US Box Office Estimates August 20-22 2010

A rash of new films coming out has put the table into a bit of a tizzy. Five new films all at once is a lot, especially when they’re all semi-strong films that would ordinarally take 3rd or 4th spot on a typical weekend. As it is, fighting between themselves, they’ve all knocked each other down a bit, but they’ve given the consumer choice, which is a good thing.
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US Box Office Estimates August 13-15 2010

A little late this week (apologies) but it means the actuals, instead of Sunday-lunchtime estimates (but the disclaimer on the bottom will still be the same).

Ensemble films have become somewhat popular again, thanks to the Ocean films, and so it was only a matter of time before an action ensemble film was made. The Expendables is that film, and it seems to have paid off somewhat – certainly it took the top spot, and has Stallone and Schwarzenegger together in a film for the first time, with Bruce Willis (Sly and Arnie have often referenced each other in their films; Arnie’s The Last Action Hero(1993) showed Sly playing Arnie’s role in Terminator 2, while Demolition Man (also 1993) made references to the Schwarzenegger Presidential Library, 10 years before he became Governor of California).
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US Box Office Estimates August 6-8 2010

After 3 weeks on top, Will Ferrel’s comedy cop film, The Other Guys, finally wakes enough people to move Inception from the top spot. The combination of a star cast, a proven lead team, and a lack of competiton meant it was inevitable, as Inception was going to relinquish the spot soon in any case. The other new film, Step Up 3D, just didn’t have the wide appeal to do it, although it did have an impressive 3D ratio, undermining stories from a week or so ago, calling it s dead-end.

US Box Office Estimates July 16-18 2010

Only one weekend at the top for Despicable Me, unseated as Sci-fi heist film Inception takes the top spot. Undergoing a marketing blitz like nothing else, it made a strong start, albeit nowhere near the directors release two years ago – the Dark Knight (although had DiCaprio died before the film came out, I’m sure it would have boosted the numbers to be comparable). The other new top film, (another) remake of Fantasia, (again) called The Sorcerer’s Apprentice tried to get a jump on things with a Wednesday release. It didn’t help.

US Box Office Estimates July 9-11 2010

Twilight didn’t last long at the top, despite notching up an impressive 2 week total, being deposed by animated film, Despicable Me. Despicable’s protagonists, Steve Carell and Russel Brand, have recently been in the top-10 with other films – Date Night, and Get Him to the Greek  - showing great consistency from those two. In fact, Date Night, which opened in early April, dropped from the top-10 the weekend of Greek’s release, which likewise has now dropped out this weekend, going from 8th to 12th.

US Box Office Estimates July 2-5 2010

Slightly different this week (and sorry for the delay). As it was possibly the biggest ‘day off’ holiday that cinemas would be open for (unlike Christmas and Thanksgiving), the four-day weekend figures will be covered. Where applicable, the figures for Monday as well (Friday-Monday) will be coloured red (also giving you an idea of a daily take). The holiday weekend is also why this is being done on a Wednesday, rather than the Sunday/early Monday it usually is.

US Box Office Estimates June 25-27 2010

 As the first half of the year finishes, it’s yet again Toy Story in the lead. In ten days it’s notched up an extremely impressive $225Million+ and is about to surpass Shrek. If nothing else, it certainly proves that people will pay for a movie they want to see. Newcomers Grown Ups and Knight & Day – the two major releases of the weekend – couldn’t stand up to the children’s favourite. K+D did especially badly considering it’s headline stars, Cruise and Diaz, although that can be attributed to a complex film (a result of the deveflopment hell it was spawned in) with no clear direction in the advertising.

US Box Office Estimates June 18-20 2010

Another weekend, another new film at number 1. As expected, Toy Story has shot to the top, marking yet another weekend headed by a 3d film. It’s also one of the strongest weekends for any film (yet again dispelling the myth about ‘cams killing the industry’, since one was released Saturday lunchtime) this year. It also means that in three days, Toy Story grossed more than last weeks top film (this weeks runner-up) Karate Kid has managed in ten. Even more impressive when the lack of weekend pressure on kids films (as US schools are out for summer, so attendances during the week are up) are taken into consideration.

US Box Office Estimates June 11-13 2010

After 3 weeks on top, Shrek’s finally kicked off the top spot, with the help of some martial arts and an intercontinental star. The remake of the Karate Kid showed a clean pair of heels with a clear dominance in takings. Heavily-hyped 80′s TV show remake A-Team did less well, hindered in part the lack of the iconic Mr T in even a cameo role.

US Box Office Estimates June 4-6 2010

A low weekend take, as Shrek leads the tables for a third weekend, making 15 of the years 23 weekends dominated by a 3D film (marked with ) – there’s a lesson there for Hollywood, wonder if they can understand it. It’s also a weekend filled with sequels, with 4 in the top 10 (Greek is a sequel of 2008′s Forgetting Sarah Marshall) – possibly why the weekend has been weak, despite four new films in the top 10.