The Weekend Report Archive for December, 2011
The Weekend Report (3 Day), Christmas Day
The industry was dreading this holiday season with Christmas and New Years – traditionally poor movie going days – falling on Sundays. The current weekend should see a big boost on Monday with both War Horse and the sci-fi thriller The Darkest Hour opening wide along with the exclusive bow of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
The sobering drop in both box office and admissions in 2011 has all sectors of the industry talking about the future of movie going. A few cheerleaders are insisting the past 12 months are an anomaly and strong 2012 titles will bring a reversal of fortunes.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »The Weekend Report, December 18, 2011
The industry adhered to Bert Lance’s admonishment that “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” with a trio of sequels on the cusp of holiday movie going. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows led with an estimated $39.3 million followed by Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked grossing $23.3 million and Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol in caboose position at $13.1 million.
Additionally a couple of awards contenders opened in exclusives including Oscar doc short listed dance profile Pina that tripped a light fantastic $16,200 at two venues. The screen adaptation of (Gods of) Carnage bowed at five sites with an OK $85,200.
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New Year’s Eve and The Sitter (which could easily have been a hard-R segment of NYE) are on top, but not very impressively so. Twilight continues to wind down, losing a bit of its massive core audience with darker material and keeping newcomers at a distance. And there are a parade of limited releases out there (Tintin, Young Adult, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, A Dangerous Method) doing nice, but not thrilling, business.
No column today, as Len is with LAFCA for its year-end vote.
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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.
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