Now 20 full weeks into 2012, year-to-date domestic box office is running 19% ahead of last year’s pace and 15% ahead of the comparable period’s average for the last several years. Marvel’s The Avengers turned in another terrific weekend, officially $55.644 million for its third weekend (down a decent 46% from last weekend and the second-biggest third weekend of all time). But a trio of weak openers made the rest of the weekend look pretty tepid and brought the past seven days below the time frame’s pace for the past several years.
The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume
All films in wide release playing between May 14 and May 20 grossed $188 million, down 7% from the same week in 2011 and down 10% from the four-year average for the comparable week. Year to date, 2012 is now running 19% ahead of 2011 (down from +21% through last week) and 15% ahead of the average for the same period the last four years (down from +17% through last week).
| Domestic Box Office Volume: All Wide-Release Films through May 20, 2012 | ($ millions) | |||||
| 2011 | 4-year Average | 2012 | vs 2011 | vs 4yr Avg | ||
| Week #20 | $202 | $209 | $188 | -7% | -10% | |
| Year to Date | $3,174 | $3,294 | $3,786 | +19% | +15% | |
Weekend Actuals versus Studio Estimates
The studio estimates were remarkably accurate this weekend. Marvel’s The Avengers came in with $55.644 million for the weekend in the actual tallies, 1.1% above the $55.057 million estimate issued Sunday morning (based on Friday and Saturday’s actual numbers). Battleship opened with $25.535 million, 0.9% above the $25.300 million studio estimate, while The Dictator was 0.1% above ($17.435 million actual versus $17.415 million studio estimate) and What to Expect When You’re Expecting was 0.4% above ($10.547 million actual versus $10.500 million studio estimate).
Updated Estimates of Final Grosses
The ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Grosses (the estimated North American gross when the film ends its run) are summarized below for films released the last six weeks. Pay attention to the final domestic grosses, which are much more important than individual weekend grosses and especially weekend rankings.
| Updated ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Finals | Domestic Final Gross ($ millions) | percentile | |
| Marvel’s The Avengers | 607 | 99 | |
| Think Like a Man | 94 | 75 | |
| Dark Shadows | 76 | 70 | |
| Battleship | 63 | 63 | |
| The Lucky One | 61 | 62 | |
| The Dictator | 59 | 60 | |
| The Three Stooges | 43 | 50 | |
| The Cabin in the Woods | 42 | 48 | |
| Five-Year Engagement | 30 | 34 | |
| Pirates! Band of Misfits | 29 | 33 | |
| Chimpanzee | 29 | 32 | |
| What to Expect When You’re Expecting | 20 | 21 | |
| Safe | 16 | 15 | |
| Lockout | 14 | 12 | |
| The Raven | 13 | 10 |
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