The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume
All films in wide release playing between December 3 and December 9 grossed only $101 million, down 3% from the four-year average for the week but up 13% from the same week last year.
The past six weeks are still 18% above the four-year average and 25% above the same six-week period last year.
Year to date box office (now over $9.4 billion for wide-release films) is 6.7% above the average for the same period the last four years and 7.3% ahead of the same period last year.
| Domestic Box Office Volume: All Wide-Release Films through December 9, 2012 | ($ millions) | 2012 vs 2011 | 2012 vs 4yr Avg | |||
| 2011 | 4-year Average | 2012 | ||||
| Week #49 | $90 | $104 | $101 | +13% | -3% | |
| Past Six Weeks | $993 | $1,051 | $1,241 | +25% | +18% | |
| Year to Date | $8,791 | $8,846 | $9,436 | +7.3% | +6.7% | |
Compared to the $104 million four-year average for this past week, the upcoming week (December 10-16) will be compared against an average of $145 million for the 50th week of the year (ranking 39th out of 52 weeks). However, the really significant business will be found in the last two weeks of December. The week of December 17-23 will be compared to a $262 million average for week 51 (ranking 8th for the year), and December 24-30 will be compared against a $363 million average for week 52 (the #1 week of the year in terms of box office volume).
Weekend Actuals versus Studio Estimate
Playing for Keeps came in officially at $5,750,288 for its opening three-day weekend, down 4.2% from a bloated FilmDistrict estimate Sunday (which optimistically pegged the opening weekend at the $6 million level).
Updated Estimates of Final Grosses
The ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Grosses (the estimated North American gross when the film ends its run) are summarized below for films released the last six weeks. Pay attention to the final domestic grosses, which are much more important than individual weekend grosses and especially weekend rankings.
| Updated ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Final Estimates | Domestic Final Gross ($ millions) | percentile | |
| Skyfall | 289 | 97 | |
| Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 | 282 | 97 | |
| Wreck-It Ralph | 180 | 93 | |
| Lincoln | 131 | 86 | |
| Flight | 97 | 77 | |
| Rise of the Guardians | 85 | 73 | |
| Life of Pi | 83 | 71 | |
| Red Dawn | 43 | 46 | |
| Killing Them Softly | 20 | 15 | |
| Man with the Iron Fists | 15 | 11 | |
| Playing for Keeps | 9 | 3 | |
| The Collection | 4 | 1 |
Weekend Predictions for December 14-16 should be posted Wednesday. This weekend features one wide-release opening: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (fantasy from Warner Brothers and director Peter Jackson).
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