2010 at the Box Office (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Is Terry okay?

 

[Patrick Sun]

Maybe he's on spring break! I know I wish I was!

 

[TerryRL]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt

Is Terry okay?

I'm fine.

Originally Posted by Patrick Sun

Maybe he's on spring break! I know I wish I was!

Actually, I was on spring break with the fam.

I see that March 2010 earned the biggest domestic haul the month has ever enjoyed ($832.1 million), but fell far short of the attendance record achieved in 2002 (132.4 million tickets sold). Between 105 and 109 million tickets were sold during the March '10 frame, which would make it the fifth strongest ever for the month, following 2002, 2007 (115.6 million), 2004 (114.4 million), and 1997 (114.3 million).

With ticket sales continuing to rise (largely due to 3D releases), expect more gaudy box office figures as the year progresses.

By the way, looks like "Iron Man 2" has been tracking extremely well thus far, prompting Marvel/Paramount execs to be very confident about the movie's chances at dethroning "The Dark Knight" as the biggest opening film in box office history.

 

[Steve_Tk]

I hadn't even thought about that possibility, but I guess it could happen!

 

[JediFonger]

that reminds me Terry... do you talk box office w/ur fam (esp. on vacay)? i think it be hilarious to be a fly on the wall@your house if that happens .

 

[TerryRL]

Sadly, I'm the only big box office geek in my family.

On the plus side though, all of my kids are big movie buffs. I have to say, it is hilarious seeing the glazed look on my wife's face as we all talk about movies. She's the only non-movie buff of our family.

 

[TerryRL]

Weekend Estimates

#1 "Date Night" $27.1 million
#2 "Clash of the Titans" $26.9 million ($110.5 million) -56%
#3 "How to Train Your Dragon" $23.4 million ($133.9 million) -13%
#4 "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?" $11.0 million ($48.5 million) -62%
#5 "The Last Song" $10.0 million ($42.4 million) -38%
#6 "Alice in Wonderland" $5.6 million ($319.3 million) -32%
#7 "Hot Tub Time Machine" $5.4 million ($37.0 million) -33%
#8 "The Bounty Hunter" $4.3 million ($56.0 million) -29%
#9 "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" $4.1 million ($53.8 million) -23%
#10 "Letters to God" $1.3 million
#11 "Shutter Island" $885K ($125.0 million) -41%
#12 "Avatar" $870K ($743.7 million) -11%

Moviegoers shelled out nearly $123 million on the top 12 films this weekend, which was down about 1% from last year, but up an impressive 55% from this frame in '08. 2010's massive year-to-date domestic tally now stands at $3.046 billion (passing the $3 billion mark in record time). That haul represents a 10% increase over last year ($2.764 billion), up 27% compared to '08 ($2.397 billion), 26% stronger than '07 ($2.419 billion), and a 33% improvement over '06 ($2.286 billion).

In a very tight race for the top spot, Fox's "Date Night" emerged as the winner as it debuted with just over $27 million, giving it a per-theater average of $8,032 from its 3,374 locations, which was the best of the top 12. The comedy, which stars Steve Carell and Tina Fey, has earned stellar reviews from both critics and moviegoers, leading Fox execs to believe that this one will have really strong legs in the coming weeks.

WB's "Clash of the Titans" was off by 56% as it has now tallied $110.5 million. 'Titans' became the fifth 2010 release to top the century mark, matching last year's record total for the January-thru-April frame. WB now expects 'Titans' to top out in the neighborhood of $165-$175 million.

Next weekend will see the releases of LGF's "Kick-Ass" and Sony's remake of "Death at a Funeral". Both films are expected to post solid opening marks, but "Kick-Ass" is the early favorite to snag the top spot at the box office next week.

 

[Brandon Conway]

That's a nice low drop off for How to Train Your Dragon.

 

[TerryRL]

With only a 13% dip, "How to Train Your Dragon" looks headed for a final domestic haul north of the double-century mark.

 

[Malcolm R]

Looks like Fox was way off (nearly $2 million too high) with the weekend estimate for "Date Night."

Last weekend's #1 film was again "Clash of the Titans" with $26.6 million, while the "Date Night" final gross dropped to $25.2 million. It was quite close to debuting in #3, as "...Dragon" was less than a half-mil behind at nearly $24.9 million.

 

[JediFonger]

this is a very interesting phenom. is Tyler Perry's box office potentially FINALLY down? after so many movies? this is the sequel to Why Did I Get Married from last fall i believe?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Why Did I Get Married Too? is well within the mainstream of Tyler Perry movie grosses, which range from $32 million to $91 million. The only difference is that this one is very frontloaded. It will only take about $6 million to beat the original Why Did I Get Married? Perry's non-Madea films tend to gross less anyway.

 

[TerryRL]

Friday Estimates

#1 "Kick-Ass" $7.6 million
#2 "Death at a Funeral" $5.6 million
#3 "Date Night" $5.5 million ($37.4 million) 40% Friday-to-Friday drop
#4 "How to Train Your Dragon" $4.4 million ($143.0 million) 38% Friday-to-Friday drop
#5 "Clash of the Titans" $4.3 million ($121.5 million) 49% Friday-to-Friday drop
#6 "the Last Song" $1.9 million ($46.1 million) 48% Friday-to-Friday drop
#7 "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?" $1.3 million ($52.0 million) 65% Friday-to-Friday drop
#8 "Hot Tub Time Machine" $1.1 million ($40.0 million) 41% Friday-to-Friday drop
#9 "The Bounty Hunter" $960K ($58.1 million) 34% Friday-to-Friday drop
#10 "Alice in Wonderland" $930K ($321.4 million) 43% Friday-to-Friday drop
#11 "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" $655K ($55.0 million) 51% Friday-to-Friday drop
#12 "Avatar" $255K ($744.3 million) 7% Friday-to-Friday increase

 

[Adam_S]

You know, I think that Avatar increase is due to all the commercials for Avatar on TV right now

Sure the commercials are for the DVD, but it puts Avatar in front of eyeballs, and it's so much better than the 11 movies ahead of it, its not even funny. No wonder it got a bump. :-p

 

[Malcolm R]

Some theaters may be bringing it back in 3D, too, as "Alice," "Dragons," and "Clash" are all starting to fade.

 

[TerryRL]

"Avatar" expanded to 46 more locations this weekend (mostly IMAX theaters), which accounts for 21% increase in business this weekend.

 

[TerryRL]

Weekend Estimates

#1 "How to Train Your Dragon" $20.0 million ($158.6 million) -20%
#2 "Kick-Ass" $19.8 million
#3 "Date Night" $17.3 million ($49.2 million) -31%
#4 "Death at a Funeral" $17.0 million
#5 "Clash of the Titans" $15.8 million ($133.0 million) -41%
#6 "The Last Song" $5.8 million ($50.0 million) -41%
#7 "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?" $4.2 million ($54.9 million) -62%
#8 "Hot Tub Time Machine" $3.53 million ($42.5 million) -35%
#9 "Alice in Wonderland" $3.50 million ($324.0 million) -34%
#10 "The Bounty Hunter" $3.2 million ($60.4 million) -24%
#11 "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" $2.8 million ($57.1 million) -30%
#12 "Avatar" $1.0 million ($745.0 million) +21%

Despite lower than expected openings from both "Kick-Ass" and "Death at a Funeral", the box office showed a 13% increase over this frame last year, as well as an impressive 38% jump from this period in '08. 2010's massive year-to-date domestic haul stands at $3.197 billion, marking a 10% increase from last year ($2.920 billion), up 27% over '08 ($2.515 billion), 24% stronger than '07 ($2.571 billion), and a 30% improvement over '06 ($2.452 billion).

Next weekend will see the releases of CBS Films' "The Back-Up Plan", WB's "The Losers", and Disney's "Oceans" documentary. "The Back-Up Plan" and "The Losers" are expected to put up a strong challenge to "How to Train Your Dragon" for the top spot at the box office. We'll see what happens.

 

[mattCR]

Apparently with the actuals in, "How to Train Your Dragon" got $19.6M, so "Kick Ass" wins the weekend.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/wholl-be-no-1-kick-ass-vs-dragon-3d-still-too-close-to-call/

 

[Michael Elliott]

I'd be willing to bet DRAGON got some extra money by kids buying tickets to it and then going into KICK-ASS.

 

[Malcolm R]

Originally Posted by Michael Elliott

I'd be willing to bet DRAGON got some extra money by kids buying tickets to it and then going into KICK-ASS.

I'm sure most films in the marketplace got a few extra bucks under that scenario. Dragons was hardly the only choice at the box office for a bait and switch. But I doubt it was enough to make a huge difference in the overall total grosses. It was just another case of where the hype was much bigger than the film itself (see also Snakes on a Plane).

You'd think by now the studios would realize that Internet buzz and favorable reactions at a couple of fanboy festivals does not usually translate into $$$ at the box office.