12 voters so far... only 3 think it will set the all-time record.
-Jason
Just for kicks, lets all guess at what we think the opening weekend boxoffice will be for the most anticipated movie of the summer. Here are a few benchmarks to help all of you predict.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon- $97.8 mil (biggest opening of the year so far)
Aquaman - $116.4 mil (from the TV show Entourage)
HP 7.1 - $125.0 mil (this was in November of last year)
Twilight: New Moon - $142.8 mil (third biggest opening ever)
Spider-man 3 - $151.1 mil (second biggest opening ever)
Dark Knight - $158.4 mil (biggest opening weekend of all-time)
--Jason "poll will stay open until 9pm on Friday" Evans
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12 voters so far... only 3 think it will set the all-time record.
-Jason
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Rumor has it that The Dark Knight Rises teaser trailer will be one of the previews.
No dice on the rumor. Trailers were for Hugo, Sherlock Holmes, an animated xmas film, and a few others.
Saw that HP 7.2 did $43.5 in midnight showings last night. That's a record. I think "The Dark Knight" only did $18.5M, so HP is well ahead of that pace at the moment. Staying there is a different matter.
"There can BE only one."
It is nothing too special but the folks at the Wall Street Journal had me write an article today on the record-breaking boxoffice at midnight.
--Jason "be sure to check Speakeasy tomorrow, as they are posting a far better article from me-- this one is on how Harry Potter and Star Wars have something interesting in common" Evans“There are two keys here. First, those die-hards who went to see it at midnight, how many of them will want to see it again on Saturday or Sunday. Secondly, it needs to bring in the casual fans – folks who maybe have not read all the books or seen all the movies. There are signs this is turning into an event where people want to be there to see the end of this epic story. If that happens, we could see ‘Dark Knight’’s record fall.”
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The Dark Knight Rises teaser trailer definitely debuted at the midnight showings here in DC. It was just that...a teaser. But, I'm equally excited for the conclusion of that segment of the Batman series as I was for HP7.2.
Fandango sold out of all of the midnight showings for HP7.2 nationwide over two weeks ago. They said it was the fastest sellout for a movie they've ever had (beating The Dark Knight). The reviews have been very positive and word of mouth will have people coming back on Saturday and Sunday, including repeat business. I don't think it will break TDK's record, but it will come very close. I'd say $150M, making it the second best weekend ever.
The early estimates of the Friday numbers are in and it is a staggering figure -- $92.1 million. That blows away the old record for biggest single day in Hollywood history, which had been held by Twilight: New Moon with $72.7 million.
$92 million in one day... it is hard for me to get my head around a figure like that. I mean, that tells me that virtually every showing everywhere was sold out. I was at a theater last night and the theater had cancelled a showing of Transformers so it could put Harry Potter in one more 3D theater. That's how much demand there was for this film.
The weekend record is toast. I now think HP 7.2 is going to fly past the Dark Knight's $158.4 million, perhaps with ease. I will not be surprised with a figure in the mid-upper $160 million range.
Maybe I am wrong and it will be so front-loaded that we will see a big dropoff on Sat and Sunday -- but I doubt it.
-Jason "I am thinking that Udaman's $400+ mil prediction is gonna be right" Evans
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$168.5... a new record and it wasn't even close.
Congrats to our winners, who all picked "More than $165 million":
BuschDevil
Devilnole
dukebsbll14
gotoguy
InSpades
northernduke
PSurprise
Udaman
-Jason "wow... the greatest weekend in Hollywood history... impressive" Evans
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Jason,
As a non-professional, one thing puzzles me. You are posting this on Sunday morning. I thought Sunday grosses were considered part of the weekend? Friday-Saturday-Sunday ... is it stretching a point to give HP7.2 credit for Thursday night showings as part of the weekend? I guess not since weren't those midnight shows, that would technically be Friday.
But I'm still puzzled as to whether Sunday receipts count toward the weekend.
They do...but they give estimates based on how they think that Sunday's box office will go. That's the numbers that Jason is declaring, I believe...they will adjust them on Monday. There were no Thursday showings. All of those showings started after midnight Friday morning so they count towards the weekend.
The Thursday midnight showings are counted toward Friday because they occur at Midnight -- which is really Friday morning.
Yes, of course Sunday counts toward the weekend receipts. The studios have become experts at measuring how many people show up on Friday and Saturday and extrapolating those figures to come up with something accurate for Sunday. They are typically almost exactly right when the final numbers are released mid-day Monday. It is rare for them to be off by more than a few hundred thousand, at the most.
-Jason "when they are off, they usually over-estimate to make a film look better than it actually was" Evans
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One report has our latest HP movie closing out the weekend with a $168,550,000 gross exceeding the Dark Knight by $10 mil.
And Jason, I didn't like the final battle between Harry and Tom either. Why it didn't follow the book is a mystery to me.
The AP now says $169.2 million:
http://www.theledger.com/article/201...APA/1107180836
While it seems that HP 7.2 is the clear #1 in box office in terms of dollars for the opening weekent, it's only #6 in number of tickets sold, trailing The Dark Knight and Spiderman 3 among others. To me, tickets sold is a fairer comparison as prices have gone up, especially when a lot of people see it in 3D/Imax. Still, obviously #6 in tickets sold all-time opening weekend is very impressive.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/166...-weekend.jhtml