I see what you mean now.

I see Robin Hood having a better weekend multiplier than Dream Home as horror movies by nature are frontloaded. But Dream Home can still catch up next week if good word-of-mouth starts to spread.

Notes:

Prince of Persia to begin IMAX run on May 27. It will be shown on both IMAX screens. Advanced ticketing has already started and so far there haven't been a lot of pre-sales.

Iron Man 2 will finish its IMAX run on May 26. Advanced ticketing is only up to May 23, however. No surprise that they let the 3 weekdays slide by until about a week in advance where they will decide to either give the movie a few more days to make bucks or stop showing it altogether.

Avatar is back on the 4D screen. Don't expect big money here as at most it will only bring in about $1,000 US for the weekend...and that is being very optimistic.

Ip Man 2 back on the largest screens after Dream Home and Robin Hood both pale in ticket sales when compared to it.

Some Thursday actuals:

1 IP MAN 2 $727,929
2 ROBIN HOOD $427,301
3 IRON MAN 2 $352,807
4 DREAM HOME $258,344
5 THE BOUNTY HUNTER $169,490

IP MAN 2 held on to the lead despite substantial screen loss. ROBIN HOOD had an opening day similar to KINGDOM OF HEAVEN but well behind TROY's $1,050,000. IRON MAN 2's admission is close to DREAM HOME's but the former's gross beat the latter thanks to IMAX. THE BOUNTY HUNTER's opening dwarfed compared to DATE NIGHT, which opened to $380,000.

	Friday adm.			May 14
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Ip Man 2	35162	16967	-51.7%
2	Robin Hood	--	9039	--
3	Iron Man 2	19750	6263	-68.3%
4	Dream Home	--	5755	--
5	The Bounty Hunter	--	4881	--

As expected, the drop for Ip Man 2 is getting smaller as the weekend progresses. Whether or not it drops below 50% for the weekend depends on the wildcard...Sunday. Mother's Day affected grosses somewhat so the positive or negative effects of this remains to be seen. Robin Hood had a nice increase from Thursday. Iron Man 2 dropped hard once again due to screen loss. Even with that hard drop and the increase in admissions between Robin Hood and Iron Man 2 growing larger, Iron Man 2 should win the weekend over Robin Hood in gross. Dream Home had a terrible increase. The Bounty Hunter didn't do too badly although its increase was expected.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)		May 15
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Ip Man 2	24461	11847	-51.6%
2	Robin Hood	--	5582	--
3	Iron Man 2	13825	4957	-64.1%
4	The Bounty Hunter	--	2033	--
5	Dream Home	--	2019	--

Nothing really noteworthy here except that the lead between Robin Hood and Iron Man 2 is closing fast (IM2 is a family film -- it's been getting a lot more showtimes on Sunday than on Friday) and The Bounty Hunter overtaking Dream Home.



So Robin Hood opens to just over $55,000 US. It is on target to get close to or pass $300,000 US. The Bounty Hunter never stood a chance of getting a respectable opening weekend with Ip Man 2 still playing well. Also, Date Night hardly had this much competition for screens. In fact, it was the only new wide release that week (week after Easter break). Why the distributors thought of putting it here as counterprogramming to a horror film and action movie is beyond me especially when there were 2 releases last week that could have filled the couples void (Dear John/Mother And Child).

5/13 Thursday Actuals

	New Releases					May 13, 2010
Rank	Title	Origin	Rating	# Theaters	# Showings	Platform	Thursday	Admissions per showing
2	Robin Hood	US	IIB	32	191	Very Wide	HK$427,301	34
4	Dream Home	Hong Kong	III	26	144	Wide	HK$258,344	31
5	The Bounty Hunter	US	IIA	25	134	Wide	HK$169,490	22
8	The Private Life of Pippa Lee	US	IIB	3	16	Limited	HK$23,562	26
9	Go Find A Psychic!	Japan	IIA	10	40	Limited	HK$22,504	10

		Holdovers					May 13, 2010
TW	LW	Title	Origin	Weeks	Thursday	% Change from LW	Total
1	1	Ip Man 2	HK/China	3	HK$727,929	-48%	HK$32,284,981
3	2	Iron Man 2	US	3	HK$352,807	-61%	HK$24,016,196
6	3	Dear John	US	2	HK$44,474	-71%	HK$1,255,847
7	4	The Crazies	US	2	HK$34,291	-75%	HK$1,114,310
10	6	Kick-Ass	US/UK	5	HK$8,318	-65%	HK$5,173,926

Openers:
Nothing really shines. Robin Hood did what was expected of a medieval period piece. Despite the aggressive ad campaign, slasher film Dream Home kind of disappointed. This type of movies was once popular in the mid-90's. Next week, the remake of Nightmare on Elm Street will make a run for its money. Whether Dream Home can sustain the competition really depends on its word-of-mouth. The Bounty Hunter got lost in the face of stiff competitions. The Private Life of Pippa Lee had a decent showing thanks to its star power. Japanese film Go Find A Psychic! entered into a psyche of loneliness as it's snubbed by audiences.

Holdovers:
Big drops everywhere. IP MAN 2 held on relatively well despite screen loss. IRON MAN 2 continued the free fall amid more competitions. Dear John and The Crazies entered their sophomoric weekend with a haircut of 70%+ each.

	Saturday adm.			May 15
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Ip Man 2	65430	36312	-44.5%
2	Robin Hood	--	14782	--
3	Iron Man 2	35231	13142	-62.7%
4	Dream Home	--	7974	--
5	The Bounty Hunter	--	6700	--

	Sunday adm.	(so far)		May 16
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Ip Man 2	30137	13073	-56.6%
2	Robin Hood	--	6044	--
3	Iron Man 2	14807	5557	-62.5%
4	Dream Home	--	2231	--
5	The Bounty Hunter	--	2045	--

That's quite a drop for Ip Man 2. It'll be interesting to see if it will fall under/over 50% with the Sunday hold.

	Sunday adm.			May 16
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Ip Man 2	62284	31784	-49.0%
2	Iron Man 2	27586	12158	-55.9%
3	Robin Hood	--	12020	--
4	Dream Home	--	5803	--
5	The Bounty Hunter	--	5426	--

Very good hold for Ip Man 2. Looks like Mother's Day attracted people to go and see movies. Iron Man 2 ekes out Robin Hood for #2 and had a better drop in the process. It mostly benefited because of increased showtimes. Robin Hood slipped to #3 but should remain #2 for the rest of the week. It will be harder to tell which one wins out in gross. Either Robin Hood with the inflated ticket prices or Iron Man with IMAX. Dream Home held its ground the entire weekend over The Bounty Hunter even though it was close to The Bounty Hunter in admissions on Sunday.

WKND adm.
Title	LW	TW	% chg
Ip Man 2	185526	95425	-48.6%
Iron Man 2	93234	35471	-62.0%

Good for Ip Man 2 and bad for Iron Man 2. Looks like Robin Hood took a chunk of audience away from both IM2 and IM2.

Do you think the Nightmare on Elm Street remake can challenge Ip Man 2 for #1 next week? Gangster movie parody Once A Gangster is opening next week too. And don't forget I Love You, Phillip Morris starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor. Both have an "alternative" feel.






Can you explain this?

IRON MAN 2 was definitely hurt by Mother's Day. Last week, its Sat-Sun drop was 21.7%. This week, it had a 7.5% Sat-Sun drop. The Mother's Day effect on it is negative.

For the sake of some fun, I used the ratio of Thursday actuals to Thursday admissions and the weekend admissions to project the weekend grosses. This is what I came up with:

Robin Hood's ratio = 67.2
Iron Man 2's ratio = 90.3

Robin Hood's weekend admissions: 42,201
Iron Man 2's weekend admissions: 35,471

Projected Robin Hood weekend gross = 67.2 * 42,201 = $2,835,907
Projected Iron Man 2's weekend gross = 90.3 * 35,471 = $3,203,031

Iron Man 2 won thanks to IMAX! We will see if I am right when the actuals come out tonight or tomorrow.

I definitely think so although I feel more strongly about Once A Gangster breaking out and challenging for #1 or winning the weekend. Nightmare has very little appeal outside of couples and it will be very frontloaded. Add in the poor reviews and #1 doesn't seem such a sure thing.

Edit: Even though theatres are putting Nightmare on bigger screens than Gangster, the bulk of its business should come from Thursday and Friday. We could see something similar to Dream Home where it underperforms to the point where it loses the bigger screens on the weekend.



Maybe?

Ip Man 2 fell harder Sat-Sun this week than last week so we know that not all movies suffered on Mother's Day.

Possible explanation #1: Since it was Mother's Day, families spent that day on an outing with their mothers doing something other than watching movies. This leads to a decreased gross on Sunday for Iron Man 2 and other family movies.

Possible explanation #2: Maybe some people don't bother with Mother's Day and went to watch an action film (non-family) with their spouse. (Sounds farfetched.)

Let's just put it this way: Mother's Day affected movies in some way...positive or negative and this week we are seeing the effects of what happened last Sunday.

What do you think of Prince of Persia? I thought the trailer was awful and that the poster looked like an ad for a porno movie.

Presales for it in IMAX are looking terrible. Advanced ticketing started 5-6 days ago and some shows on the weekend only have a few seats booked. It's still early but that is a terrible sign. Prince of Persia may only have a 1 week IMAX release due to poor sales if it keeps this up.

If we look at it on a film-by-film basis, family-oriented or female-driven films generally do well while male-driven films suffer on Mother's Day. Maybe we can infer that Ip Man 2 is more family-oriented than Iron Man 2 while both are male-driven.



It is not something I will see given the choice. It gets a good release date (Memorial weekend) in the US. So I think it will do decent numbers in the States. But it's a different story in Hong Kong. Schools are still in session so they may need to ramp up the ad campaign to increase awareness.

What is on the poster that makes you think it's a porno movie?

By the way, the weekend numbers are too close between Robin Hood and Iron Man 2, with each doing between HK$2,500,000 and $2,700,000. Will have to wait until weekly actuals to close the case.

Possibly, although with Iron Man 2 passing Robin Hood on Sunday in admissions and receiving more showtimes in the process, it definitely is more of a family film.



On wmoov, you can see movie posters of upcoming new releases. When I first saw it as a thumbnail, I thought some guy in black was "tackling" 2 women in some arena or ring. Let's just say I was shocked when it came up as Prince of Persia.

Speaking of ONCE A GANGSTER, the casting of Ekin Cheng and Gordan Chan brought up the memory of the once popular film franchise YOUNG AND DANGEROUS (YAD) in the mid to late 90's. There were six episodes and several spin-offs in the franchise, which was based on the gangster (or triad society) comic "Teddy Boy". The first three episodes were released in the same year of 1996 (You've got to admire the time-efficiency of Hong Kong filmmaking.)

Have you see any of these?




Top row (left to right): YAD 1, YAD 2, YAD 3
Bottom row (left to right): YAD 4, YAD 5, YAD 6: Born to be King

Nope, haven't seen any of them.

Well, if the presales are any indication, looks like I was way wrong about Gangster breaking out. Nightmare isn't doing so great with Friday pre-sales though.

No wonder Once A Gangster doing not so good. It is not a typical gangster movie but a parody of gangster movies. And Ekin Cheng and Gordan Chan are so 1990's.

I am surprised that Nightmare is below Ip Man 2 in its 4th week in Friday presales. Like the Young And Dangerous series, A Nightmare on Elm Street brought back a lot of memory from the old days. This is a movie targeting people born in the 70's and 80's.

5/13 - 5/16 Weekend Wrap-Up

1. IP MAN 2 - $5,260,059 - Total - $36,817,111
2. ROBIN HOOD - $2,678,352 - Total - $2,678,352
3. IRON MAN 2 - $2,652,797 - Total - $26,316,186

ROBIN HOOD beat IRON MAN 2 by $25,555.

So higher ticket prices beat out IMAX. Good to know.

This weekend is shaping up to be very boring. Ip Man 2 will fall another 50% if the trend continues. Robin Hood will fall around 60% and Nightmare and Gangster won't do much business. The only thing that Iron Man 2 can lay claim to is that it could beat Ip Man 2 for the best drop.

Dull dull dull.

Here's something to look forward to...June releases!

Release Date	Movie Title
June 3	Green Zone Gallants From Paris With Love Goemon
June 10	Sex And The City 2 The A-Team Ex
June 15	Season Of The Witch
June 16	Breakup Club
June 17	The Runaways Exam
June 24	Knight And Day The Legend Is Born - Ip Man
June 30	Triple Tap

2 interesting dates to note: June 10 and June 24. On June 10, it's counterprogramming at its finest. Chick flick vs. Testosterone flick. A more interesting battle will take place on June 24. An entirely new Ip Man movie is set to be released just under 2 months after Ip Man 2 was released. Tom Cruise doesn't have the starpower that he had before and this new Ip Man flick could be shunned by audiences because of backlash from disputes with the other Ip Man movie. It'll be interesting to see how well local audiences embrace the new Ip Man movie and if they will still stand by Tom Cruise.

Other upcoming release dates:

Toy Story 3 - July 15
Inception - July 20
Aftershock - July 29

If the Inception date is true, this is going to be an AWESOME battle. I can't wait to see both and I hope they both can co-exist like how Iron Man 2 and Ip Man 2 did. I'm very curious about Aftershock because I honestly think it has the potential to do amazing business in China/HK. I'm not sure how well it will fare in Singapore, Malaysia and other places with a huge ethnic Chinese population. The latter half of July is shaping up to be very good.

	Friday adm.	(so far)		May 21
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Ip Man 2	5948	7464	+25.5%
2	Nightmare on Elm Street	--	4996	--
3	Robin Hood	3767	4349	+15.4%
4	Iron Man 2	2431	3659	+50.5%
5	Nodame Cantabile: Part 2	--	2187	--

This table looks off...unless if kids got off on Friday. Nodame is looking very very good.

Note: Nodame Cantabile got special screenings on Friday.

Isn't Friday a public holiday (The Buddha's Birthday)? ---> http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/holiday/2010.htm

I think it's a new holiday designated after the handover in 1997. It's no doubt Hong Kong people become oblivious to holidays since there are so many (Chinese New Year, Christmas, Easter, Buddha's, Mid-Autumn, Labor, National, Handover, etc.)!

Any Thursday numbers?



I think it opens Friday.

So it is...

I missed Thursday's numbers although I can tell you that Ip Man fell around 40% when I last checked.

No, Nodame Cantabile opens next Thursday. Most theaters only gave it 1 or 2 screenings (1 morning, 1 afternoon) today.

So Nodame Cantabile II is doing okay business in sneaks Friday. It currently ranks fifth in ticket sales.



^ What is that thingy in the bottom left corner just above the title?

It's the Mongoose Mascot.

You can see it better here:




What are the film's chances at 1m?

Slim. The first one did about US$580,000. I don't expect much increase from that; it might even go under that. The major concern is it will face a lot of competitions; the most direct ones come from Hong Kong Japanese Film Showcase, which runs on the weekends from May 21 to June 6. Eight films will be screened. (http://www.thegrandcinema.com.hk/specia ... ?visLang=2)

Very slim. I would say almost impossible because of the limited audience it has. There's certainly a lot of upfront demand for it but after the opening weekend, it trails off.

Weekend of May 13-16, 2010:

1 1 Yip Man 2: Chung si chuen kei Newport $678,613 -45.7% 46 -24 $14,752 $4,740,717 3
2 N Robin Hood EDKO $344,014 - 41 - $8,391 $344,014 1
3 2 Iron Man 2 Intercontinental $341,951 -57.4% 48 -30 $7,124 $3,388,496 3
4 N Dream Home EDKO $171,351 - 30 - $5,712 $171,351 1
5 N The Bounty Hunter Sony $149,953 - 27 - $5,554 $149,953 1
6 3 Dear John Golden Scene $39,244 -64.0% 15 -4 $2,616 $195,204 2
7 4 The Crazies Intercontinental $27,570 -71.4% 14 -4 $1,969 $165,602 2
8 N Magare! Supûn (Go Find a Psychic!) n/a $22,180 - 10 - $2,218 $22,180 1
9 N The Private Lives of Pippa Lee EDKO $19,145 - 3 - $6,382 $19,145 1
10 6 Toy Story 2 (3D) Disney $8,526 -65.0% 3 -4 $2,842 $243,563 3
11 9 Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In) EDKO $7,048 -34.5% 2 - $3,524 $25,774 2
12 8 Kick Ass Lark $6,997 -61.6% 4 -5 $1,749 $672,357 5
13 7 The Ghost Writer Deltamac $6,667 -65.0% 4 -6 $1,667 $199,468 4
14 5 Mother and Child Cable $6,176 -75.5% 4 -2 $1,544 $41,628 2
15 10 Chi ming yu chun giu (Love in a Puff) Gala $4,702 -32.7% 3 -2 $1,567 $822,902 8
16 12 Agora (Mists of Time) EDKO $2,120 -56.7% 1 - $2,120 $38,876 4
17 11 2001: A Space Odyssey (Re-issue) Newport $1,403 -78.4% 1 -3 $1,403 $2,978,768 10
18 16 Legion (2010) Sony $448 -50.1% 1 -3 $448 $297,693 4

Ip Man 2 had the best hold out of any movie with 10 or more screens. I think it could end up with 6m but it will be a stretch for it to get near The Dark Knight's number.

Robin Hood opened to solid business for this type of movie.

Iron Man 2 narrowly lost to Robin Hood for #2. It continues to bleed but will see a better drop next week with the holiday. It already is a success, surpassing the original film.

Dream Home opened above what Love In A Puff got in its first week. No doubt the controversy and the goodwill from the director propelled this movie to a higher opening but this will not have the incredible holds that Love In A Puff has had.

The Bounty Hunter also opened mildly and did its best to draw people in but with competition from the 2 movies released last week (Dear John, Mother And Child) as well as screens being allocated to the new movies this week, it wasn't going to draw in a huge number of people.

Speaking of Dear John, competition from The Bounty Hunter as well as the screen loss took its toll as it fell by 64%.

The Crazies suffered a huge second week drop as with most horror films. With Nightmare on the horizon, look for another crushing blow next week.

Go Find A Psychic needs to go find a therapist as it had the second worst PSA in the top 10 and the worst PSA out of the new openers.

The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee opened to a strong PSA from just 3 theaters.

Toy Story 2 dropped 65% and should end up with over $250,000 US.

Let The Right One In and Love In A Puff had the best holds out of all movies as they were the only two to fall in the 30% range.

Echoes of the Rainbow will not manage to crack $3m but it is still seen as a success. If local films continue to churn out good movies like this, people will flock.

	Friday adm.			May 21
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Ip Man 2	16967	22662	+33.6%
2	Nightmare On Elm Street	--	14216	--
3	Robin Hood	9039	10888	+20.5%
4	Iron Man 2	6263	9343	+49.2%
5	Once A Gangster	--	7565	--

Very nice increases for Ip Man 2 and Iron Man 2. Good for Nightmare On Elm Street and not great for Once A Gangster. Ok increase for Robin Hood. Maybe family films do better business on holidays?

	Saturday adm.	(so far)		May 22
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Ip Man 2	11847	3908	-67.0%
2	Nightmare On Elm Street	--	3648	--
3	Robin Hood	5582	2749	-50.8%
4	Iron Man 2	4957	2049	-58.7%
5	Once A Gangster	--	1881	--

Yuck all around. I really hope business picks up for all movies.

_________________________________________

The weekend report didn't include Avatar's numbers from the 4D screen but here's a snapshot of Avatar's 2:25 PM showing yesterday (today for you non-Asia people) at the location:



And here is Iron Man 2's 5:55 showing:



From this, we can conclude that Avatar is a holiday movie. During that 6 day break during Easter/Ching Ming, Avatar sold out all its 6:30 IMAX showings at the bigger IMAX theater which is very hard to do here even the second weekend let alone the 16th weekend.

Thanks for the information.

Are you in HK, Bluebomb? If you get a chance, I'd recommend "No More Cry" and "Younger Brother"/"About Her Brother" (don't understand this latter translation) if you are near the Hong Kong Japanese Film Showcase that ihope mentioned.