By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report: January 9, 2011
Season of the Grinch
Times were darn good for a man who eats grits as the season’s surprise hit True Grit edged out Little Fockers for the top slot in weekend movie sales. The films had respective three-day box office of $14.8 million and $13.7 million.
The lone newcomer of the session was the thriller Season of the Witch that slotted third with $10.4 million. It also featured the national launch (following an Oscar-qualifying run) of the hard life musical yarn
Niche freshmen included No One Killed Jessica on the Bollywood circuit with an OK $280,000. The small but loyal Filipino audience was out in force for recent Manila Fest favorite Ang Tanging Ina Mo Last that grossed $104,000 from 11 screens.
Overall revenues generated about $112 million that repped a 30% drop from both last weekend and the first weekend of 2010. Avatar led ticket sales last year with a $50.3 million frame.
With final numbers for 2010 finally tallied, results (see charts) were marginally better than initial projections. The year finished at $10.63 billion and a slim 0.4% decline from 2009. While the majors experienced the sort of annual fluctuations that are the norm, most of the independents took it hard on the chin. Overture, Focus and The Weinstein Co. each experienced the pain of not having a single hit on the domestic front and revenues that shrunk by half or more.
The New Year has largely been dominated by adult fare with the likes of Grit, Black Swan, The Fighter and The King’s Speech showing the best resilience and generating positive word-of-mouth as award season ramps up. Conversely family targeted films are experiencing fast fades.
The mood is more glum than gloom. Industry mavens and pundits essentially don’t see a breakout success in the upcoming two to three months … but are willing to be surprised.
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Weekend Estimates – January 7-9, 2011
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
| True Grit | Par | 14.8 (4,740) | -39% | 3124 | 110.2 |
| Little Fockers | Uni | 13.7 (3,740) | -47% | 3675 | 123.9 |
| Season of the Witch | Relativity | 10.4 (3,680) | NEW | 2816 | 10.4 |
| Tron: Legacy | BV | 10.1 (3,350) | -46% | 3013 | 148.2 |
| Black Swan | Fox Searchlight | 8.2 (5,160) | -8% | 1584 | 61.3 |
| Country Strong | Sony | 7,3 (5,150) | 1424 | 7.5 | |
| The Fighter | Par/Alliance | 6.9 (2,740) | -31% | 2528 | 57.8 |
| Yogi Bear | WB | 6.6 (2,020) | -47% | 3288 | 75.4 |
| The King’s Speech | Weinstein Co. | 6.6 (8,650) | -16% | 758 | 33 |
| Tangled | BV | 5.1 ((2,160) | -48% | 2383 | 175.8 |
| Gulliver’s Travels | Fox | 4.7 (1,590) | -49% | 2964 | 34.6 |
| Chronicles of Narnia: Dawn Treader | Fox | 4.7 (1,660) | -54% | 2814 | 94.6 |
| The Tourist | Sony | 3.9 (1,580) | -42% | 2442 | 61.3 |
| Harry Potter & the Deathly Hollows, Part 1* | WB | 2.4 (1,570) | -49% | 1507 | 287.7 |
| How Do You Know | Sony | 1.9 (990) | -59% | 1902 | 28.8 |
| Blue Valentine | Weinstein Co. | .73 (18,250) | 277% | 40 | 1.2 |
| The Social Network | Sony | .62 (1,030 | 34% | 603 | 94 |
| Unstoppable | Fox | .33 (830) | -37% | 398 | 80 |
| No One Killed Jessica | UTV | .28 (4,200) | NEW | 67 | 0.28 |
| Due Date | WB | .26 (1,070) | -39% | 244 | 99.6 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $108.65 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -30% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -30% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Somewhere | Focus | .13 (7,820) | -4% | 17 | 0.63 |
| Ang Tanging Ina Mo Last | ABS | .10 (9,430) | 11 | 0.1 | |
| Rabbit Hole | Lions Gate | .11 (3,110) | -24% | 35 | 0.63 |
| Another Year | Sony Classics | 0.9 (12,900) | -19% | 7 | 0.31 |
| The Illusionist | Sony Classics | 33,200 (11,070) | -29% | 3 | 0.18 |
| The Time That Remains | IFC | 5,700 (5,700) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Top Domestic Grossers – 2010
| Title | Distributor | Gross |
| Avatar * | Fox | 476,899,300 |
| Toy Story 3 | BV | 415,071,937 |
| Alice in Wonderland | BV | 334,191,110 |
| Iron Man 2 | Par | 312,445,596 |
| Twilight: Eclipse | Summit | 300,551,386 |
| Inception | WB | 292,558,188 |
| Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 | WB | 280,230,127 |
| Despicable Me | Uni | 251,083,040 |
| Shrek Forever After | Par | 238,667,087 |
| How to Train Your Dragon | Par | 218,685,707 |
| The Karate Kid | Sony | 176,797,997 |
| Clash of the Titans | WB | 163,214,888 |
| Grown Ups | Sony | 162,171,789 |
| Tangled | BV | 161,284,390 |
| Megamind | Par | 143,767,792 |
| The Last Airbender | Par | 131,733,601 |
| Shutter Island | Par | 128,051,522 |
| The Other Guy | Sony | 119,560,156 |
| Salt | Sony | 118,485,665 |
| Tron: Legacy | BV | 117,540,071 |
Market Share 2010
| Distributor (releases) | Gross (millions) | Mkt Share | % Change | Rank ’09 | |
| 1 | Warner Bros. (31) | 1920.4 | 18.10% | -9% | 1 |
| 2 | Paramount (20) | 1731.7 | 16.30% | 17% | 2 |
| 3 | Fox (20) | 1503.5 | 14.10% | 8% | 4 |
| 4 | Buena Vista (17) | 1456.6 | 13.70% | 18% | 5 |
| 5 | Sony (27) | 1275.9 | 12.00% | -13% | 3 |
| 6 | Universal (19) | 883.9 | 8.30% | -1% | 6 |
| 7 | Summit (11) | 523.5 | 4.90% | 8% | 7 |
| 8 | Lions Gate (16) | 519.9 | 4.90% | 27% | 8 |
| 9 | Fox Searchlight (8) | 130.1 | 1.20% | -51% | 9 |
| 10 | Overture (8) | 87.5 | 0.80% | -45% | 12 |
| 11 | The Weinstein Co. (10) | 80.5 | 0.70% | -61% | 10 |
| 12 | Focus (8) | 75.5 | 0.70% | -53% | 11 |
| 13 | CBS (3) | 72.8 | 0.70% | N/A | NEW |
| 14 | Sony Classics (24) | 60.1 | 0.60% | 32% | 16 |
| 15 | MGM (1) | 50.4 | 0.50% | -22% | 14 |
| Other (325) | 260.4 | 1.10% | N/A | ||
| 10632.7 | 100% | -0.40% |
