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The boxoffice did more or less what it was supposed to on Wednesday, drifting down 5-10% from Tuesday. Thursday should be fairly steady, then business should have a bit of a roller-coaster ride: an increase on Friday, down somewhat on New Year’s Eve, back up on New Year’s Day, and down again on January 2, before collapsing when everyone goes back to work on Wednesday.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL (Paramount), ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED (20th) and SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (Warners) remained at the top of the day (Alvin nosing ahead of Sherlock on Wednesday), and here are some other highlights:
PARIAH (Focus): One of the last pictures to enter 2011’s awards hunt is this low-budget, well-reviewed independent film. It got off to a fine start in 4 theatres with a $5500 average.
WAR HORSE (DreamWorks/Disney): Still hasn’t found bottom, with another 11% drop from Tuesday, at the higher end of the day’s declines. It’s unlikely to reach $50M by the end of the holidays, and the numbers only go down after that.
NEW YEAR’S EVE (Warners): Continuing to enjoy its few days of glory, with a 4% increase on Wednesday. There’s only $38M in the bank so far, though, and 3 more days before it literally becomes last year’s news, so none of it means much.
EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE (Warners): A 11% Wednesday increase was the first good news this picture has had, lifting it to $5200 per theatre in 6.
IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY (FilmDistrict): The adult audience also came out for this one with a 10% hike to a $1600 average in 3.
No new wide openings this weekend, but limited releases include the 2 final Oscar contenders of the year: Meryl Streep’s turn as Margaret Thatcher in THE IRON LADY (Weinstein), and Iran’s Foreign-Language Film hopeful A SEPARATION (Sony Classics).
Be sure to read Mitch Metcalf’s New Year’s Weekend Predictions, and stay with SHOWBUZZDAILY all through the holidays for updated boxoffice numbers and analysis.
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