Hong Kong Hong Kong Box Office

[Bluebomb]

	Friday					November 23
Rank	Title	LW (adm.)	TW (adm.)	Gross (USD)	% chg (adm.)	QD % chg (adm.)
1	Life of Pi	--	25,957	$321,158	--	+31.7%
2	Cold War	34,950	22,326	$187,451	-36.1%	+49.6%
3	Skyfall	12,492	6,588	$66,648	-47.3%	+59.1%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	3,198	$39,007	--	+83.2%
5	Love in Time	--	2,771	$22,681	--	+11.8%

A bit weaker than I expected for Pi. It'll pick up Saturday and Sunday. Cold War is doing well. Skyfall is holding ok. Rise of the Guardians had a much better Friday but it still doesn't make up for the really low Thursday start. Love in Time had a poor Friday.

 

[blenderbus]

YAY Pi

[Bluebomb]

YAY Pi

Pi is doing amazing business today. It could double Friday's admissions number.

[druv10]

Pi is doing amazing business today. It could double Friday's admissions number.

WOM is spreading.

[Fullbuster]

Great for Pi

[Bluebomb]

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			November 24
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg	QD % chg
1	Life of Pi	--	20,296	--	+120.8%
2	Cold War	--	10,402	--	+52.6%
3	Skyfall	--	3,634	--	+57.5%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	1,868	--	+64.3%
5	Argo	--	1,079	--	--

Life of Pi storms skyward on Saturday. Haven't seen an increase like that for a family film in a while. Cold War, Skyfall, Rise of the Guardians all had mediocre increases. Argo had a nice bump.

 

[Bluebomb]

Release date for Star Trek Into Darkness has been set for May 16, 2013.
 

	Saturday					November 24
Rank	Title	LW (adm.)	TW (adm.)	Gross (USD)	% chg (adm.)	QD % chg (adm.)
1	Life of Pi	--	50,220	$587,245	--	+93.5%
2	Cold War	61,994	35,645	$290,735	-42.5%	+59.7%
3	Skyfall	21,473	10,514	$105,708	-51.0%	+59.6%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	5,192	$58,604	--	+62.4%
5	Love in Time	--	4,073	$32,170	--	+47.0%

Although it didn't double Friday's admissions, that is still an impeccable gain for Life of Pi. Very good again for Cold War. It didn't crumble under the weight of Life of Pi. Instead, it stood as a serviceable alternative. Skyfall got hit by Life of Pi doing so well today. Not as good as I thought for Rise of the Guardians. $100,000 is a tossup. Love in Time had really poor admissions the past few days. Disappointing considering it held a slight edge over Rise on Thursday.
 

	Weekend Projections			November 22
Rank	Title	TW	% chg	Total
1	Life of Pi	$1,350,000		$1,355,000
2	Cold War	$660,000	-41.4%	$4,420,000
3	Skyfall	$235,000	-51.6%	$4,455,000
4	Rise of the Guardians	$100,000		$100,000
5	Love in Time	$85,000		$85,000

Life of Pi makes it 17 openers over 1m+. Thursday was a bit slow but it came back with a vengeance on Saturday and will do the same on Sunday. 3m is happening for sure. 4m is doable but it needs to have an outstanding 2nd weekend hold. I think 4m will happen though given the strong reviews, which is now at 77%. Life of Pi will be the 15th film to gross over 3m in HK, making it the biggest year in terms of 3m+ grossers. With The Hobbit, Jack Reacher, Les Miserables, Wreck-It Ralph, The Grandmasters all on tap in December, there is still a lot more excitement to come at the top of the standings.

Cold War took a slight hit from the Pi fever but it is still pulling in audiences. Cold War is now going to break the 5m barrier. It should be able to pass Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy before The Hobbit takes over in 2 weeks. I think it will hit 5.3-5.4m before it crashes against The Hobbit. It's gunning for Ip Man 2 and has a realistic shot of beating Ip Man 2 if it holds well next week.

Skyfall managed ok with Pi opening but weekend audiences were led away from Bond and it lead to a harsher drop this week. It is passing 4.5m by next week and overall it could finish with 4.75m.

Rise of the Guardians crashed on opening weekend. $100,000 is 50/50 with Sunday deciding whether or not it makes it. Reaching 6 figures won't make it any better; it is still a colossal failure and theaters will pull it in week 2. $225,000 could be its final tally.

Love in Time stagnated this weekend. It couldn't capitalize on the head start it had on Rise on Thursday and fell behind it as the weekend progressed. Only looking at $85,000 this weekend which is a huge misfire.

[Bluebomb]

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			November 25
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg	QD % chg
1	Life of Pi	--	24,912	--	+22.7%
2	Cold War	--	11,148	--	+7.2%
3	Skyfall	--	3,682	--	+1.3%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	2,781	--	+48.9%
5	Argo	--	1,204	--	+11.6%

Amazing for Life of Pi. It could increase a bit today. Not bad for Cold War. Looks like Skyfall is petering out. Excellent bump for Rise of the Guardians. This should be able to hit $100,000 for the weekend. Ok for Argo.

[Bluebomb]

Sellouts bonanza for Life of Pi today. Pi is paddling towards a 5% increase today.

[Fake]

Fantastic for LOP!! All the signs of a breakout are there. In China and India also, it opened decently and then has kept improving with each day.

[Bluebomb]

Same story in N. America too. I can't wait till Christmas to see it fares in the rest of the OS markets.As for HK, Sunday gain is a good indicator for next weekend. It should see only a minor drop.

[Bluebomb]

	Sunday					November 25
Rank	Title	LW (adm.)	TW (adm.)	Gross (USD)	% chg (adm.)	QD % chg (adm.)
1	Life of Pi	--	53,047	$459,771	--	+5.6%
2	Cold War	56,894	30,841	$129,641	-45.8%	-13.5%
3	Skyfall	19,771	9,619	$124,862	-51.3%	-8.5%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	6,530	$90,230	--	+25.8%
5	Love in Time	--	3,493	$41,531	--	-14.2%

[Ignore the grosses.]

Pi increased 6% on Sunday. Wow.

 

	Weekend adm.			Nov 22-25
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Life of Pi	--	148,937	--
2	Cold War	179,518	103,739	-42.2%
3	Skyfall	61,294	30,863	-49.6%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	16,666	--
5	Love in Time	--	12,815	--

	Weekend Estimates			November 22
Rank	Title	TW	% chg	Total
1	Life of Pi	$1,375,000		$1,380,000
2	Cold War	$650,000	-42.3%	$4,410,000
3	Skyfall	$235,000	-51.6%	$4,455,000
4	Rise of the Guardians	$110,000		$110,000
5	Love in Time	$85,000		$85,000

That is solid for Pi. 3m is locked and 4m should happen too. The only question is how high can it go. Cold War is now booked for 5m. Ip Man 2's gross is in its cross hairs. Skyfall just couldn't hold on this weekend. It still did ok though with a high profile release like Pi. It'll end with 4.75m. Stick a fork in Rise of the Guardians because it's done. It will get cut next week and leave with less than $300,000. Love in Time also majorly disappointed. It was overshadowed by Cold War.

[Bluebomb]

After Rise of the Guardians flopped, Sony moved Hotel Transylvania to February 7, 2013. Of course, the new date isn't much better; it will be 5 months since the US release with a very packed weekend in store. (In the past few years, Chinese New Year has come bundled with just about every kind of movie thrown into theaters.) Those awful Rise of the Guardian numbers forced them to move it to a later date than committing the same mistake as Paramount/DW. So instead of HT committing suicide, now it will just be standing at the edge of the cliff with 1 foot out.

[Bluebomb]

November 22 Actuals

1. Life of Pi - $1,358,692 (weekend actual)

2. Cold War - $4,425,750

3. Skyfall - $4,459,298

4. Rise of the Guardians - $141,933 (weekend actual)

5. Love in Time - $101,934 (weekend actual)

Sinister - $42,580 (weekend actual)

The Words - $19,354 (weekend actual)

Chronicle of My Mother - $7,612 (weekend actual)

Strong start for Life of Pi. It built on its word of mouth and it culminated in a impressive increase on Sunday. This will easily pass 3m. Cold War fended off Pi and his cohorts just fine. 5m should be passed either this weekend or by the end of the week. Skyfall slowed down somewhat. Although it is still pulling in a fairly good sum, it won't make a whole lot more due to new openers this weekend. I say it will end with about 4.75m which would be a 60% increase from QoS. Rise of the Guardians had a good Saturday/Sunday to push it over $100,000 but it won't be enough to save it into week 2. 40% of theaters have already dumped this in favor of new releases. Love in Time couldn't grab the young couples crowd this weekend. Affected by the Life of Pi/Cold War combo, there wasn't much there for Love to steal from. Sinister, The Words and Chronicle of My Mother all opened fairly weak.

[Bluebomb]

Thursday schedules

Broadway
 

Palace IFC
New	Holdovers	Leaving
I Have to Buy New Shoes - 5 showings	Life of Pi 3D - 6 showings (-)	Argo
Killing Them Softly - 5 showings	Chronicle of My Mother - 1 showing (▼ 4)	Monsieur Lazhar
	360 - 1 showing (-)
	Cold War - 4 showings (▼ 8)
	Skyfall - 5 showings (-)

Palace APM
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Jan Dara: The Beginning - 5 showings	Life of Pi - 3 showings (▼ 5)
	Life of Pi 3D - 9 showings (▲ 8)
	Love in Time - 4 showings (-)
	Sinister - 3 showings (▼ 4)
	Triad - 1 showing (▼ 2)
	Cold War - 10 showings (▼ 12)
	Skyfall - 4 showings (▼ 5)

Hollywood
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Jan Dara: The Beginning - 5 showings	Life of Pi - 5 showings (▼ 6)
	Life of Pi 3D - 7 showings (▲ 5)
	Love in Time - 3 showings (▼ 5)
	Rise of the Guardians (3D Can.) - 2 showings (▼ 5)
	Triad - 2 showings (-)
	Cold War - 6 showings (▼ 10)
	Skyfall - 3 showings (-)

The One
New	Holdovers	Leaving
I Have to Buy New Shoes - 5 showings	Life of Pi 3D - 8 showings (▲ 7)	Love in Time
Killing Them Softly - 5 showings	Argo - 1 showing (-)	Triad
Jan Dara: The Beginning - 3 showings	Cold War - 6 showings (▼ 12)	When A Wolf Falls in Love with A Sheep
Red Dawn - 3 showings	Skyfall - 2 showings (▼ 6)	Silent Hill: Revelation

UA

Langham Place
New	Holdovers	Leaving
House at the End of the Street - 4 showings	Life of Pi - 1 showing (-)
Red Dawn - 6 showings	Life of Pi 3D - 8 showings (▼ 9)
	Love in Time - 2 showings (▼ 4)
	Sinister - 3 showings (-)
	Rise of the Guardians (3D Can.) - 3 showings (▼ 4)
	Cold War - 8 showings (▼ 11)
	Skyfall - 3 showings (-)
	Triad - 4 showings (▼ 7)

Windsor Cinema
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Killing Them Softly - 3 showings	Life of Pi - 1 showing (▼ 2)	The Words
Happiness Never Comes Alone - 3 showings	Life of Pi 3D - 4 showings (▲ 3)
	Argo - 1 showing (-)
	Skyfall - 2 showings (-)
	Cold War - 3 showings (▼ 5)
	Triad - 1 showing (▼ 2)

Shatin
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Red Dawn - 2 showings	Life of Pi 3D - 6 showings (▲ 5)	Skyfall
	Cold War - 4 showings (▼ 5)	Triad

Cityplaza
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Killing Them Softly - 6 showings	Life of Pi - 1 showing (-)	The Words
Happiness Never Comes Alone - 5 showings	Life of Pi 3D - 7 showings (-)	Rise of the Guardians (3D Can.)
	Love in Time - 2 showings (▼ 3)	Triad
	Argo - 1 showing (▼ 2)
	Cold War - 6 showings (-)
	Skyfall - 2 showings (▼ 3)

A revolving door of openers this week. The new movies are mostly interchangeable films that theaters are adding to cover the low grossing films.

I don't see Jan Dara playing at any other theater chains besides Broadway/AMC so I think it is limited to those 2. Still that is a pretty good head start to have. Being a foreign language film and Category III film should bring in curious onlookers. Killing Them Softly should do reasonably well as a semi-wide release. The 2 arthouse theaters are supporting this in addition to The ONE, Pacific Place and iSQUARE as frontline theaters for foreigners/tourists. But it most likely will not be able to compete with Red Dawn, the smart money pick for the biggest OW amongst the new openers. It'll enjoy the comfort of having been picked up by the most theaters of any opener this week and the action movie should do well enough to sneak past Killing Them Softly. House on the End of the Street will do only light business despite being given a semi-wide release. Horror thrillers generally don't do well in HK especially when it's out of season.

The big story this week comes from Life of Pi. 1/4 of theaters are giving Pi more showtimes this week than last week. More than 50% of theaters have given more showings to Life of Pi 3D this week than last week. While some have cut 2D in favour of 3D, overall showtimes remain unaffected at most theaters. That will come in handy for Pi's 2nd weekend gross. Word of mouth remains strong and pre-sales have looked good so it is looking at another weekend above 1m.

To make room for new releases and Pi, Broadway has dropped Cold War down to 1 screen this week in most places. A couple of outliers have given this 2 screens at night which shows how well this movie has performed so far. Skyfall will hope to maintain another weekend in the top 3. Showings remain steady at numerous locations. Rise of the Guardians, Love in Time and Triad are the big losers this weekend. Argo remains relatively untouched but will not get night shows this week.

[Bluebomb]

The Last Stand opens in HK on January 17, 2013.
 

	Thursday adm.	(so far)		November 29
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Life of Pi	6,634	5,676	-14.4%
2	Cold War	3,215	2,078	-35.4%
3	Killing Them Softly	--	704	--
4	Skyfall	1,026	606	-40.9%
5	Jan Dara: The Beginning	--	557	--

Superb for Pi. This is looking at another 1m weekend. Walk-ins the past few days have looked very strong. At least 66% of ticket sales for Life of Pi were walk-ins. Cold War has been defiant and has been holding on very well the past couple of weeks. It and Pi were the only 2 films in the top 5 from last week to increase from Monday's pre-sales. Killing Them Softly didn't round up moviegoers and it debuted with a tepid admissions count. Skyfall is hanging on. Walk-ins for Skyfall comprised more than 75% of its business the past few days. Jan Dara didn't do much either. It'll be passed by Red Dawn later today.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Bluebomb

[Bluebomb]

Ticket prices for The Hobbit have been set and in 3D, one ticket is $30-$60 HKD more than a regular-priced 3D ticket.For example, at Broadway's Palace IFC (the most expensive theater in HK),

Movies	Theater	Ticket Prices (HKD)	Ticket Prices (USD)
The Hobbit Avatar The Avengers Life of Pi (regular)	Palace IFC	$180 $150 $135 $120	$23 $19 $17.50 $15.50

there's a $4 difference from Avatar, $5.50 from Avengers and $7.50 difference from Life of Pi and regular 3D movies like Rise of the Guardians. At cheaper theaters, the difference is not as big but one ticket is still $2-$3 more expensive than a ticket to see The Avengers. Hobbit is seeing a $20-$35 HK increase at UA theaters. Not as outrageous but still a family of four would have to pay about $400.But one thing that these crazy ticket prices means is that it ensures The Hobbit passes 10m. It should also become the #1 film of the year. Honestly, if The Hobbit doesn't beat The Avengers with these ticket prices, it will be a disappointment in my eyes. 15m is possible.

 

[Bluebomb]

Last weekend became the biggest weekend in November ever, taking away the record from the Nov. 8 weekend this year. This weekend could hit 2m total, which would make it the first November month ever to have every weekend above 2m.

[A Marvel Fanboy]

what kind of weekend drop Pi is looking at ?

[Bluebomb]

what kind of weekend drop Pi is looking at ?

-25%