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Wkd Box Office 12•18-20•15 - Force Awakens does good... gOOOood, opens w/ $248m

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Cheebo

Banned
I feel like WB would be smarter with another Max movie. And yeah, some films got scheduled wrong. Tomorrowland should've come out on February 30th!
Based on how the first did I don't think there will be another. It's another a Pacific Rim 2/Tron 3 situation. They'll humor fans but the movie didn't make money so they won't be in any hurry to do it and it fades away after people forget about it.
 
I think if Mad Max releases in August, it probably does better financially.

But there's always like 2 or 3 films every year that you look at and go "Shit. They scheduled that WAY wrong"
Yup. And summer is responsible for basically all of them. It's better than it was some years ago, thanks to movies like THG showing you can open a blockbuster at any time, but there's still a lot of the calendar year that is unused. Hopefully American Sniper convinces studios January doesn't have to be a wasteland, too.
 

Cheebo

Banned
It wasn't too many years ago where the idea of releasing Summer movies before the end of May in Memorial Day weekend was considered crazy.
 
In Jan/Feb, I assume

image.php
 
When do we start seeing more January/February movies?

January may take longer, because I think studios still see that as a time to take your Oscar-caliber movies wide (American Sniper technically released the last week of 2014), but February is already happening, with movies like 50 Shades and Kingsman and Spongebob this year, and Deadpool and Zoolander 2 next year.
 

Anth0ny

Member
yo why the FUCK is 2oolander and deadpool coming out on the same day

ughhhhhhhhhh

I legit can't choose one over the other. I think I'm going to watch both back to back on opening day.
 

jakncoke

Banned
zoolander 2 is even on peeps radar then again this forum is weird and probably thought the first was a good film in some weird heroin alcoholic dazed way
 

kswiston

Member
I have to imagine that, EVENTUALLY, something will come along. It might be a long time, though.

The new Star Wars. It'll come up out of nowhere and take over the world.

People are less likely to spend money on something completely new now than they were in the past.
 
I have to imagine that, EVENTUALLY, something will come along. It might be a long time, though.

The new Star Wars. It'll come up out of nowhere and take over the world.

What will happen is that that movie will end up being top 20/top 30, then the sequel to it will end up in the top 10.
 

kswiston

Member
What will happen is that that movie will end up being top 20/top 30, then the sequel to it will end up in the top 10.

Exactly. The Hunger Games was the closest we have had to a non-sequel breaking the domestic Top 10 since Avatar. And even that was a super huge book phenomenon before being made into a movie.
 

Cheebo

Banned
People are less likely to spend money on something completely new now than they were in the past.
I wonder how much of it has to to with the evolving nature of franchises. Before film franchises typically were trilogies. 3 and done. Studios rolled the dice often hoping they had a potential new franchise with a film. If it worked, pump out 2 more and move on.

Now they never-ending. Previously the ones like that were few and far between (James Bond). Now be it Star Wars, Marvel, & DC with their cinematic universes. To franchises that just refuse to disappear like Harry Potter, Fast/Furious, Transformers...etc.

Franchises come and then stay. Forever. Often propped up by overseas audience which seem to have a far more difficult time burning out on franchises than domestic audiences do. Which sucks up the air in the room for new franchises to even have any hope of finding an audience let alone being green-lit.

As much as I love Star Wars I am sure there will come a day where I grow tired and the anticipation is no longer there with the never-ending future of films. You can only have ice cream for breakfast so many times before the fun wears out. But I am sure when that day comes for me the overall audience, especially overseas will not stop. As is the case for nearly every other successful franchise in modern times.
 

Dead

well not really...yet
I have to imagine that, EVENTUALLY, something will come along. It might be a long time, though.

The new Star Wars. It'll come up out of nowhere and take over the world.
It's gonna be impossible for any movie to top TFA in the US with what its looking like it will gross because the single biggest reason TFA is doing so well is that its 30+ years of anticipation for seeing the return of characters that literally several generations grew up with(being good helps too)

Its such a unique case, nothing else can claim that kind of anticipation
 
Exactly. The Hunger Games was the closest we have had to a non-sequel breaking the domestic Top 10 since Avatar. And even that was a super huge book phenomenon before being made into a movie.

I mean, look at Inside Out. A new IP from a studio that hadn't made an unsuccessful movie (at that point) that was also a critical darling that had great word of mouth. And that barely made it to #4 domestic this year (it's only ahead of Furious 7 by $3 million according to BoxOfficeMojo).
 

kswiston

Member
KSWIS WHAT DOES THIS MEAN.

I originally guessed this back on Wednesday:

Friday - $48M
Saturday - $55M
Sunday - $46M

Second Weekend = $149M



So I guess, $155M +/- $5M depending on what end of that range we get on Saturday and on how Sunday holds up. Rth's last couple of days have come in closer to the lower end of his range, but even $55M is still a pretty good boost from $49.3M.
 
I mean, look at Inside Out. A new IP from a studio that hadn't made an unsuccessful movie (at that point) that was also a critical darling that had great word of mouth. And that barely made it to #4 domestic this year (it's only ahead of Furious 7 by $3 million according to BoxOfficeMojo).

I loved Inside Out, but it's some depressing shit. I can see even kiddies not wanting to see it as much as they wanted to see Frozen.
 

kswiston

Member
Just beat $152 mil please, that way its second weekend places in the top 10 of all opening weekends lol

That would only be a little more than a 20% drop from last weekend's number minus previews. Pretty crazy, even with Xmas. I would have to check, but I don't think any of the $150M+ openers have dropped less than 40% from their first weekend minus previews.


Hell, even with the previews, Star Wars would only be down 39% if this weekend is $152M
 

kswiston

Member
Why the 2nd Sunday at 46 instead of closer to 50-52?

Avatar had the best drop in the Top 10 back on Sun, Dec 27th, 2009. It dropped 14.2%.

Basically, I figured that Star Wars wouldn't hold quite as well as Avatar through the weekend, and went with a 16% drop on Sunday. That works out to around $46M from 55.

EDIT: The only films that have had a better drop than 16% on the equivalent Sunday in the past three years were Frozen and Les Miserables, and both of those were over 15%. Figured Star Wars would be in the same range.
 

kswiston

Member
Thanks man.

Obviously I could be wrong, and we could get a $50M+ Sunday, especially if Saturday is higher. However, I expect at least the estimate to be under that if Rth is right on his Saturday range.


So it's been 13.5 years since Spider-Man broke the $100M barrier for the first time. We have since had 33 other films hit that mark. Here's a list of $100M openers that have had a 40% or less drop in weekend #2:

Spider-man (2002) - 37.8% drop
Shrek 2 (2004) - 33.2% drop (second weekend was Memorial day weekend)


So 2 out of 33 films (also the first two films to ever hit that mark), and none in the past decade. Star Wars has a chance at being the third to hit that mark, despite opening to close to 2.5x the $100M barrier.
 
Avatar had the best drop in the Top 10 back on Sun, Dec 27th, 2009. It dropped 14.2%.

Basically, I figured that Star Wars wouldn't hold quite as well as Avatar through the weekend, and went with a 16% drop on Sunday. That works out to around $46M from 55.

EDIT: The only films that have had a better drop than 16% on the equivalent Sunday in the past three years were Frozen and Les Miserables, and both of those were over 15%. Figured Star Wars would be in the same range.
Agreed on this analysis. The only caveat being that sold out showings could push a lot of business to tomorrow, resulting in a 10% or less decline like on OW. For the moment, though, 15% is probably the best we should hope for.
 
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