>
The 12th weekend of 2012 is truly exceptional for a fourth weekend of March: $180 million for the Top 12 films, up 66% from the same weekend in 2011 and up 58% from the weekend’s multi-year average. The Hunger Games was everything it promised to be — and more. One of the greatest movie franchises is off and running.
The Hunger Games from Lionsgate opened with $66.7 million Friday for an estimated $133 million for Friday-Sunday, beating the $124 million ShowBuzzDaily forecast. The hotly anticipated adaptation from the popular series of books is averaging a huge $32,100 at 4,137 theaters. This is similar to the last Twilight film (Breaking Dawn Part 1), which opened with $138 million, averaging $34,012 at 4.061 theaters last November. However, Hunger Games has a much better chance of solid word of mouth and longer playability. The film now has a very good 87% positive review score at RottenTomatoes. ShowBuzzDaily’s Mitch Salem is also supportive in his review. The Hunger Games is headed for a preliminary $385 million total domestic (as opposed to the $281 million domestic for Breaking Dawn Part 1).
Oh, yeah. Some other films are playing this weekend. Most notably, 21 Jump Street and The Lorax are performing as forecast (down 47% and 45%, respectively) and staying on their tracks toward $120 million and $209 million total domestic. As always, we will look at the international picture for films in release tomorrow.
In case you missed them, click to see this week’s Weekend Predictions
March 23-25, 2012 Pre-Wknd Wknd Showbuzz
(millions) Showbuzz Early FRI Domestic
Forecast Proj. Actual Final
The Hunger Games (LG) [$124 ] $133 $66.7 $385
21 Jump Street (Sony) [$20.0] $19.3 $ 6.2 $120
The Lorax (Uni) [$12.8] $12.6 $ 3.2 $209-
John Carter (Dis) [$ 6.6] $ 5.0 $ 1.4 $ 76-
Project X (WB) [$ 2.1] $ 1.4 $ 0.6 $ 57
Act of Valor (Rel) [$ 2.0] $ 1.8 $ 0.6 $ 71
A Thousand Words (Par) [$ 2.1] $ 1.7 $ 0.5 $ 14
Safe House (Uni) [$ 1.5] $ 1.3 $ 0.4 $130
Journey 2 (WB) [$ 1.4] $ 1.1 $ 0.3 $103
Note: The table above summarizes an early look at the weekend. The first column is a reminder of each film’s ShowBuzzDaily Forecast for the weekend (in brackets). The second column, on which the films are sorted, displays the new weekend projection for each film, based on the Friday numbers (the third column). The final column is a preliminary estimate of the ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Total number for the film’s total run in North America. A “++” indicates the Domestic number has been upgraded; a “–” indicates a downgrade.
Total Box Office Volume
The Top 12 Films this weekend are looking like a phenomenal $180 million total Friday-Sunday, up 66% from the same calendar weekend last year and up 58% from the more typical volume for this weekend in other years. Although only down slightly, this is the first down weekend versus 2011 in eight weeks and the first down weekend versus the multi-year average in five weeks.
Top 12 Films: Weekend #12
Volume Movies Opening Each Weekend (millions)
2012 $180 The Hunger Games $133 2011 $109 Diary Wimpy Kid Roderick Rules $24, Sucker Punch $192010 $117 How Train Dragon $44, TP Why Get Married Too $29
2009 $139 Monsters vs Aliens $59, Haunting in CT $232008 $ 90 21 $24, Superhero Movie $102008-11Avg $114
Check back tomorrow for updated weekend figures and revised estimates for domestic final grosses.
###
Related Posts
-
Weekend Box Office Predictions
The weekend predictions will return next week, when Exodus: God and Kings and Top Five are released nationally. This weekend, typical for the post-Thanksgiving weekend, is extremely quiet. Only The Pyramid is opening at a very small 589 theaters.
-
Friday Box Office Report Delayed
Mitch Metcalf’s Friday Box Office Report will return later today after some computer issues are resolved. Meanwhile, it looks like this weekend’s box office predictions were very accurate: the lone opener, PLAYING FOR KEEPS, is headed for $6.2M this weekend, just a shade below the $6.5M Showbuzzdaily Forecast.
-
FRIDAY MARCH 21 Box Office Report
Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #12 of 2014 looks like $131 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, very similar to the same weekend last year and 8% below the average for this weekend the past several years. Opening at 3,936 theaters late Thursday, Divergent from Lionsgate/Summit grossed $22.8 million through Friday,…
-
FRIDAY BOX OFFICE RESULTS COMING
>The full Friday Box Office Results post is coming. First a few headlines. The Help remains at #1 with over $14 million (a scant 2% decline from last weekend). The Debt does fairly well and looks like almost $10 million for Friday-Sunday. Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D struggle with…
-
SHOWBUZZDAILY EARLY WEEKEND BOXOFFICE REPORT
>Based on the preliminary numbers at Deadline, the race between CHRONICLE (20th) and THE WOMAN IN BLACK (CBS) is still too close to call at $21-22M each. No matter who claims victory on Sunday morning, the final weekend result will depend on how the films are each treated by Super…
