2009 at the Box Office (1 Viewer)

[Lou Sytsma]

One can slice it up any way they want but the outcome is the same: Cameron is still King.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Ebert thinks so as well (and this was before the box office).

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Good to know that he has my back.

 

[Carlos_E]

ASTOUNDING numbers being reported today. I did a double take when I first saw them. According to sources, it is estimated that Avatar grossed 25 million this past Friday January 1. This is just a one day gross. Granted, yesterday was a holiday. But holiday or no holiday, this is PHENOMENAL. It is Phenomenal because this gross represents a 9% increase on its third friday from its take on its second friday. Again, this is remarkable. For comparison purposes, The Dark Knight "only" made 12.7 million on its third friday, a drop of almost 50% from its second friday. And the Dark Knight went on to make 533 million in North America. Just Wow.

 

[Carlos_E]

I would respectfully disagree as to final haul if this third Friday's estimated gross of 25 million is any indication. Avatar will challenge the Dark Knight at 533 million and Titanic at 600 million before it completes its run. Just in my humble opinion.

Originally Posted by TerryRL

http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/new-years-day-another-big-avatar-payday-the-blind-side-crosses-200m-domestic/

"Avatar" will become the first film in history to earn at least $50 million in three consecutive weekends of business. Based on these numbers the movie could actually be looking at another weekend of earning north of the $60 million mark. This thing looks headed for a final haul in the neighborhood of $450-$500 million. The movie has already earned more than $800 million globally, and a final worldwide mark of over $1 billion is now a lock.

 

[Malcolm R]

Everyone's back to work and school on Monday, so the grosses will probably fall off some. But it's still amazing.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Malcolm is correct. I'll be interested to see how it does in it's fourth weekend. That will be the best indicator of where the film will end up. But it's haul has been amazing. I never would have guessed the film would be this popular and successful.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Avatar will be the first film to gross more than $60 million in each of its first 3 weekends at the box office (it's projected to bring in $62 million this weekend), which is more impressive than grossing $50 million for each of its first 3 weekends.

 

[LynxFX]

I agree. TDK made $151m in August (which would be January for Avatar) and then $23m the entire month of Sept (February for Avatar). The way it is going it should be able to over come those, especially with awards season coming up and the current Oscar buzz. All it has to do is overcome that giant opening weekend TDK had, which there is only $55m left to chip away at.

Here are the weekly gross comparisons (Friday-thursday). They both opened on Fridays so it should be a good way to see how well Avatar has been holding during the week, not just the weekends.

TDK Week 1: $239m
Avatar Week 1: $137m

TDK Week 2: $112m (53% drop)
Avatar Week 2: $147m (7% increase)

TDK Week 3: $65m (42% drop)
Avatar Week 3: ?

Originally Posted by Carlos_E

I would respectfully disagree as to final haul if this third Friday's estimated gross of 25 million is any indication. Avatar will challenge the Dark Knight at 533 million and Titanic at 600 million before it completes its run. Just in my humble opinion.

 

[mattCR]

The Blind Side turned into the little movie that could. Yes, all due focus on Avatar.. but an amazing, amazing box office performance to reach $200M for that film. Kind of defied normal blockbuster logic.

 

[TerryRL]

2009 earned a record-shattering $10.585 billion domestically, which translates to an estimated 1.474 billion total theater admissions sold. The 1.474 billion mark represents the sixth best ticket sale amount Hollywood has enjoyed since the 1950s. This decade also earned a jaw-dropping $91.778 billion domestically at the box office, easily passing the former record of $57.414 billion that was held by the 90s to become the biggest money-making ten years the industry has ever enjoyed.

BIGGEST YEARS OF MOVIE ATTENDANCE
#1 2002 1.576 billion
#2 2003 1.532 billion
#3 2004 1.511 billion
#4 2001 1.487 billion
#5 1998 1.481 billion
#6 2009 1.474 billion
#7 1999 1.465 billion
#8 2000 1.421 billion
#9 2006 1.406 billion
#10 2007 1.405 billion

The 2000s' also became the biggest decade of theater attendance sine the 1950s. A phenomenal 14.532 billion tickets were sold in the last ten years. 1.559 billion more tickets were sold this decade than in the 90s (12.973 billion) and an impressive 3.366 billion more than what was sold in the 80s (11.169 billion).

Here are the monthly tallies for 2009 as it became the biggest money-making year for the industry...

January $1,014.4 billion (biggest ever)*
February $769.3 million (biggest ever)*
March $651.6 million (sixth best ever)
April $695.1 million (biggest ever)*
May $1,018.4 billion (biggest ever)*
June $1,086.7 billion (biggest ever)*
July $1,161.1 billion (third best ever)
August $905.3 million (second best ever)
September $543.5 million (second best ever)
October $692.6 million (biggest ever)*
November $989.6 million (biggest ever)*
December $1,057.4 billion (biggest ever)*

A record five months passed the $1 billion plateau in domestic earnings with January, May, and December hitting those marks for the first time. Eight of the past twelve months hit all-time highs in box office grosses as well. 2010 has a lot to live up to because '09 has definitely been one for the books. The industry is hopeful that this year will kick off the new decade in the same fashion that '09 was able to close out the previous decade. We'll see what happens.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Robert Crawford





Not in Michigan unless you're talking about some colleges. The last day for school was Wednesday.

In VA/MD, 12/23 would've been the last day, but the blizzard kept kids home 12/21 and 12/22. And that storm clearly hurt business on the east coast over the movie's opening weekend...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Robert Crawford



The kids have it easy today. When I was in grade and high school, our first day of school was the day after Labor Day and out last day of school was around the 3rd or 4th week in June depending on how many snow days were called. Also, we didn't have any spring break either. We got a couple of days off for Easter and that was it.

Kids go to school roughly 180 days/year, and I believe that was the case when I was a kid many moons ago. Kids have it no easier or tougher now - the number of holidays are virtually the same, but their distribution is different...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Michael Elliott /forum/thread/279905/2009-at-the-box-office/1380#post_3643665

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Patrick Sun

Any film that can make people voluntarily hand over more money for the 3D version, I say more power to that film and its maker. It's not like people don't have a choice in paying less for the 2D version.

To some degree, they don't. If I wanted to see "Avatar" at my local multiplex, I had this choice: 3D or IMAX 3D. No 2D version playing there, and that's not the only place without a 2D option.

So yes, I could've gone out of my way to see it 2D, but that'd defeat the purpose of saving a few bucks on tickets, wouldn't it?

Kinda wish I HAD gone 2D, though. Went IMAX 3D and the imagery made me a little motion-sick. Not "Blair Witch" or Paul Greengrass motion-sick, but a bit googly - had to close my eyes occasionally to ward off nausea...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by mattCR

The Blind Side turned into the little movie that could. Yes, all due focus on Avatar.. but an amazing, amazing box office performance to reach $200M for that film. Kind of defied normal blockbuster logic.

$200m for "The Blind Side" would impress me more than $700m for "Avatar". "Blind Side" was a total out of nowhere flick - I didn't even know it existed until it was out for a couple of weeks! "Avatar" came with a certain level of guaranteed success, but "Blind Side" could've vanished without a trace and no one would've noticed...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by dpippel

The profitability of a film is determined by box office revenues, not by the number of tickets sold.

"Profitability" has never been a big factor in the discussion of movie success. "Paranormal Activity" was a jillion times more profitable than "Avatar" could ever be, but not that many people care about that. It's all about total grosses, baby!

 

[Patrick Sun]

Originally Posted by Colin Jacobson




To some degree, they don't. If I wanted to see "Avatar" at my local multiplex, I had this choice: 3D or IMAX 3D. No 2D version playing there, and that's not the only place without a 2D option.

So yes, I could've gone out of my way to see it 2D, but that'd defeat the purpose of saving a few bucks on tickets, wouldn't it?

Kinda wish I HAD gone 2D, though. Went IMAX 3D and the imagery made me a little motion-sick. Not "Blair Witch" or Paul Greengrass motion-sick, but a bit googly - had to close my eyes occasionally to ward off nausea...

You still had a choice. You're being obstinate for the sake of it.

 

[mattCR]

I think people are going to be surprised how much of a date flick this is. When I went the second time - to a sold out show at 10:40 at freaking night, it was all dates.. and there were a -ton- of teenage girls bawling their brains out at the end.

Besides sometimes we over-stereotype an audience. The teenage girls in my family (my sister & brothers kids) spend as much time playing Call of Duty games as anything else... I think there has been a nice rise in girls who love the inner geek

 

[Steve_Tk]

I don't think it's only fanboys keeping it alive. My girlfriends parents went at 2 AM because that was the only IMAX time available during their week they had off for the holidays. They never see movies btw, nor are they ever awake at 2AM.