Hong Kong Hong Kong Box Office

[Bluebomb]

Only 110m yuan? Why so low?

[A Marvel Fanboy]

Not sure. Seems the Mainland audience just dont like to see non-KFP/non-Ice Age animations that much. But still, TS3 is still the highest Pixar gross here so far.

Edited April 15, 2012 by firedeep

[Bluebomb]

4. Sanctum

Released: February 17

OW - $1,008,465 ($1,350,810 including previews)

Total - $2,833,859 (2.81 multiplier)

When Chinese New Year falls in February, most of the month's earnings come from that period alone and February 2011 was no exception. Where things deviate, however, comes from a adventure thriller that swam its way to #1 for a week and #2 for the month. Sanctum was billed as an underwater adventure from executive producer James Cameron and moviegoers bought it hook, line and sinker. The marketing was effective; showcasing James Cameron's name at the very beginning of the trailer and spending 25% of the time highlighting his accomplishments which indirectly lead viewers to assume and conclude that he was the director. Sanctum soon gained buzz thereafter and it led to one of the most explosive weekends in February.

Hoping to capitalize on this effective marketing tool, theaters held special screenings of Sanctum across Hong Kong the weekend before its official release. It achieved amazing results as Sanctum powered its way to a top 5 finish with limited showtimes on Saturday and Sunday. It grossed north of $300,000 and debuted early in 25 theaters. The shocking number would only serve to fuel its official opening weekend when it opened against 5 other new releases.

The gigantic sneaks led into its 1st weekend and it blew away the competition, grossing 3x more than its nearest competitor. All of the top 3 that weekend had special screenings the weekend before and it turned out to be the biggest non-fueled holiday weekend of all time in February at the time. The total gross for that weekend turned out to be $2.386m, a little more than $1m of which came from Sanctum. Sanctum grossed $1,008,465 for the 4-day weekend and altogether (including sneak previews) made over 1.3m. At the time, it was considered to a good OW but the surprise factor didn't sink in until it finished its run OS. Its OW was $250,000 more than Germany's and it beat out other OW grosses in other places like Mexico.

Amidst all the fantastic earnings Sanctum took in on its opening weekend and sneaks, there was still one big hurdle to conquer. Black Swan was one of 4 openers on Sanctum's 2nd weekend that had heavy promotion and internet buzz. With so momentum against it, Sanctum relinquished the top spot to Black Swan but not everything was grim. It shined with its drop, diving 48% even with the steep competition and passing 2m. It not only did that in 2 weeks but later on we would find out that it beat France's total in that amount of time.

As Black Swan continued to dominate headlines and the box office, Sanctum suffered and a result, it plunged 63%, leaving it with $193,135 in its 3rd weekend. That was enough to send it past another milestone though and it waded past 2.5m.

4th weekend brought about the release of Battle: Los Angeles. It hit Sanctum's main demographic and Sanctum suffocated. It drowned 70% but passed 2.75m.

Sanctum saw a better drop in its 5th weekend. It slipped 62% but crept past 2.8m.

There were no movies targeting its demo in its 6th weekend and it took advantage with a nice 46% hold.

In its final weekend, it saw another down weekend, off another 59% and it pushed its way to a $2.833m total.

The results speak for themselves. Hong Kong took in more than huge territories like France, Germany and Mexico and was one of the top 10 markets for Sanctum. It placed in the top 15 for the year and it finished in 2nd for the month of February behind I Love Hong Kong. James Cameron's name did wonders for the film but its monstrous gross cannot be attributed to his name alone as evidenced by the solid 2nd weekend hold. The first 2 weekends were surprising but even more so after disappointing results everywhere else overseas. Everything surprising about this movie seems to be magnified by the results of others than its own but at its core, it found a way to pull in an excellent gross during one of the weakest periods of the year.

[Bluebomb]

A Simple Life just picked up the 5 big awards including:Best PictureBest DirectorBest ActorBest ActressBest Screenplayat the 31st Hong Kong Film Awards. This might have a small effect on its box office run.

[Bluebomb]

In addition to the major awards sweep by A Simple Life, The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate picked up a host of technical awards.

Full winners list:

Best Picture - A Simple Life

Best Actor - Andy Lau (A Simple Life)

Best Actress - Deanie Ip (A Simple Life)

Best Director - Ann Hui (A Simple Life)

Best Screenplay - Susan Chan (A Simple Life)

Best Supporting Actor - Lo Hoi Ping (Life Without Principle)

Best Supporting Actress - Soh Hang Shuen (Life Without Principle)

Best Newcomer - Hsiao Ching Teng (The Killer Who Never Kills)

Best Cinematography - Derek Hui (Wu Xia)

Best Art Direction - Yee Chung Man, Lau Man Hung (Flying Swords of Dragon Gate)

Best Costume & Makeup Design - William Chang (Let the Bullets Fly)

Best Action Choreography - Yuen Bun, Lan Hai Han, Sun Jiankui (Flying Swords of Dragon Gate)

Best Original Score - Chan Kwong Wing, Peter Kam, Chatchai Pongprapaphan (Wu Xia)

Best Original Song - Leung Sum Fa (Hi, Fidelity)

* Composer: Jun Kung

* Lyricist: Calvin Poon

* Singer: Sandy Lam

Best Sound Effects - Kim Suk Won (Flying Swords of Dragon Gate)

Best Visual Effects - Wook Kim, Josh Cole, Frankie Chung (Flying Swords of Dragon Gate)

Best New Director - Tsang Tsui Shan (The Big Blue Lake)

Best Mainland/Taiwan Film - You Are the Apple of My Eye

Professional Achievement Award - Fong Ho Yuen (stills photographer)

Lifetime Achievement Award - Ni Kuang (novelist and screenwriter)

Weaker Sunday for all films except for Titanic. Battleship fell quite hard on its first Sunday, dropping 12%. I don't like that drop at all. I'm going to say it makes 2.6m total now. Titanic increased on Sunday which is an excellent result. This is steaming ahead past 1.5m. Buff shut down on Sunday, nosediving 30% from Saturday. It is going to hit 3.5m, probably 3.6m but 3.7m may seem like a stretch now with the humongous fall. Mirror Mirror had a tough 2nd outing. 1.2-1.3m still seems to be its endpoint. The Hunger Games is quieting down. 2.6m is its likely total.

[SentryTrans]

The Avengers might make 20m HKD in its first week!

[Bluebomb]

The Avengers might make 20m HKD in its first week!

Yeah, I agree with this. If the Avengers doesn't make 20m HKD opening weekend, it'll come very close to it.

[SentryTrans]

How much are the ticket prices, 2D, 3D or IMAX?

[Fullbuster]

If I'm not wrong, most of movies in HK are in English right?

[Bluebomb]

How much are the ticket prices, 2D, 3D or IMAX?

Very expensive. I'll have a full breakdown later.

If I'm not wrong, most of movies in HK are in English right?

Yes, about 75% of the movies released are in English (almost all from Hollywood). The tide is starting to shift in the past couple of years though. More and more imports are being shown including movies from France, India, Korea and Japan.

I am only interested in the Battleship number. Battleship falls more than 50% from its opening day pre-sales. If that trend continues into its 2nd weekend, it might only do $450,000-$500,000.

[Bluebomb]

How much are the ticket prices, 2D, 3D or IMAX?

Ticket prices depends on the runtime of the film, theater location and time of day.IMAX 2D: $90-100 HKD ($11-$13 US)IMAX 3D: $130-$160 HKD ($17-$21 US)$160 HKD is for Titanic at the Tsim Sha Tsui IMAX location on the weekends.Regular theaters2D: $55-$85 HKD ($8-$11 US, after morning show), Morning: $35-$55 (about $4.50-$7.00 US)3D: $75-$170 HKD ($10-$22 US), Morning: $50-$110 (about $6.50-$14.00)The reason why some theaters charge $170 a ticket for a 3D movie is because of the theater location as well as the 3D charge and the duration of the movie. Titanic in the business district is $110 in the morning and $170 anytime else. The lowest price of $75 is not for Titanic but for regular 3D movies. Titanic at the cheapest theaters are about $110 for a weekday night/weekend showing.Typical 3D movies are around $90-100 (excluding the most expensive and least expensive theaters). For both 3D and 2D movies, UA charges by the time of day. They have morning showing, matinee showing and afternoon/evening/night showing prices. Other places like MCL theaters do this as well.

[Bluebomb]

That $85 figure for 2D theaters is not right. It can go much higher than $85. The Hunger Games was priced at $95 at a couple of theaters. I remember The Dark Knight was charged $90 but that was before the prices went up. I think The Dark Knight Rises will go over $100 HKD at those 2 theaters in the main business district.Sometimes they also charge extra for a blockbuster movie but there is no set guidelines as to what those BB movies are.

Edited April 16, 2012 by Bluebomb

[Bluebomb]

April 5 Weekend/Actual Totals

1 Battleship - $1,232,073 (weekend actual)

2 Titanic 3D - $1,179,777

3 Love In The Buff - $3,284,446

4 Mirror Mirror - $978,858

5 The Hunger Games - $2,422,861

6 The Lorax - $601,848

7 Wrath Of The Titans - $1,433,294

8 Man On A Ledge - $256,189

9 A Simple Life - $3,418,547

10 Nightfall - $2,264,871

Battleship does have the biggest OW of the year although it is with an asterisk. That number also includes the Wednesday previews.

Everything else in the top 5 went down from estimates as well.

A Simple Life has gained new life from theaters after ticket sales went up because of its sweep in the major categories at the Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday. I think 3.5m is a certainty now.

[Bluebomb]

The Monday number for Battleship is only 44% of its opening day. Horrible. Good hold for Titanic. Everything else crumbled.

[Bluebomb]

Tuesday:A Simple Life resurfaces and cracks the top 5.It looks like there will be no openers that will contend for #1 this week. Battleship will easily repeat. Out of all the openers, Machine Gun Preacher stands the best chance of making the top 5. Titanic and Love in the Buff will duel for spots in the top 3.Next week should be fun.

[ting72]

Is there a list of hk box office that is inflation adjusted?Would love to know what the top ten grosses would be in real terms?Would it be 'a better tomorrow', 'the private eyes' and how would the Stephen chow movies compare historically?

[Bluebomb]

Nope, I couldn't find any.I think if there was adjustment for inflation, a Stephen Chow movie would still be the #1 Chinese language film of all time. Too bad there is no such list out there. Maybe we can e-mail HK MPIA about this?

[Bluebomb]

Battleship is falling like a ton of bricks. Decent for Titanic. Love in the Buff might be stabilizing.

[ting72]

If I can find out the average ticket price in each year , eg 1976 or 1986 then we can get a rough estimate of the inflation adjusted grosses

[Bluebomb]

If I can find out the average ticket price in each year , eg 1976 or 1986 then we can get a rough estimate of the inflation adjusted grosses

That would be great, thanks.

Records and schedules all updated.

BIG news coming out today. The Grand Master starring Tony Leung Chi Wai is getting a December 18th release.

Very good for Titanic. That is horrible for Battleship. I've never seen such erosion...not even from Clash of the Titans IMO. Not very good for Love in the Buff. Terrible for Machine Gun Preacher. Excellent for A Simple Life. This might have a shot at the top 5 this weekend.

To sum this all up: Battleship good. Titanic great. Rest of the holdovers bad. Shame meh. Sunny flop.

Battleship is in for epic second weekend drop in Hong Kong. It's presales are down 90% from last Thursday!

It will be handily beaten by Titanic this weekend.

No it won't. Battleship will still beat Titanic.