STUDIO SCORECARD. Disney solidified its grip on first place in worldwide box office (thanks to Monsters University), while Paramount jumped ahead of 20th Century Fox courtesy of World War Z.
TOTAL NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE. Looking at wide-release films in North America (those that play on at least 400 screens at some point), 2013 now totals just over $4.5 billion, now down only 2% from 2012 and now 3% above the prior four-year average 2009-2012. Each year-to-date period below is defined as the first Monday after New Year’s Day through the most recent Sunday. The past week generated an amazingly strong $316 million in wide-release North American box office, up 62% from the same week last year and up 41% from the 2009-2012 average for the same week. Basically, the third week of June is acting more like a typical first week of July because three movies (Monsters University, World War Z and Man of Steel) are simultaneously hitting on all cylinders. (The most recent week’s numbers are based on weekend estimates, which are usually at worst a couple of percentage points off from the final weekend tallies.)
| North American Box Office YEAR TO DATE | ||
| (billions) | Weeks 1-24 | |
| 2012 | $4.608 | Jan 2-June 17 |
| 2013 | $4.508 | Jan 7-June 23 |
| 2009 | $4.415 | Jan 5-June 21 |
| 2010 | $4.411 | Jan 4-June 20 |
| 2011 | $4.134 | Jan 3-June 19 |
Over the past six weeks, 2013 is now 27% above the same six weeks in 2012 and up 23% from the four-year average in the same time frame. With hits coming each weekend recently and a dearth of real bombs, this has been one of the most productive six-week periods in recent memory.
| North American Box Office LAST SIX WEEKS | ||
| (billions) | Weeks 19-24 | |
| 2013 | $1.584 | May 13-June 23 |
| 2011 | $1.341 | May 9-June 19 |
| 2009 | $1.322 | May 11-June 21 |
| 2012 | $1.249 | May 7-June 17 |
| 2010 | $1.221 | May 10-June 20 |
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