Romania Box Office

[James]

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

 

A slower than expected weekend because of the mostly weak openers ('Fury' was the exception).

 

- Fury finally ended 'Dracula Untold''s reign, after 3 weeks at No. 1. It debuted with over 29.000 admissions (and $160K), a VERY strong result for an adult drama. In comparison, it was stronger than 'The Equalizer', and much stronger than 'Gone Girl' (which opened to less than 17.000). WOM seems to be good, so a total around 600K is in the cards. The succes of 'Fury' can be largely attributed to Brad Pitt's draw power. He's one of the, if not the most recognizable movie star here.

 

- In second, Dracula Untold dropped 45%. It already made 920K and it's now No. 13 for the year, ahead of 'Captain America 2'. It should have no problem ending in Top 4, behind '300: Rise of an Empire', 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and 'Noah'.

 

- Annabelle fell 53% in it's second outting. That's an OK drop for a horror movie. In fact, with 220K, it is already the highest grossing film of it's genre this year. 400K is a good target for it.

 

- The next three places are occupied by newcomers. And, as predicted, none of them opened above 10.000 admissions. The first one is Serena that opened to 7.529 admissions. Not surprising. The marketing was bad, the movie looked dull and Jennifer Lawrence is not a big draw here (or at least not on the Pitt, Cruise, Jolie, Depp or DiCaprio level).

 

- In fifth, we find Cuscrii, a local movie that opened to 7.559 admissions. Quite decent for it actually, though it'll probably fade quickly.

 

- Next place we have Automata. The SF film made 6.529 adm. Not good, but neither very bad for such an unknown little movie. 

 

- Gone Girl fell 38% in it's fourth weekend. It grossed a good 365K so far and it should end up with around 500K.

 

- The House of Magic had another nice hold and reached 560K.

 

- A Walk Among The Tombstones and Before I Go To Sleep both had bad drops in the 64-65% area.

 

- Outside Top 10, English Vinglish debuts with a weak 1.044 adm from 7 theatres. 

 

Top 10:

 

 

Next week's openers:

 

- John Wick

- The Boxtrolls

- Horns

- Maps to the Stars

- Two Night Stand

- Love By Design

- Alphabet

 

Since for some reason 'Two Night Stand' was moved from this weekend to the next one, we have 7 new openers. That's pretty crazy.

 

After a long time with no animated movies, 'The Boxtrolls' should easily take the lead. A debut north of 20.000 admissions is likely. My bet is over 30.000.

 

'John Wick' looks good and people seem excited for it. Still, the marketing push wasn't very strong. It should get a pass if it opens above 15.000 adm.

 

'Horns' is a wildcard. It could go either way. If it openes on around 40 screens, it should be able to do more than 10.000 admissions methinks.

 

The other 3 openers - under 10.000 admissions.

[James]

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

 

'John Wick' opened very strong and ruled the biggest overall weekend in more than 2 months.

 

- Keanu Reeves' John Wick sold 31.797 admissions this weekend and made $180K. That is an unexpected result and way above expectations. The opening is stronger than that of similar titles like 'Fury' or 'The Equalizer' and is about on par with Liam Neeson's 'Non-Stop' earlier this year. That film, with pretty sucky legs, ended up with about 610K, which is a good target for 'John Wick'.

 

- Fury fell and ok 45% this weekend and reached 330K. It's a bit behind 'The Equalizer' through the same point, but that started falling horribly after the second weekend, so expect 'Fury' to top it in the end. 600K remains the target.

 

- In third, The Boxtrolls opened with 14.574 admissions and while that's almost as much as 'ParaNorman' did in it's entire run, it's still a disappointing result, considering the total lack of animated competition. It will have good legs till 'Penguins of Madagascar' opens, a month from now, and probably end in the $300-400K area.

 

- Thanks to Halloween, Annabelle increased 9% this weekend and reached almost 300K. That already makes it probably the highest grossing horror movie ever (the horror genre is dead here). 400K+ seems like a safe bet at this point.

 

- Dracula Untold had a nice 28% drop and passes 990K. With over 191.000 admissions, it's already the fifth most attended film of the year, ahead of 'Maleficent' or 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. It will pass them in gross eventually and it will reach 200.000 adm. (and 1M) by next weekend, an excellent feat for a 2D movie.

 

- Horns debuted with less than 6.000 adm from 40 theatres. Bomb.

 

- Gone Girl had another beautiful drop (21%) and reached 411K (and a 4.5x multiplier already). The target remains 500K.

 

- Cuscrii (local comedy) and Serena dropped 48%, respectively 53% in their second frames.

 

- The House of Magic closes the top, easing a light 30%, despite direct competition from 'The Boxtrolls'. It now reached a very good 581K (and almost a 7x multiplier) and should end it's run with close to 650K. 

 

- Outside Top 10, we have Two Night Stand, selling a decent 2.095 admissions from just 5 theatres; Love by Design, making a horrible 2.423 adm from 37 locations; Maps to the Stars - 2.076 tickets from 23 screens (another bomb) and Alphabet - 1.062 adm from 14 theatres (yet another bomb).

 

Top 10:

 

 

Next week's openers:

 

- Interstellar

- Stations of the Cross

- The Stag

 

'Gravity' debuted with 32.000 admissions last year and had VERY GOOD legs, that carried it to a gross north of 1M. 'Transcendence' opened with almost 40.000 admissions this year and 'Edge of Tomorrow' wasn't far behind with 38.000. Of course 'Interstellar' does not have a huge star like Depp or Cruise, but even so, with very agressive marketing and more than a month since the last event movie ('Dracula Untold'), it has to open in the 30.000-40.000 area. Anything more than that locks 1M.

 

Stations of the Cross is the kind of movie (faith based / religious themed) that usually does good business here, but I haven't seen any advertising for it, so it should get a pass if it manages 10.000 admissions.

 

The Stag will likely open below that mark.

[James]

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

 

Thanks to a massive debut from 'Interstellar' and a nice job from the holdovers, we had an excellent weekend.

 

- With great marketing campaign, Interstellar opened to an incredible 58.500 admissions (and $ 320K) this weekend. That's the fourth highest OW of the year, behind '300: Rise of an Empire', 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and 'Noah'. 'Interstellar' almost doubled 'Gravity''s OW (32.000 adm) and was way ahead of 'Inception' (34.500 adm). In fact, it's director Christopher Nolan's highest opener here, ahead of the 56.700 tickets sold by 'The Dark Knight Rises' back in 2012.

In terms of USD, 'Gravity' ended up with 1.24M, 'Inception' with 1.22M and 'The Dark Knight Rises' - 1.01M, grosses that 'Interstellar' should exceed in the end.

If 'Exodus' doesn't have a 'Noah' type of run, Nolan's epic is locked for Top 5 for the year.

 

- In second, John Wick had a beautiful 32% drop. It's total now stands at a healthy 372K and an ending in the 650K area should be a done deal.

 

- Fury was down 43%. After three weekends, it's at 416K and headed for at least 600K.

 

- The Boxtrolls was down 41% in it's second outing. A pretty steap steep drop all things considered. Gross stands at 155K.

 

- The comedy The Stag opened to an expected (but still disappointing) 7.774 admissions from 31 screens.

 

- Dracula Untold slides a good 39% this weekend and reaches $ 1.038.000 and over 200.000 admissions (4th most attended movie of the year). It also enters in the Top 10 for the year at No. 10.

 

- The House of Magic proves once again it's a little phenomenon. In it's 13th consecutive weekend in Top 10, the animated hit increased a huge 39% and reached 123.000 adm and 614K. If it continues to hold well, 700K+ is in the cards. One thing is certain: it will soon pass 'The Pirate Fairy' to become the second highest grossing animation of 2014 (behind only 'How To Train Your Dragon 2') and it will finish the year in Top 3 ('The Penguins of Madagascar' will likely take the 1st spot).

 

- Gone Girl had another light drop (32%). It reached 442K and 500K seems like a lock.

 

- Annabelle collapsed after Halloween. With 326K in the bank, passing 400K might prove difficult. Still, a great result for a horror movie.

 

- The local film Cuscrii closes the Top, easing 33%. It now passed 100K, a good result for the dead local market.

 

- Outside Top 10, Stations of the Cross opened to an awful 1.089 adm from 25 screens.

 

- Also outside of the top, Guardians of the Galaxy reaches 185.000 adm and 1.1M, becoming No. 6 for the year, ahead of 'Pompeii'. It has a chance of passing 'Maleficent' (currently No. 5), before 'Dracula Untold' and 'Interstellar' pass it in a few weeks.

 

Top 10:

 

 

Next week's openers:

 

- Magic in the Moonlight

- Northmen: A Viking Saga 

- Qu'est-ce qu-on a fait au Bon Dieu?

- The Good Lie

- Eliza Graves

 

Woody Allen was never big here. 'A Midnight in Paris' opened with a bit over 10.000 admissions, 'From Rome with Love' opened with around 8.000 adm and last year's 'Blue Jasmine' with 4.000. So 'Magic in the Monlight' shoud do around 5.000.

 

'Northmen: A Viking Saga' will have a pretty limited release, which is a shame since this is the type of movie (historical epic) that this market loves. Even with a weak marketing push, it still has a sellout show already. But given it's limited release, it will be hard for it to break out.

 

'Qu'est-ce qu-on a fait au Bon Dieu?' will have 'Interstellar' as a main contender for the adult audience and that one already has a lot of sellouts for this week, so expect weak numbers.

 

The last two movies will likely flop too.

[James]

Weekend update: 'Interstellar''s second weekend looks busy. The only IMAX here accounted for approximately 10% of last weekend's admissions and this weekend it is crowded to the max. The 3 remaining shows today are sold out. The 4 shows tomorrow are also close to selling out and the next week till Thursday (that is how far in advance the booking stretches) also has shows between 30-80% full already. We won't get any results till Monday afternoon, but I expect a good drop for 'Interstellar', much better than the one for other movies with similar OW.

Also, 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1' finally sold out it's Wednesday night screening. It was about damn time, considering it a has a pre existing fan base and that show has 1/3 of the seats an IMAX show for Interstellar has.  

[James]

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

 

Another excellent weekend,actually bigger than the last one, and most of that thanks to 'Interstellar's amazing hold.

 

- After opening with massive numbers last weekend, Christopher Nolan's epic space movie eased a light 19%, to 46.384 admissions. It's by far the smallest drop for any movie that opened above 50.000 adm this year. In fact, Interstellar's second weekend would count as the 10th biggest OW of the year. It now reached 143.866 admissions and $760K. It will have competition next weekend from 'Mockingjay - Part 1', but if it can hold well (and that's likely, considering we already have a lot of shows close to selling out for the next couple of days), finishing around 'Noah''s number, 1.4M, might be in the cards. Top 5 for the year is a given at this point.

 

- Northmen: A Viking Saga received a wider than expected release and debuted to almost 17.000 admissions (and $ 90K). That's a decent start for a movie that had next to zero marketing and was cheap to produce.

 

- In it's third outing, John Wick fell 50%. It now reached 480K. 650K is still the target.

 

- 5 spots of the Top 10 are occupied by new releases, and 4 of those are directed towards adult audiences, a fatal mistake considering 'Interstellar' is currently owning that segment. So all of them flopped/bombed. The first two are Eliza Graves and Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait au Bon Dieu? Both had debuts in the 8.000 adm area.

 

- In 6th place, The Boxtrolls fell a light 22% and reached almost 200K.

 

- Next comes Fury, sliding 38%. It's gross stands at a very good 471K (600K is still the mark to beat).

 

- Magic in the Moonlight was the third adult release to bomb, with and expected debut in the 5.000 adm zone.

 

- The Stag dropped 40% in it's second outing.

 

- One of the bright lights was once again The House of Magic. In it's 14th weekend, the animated hit eased a measly 7%. It now stands at 638K.

 

- Outside Top 10, the last adult oriented disappointment, The Good Lie, sold a bit more than 3.000 tickets.

 

Top 10:

 

 

Next week's openers:

 

- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

- The Rewrite

- Deux jours, une nuit

 

I really don't know what to make of the latest 'Hunger Games' movie. It opens in less than a week, yet it barely sold out it's Wednesday night preview show. That's way behind 'Interstellar' through the same point, that had a few IMAX sellouts (and we're talking IMAX shows of 400+ seats agains 100+ seats normal ones for 'Mockingjay').

The marketing was very strong. It's literary everywhere! But the anticipation doesn't seem very high. 'Catching Fire' opened to 52.500 admissions last year and ended up with a bit over 155.000. But it had almost no competition (it faced 'Thor: The Dark World''s 3rd weekend and 'Delivery Man' till 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' opened and killed it). But 'Mockingjay' faces 'Interstellar' (a movie with already through the roof WOM), then 'Penguins of Madagascar' and 'Horrible Bosses 2' next weekend (both movies with huge predecessor's behind them), then 'Exodus', that will be huge, maybe even on 'Interstellar' levels.

I wasn't following Romania's BO back when 'Catching Fire' opened, but unless walk-ins are abnormally strong, I don't see 'Mockingjay' matching it's OW (let alone it's admissions total).    

[Rsyu]

That's great for Interstellar. Hopefully it can take advantage of MJ1's potentially weak opening.

[James]

That's great for Interstellar. Hopefully it can take advantage of MJ1's potentially weak opening.

Looking at presales, I think Interstellar's 3rd weekend will actually come pretty close to MJ's OW. There's actually a (small) chance it comes on top again. 

[Rsyu]

Looking at presales, I think Interstellar's 3rd weekend will actually come pretty close to MJ's OW. There's actually a (small) chance it comes on top again. 

Wow it's having a great run here that's gone pretty much under the radar

 

Just wondering, how many IMAX screens are there in Romania?

[James]

Wow it's having a great run here that's gone pretty much under the radar

 

Just wondering, how many IMAX screens are there in Romania?

Just one. And it's been constantly sold out. Even for tonight (it has 4 shows / day). It actually makes around 10-15% of Interstellar's business.

[ChD]

Yay for Interstellar. It seems to be doing extremely well across International markets.

[James]

Weekly update: heading for the weekend it's geting more and more clear that 'Mockingjay - Part 1' won't top the opening of Catching Fire. That is surprising. Sequels almost never fail to beat their predecessors here. The main theatre chain went as far as giving it exclusivity for booking after Friday. Basicaly, you can't book any other movie than MJ for the weekend. And even so, it still fails to have any sellouts. I'm seriously starting to wonder whether it will debut in first place or it'll take second after Interstellar's third outing (that constantly sold out both IMAX and normal shows for the Monday-Thursday period). 

[James]

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

 

Another great weekend, thanks to 'Mockingjay - Part 1''s outstanding debut and 'Interstellar''s nice hold.

 

- Against all expectations, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 snatched the 3rd highest OW of the year, debuting with an incredible 66.387 admissions (and $ 335K). That's way above the last installment of the series, 'Catching Fire', that started with a bit over 52.000.

 

The reasons why tracking was so off on this one are quite a few. First of all, we have no idea on how wide a movie opens before we get it's OW results. So I was a very surprised when I saw 'Monckingjay' opened on 85 screens. That's the 3rd widest release ever (!!!), behind only 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Samug' and 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'! This way, even though 'Mockingjay' had no sellouts for the weekend, it had more than enough showtimes to make up for it.

 

Another reason is the fact that this was one of the rare occasions where the country doesn't follow the taste of Bucharest in terms of movies. In the capital, taking after sellouts, 'Interstellar' ruled again.

 

And the most obvious reason it did so good: an outstanding marketing campaing. The advertisment was EVERYWHERE!

 

But after the OW, the things look to be far less pleasant. 'Catching Fire' opened to 296K on it's way to 855K. That's less than a 2.9x multiplier and for this market it is bad. And there's a lot of evidence that suggests 'Mockingjay' won't touch that.

 

First of all, we have the exchange rate. Despite adding 14.000 admissions to the OW, in USD the increase was just about 39K.

 

Second, there's the seemingly mixed-bad WOM. On the biggest movie site here, the first 'Hunger Games' movie has a 7.6 grade, the second - 8.1 and Mockingjay - 7.6. The trouble is, even if it has the same grade as 'The Hunger Games', that's just after only one weekend and with 1/20 of the number of votes the first film has (for comparison, 'Interstellar' holds at a mighty 9.1).

 

And most of all, there is competition. 'Catching Fire' fell 53% in it's second outing, facing only 'The Delivery Man'. 'Interstellar's 4th weekend alone will be bigger than that. And we have two strong newcomers: 'Horrible Bosses 2' and 'The Penguins of Madagascar'. The first 'Horrible Bosses' was a hit here. it opened with 20.000 admissions on it's way to over 100.000 (It actually made more money than 'The Hunger Games'). Expect the second one to open above 30.000. As for 'Penguins', the last 'Madagascar' opened to 45.000 admissions here and made over $1M. I don't expect 'Penguins' to match that (although I won't rule it out either, considering 'Puss in Boots' was waaaay bigger here than any of the 'Shreks' - 56.000 adm OW), but opening over 30.000 admissions should be doable.

 

'Mockingjay' might stabilize a bit in it's 3rd weekend, but after that it has 'Exodus' and then 'The Hobbit' that will completely decimate it. So, all in all, 'Mockingjay' has a good chance to fall under 'Catching Fire's gross.

 

- In second, Interstellar slided 34% to 30.396 admissions. That's a steeper than expected drop, but understandable considering the opening for the lastest HG installemnt. It already passed 200.000 admissions and grossed 1.05M (becoming the 11th movie to cross the 1M border this year, a new record). By the end of the next weekend it will become the 4th highest grossing film of the year and in the end it is almost sure to beat 'Noah's 1.4M to claim No. 3. As for admissions, it should have no problem beating '300 2: Rise of an Empire's 274.444 and if it holds good it has a chance of making over 300.000 admissions and end on No. 2 for the year, behind only the final 'Hobbit'.

 

- The Rewrite opened in third, with 8.223 adm. Not good, not bad for an unknown movie.

 

- Northmen: A Viking Saga collapsed in it's second weekend (-61%). Total stands at a weak 156K.

 

- John Wick had a good drop all things considered and totaled a very good 542K.

 

- Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait au Bon Dieu? fades fast.

 

- Fury has another very good drop and passes 500K.

 

- Eliza Graves and The Boxtrolls had ugly drops.

 

- As always, The House of Magic had a great hold (-18% in it's 15th weekend). With 658K in the bank and 131.766 adm, it is now the 2nd highest grossing animation of the year, ahead of 'The Pirate Fairy'. It actually has a chance of overtaking 'How to Train Your Dragon 2' as the most attended animated movie of the year.

 

Top 10:

 

 

Next week's openers:

 

- Horrible Bosses 2

- The Penguins of Madagascar

- Jessabelle

- Ida

- Scurt/4: Istorii de inima neagra (local)

 

Big weekend ahead. I pretty much said everything above, when I talked about 'Mockingjay'. So I expect 'Horrible Bosses 2' above 30.000 admissions and 'The Penguins of Madagascar' at around 35.000.

'Annabelle' did good here, but that was the exception, not the rule for horrors. I'd be surprised if 'Jessabelle' opened above 10.000 adm.

The other two will probably open under 5.000. 

Edited November 24, 2014 by James

[Rsyu]

Excellent write up, thoroughly enjoy reading your reports. 

 

A question about the Romanian BO: what types of films are most likely to succeed here? in terms of genre, country of origin etc.

[James]

Excellent write up, thoroughly enjoy reading your reports. 

 

A question about the Romanian BO: what types of films are most likely to succeed here? in terms of genre, country of origin etc.

Thanks

 

As for what kind of movies succeed here... well, first of all not local movies. The highest grossing local movie in USD is at around $360K (although the most attended ever is also a local one - 'The Second Fall of Constantinople', with 1.33M admissions and a gross of about $35K ; but that belongs in the past).

 

So the answer is: Hollywood movies. As for what kind of Hollywood movies, it's a bit trickier. The most likely to succeed are the period/historical epics (fantasy): '300: Rise of an Empire' is currently the highest grossing movie of the year, 'Dracula Untold' and 'Pompeii' are in Top 10, 'Hercules' (The Rock movie) and 'The Legend of Hercules' (the Kellan Lutz movie) are both in Top 20 and the final 'Hobbit' movie will become the second highest grossing movie of all time, behind 'Avatar' (the other 2 Hobbit movies are currently No. 2 and 3). Further evidence: the last Pirates of the Caribbean is No. 4 all time here.

We also love everything involving fast cars: Fast series is massive here and Need For Speed is No. 11 or 12 for the year.

Animations are also successful, with Ice Age being a mega-brand (the last two movies are the 5th and 6th highest grossing all-time).

One last category - big spectacle movies: 2012 is no. 8 all time. 

Oh, and sometimes raunchy comedies.

Films that usually flop here are horrors and dramas.

Also, we're not big on SH. Most Marvel movies lately do 1M, but they never go beyond that. Thor is the highest grossing SH film by far with 1.4M and that because it has a connection to Europe's mythology and can be regarded as a fantasy/historical epic.

[Leyla]

epics are the best!

great taste Romanians! (lol aside from the Lutz movie  )

[James]

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

 

Fantastic weekend, the biggest one since April, 33 weeks ago and that thanks to outstanding openings from 'The Penguins of Madagascar' and 'Horrible Bosses' and another strong hold for 'Interstellar'.

 

- The Penguins of Madagascar opened on top with an amazing 54.163 admissions and $306K. That's way above 'Madagascar 3's 45.308 adm debut and it's actually the 6th biggest OW for an animation ever, behind 'Frozen' (73.854 adm), 'Puss in Boots' (57.834 adm), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (65.139 adm), Ice Age: Continental Drift (56.519 adm) and Kung Fu Panda 2 (53.164 adm). It's worth mentioning that 'Ice Age: Continental Drift' is by far the leader when it comes to total adm, with 361.145, followed by 'Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs' (337.261) and 'Frozen' (294.579).

 

'Madagascar 3' ended up with 191.735 adm and over $1M, figures the spin-off should have no trouble matching, even with more competition in the coming weeks.

 

- Horrible Bosses 2 laughed it's way to the second place with 33.440 tickets sold and $178K. That is much bigger than the 20.280 adm and $122K debut of the first movie. That one was well received and legged it's way up to 101.220 adm and $544K, both figures well within reach for this. $600K+ should happen.

 

- The only movie that could not save face this weekend was The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1. It collapsed in it's second outing, it's 60% drop being bigger than 'Catching Fire's 53% and almost double the size of 'Hunger Games's 33%. Even though it opened much higher than 'Catching Fire', their second weekend are almost identical. The second installment's gross was $855K. Considering the competition in the coming weeks, 'Mockingjay' will probably fall short of that.

 

- Interstellar had another beautiful (-25%) slide in it's fourth outing. It now sold 239.747 tickets (No. 3 for the year) and it's gross stands at $1.26M. It's a forgone conclusion that it will overtake 'Noah's $1.4M gross and if it manages not to be completely destroyed by the 'Hobbit'/'Exodus' combo, it might have a shot at No. 3 for the year (and No. 10 All Time!), ahead of 'The Wolf of Wall Street' ($1.6M).

 

- In fifth, Jessabelle debuted with 8.726 adm. That's only a bit more than 'As Above, So Below'. That one ended it's run with around $130K so that's the target for this.

 

- John Wick reached $572K. It should do over $600K in the end, a very good result for it.

 

- The Rewrite and Northmen - A Viking Saga had ugly drops.

 

- Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait au Bon Dieu? slides 41% and brings it's gross to an unremarkable $108K.

 

- Fury closes the top with a 39% drop and a nice $524K after 6 weeks.

 

Top 10:

 

 

Next week's openers:

 

- Paddington

- The Judge

- Nightcrawler

- St. Vincent

- Anochece en la India

 

Next weekend is the calm before the storm. After that, 'Exodus' and 'Dumb and Dumber To' open, followed by the biggest movie of the year, 'The Hobbit', then Night at the Museum' and a bunch of others. The crazy crowded schedule, full of big releases, doesn't wind down till February.

 

So, for this next weekend I expect some decent openings, but nothing out of the ordinary. Overall, I don't think any movie will open to over 20.000 adm, but at least the first two should break the 10.000 tickets barrier. 'Nightcrawler' also has a chance to do that. 

 

'St. Vincent' should do between 5.000-8000 and the last movie - under 2.000 admissions.

[Hernan Gonzalez]

According to what I've been reading Exodus should post great numbers there. Do you think it will beat Noah?

[James]

According to what I've been reading Exodus should post great numbers there. Do you think it will beat Noah?

Hmm... I don't think so, simply because The Hobbit will open the weekend after and it will be like The Avegers was for the US market (it will easily open with over 100.000 admissions and has a good chance at establishing a new OW record). But with Christmas legs, I think 1M for Exodus should happen. Religion themed epics always do well here.

[James]

Mid-weekend update: we won't have any numbers till Monday afternoon, but from the presales in the Bucharest area, Horrible Bosses 2 is looking more crowded in it's second weekend than The Judge, Nightcrawler or St. Vincent in their first. Still, The Judge seems to be doing decent. A debut north of 15.000 admissions is possible.

Paddington also seems to be doing ok.

Interestellar continues to sell out it's IMAX shows in it's 5th week so expect another light drop.

Also, the tickets for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies went on sale yesterday and, as expected, they are selling like hot cake. The Hobbit already has a lot of shows 40-70% full, including IMAX ones (it actually gets 5 IMAX shows/day; even Interstellar only got 4).

 

For this weekend, the order should be: Penguins of Madagascar, Horrible Bosses 2, Interstellar, The Judge, Mockingjay/Paddington. 

[reddevil18]

Great write-ups.

It's nice that the market keeps growing, but more screens are definitely needed around the country, to maximize potential. I think another IMAX in the West and even one in the East (Iasi) would do very well and help drive attendance up. 

As for exactly what the public likes...big spectacle is always a guaranteed seller.