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December 26, 2015
 

Holiday Box Office Volume: through December 25

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Written by: Mitch Metcalf
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The 2015 holiday box office continues to shatter records, thanks to Star Wars: The Force Awakens as it plays like a holiday word of mouth hit after opening like a summer blockbuster.

For the ten days December 16-25, top 10 films in North America have totaled $600 million, almost double the same period the last few years and more than double the average for this period since 2002.  Further, Dec 16-25, 2015 is a huge +72% above the previous record for this period ($349 million in 2009 when Avatar was really hitting its stride right about now).

Box Office Volume — Top 10 Films North America
($ millions) Past 13 years — 2002-2014
# days 2015 2014 2013 Average Peak Year Low Year
Dec 16-22 7 416* 196 193 179 223 (’03) 112 (’08)
Dec 16-23 8 468* 222 226 214 247 (’03) 128 (’08)
Dec 16-24 9 505* 238 248 234 266 (’09) 138 (’08)
Dec 16-25 10 600* 309 315 295 349 (’09) 205 (’08)
Dec 16-26 11 376 373 355 445 (’09) 268 (’08)
Dec 16-27 12 440 432 407 521 (’09) 329 (’08)
Dec 16-28 13 487 494 455 579 (’09) 375 (’08)
Dec 16-29 14 522 541 501 637 (’09) 408 (’04)
Dec 16-30 15 560 580 546 693 (’09) 442 (’04)
Dec 16-31 16 593 616 584 742 (’09) 475 (’08)
Dec 16-Jan 1 17 640 664 633 820 (’09) 525 (’08)
Dec 16-Jan 2 18 691 690 671 901 (’09) 558 (’04)
Dec 16-Jan 3 19 738 733 699 947 (’09) 571 (’04)

 

Note: * represents a new record high

December 26 is usually good for about $64 million for the top films when that day falls on a weekend, but December 26 this year is probably headed for just north of $100 million, building slightly on the enormous $95.6 million on December 25, 2015.

Come back tomorrow for a look at the actual results through December 26.

 



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.