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December 26, 2014
 

Holiday Box Office Volume: through Christmas Day

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Written by: Mitch Metcalf
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The top 10 films Christmas Day 2014 totaled $71.2 million, well above the 12-year average of $55.9 million for the day and above the very high December 25 totals the last two years: $67.2 million in 2013 and $68.1 million in 2014.  Only 2009 had a higher Christmas Day: $82.6 million in the season of Avatar.  With Unbroken surging into first place and leading a very healthy Christmas box office this year, our forecast of an “average” December 25 box office volume proved quite off.  The ten days between December 16 and 25 this year total $309 million for the top 10 films, now +6.6% above the 12-year average for that period and now a relatively small -1.9% below the same period last year.

Box Office Volume — Top 10 Films North America
($ millions) Past 12 years — 2002-2013
# days 2014 2013 Average Peak Year Low Year
Dec 16-22 7 196 193 181 223 (’03) 112 (’08)
Dec 16-23 8 222 226 214 247 (’03) 128 (’08)
Dec 16-24 9 238 248 234 266 (’09) 138 (’08)
Dec 16-25 10 309 315 290 349 (’09) 205 (’08)
Dec 16-26 11 373 347 445 (’09) 268 (’08)
Dec 16-27 12 432 397 521 (’09) 329 (’08)
Dec 16-28 13 494 444 579 (’09) 375 (’08)
Dec 16-29 14 541 488 637 (’09) 408 (’04)
Dec 16-30 15 580 531 693 (’09) 442 (’04)
Dec 16-31 16 616 568 742 (’09) 475 (’08)
Dec 16-Jan 1 17 664 616 820 (’09) 525 (’08)
Dec 16-Jan 2 18 690 652 901 (’09) 558 (’04)
Dec 16-Jan 3 19 733 679 947 (’09) 571 (’04)

December 26 has averaged $63.1 million when it has fallen on a Friday-Sunday, as it does this year (while the day has averaged $53.0 million when it has fallen on a Monday-Thursday).  The last time the day after Christmas was on a Friday (2008), the day totaled $63.5 million for the top 10 films.  The 2014 holiday season has a chance to catch up with 2013 with only a decent December 26 this year.

Come back tomorrow as we look at how the day after Christmas actually turned out, and we will preview December 27.

 



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.