2019 At The Box Office (1 Viewer)

[Colin Jacobson]

Except for "Endgame" all of those films came out in December. It's just too much competition with other big budget summer films that makes any spring/summer movie to have an extended summer run in movie theaters.

Yeah, I realize that, though that didn't help "Force Awakens" have a super-long run on the top. And it got dethroned by "Ride Along 2" and "Revenant" - not exactly box office juggernauts!

It's still astounding to see how long "Titanic" spent at #1. Obviously a lack of real competition helped, but nonetheless... 16 weeks!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Oh, also kinda interesting (to me) that "Endgame" didn't lose #1 to a big blockbuster - it lost to "Wick 3".

Yeah, the "Wick" film is a hit, but it's not the kind of tent pole flick one would've thought would displace "Endgame"...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Oh, also kinda interesting (to me) that "Endgame" didn't lose #1 to a big blockbuster - it lost to "Wick 3".

Yeah, the "Wick" film is a hit, but it's not the kind of tent pole flick one would've thought would displace "Endgame"...

I thought "Wick" would beat out "Endgame" after being out for about a month. IMO, the number of tickets sold has to be less than it was ten years ago. Just read this forum as several people have stated they don't go to movie theaters any longer.

 

[benbess]

Avatar
Domestic Total Gross: $749,766,139
Domestic Lifetime Gross: $760,507,625
Distributor: Fox Release Date: December 18, 2009
Genre: Sci-Fi Adventure Runtime: 2 hrs. 40 min.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 Production Budget: $237 million
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $760,507,625 27.3%
+ Foreign: $2,027,457,462 72.7%
= Worldwide: $2,787,965,087

https://westegg.com/inflation/
"What cost $2.787 in 2009 would cost $3.34 in 2018."
So that's Avatar's worldwide box office in today's dollars.


Avengers: Endgame
Domestic Total as of May. 22, 2019:$779,425,998
Distributor: Buena Vista Release Date: April 26, 2019
Genre: Action / Adventure Runtime: 3 hrs. 1 min.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 Production Budget: $356 million
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $779,425,998 29.7%
+ Foreign: $1,845,482,612 70.3%
= Worldwide: $2,624,908,61


Endgame is not even close.

Interesting too that people were stunned and shocked at the cost of Avatar ten years ago, but the substantially higher cost of Endgame (even if you adjusted for inflation on that) hasn't been mentioned much as far as I've seen.

 

[Tino]

Yeah, the "Wick" film is a hit, but it's not the kind of tent pole flick one would've thought would displace "Endgame"...

So you were surprised that Wick beat Endgame last weekend?

 

[Malcolm R]

Aladdin previews estimated at $7M. Some comparisons from deadline.com:

Detective Pikachu: $5.7M Thurs / $54M three-day opening

Pirates 5: $5.5M / $78M Memorial Day Wknd four-day

Maleficent: $4.2M / $69M three-day

Dumbo: $2.6M / $46M three-day

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I thought "Wick" would beat out "Endgame" after being out for about a month. IMO, the number of tickets sold has to be less than it was ten years ago. Just read this forum as several people have stated they don't go to movie theaters any longer.

Yeah, but we A-List people go to so many more movies than we used to that we balance them out!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

So you were surprised that Wick beat Endgame last weekend?

Nope. Just stating that the "crowded summer marketplace" wasn't what took "Endgame" out of the #1 spot since "Wick" isn't a traditional "summer blockbuster"...

 

[TravisR]

It's still astounding to see how long "Titanic" spent at #1. Obviously a lack of real competition helped, but nonetheless... 16 weeks!

If my memory serves, it almost didn't get the number one spot in its first week. The James Bond that opened against it almost took the weekend. I think Titanic's second weekend actually grossed more than the first.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Word of mouth was huge for the film - it truly became one of those, “you haven’t seen it yet? Really? Let’s go now!” type of things.

I’ve been fans of movies that have been huge over my lifetime and had many fun communal moviegoing experiences over the years, but I’ve never seen anything like the Titanic phenomenon.

I can’t remember any other film where members of the general public, rather than fans of a specific franchise, were competing over who saw it more times.

 

[Tino]

Titanic’s #1 Weekends.


1997
Date
(click to view chart) Rank Weekend
Gross %
Change Theaters Change / Avg. Gross-to-Date Week
#
Dec 19–21 1 $28,638,131 - 2,674 - $10,710 $28,638,131 1
Dec 26–28 1 $35,455,673 +23.8% 2,711 +37 $13,078 $88,425,009 2

1998
Date
(click to view chart) Rank Weekend
Gross %
Change Theaters Change / Avg. Gross-to-Date Week
#
Jan 2–4 1 $33,315,278 -6.0% 2,727 +16 $12,217 $157,467,971 3
Jan 9–11 1 $28,716,310 -13.8% 2,746 +19 $10,458 $197,881,813 4
Jan 16–18 1 $30,011,034 +4.5% 2,767 +21 $10,846 $236,745,404 5
Jan 16–19 1 $36,014,544 +25.4% 2,767 +21 $13,016 $242,748,914 5
Jan 23–25 1 $25,238,720 -15.9% 2,771 +4 $9,108 $274,599,886 6
Jan 30–Feb 1 1 $25,907,172 +2.6% 2,853 +82 $9,081 $308,100,203 7
Feb 6–8 1 $23,027,838 -11.1% 2,956 +103 $7,790 $337,355,666 8
Feb 13–15 1 $28,167,947 +22.3% 3,002 +46 $9,383 $371,562,244 9
Feb 13–16 1 $32,876,424 +42.8% 3,002 +46 $10,952 $376,270,721 9
Feb 20–22 1 $21,036,343 -25.3% 3,006 +4 $6,998 $402,561,881 10
Feb 27–Mar 1 1 $19,633,056 -6.7% 3,035 +29 $6,469 $426,983,888 11
Mar 6–8 1 $17,605,849 -10.3% 3,103 +68 $5,674 $449,157,395 12
Mar 13–15 1 $17,578,815 -0.2% 3,116 +13 $5,641 $471,446,140 13
Mar 20–22 1 $17,165,239 -2.4% 3,169 +53 $5,417 $494,514,331 14
Mar 27–29 1 $15,213,500 -11.4% 3,233 +64 $4,706 $515,262,530 15

 

[Colin Jacobson]

If my memory serves, it almost didn't get the number one spot in its first week. The James Bond that opened against it almost took the weekend. I think Titanic's second weekend actually grossed more than the first.

"Titanic" beat "TND" by $3.5 million their mutual opening weekend, so it wasn't that close - not given their low-by-2019-standards less than $30m opening grosses.

Actually, those openings weren't great even by 1997 standards - "Lost World" opened to $90m!

 

[Sean Bryan]

Interesting - to me, at least - to compare how many weeks the heavy hitters spent at #1:

"Endgame": 3 weeks
"Force Awakens": 4 weeks
"Avatar": 8 weeks
"Titanic": 16 weeks!

December is a great time to release a big movie.

 

[Robert Crawford]

December is a great time to release a big movie.

Especially, if the big movie struck the right chord with the general public. Under the right circumstances, it could play in movie theaters all winter long.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Especially, if the big movie struck the right chord with the general public. Under the right circumstances, it could play in movie theaters all winter long.

True, though January has become more competitive than in the past.

January used to be a dumping ground for movies the studios wanted to release, let flop and move on, but after "Paul Blart" became a big January hit 10 years ago, studios finally realized people will see new releases year-round and they didn't need to abandon January to "shovelware"...

 

[Tino]

True, though January has become more competitive than in the past.

January used to be a dumping ground for movies the studios wanted to release, let flop and move on, but after "Paul Blart" became a big January hit 10 years ago, studios finally realized people will see new releases year-round and they didn't need to abandon January to "shovelware"...

Films do indeed play well through January but it is still pretty much a dumping ground for new releases. What’s the last big hit released in January I wonder?

 

[Tino]

Cloverfield is the last one I recall.

January 18 2008


Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $80,048,433 46.9%
+ Foreign: $90,715,593 53.1%
= Worldwide: $170,764,026
Domestic Summary
Opening Weekend: $40,058,229
(#1 rank, 3,411 theaters, $11,744 average)
% of Total Gross: 50.0%

 

[Malcolm R]

What’s the last big hit released in January I wonder?

Glass (2019)

Total Lifetime Grosses

Domestic: $111,035,005 45.0%
+ Foreign: $135,950,571 55.0%
= Worldwide: $246,985,576


Split (2017)

Total Lifetime Grosses

Domestic: $138,291,365 49.7%
+ Foreign: $140,162,993 50.3%
= Worldwide: $278,454,358


Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Total Lifetime Grosses

Domestic: $143,528,619 27.5%
+ Foreign: $377,642,206 72.5%
= Worldwide: $521,170,825

 

[Tino]

Well there you go. Can’t believe I forgot the Shyamalan films.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Well there you go. Can’t believe I forgot the Shyamalan films.

And you ignored the example I gave: "Paul Blart"!

$26m budget, $146m US box office - released 1/16/09!