Posts Tagged ‘Box Office’
A quick note, and hopefully one of the last stories we’ll have to run about Avatar breaking yet another box office record. This week, James Cameron’s current film overtook his last one in the domestic box office tally. In its full theatrical run, Titanic grossed $600.8 million while Avatar has now taken $601.2 million in only 47 days. Go ahead and cite inflation and the 3D surcharge on ticket prices as factors in Avatar’s gross; reportedly, more than 80% of Avatar’s domestic business is from 3D screenings.
For a film that was pegged as a sure-fire failure by some, beating Titanic in less than two months is a hell of a thing, even with inflation and the 3D price bump.
Over the course of the weekend, James Cameron’s Avatar was on track to beat Titanic’s record and become the top-grossing film of all time. The numbers have been verified, and Avatar’s worldwide gross stands at over $1.292 billion dollars, which tops Titanic’s $1.242 billion. The domestic record hasn’t yet fallen — by Sunday Avatar was still about $50m shy of Titanic’s $600.8m US gross. About 70% of Avatar’s revenue comes from foreign markets, compared to Titanic’s 67%.
High 3D ticket prices have helped Avatar reach that total, without a doubt. But so have Russia and China, which weren’t nearly as powerful movie markets for US films when Titanic was in theaters. Avatar is the biggest-grossing film of all time in those markets, as well as the highest-grossing American film ever to play in India. Chances that anyone will ever again doubt James Cameron have fallen significantly.
Not an Avatar fan? Take comfort in the fact that, when adjusted for inflation, Gone With the Wind is still the box office champ, with a $400m worldwide gross in 1939 translating to $6b today. Titanic’s 1997 gross would be worth $2.5b total. [THR]
Tonight, James Cameron’s Avatar will become the #2 highest grossing movie of all time, and in just 20 days of release. The sci-fi 3d film will have overtaken The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King, which has a worldwide total of $1,119,110,941. Of course, Cameron has a ways to go, about $725 million, if he wants to sink the Titanic, the number one highest grossing film of all time and his last narrative feature film.
via: Finke
After delays forestalled the original opening date, Avatar opened in China on Monday and quickly took in about 33.03m yuan (USD$4.8m) to become the biggest-ever film open in the country’s history. The previous record holder opened just this past December. Zhang Yimou’s A Simple Noodle Story (the director’s loose remake of Blood Simple) took in 21m yuan on December 10.
As when James Cameron’s movie opened in the States and the UK, the film faced highly inclement weather in many major markets, says Variety. High ticket prices (up to 150 yuan / $22 in Beijing) helped the record-breaking take. Reactions to the film so far seem to be in line primarily with those heard around the world: the technology on display overcomes any other shortcomings. Cameron’s Titanic did well in China, too, with a 320m yuan take.
Pirated DVDs have also been selling quickly, says Variety, based on conversations with street vendors.
Reuters is reporting that for the first time since 2002, consumers in the United States spent more to see movies theatrically than purchasing films on Blu-ray and DVD. According to the figures from Adams Media Research, U.S. consumers spent an estimated $8.73 billion for movies on DVDs and Blu-Ray, a drop of 13 percent from the year before.
Blu-ray made up $1.1 billion of the year’s movie disc sales as the numbers of players in U.S. homes grew from 3 to 8 million. The 2009 domestic box office receipts added up to $9.87 billion, up nearly 10 percent from the previous year. 3D films and IMAX presentations may account for the rise in box office gross as tickets are usually one third to double the average matinee price. The movie disc business peaked in 2004 with $12.1 billion in domestic sales, and with digital distribution, it is not expected to rebound. Hollywood is quick to place blame on piracy and movie disc rentals like Redbox and Netflix, which grew to $8.15 billion from $8.11 billion in 2008.
A grand total of $28.38 billion was spent by Americans on feature films in 2009, down slightly from the $28.47 billion in 2008. This figure a includes $1.27 billion spent on rentals through cable and satellite services, and $361 million spent renting/buying movies online.
Going a bit against the grain when it comes to piracy discussions, Reid Rosefelt over at the Speedcine blog makes an interesting case why Wolverine’s unprecedented leak may have actually helped the film. Rosefelt compares the film’s $85 million opening weekend gross against other major release openings throughout 2009, and shows that it actually doesn’t stack up too badly.
Rosefelt points to a THR post that speculated on how much Wolverine may have lost in its opening weekend as a comparison for his data. Of course, it’s impossible to tell how much Wolverine may have lost due to piracy. But it’s also similarly difficult to tell how much piracy may have helped the film, should that be the case.
The following chart compares Wolverine to other major release openings in 2009:
| Film | Opening (millions) | Theatres |
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon | $142.8 | 4124 |
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | $108.9 | 4293 |
| Wolverine | $85 | 4099 |
| Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince | $77.8 | 4325 |
| Avatar | $77 | 3456 |
| Star Trek | $75.2 | 3849 |
| Fast and Furious | $70.9 | 3461 |
| Up | $68.1 | 3766 |
| Monsters Vs. Aliens | $59.3 | 4104 |
| Watchmen | $55.2 | 3611 |
| GI Joe | $54.7 | 4007 |
| Night at the Museum 2 | $54.2 | 4096 |
While the film didn’t do as well as the Transformers sequel, and Twilight: New Moon — it still managed to best Avatar , Star Trek and Harry Potter. He also points to other prominent sequel openings like Terminator Salvation ($42.5 million) and Angels and Demons ($46 million), which made even less than the above.
That Wolverine opened to higher numbers than the likes of Star Trek and Harry Potter is perhaps the most significant aspect of this comparison. Both were being marketed strongly by their studios, and from my own anecdotal experience, it seemed like many mainstream viewers were looking forward to those films much more than Wolverine. There was little doubt that Transformers and Twilight would open strong, but it seems that Wolverine’s ranking right below them is something of an achievement.
Rosefelt also notes that despite being the only movie on that table to have a pirated version out well before it’s release, Wolverine barely made Torrentfreak’s list of the top ten most pirated movies in 2009. It only ranked 9th on that list — above it was Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen at the second spot, Twilight at the fifth, and Star Trek at the top.
Ultimately, this comparison does little to proving anything conclusive about the impact of piracy on Wolverine, but its unusually high opening does seem to point to certain interpretations where it may have actually helped.
Remember a month ago when we were having conversations questioning if Avatar was going to earn its money back? If they film could cross $600 million worldwide? Would the movie be a success? Would audiences really go see this movie with ten foot tall blue cat people?
James Cameron’s Avatar has crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office in just 17 days, surpassing Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight to become #4 of all time. By the end of the week, the film is expected to surpass Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to become the #2 worldwide release of all time. Of course, for now, Cameron’s Titanic remains seated at #1. James Cameron has become the first director to have two films earn $1 Billion. And by the end of the week, it should be up to $3 billion total between the two movies.
Cameron’s sci-fi epic made an estimated $68.3 million in the States during it’s third weekend out, destroying the previous record of $45 million set by Spider-Man 3. Looks like this baby has legs. If that wasn’t enough, Avatar is also setting records in Janaury: This weekend’s box office total of $68.3 million will be almost $30 million larger than the all-time record January opening weekend.
And what about yearly records? Transformers Revenge of the Fallen took 114 days to hit $402 million, becoming the highest grossing film of 2009 domestically. Avatar will surpass that figure in an estimated 20 days.
The IMAX Corporation has sent out a press release announcing that James Cameron’s Avatar is continuing to shatter IMAX box office records. Highlights Include:
- Domestic second weekend gross of approximately $8.8 million
- International second weekend gross of approximately $3.6 million
- IMAX theatres were in 17 of the top 20 locations nationwide
Read the full press release after the jump.
James Cameron’s Avatar Continues to Shatter IMAX Box Office Records
IMAX Release Races to $39 million Worldwide in Ten Days
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 28, 2009 — IMAX Corporation (Nasdaq:IMAX) (TSX:IMX) and Twentieth Century Fox today announced that James Cameron’s Avatar continued its record-breaking box office run during its second weekend, grossing approximately $8.8 million from 179 IMAX(R) theatres domestically from December 25 through December 27, 2009, registering approximately 12% of the film’s total domestic gross of $75.6 million on less than 3% of the screens. IMAX theatres continued to operate at virtually full capacity all weekend, driving the domestic IMAX box office to date to approximately $28 million.
The IMAX international release posted an estimated total of approximately $3.6 million from 70 IMAX screens during the weekend, with the IMAX network in Poland and Japan posting record openings. The film is still scheduled to open on 11 IMAX screens in China and one in Argentina in the coming weeks. The worldwide IMAX box office total is more than $39 million as of the end of day Sunday, December 27, 2009.
Avatar is directed and written by Academy Award Winner James Cameron and stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver. Avatar has been digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience(R).
“Consumers are clearly seeking out IMAX as the way to experience James Cameron’s latest blockbuster, and this weekend’s results reinforce how well this groundbreaking film plays to our audience,” said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. “Avatar is well on its way to becoming our highest grossing Hollywood IMAX title.”
“To have reached $39 million from 249 screens in just 10 days demonstrates that moviegoers clearly understand the value of experiencing Avatar in IMAX,” added Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. “James Cameron, Jon Landau and Lightstorm realized the vision of this film in IMAX, and we’re continuing to see the incredibly positive way that moviegoers are responding to that vision.”
Avatar is the story of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar, a human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people. More than ten years in the making, Avatar marks Cameron’s return to feature directing since helming 1997’s Titanic, the highest grossing film of all time and winner of eleven Oscars(R) including Best Picture. WETA Digital, renowned for its work in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong, has incorporated new intuitive CGI technologies to transform the environments and characters into photorealistic 3D imagery that will transport the audience into the alien world rich with imaginative vistas, creatures and characters.
About IMAX Corporation
IMAX Corporation is one of the world’s leading entertainment technology companies, specializing in immersive motion picture technologies. The worldwide IMAX network is among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event Hollywood films around the globe, with IMAX theatres delivering the world’s best cinematic presentations using proprietary IMAX, IMAX 3D, and IMAX DMR(R) technology. IMAX DMR is the Company’s groundbreaking digital re-mastering technology that allows it to digitally transform virtually any conventional motion picture into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience. The IMAX brand is recognized throughout the world for extraordinary and immersive entertainment experiences for consumers. As of September 30, 2009, there were 403 IMAX theatres (280 commercial, 123 institutional) operating in 44 countries.
IMAX(R), IMAX(R) 3D, IMAX DMR(R), Experience It In IMAX(R), An IMAX 3D Experience(R) and The IMAX Experience(R) are trademarks of IMAX Corporation. More information about the Company can be found at www.imax.com. You may also connect with IMAX on Facebook (www.facebook.com/imax), Twitter (www.twitter.com/imax) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/imaxmovies).
Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes edged out James Cameron’s Avatar to win Christmas Day at the box office, $24.9 million to $23.6 million. Avatar is currently tracking to smash $200 million in just 10 days of release (on Sunday) and should hit $250 million by Wednesday (in only 13 days of release).
But the bigger news is that, even though we’re in a recession, Christmas Day ticket sales have destroyed previous years records. The record for a Christmas Day opening was set last year when Marley and Me grossed $14.4 million. In fact, if you add the grosses of the the top three films of Christmas Day 2008 you would get $35 million. If you add the Christmas gross of this year’s top three films, you get $63 million. [reuters]
[Update: This morning, the estimates for Avatar's domestic and worldwide box office take were revised. Avatar performed better on Sunday than initial estimates. The headline has been updated with the correct figures. The following article will be updated as more details come in.]
On this week’s episode of the /Filmcast: After Dark, veteran film journalist Anne Thompson stopped by to discuss Avatar and its box office prospects. While our full podcast review of Avatar won’t happen until Tuesday night, Anne made two points/predictions that I found particularly interesting: 1) She predicted a $1 billion worldwide box office take for the film when all is said and done - a remarkable achievement for any movie, but not as high as the $1.8 billion of Cameron’s Titanic, and 2) There was a high possibility that Avatar would not open as strong as other blockbusters (i.e. over $100 million domestic for opening weekend); it’s based on an entirely new property and the marketing featuring the Na’vi imagery hasn’t been as good as it could have been. Despite this, she predicted, word of mouth will carry it for weeks to come.
It now looks as though Anne’s predictions are quickly on track to becoming a reality. Avatar took in $77 million domestically and $242 worldwide (i.e. North America plus 106 foreign markets) in its opening weekend.
If that $77 million domestic opening seems a little soft to you, it’s because it is: A significant portion of /Film readers out there might recall that a lot of the east coast, including myself here in Boston, MA, were hit by a massive blizzard this weekend. This undoubtedly threw off the original predicted totals by a significant amount, some of which were in the $80 million range. As an east coaster, I might have been looking forward to Avatar a great deal, but I probably would not have risked my life to get to the movie theater. Despite this, it still managed to be the 2nd biggest December opening ever, bested only by 2007’s I Am Legend.
All that being said, there’s still a substantial possibility that this movie will deliver on its financial promise. Its worldwide take was $277 million, making it the 9th largest worldwide opening for any film, and the largest opening ever for an original film, where “original” is defined as a non-sequel, non-adaptation. For comparison, check out Boxofficemojo to see the best worldwide openings of all time (hat tip to The Film Stage). In a world where the biggest movie releases, year-after-year, are sequels and adaptations, it’s refreshing to see an original property get some box office loving.
Word-of-mouth on the film is also excellent. According to the LATimes:
Every demographic gave “Avatar” an average grade of A, according to market research firm CinemaScore, meaning those who didn’t turn out for opening weekend will be getting strong recommendations from those who did. The combination of Christmas falling on a Friday and positive word of mouth has Fox executives buzzing that “Avatar” could gross nearly as much on its second weekend as its first and hit $200 million by the end of the year in the U.S. and Canada.
The Times uses $430 million as the budget for this film and acknowledges that $1 billion worldwide is a possibility. Thus far, $232 million is definitely decent, but the film hasn’t even opened in China and Japan yet, meaning its best days are probably ahead. The Times also gives other interesting statistics: “Domestically, theaters with 3-D screens accounted for 71% of the movie’s gross despite representing only 60% of theaters,” while overseas, the disparity was even greater. This is due to the cachet of 3-D as the preferred viewing format of this film, and the fact that 3-D tickets cost more.
Predictably, other films didn’t make much of a dent this weekend. The Princess and the Frog dropped 50% to take in $12 million, bringing its total domestic take up to $44.7 million, while The Blind Side continues to hold on, taking in $10 million with a $164.7 million domestic total. Did You Hear About the Morgans bombed with only $7 million. Click here for the full weekend chart.
So much has been said about the massive cost of this film, but as I stated on this week’s /Filmcast, regardless of your feelings towards Avatar, its success will be beneficial for the movie industry as a whole. It will show that Hollywood that huge event films can still be financially viable (and as a film lover, I really don’t want them to go away), and it will reward innovators like James Cameron, encouraging them to keep breaking new ground with filmmaking technology.
Feel free to share your thoughts/predictions on Avatar’s box office below. You can also discuss your thoughts on Avatar, listen to my interview with James Cameron, or read the reviews of the entire /Film staff.
