Other Crap

Weekend Box Office Results for July 17–19, 2009

The chart below makes it seem like Potter came in below expectations. I don't believe that is the case. Warrior originally had a much lower prediction - which was almost exactly right - and he was persuaded to raise it, for some reason or another which did not prove valid.

Potter's weekend total is misleading because of the monstrous pre-weekend numbers. The film actuially grossed more on Wednesday and Thursday combined than on the three weekend days! The previous five Potter films grossed in their first five days, in millions of dollars: 104-98-109-119-139. This one took in 159.

The weekend was 38% below the comparable weekend last year, when The Dark Knight opened. This year did beat any of the previous three years.

Bruno, as predicted by the analysts, crashed and burned. Its drop of 72.7% was the second-largest such tumble for a film grossing $30 million or more in week one. The record holder is this year's remake of Friday the 13th, which opened with $40 million and finished with only $65 million. Bruno's percentage of decline was also the second-largest among films which finished #1 during the previous weekend, again trailing only the Friday the 13th remake.

An oddity on the chart: 500 Days of Summer made the top 12, although it appeared in only 27 theaters. Its appearance on the list is a fluke of summer distro, in which so many screens are occupied by the films which get the blockbuster treatment, and there are very few smaller films competing for the lower slots on the list. 500 Days made the list with only $800,000 total gross! Having noted that, let us also note that the film performed brilliantly. It took in $31,000 per theater, compared to $18,000 for Potter.