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

[Quigley]

New films released this weekend:

• Finding Dory
• Jason Bourne
• Sing Street
• Éperdument [French]
• Camino a La Paz [Argentinian]

Although I believe there is no doubt that 'Finding Dory' will make big splash into first place this weekend, it is worth noting that the 'Bourne' franchise hasn't exactly been unsuccessful in Greece either. I estimate that the original sold north of 140K admissions back in late 2002 (maybe even 150K admissions). The sequel and threequel both increased compared to their immediate predecessor, but only by a little (153K and 160.4K resectively). The fourth one was however, a massive disappointment, opening to 6.2K admissions and ending with 17.4K admissions. I wonder how big the fifth one will be although it does seem to be a return to form for the franchise. The fact that part of the movie plot occurs in Greece may definitely increase awareness and popularity, but even so, I don't think it can stand a chance against our forgetful blue friend.

Edited September 1, 2016 by Quigley

[Quigley]

According to Deadline, Findind Dory opened in #1 in Greece. Jason Bourne opened with an estimated $257K which translates to about 32K admissions. This means Dory made more than that, but we don't know how much more.

[Quigley]

'Finding Dory' has opened to 90,356 admissions!! Humongous opening. More later.

[Quigley]

Weekend 01-04/09/2016

 

Ranking	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change from last weekend	Total admissions	Week
1	Finding Dory	90,356	N/A	90,356	1
2	Jason Bourne	37,369	N/A	37,369	1
3	Suicide Squad	28,765	-53.3%	138,042	2
4	Café Society	22,785	-34.9%	78,982	2
5	The Secret Life of Pets	15,190	-43.2%	127,888	3
6	Mechanic: Resurrection	8,436	-37.0%	33,479	2
7	Quo Vado? [Italian]	2,896	-37.4%	66,677	6
8	Ice Age: Collision Course	2,328	-35.4%	200,975	8
9	Sing Street	1,821	N/A	1,821	1
10	Éperdument [French]	1,697	N/A	1,697	1

 

Sources: http://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-just-give-them-what-they-know/

http://www.grandmagazine.gr/ngine/article/3229/box-office-o-anamenomenos-8riambos-tis-ntori

 

Wowsers! 'Finding Dory' confirmed it is a worthy successor to one of Greece's highest-grossing animated films of all time. It scored the third biggest opening weekend for an animated film, but the numbers are so close that it is virtually a tie between the top 3:

 

	Biggest animated openings (and their totals)
	Title	Opening weekend	Release date	Total	Multiple
1	Ice Age: The Meltdown	93,000	06/04/06	350,000-360,000	3.82
2	Minions	91,770	24/09/15	290,513	3.17
3	Finding Dory	90,356	01/09/16
4	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	80,337*	29/06/09	381,097	4.74
5	Tangled	77,247	06/01/11	232,500	3.01
6	A Christmas Carol	72,323	24/12/09	175,456	2.43
7	The Smurfs	71,600	08/09/11	283,010	3.95
8	Ratatouille	68,000-70,000	27/09/07	312,019	4.52
9	Ice Age: Continental Drift	67,836	05/07/12	305,445	4.50
10	Inside Out	62,766	03/09/15	310,104	4.94

 

*Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs opened on a Monday and scored a 7-day total of 110,655 admissions. The numbers shown here are from the first 4-day Thursday-to-Sunday weekend.

 

[UPDATE: The daily grosses followed an impressive pattern, with Thursday topping 20K admissions, followed by an even bigger Saturday. Definitely the most surprising part, Sunday was its biggest day with 26,223 admisisons.]

 

'Dory' is fortunate enough to be released ahead of a very quiet September with virtually no animated competition, which can only bode well for its long-term propsects. Following the revision of earlier data, it seems that 'Finding Nemo' actually earned around 341K admissions, back in 2003-2004. 'Ice Age 3's 381K admissions is still the top animated tally. 'Dory' will need a 4.26 multiplier to beat that record. Based on historical comparisons from late August and early September, that mulitplier is definitely doable (it is actually below average). I would not be surprised if it reaches 400K admissions, and utlimately that is the target that it's aiming for. However, even a shortcoming that leads to about 330K admissions is in no way a disappointment. On the other hand, I find it possible that it can exceed 470K in the best-case scenario. In any case, it will set a very high bar for fall/winter movies as it is a foregone conclusion that it will beat 'The Revenant' for the top spot in 2016 so far.

 

'Jason Bourne' was unlucky, since, on any other weekend, this box-office report would be mostly devoted to this film. That's what happens, I guess, when you open against a regal blue tang (aka Paracanthurus hepatus). However, 'Bourne' actually did incredibly well, opening to around the same number as the original 'Bourne' and the first sequel. Most importantly, it is a significant improvement over the dismal fourth outing of the franchise:

 

Bourne series
Title	Opening weekend	Release date	Total	Multiple
The Bourne Ultimatum	52,410	04/10/07	160,400	3.06
The Bourne Supremacy	38,975	17/09/04	153,000	3.93
The Bourne Identity	35,000-40,000	22/11/02	140,000-150,000	3.87
Jason Bourne	37,369	01/09/16
The Bourne Legacy	6,190	04/10/12	17,596	2.84

 

Lower down the chart, news wasn't that bad either. 'Suicide Squad' had a superb 2nd-weekend hold of 53% – significantly higher than all other superhero films of 2016. The previous best was 'Deadpool', with a 59% drop. The film actually seems poised to reach 200K admissions and give 'Civil War' and 'Deadpool' a run for their money, but we'll see how that plays out in the following weeks. 'Café Society' will cruise past the 100K-admission mark very soon and I even think 150K admissions could be in sight. 'Pets' had an arguably soft drop, in the face of the forgetful bait fish, although I think its chances of reaching 200K admissions are about 50-50 now. 'Mechanic 2' held better than its predecessor and has matched its 11-day total – a feat not as common as you'd think nowadays, so kudos for that. 'Quo Vado?' continued its sensationl run, which is however approaching the end (80K admissions is the ceiling, I think), while 'Ice Age 5' is saving some face near the end of its run by crossing 200K admissions. It will probably get past 210K admissions and could also out-gross 'Civil War' and 'Deadpool' but it is impossible to know since its holds are expected to be strong from now on.

 

'Sing Street' and 'Éperdument' were two other openers – with 'Camino a La Paz' being the final one at #11 with 1,531 admissions. They all made about the same from a limited release (<10 screens) but nothing notable. Next week, I am very curious to see what the 2nd-weekend drop for Dory will be: anything above 65K admissions will be terrific. If it matches 'Inside Out's second-weekend 17% drop, then we could be looking at a possible 500K-admission run.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Quigley

[Quigley]

I've updated the list of 2015 and 2016 films on the first page. I've also managed to get the final tally for Finding Nemo, which I have updated on the first page and in the above post.

[James]

14 hours ago, Quigley said:

I've updated the list of 2015 and 2016 films on the first page. I've also managed to get the final tally for Finding Nemo, which I have updated on the first page and in the above post.

Looking at that list, there's such a big difference between the average ticket prices in our countries that despite this year likely ending up with around 13m admissions here (so more or less 60m euros), Romania still needs another year to get ahead of Greece in USD/Euros. 

[Quigley]

1 hour ago, James said:

Looking at that list, there's such a big difference between the average ticket prices in our countries that despite this year likely ending up with around 13m admissions here (so more or less 60m euros), Romania still needs another year to get ahead of Greece in USD/Euros. 

 

Assuming that the average ticket price hasn't changed, Greece could be looking at yearly gross of about 70M€, as it is about 10% ahead of 2015 in admissions. I agree with you that Romania will move haead of Greece. As long as Greece is part of the eurozone (in its current structure) or as long as the eurozone doesn't become a true economic/monetary union, I doubt we will ever see a yearly gross of 100M€ again, like 2007.

[Quigley]

Films released this weekend:

• Ben-Hur
• Sully
• Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse [French]
• Hands of Stone [American–Panamanian]
• Tudo Que Aprendemos Juntos [Brazilian]
• Potop [Polish–Soviet]
• I soliti ignoti [Italian]

Expect 'Dory' to dominate the box office once again. 'Sully' will probably be the biggest of the new releases.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Quigley

[Quigley]

Weekend 08-11/09/2016

 

Ranking	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change from last weekend	Total admissions	Week
1	Finding Dory	48,624	-46.2%	184,679	2
2	Sully	39,874	N/A	39,874	1
3	Suicide Squad	15,374	-46.6%	177,060	3
4	Jason Bourne	13,944	-62.7%	71,008	2
5	The Secret Life of Pets	13,561	-10.7%	149,645	4
6	Café Society	6,736	-70.4%	92,315	3
7	Ben-Hur	6,459	N/A	6,459	1
8	Mechanic: Resurrection	4,314	-48.9%	45,474	3
9	Quo Vado? [Italian]	2,765	-4.5%	70,456	7
10	Ice Age: Collision Course	2,220	-4.6%	204,532	9

 

Source: http://flix.gr/news/box-office-08092016.html

 

'Finding Dory' swam to what is (probably) the biggest 11-day cume for an animated film. That was undoubtedly due to the very strong weekdays since its sophomore frame sank to about half the tally of its opening. 'Minions' (63.5K admissions), 'Ice Age 2' (67–70K admissions) and even last year's 'Inside Out' (52.2K admissions) had significantly higher second weekends. It is difficult to predict how 'Dory' will play out from now on but the range of possibilities seems to be 270–410K, depending on what film you compare it to (comp with 'Minions' leads to the minimum of the range and comp with 'Ice Age 3' leads to the maximum). The midpoint of this range, 340K admissions, looks like the most likely outcome, which is incidentally the exact number of admissions that 'Nemo' sold back in 2003 (exculding 3–D re-release). Obviously, with schools opening, a drop like this coud have been expected, although 'The Secret Life of Pets' and 'Ice Age 5' didn't seem to be affected by this, nor was 'Inside Out' affected last year (its 2nd-weekend drop was 17%). In any case, its weekdays have helped it maintain a lead over all these films through the same point in their runs, so there is reason to remain optimistic.

 

In the meantime, 'Sully' had an impressive opening which beat other Tom Hanks films such as 'Captain Phillips' (37,992 admissions) and 'Bridge of Spies' (33,544 admisisons), as well as other award contenders like 'The Imitation Game' (37,695 admissions), 'The Social Network' (34,968 admissions) and 'The Theory of Everything' (37,160 admissions). Time will tell if it can reach 150K admissions, but that is the range it should be aiming for. While 'Jason Bourne' plummeted, 'Suicide Squad' had another superb hold, the best 3rd weekend hold for a 2016 superhero film and will definitely surpass 200K admissions, eyeing the tallies of 'Civil War' and 'Deadpool'. 'Pets' is still entertaining the possibility of a 200K-admission run, while 'Café Society' and 'Mechanic 2' will barely scrape past 100K and 50K admissions respectively. Just like 'Suicide Squad' (and indeed 'Pets'), 'Ice Age 5' is also making a last-minute attempt to surpass 'Civil War' and 'Deadpool', but it will require very strong holds every weekend, something that is arguably possible but still a longshot. Finally 'Quo Vado?' continues to impress, but as I said last week, a final total of much more than 80K admissions is still unlikely – nevertheless, it is way out of its league, and that it something for which we must give it credit.

 

Next week looks like a battle between 'Finding Dory' and 'Sully' again, as they will be vying for the top spot.

Edited September 14, 2016 by Quigley

[Fullbuster]

Fantastic! Let's hope that Italy and Germany can follow their lead.

[Quigley]

Flims released this weekend:

• Bridget Jones's Baby
• Free State of Jones
• Demolition
• Nine Lives [English-language French]
• 10 Years (2011)
• Ich und Kaminski [Austrian-German]
• Queen of Earth
• Mamma Roma [Italian]

[Quigley]

Weekend 15-18/09/2016

 

Ranking	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change from last weekend	Total admissions	Week
1	Sully	26,336	-34.0%	88,433	2
2	Finding Dory	23,422	-51.8%	221,882	3
3	Bridget Jones's Baby	17,259	N/A	17,259	1
4	The Secret Life of Pets	8,872	-34.6%	161,099	5
5	Suicide Squad	7,126	-53.6%	192,461	4
6	Free State of Jones	5,685	N/A	5,685	1
7	Jason Bourne	5,209	-62.6%	83,148	3
8	Café Society	4,829	-28.3%	101,011	4
9	Demolition	2,272	N/A	2,272	1
10	Ben-Hur	2,205	-65.9%	12,257	2

 

Source: http://www.grandmagazine.gr/ngine/article/3250/box-office-o-tom-xanks-katakta-tin-korufh-me-ton-sully

 

'Sully' dropped lightly and is well-poised to keep up this good pace. Among the comps I mentioned last weekend, its 11-day cume is only trailing 'The Theory of Everything' but 'Sully's second weekend was about 3K admissions higher. 150K admissions are well within reach. On the other hand, 'Dory' sank to new depths with 50%+ drop that crushed the last few drops of hope for finding her parents – I mean, for a record-breaking run. We could be looking at a final total as low as 260K admissions (if it follows 'Minions's trajectory from now on) or as high as 360K admissions (if it follows 'Ice Age 4's trajectory). At the moment though, I would say the chances of a gross above or below 300K admissions are 50-50). Certainly not the kind of run we hoped for after that seismic wave of an opening weekend, with the main factor, in my opinion, being so-so word-of-mouth. Its 18-day cume is trailing 'Ice Age 3', 'Ice Age 2' and 'Minions' and I can only assume this trend will not reverse.

 

On the other hand, 'Pets' and 'Ice Age 5' had decent holds but both of them are falling behind the coveted milestones that they are aiming at. The prior looks likes it's losing sight of the 200K-admissions mark, while 'Ice Age 5' is melting too fast to catch up with 'Civil War'. 'Suicide Squad' had a rather sharp drop this weekend but it is still on course to gross more than 200K admissions. It looks like a tough race between 'Squad' and 'Ice Age 5' and it's hard to predict which one will finish ahead. 'Café Society' is looking at a solid cume of 115-125K admissions, while 'Jason Bourne' will almost certainly miss the 100K-admission mark, finishing far behind the initial trilogy of its franchise.

 

As for the openers, none of them opened to a particularly noteworthy number. 'Bridget' gets an A for the effort but in reality it looks like 'Sully' was a much more appealing option for adult crowds (at least for the portion of adult who didn't have to deal with kids begging to watch 'Dory' or 'Pets').

 

Next week, should be an easy victory for 'Sully' again, unless 'The Magnificent Seven' does sizeable business.

Edited September 19, 2016 by Quigley

[Quigley]

Flims released this weekend:

• The Magnificent Seven
• Blair Witch
• War Dogs
• Kubo and the Two Strings
• I.T.
• Pelé: Birth of a Legend
• Les Héritiers [French]
• Heart of a Dog
• Roger Waters: The Wall
• Nostalgia de la Luz [Spanish- and English-laguage French–Chilean]

As you can see, a plethora of films is flooding the market, with no one having serious expectations for any of them. As often said, they're released in order to make an opening-weekend cash grab just before they're forgotten forever. Expect 'Sully' to retain first place.

[Quigley]

Weekend 22-25/09/2016

 

Ranking	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change from last weekend	Total admissions	Week
1	The Magnificent Seven	17,277	N/A	17,277	1
2	Sully	14,702	-44.2%	117,239	3
3	Finding Dory	14,582	-37.7%	241,905	4
4	Kubo and the Two Strings	11,745	N/A	11,745	1
5	Bridget Jones's Baby	8,786	-49.1%	34,473	2
6	The Secret Life of Pets	8,230	-7.2%	170,705	6
7	War Dogs	5,634	N/A	5,634	1
8	Blair Witch	5,158	N/A	5,158	1
9	I.T.	3,782	N/A	3,782	1
10	Suicide Squad	3,760	-47.2%	201,196	5

 

Source: http://flix.gr/news/box-office-22092016.html

 

Thanks to a relatively sharp drop for 'Sully', 'The Magnificent Seven' found itself in first place this weekend with a not-so-magnificent number of tickets. The chart-topper opened lower than most recent Westerns, although release dates and big names can make a difference. In comaprison to 'Cowboys & Aliens' which opened around the same time of year in 2011, 'Magnificent' did fare better (that film sold 10,390 admissions on opening weekend). It's important to note that 10 new films intruded cinemas, a trend which is starting to get ridiculous. 'Sully' obviously lost a significant number of screens, dropping from 97 to 58. On the other hand, while 'Dory' did lose a lot of screens too (down to 85 from 140), its per-screen average actually increased, and the film posted its best –and first decent– hold as yet. However, it is now definitely more likely than not to miss 300K admissions, with my estimate putting it at 280K admissions, lower than 'Minions'. Quite disappointing if you ask me. All this doom and gloom could have been made even worse by 'Kubo' although it looks as if it didn't have an effect on 'Dory'; 'Kubo' had a quite wide release but did not attract many youngsters and certainly pales in comparison to a little film released exactly one year ago called 'Minions' which opened to 91,770 admissions. 'Kubo' did however break the opening-weekend record among Laika productions, with the previous ones being 'Coraline' (5,110 admissions), 'ParaNorman' (7,165 admissions) and 'The Boxtrolls' (10,655 admissions).

 

And while 'Bridget', 'SS' and 'Jason' (2,511 admissions) all plummeted by about 50%, 'SLOP' had an impressively small drop, indicating it has not yet adandoned its quest to top 200K admissions. However, a final total in the range of 190-200K admissions still seems more likely. The feat of 200K admissinos was achieved by 'SS', which now has one of the highest mulitpliers for a superhero film outside the Batman and Spider-Man franchises. Finally, a trio of uneventful openings, with respectable screen averages nonetheless, occupied the lower part of the Top 10. It is also worth noting that this was the first weekend since late May that had fewer cumulative admissions compared to the weekend a year earlier. With three quarters of the year now over, 2016 is leading 2015 by a comfortable 7.8%. 

Edited September 27, 2016 by Quigley

[Quigley]

Films opening this weekend:

• Deepwater Horizon
• Lights Out
• Sausage Party
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
• Barbie: Star Light Adventure
• Ilegitim [Romanian–Polish–French]
• Ma ma [Spanish]
• Pionery-Geroi [Russian–English-language Russian]
• Les Souvenirs [French]

As with last week, a torrent of new films is being released, however this will be the second weekend in a row that is significantly lower than last year (182,752 tickets). I could see 'Sausage Party' or 'Deepwater Horizon' ranking first but I wouldn't expect remarkable openings.

[Quigley]

Weekend 29/09–02/10/2016

 

Ranking	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change from last weekend	Total admissions	Week
1	Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children	16,303	N/A	16,303	1
2	Lights Out	12,265	N/A	12,265	1
3	Finding Dory	10,295	-29.4%	255,081	5
4	Sully	7,614	-48.2%	131,553	4
5	Kubo and the Two Strings	7,532	-35.9%	20,839	2
6	The Magnificent Seven	6,898	-60.1%	35,121	2
7	The Secret Life of Pets	6,651	-19.2%	178,163	7
8	Deepwater Horizon	6,352	N/A	6,352	1
9	Barbie: Star Light Adventure	4,610	N/A	4,610	1
10	Bridget Jones's Baby	3,711	-57.8%	42,182	3

 

Source: http://flix.gr/news/box-office-29092016.html

http://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-with-a-blast/

 

I feel like my predictions get more and more ridiculous each weekend. A few days ago, I was actually sure that 'Sausage Party' could be the only new film to open on top but decided to add 'Deepwater Horizon' as a possibility. The prior tanked with 2,420 admissions, outside the Top 10, while the latter ranked 8th. Overall, this weekend's cumulative admissions went back to five digits (96,839), dropping from last weekend despite 9 new openers. The big picture was similar last weekend and will be the same next weekend, unless one of the horror films breaks out. Distributors clearly do no research before choosing what films to release and they just hope for an opening-weekend cash-grab before the film dies down quickly after 2-3 weeks. We've discussed this many times and it must be tiring for you to hear (read) the same things again and again – but when it happens for three weekends in a row, I wonder if distributors will get the message.

 

Anyhow, 'Miss Peregrine' did happen to end up in first place, but it is probably on the (very) low end for a Tim Burton film (I'll post a table later). All 4 openers that ended up in the Top 10 were released on at least 40 screens, so their results are even more disappointing than they look. 'Dory', 'Pets' and 'Kubo' had the best two drops in the Top 10, with the first two aiming for the 300K- and 200K-admission milestones respectively. 'Dory' has fallen behind 'Inside Out', and it was already behind 'Minions', however, the latter earned less on its 5th weekend, so there is still a chance 'Dory' finishes ahead. 'Sully' has seen bigger and bigger drops each weekend, the opposite trend of 'Dory', but it will surpass 150K admissions which still counts as a very solid run. 'The Magnificent Seven' and 'Bridget' were in free-fall mode and odds are this will continue due to the shear amount of physical competition for screens.

 

I'm already looking forward to the weekend after the next, when 'Inferno' will be released. 'The Da Vinci Code' posted the fourth-best opening weekend of all time in May 2006 (178K admissions) and 'Illuminati' (AKA 'Angels' and Demons') sold 150K admissions on opening weekend, 3 years later, so I doubt this one can go much lower – definitely not below 100K admissions.

[Quigley]

Films opening this weekend:

• Storks
• The Girl on the Train
• Don't Breathe
• Indignation
• The Neon Demon [French–Danish–American]
• Η τελευταία παραλία [GR]
• Un homme idéaln [French]
• Elle [French–German–Belgian]
• Un Condor [English- and Spanish-language Greek]
• Baza ludzi umarlych [Polish]

[Quigley]

Weekend 06-09/10/2016

 

Ranking	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change from last weekend	Total admissions	Week
1	The Girl on the Train	32,260	N/A	32,260	1
2	Storks	21,203	N/A	21,203	1
3	Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children	10,878	-33.3%	37,988	2
4	Don't Breathe	10,620	N/A	10,620	1
5	Elle [French–German–Belgian]	10,019	N/A	10,019	1
6	Finding Dory	7,146	-30.6%	264,121	6
7	Lights Out	7,050	-42.5%	31,121	2
8	Sully	5,537	-27.3%	141,702	5
9	The Secret Life of Pets	4,732	-28.9%	183,326	8
10	Kubo and the Two Strings	4,235	-43.8%	25,765	3

 

Source: http://www.grandmagazine.gr/ngine/article/3276/box-office-to-koritsi-tou-trenou-taxidepse-proti-8esi-sta-tameia

 

With 4 new openers above 10K admissions, it is the first time that this happened since last October. It turns out that despite two consecutive weekend-debacles, distributors succeeded the third time round, since not only did the torrent of new films attract moviegoers, but holdovers also remained solid. 'The Girl on the Train' didn't quite match the admissions to which 'Gone Girl' opened on the first weekend of October two years ago (55.4K admissions), but it still opened in first place and can exceed 100K admissions if word-of-mouth is good enough. Once again, animation helped save the day, with 'Storks' settling for second place. Not many comparisons here since it is a Warner Animation Group film (of which the only other film in the past 10 years is 'The Lego Movie'). Most impressive of all was 'Elle' which scored the best per-screen average of the Top 10.

 

In the meantime, other family films held well, with 'Miss Peregrine', 'Dory' and 'Pets' dropping less than 35%. Further down, 'Kubo', 'Sausage Party' and 'Ice Age 5' also had decent drops while 'Barbie' plummeted by more than 55%. 'Dory' is still trying to out-run 'Minions' (but even if it does it will remain a disappointment for Pixar). It is ahead of the latter in weekend admissions but behind in total admissions. 'Inside Out' sold twice as many admissions on its 6th weekend. In any case, 300K remains unlikely. 'Pets' is also trying hard to break its own milestone; in copmarison to 'The Good Dinosaur (195,289 admissions), 'Pets' sold the same as the latter did on its 7th weekend, but 'Pets' is ahead by 2.7K in total admissions. So if it has the same holds as 'TGD' from now on, it could reach 198K admissions. Fun times.

 

'Sully' will soon be ahead of many recent comps ('The Social Network', 'Bridge of Spies', 'Theory of Everything', 'Captain Phillips') with the exception of 'The Imitation Game', which 'Sully' has been trailing for quite a while now. A total above 160K admissions looks likely. 'Lights Out' is dimming away with no one there to care. A lot of films below the Top 10 dropped precipitously with no significant milestones in sight for any of them.

 

Next week, 'Inferno' will infiltrate theaters. I remember the book was on all front shelves and shop windows a few years ago in Greece and I believe interest is quite high, so anything below a 100K-admission opening is unthinkable at the moment. After all, not only were the last two Dan Brown novel adaptations very successful, but Tom Hanks has had an excellent track record ever since (a question remains as to whether his recent success, 'Sully', will have a positive or negative effect on 'Inferno', since some viewers may feel that one Tom Hanks film per year is enough).

Edited October 10, 2016 by Quigley

[Joel M]

18 hours ago, Quigley said:

'Dory' is still trying to out-run 'Minions' (but even if it does it will remain a disappointment for Pixar).

 

It'll be a minor dissapointment though and mostly just because of the comparison with Nemo. Otherwise it'll be one of the biggest animated hits ever. While pretty much every mainstream animation does well in Greece, very few become really big hits. Post-2000 there's just ten animation movies made over 250.000 admission and not one of them passed 400.000, not even in the first half of the 00s where the overall attendance was at its peak.

 

1	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	381.097
2	Ice Age: The Meltdown	350.000
3	Finding Nemo	340.731
4	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	323.607
5	Ratatouille	312.019
6	Inside Out	310.104
7	Ice Age: Continental Drift	305.445
8	Minions	290.513
9	Happy Feet	285.300
10	Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted	255.166

 

That happens mostly because of their release pattern of animation movies in this market. All of them no matter how adult-friendly they are, the subtitled version that gets the night shows is only for the first week. From the second weekend on there's only the dubbed version exclusively at noon to early afternoon where live action movies don't have shows at all. Basically if you are an adult and want to watch a non-dubbed animated movie after 6 p.m. you can only go the first week. So the release pattern limits the audience to the point where it's impossible for an animated movie to become a really huge hit like they have in many other countries. But that release strategy also gives them huge legs compared to live action movies since there's no competition. That's why even DTV garbage like the Barbie movies have substantial success in Greece.

 

 

[Quigley]

19 hours ago, Joel M said:

9    Happy Feet    285.300

 

Where did you get this number?

 

Adding these two together: http://cine.gr/article.asp?topic=Box Office&id=6369 + http://www.myfilm.gr/4618 gives 295.500.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Quigley