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Puss in Boots managed to bounce back from a soft opening last week, declining only 18% and holding on to the #1 position. Tower Heist stumbled out of the gate and is on track for #2 and an underwhelming $25 million. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas was impressive only by the low standards of the franchise, and 3D remains high on the list of over-rated cinema features. The weekend is lagging almost 30% behind the same weekend last year. The box office ennui continues.
Down a preliminary 18% from last weekend (a very good hold), Puss in Boots should hold on to the #1 spot and bounce back from the soft opening last week which was limited by Halloween activities and a severe early-season snowstorm in the northeast.
In case you missed them, click to see this week’s Weekend Predictions
November 4-6, 2011 Pre-Wknd Wknd Showbuzz
(millions) Showbuzz Early Friday Domestic
Forecast Proj. Actual Final*
Puss In Boots (DW/Par) [$24.0] $28.0 $ 7.8 $149+
Tower Heist (Uni) [$29.5] $25.1 $ 8.1 $ 76
A Very Harold & Kumar WB [$16.5] $14.4 $ 5.4 $ 46
Paranormal Activity 3 Par[$ 8.5] $ 8.3 $ 2.9 $113-
In Time (Fox) [$ 7.0] $ 7.5 $ 2.4 $ 39+
Footloose (Par) [$ 3.7] $ 4.5 $ 1.5 $ 55
Real Steel (DW/DIS) [$ 3.5] $ 3.3 $ 0.9 $ 88
The Rum Diary (FilmDis) [$ 3.0] $ 3.2 $ 1.0 $ 18
Ides of March (Sony) [$ 2.0] $ 2.1 $ 0.6 $ 43
Three Musketeers (Summit)[$ 1.9] $ 1.7 $ 0.5 $ 19
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 weak $102 million total, down 29% from the same calendar weekend last year (when Megamind opened to almost $50 million and two others opened to a combined $52 million).
Top 12 Films: Weekend #44
Volume Movies Opening Each Weekend (millions)
2011 $102 Tower Heist $25, A Very Harold & Kumar Chmas $14
2010 $143 Megamind $46, Due Date $33, For Colored Girls $19
2009 $107 Christmas Carol $30 Men Stare Goats $13 4th Kind $12
2008 $128 Madagascar Escape Africa $63, Role Models $19
2007 $ 98 Fred Claus $18.5, Lions for Lambs $7
2007-10
Avg $119
Next Weekend
Opening next week are Jack & Jill from Sony, Immortals from Relativity and J. Edgar from Warner Brothers. Those movies will be compared to Unstoppable ($22.7 million opening weekend), Skyline ($11.7 million) and Morning Glory ($9.2 million).
Look for updates of the weekend box office on Sunday, based on the Saturday actual numbers.
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