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December 24, 2014
 

Holiday Box Office Volume: through December 23

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Written by: Mitch Metcalf
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Since December 16, the top 10 films at the North American box office have totaled $222 million, now slightly below the 2013 pace for December 16-23 (-1.7%) but still slightly above the average (+3.6%) for this eight-day period over the last 12 years.  The top 10 films added up to $25.6 million on Tuesday December 23, 2014, a fairly weak number: below the $29.8 million average for December 23 when that date has fallen on a Monday-Thursday.   The only December 23 totals below 2014 were in 2003 ($24.4 million) and especially 2008 ($15.6 million), also years when December 23 fell on a Tuesday.

Box Office Volume — Top 10 Films North America
($ millions) Past 12 years — 2002-2013
# days 2014 2013 Average Peak Year Low Year
Dec 16-22 7 196 193 181 223 (’03) 112 (’08)
Dec 16-23 8 222 226 214 247 (’03) 128 (’08)
Dec 16-24 9 248 234 266 (’09) 138 (’08)
Dec 16-25 10 315 290 349 (’09) 205 (’08)
Dec 16-26 11 373 347 445 (’09) 268 (’08)
Dec 16-27 12 432 397 521 (’09) 329 (’08)
Dec 16-28 13 494 444 579 (’09) 375 (’08)
Dec 16-29 14 541 488 637 (’09) 408 (’04)
Dec 16-30 15 580 531 693 (’09) 442 (’04)
Dec 16-31 16 616 568 742 (’09) 475 (’08)
Dec 16-Jan 1 17 664 616 820 (’09) 525 (’08)
Dec 16-Jan 2 18 690 652 901 (’09) 558 (’04)
Dec 16-Jan 3 19 733 679 947 (’09) 571 (’04)

December 24 has averaged $18.8 million when it has fallen on weekday, and the recent low for December 24 came in 2008 ($10.0 million), also a Wednesday.  The other fairly recent Wednesday December 24 came in 2003, when the top 10 films added up to $14.7 million.  Look for around $15 or $16 million for the top 10 films on Christmas Eve this year.

Come back tomorrow as we look at how Christmas Eve actually turned out, and we will preview the Big Day at the box office: Christmas Day.

 



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.