Ten weeks into 2013, the North American box office continues to track as a B-level year (nearly identical to 2008 and 2011), well below recent A-level years (2009, 2010 and 2012).  To date, 2013 totals $1.528 billion for wide-release films, while 2008 was $1.519 billion at this point and 2011 was $1.482 billion. The stronger [...]

Nine weeks into 2013, the North American box office is down significantly from last year (-19%).  But it’s more interesting when we look back at the a longer period — in this case, the last six years.  Half of those years resemble this year, and the other half resemble “up” years like 2012.  Those up [...]

New Year’s Day totaled $46.7 million for the top 10 films this holiday season, slightly below the $50.1 million average for this date but somewhat above the $44.2 million average for January 1 when it falls on a weekday. With New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day now in the books, the holiday season December [...]

The following is based on early estimates for Sunday, December 30.  The 2012 figures will be updated as needed when the actuals are released, but any change will be minimal. The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between December 24 and December 30 grossed a very encouraging $399 million, [...]

Saturday’s $57.4 million for the top 10 films and Sunday’s estimated $49.6 million both slightly exceed the similar days in 2007 (when December 30 was also a Sunday). Partly because of the way the calendar is configured, 2012 is catching up to the multi-year average for December 16-30 (2012 is now only 1.8% behind the [...]

Posting this update later than usual for the record. The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between December 17 and December 23 grossed a dreadful $155 million, down 41% from the four-year average for the week and down 27% from week #51 last year.  To be fair, December 25 [...]

Friday’s $52.1 million for the top 10 films is very close to the pace for the same day in 2007 (when December 28 was also a Friday). In fact, over the past three days, 2012 is performing almost identically to 2007.  The big differences between the two years are last weekend (December 21-23), which was [...]

Twelve days into the three-week holiday movie season, 2012 is now 9.0% behind the average for the same period over the last several years ($362 million this year versus $398 million on average 2004-2011).  Further, 2012 is 12.1% behind the last time Christmas fell on a Tuesday (2007′s $412 million over this period).   After [...]