Before the two biggest days of the holiday box office season (December 25 and 26), the holiday season — or pre-season, if you will — stands at $238 million for the nine-days between December 16 and 24, now -4.1% behind the same period last year ($248 million) but still narrowly above (+1.7%) the average for December 16-24 the last 12 years. Yesterday (12.24.2014) the top 10 films totaled $15.95 million, below the $22.3 million last year (when December 24 fell on a Tuesday), slightly below the $18.8 million average when Christmas Eve falls on a Monday-Thursday, but above the hideous $10.0 million on 12.24.2008 (the last time Christmas Eve was on a Wednesday).
| Box Office Volume — Top 10 Films North America | ||||||
| ($ 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 | 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 25 has averaged $56.0 million when it has fallen on a Monday-Thursday and $55.8 million when Christmas has landed on a Friday-Sunday, an insignificant difference. December 25 is the only date on the movie calendar that does not vary at all by the day of the week. New Year’s Eve comes close, but still does about 7% better on weekends than weekdays. The last two years, Christmas Day has been huge: $67.2 million for the top 10 films on 12.25.2013 and $68.1 million on 12.25.2012. But the record remains $82.6 million on 12.25.2009, thanks to Avatar. This year is feeling a little below average: we’ll say $52 million for 12.25.2014, which would take the 10-day December 16-25 total to $290 million, exactly even with the average for the last 12 years.
Come back tomorrow as we look at how Christmas Day actually turned out, and we will preview the equally important December 26.
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