from cinemas – made worse by the fact that the vaccinated are more likely to be afraid of going to cinemas in the first place and more likely to be scared by new variants.

 

Total admissions reached 64,275, with Ridely Scott-directed 'House of Gucci' achieving the fifth biggest opening of the year, faring far better than his other recent film 'The Last Duel'. Disney's 'Encanto' scored the third-biggest opening of the year, behind 'Luca' and 'PAW Patrol'. It was also on par with 'The Addams Family 2', but significantly better than 'Ron's Gone Wrong' or 'Boss Baby 2'. The upcoming holidays could help push this to a considerable total and even cross the 100K-admission milestone, but this is in no a way a given. Greek historical drama 'Kalavryta' was hit hard by the arrival of 'House of Gucci' and the new restrictions, while any hopes of reaching 100K admissions have been annihilated. This was the case for other holdovers as well – only 'No Time to Die' didn't drop by 50% or more.

 

Weekend: 2nd–5th December 2021

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	House of Gucci	19,739	-25.3%	112	0	67,808	2
2	Encanto	10,351	-11.9%	103	-5	24,360	2
3	The French Dispatch	4,809	–	56	–	4,809	1
4	Ghostbusters: Afterlife	4,441	–	76	–	5,746	1
5	Καλάβρυτα 1943 (Kalavryta 1943) [GR]	3,161	-39.9%	27	-37	70,842	4
6	The Boss Baby: Family Business	2,864	-27.4%	54	-14	26,077	4
7	Clifford the Big Red Dog	2,276	–	47	–	2,276	1
8	Eternals	1,941	-45.3%	16	-16	78,800	5
9	No Time to Die	1,223	-38.2%	8	-11	309,981	10
10	The Addams Family 2	1,059	-26.3%	21	-15	31,644	6

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-2-december-2021.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-the-people-trust-brand-names/

 

In contrast to the previous weekend, this one saw good holds across the board, but the openers performed poorly and total admissions dropped to an abysmal 56,818. The year is headed towards a total that will be below 2020's, which is horrendous and depressing by all accounts. Last week's top duo retained their places and had some pretty good holds. With the holidays not having started yet, they are in pretty good shape to achieve very solid legs in the long run. Not much else to report for the Top 10. 'Eternals' will not be out-grossing 'Venom 2'.

 

This weekend sees the arrival of 'Don't Look Up' which starts DiCaprio (very popular actor in Greece), 'C'mon c'mon' and 'The Black Bachelor', a fourquel for the Greek film series 'Bachelor'. Things could get a bit more interesting quite soon...

[Quigley]

Weekend: 9th–12th December 2021

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	The Black Bachelor [GR]	15,231	–	94	–	15,231	1
2	House of Gucci	8,948	-54.7%	62	-50	80,851	3
3	Encanto	7,798	-24.7%	93	-10	33,371	3
4	West Side Story	3,208	–	61	–	3,208	1
5	The Boss Baby: Family Business	1,940	-32.3%	40	-14	28,262	5
6	Clifford the Big Red Dog	1,922	-15.6%	39	-8	4,574	2
7	The French Dispatch	1,808	-62.4%	18	-38	10,206	2
8	Καλάβρυτα 1943 (Kalavryta 1943) [GR]	1,697	-46.3%	20	-7	73,924	5
9	Ghostbusters: Afterlife	1,419	-68.0%	15	-61	9,020	2
10	Eternals	1,171	-39.7%	13	-3	80,917	6

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-9-december-2021.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-blackness-conquers/

 

Total weekend admissions (49,748) sank to their lowest point since late September, which marked the calm before the 'No Time to Die' storm. Another Greek film dominated the field, albeit with a much less impressive opening than other recent Greek films. 'Black Bachelor' is the fourth instalment in the 'Bachelor' franchise, which began with 'The Bachelor' in 2016. These are the openings and totals (in admissions) of the previous three films:

• 'The Bachelor': 23.9K opening, 101.6K total
• 'Bachelor 2': 36.6K opening, 237.6K total
• 'The Bach3lor': 63.5K opening, 235.8K total

As much as there is a temptation to blame sequelitis for the fourquel's performance, though, it would be naive to pretend that ever-increasing restrictions and the fear of the new coronavirus variant are not major causes of the diminished box-office returns. 'West Side Story' on the other hand simply did not interest anyone because, as has been stated succinctly by you-know-who, "everything woke turns to sh*t".

 

Among holdovers, 'House of Gucci' was hit badly by 'Black Bachelor', thanks to losing nearly half its screens. It still has a chance at reaching the 100K-admission milestone, although the competition in the following weeks will be stiff. Even worse was the fate of 'The French Dispatch' and 'Ghostbusters', who were obliterated after losing so many screens. On the other hand, 'Encanto', 'Boss Baby 2' and 'Clifford' had the best holds of the weekend. Last but not least, 'Eternals' has enjoyed the biggest total and the biggest multiplier among this year's MCU releases (2.98x vs. 2.72x for 'Shang-Chi' and 2.54x for 'Black Widow').

 

Today, 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' and animated sequel 'Sing 2' are bound to make some waves, although, how many, in the current depressing climate, it is not yet clear.

Edited December 16, 2021 by Quigley

[Zamor]

What's the OD for Spiderman?

[Quigley]

Eye-popping opening for Spider-Man. More to follow...

[Quigley]

Weekend: 16th–19th December 2021

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Spider-Man: No Way Home	150,813	–	187	–	150,813	1
2	Sing 2	15,605	–	108	–	15,605	1
3	The Black Bachelor [GR]	6,389	-58.1%	51	-43	29,294	2
4	Encanto	4,203	-46.1%	72	-21	38,361	4
5	House of Gucci	4,177	-53.3%	31	-31	89,703	4
6	Clifford the Big Red Dog	1,072	-44.2%	25	-14	5,955	3
7	The French Dispatch	952	-47.3%	11	-7	12,325	3
8	West Side Story	855	-73.3%	14	-47	5,484	2
9	The Boss Baby: Family Business	657	-66.1%	19	-21	29,171	6
10	Lamb [Icelandic]	584	–	4	–	584	1

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-16-12-2021.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-the-reunion-of-spider-man-is-sweeping/

 

Allow me to be cynical, but I don't really view the news that the sixth Spider-Man film in 20 years achieved such a humongous opening as a very postive development. There is no innovation in Hollywood anymore. Leaving aside my personal views though, this weekend was absolutely shocking. Cumulative weekend admissions reached 188,601. This marks the first time that a post-pandemic weekend beats the corresponding weekend from 2019 (i.e. the third weekend of December).

 

All this is almost exclusively thanks to 'No Way Home's' dizzying debut, which came out of nowehere. It has set new post-pandemic standards which I personally thought would have taken years to re-establish. It is by far the biggest post-pandemic opening, nearly doubling 'No Time to Die's 80K admissions. It achieved the second-biggest superhero opening ever, only behind 'Spider-Man 3's' 158,971 admissions and the biggest MCU opening on record. The lucrative Christmas period that is to follow bodes very well for this sequel. Overall, it was the 17th-biggest opening of all time in Greece and the biggest in six years, since 'Spectre'. Here is a list of the Top 20:

 

Ranking	Title	Weekend admissions	Comments	Release date
1	300	316,681	(all-time record)	Thu 8 Mar 07
2	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	219,696	(then-record)	Thu 24 Aug 06
3	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	213,490		Thu 24 May 07
4	Troy	200,000	(3-day weekend, then-record)	Fri 14 May 04
5	2012	184,475		Thu 12 Nov 09
6	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	178,200		Thu 24 Nov 05
7	The Da Vinci Code	177,811		Thu 18 May 06
8	The Twilight Saga: New Moon	170,392		Thu 19 Nov 09
9	Λούφα και παραλλαγή: σειρήνες στο Αιγαίο (Loafing and Camouflage: Sirens in the Aegean) [GR]	169,000		Thu 8 Dec 05
10	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1	166,211		Thu 18 Nov 10
11	Spectre	166,068		Thu 12 Nov 15
12	Skyfall	165,301		Thu 1 Nov 12
13	Spider-Man 3	158,971		Thu 3 May 07
14	300: Rise of an Empire	158,399		Thu 6 Mar 14
15	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	155,000	(3-day weekend, then-record)	Wed 17 Dec 03
16	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	152,908		Thu 19 May 11
17	Spider-Man: No Way Home	150,813		Thu 16 Dec 21
18	Quantum of Solace	143,388		Thu 6 Nov 08
19	El Greco [GR]	141,585		Thu 18 Oct 07
20	Fifty Shades of Grey	140,443		Thu 12 Feb 15

 

A few things to note:

• Films used to traditionally open on a Friday up until August 2005, after which point the opening day was moved to Thursday.
• The above list only includes the admissions earned between Thursday and Sunday (for films released after August 2005) or between Friday and Sunday (for films released before August 2005). If a film was released earlier (e.g. on a Wednesday), then the Wednesday (+/- Thursday) admissions have been subtracted from the opening-weekend tally. I will make a "tally-up-to-first Sunday" chart later on.
• No films have reached the Top 10 in the last 10 years.
• 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl' was knocked out of the Top 20, having achieved a then-record, 3-day opening of 140,090 admissions.

 

Where can 'No Way Home' go from here? Based on historical records, high-profile action films that opened a week before Christmas achieved at least a 3x multiplier. That would take 'No Way Home' to at least 450K admissions – making it the biggest 'Spider-Man' film ever, the second-biggest MCU film (only behind 'Engame's' 538K admissions) and the third-biggest comic-book film of all time (the other being 'Joker' at 906K admissions). 'Joker's total is almost certainly unreachable, but given good word-of-mouth, 'Endgame's' total is well within reach.

 

Opening exactly five years after the original, 'Sing 2' achieved a 25.8% lower opening. In the current pandemic situation ('No Way Home' notwithstanding) that is actually a small drop, given that we've seen most films drop by about 50% from their immediate predecessors.

 

Holdover performance ranged from big drops to obliteration this weekend and it's easy to see why. The best holds were achieved by 'Clifford' and 'Encanto'. Nevertheless, 'House of Gucci' still has chances of reaching the 100K-admission milestone.

 

Given that this Thursday sees the arrival of 'The Matrix Resurrections' and Greek historical drama 'My Beloved Smyrna', cumulative admissions for 2021 will be on par with (and possibly higher than) 2020, even though as late as last weekend I was predicting that 2021 admissions would definitely be lower than 2020.

 

Edited December 23, 2021 by Quigley

[Quigley]

On 12/16/2021 at 10:07 PM, Zamor said:

What's the OD for Spiderman?

Daily breakdown

Thu 37,347

Fri 30,561

Sat 44,709

Sun 38,196

 

Its opening day is the second biggest for the MCU, behind 'Engame's' all-time record of 78,261 admissions.

[Quigley]

62% drop for Spidey. Full report later today...

[Pypa94]

23 minutes ago, Quigley said:

62% drop for Spidey. Full report later today...

Good/bad/mediocre?

[Quigley]

Weekend: December 23-26, 2021

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Spider-Man: No Way Home	57,761	-61.7%	120	-67	279,726	2
2	Σμύρνη μου αγαπημένη (My Beloved Smyrna) [GR]	28,675	–	129	–	28,675	1
3	The Matrix Resurrections	15,823	–	62	–	15,823	1
4	Sing 2	11,928	-23.6%	101	-7	31,588	2
5	The Black Bachelor [GR]	2,894	-54.7%	14	-37	36,063	3
6	Moonbound [English-language German–Austrian]	2,151	–	64	–	2,151	1
7	Encanto	1,924	-54.2%	44	-28	41,467	5
8	House of Gucci	616	-85.3%	5	-26	92,711	5
9	The French Dispatch	472	-50.4%	6	-5	13,290	4
10	Madres paralelas [Spanish]	276	-11.8%	4	-2	35,314	9

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-23-12-2021.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-adults-stayed-out-of-cinemas/

 

The adrenaline of last weekend is already dying down, it seems, as total admissions dropped to 124,054 this weekend, compared to last one's 189K admissions. That is due to two developments: firstly 'No Way Home' had a sizeable 62% drop and secondly, both Greek historical drama 'My Beloved Smyrna' and 'Matrix 4' underperformed.

 

The latest Spidey sequel's drop was not too bad. It was similar to that of 'Homecoming' (64.0%), 'Far From Home' (59.0%), 'Spider-Man 3' (62.7%), 'Shang-Chi' (59.2%) and 'Age of Ultron' (62.6%). It was, on the other hand, far worse than this year's 'Eternals' (51.9%), but much better than 'Black Widow' (69.7%). However, it is difficult to compare it with other film's drops because of the timing of its opening. Christmas Day and Christmas Eve were the quietest days of the weekend (Christmas Day was the quietest, despite falling on Saturday), while the busiest day was Sunday the 26th. This was expected but it also makes it difficult to assess the film's performance. All in all, I think it was a decent drop and I am hopeful for a small drop the following weekend. It goes without saying that 'No Time to Die's' 312K-admission total will be eclipsed in... no time at all by 'No Way Home'. It remains on track to beat 'Spider-Man 2's' 385.7K-admission total to become the biggest 'Spider-Man' film ever and the 3rd biggest comic-book film in Greece. However, the half-million mark seems unattainable at this stage and even 450K admissions are in doubt. Here is a list for the totals of all Spidey films (the original 'Spider-Man's' total remains unknown):

 

Title (year)	Total admissions
Spider-Man 2 (2004)	385,700
Spider-Man 3 (2007)	366,987
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)	279,726
Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)	189,621
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)	167,110
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)	137,490
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)	127,663

 

In the meantime, 'My Beloved Smyrna' barely surpassed the opening of 'Kalavryta 1943' from early November (24,410 admissions). It will certainly get boosted by the holiday period, but it is still an overall disappointing opening. Another lesson can be learnt from this: the recovery of cinema attendance has different age dynamics. While teens and young adults swarmed to the cinemas to watch 'No Way Home' (despite the government restrictions which forbid unvaxxed people who have not been infected in the last 6 months from entering cinemas), older adults and small children (which must be accompanied by older adults) have not yet returned to cinemas to the same extent, probably because of fear and an (irreversible?) loss of interest. That is why animated films and films that cater to older adults (e.g. James Bond, Matrix) have not performed as well as their predecessors, while films that cater specifically to young adults (like Spider-Man) have performed so well. In this sense, 'No Way Home' seems to be an exception. Marvel films do tend to attract young and old audiences, but 'No Way Home' is a film that tends to attract younger audiences that the average Marvel film (probably because of the age of its protagonists). Another crucial factor that no one will say out loud is that the film does not rub the woke agenda in your face. That certainly is not the case with other recent MCU films, which have tried mercilessly (and at artistic cost) to adhere to woke doctrines. Similar factors to those suppressing 'My Beloved Smyrna' probably contributed to 'Matrix 4's' underperformance. 'Sing 2' is the only other film that did not get obliterated by a loss of screens and will soon surpass 'Encanto' to become the best animated film of this holiday season. However, the title of biggest animated film of the year will still stay with 'Luca', which is at 140K admissions. Finally, 'House of Gucci' has lost all hope of reaching the 100K-admission milestone.

 

You can see the updated 2021 Top 10 list on the first page. According to my estimates, using cumulative weekend admissions as a proxy, 2021's yearly performance is very close to 2020, if only slightly under (by about 1%). We'll wait for the official figures to find out if weekday numbers have altered this estimate significantly.

Edited December 28, 2021 by Quigley

[Quigley]

Weekend: December 30, 2021–January 2, 2022

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Spider-Man: No Way Home	23,421	-59.5%	117	-3	351,238	3
2	Σμύρνη μου αγαπημένη (My Beloved Smyrna) [GR]	20,213	-29.5%	134	+5	80,215	2
3	Sing 2	8,302	-30.4%	102	+1	53,915	3
4	The Matrix Resurrections	5,678	-64.1%	72	+10	32,115	2
5	Moonbound [English-language German–Austrian]	1,566	-27.2%	53	-11	6,228	2
6	Encanto	1,475	-23.3%	35	-9	45,677	6
7	House of Gucci	651	+5.7%	3	-2	93,914	6
8	Petite Maman [French]	429	–	4	–	429	1
9	The French Dispatch	244	-48.3%	4	-2	13,904	5
10	Where Is Anne Frank [English-language French]	181	–	8	–	181	1

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-30-12-2021.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-fear-wins-at-the-beginning-of-the-new-year/

 

The box office enjoyed a very short-lived boost in mid-December thanks to 'No Way Home', which has now completely disappeared, with business over the New Year's weekend (62,805 admissions) being as low as early December. 'Smyrna' and 'Matrix' failed spectacularly and 'No Way Home' dropped precipitously – it seems to me it didn't have the word of mouth that was expected. Animated films dropped less than most other films. Let's hope to a brighter 2022. Summary of the year coming in the next few days.

[Quigley]

Weekend: January 6-9, 2022

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Σμύρνη μου αγαπημένη (My Beloved Smyrna) [GR]	26,246	+29.8%	121	-13	126,350	3
2	Spider-Man: No Way Home	21,921	-6.4%	81	-36	394,053	4
3	Sing 2	8,980	+8.2%	88	-14	70,251	4
4	The King’s Man	5,763	–	60	–	5,763	1
5	The Matrix Resurrections	4,089	-28.0%	47	-25	41,182	3
6	Licorice Pizza	3,629	–	26	–	3,629	1
7	The Black Bachelor	2,557	N/A	8	N/A	45,538	5
8	Encanto	2,127	+44.2%	32	-3	49,365	7
9	Moonbound [English-language German–Austrian]	1,669	+6.6%	37	-16	8,804	3
10	House of Gucci	566	-13.1%	5	+2	95,132	7

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-6-1-2022.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-smyrnas-time-for-the-top-spot/

https://www.grandmagazine.gr/el/article/6397/box-office-i-smurni-pernaei-mprosta

 

This weekend saw a small uptick in admissions (79,309) compared to New Year's, thanks to the public holiday on January 6. The Christmas holidays are often an extended period of two weeks for many Greeks, due to the religious holiday of Theophany on January 6. With this year's holiday falling on a Thursday, many people end up getting an extra day of leave on Friday to make it a four-day weekend.

 

The first two titles switched places, with Greek historical drama 'My Beloved Smyrna' coming up on top. It performance has nevertheless been disappointing, as it was widely expected to be the #1 hit of the holiday season. It is the second biggest Greek film of the year, behind 'Man of God' (283,073 admissions). 'No Way Home' still managed to drop despite the overall uptick in business. However, it is now the biggest Spider-Man film of all time in Greece, beating 'Spider-Man 2' (385,700 admissions). It is the third-biggest comic-book film of all time, behind only 'Endgame' (538K admissions) and 'Joker' (906K admissions), both of which are far beyond its reach.

 

'Sing 2' has become the biggest animated film of the holiday season, topping 'Encanto'. It is however far behind the original 'Sing', which ended its run with 190,002 admissions. Openers 'The King's Man' and 'Licorice Pizza' had dismal debuts. 'Matrix 4' may not even reach 50K admissions and 'House of Gucci' is gathering crumbles which won't be enough for it to reach 100K admissions.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Quigley