Summer of Our Discontent
Domestic box office for the summer season dropped 3% from 2009 on an estimated gross of $4.05 billion. On an even graver note admissions sank at least 10% and possibly as high as 12%. Following a fast start in early May, movie going appeared to lose steam mid-stream and though the final Labor Day holiday frame contributed a slight 5% weekend boost it was insufficient to close the gap.
Heading into the weekend, Paramount led in market share but were out-gunned at the final shoot out by Sony with the latter closing the season with a 16.5% slice of the big pie to the former’s 15.9%. The summer’s top grossing film was Toy Story 3 with a $408.8 million tally. Five of the top 10 top seasonal grossers were in the 3D format and two others — Inception and Iron Man 2 — had a significant number of large format engagements. The surge of premium price movies proved to be a ferocious audience magnet. Collectively the seven films contributed $1.82 billion to the box office, or 45% of all summer ticket sales.
Despite the potency of such conventionally formatted films as The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and unexpected results for the likes of Grown Ups and The Expendables, box office events are increasingly tilted toward pictures with higher entry fees. And whereas the historic trend of successful films increasing attendance, the present situation appears to have limited the general publics frequency at the multiplex in what may be a factor of the slowly recovering American economy. Gloom and doom aside, major gains were made in the independent sector.
The likes of Summit and Lions Gate chose to compete against the majors for a change and the former was a hair’s breath away from nudging Fox out of the top six. Niche titles ranging from the first two portions of the Millennium trilogy, festival favorites such as Winter’s Bone and The Kids Are All Right and critical favorite I Am Love were a significant factor in summer sales. In all 13 films of this type grossed in excess of $4 million each — a seasonal record that indicates a growing audience for alternative fare.
Though the industry has long contended that there is an insufficient market for mid-range pictures, the absence of a breakout title on the order of The Hangover may have finally sealed that verdict. Summer 2010 certainly underlines that the multiplex comes in just two sizes — big and small.
Weekend (estimates) September 3 – 6, 2010
Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
The American | Focus | 16.5 (6,060) | New | 2721 | 19.6 |
Machete | Fox | 14.1 (5,290) | New | 2670 | 14.1 |
Takers | Sony | 13.6 (6,170) | -47% | 2206 | 40.1 |
The Last Exorcism | Lions Gate | 8.7 (3,030) | -64% | 2874 | 33.5 |
Going the Distance | WB | 8.6 (2,840) | New | 3030 | 8.6 |
The Expendables | Lions Gate | 8.3 (2.440) | -46% | 3398 | 93.9 |
The Other Guys | Sony | 6.6 (2,520) | -16% | 2607 | 108 |
Eat Drink Pray | Sony | 6.1 (2,300) | -29% | 2663 | 70.2 |
Inception | WB | 5.8 (3,410) | -6% | 1704 | 278.4 |
Nanny McPhee Returns | Uni | 4.6 (1,690) | -24% | 2708 | 23.4 |
Despicable Me | Uni | 3.8 (2,400) | -2% | 1600 | 241.3 |
The Switch | BV | 3.8 (2.030) | -32% | 1885 | 22.2 |
Vampires Suck | Fox | 3.7 (1,520) | -43% | 2434 | 33 |
Toy Story 3 | BV | 2.6 (1,730) | 89% | 1520 | 408.8 |
Piranha 3D | Weinstein Co. | 2.9 (1,640) | -46% | 1789 | 23 |
Avatar (reissue) | Fox | 2.8 (3,480) | -43% | 811 | 758.1 |
Lottery Ticket | WB | 2.6 (1,990) | -41% | 1310 | 21 |
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World | Uni | 1.9 (2,390) | -38% | 807 | 29.2 |
Salt | Sony | 1.6 (2,230) | -34% | 705 | 115.5 |
Get Low | Sony Classics | 1.5 (2,910) | -26% | 526 | 5.7 |
Dinner for Schmucks | Par | 1.2 (1,540) | -45% | 804 | 71.1 |
Step Up 3D | BV | .89 (2,050) | -44% | 434 | 41.2 |
Grown Ups | Sony | .65 (1,950) | 88% | 333 | 160.1 |
Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore | WB | .64 (1,410) | -30% | 455 | 42.2 |
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice | BV | .57 (1,600) | 63% | 357 | 61.7 |
Twilight: Eclipse | Summit | .54 (1,360) | -18% | 396 | 298.8 |
The Kids Are All Right | Focus | .51 (2,130) | -22% | 239 | 19.9 |
* percentage changes are 3-day to 3-day
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $125.10 | |
% Change (Last Year) | 5% | |
% Change (Last Week) | -11% |
Also debuting/expanding
We Are Family | UTV | .32 (4,730) | 67 | 0.32 | |
Cairo Time | IFC | .22 (3,960) | -11% | 55 | 0.9 |
Mesrine: Killer Instinct | Alliance/Music Box | .16 (3,110) | -38% | 52 | 0.88 |
Mesrine: Public Enemy no. 1 | Alliance/Music Box | .15 (3,020) | 143% | 51 | 0.23 |
A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop | Sony Classics | 33,800 (6,760) | 5 | 0.03 | |
My Dog Tulip | New Yorker | 14,100 (14,100) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Prince of Broadway | Elephant | 12,300 (12,300) | 1 | 0.01 | |
White Wedding | Mitropoulos | 6,700 (1,670) | 4 | 0.01 | |
The Winning Season | Roadside At. | 6,100 (2,030) | 3 | 0.01 | |
16 to Life | Water Dog | 3,500 (1,750) | 2 | 0.01 |
Domestic Summer Market Share (May 7 – September 6, 2010)
Rank | Distributor | Gross | Mkt Share | % Change | Rank |
(in millions) | 2009 | 2009 | |||
1 | Sony | 669.2 | 16.50% | 27% | 5 |
2 | Paramount | 643.6 | 15.90% | -18% | 2 |
3 | BV | 611.6 | 15.10% | -12% | 3 |
4 | Warner Bros. | 514 | 12.70% | -49% | 1 |
5 | Universal | 499.9 | 12.40% | 54% | 6 |
6 | Fox | 362.3 | 8.90% | -24% | 4 |
7 | Summit | 360.6 | 8.90% | 1148% | 9 |
8 | Lions Gate | 178.5 | 4.40% | 1273% | 12 |
9 | Focus | 47.3 | 1.20% | 172% | 11 |
10 | Weinstein Co. | 23.9 | 0.60% | -80% | 7 |
Miramax | 22.2 | 0.50% | 158% | 13 | |
Sony Classics | 18.8 | 0.50% | 6% | 10 | |
Other | 96.3 | 2.40% | N/A | ||
4048.2 | 100.00% | -3% | |||
% Change 2010 (Other Distributors) | |||||
Fox Searchlight | -83% |