Hey Corpse, what's heard of Makoto Shinkai's new film "Hoshi o ou kodomo"? How's the audience taking it? It popped up in BOM's weekend chart with $0.24 m in 20 theaters and then disappeared - why?

Reviews I see are mixed or slightly positive. 3.5/5 for example.

It may have been a one week release or something on just 20 screens. It also vanished from local charts. But overall I'd say it's opening was decent.

As I suspected, Pirates played much better during the day and night Saturday, and went from being behind the last Potter by 28.1% in admissions to just 6.4%.

Edit: Should be like 500 million yen ($6.2 million) Saturday.

By comparison, Toy Story 3's first Saturday was 457 million yen, and Bayside Shakedown 3's was 529 million yen. Both of them opened just shy of 1 billion yen (971 and 977 million) for the 2-day weekend.

So as long as Pirates does fine today, it should have a decent shot at 1 billion yen ($12.5 million) for the 2-day, and probably 1.2/1.3 billion ($15 million) for the 3-day thanks to so many 3D screens (it's playing on more 3D screens than total screens for TS3, lol)

Corpse, can you please post All-Time Opening Day, Opening 2-Day (Sat and Sun) and Opening Weekend overall....if the figures are available. Thanks.

Pirates 4 obviously doing really well, and should at least be on par with the previous two Pirates in terms of US$ gross.

Opening Weekend numbers are easy enough to retrieve, but Opening Day figures are most difficult to come by. In fact, I'm unable to provide any sort of chart aside from a few select films that had their opening day released in articles (and all being pretty recent, too).

I don't have time to go into detail, but Weekend Data results from the usual locations was just released.

Pirates 4 was pretty much even with Harry Potter 7, tracking at 99.1% of it. That should be an admissions comparison, as such, Pirates 4 would open higher with 3D ticket prices.

Black Swan was down 35.8% from the same locations compared to last weekend.

THR and other sources will likely have numbers before I get back on today.

The USD estimate for the 3-Day is $18.2 million. At World's End opened to $16 million for the 3-Day.

When I get home I'll update what I can, but unless WOM is horrible (no sign of this), $100 million is likely again, especially with no competition for 8 weeks.

Okay, not that I'm home, some real math.

With 99.1% the attendance of the last Harry Potter film, Pirates 4 definitely opened over 1 billion yen for the 2-Day weekend.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I:
Opening Weekend (Saturday and Sunday): 766,633 admissions; 937,409,329 yen ($11.6 million)
3-Day Total: 960,000 admissions; 1,176,047,329 yen ($14.4 million)

Pirates 4 is looking at approx. 760,000 admissions for the 2-Day Opening Weekend (Saturday and Sunday). And with 3D ticket prices (1600 yen or $20 USD), that'd translate to about 1.2 billion yen ($14.8 million) for the 2-Day. More than Harry Potter 7's 3-Day, incredible really those 3D tickets.

All 2-Day Openings Over 1 billion yen (since 2008):

Alice in Wonderland: 1,316,539,470 yen ($14.2 million)
Rookies: 1,225,279,099 yen ($12.9 million)
One Piece Film Strong World: 1,038,445,263 yen ($11.7 million)
Ponyo: 1,034,459,534 yen ($9.8 million)
Boys Over Flowers: 1,005,846,994 yen ($9.6 million)

Pirates 4 is locked for the third biggest 2-Day Opening Weekend in yen since 2008, and may have beaten Rookies, too. Very impressive indeed, but what's most impressive is the five films above all opened on Saturday. Pirates 4 opened on a Friday, so it's 2-Day is slightly deflated. It surely would have opened higher than Alice in Wonderland in yen with a Saturday release date.

Pirates 4 is going to record the Biggest 2-Day Opening Weekend in USD with about $15 million since Potter 5 in 2007 (and may enter the Top 5 All-Time 2-Day Opening Weekends, too).

And since Pirates 4 opened on a Friday, the 3-Day Opening may have cracked 1.5 billion yen ($18.3 million) afterall with the $18.2 million estimate being reported. That would give it the biggest 3-Day Opening in yen since Potter 5 in 2007.

And $18 million or more is enough for the Biggest 3-Day Opening (Friday Opener) in USD since...maybe of All-Time. I can't find a single Friday release that opened with more than $18 million. I'll keep looking and update this when more figures are released.

And assuming a 1.2 billion (2-Day)/1.5 billion (3-Day) opening, using an average 3-Day multiplier, Pirates 4 will gross between 8.5-9.5 billion yen ($103-116 million).

Previous installments:

Pirates 1: 6.80 billion ($60 million)
Pirates 2: 10.02 billion ($84 million)
Pirates 3: 10.90 billion ($102 million)

Weekend (5/21-22) Rankings by Location (Toho, WB, Shikoku):

TOHO

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Disney) 1
2. Black Swan (Fox) 2
3. Gaku (Toho) 3
4. Hankyu Densha (Toho) 5
5. Gantz Part 2: Perfect Answer (Toho) 5
6. Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence (Toho) 6
7. The Cicada's Eighth Day (Shochiku) 4
8. Crayon Shin-chan: The Golden Spy Mission (Toho) 6
9. The King's Speech (Gaga) 13
10. SP: The Motion Picture - Revolution (Toho) 11

Warner Bros.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Disney) 1
2. Black Swan (Fox) 2
3. Gaku (Toho) 3
4. Hayabusa Back To Earth (Kadokawa Pictures) 2
5. Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence (Toho) 6

http://www.tohotheater.jp/index.html
http://www.warnermycal.com/

Gulliver's Travels sees an expected death by the hand of Blackbeard this weekend after six weeks in release. A short run, but the film did well reaching nearly $20 million.

Shikoku should update soon.

Shikoku

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Disney) 1
2. Black Swan (Fox) 2
3. Gaku (Toho) 3
4. The Cicada's Eighth Day (Shochiku) 4
5. Hayabusa Back To Earth (Kadokawa Pictures) 2
6. Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence (Toho) 6
7. Hankyu Densha (Toho) 5
8. Macross Frontier The Movie 2 (Klockworz) 3*
9. Crayon Shin-chan: The Golden Spy Mission (Toho) 6
10. True Grit (Paramount) 2*

http://www.shikoku-np.co.jp/cinema/ranking/

No Gantz is certainly odd.

*The Shikoku Chain sometimes gets limited, or smaller, released films much later than Toho or Warner. While Shikoku is the third biggest chain in the country, I'm guessing they have a significant amount of theaters/screens in the country.

Now the National Top 10 will be available soon with some estimated weekend figures in the morning.

Official: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides opens to an estimated 1.203 billion yen ($14.8 million) for the 2-Day Weekend to claim the Biggest Opening Weekend of the Year, topping Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1's 2-Day Opening Weekend of 937 million yen ($11.6 million) by 29%!

Pirates beat Potter in Japan back in 2007. Let's see what happens in 2011 when Part 2 of the Deathly Hallows is released, because On Stranger Tides will easily outgross Part 1.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides:
2-Day Opening Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) - 1,209,024,500 yen ($14.79 million); 773,184 admissions
3-Day Total (Friday-Sunday) - 1,518,433,400 yen ($18.57 million); 986,455 admissions

So it even beat Harry Potter when it came to admissions as well. Some comparisons will be posted shortly.

All-Time Opening 2-Day Weekends (Yen / Admissions):

1. 2003, The Matrix Reloaded (WB) - Y2,222,854,550 / 1,486,743 admissions (666 screens)
2. 2005, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (Fox) - Y2,121,461,235 / 1,457,977 admissions (757 screens)
3. 2007, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (WB) - Y2,068,252,580 / 1,386,245 admissions (919 screens)
4. 2002, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (WB) - Y2,050,745,255 / 1,390,446 admissions (858 screens)
5. 2006, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Disney) - Y1,921,419,347 / 1,421,738 admissions (760 screens)
6. 2004, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (WB) - Y1,871,164,300 / 1,469,755 admissions (796 screens)
7. 2005, War of the Worlds (Paramount) - Y1,644,714,870 / 1,315,042 admissions (841 screens)
8. 2002, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (Fox) - Y1,604,610,000 / 1,264,679 admissions (639 screens)
9. 2001, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (WB) - Y1,550,280,200 / 1,379,120 admissions (608 screens)
10. 2004, Howl's Moving Castle (Toho) - Y1,483,804,112 / 1,202,977 million admissions (448 screens)
11. 2007, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Disney) - Y1,471,145,322 / 1,186,413 admissions (881 screens)
12. 2008, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Paramount) - Y1,404,578,696 / 1,107,693 admissions (789 screens)
13. 2005, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (WB) - Y1,327,365,639 / 1,159,454 admissions (826 screens)
14. 2010, Alice in Wonderland (Disney) - Y1,316,539,470 / 828,119 admissions (859 screens)
15. 2003, Bayside Shakedown 2: Save the Rainbow Bridge (Toho) - Y1,305,270,550 / 1,033,440 admissions (408 screens)
16. 2006, The Da Vinci Code (Sony) - Y1,281,192,566 / 976,720 admissions (863 screens)
17. 2009, Rookies Graduation (Toho) - Y1,225,279,099 / 987,387 admissions (428 screens)
18. 2011, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Disney) - Y1,209,024,500 / 773,184 admissions (800 screens)
19. 2007, Spider-Man 3 (Sony) - Y1,207,905,331 / 921,341 admissions (807 screens)
20. 2009, One Piece Strong World (TOEI) - Y1,038,445,263 / 819,314 admissions (188 screens)
21. 2008, Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (Toho) - Y1,034,459,534 / 812,557 admissions (481 screens)
22. 2003, Finding Nemo (Disney) - Y1,016,200,000 / 901,142 admissions (654 screens)
23. 2007, Hero (Toho) - Y1,010,321,720 / 749,807 admissions (475 screens)
24. 2008, Boys Over Flowers Final (Toho) - Y1,005,846,994 / 805,350 admissions (400 screens)
25. 2001, Spirited Away (Toho) - Y1,001,640,000 / 810,006 admissions (325 screens)


All-Time Opening 2-Day Weekends (USD)

1 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith $18,975,503
2 The Matrix Reloaded $18,677,181
3 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix $16,952,890
4 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets $16,676,912
5 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest $16,650,081
6 War of the Worlds $15,116,883
7 The Matrix Revolutions $14,882,041
8 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides $14,790,000
9 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King $14,676,898
10 Alice in Wonderland (2010) $14,032,610
11 Hauru no ugoku shiro (Howl's Moving Castle) $13,998,152
12 Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones $13,714,649
13 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull $13,449,954
14 Rookies: Sotsugyô $12,703,775
15 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines $12,359,141
16 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End $12,093,262
17 One Piece Film: Strong World $11,979,803
18 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One) $11,643,390
19 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire $11,374,170
20 Umizaru 3 (The Last Message) $11,333,086
21 The Da Vinci Code $11,301,981
22 Bayside Shakedown 3: Set the Guys Loose $11,095,820
23 Odoru daisosasen the movie 2: Rainbow Bridge wo fuusa seyo! (Bayside Shakedown 2) $10,489,418
24 Finding Nemo $10,331,939
25 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince $10,239,553

The above is BOMs chart, so it's not completely accurate (but it's the quickest USD chart I can post right now). It doesn't even include some films like Harry Potter 3.

And remember, most of these films opened on a Saturday (Including Dead Man's Chest), so for On Stranger Tides to rank so high with a Friday release is very impressive.

Pirates is just HUGE there. I am sure HP7.2 with 3D will beat it in admissions and total (both YEN and USD)

Harry Potter will need to increase his attendance if he wishes to beat Pirates. That hasn't happened for any previous Harry Potter film, every new film losing 15% or more admissions, but can 3D bring people back to the franchise? Maybe, it'll be fun to see what happens in July. Dead Man's Chest and At World's End topped their respective years.

Weekend Article

Pirates Fourth Voyage a Rousing Success

93% of Pirates 4's Opening Weekend (2 or 3-Day wasn't specified) came from 3D locations.

That's a new record, but not too surprising because it opened on a record 640 3D screens, or 80% of it's total screen count . Over 90% is still crazy high, though. 2D seems almost pointless for the event 3D films anymore, they're all doing at least 70% or more from their 3D locations.

The previous record holder was last year's Toy Story 3 which had 82% of it's Opening Weekend gross come from 3D locations. Alice in Wonderland was before that with 80%.

I'll edit the weekend article to include this soon.

what is the 3d premium in japan. is it as bad as US.

300 yen, so 3.50-4 dollars.

what's 2D ticket price. isn't it like $20.

The general admission fee is 1800 yen ($22.00) at most locations, so 3D tickets there would be priced at 2100 yen ($25.50). Moviegoers can get around the 3D premium with advance tickets, however. There is typically a 300 yen discount for pre-orders.

The average admission fee is much lower than the above though because of how many young people (kids in particular) go to the movies compared to adults in Japan. Tickets for students, 12 and under, etc. go as low as 1000 yen ($12.00). There are other discounts offered at most Cinemas in Japan, too. Last year's average was 1266 yen ($15.50).

Pirates 4's average ticket price for it's first 3-days in release comes in at 1539 yen ($18.75).

Post that deals with nothing so weekly updates go on the next page soon.

Top 10 Opening Weekends of 2011 by Gross




Top 10 Opening Weekends of 2011 by Admissions




Top 10 Films of 2011 by Gross




Top 10 Films of 2011 by Admissions



Highlights:

-Pirates 4 debuts in 1st on all Opening Weekend Charts.

-SP: The Motion Picture 2 finally cracks $40 million USD total.

-Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence nears 2.5 million admissions and 3 billion yen.,

-Gantz 2 crosses 2 million admissions.

May 21-22, 2011　



今 先 　　週末 　　 　　 累計　　screens　　週　題
1　-　1,209,024,468 ($14.8 million)　1,518,843,416 ($18.6 million)　800　1　パイレーツ・オブ・カリビアン／生命の泉 (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
2　1　179,983,195 ($2.2 million)　972,490,919 ($11.9 million)　328　2　ブラック・スワン (Black Swan)
3　2　130,537,840 ($1.6 million)　1,027,396,776 ($12.6 million)　315　3　岳 ガク (Gaku)
4　4　72,899,498 ($.90 million)　2,936,216,058 ($35.9 million)　336　6　名探偵コナン 沈黙の15分 (Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence)
5　3　70,492,950 ($.87 million)　2,516,596,664 ($30.2 million)　375　5　GANTZ PERFECT ANSWER
6　5　47,910,866 ($.59 million)　962,537,245 ($11.8 million)　226　4　八日目の蝉 (The Cicada's Eighth Day)
7　6　46,514,369 ($.58 million)　819,562,837 ($10.1 million)　83　5　阪急電車 片道15分の奇跡 (Hankyu Densha)
8　7　34,483,657 ($.43 million)　1,132,126,149 ($14.0 million)　255　6　クレヨンしんちゃん　嵐を呼ぶ黄金のスパイ大作戦 (Crayon Shin-chan: The Golden Spy Mission)
9　9　20,122,011 ($.25 million)　1,699,289,551 ($20.9 million)　157　13　英国王のスピーチ (The King's Speech)
10　10　17,315,779 ($.22 million)　186,405,585 ($2.3 million)　107　3　アンノウン (Unknown)

Summer 2011 Predictions:

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (May 20) - 9-9.5 billion yen ($110-116 million)
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (July 15) - 8.5-9 billion yen ($104-110 million)
3. From the Kokuriko Hill (July 16) - 7.5-8 billion yen ($92-99 million)
4. Pokemon: Victini and the Dark Hero - Zekrom / Pokemon: Victini and the Light Hero - Reshiram (July 16 / July 16) - 3.5 billion ($42 million) / 3.5 billion ($42 million) each or 7 billion yen ($85 million) combined.
5. Andalusia: Goddess of Retribution (June 25) - 3.5-4 billion yen ($42-49 million)
6. Cars 2 (July 30) - 3.5-4 billion yen ($42-49 million)
7. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (July 29) - 3-3.5 billion yen ($35-42 million)
8. Paradise Kiss (June 4) - 2-2.5 billion yen ($24-30 million)
9. Black Swan (May 11) - 2-2.5 billion yen ($24-30 million)
10. Super 8 (June 24) - 1.5-2 billion yen ($18-24 million)

Touch to decide which film to put on top. For now I'm predicting Pirates to place first because it has 8 weeks of little competition, while Potter will have much more competition in July (since about everything is coming out that month). July 16-17 will be complete chaos at the Cinema.

The new Pokemon films are on pace to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for most advance ticket sales for an animated motion picture(s), beating 2009's Pokemon film which sold 2.3 million tickets before it opened. That tells me the fanbase will end up seeing both films, just like they buy both games when they're released. This is the first time two different pokemon films are being released the same year.

Pixar's continued rise in popularity will result in Cars seeing some sort of increase over the first, I believe.

It's also difficult to rank the films that will likely gross more than 1 billion, but less than 2 billion. Several films will fall in this range, but I give the last spot to Super 8 since it has the surprise potential.