Grit and Bear It
Little Fockers and True Grit led the Christmas charge with respective opening debuts estimated at $34 million and $25.5 million that topped weekend movie going. The session also featured a Christmas day bow for the animated Gulliver’s Travels, which netted a two-day gross of $6.9 million.
Bollywood’s seasonal offering Tees Maar Khann rang up an impressive $700,000. However, several other Hindi, Telegu and Tamil releases were non-starters. China’s If You Are the One 2 opened up day-and-date (a first) with its Mainland release and chimed in with a potent $208,000 launch.
The frame also featured a clutch of last-minute releases for award season consideration. Best of the bunch was Venice-prized Somewhere with $148,000 from seven venues. The animated The Illusionist displayed comparable strength with a two-day tally of $52,600 on two screens and a four screen push for Barney’s Version in Canada proved effective with $64,400 (a single U.S. Oscar qualifying run was unreported). Lastly, Country Strong lilted $33,800 from two sneak peeks.
Overall the Christmas session got clobbered with calendar positioning that landed the eve on Friday (expect something similar with New Years). And while an estimated $155 million weekend provided an 11% boost from the prior weekend it translated into a pounding 45% drop from 2009. As the door quickly closes on the year, box office gross has slipped behind the prior year and admissions are approaching close to double digit erosion. A year ago Avatar’s second weekend grossed $75.6 million and debuts of Sherlock Holmes and The Alvin Squeakquel added $62.4 million and $48.9 million respectively.
All that said, tracking wasn’t exactly on target for new entries and holdovers. The third in the Fockers series was expected to render a first weekend of between $40 million and $45 million while the sophomore edition of TRON: Legacy was pegged at $25 million. Conversely True Grit outperformed pundits soothsaying that had it shy of $20 million.
Holiday crowds clearly voted for The Fighter, Black Swan and The King’s Speech as their Oscar favorites. Still there are seven additional slots to fill and the campaigning is apt to intensify in the upcoming weeks.
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Weekend Estimates – December 24-26, 2010
Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
Little Fockers | Uni | 34.0 (9,610) | NEW | 3536 | 48.2 |
True Grit | Par | 25.5 (8,360) | NEW | 3047 | 36.6 |
Tron: Legacy | BV | 20.6 (5,960) | -53% | 3451 | 88.7 |
Chronicles of Narnia: Dawn Treader | Fox | 10.9 (3,240) | -12% | 3350 | 63.9 |
The Fighter | Par/Alliance | 8.6 (3,430) | -29% | 2511 | 27.7 |
Yogi Bear | WB | 8.4 (2,380) | -55% | 3515 | 36.3 |
Gulliver’s Travels * | Fox | 6.9 (2,700) | NEW | 2546 | 6.9 |
Tangled | BV | 6.7 (2,590) | -24% | 2582 | 143.8 |
Fox Searchlight | 6.4 (4,390) | -23% | 1466 | 28.9 | |
The Tourist | Sony | 5.6 (2,020) | -35% | 2756 | 41.1 |
The King’s Speech | Weinstein Co. | 4.6 (6,530) | 317% | 700 | 8.4 |
How Do You Know | Sony | 3.7 (1,480) | -51% | 2483 | 15.1 |
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Part 1* | WB | 3.3 (1,920) | -34% | 1732 | 273.1 |
Tees Maar Khan | UTV | .70 (6,780) | NEW | 103 | 0.7 |
Due Date | WB | .37 (910) | -71% | 404 | 98.3 |
Unstoppable | Fox | .36 (920) | -80% | 393 | 78.5 |
Megamind | Par | .35 (460) | -49% | 764 | 142.6 |
Burlesque | Sony | .33 (660) | -77% | 501 | 36.7 |
The Social Network | Sony | .31 (1,230) | 9% | 249 | 92.3 |
If You Are the One 2 | China Lion | .21 (9,040) | NEW | 23 | 0.21 |
127 Hours | Fox Searchlight | .20 (1,720) | -64% | 115 | 9.8 |
* Christmas Day opening | |||||
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $145.90 | ||||
% Change (Last Year) | -45% | ||||
% Change (Last Week) | 11% | ||||
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
Somewhere | Focus | .15 (21,140) | 7 | 0.2 | |
Rabbit Hole | Lionsgate | 88,700 (2,610) | 65% | 34 | 0.16 |
Barney’s Version | eOne | 64,400 (16,100) | 4 | 0.06 | |
Casino Jack | IDP | 60,500 (4,030) | 75% | 15 | 0.11 |
The Illusionist * | Sony Classics | 52,600 (26,300) | 2 | 0.05 | |
Country Strong | Sony | 33,800 (16,900) | 2 | 0.05 | |
The Tempest | Miramax/Maple | 32,700 (2,520) | -44% | 13 | 0.19 |
Toonpur Ka Superhero | Eros | 9,600 (400) | 24 | 0.01 | |
Isi Life Mein | Rajshri | 4,500 (250) | 18 | 0.01 |
Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Dec. 23, 2010)
Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share |
Warner Bros. (30) | 1861 | 18.40% |
Paramount (19) | 1634.7 | 16.10% |
Fox (19) | 1442.4 | 14.20% |
Buena Vista (17) | 1349.1 | 13.30% |
Sony (26) | 1239.1 | 12.20% |
Universal (18) | 798.7 | 7.90% |
Summit (11) | 522.2 | 5.20% |
Lionsgate (16) | 519.3 | 5.10% |
Fox Searchlight (8) | 105 | 1.00% |
Overture (8) | 87.4 | 0.90% |
Focus (7) | 75.2 | 0.70% |
CBS (3) | 72.5 | 0.70% |
Weinstein Co. (9) | 65.5 | 0.60% |
Sony Classics (22) | 59.5 | 0.60% |
MGM (1) | 50.4 | 0.50% |
Other * (317) | 253.5 | 2.50% |
10135.5 | 100.00% | |
* none greater than .04% |
Top Limited Releases * (Jan. 1 – Dec. 23, 2010)
Title | Distributor | Gross |
Hubble 3D | WB | 19,359,509 |
The Ghost Writer | Summit | 15,569,712 |
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Music Box/Alliance | 11,287,817 |
The Young Victoria * | Apparition/Alliance | 11,131,232 |
127 Hours | Fox Searchlight | 9,321,571 |
Get Low | Sony Classics | 9,106,802 |
Fair Game | Summit | 8,650,388 |
A Single Man * | Weinstein Co. | 7,935,872 |
The Girl Who Played with Fire | Music Box/Alliance | 7,848,496 |
Cyrus | Fox Searchlight | 7,461,082 |
Babies | Focus | 7,444,272 |
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | E1/Sony Classics | 7,394,171 |
Conviction | Fox Searchlight | 6,768,063 |
City Island | Anchor Bay | 6,671,036 |
The Last Station | Sony Classics | 6,617,867 |
Waiting for “Superman” | Par Vantage | 6,410,257 |
The Secret in Their Eyes | Sony Classics | 6,391,436 |
It’s Kind of a Funny Story | Focus | 6,362,514 |
Winter’s Bone | Roadside Attraction | 6,237,371 |
Under the Sea 3D * | WB | 5,732,362 |
* does not include 2009 box office |