Hong Kong Hong Kong Box Office

[Bluebomb]

It is still pretty liberal.

Bluebomb, that'd be great to give me the locations of the best theaters.

I actually quite liked the Chinachem cinema because for so long now I've been going to multi-plexes and it was nice to go to an old style cinema, they have much more character, and they are reminiscent of what I attended when I was younger. But yeah, if you could let me know where the cinemas are, that would be excellent (tube stops included )

The best theater is Pacific Place over in Admiralty. Comfy (leather seats), lots of legroom, stadium seating, big screens and decent sized theater. The only downside is that it's slightly more expensive (about $10-15 HKD more). If you like smaller theaters, you can head to Palace IFC in Central (also the same price as PP). It's essentially the same as PP but the houses are smaller. IFC also shows arthouse movies like Cinematheque does (although not as much). It's like a half blockbuster, half arthouse theater.

 

Cinematheque in Yau Ma Tei is almost a full arthouse theater. They will show some first run blockbuster movies but most of the time, they will show indie movies or the like. They recently renovated their theaters to include leather seats.

 

If you don't want to pay as much for a ticket, you can head to The ONE or iSquare in Tsim Sha Tsui. They both have leather seats and they are stadium seating. I personally prefer The ONE because it has bigger screens. I also heard Palace APM is OK (Kwun Tong station).

 

I heard good things about the UA Shatin theater as well.

 

If you don't mind sitting fabric seats, Olympian City (Olympic -- Tung Chung line) is pretty cheap. They also have 11:30 morning showtimes for most movies (almost half price of a regular ticket). Smell sometimes is unbearable. It depends on the day though.

 

The Grand Cinema (Kowloon  [Elements mall] -- Tung Chung line) is also pretty good although a word of caution, only House 6 (Manhattan Galaxy) and House 1 are stadium seating. The rest are theaters where you have to look UP at the screen. But house 6 has the biggest screen, bigger than Pacific Place. I think it is close to the size of the iSquare IMAX. Very big.

 

It all depends on what you are looking for.

 

Where do you get daily gross/admissions for Hong Kong?

Daily admissions + box office

 

Saturday schedules

Note: For the openers, the # in parentheses means the number of showings it will have on that day.

Pacific Place
New	Holdovers - # of Thu. shows	HOs - # Sat. shows	Leaving
Taken 2 - Sat. (4)	Due West 3D - 1	2	Cosmopolis
Finding Nemo (3D Eng.) - Sat. (5)	Headhunters - 3	3	The Bullet Vanishes
Ted - Thu. (10), Sat. (11)	Resident Evil: Retribution 3D - 3	1	To Rome with Love
Magic Mike - Thu. (5), Sat. (6)	The Expendables 2 - 3	2	Madagascar: Europe's Most Wanted (3D Eng.)
Upside Down - Thu. (6), Sat. (6)	Intouchables - 4	3	The Thieves (Thursday)

Olympian City
New	Holdovers - # of Thu. shows	HOs - # Sat. shows	Leaving
Taken 2 - Sat. (6)	Due West - 0	4	Resident Evil: Retribution 3D
The Assassins - Sat. (2)	Due West 3D - 5	1	Seeking A Friend for the End of the World
Ted - Thu. (8), Sat. (13)	The Bullet Vanishes - 4	3	The Thieves
Magic Mike - Thu. (5), Sat. (3)	Intouchables - 4	3	GF*BF
Upside Down - Thu. (6), Sat. (7)			To Rome with Love
			Vulgaria (Thursday)
			Resident Evil: Retribution (Friday)
			The Expendables 2 (Thursday)

Festival Walk
New	Holdovers - # of Thu. Shows	HOs - # Fri. shows	HOs - # Sat. shows	Leaving
Taken 2 - Sat. (7)	Due West 3D - 2	2	5	The Taste of Money
Finding Nemo (3D Can.) - Sat. (1)	Headhunters - 2	2	1	Resident Evil: Retribution 3D
Finding Nemo (3D Eng.) - Sat. (2)	Resident Evil: Retribution - 2	1	1	To Rome with Love
The Assassins - Fri. (2), Sat. (2)	The Bullet Vanishes - 3	3	1	The Dark Knight Rises
Ted - Thu. (8), Fri. (8), Sat. (11)	The Expendables 2 - 2	2	1	Due West (Friday)
Magic Mike - Thu. (6), Fri. (6), Sat. (3)	Intouchables - 6	6	4	Moonrise Kingdom (Friday)
Upside Down - Thu. (6), Fri. (6), Sat. (7)				Vulgaria (Thursday)

Langham Place
New	Holdovers - # of Thu. Shows	HOs - # Fri. shows	HOs - # Sat. shows	Leaving
Taken 2 - Sat. (4)	Due West 3D - 4	5	6	Chernobyl Diaries
Finding Nemo (3D Can.) - Sat. (2)	Due West - 2	2	2	Intouchables
Tai Chi 0 - Sat. (1)	Resident Evil: Retribution 3D - 4	3	1	The Possession
The Assassins - Fri. (3), Sat. (3)	The Bullet Vanishes - 3	3	3	The Expendables 2 (Thursday)
Ted - Thu. (14), Fri. (15), Sat. (15)
Magic Mike - Thu. (4), Fri. (3), Sat. (3)
Upside Down - Thu. (5), Fri. (7), Sat. (7)
Looper - Thu. (5), Fri. (7), Sat. (6)

The Grand Cinema
New	Holdovers - # of Thu. Shows	HOs - # Fri. shows	HOs - # Sat. shows	Leaving
Taken 2 - Sat. (11)	Due West 3D - 2	5	4	Resident Evil: Retribution
Finding Nemo (3D Can.) - Sat. (2)	Resident Evil: Retribution - 2	4	2	ATM
Finding Nemo (3D Eng.) - Sat. (3)	The Bullet Vanishes - 3	4	5	Cosmopolis
The Assassins - Fri. (4), Sat. (6)	The Expendables 2 - 2	3	5	GF*BF
Tai Chi 0 - Sat. (1)	Chernobyl Diaries - 3	3	2	Friends With Kids
Ted - Thu. (10), Fri. (14), Sat. (14)	Intouchables - 5	4	4	I Miss You
Magic Mike - Thu. (5), Fri. (5), Sat. (6)	Moonrise Kingdom - 1	1	1	The Cold Light of Day
Upside Down - Thu. (6), Fri. (5), Sat. (7)	Seeking A Friend for the End of the World - 2	1	1
Looper - Thu. (5), Fri. (5), Sat. (7)	Starbuck - 5	3	3
	The Taste of Money - 2	1	1
	To Rome with Love - 1	1	1
	Vulgaria - 1	1	1

The # of showings for Taken 2 on Saturday is mixed. About half have given it full day showings while others have opted for a lighter push with only half day showtimes or two showtimes per day. The 3D re-release for Finding Nemo has been picked up by about 15 theaters but almost all have decided to give Finding Nemo 1-3 showings. Tai Chi 0 is only showing once a day at those locations deciding to run a special screening. The Assassins has only gotten a couple of showings per day at most theaters playing it. Ted is not affected by these new movies and has increased in showtimes on Saturday. Although a couple of places have given Taken 2 the biggest screen, Ted is showing on the 2nd and 3rd biggest screens. Other places that have given Taken 2 a smaller screen have put Ted on the biggest and 2nd biggest screens instead. Upside Down and Looper are seeing showtimes grow on Saturday while Magic Mike is being sliced by a quarter.

The biggest losers over the holdovers side are The Expendables 2, Resident Evil: Retribution and Vulgaria. Intouchables has also seen showings decrease. Due West seems to be the only exception.

Taken 2 will still place in the top 5 although I think it will end up slightly lower than my early prediction. It is aiming for a $250,000 2-day start.

		Thursday Actuals						September 27
LW	TW	Title	Last Thu. (USD)	Thursday (USD)	% chg	Screens	Days	Total
--	1	Ted	--	$169,118	--	47	1	$443,691
--	2	Due West	--	$69,876	--	53	8	$1,273,482
--	3	Upside Down	--	$55,683	--	33	1	$55,683
--	4	Looper	--	$21,390	--	23	1	$21,390
--	5	Resident Evil: Retribution	--	$18,305	--	44	15	$2,396,038
--	6	The Bullet Vanishes	--	$14,937	--	28	15	$866,057
--	7	Intouchables	--	$12,934	--	19	22	$9,667
--	8	Magic Mike	--	$12,450	--	26	1	$18,056
--	9	The Expendables 2	--	$10,603	--	30	15	$1,588,314
--	10	Headhunters	--	$2,087	--	4	8	$39,981

Intouchables	$628,073
Diva	$551,048
GF*BF	$448,391
To Rome With Love	$373,501

Ok, 1m is out for Ted. $750,000 is still up for grabs. Although Due West has a slight lead over Upside Down, Upside Down could come back on Saturday and Sunday. They'll each make about $300,000 for the 4-day weekend. Looper was underestimated. It could reach $150,000 for the 4-day since action movies do much better on the weekend. Here is where things get tricky. Resident Evil 5 and The Bullet Vanishes are going to decrease in showtimes. Intouchables is also decreasing slightly. Magic Mike is also getting its showings slashed. In my opinion, Resident Evil and Intouchables will fight for #6. Intouchables will perform much better than the other films on the weekend but Resident Evil 5 still has IMAX. Expendables 2 is no longer looking at a total of 1.8m. The best it can hope for is 1.7m but it is not making enough money and showings are getting cut so even then, 1.7m is not a lock. Headhunters is looking to fall over 50% from last weekend.

 

[The Toymaker]

Thanks Bluebomb. I think I might try Pacific Palace first, then head to Palace IFC, then depending on how often I go there, work my way around the rest of the ones you mentioned.

I was on the website of Golden Harvest cinemas yesterday, but you don't recommend them, right? Why is that? I'm a big fan of Jackie Chan, and knowing most of his films were released by GH, I'm eager to check out the cinemas of them, especially when CZ12 comes out.

Much appreciated about the daily grosses link.

[The Toymaker]

Regarding the dailies link, is there no way to find out previous day grosses? Even if I can only get a few, that will be good.

[Bluebomb]

Thanks Bluebomb. I think I might try Pacific Palace first, then head to Palace IFC, then depending on how often I go there, work my way around the rest of the ones you mentioned.

I was on the website of Golden Harvest cinemas yesterday, but you don't recommend them, right? Why is that? I'm a big fan of Jackie Chan, and knowing most of his films were released by GH, I'm eager to check out the cinemas of them, especially when CZ12 comes out.

Much appreciated about the daily grosses link.

No, I heard bad things about GH theaters.

Regarding the dailies link, is there no way to find out previous day grosses? Even if I can only get a few, that will be good.

No, the site is real-time only.

[The Toymaker]

Ok, cheers my friend

[Bluebomb]

	Friday					September 28
Rank	Title	LW (adm.)	TW (adm.)	Gross (USD)	% chg (adm.)	QD % chg (adm.)
1	Ted	--	32,886	$277,717	--	+18.4%
2	Upside Down	--	10,402	$88,861	--	+12.6%
3	Due West	--	8,344	$82,930	--	-4.3%
4	Resident Evil: Retribution	--	3,400	$44,412	--	+9.0%
5	Looper	--	3,244	$26,611	--	--

Great number for Ted. Upside Down is doing pretty well. Terrible for Due West. Good increase for Resident Evil. Looper increased about 33% from Thursday to sneak into the top 5.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			September 29
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg	QD % chg
1	Ted	--	15,944	--	+56.8%
2	Upside Down	--	4,016	--	+41.9%
3	Taken 2	--	3,335	--	--
4	Due West	--	2,539	--	+10.8%
5	Resident Evil: Retribution	--	2,129	--	+19.3%

Awesome for Ted. Upside Down is really making a push for #2. Taken 2 pre-sales look solid. Lots of people do not know about these special screenings so this number is pretty good. I think it could finish with 15,000 admissions today. Due West is having a terrible weekend. The worst increase of the top 5. Resident Evil 5 has had very high pre-sales the last 2 days but weak walk-ins. Looper will pass it in admissions by the end of the day.

 

[Bluebomb]

As Taken 2 floods HK theaters with special screenings, let's look further ahead to this winter.

True to form, Golden Scene has scheduled the last installment of Twilight for December 20. I thought scheduling Part I on Christmas weekend last year was stupid but it's even stupider for Part 2 this year.

Let's look at the Winter release schedule first.

2012 Winter Release Schedule

Release Date	Movie Title
November 22	Life of Pi Rise of the Guardians All About My Wife Caught in the Web
November 29	Chimpanzee
November 30	Together
December 6	My Sassy Hubby In The House
December 12	CZ12
December 13	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Woody Allen: A Documentary
December 18	The Grandmasters
December 20	Jack Reacher Les Miserables Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 Wreck-It Ralph Hotel Transylvania The Guillotines
January 3	The Impossible
January 8	Lost for Words
January 17	Django Unchained Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Life of Pi should be a minor hit. It has 3 weeks between itself and The Hobbit and there's no other major releases coming out before it.

I really want to look at December where most of the big releases are coming out. Ok, The Hobbit on December 13. This will be the major event of the winter. It'll make at least 9m and will most likely gross 10m. The December 20 week looks extremely busy. You've got The Grandmasters from Wong Kar-Wai, then the other releases on December 20. The bigger movies should be Jack Reacher and Breaking Dawn Part 2 but here's the thing about BD. Last year, I made a post saying how the Twilight series never pays off at Christmas. Well, this year more than ever, this is especially true.

Quote:

2. Holiday release date means more competition. More competition means less chance of getting big bucks and the coveted ranking.

Ok, last year, I'll give it that there was no big female-driven film but this year has The Hobbit and Les Miserables. The Twilight series has a devoted fanbase but is it enough to keep females from watching The Hobbit or Les Miserables? I'm not so sure. Even if The Hobbit disappoints on OW with 2.5-3m, Christmas week features great holds so a lot of the attention will still be focused on The Hobbit and not on Breaking Dawn Pt. 2. We've seen before how a blockbuster affects Twilight. New Moon was released against Avatar and it ended up becoming the only film in the franchise to miss 2m. The Twilight series hasn't grown much since then (in fact, Twilight is still the highest grossing film of the franchise) so I expect BD Pt. 2 to decrease with an $850,000 OW/1.9m finish. Jack Reacher should do well because it's Tom Cruise and he's a huge draw here. With his starpower coming back after MI4, this should open close to 1m. Wreck-It Ralph doesn't look like the traditional animated fare. It seems geared towards adult males than families so it could potentially pull better numbers than Megamind. I see about a $500,000 OW. Hotel Transylvania is DOA. About $120,000. Les Miserables is banking on the popularity of musicals right now. Phantom of the Opera: Royal Albert Hall 25th Anniversary was released last December and it is still showing in theaters this month. Les Miserables could open to about $400,000. It's tough to say where The Grandmasters will fall right now. I'd say $450,000 OW just because it talks about Yip Man.

 

[The Toymaker]

Not great positioning of CZ12. Couldn't they have chose another day?

[Bluebomb]

They wanted to release this on 12/12/(20)12 because the zodiac calendar has 12 animals. It's a gimmick like you see with horror movies opening on Halloween or romance movies opening on Valentine's Day.

[The Toymaker]

Oh I see. Like that time The Omen was released on 6th June 2006.

That's cool. Do you know about a mainland release? I really want to see Jackie on the big screen. I haven't seen him since Spy Next Door.

[A Marvel Fanboy]

Oh I see. Like that time The Omen was released on 6th June 2006.

That's cool. Do you know about a mainland release? I really want to see Jackie on the big screen. I haven't seen him since Spy Next Door.

CZ12 goes to 2012.12.20 in IMAX/2D, Mainland.

[The Toymaker]

20th Dec?Sexy. :DThanks man

[Bluebomb]

	Saturday					September 29
Rank	Title	LW (adm.)	TW (adm.)	Gross (USD)	% chg (adm.)	QD % chg (adm.)
1	Ted	--	53,261	$433,453	--	+62.0%
2	Upside Down	--	14,405	$118,297	--	+38.5%
3	Taken 2	--	12,704	$106,480	--	--
4	Due West	--	9,714	$98,327	--	+16.4%
5	Looper	--	4,678	$37,986	--	+44.2%

	Weekend Projections			September 27
Rank	Title	TW	% chg	Total
1	Ted	$1,050,000	+382.4%	$1,495,000
2	Upside Down	$320,000		$320,000
3	Due West	$300,000	-56.6%	$1,505,000
4	Taken 2	$200,000		$200,000
5	Looper	$135,000		$135,000

With Ted's Saturday explosion and an expected increase on Sunday, Ted is on track to pass 1m for the 4 day weekend. That prediction yesterday bit me in the ass.

Upside Down increased its gap from Due West on Saturday and is now expected to win the race for #2 this weekend. The holiday is not helping Due West at all as its Saturday admissions only increased 11.4% from Thursday. Taken 2 began its HK run with a solid 12,700 admissions on Saturday. As more people are aware of its special screenings along with the added effect of the holiday, this will continue to increase throughout the week. For the 2 day, it is looking at a $200,000 weekend. Looper has built on its slow start on Thursday and has firmly entrenched itself as the #5 biggest movie this weekend. It passed Resident Evil 5 on Saturday and will continue to build its audience through positive word of mouth with another increase set for Sunday.

 

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			September 30
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg	QD % chg
1	Ted	--	19,220	--	+20.5%
2	Upside Down	--	5,500	--	+37.0%
3	Taken 2	--	4,249	--	+27.4%
4	Due West	--	2,612	--	+2.9%
5	Resident Evil: Retribution	--	2,451	--	+15.1%

Huge for Ted. Upside Down and Taken 2 both shot up nicely. Due West might not be getting a holiday boost as much as other films are but next week should see a lower drop, ala Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy. Resident Evil 5 saw a nice bump.

[Bluebomb]

	Sunday					September 30
Rank	Title	LW (adm.)	TW (adm.)	Gross (USD)	% chg (adm.)	QD % chg (adm.)
1	Ted	--	56,855	$459,771	--	+6.7%
2	Upside Down	--	15,938	$129,641	--	+10.6%
3	Taken 2	--	15,199	$124,862	--	+19.6%
4	Due West	--	9,074	$90,230	--	-6.6%
5	Looper	--	5,147	$41,531	--	+10.0%

	Weekend adm.			Sep 27-30
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Ted	--	170,781	--
2	Upside Down	--	49,984	--
3	Due West	--	35,850	--
4	Taken 2	--	25,307	--
5	Looper	--	15,535	--

	Weekend Estimates			September 27
Rank	Title	TW	% chg	Total
1	Ted	$1,050,000	+382.4%	$1,495,000
2	Upside Down	$320,000		$320,000
3	Due West	$300,000	-56.6%	$1,505,000
4	Taken 2	$200,000		$200,000
5	Looper	$135,000		$135,000

No change from estimates.

[Bluebomb]

Ack, I mean projections.

[John Marston]

Is Taken 2 out

[Bluebomb]

Is Taken 2 out

It's been out since Saturday.

 

Monday holiday pre-sales
 

	Monday adm.	(so far)			October 1
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Ted	--	20,071	--	+4.4%
2	Upside Down	--	4,876	--	-11.3%
3	Taken 2	--	4,255	--	+0.1%
4	Due West	--	2,621	--	+0.3%
5	Resident Evil: Retribution	--	2,619	--	+6.9%

Good for Ted. Huge decrease for Upside Down. Decent for Taken 2. After the week it's been having, not a good increase for Due West. Another solid increase for RE5.

*I made a mistake with Ted's estimated total. It should be 1.325m not 1.495m.

REVISED Sept. 27 Weekend Estimates

	Weekend Estimates			September 27
Rank	Title	TW	% chg	Total
1	Ted	$1,050,000	+382.4%	$1,325,000
2	Upside Down	$320,000		$320,000
3	Due West	$300,000	-56.6%	$1,505,000
4	Taken 2	$200,000		$200,000
5	Looper	$135,000		$135,000

 

Edited October 1, 2012 by Bluebomb

[Bluebomb]

	Monday adm.				October 1
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Ted	--	61,934	--	+8.9%
2	Taken 2	--	16,674	--	+9.7%
3	Upside Down	--	16,414	--	+3.0%
4	Due West	--	9,817	--	+8.2%
5	Looper	--	5,957	--	+15.7%

Ted saw a 5,000 increase in admissions on Monday. Taken 2 overtook Upside Down in admissions for the first time. Due West has been stuck in the 9,000-10,000 admissions range since Saturday. Good bump for Looper.

That's not the big story at this moment. Earlier this evening at about 8:20 PM, a commercial boat carrying about 120 people collided with a ferry and sank. 101 people were rescued but 8 people are now dead and there's still some dozen people missing.

[Olive]

I was reading the news on Weibo.So sad that happened.

[Olive]

Death toll of HK ship collision rises to 36