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December 31, 2015
 

Holiday Box Office Volume: through December 30

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Written by: Mitch Metcalf
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For the 15 days December 16-30, top 10 films in North America have totaled $942 million, now +68% ahead of the same period last year, +73% above the average since 2002, and +36% ahead of the previous record for this period (2009, the year of Avatar).

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 7 415* 196 193 179 223 (’03) 112 (’08)
Dec 16-23 8 467* 222 226 214 247 (’03) 128 (’08)
Dec 16-24 9 503* 238 248 234 266 (’09) 138 (’08)
Dec 16-25 10 599* 309 315 295 349 (’09) 205 (’08)
Dec 16-26 11 700* 376 373 355 445 (’09) 268 (’08)
Dec 16-27 12 776* 440 432 407 521 (’09) 329 (’08)
Dec 16-28 13 831* 487 494 455 579 (’09) 375 (’08)
Dec 16-29 14 887* 522 541 501 637 (’09) 408 (’04)
Dec 16-30 15 942* 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

Tuesday December 29, 2015 ended up with $55.6 million for the top 10 films, well above the $39.2 million average when December 28 falls on a weekday and also above the December 29 weekend average ($50.8 million).  Wednesday December 30, 2015 finished with $54.8 million for the top 10 films, well above the $38.9 million weekday average for December 30 and comfortably above the $48.1 million weekend average for December 30.    

December 31 historically is about the same whether it falls on a weekday ($35.2 million average) or weekend ($37.9 million average).  Star Wars: A Force Awakens might stretch December 31 to around $41 million, but the New Year’s Eve parties and the two semi-final college bowl games should bring the box office back to Earth for the first time in weeks.

January 1 has averaged $53.7 million for the top 10 films when the day falls on a weekend.  But January 1, 2016 could be looking at around $85 million for the top 10 films (somewhat under the $95.9 million on Christmas Day a week ago, the normal pattern between the two holidays).

Come back over the next few days for updates on this historic holiday period at the box office.

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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.