SPEARE'S TIPS - The Films of 11/23/11-11/25/11

[transformers2]

Glad to read that Geezer ! I hope it wil do great indeed, as I've put it on many slates of mine !

Same. I see it as the breakout hit of the Christmas season, so I have put it on just about every slate.

[numbersix]

I still say that if a film is good, it doesn't matter what the "tradition" states for that weekend. If people want to see Dragon Tattoo, and its out against nothing else they want to see, they will show up. If you throw it out there against a lot of competition, and movie-goers only choose to go to one out of the 3 movies they want to see because of time/money constraints, it can screw itself over.

Generally true, but let's not forget the common occurrence of people having more spare time over a holiday season and simply going to the cinema just to do something. Hence the Christmas week being a peak time for ticket sales.

[Geezer]

I agree, but I know at least for myself, I won't go see 3-4 movies over the course of two weeks. I'm limited to 1-2. So if I want to see Sherlock, MI:4, Dragon Tattoo, Tintin and We Bought a Zoo, its impossible. Which is why I'm glad to get one out of the way now!

[silversurfer19]

And surely using those couple of weeks prior to Christmas to generate some word of mouth for the movie leading up to when more casual viewers look to see something over the holiday is a good thing. Those casual viewers will be looking for something to watch, and as proved by The Kings Speech and Black Swan last year, it can prove a goldmine for movies which gain good feedback. Of course it's futile now, but I could have seen Dragon Tattoo opening in the early 20s during its OW in early December, but with good WOM and the Christmas period it could easily have hit $90m by the end of year, with the Oscar charge still to come.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

I agree, but I know at least for myself, I won't go see 3-4 movies over the course of two weeks. I'm limited to 1-2. So if I want to see Sherlock, MI:4, Dragon Tattoo, Tintin and We Bought a Zoo, its impossible. Which is why I'm glad to get one out of the way now!

Remember too that the first couple of weeks in January are usually dead, so people get a chance to check out anything they missed during Christmas.

When Marley & Me came out, I didn't even want to see it, but good WOM led me to watch it in January. I think this'll help We Bought A Zoo the most, because all the other Christmas movies have better brand recognzition - they're all sequels or high-profile adaptations.

[numbersix]

And surely using those couple of weeks prior to Christmas to generate some word of mouth for the movie leading up to when more casual viewers look to see something over the holiday is a good thing. Those casual viewers will be looking for something to watch, and as proved by The Kings Speech and Black Swan last year, it can prove a goldmine for movies which gain good feedback. Of course it's futile now, but I could have seen Dragon Tattoo opening in the early 20s during its OW in early December, but with good WOM and the Christmas period it could easily have hit $90m by the end of year, with the Oscar charge still to come.

I think this year will be a good litmus test to see if saturating the holidays will work or not. If some of the bigger films underperform, you may see early Dec become a test ground, much like what late April 2012 seems to be becoming.

[Shrykespeare]

Weekend Actuals (BOM):

Top 10:
5 points - Twilight: BD1, $41.7M
4 points - The Muppets, $29.2 ($41.5M 5-day)
3 points - Happy Feet Two, $13.4M
2 points - Arthur Christmas, $12.1M ($16.3M 5-day)
1 point - Hugo, $11.3M ($15.4M 5-day)
Jack and Jill - $10.0M
Immortals - $8.9M
Puss in Boots - $7.5M
The Descendants - $7.3M
Tower Heist - $7.2M

12. My Week With Marilyn - $1.8M



PTA:
5 points - The Artist, $51,220
4 points - A Dangerous Method, $41,988
3 points - The Descendants, $18,835
2 points - Twilight: BD1, $10,252
1 points - Hugo, $8,899

[undeadmonkey]

that hold for twilight's second week is pretty darn good. should get past $300M now, how far though i have no clue

[Buscemi]

It's still $10 million behind New Moon (which had an eerily similar drop*). With an outlook for the next two weeks similar to 2009, it won't pass $300 million.

And Breaking Dawn's hold is bad especially when compared to Eclipse (which dropped just 51%).

* - Breaking Dawn dropped 69.8%. New Moon dropped 70% exactly.

[Chienfantome]

Yeah, a 70% drop isn't exactly good, you must have read wrong numbers UDM

[numbersix]

It's dropping so similar to New Moon it's scary. So much for the fans who hated the books affecting the BO performance. At worst it'll probably close at about $280m

[Buscemi]

Okay, I'll admit I was wrong about people hating the book version of Breaking Dawn affecting the box office. Maybe much of the film series fans never read the books (it would partially explain the increase between the first two films)?

Eclipse hit $300 million for two reasons: 1. it had the strongest reception of the series (due to being more action-heavy and having source material that the book's readers generally liked) and 2. the September reissue was done solely to reach the mark.

[undeadmonkey]

Yeah, a 70% drop isn't exactly good, you must have read wrong numbers UDM

hah, must have, i read 50%. no idea what was going on, i blame the head cold

[BanksIsDaFuture]

Yeah, a 70% drop isn't exactly good, you must have read wrong numbers UDM

hah, must have, i read 50%. no idea what was going on, i blame the head cold

The drop for the 5-day is only 55%.

[Buscemi]

New Moon had a 54% drop with its 5-day. It's still holding worse.