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October 25, 2011
 

FULL WEEK BOX OFFICE ACTUALS and YEAR TO DATE October 17-23

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Written by: Mitch Metcalf
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>Final box office grosses for the weekend came in late, and the top three movies were somewhat lower than projected on Sunday.  For example, the Paranormal Activity 3 opening weekend was projected to gross $54.0 million on Sunday, but the actual number came in at $52.6 million.  Looking at all films in release, the past week (seven days ending Sunday) is down 13% versus last year’s comparable week.  After being down 20% or more throughout most of the spring, year-to-date box office had worked its it way down to -3.2% two weeks ago.  After two rough weeks though, box office year to date is now down -3.8% versus last year.       


The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume

All films in wide release playing between October 17 and October 23 grossed a weak $140 million, down 13% versus the same week in 2010 and down 4% from the average comparable week the past four years.  Year to date, all films are now down 3.8% from the same period last year.  (Two weeks ago the yearly margin had been whittled down to -3.2%.)  

All Films October 17-23
(millions)           4yr              vs      vs
             2010    Avg     2011    2010    Avg

Week #42     $160    $146    $140   
-13%    – 4%

Year to Date $8331   $7883   $8017   -3.8%   +1.7%



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 five weeks.  Pay attention to the final domestic grosses, which are much more important than individual weekend grosses and especially weekend rankings. 

Paranormal Activity 3 $112 million (82 percentile)
Real Steel $93 million (75 percentile)
Dolphin Tale $76 million (70 percentile)

Moneyball $75 million (69 percentile)
Footloose $59 million (56 percentile)
The Ides of March $43 million (50 percentile)
50/50 $36 million (43 percentile)
Courageous $28 million (31 percentile)
Abduction $26 million (30 percentile)
Killer Elite $24 million (26 percentile)
Dream House $20 million (21 percentile)

The Three Musketeers $20 million (21 percentile)
The Thing $16 million (18 percentile)
What’s Your Number? $15 million (13 percentile)

Johnny English Reborn $8 million (4 percentile)
The Big Year $8 million (4 percentile)

Weekend Actuals vs Sunday’s Studio Projections 



The weekend Studio Projections (Friday and Saturday actual numbers with estimates for Sunday’s box office) for Paranormal Activity 3, Real Steel and Footloose ended up being overly optimistic — the Sunday business was not as strong as estimated, with the actual weekend grosses coming in lower than projected.  Paranormal 3 was over-stated by $1.4 million Sunday morning (about a 3% error).  By day, the horror-suspense film grossed $26.3 million Friday, $17.2 million Saturday, and $9.1 million Sunday.  This pattern is almost identical to Paranormal 2‘s (just at higher levels each day): $20.1 million Friday, $13.0 million Saturday, and $7.5 million Sunday.   

Real Steel and Footloose were each overestimated by half a million dollars (a 4% and 5% error, respectively).  Blame the generally good weather across the country Sunday for keeping some people out of the theaters.     

 

      Weekend of                 Sunday    Monday   Showbuzz
      October 17-23              Studio    Weekend  Domestic
      (millions)                Estimate   Actual    Total

Paranormal Activity 3     (Par)   $54.0    $52.6     $112
Real Steel                (Dis)   $11.3    $10.8     $ 93
Footloose                 (Par)   $10.9    $10.4     $ 59
The Three Musketeers   (Summit)   $ 8.8    $ 8.7     $ 20
Ides of March            (Sony)   $ 4.9    $ 4.9     $ 43

Dolphin Tale               (WB)   $ 4.2    $ 4.2     $ 76

Moneyball                (Sony)   $ 4.1    $ 4.0     $ 75+
Johnny English Reborn     (Uni)   $ 3.8    $ 3.8     $  8 
The Thing                 (Uni)   $ 3.1    $ 3.1     $ 16 
50/50                  (Summit)   $ 2.8    $ 2.8     $ 36

Read the International Box Office Numbers round-up in its new format if you haven’t seen it already.



About the Author

Mitch Metcalf
MITCH METCALF has been tracking every US film release of over 500 screens (over 2300 movies and counting) since the storied weekend of May 20, 1994, when Maverick and Beverly Hills Cop 3 inspired countless aficionados to devote their lives to the art of cinema. Prior to that, he studied Politics and Economics at Princeton in order to prepare for his dream of working in television. He has been Head of West Coast Research at ABC, then moved to NBC in 2000 and became Head of Scheduling for 11 years.