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December 28, 2011
 

FULL WEEK BOX OFFICE ACTUALS and YEAR TO DATE December 19-25

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Written by: Mitch Metcalf
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>A little late, but for the record, the updated year to date box office figures for wide releases show that 2011 is now back to -4.2% behind 2010.  Also, 2011 is now even with the average of the last four years (after pacing about +2% ahead of that number most of the year).  The full week ending Sunday ($225 million in business) looks fairly impressive on the surface until it is compared against the same number last year or the average of the last several years.       


The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume

All films in wide release playing between December 19 and December 25 grossed $225 million, down 10% from the same week in 2010 and down 26% from the average comparable week the past four years.  Year to date, all films are now down 4.2% from the same period last year.  (Last week the year to year comparison was -4.0%).    

All Films December 19-25
(millions)           4yr              vs      vs
             2010    Avg     2011    2010    Avg

Week #51     $250    $303    $225    -10%
    -26%

Year to Date $9911   $9495   $9495   -4.2%   +0.0%



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. 

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 $273 million (96 percentile)
Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol $172 million (91 percentile)

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows $141 million (87 percentile)
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo $91 million (75 percentile)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked $89 million (74 percentile)

The Muppets $87 million (73 percentile) 
Adventures of Tintin $81 million (72 percentile)
We Bought a Zoo $69 million (67 percentile)
War Horse $64 million (65 percentile) 
Happy Feet Two $61 million (62 percentile) 

Arthur Christmas $57 million (59 percentile)
Hugo $56 million (59 percentile)

The Descendants $43 million (50 percentile)

New Year’s Eve $41 million (48 percentile)
Darkest Hour $35 million (42 percentile)
The Sitter $25 million (28 percentile)

Young Adult $24 million (26 percentile)

Look for an update on holiday movie performance when the Tuesday figures are available later today.
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About the Author

Mitch Metcalf
MITCH METCALF has been tracking every US film release of over 500 screens (over 2300 movies and counting) since the storied weekend of May 20, 1994, when Maverick and Beverly Hills Cop 3 inspired countless aficionados to devote their lives to the art of cinema. Prior to that, he studied Politics and Economics at Princeton in order to prepare for his dream of working in television. He has been Head of West Coast Research at ABC, then moved to NBC in 2000 and became Head of Scheduling for 11 years.