The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume
All films in wide release playing between October 1 and October 7 grossed a very strong $163 million, up 36% from the four-year average for the week and up 41% from the same week last year. During the week of October 3-9, 2011, four films grossed $10 million or more (and only one was significantly above that level): Real Steel ($27 million), Dolphin Tale ($12 million), Moneyball ($11 million) and Ides of March ($10 million). This past week, there were five films above $10 million (with four significantly above that level): Taken 2 ($50 million), Hotel Transylvania ($34 million), Looper ($19 million), Pitch Perfect ($17 million) and Frankenweenie ($11 million).
The past six weeks are now 1% above the four-year average box office average but still 3% behind the same six-week period last year. Year to date box office (closing in on $7.8 billion for wide-release films) is stubbornly 5% above the average for the past four years and 4% ahead of last year at this time.
| Domestic Box Office Volume: All Wide-Release Films through October 7, 2012 | ($ millions) | 2012 vs 2011 | 2012 vs 4yr Avg | |||
| 2011 | 4-year Average | 2012 | ||||
| Week #40 | $116 | $119 | $163 | +41% | +36% | |
| Past Six Weeks | $756 | $729 | $736 | -3% | +1% | |
| Year to Date | $7,420 | $7,366 | $7,750 | +4% | +5% | |
Weekend Actuals versus Studio Estimate
Taken 2 came in officially at $49,514,769 today for its opening weekend, down 1.0% from the 20th Century Fox estimate Sunday morning.
Frankenweenie came in at $11,412,213 in its opening weekend, down a similar 0.8% from the Disney estimate.
Updated Estimates of Final Grosses
The ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Grosses (the estimated North American gross when the film ends its run) are summarized below for films released the last six weeks. Pay attention to the final domestic grosses, which are much more important than individual weekend grosses and especially weekend rankings.
| Updated ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Final Estimates | Domestic Final Gross ($ millions) | percentile | |
| Hotel Transylvania | 145 | 88 | |
| Taken 2 | 136 | 87 | |
| Looper | 72 | 64 | |
| Pitch Perfect | 69 | 64 | |
| The Possession | 50 | 51 | |
| End of Watch | 46 | 49 | |
| Finding Nemo 3D | 45 | 49 | |
| Frankenweenie | 42 | 45 | |
| Resident Evil: Retribution | 41 | 45 | |
| Trouble with the Curve | 39 | 43 | |
| Lawless | 38 | 42 | |
| House at the End of the Street | 33 | 33 | |
| The Master | 20 | 15 | |
| Dredd 3D | 14 | 10 | |
| The Words | 12 | 6 | |
| Won’t Back Down | 5 | 1 |
Weekend Predictions October 12-14 should be posted Wednesday. This weekend features the openings of Argo (thriller), Here Comes the Boom (comedy), Sinister (horror), Seven Psychopaths (action comedy) and Atlas Shrugged: Part II (drama).
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