By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Limbo Rock … How Low Can You Go
Moviegoers were otherwise engaged this weekend and overall box office sank by slightly more than half. With no new national releases in the mix, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn easily held onto the top spot with an estimated $16.8 million.
Niche and exclusive newcomers generally did little to brighten the picture. The exception was the exclusive bow of the controversial Shame that grossed $364,000 from 10 engagements. Also good was Bollywood newcomer The Dirty Picture with a $263,000 tally at 52 venues. But otherwise it was the blahs across the ages and genders.
Weekend box office generated roughly $83 million to record the second lowest weekend of 2011. Only the weekend following Labor Day provided an even more dire result. Business sank 51% from last weekend’s Thanksgiving holiday and a more 6% abatement from 2010. A year back Tangled was top draw with $21.6 million in its second weekend and the first half of the Harry Potter finale added $17 million to its larder.
Traditionally the first weekend of December ranks among the lowest attended session’s of the year and the current frame is the worst for this week in the past five years. Still there was an element of a self-fulfilling prophecy in the decision by the majors and indies not to provide a wide release. Traditionally at least some genre potboiler rears its head this time of year and sometimes does better than expected business.
Disclosure in 1994 was a rare instance of a major release opening in early December. And despite a strong bow its distributor was disappointed by an eventual domestic gross of about $85 million.
Amid the current rubble some of the family friendly pictures held well as well as a few of the awards targeted titles. The Artist, named best film by the New York Critics Circle, added two screens and held steady. Other relatively resilient films included Hugo, Arthur Christmas, The Descendants and My Week with Marilyn.
However, the shrewdest move had to be the opening of Shame. In the absence of a new national title or a major expansion, the grim yarn of sexual dependency received an enhanced publicity focus and drew in the alternative audience. With potential awards recognition in the offing this formidable start has a big upside.
| Weekend (estimates) December 2 – 4, 2011 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
| The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn | Summit | 16.8 (4,160) | -60% | 4046 | 247.2 |
| The Muppets | BV | 11.2 (3,270) | -62% | 3440 | 56.5 |
| Hugo | Par | 7.6 (4,130) | -33% | 1840 | 25.2 |
| Arthur Christmas | Sony | 7.3 (2,170) | -39% | 3376 | 24.9 |
| Happy Feet Two | WB | 5.9 (1,680) | -56% | 3536 | 51.7 |
| Jack and Jill | Sony | 5.4 (1,780) | -46% | 3049 | 64.2 |
| The Descendants | Fox Searchlight | 4.9 (8,590) | -33% | 574 | 17.8 |
| Immortals | Relativity | 4.4 (1,680) | -50% | 2627 | 75.6 |
| Tower Heist | Uni | 4.1 (1,710) | -43% | 2404 | 70.8 |
| Puss in Boots | Par | 3.0 (1,080) | -60% | 2750 | 139.4 |
| J. Edgar | WB | 2.4 (1,190) | -53% | 1985 | 32.6 |
| My Week with Marilyn | Weinstein Co. | 1.2 (4,800) | -33% | 244 | 3.9 |
| A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas | WB | 1.0 (1,380) | -39% | 710 | 33.1 |
| Moneyball | Sony | .57 (570) | 100% | 1004 | 73.8 |
| In Time | Fox | .55 (1,310) | -29% | 421 | 35.8 |
| The Ides of March | Sony/Alliance | .53 (520) | 109% | 1016 | 40.1 |
| Shame | Fox Searchlight | .36 (36,380) | NEW | 10 | 0.36 |
| Dolphin Tale | WB | .32 (780) | 74% | 410 | 70.7 |
| Like Crazy | Par Vantage | .27 (1,760) | -37% | 152 | 2.9 |
| Midnight in Paris | Sony Classics | .26 (860) | 344% | 305 | 56 |
| The Dirty Picture | Alt Entertainment | .26 (5,060) | NEW | 52 | 0.26 |
| Melancholia | Magnolia/eOne | .23 (2,230) | -30% | 104 | 1.6 |
| The Artist | Weinstein Co. | .20 (33,900) | -1% | 6 | 0.5 |
| Real Steel | BV | .17 (680) | -48% | 253 | 83.4 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $76.85 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -6% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -51% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| The Way | PDA | .17 (1,050) | -18% | 160 | 3.6 |
| The Skin I Live In | Sony Classics | .16 (1,380) | -14% | 116 | 2.7 |
| A Dangerous Method | Sony Classics | .12 (29,850) | -29% | 4 | 0.41 |
| Pastorela | Lions Gate | 65,700 (1,190) | 55 | 0.07 | |
| I Am Singh | Big Pictures | 25,300 (470) | 54 | 0.03 | |
| Kinyarwanda | AFFRM | 21,500 (2,390) | 9 | 0.02 | |
| Answers to Nothing | Roadside | 14,400 (690) | 21 | 0.01 | |
| Bezawada | Annapurna | 11,700 (420) | 28 | 0.01 | |
| Sleeping Beauty | IFC | 8,300 (4,150) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Outrage | Magnolia | 6,200 (3,100) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Khodorkovsky | Lorber | 5,600 (5600) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Dec. 1, 2011) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share | |||
| Paramount (19) | 1736.3 | 18.50% | |||
| Warner Bros. (26) | 1614.5 | 17.30% | |||
| Sony (28) | 1177.1 | 12.60% | |||
| Buena Vista (16) | 1156.1 | 12.40% | |||
| Universal (18) | 1030.1 | 11.00% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (16) | 825.4 | 8.80% | |||
| Summit (9) | 354.9 | 3.80% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (15) | 285.7 | 3.10% | |||
| Relativity (8) | 216.1 | 2.30% | |||
| Lions Gate (15) | 184.6 | 2.00% | |||
| Film District (4) | 125.6 | 1.30% | |||
| Focus (7) | 123.6 | 1.30% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (12) | 123.2 | 1.30% | |||
| Sony Classics (17) | 84.9 | 0.90% | |||
| CBS (3) | 57.5 | 0.60% | |||
| Other * (325) | 261.8 | 2.80% | |||
| 9357.4 | 100.00% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.35% | |||||
| Top Global Grossers (Jan. 1 – Dec. 1, 2011) * | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross | |||
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 2 | WB | 1,339,007,353 | |||
| Transformers: Dark of the Moon | Par | 1,123,779,767 | |||
| Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides | BV | 1,043,585,965 | |||
| Kung Fu Panda 2 | Par | 665,712,192 | |||
| Fast Five | Uni | 628,291,158 | |||
| The Hangover 2 | WB | 582,704,066 | |||
| The Smurfs | Sony | 561,341,168 | |||
| Cars 2 | BV | 559,955,381 | |||
| The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn | Summit | 534,112,490 | |||
| Rio | Fox | 484,654,961 | |||
| Rise of the Planet of the Apes | Fox | 481,180,399 | |||
| Thor | Par | 449,362,618 | |||
| The King’s Speech | Weinstein/FilmNation | 408,823,504 | |||
| Captain America: The First Avenger | Par | 368,629,160 | |||
| X-Men: First Class | Fox | 353,624,124 | |||
| Tangled * | BV | 296,514,084 | |||
| Bridesmaids | Uni | 288,483,356 | |||
| Black Swan * | Fox | 287,898,948 | |||
| Super 8 | Par | 259,835,830 | |||
| Real Steel | BV | 253,806,606 | |||
| Rango | Par | 245,728,275 | |||
| Green Lantern | WB | 234,559,572 | |||
| The Green Hornet | Sony | 227,892,167 | |||
| Bad Teacher | Sony | 216,438,475 | |||
| Just Go With It | Sony | 215,073,990 | |||
