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December 27, 2015
 

Holiday Box Office Volume: through December 27

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Written by: Mitch Metcalf
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The 2015 holiday box office continues its blistering pace.

For the 12 days December 16-27, top 10 films in North America have totaled $783 million, +78% ahead of the same period last year, +92% above the average since 2002, and now +50% ahead of the record for this period (2009, the year of Avatar).  This is when Avatar really kicked into high gear, so the difference between the 2015 and 2009 holiday periods should continue to narrow somewhat, but the 2015 holiday period should remain comfortably ahead of the 2009 holiday period in early January.

Box Office Volume — Top 10 Films North America
($ millions) Past 13 years — 2002-2014
# days 2015 2014 2013 Average Peak Year Low Year
Dec 16-22 7 416* 196 193 179 223 (’03) 112 (’08)
Dec 16-23 8 468* 222 226 214 247 (’03) 128 (’08)
Dec 16-24 9 505* 238 248 234 266 (’09) 138 (’08)
Dec 16-25 10 600* 309 315 295 349 (’09) 205 (’08)
Dec 16-26 11 701* 376 373 355 445 (’09) 268 (’08)
Dec 16-27 12 783* 440 432 407 521 (’09) 329 (’08)
Dec 16-28 13 487 494 455 579 (’09) 375 (’08)
Dec 16-29 14 522 541 501 637 (’09) 408 (’04)
Dec 16-30 15 560 580 546 693 (’09) 442 (’04)
Dec 16-31 16 593 616 584 742 (’09) 475 (’08)
Dec 16-Jan 1 17 640 664 633 820 (’09) 525 (’08)
Dec 16-Jan 2 18 691 690 671 901 (’09) 558 (’04)
Dec 16-Jan 3 19 738 733 699 947 (’09) 571 (’04)

 

Note: * represents a new record high

Saturday December 26, 2015 ended up with $100.7 million for the top 10 films, well above the $63.8 million average when December 26 falls on a weekend.  Sunday December 27, 2015 is estimated to total $82.0 million for the top 10 films, also above the $60.9 million average when December 27 falls on a weekend.

December 28 has averaged $42.3 million on weekdays but $51.4 million on weekends.  Similarly, December 29 has averaged $39.2 million on weekdays and $50.8 million on weekend.  Although December 28 and 29 fall on weekdays this year, Monday and Tuesday will most likely perform more like weekend days and total around $50 million each day for the top 10 films.

Come back Tuesday for a look at the actual results through December 28.

 



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.