Yeah, the box office section of the site is gone. You can still get Thursday actuals from http://www.hkfilmblog.com, though it's not in a tabulated format and the numbers are rounded off to the thousands.

Quick update:

Oblivion made $61,830 on its 2nd Thursday, that is -68% from opening day. That number is -22% from Battleship's 2nd Thursday. Oblivion is looking at $440,000 this weekend and 2.1m should be its projected total.

Good gross.

Iron Man 3 frenzy has begun in HK. Theaters are slowly rolling out their full schedules. Over at The ONE, Iron Man 3 has five 7 PM showings (out of 6).



There are also 2D showings floating around but only in the morning/afternoon in most locations.

First sellout has been reported @ iSQUARE.


IMAX is also getting full with showtimes over 95% on Thursday/Friday night. Weekends are around 90%.

I love iSQUARE.

April 18 Weekend Actuals

Oblivion - $1,786,563
Conspirators - $1,016,292
Drug War - $374,830 (weekend actual)
The Host - $128,807 (weekend actual)
Finding Mr. Right - $1,156,693
G.I. Joe: Retaliation - $3,254,971
The Croods - $2,644,422
I Give It A Year - $179,042
Saving General Yang - $785,727

Oblivion topped the box office again, making almost $500,000 this weekend. It will be decimated this upcoming weekend but not before making 2m.

Conspirators becomes the first Detective movie to make more than 1m. Earlier this week, it passed both Detective films to become the highest grossing Detective movie in the franchise. It held up well this weekend, falling below -50%.

Drug War opened with only OK numbers. Included in the $375,000 are weekend previews from last week, which accounted for more than 10%. It looks like Drug War was affected by Conspirators outperforming expectations.

The Host debuted poorly. I can't express how bad of a move it was to postpone the film by 2 weeks. Oblivion certainly is no Iron Man 3 and its legs will get slashed next weekend.

Finding Mr. Right once again posted the best hold of the top 5. After a slow start on opening weekend, it has already reached a 3x multiplier.

The Croods softened up this weekend. It is more than $100,000 away from Wreck-It Ralph but I believe its time is done. Next weekend will see massive screen loss for all holdovers and kids will be rushing to the theaters to see Iron Man 3.

April 25 Weekend Predictions

Opening day and opening Friday pre-sales at Palace APM

Palace APM
	Iron Man 3 3D					Iron Man 3
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Apr. 25	12:15 AM	84	286	29.37%	Apr. 25	12:25 PM	24	112	21.43%
	11:00 AM	36	167	21.56%		12:50 AM	9	167	5.39%
	12:00 PM	35	286	12.24%
	1:25 PM	8	167	4.79%
	2:25 PM	39	286	13.64%
	2:50 PM	4	112	3.57%
	3:50 PM	4	167	2.40%
	4:50 PM	60	286	20.98%
	5:20 PM	7	112	6.25%
	7:15 PM	150	286	52.45%
	7:45 PM	46	112	41.07%
	8:00 PM	78	167	46.71%
	9:40 PM	148	286	51.75%
	10:10 PM	19	112	16.96%
	10:25 PM	12	167	7.19%
	12:05 AM	38	286	13.29%
Total		768	3285	23.38%	Total		33	279	11.83%
Apr. 26	11:00 AM	14	112	12.50%	Apr. 26	12:15 PM	7	167	4.19%
	12:00 PM	17	286	5.94%		12:35 AM	15	167	8.98%
	1:25 PM	6	112	5.36%
	2:25 PM	16	286	5.59%
	2:40 PM	4	167	2.40%
	3:50 PM	4	112	3.57%
	4:50 PM	35	286	12.24%
	5:10 PM	4	167	2.40%
	7:15 PM	140	286	48.95%
	8:00 PM	65	112	58.04%
	9:40 PM	192	286	67.13%
	10:10 PM	43	167	25.75%
	10:25 PM	25	112	22.32%
	12:05 AM	45	286	15.73%
Total	12:05 AM	610	2777	21.97%	Total		22	334	6.59%

*This isn't the full schedule for Iron Man 3. Full schedule will be released tomorrow.

Very good for Iron Man 3. They are way better than The Amazing Spider-Man and busier than The Dark Knight Rises. Doesn't match up to The Avengers though.

Weekend has to be much stronger than that for it to have a chance at 4m. Maybe early pre-sales at Festival Walk might be better.

Opening Saturday and Sunday pre-sales @ Festival Walk

Festival Walk
	Iron Man 3 3D
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Apr. 27	11:40 AM	262	354	74.01%
	2:10 PM	133	354	37.57%
	4:40 PM	194	354	54.80%
	7:10 PM	177	354	50.00%
	9:40 PM	174	354	49.15%
Total		940	1770	53.11%
Apr. 28	11:40 AM	263	354	74.29%
	2:10 PM	161	354	45.48%
	4:40 PM	154	354	43.50%
	7:10 PM	116	354	32.77%
	9:40 PM	73	354	20.62%
Total		767	1770	43.33%

Strong for Iron Man 3. I'm not even concerned about the lower Sunday admissions as they are the farthest away and harder to fill.

April 25 Predictions (for those who can't access my blog)

Thursday schedules

Note: Evangelion 3.0 was released on Wednesday. The number in brackets are its number of Wednesday showings at that theater.

Pacific Place
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Iron Man 3 3D - 21 showings	The Host - 1 showing (▼ 5)	Bullet to the Head
	I Give It A Year - 3 showings (▼ 6)	Jurassic Park 3D
	Oblivion - 3 showings (▼ 6)	Saving General Yang (Put.)
	Finding Mr. Right - 2 showings (▼ 5)	GI Joe: Retaliation
	Olympus Has Fallen - 1 showing (▼ 3)	The Croods (3D Eng.)

Palace APM
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Iron Man 3 3D - 20 showings	Drug War - 2 showings (▼ 6)	The Host
Iron Man 3 - 7 showings	Conspirators - 2 showings (▼ 6)	I Give It A Year
Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo - 7 showings (▼ 10)	Oblivion - 1 showing (▼ 7)	Saving General Yang (Can.)
	Finding Mr. Right - 2 showings (▼ 6)	The Croods (Can.)

The One
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Iron Man 3 3D - 23 showings	Drug War - 1 showing (▼ 7)	The Host
Iron Man 3 - 3 showings	Conspirators - 2 showings (▼ 6)	I Give It A Year
	Oblivion - 1 showing (▼ 6)	Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
	Touch of the Light - 1 showing (-)	Saving General Yang (Can.)
	Finding Mr. Right - 3 showings (▼ 6)	GI Joe: Retaliation
		The Croods (3D Can.)

Langham Place
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Iron Man 3 3D - 21 showings	Drug War - 6 showings (▼ 7)	I Give It A Year
Iron Man 3 - 3 showings	Oblivion - 2 showings (▼ 6)	Ip Man: The Final Fight
Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo - 4 showings (-)	Conspirators - 5 showings (▼ 6)
	Seven Psychopaths - 1 showing (▼ 5)
	Lesson of the Evil - 1 showing (-)
	The Host - 2 showings (▼ 6)
	Saving General Yang (Can.) - 1 showing (▼ 2)
	Finding Mr. Right - 1 showing (-)

How does that compare to The Avengers' opening Thursday schedules?

Festival Walk: 20 showtimes for Avengers (3D), 32 showtimes for Amazing Spider-Man (27 in 3D), 27 showtimes for Iron Man 3 (23 in 3D)
Palace APM: 27 showtimes for Avengers (24 in 3D), 33 showtimes for Amazing Spider-Man (28 in 3D), 27 showtimes for Iron Man 3 (20 in 3D)

Very good number for Iron Man 3. Compared to other blockbusters, these Iron Man 3 showings are above what the The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises got but below The Amazing Spider-Man's. Evangelion is getting a limited release but strong Wednesday sales lead to the continuation of a full screen at almost all locations. Oblivion and Conspirators are the biggest survivors with Drug War behind them. Finding Mr. Right did ok too keeping most of its screens. Biggest losers are G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The Croods, Ip Man: The Final Fight and Saving General Yang.

Another look at Iron Man 3 opening day sales @ Palace APM

Palace APM
	Iron Man 3 3D					Iron Man 3
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Apr. 25	12:15 AM	92	286	32.17%	Apr. 25	10:45 AM	76	114	66.67%
	11:00 AM	66	167	39.52%		12:25 PM	47	112	41.96%
	12:00 PM	40	286	13.99%		1:10 PM	9	114	7.89%
	1:25 PM	13	167	7.78%		3:35 PM	16	114	14.04%
	1:40 PM	4	98	4.08%		7:45 PM	69	98	70.41%
	2:25 PM	41	286	14.34%		10:10 PM	24	98	24.49%
	2:50 PM	4	112	3.57%		12:50 AM	19	167	11.38%
	3:50 PM	8	167	4.79%
	4:50 PM	68	286	23.78%
	5:20 PM	23	112	20.54%
	6:00 PM	7	114	6.14%
	7:15 PM	159	286	55.59%
	7:45 PM	67	112	59.82%
	8:00 PM	95	167	56.89%
	8:25 PM	51	114	44.74%
	9:40 PM	160	286	55.94%
	9:50 PM	20	98	20.41%
	10:10 PM	27	112	24.11%
	10:25 PM	28	167	16.77%
	12:05 AM	58	286	20.28%
Total		1031	3709	27.80%	Total		260	817	31.82%

Just under The Avengers pre-sales. These are pretty good, however, I don't think it will get to 4m. Iron Man 2's walk-ins were pretty bad so I think with these numbers, Iron Man 3 will battle with The Amazing Spider-Man & Harry Potter 7-2's 4-day OW. It could get off to a 40,000 pre-sales start.

__________________________________________________________________________
In other news, Robocop is let out January 30, 2014. It needs to have a strong start in Asia otherwise it is finished. Speaking of Robocop, new article that it's linked in is posted.

It's so fun to see this when it happens.
For those who don't know, The ONE has 6 screens and Iron Man 3 is occupying all of them Friday night.

One last look at Iron Man 3 opening day sales @ Palace APM

Palace APM
	Iron Man 3 3D					Iron Man 3
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Apr. 25	12:15 AM	97	286	33.92%	Apr. 25	10:45 AM	92	114	80.70%
	11:00 AM	79	167	47.31%		12:25 PM	67	112	59.82%
	12:00 PM	43	286	15.03%		1:10 PM	9	114	7.89%
	1:25 PM	13	167	7.78%		3:35 PM	20	114	17.54%
	1:40 PM	4	98	4.08%		7:45 PM	71	98	72.45%
	2:25 PM	45	286	15.73%		10:10 PM	31	98	31.63%
	2:50 PM	5	112	4.46%		12:50 AM	19	167	11.38%
	3:50 PM	9	167	5.39%
	4:50 PM	72	286	25.17%
	5:20 PM	23	112	20.54%
	6:00 PM	15	114	13.16%
	7:15 PM	165	286	57.69%
	7:45 PM	67	112	59.82%
	8:00 PM	100	167	59.88%
	8:25 PM	61	114	53.51%
	9:40 PM	164	286	57.34%
	9:50 PM	26	98	26.53%
	10:10 PM	31	112	27.68%
	10:25 PM	28	167	16.77%
	12:05 AM	64	286	22.38%
Total		1111	3709	29.95%	Total		309	817	37.82%

It moved a bit more from yesterday.

I'm upping Iron Man 3 Thursday pre-sales to 47,000 to account for Wednesday midnights (it'll be included in Thursday's gross) which would be higher than what The Avengers started off with on opening day (without midnights). Something to note, though Transformers 3's midnights started 1 hour earlier, Iron Man 3 has looked a bit better. I'd say $70,000 for Iron Man 3 midnights alone.

They'll probably all sell out for Friday evening. That's some pretty good percentage fills so far. Perhaps the 2:50pm or 3:50pm showing might not fill up, but the rest surely will. Probably going to be at 95% capacity on friday.

Feast your eyes on this...

	Thursday adm.	(so far)		April 25
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Iron Man 3	--	46,074	--
2	Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo	--	1,586	--
3	Drug War	1,862	439	-76.4%
4	Conspirators	1,314	359	-72.7%
5	Oblivion	2,132	311	-85.4%
6	Finding Mr. Right	656	272	-58.5%
7	We Were There: First Love	--	168	--
8	Tokyo Family	323	154	-52.3%
9	Searching for Sugar Man	--	138	--
10	The Host	905	122	-86.5%

Great beginning but how does that compare to recent hits?

How does these OD pre-sales compare to past blockbusters?

Movie	OD admissions	% diff
Iron Man 3	46,074
Iron Man 2	31,977	+44.1%
The Dark Knight Rises	38,750	+18.9%
The Amazing Spider-Man	32,580	+41.4%
The Avengers	47,317	-2.6%
Transformers 3	44,161	+4.3%
Harry Potter 7-2	62,089	-25.8%
Toy Story 3	32,294	+42.7%
Pirates 4	21,559	+113.7%
Shrek 3	49,634	-7.2%

Some comparisons using Iron Man 3 opening day pre-sales

+44% from Iron Man 2's opening day pre-sales.
+125.1% from Thor's opening day
+43.5% from X-Men: First Class' opening day
+206.5% from Green Lantern's opening day
+77.6% from Captain America's opening day

Strong opening for Iron Man 3. That Thursday pre-sales number does include midnights. 44% bigger than IM2 which did not have midnights but it was released on a Friday. 3m OW is locked.

Bullet to the Head .. still in HK!

Dropped to 2 theaters from 4, but only dropped 18% in gross.

I should have went to see it again. Ah well.

I don't know which hold is more bizarre: its 2nd weekend drop of 97% or that its 3rd weekend hold was down only 18% from its 97% cliff jump.

Well, it was removed from MANY cinemas that probably should have kept it a few more weeks. People obviously wanted to see it, so they travelled to the only 4 cinemas that it was playing at in its 2nd weekend to see it. If many of its 1st weekend cinemas actually kept it longer than 1 week, it may have had a good 2nd weekend.

Huh?

It only had a $3,000 PTA on its opening weekend. That's not good. Not a disaster but certainly not worthy of keeping it more than 1 weekend. I don't blame most of them for taking it out when it was the worst opener that weekend. Lesson of the Evil and Touch of the Light had less theaters and grossed more.

And if people wanted to see Bullet to the Head, it would have held much better than 97%. Instead it had the worst hold of the weekend. That shows that people didn't want to watch it and that the theaters were right in taking it out.

It had a PTA of $3,000, not every theater had $3,000. It's an average. Some of them had much higher and should have kept it longer.

Which is why those theaters kept it for a 2nd week and the rest chucked it after it didn't perform well.

I still see Algren hasn't changed his signature yet ??

2 PM Update: Iron Man 3 closing in on 60,000 admissions. It will defeat The Avengers' opening day admissions (- midnights).

Alright, taking a breather from this weekend to focus on the May 1 holiday.

Early pre-sales for Iron Man 3 on May 1 (Wednesday)

Festival Walk
	Iron Man 3 3D
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Apr. 27	9:10 AM	99	354	27.97%
	11:40 AM	143	354	40.40%
	2:10 PM	49	354	13.84%
	4:40 PM	64	354	18.08%
	7:10 PM	31	354	8.76%
	9:40 PM	28	354	7.91%
Total		414	2124	19.49%

Palace APM
	Iron Man 3 3D
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Apr. 27	9:10 AM	18	286	6.29%
	11:40 AM	87	286	30.42%
	2:10 PM	16	286	5.59%
	4:40 PM	16	286	5.59%
	7:10 PM	14	286	4.90%
	9:40 PM	14	286	4.90%
	12:10 AM	14	286	4.90%
Total		179	2002	8.94%

The One
	Iron Man 3 3D
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Apr. 27	9:10 AM	41	163	25.15%
	11:40 AM	93	163	57.06%
	2:10 PM	71	163	43.56%
	4:40 PM	88	163	53.99%
	7:10 PM	59	163	36.20%
	9:40 PM	8	163	4.91%
	12:05 AM	4	163	2.45%
Total		364	1141	31.90%

Outstanding sales at The ONE. Pretty good at Festival Walk. Palace APM not bad either. Huge. I expect over 100,000 adm on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday.

7 PM Update: Iron Man 3 is over 73,000 admissions at this hour with 4 hours left to go. It has already beaten The Avengers opening day admissions. Likely gross as well. Harry Potter 7-2's non-holiday opening day record is in serious jeopardy.

If Iron Man 3 keeps this up, it could realistically beat The Avengers' opening weekend. 4m OW should be happening now.

Surely you can answer that question yourself.

Get ready.

	Thursday adm.			April 25
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Iron Man 3	--	76,778	--
2	Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo	--	2,500	--
3	Drug War	8,153	1,547	-81.0%
4	Conspirators	6,608	1,364	-79.4%
5	Finding Mr. Right	2,466	1,120	-54.6%
6	Oblivion	9,041	950	-89.5%
7	Tokyo Family	594	479	-19.4%
8	The Host	3,607	330	-90.9%
9	I Give It A Year	1,109	316	-71.5%
10	We Were There: First Love	--	310	--

My estimate for opening day: $805,000

WOW for Iron Man 3. I wasn't expecting it to beat The Avengers on opening day. One thing to note with Iron Man 3 is that there were more 2D showings for Iron Man 3 than The Avengers. Iron Man 3's 3D ticket prices should be the same or slightly more expensive than The Avengers.

Let's recap what Avengers made on its opening day:
Avengers midnights - $56,970
Avengers opening day (without midnights) - $732,500
Avengers opening day (combined) - $789,470

Now let's see if that translates over to gross. If it does, Iron Man 3 will take away the non-holiday opening day record from Harry Potter 7-2. Also, it could be the first film to make $800,000 on a non-holiday.

Iron Man 3 vs. Iron Man 2 opening weekend admissions

	Daily admissions (OW)
	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
Iron Man 2		56,582	96,078	76,730	229,390
Iron Man 3	76,778				76,778
Gap	76,778	20,196	-75,882	-152,612

It might be able to double Iron Man 2's opening weekend admissions.

Iron Man 3 vs. The Avengers opening weekend admissions

	Daily admissions (OW)
	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
The Avengers	67,741	76,410	149,832	130,495	424,478
Iron Man 3	76,778				76,778
Gap	9,037	-67,373	-217,205	-347,700

The Big One. Iron Man 3 is off to a fast start but Iron Man 3 has been known to be extremely frontloaded in the past and The Avengers had an INSANE Saturday.

Current WOM for Iron Man 3: 100% (65 thumbs up)

Iron Man 3 is having incredible WOM so far. No one has dared to give this a rotten rating yet. Outscoring The Avengers in WOM right now. The Avengers finished in the mid 80's but had already received a few thumbs down on opening day.


How is Saturday looking?

It's back...

	Opening	Saturday	3D showings
	Pirates 4	Toy Story 3	Transformers 3	Harry Potter 7-2	The Avengers	Iron Man 3
Pacific Place	21	28	28	22	27	27
Total	21	28	28	22	27	27
Palace APM	25	23	32	27	34	30
Total	25	28	35	34	37	34
Tsuen Wan	18	22	20	18	24	22
Total	18	22	22	21	24	22
Palace IFC	21	24	24	21	23	25
Total	21	24	24	21	23	25
Festival Walk	N/A	N/A	26	26	32	32
Total	N/A	N/A	33	32	32	36
The One	N/A	N/A	N/A	31	34	33
Total	N/A	N/A	N/A	33	34	35
Langham Place	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	24
Total	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	28
The Grand Cinema	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	31
Total	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	40	37

Split right down the middle between Iron Man 3 and The Avengers. Theaters even had to cut their own movies to make room for more Iron Man 3. Oblivion? Gone (in some theaters). Finding Mr. Right? Also gone (in a couple of theaters). You get the picture.

Iron Man 3 opening day actual - $788,203.

It does not beat Harry Potter 7-2's non-holiday opening record nor does it beat The Avengers. It lost to the Avengers by a little over $1,000 (if you include its midnights) and Harry Potter 7-2 by $2,000. It must have had a good 2D ratio considering that it won by more than 5,000 admissions against The Avengers OD. No film has hit $800,000 on a non-holiday.

Let the booing commence.

One good thing that came out of that opening day actual is that it doubled IM2's opening day.

Full update later.

Still an exceptional number. Though it's annoying when records are that close to falling.

And I see you're predicting Evangelion 3.0 to come in second this weekend. I hope it does.