2019 At The Box Office (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

The opening weekend numbers won't be as meaningful for this one, since Friday will be its fourth day, including a national holiday.

I think Sony is looking at the whole Tuesday-to-Sunday stretch as its "opening," which is unconventional and not an apples-to-apples comparison to most other movies. They'll want the number to be high by the end of the weekend, but obviously aren't looking to set any three-day records with this rollout and probably don't care which day moviegoers see it as long as the total gross through Sunday is good, which I'm sure it will be.

Also, since there aren't any major tentpoles next weekend, Far From Home should have no trouble staying at #1 until The Lion King -- a movie directed by one of its own cast members -- displaces it on the 19th.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I went and saw it at midnight, and I really enjoyed getting to go to a genuine midnight opening again. I don't think I've seen a major studio release actual debut at midnight since the end of 2013.

The audience for an opening night midnight showing is vastly different from a 7pm Thursday opening and always has been in my experience. When you go to a midnight show where that is the first opportunity an audience has to see a film, you get people who are genuinely interested in the material and who care both about seeing the movie first and having a good experience doing so. When the first showing is Thursday at 7pm, you get people who may care a little more but also plenty of people who are either going just to post a selfie on social media who aren't interested in the movie itself, or people who just aren't as invested in the material. Unlike the vast majority of 7pm-ish Thursday openings I've been to, there was not a single issue with audience behavior during the show. The room felt a bit more electric than it does for a regular evening showing. That's the kind of movie-going experience that I truly love.

I'm pretty sure the last midnight movie I saw was "Dark Knight Rises" in 2012. I'm too old for that stuff - I didn't get home until like 3:30 AM after that one!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I'm pretty sure the last midnight movie I saw was "Dark Knight Rises" in 2012. I'm too old for that stuff - I didn't get home until like 3:30 AM after that one!

I saw that at both midnight and 3:30am on opening night!

 

[Wayne_j]

The shooting that occurred in a theater that night is probably a big reason why the midnight openings stopped.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The shooting that occurred in a theater that night is probably a big reason why the midnight openings stopped.

I thought so too, but...that shooting happened in July 2012 and midnight showings weren’t discontinued until after 2013, so... a year and a half of them continuing is possibly evidence that that wasn’t the case. And at least here, movie theaters still routinely have midnight showtimes on weekends so I don’t think the industry is wary of that time slot for safety reasons.

I think what’s more likely is that studios realized they were leaving money on the table by restricting the first showing to midnight. Thursday night grosses are now and important part of the blockbuster culture and I think studios like that hook. The most rabid fans get to see it first and then can spread word of mouth on Friday, and may even be ready to see it a second time before the weekend ends. It gives the opening night experience to a larger group, but it also charges the nature of that experience in ways I find to be less than positive.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm too old for that stuff - I didn't get home until like 3:30 AM after that one!

You and me both. In the old days, when I regularly stayed up until 4 AM and then slept into the early afternoon, I loved midnight screenings -- especially the ones that had trivia and prizes.

Now I get up by 7 AM and regularly work 9 or 10 hour days. And physically, I'm less resilient than I used to be. My internal clock has shifted somewhat.

The last couple midnight showings I went to, I spent the whole time struggling to stay awake. That's not a fun way to enjoy a movie, even though I love the atmosphere of midnight screenings. If it's a movie I really care about, I want to be wide awake and able to give it my full attention.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I saw that at both midnight and 3:30am on opening night!

You went to "Dark Knight Rises" back to back on the same night???

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I thought so too, but...that shooting happened in July 2012 and midnight showings weren’t discontinued until after 2013, so... a year and a half of them continuing is possibly evidence that that wasn’t the case. And at least here, movie theaters still routinely have midnight showtimes on weekends so I don’t think the industry is wary of that time slot for safety reasons.

I think what’s more likely is that studios realized they were leaving money on the table by restricting the first showing to midnight. Thursday night grosses are now and important part of the blockbuster culture and I think studios like that hook. The most rabid fans get to see it first and then can spread word of mouth on Friday, and may even be ready to see it a second time before the weekend ends. It gives the opening night experience to a larger group, but it also charges the nature of that experience in ways I find to be less than positive.

Agree. The Thursday night openings are common now and seem to be the preferred way to launch movies.

Back when midnight Thursday screenings were rare, they were a fun "event", but I don't miss them.

I don't go to many Thursday "premieres" but I definitely prefer a 7PM Thursday show to a midnight one!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

You and me both. In the old days, when I regularly stayed up until 4 AM and then slept into the early afternoon, I loved midnight screenings -- especially the ones that had trivia and prizes.

Now I get up by 7 AM and regularly work 9 or 10 hour days. And physically, I'm less resilient than I used to be. My internal clock has shifted somewhat.

The last couple midnight showings I went to, I spent the whole time struggling to stay awake. That's not a fun way to enjoy a movie, even though I love the atmosphere of midnight screenings. If it's a movie I really care about, I want to be wide awake and able to give it my full attention.

When I was in my teens/20s, I'd regularly stay up all night and sleep until 3PM. I could make that schedule work in college/grad school, especially because my part-time job was waiting tables at dinner time.

Then I got a job with a school system and the old body block changed radically!

Actually, I still could do "all nighters" for a while. I started with the school system in 1993 but I can recall at least as late as 1997, I'd stay up all night playing videogames. I remember being on the computer playing games when I heard about Princess Di's death, and that wasn't announced in the US until like 4AM or so, IIRC.

Not sure when my body stopped letting me do that - gradual, I guess.

And age makes a difference. Old folks regularly wake up super-early, and I'm leaning that way. I'm "only" 52 but it's really tough for me to sleep past 8AM anymore!

 

[Malcolm R]

The more "preview" showings the studios can run, which they can lump in with the opening day and first weekend grosses, the better as far as they're concerned. The press next Monday will be all about Spider-Man's opening weekend gross, even though with the Tuesday opening that's going to be a 6-day "weekend". Some will try and rationalize just the 3-day portion of the weekend, but all the press will be touting the big 6-day numbers.

 

[Wayne_j]

With a Tuesday opening Tuesday - Thursday would have to be factored in somehow because the 3-day won't truly be an "opening weekend". A 6 day opening wouldn't be fair either.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Far From Home made $27 million yesterday, for a two-day total of $66 million

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Far From Home made $25 million yesterday, for a three-day total of $91 million.

Worldwide, it has grossed $310 million. Three days in, it has made more than the a third of Homecoming's lifetime gross.

 

[Tino]

‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ Shoots Off $25M+ Fireworks With 2nd-Best July 4th Ever, 6-Day Headed To $173M+

https://deadline.com/2019/07/spider...-4th-weekend-box-office-midsommar-1202641901/

 

[Joe Wong]

FFH made 32.5m on Friday. Heading for 180m+ 6 day!

From BoxOfficeMojo.com:

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Sony's Spider-Man: Far from Home brought in an estimated $32.5 million on Friday, pushing the film's domestic gross just shy of $125 million after four days in release. At this point the film is looking to deliver anywhere from $180-190 million in its first six days of release. The film received an "A" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Despite already being in theaters for three days, if estimates hold Far From Home will have posted the second-highest July 4th weekend of all time with $93.6 million.

After six days, Far From Home sits at $185.1 million domestically, and $580 million worldwide.

In North America, it is set to cross the $200 million mark three days faster than Homecoming. If it follows a similar track to Homecoming (as opposed to being frontloaded like Endgame was) it's looking at a domestic total of around $400 million, neck and neck with the first Raimi Spider-Man for the highest-grossing Spider-Man film of all time (not adjusting for inflation).

 

[Tino]

Top 20 box-office mojo


1 N Spider-Man: Far from Home Sony $93,600,000 - 4,634 - $20,199 $185,055,628 $160 1
2 1 Toy Story 4 BV $34,300,000 -42.5% 4,540 -35 $7,555 $306,557,544 - 3
3 3 Yesterday Uni. $10,750,000 -36.8% 2,614 +11 $4,112 $36,882,740 $26 2
4 2 Annabelle Comes Home WB (NL) $9,750,000 -51.9% 3,613 - $2,699 $50,157,397 - 2
5 4 Aladdin (2019) BV $7,600,000 -24.9% 2,758 -477 $2,756 $320,789,616 $183 7
6 N Midsommar A24 $6,561,798 - 2,707 - $2,424 $10,902,112 - 1
7 5 The Secret Life of Pets 2 Uni. $4,760,000 -35.0% 2,846 -507 $1,673 $140,743,335 $80 5
8 6 Men in Black International Sony $3,635,000 -45.6% 2,716 -947 $1,338 $71,989,949 $110 4
9 7 Avengers: Endgame BV $3,100,000 -49.3% 1,985 -40 $1,562 $847,862,833 $356 11
10 9 Rocketman Par. $2,775,000 -29.5% 1,409 -594 $1,969 $89,169,715 $40 6
11 10 John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum LG/S $2,250,000 -30.8% 1,493 -57 $1,507 $165,253,649 - 8
12 8 Child's Play (2019) UAR $1,488,150 -66.4% 1,707 -1,300 $872 $26,748,889 $10 3
13 15 Late Night Amazon $605,974 -44.6% 393 -478 $1,542 $14,255,520 - 5
14 17 Pavarotti CBS $470,000 -15.0% 250 -38 $1,880 $2,983,628 - 5
15 12 Dark Phoenix Fox $439,000 -75.9% 426 -761 $1,031 $64,637,317 - 5
16 24 Echo in the Canyon Greenwich $336,132 +33.9% 144 +3 $2,334 $2,024,897 - 7
17 20 The Last Black Man in San Francisco A24 $332,899 -25.5% 188 +33 $1,771 $2,795,469 - 5
18 30 Wild Rose Neon $209,000 +250.7% 63 +47 $3,317 $377,034 - 3
19 18 The Dead Don't Die Focus $193,000 -63.6% 267 -285 $723 $6,310,000 - 4
20 19 The Other Side of Heaven 2: Fire of Faith AAE $177,975 -60.8% 179 -26 $994 $966,425 - 2

 

[Tino]

If SFFH follows the 3X multiplier rule domestic total should be about $370 million. Close to $400 million if it has the same legs as Endgame as Adam says.

 

[Bryan^H]

When you go to a midnight show where that is the first opportunity an audience has to see a film, you get people who are genuinely interested in the material and who care both about seeing the movie first and having a good experience doing so.

That's the kind of movie-going experience that I truly love.

I couldn't agree more-I'd say about 95% of the films I used to see were midnight screenings...Until my theater stopped showing them about 10 years ago. I have such great memories of seeing movies with fantastically enthusiastic crowds. The Star Wars Prequels, The Dark Knight trilogy are among my favorites.

 

[steve jaros]

Stunning that Aladdin now has a decent chance to reach $1 Billion WW. That seemed unfathomable a month ago.

Amazing run.