2010 at the Box Office (1 Viewer)

[Jose Martinez]

Originally Posted by Tino




Not a chance in hell Lovely Bones overtakes AVATAR. In fact, I think Bones is gonna pretty much tank and I wanna see it too. Prepare to be surprised fonger.

Originally Posted by JediFonger

i'm gonna predict lovely bones overtaking avatar. the reason? scifi. scifi as a genre has always been a stigmata in box office, it'll SURPRISE me if this has a LONG run in the cinemas =).

Plus the fact that a lot of changes were made from the book and that it was pg-13'd won't make a lot of fans of the book happy. I was looking forward to this but when I heard of the changes...

 

[JediFonger]

i haven't seen lovely bones debut here in Boston yet... is it still limited int he time that it's been released?

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by JediFonger

i haven't seen lovely bones debut here in Boston yet... is it still limited int he time that it's been released?

Yeah, it opens wide on January 15.

 

[JediFonger]

oohhh... well then of course Lovely Bones will displace Avatar by then

no wonder i haven't read any local reviews for it. meanwhile, i'll be checking out Avatar 3-D 2morrow =).

 

[Malcolm R]

I also expect "The Lovely Bones" to underperform. It's not exactly on fire even in limited release.

Love Peter Jackson and enjoyed the book OK, but really don't expect I'll see this in the theater based on the reviews and reports of changes made to the book.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Malcolm R

I also expect "The Lovely Bones" to underperform.

Same here. It might beat Avatar but that shouldn't be that hard considering that Avatar will be in its fifth weekend of release.

 

[TerryRL]

http://www.boxofficeguru.com/010210.htm

 

[TerryRL]

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

$1 billion worldwide after only 17 days in theaters? Are you kidding me?

With a nearly $70 million haul for the third consecutive weekend, is it safe to say that the records held by Jim Cameron's own "Titanic" are finally in jeopardy?

This will be the biggest opening weekend haul ever for the month of January. Despite being all holdovers from '09, this is exactly the kind of start to 2010 that the industry was hoping for.

 

[LynxFX]

How could that be the start to 2010 they were hoping for when they released zero new movies? [/url]
Despite being all holdovers from '09, this is exactly the kind of start to 2010 that the industry was hoping for.
Anyway it is pretty funny how well this is doing and how it shows signs of actually being the one to take down Titanic. We were just talking about that a couple weeks ago and how some thought it would be impossible for any movie. I figured it would be within the next 5 years. Honestly never thought it could be another Cameron movie but I would be happy if Avatar actually took the record, I loved the movie.

 

[TerryRL]

A movie like "Avatar" generates business for other films. Look at how many successful movies are playing right now. "Avatar" is that rare juggernaut that "gets people in the habit of going to the movies". This also happened after the release of "Titanic" as it helped make 1998 the biggest movie-going year (theater admissions wise) of the 1990s. The movie ran in theaters until September of that year.

The studios believe that "Avatar" will have the same sort of effect going into this new year. The January box office could challenge the record haul of last year (topping $1 billion for the first time in history) based almost entirely of '09 holdovers. I do think that this month will see solid performances in films like "The Book of Eli", "Edge of Darkness", and "The Lovely Bones", but "Avatar", "Sherlock Holmes", the 'Alvin & the Chipmunks' sequel, and a few other '09 films are going to clearly dominate this month of movie-going.


Last year saw a record-breaking January pretty much set the tone for the rest of the year (banking an industry best $10.6 billion domestically for the year) and the studios are optimistic that the same thing can happen this year.

 

[Chris_T]

Terry...any idea what Fox projects Avatar's final box office to be? Is is also safe to assume that Cameron has a blank check to make anything he wants at any cost? One more thing. Any word / rumor that Lucas may be looking at more Star Wars movies with the success of Avatar's 3D and CG?

As always thanks.

 

[Jose Martinez]

Is Lucas willing to outsource the visual effects to Weta or is ILM capable of doing it?

Originally Posted by Chris_T

Terry...any idea what Fox projects Avatar's final box office to be? Is is also safe to assume that Cameron has a blank check to make anything he wants at any cost? One more thing. Any word / rumor that Lucas may be looking at more Star Wars movies with the success of Avatar's 3D and CG?

As always thanks.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Wow, can't believe Avatar is projected to have pulled in $68 million on its 3rd weekend, that's only a 10% drop, truly unprecedented box office performance. It will be interesting to see if any of the films opening in January will supplant Avatar for the top spot, but even so, I think people will continue to turn out for Avatar from a combo of the good word of mouth, and from those avoiding the crowds in its first month, and the expertly executed 3D presentation.

 

[Jose Martinez]

Yeah, I watched Avatar the very first showing (midnight) and have been dying to see it again but just avoiding the crowds. I plan to watch it multiple times now that kids are back in school and normal people are back at work.

 

[Tino]

3 consecutive weekends of $65 million plus. WOW. And I predict 4 consecutive weekends of $50 million plus.

Amazing

From Nikki Finke:

CAMERON'S BILLION DOLLAR BABY! 'Avatar' Passes $1B Worldwide And $352M Domestic After Only 17 Days In ReleaseBy Nikki Finke | Category: Uncategorized | Saturday January 2, 2010 @ 10:15pm
UPDATES 'Avatar' Crossed $800M Worldwide Thursday

SUNDAY AM UPDATE: Official numbers show Avatar's projected North American cume, after only 17 days in release from 20th Century Fox, will be $352.1 million. And with an international cume of $670.2 million, its worldwide box office figure should be $1.02 billion coming out of this weekend. Yikes! Then again, James Cameron's big budget technopic was helped by higher 3D ticket prices. It had an amazing 3rd weekend hold of 10%, reflecting word of mouth. And the film already is the second highest grossing film released in 2009. Hollywood.com says the IMAX showings were off the chart with a global cume of $66.4 million -- the highest ever for an initial IMAX release. As a Fox exec just gushed to me: "Mr. Cameron was king of the world but now has dominion over the universe. And he will own the top two slots on the worldwide all-time box office list!"

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Simply unreal. The man has the highest grossing film of the 90's. He doesn't release his movie in the oughts until the next to last weekend. And it becomes the highest grossing film of the (huge) decade? Simply unreal.

Truly the king of the world. I expected King Kong business for Avatar. Good, profitable, but not huge. Boy, was I wrong. He obviously has the mainstream pulse better than any director working.

Hail to the king.

 

[Tino]

I remember telling you Chuck that I doubted it would reach $300 million.

 

[Edwin-S]

Did he finally create a 3D movie that people find so visually impressive that they can't get over it? Are people repeatedly seeing it less for the story and more just to marvel at the 3D? This phenomenom reminds me of STAR WARS in '77. People were going to it again and again. Some out of some need to beat the next person's view count. I know I went to SW numerous times not necessarily because of the story but because, to me, it was the first Sci-Fi movie where the ships were flying every which way through space and didn't look fake while doing it. I must have saw that film 10 times just marveling at the film's SFX.

 

[Jose Martinez]

There's definitely room for improvement in making the 3D look more photo-realistic but compared to any motion captured movies before it (most recently, A Christmas Carol and Beowulf), it's definitely something to see on the big screen. I believe people are watching it for the experience of seeing something extraordinary.

 

[Jose Martinez]

I also think that social networking sites such as facebook and twitter are definitely helping spread good word of mouth.