Hong Kong Hong Kong Box Office

[Bluebomb]

I thought this was interesting.

Shift squeezes Hong Kong screens

Culture changes, real estate boom cut into plex muscle

By Clifford Coonan

'Flying Swords of Dragon Gate'

Hong Kong co-production 'Flying Swords of Dragon Gate' has become one of the biggest hits on the mainland, with box office north of $80 million.

BEIJING -- Hong Kong cinema is legendary the world over, famous for its depiction of gangsters, its gritty urban dramas, its tales of destiny and revenge, laced with chopsocky and humor.

But trying to watch Hong Kong's finest movies is getting tougher in the city-state, where a rising real estate market has seen the number of cinemas fall by more than 60% in less than two decades, prompting some leading figures in the biz to express their concern that exhibition in Hong Kong is headed for a crisis in an economy more and more driven by tourists from the mainland.

...

"As an industry, we are re-examining (ourselves)," says Albert Lee, chief executive of Emperor Motion Pictures. "In the early 1990s, we had 140,000 seats, now there are just over 40,000. All of this has a ripple effect."

The statistics aren't pretty. In 1993, there were 119 cinemas, with 188 screens and a total of 121,885 seats. By 2003, there were 57 cinemas with 188 screens and 52,440 seats. And by July, there were 47 cinemas with 204 screens and 39,674 seats.

Between 1993 and 2011, the number of cinemas has dropped by 60%, and seats by 67.4%. Only screen counts increased during the period, by 8.5%.

...

In the past, cinema-starved mainland tourists in Hong Kong might take in a film but in the last few year, China's screen count has boomed. Lee notes that on the mainland, real estate companies like Wanda are building shopping malls that include film theaters because they bring in consumers.

The massive expansion in the number of cinemas has fueled a film boom, as the growing middle classes add going to the movies to their lifestyle options.

...

This exhibition surge on the mainland has been to Hong Kong's benefit, since many of the films were made with Hong Kong money or expertise. Moreover, the mainland offers an exponentially larger audience pool.

"From a business point of view, there is no reason why we should not be looking at China," Lee says.

Still, the diminishing number of local screens does not augur well for Hong Kong filmgoers. Until the early 1970s, the British government, which ran Hong Kong until 1997, considered cinema seats "essential recreational services" like swimming pools or libraries. There was a quota of one cinema seat for every 82 or 83 people.

"Many areas now do not have cinemas at all. This is very worrying," says Nansun Shi, executive director of Film Workshop and widely recognized as a key player in the Hong Kong biz. "If Hong Kong claims to have creative industries, the engine of which is film as one of its major industries going forward, we would have to address the issue of diminishing cinemas."

...

Full article here.

That is sad and fascinating at the same time. It amazes me that HK can pull in such big numbers with only 47 theaters. No wonder it usually has the highest PTA's of any country for a blockbuster release opening weekend.

How many cinemas are there in Hong Kong?

Hope this answers your question lab.

[Bluebomb]

Easter had less of an effect this year with the Ching Ming holiday falling in the vicinity of the Easter holidays. Box office should be down from the last 2 Easters as most people took Thursday off and created a 6-day holiday for themselves to go elsewhere.

Love in the Buff fell slightly from projections although a 2% drop is still excellent. The Hunger Games got bumped up a tad.

[Bluebomb]

The weekend’s No. 5 title, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, elicited $11.8 million from some 4,000 situations in 49 territories, lifting its international gross total to $59 million. Universal’s 3-D animation adapted from the classic children’s book opened in seven markets including Hong Kong where it played just 34 venues, and drew $386,000 for a per-site average of nearly $11,500

If that's the case then there should upward adjustments for all movies. The Hunger Games could fall below 20% while Love in the Buff might have increased. Titanic and Mirror Mirror could see weekends of over $500,000.

[Bluebomb]

Honourable mention - The Tree of Life

It was expected that this movie of arthouse flavour wouldn't do much while audiences clamored for more Hollywood movie extravaganzas but it showed its mettle opening weekend. The Tree of Life posted a magnificent $136,000 from 10 theaters for a PTA of more than $13,600. It held well for 5 more weekends after that, dropping less than 50% in each of those weekends. It finished with more than a 3 multiplier, well above what a typical arthouse release usually makes.

5. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Released: December 15

OW - $1,303,500

Total - $5,704,387 (4.38 multiplier)

Looking to rejuvenate his career, Tom Cruise went back to his old faithful in the Mission Impossible series. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol hoped to be Tom Cruise's meal ticket back towards being an A-lister but it faced some extreme challenges along the way. Set for a December 15 release date in Hong Kong, its release date was pitted against the Sherlock Holmes sequel. This battle is akin to the 'Battle of the MANs' in April 2010 when Iron Man 2 and Ip Man 2 cornered every theater in the market that weekend. The two 'Man' sequels combined for more than 3.25m and dominated the box office with a 90.6% market share and it was expected that something similar would happen with Impossible/Holmes.

There were some concerns that with the Mission Impossible series seeing its grosses sliding down ever since the first one made 5.4m that the 4th one would make even less. Needless to say, the 2nd one easing to 4.6m and the 3rd only capturing 3.9m didn't calm fears much. Also, the first Sherlock Holmes made 3m in Hong Kong and sequels usually trend upwards. All of those fears were put to rest on opening weekend as Mission Impossible calmly took the weekend over its rival by over $200,000. Opening weekend admissions saw the Mission Impossible film go back and forth with Sherlock Holmes 2. Thursday saw it field a 3,500 admissions advantage over Holmes. Thursday actuals would put it over $210,000 as IMAX helped it wipe out Sherlock Holmes' opening Wednesday advantage in 1 fell swoop. Friday would see its lead shrink to less than 1,000 with Sherlock Holmes jumping over 50%. Saturday was its best day of the weekend with 53,809 admissions but Sherlock Holmes leapfrogged it with a 100 admissions win. It came roaring back on Sunday with only a 2.5% drop while Holmes blew away 13.5% of its Saturday business and marked Sunday with an impressive 5,700 admissions lead. It sported a 10,000 admissions triumph over Sherlock Holmes 2's opening weekend in the 4-day period and carried its admissions win into gross. It opened with $1,303,500, ahead of Knight & Day but behind MI3, which made over 2m in the summer.

Christmas weekend saw 4 new openers but they were no match for Mission Impossible. MI4 remained atop the leaderboard besting the opening weekend of Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and the 2nd weekend of Sherlock Holmes 2. It performed admirably in admissions where on Thursday it eased 10% from opening day with 21,987 admissions. That hold was fantastic considering Breaking Dawn stormed to #1 with over 36,000 admissions. Actuals would see it slip only 25% in gross and behind Breaking Dawn by $25,000, only a small gap compared with its big 13,000 one in admissions. It sunk Breaking Dawn Part 1 on Friday, stealing away the #1 spot by just 10 tickets and increased 2% from its opening Friday. It continued to strengthen on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, increasing on both days. Saturday saw it pump up to 57,476, gaining 7% week-to-week. It saw another jump on Sunday, up 14% and managing to post its best admissions day on Christmas. Its weekend admissions was up 6% to 172,055 but it couldn't achieve a similar hold in gross, instead falling 12%. Outside of the weekend, MI4 held steady while Breaking Dawn started to fade as December 26 and 27 saw great holds. It passed 3m on Monday and by the end of the week, it had already doubled Knight & Day's gross and placed in the top 10 of the year.

Weaker competition allowed it to rule a 3rd weekend as it had the best admissions drop of the top 5. Turning Point 2 opened but to little fanfare as MI4 scored another weekend of over 100,000 admissions and stumbled only 29% with an $838,000 weekend. It not only passed 4m after the weekend but took MI3 down. After its 3rd week, it stood at an astonishing 4.9m, killing MI2 and it was just a few hundred thousands away from the big kahuna, the first Mission Impossible.

Mission Impossible 4 would pass 5m on the start of its 4th weekend but The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo snatched #1 away from it, ending its 3 week reign as the boss. The end of the holidays meant that movies could no longer be seen at any time of day and 7/8 holdovers in the top 10 declined 60% or higher including Mission Impossible 4. It still had the 2nd best hold with a 60% drop and held a $7,500 PTA in its 4th weekend. After 28 days, it came in just a hair shy of 5.4m.

It enjoyed the best hold of the top 5 on its 5th weekend, off 47% to 5.57m. It spent another weekend in the top 5 and ran past the original Mission Impossible, finally clinching the victory in 32 days.

Chinese New Year came on MI4's 6th weekend but it came with a price. 9 new openers filled theaters, 8 of them landing in the top 10 as the big holiday sees many studios put a big movie there to make money off of the Lunar New Year holidays. As a result, MI4 screen counts and showtimes nosedived and it was only left with 7 theaters, down from 39 its 5th weekend. It crumbled 87% to 5.655m.

The effects of having the Lunar New Year holidays on the weekdays bled into MI4's 7th weekend. Half of the movies saw blue including all of the top 5. Unfortunately to MI4's dismay, it did not see any increase itself. It went down 40% and lost another 5 screens in the process.

8th weekend saw it tumble 84% with 7 new movies coming out but it soldiered on past 5.7m.

Its final weekend saw it make $1,166 to close out its run with an amazing 5.704m.

A couple of uncertainties made people nervous about its box office prospects but it completely shattered and blew past any and all preconceived notions with its run. It not only took down Sherlock Holmes 2 in an epic battle but survived well throughout the holidays with superb holds thanks to great WOM. It also continued to solidify Tom Cruise's place as an action star in Asia and Mission Impossible 4 became Tom Cruise's biggest movie ever in Hong Kong.

Edited April 9, 2012 by Bluebomb

[A Marvel Fanboy]

You are really good at writing ... and in English makes it more impressive.

[Bluebomb]

Thanks.

Easter Monday admissions

Could Love in the Buff be starting to slow down? Mirror Mirror, Titanic and The Hunger Games all showed up well. The Lorax had a fairly good Easter Monday holiday as well.

[Bluebomb]

Thursday actuals now in table format.

Thursday schedules

Battleship is getting 2 screens at night but ticket sales are just ok at the moment. Shame is getting showtimes at 7 locations. Sunny has been booked for a semi wide release. The Soul of Bread moves off limited status and sees its showtimes increase on Thursday.

Love in the Buff gets 1 screen (down from 2) while Titanic retains almost all of its showtimes. Mirror Mirror also gets a reprieve with it down only a couple of showtimes. Wrath of the Titans is getting the boot in half of the theaters showing it right now. The Hunger Games also keeps most of its showtimes although it is gone from several theaters this week. The Lorax sees its half-full day showtimes down to actual half day showtimes (5 or 6 down to 3). Man on a Ledge loses an edge with theaters and is hanging on tight with 1 showtime per day.

April 12 Predictions

1. Battleship - $1,150,000 (including Wednesday previews)

2. Love in the Buff - $380,000 (-57.8%)

3. Mirror Mirror - $235,000 (-55.2%)

4. Titanic 3D - $200,000 (-65.5%)

5. The Hunger Games - $120,000 (-67.5%)

Battleship hasn't looked great but I suspect it will do exceptionally well with walk-ins. Love in the Buff might have slowed down the past few days but Battleship won't hit its main demographic that much. It'll be affected more by the loss of the holidays. All holdovers, not just Love in the Buff will see sloppy drops. Mirror Mirror is looking to have the strongest hold of the top 5 due to no other kids movies' challenging it at this time. Mirror Mirror has mixed WOM but The Lorax failed to do much last weekend so that will help with its drop this week. Titanic saw a fantastic opening (cue the dissenters) last weekend but the heavy drop this week will be due to the loss of holidays as well as 1 IMAX showtime. The Hunger Games will be in Battleship's direct line of fire so a huge dropoff for it is expected.

[RTX]

You see heavy drops for all holdovers. Is that really justified?Personally, I think Battleship is going to flop/significantly underperform. If anything Wrath of Titans proves that Asian audiences have better tastes than we give them credit for.

[lab276]

It's after Easter, so I think big drops would be expected.

[Bluebomb]

You see heavy drops for all holdovers. Is that really justified?Personally, I think Battleship is going to flop/significantly underperform. If anything Wrath of Titans proves that Asian audiences have better tastes than we give them credit for.

Yes, the combination of Battleship and no holidays will hurt holdovers a lot. I'm thinking that weekend drops will be even worse now, possibly in the 65-70% range for almost all films but I like to stay conservative in predictions.I know HK is not whole of Asia but Wrath of the Titans did poorly in Hong Kong because of Love in the Buff. If Love in the Buff was released elsewhere, Wrath of the Titans would have challenged for a 1m OW. Battleship is more of a tentpole release than Wrath. It has no major competition from other movies, just holdovers from Easter or Buff. Edited April 10, 2012 by Bluebomb

[Bluebomb]

Love in the Buff suffered a huge drop without the holidays. Titanic did very well. Mirror Mirror had a good weekday. The Hunger Games fell somewhat harsh. The Lorax did excellent business for a children's film.

[Bluebomb]

That number is below Sherlock Holmes 2's opening Wednesday as well as Ip Man 2's. Total admissions for Battleship today could reach 12,000.

Not bad for Titanic although I expect starting tomorrow, it will drop even harder with the loss of 1 IMAX showtime. Buff is collapsing. The Lorax did moderate business. Terrible for Wrath of the Titans. The Hunger Games fell over 70% in admissions.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Bluebomb

[Bluebomb]

April 5 Weekend/Total Actuals (up to Easter Sunday)

1. Love in the Buff - $2,727,143

2. The Hunger Games - $2,141,454

3. Wrath of the Titans - $1,292,882

4. Titanic 3D - $602,456 (weekend actual)

5. Mirror Mirror - $553,521/$566,400 (weekend actual)

6. The Lorax - $339,833 (weekend actual)

7. Nightfall - $2,190,664

8. A Simple Life - $3,335,147

9. Man on a Ledge - $156,254 (weekend actual)

10. The Grey - $156,360

Titanic and Mirror Mirror were underestimated. Very good for both. Weak for The Lorax. Horrible for Man on a Ledge.

Buff is headed for 3.7-3.8m. Hunger Games looks to finish with about 2.6-2.7m now. Wrath of the Titans will just barely make more than half of Clash's total.

Friday showtimes for Battleship seem to be doing a lot better. I see this getting 2 screens this weekend.

[Bluebomb]

Battleship results

[*]2-2.49m - 2 votes (Percentage of vote: 50.00%)

[*]2.5-2.99m - 1 vote (Percentage of vote: 25.00%)

[*]3-3.49m - 1 vote (Percentage of vote: 25.00%)

New polls will be added soon!

Comparisons for Battleship:

Ip Man 2 - 15,463

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - 15,628

Good opening for Battleship. That is a little bit lower than the other 2 Wednesday preview starters but both Ip Man 2 and Sherlock Holmes faced slight frontloading on their respective Wednesday. Iron Man 2 came out on Friday of the same weekend as Ip Man 2 while Mission Impossible 4 came out officially the next day after Sherlock Holmes 2.

Battleship, meanwhile, faces no competition so admissions will see big increases on Friday through Sunday. At this point, Battleship is headed for about 1.1m 5-day OW. If Battleship does extremely well on the weekend, 1.2 or even 1.3m is not out of the question.

Love in the Buff drowned. Is the demand really drying up or is the WOM simply not good enough? Decent for Titanic. Mirror Mirror seems to be doing OK. The Lorax had a smaller drop today because it had very little night shows so it wasn't affected all that much from the Battleship sneaks.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Bluebomb

[Fullbuster]

You're so lonely here :/Battleship could do big there.

[Bluebomb]

You're so lonely here :/Battleship could do big there.

I feel like I'm talking to the wall sometimes. :DYeah, Battleship could challenge for the #1 OW this year. It'll depend on its Saturday/Sunday admissions.

[SentryTrans]

I feel like I'm talking to the wall sometimes.

This thread is too professional.I will post in this thread ofen.

[RTX]

Personally, I think Battleship is going to flop/significantly underperform. If anything Wrath of Titans proves that Asian audiences have better tastes than we give them credit for.

Ok, I take my words back.

[druv10]

I love your thread Bluebomb. It is the best run thread on BOF.

[Bluebomb]

Thanks, druv! Really appreciate it.