I don't really think it's difficult for love stories to succeed in Asia. I'm pretty sure Philippines have their own love stories that break into the top 5 or 10 each year.

Foreign love stories, yes. Snow White will certainly be interesting to track in Asian markets in May. Love story wrapped in an action/suspense movie.

So we should call it Foreign Fantasy Epic Love Story

Records updated.

	Thursday adm.			March 22
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	The Hunger Games	--	12,933	--
2	Nightfall	20,997	11,299	-46.2%
3	A Simple Life	15,415	8,413	-45.4%
4	John Carter 3D	6,370	1,874	-70.6%
5	Jack & Jill	--	1,712	--

Weak admissions for The Hunger Games. Nightfall and A Simple Life had pretty good holds. John Carter fell hard. Dreadful for Jack and Jill.

		Thursday Actuals						March 22
LW	TW	Title	Last Thu. (USD)	Thursday (USD)	% chg	Theaters	Days	Total
--	1	The Hunger Games	--	$111,145	--	41	1	$111,145
1	2	Nightfall	$135,906	$77,170	-43.2%	45	8	$2,525,409
2	3	A Simple Life	$95,256	$54,394	-42.9%	38	14	$1,287,770
3	4	John Carter	$56,442	$14,303	-74.7%	31	15	$1,773,544
--	5	Jack and Jill	--	$11,179	--	21	1	$11,179
--	6	Love Lifting	--	$8,143	--	15	1	$24,464
--	7	The Second Woman	--	$7,613	--	18	1	$7,613
4	8	The Iron Lady	$18,643	$7,191	-61.4%	13	15	$629,278
5	9	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	$11,184	$4,785	-57.2%	8	8	$81,120
--	10	Carnage	--	$3,952	--	7	1	$3,952

This Means War	$980,185
Love	$794,430
Mr. & Mrs. Gambler	$749,315
Hugo	$649,889
The Artist	$415,378
The Ides of March	$318,682

The Hunger Games did OK in gross. It is aiming for a $700,000 beginning. Nightfall had a solid hold although its drop will get bigger this weekend. A Simple Life did well; it should also expect a bigger fall this weekend as Love in the Buff gets special screenings. Terrible for John Carter. 2m will probably still happen unless if the Love in the Puff sneaks manage to kill its Saturday/Sunday gross. Bad all around for Jack & Jill, Love Lifting and The Second Woman. The Iron Lady had another iffy hold. No one cares for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Awful for Carnage.

Love in the Buff is getting mostly full day sneak previews at almost every location. Pre-sales have been very good. It is going to rank #4 this weekend.

THG is getting mixed reactions in an online film forum. Most complaints are from those who have read the book. They are saying the movie leaves out details from the book so essential that it misses out on the emotional impact felt through the book.

Some says the camera work and editing deliberately gives a semi-docu feel to the movie but it does not work well like it does in Super 8. But a book reader actually thinks the camera work and editing are the only merits of the movie.

	Friday adm.	(so far)			March 23
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games	--	7,108	--	+44.5%
2	A Simple Life	11,336	6,557	-42.2%	+70.3%
3	Nightfall	9,554	5,114	-46.5%	+34.6%
4	John Carter 3D	3,789	1,179	-68.9%	-6.1%
5	Jack & Jill	--	878	--	+60.5%

	Friday adm.				March 23
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games	--	17,494	--	+35.3%
2	Nightfall	23,251	15,761	-32.2%	+39.5%
3	A Simple Life	19,883	12,208	-38.6%	+45.1%
4	Jack & Jill	--	2,734	--	+59.7%
5	John Carter 3D	8,134	2,129	--	+13.6%

Good for The Hunger Games. Nice work for Nightfall. I was expecting it to be closer to A Simple Life. Instead, it widened the gap. A Simple Life seems to be running on fumes now. Still poor for Jack and Jill. That small increase isn't comforting for John Carter. It'll be lucky to break $100,000 for the weekend now.

Langham Place - Saturday March 24 admissions

Langham Place
	A Simple Life					The Hunger Games					Nightfall
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Mar. 24	8:50 AM	43	180	23.9%	Mar. 24	9:50 AM	43	191	22.5%	Mar. 24	2:10 PM	122	202	60.4%
	11:00 AM	36	202	17.8%		12:40 PM	40	180	22.2%		4:15 PM	135	202	66.8%
	1:15 PM	65	202	32.2%		2:20 PM	120	191	62.8%		7:50 PM	136	180	75.6%
	3:30 PM	142	202	70.3%		5:00 PM	132	191	69.1%		10:10 PM	124	202	61.4%
	5:30 PM	117	180	65.0%		7:30 PM	145	202	71.8%		12:30 AM	4	180	2.2%
	7:40 PM	134	191	70.2%		9:50 PM	128	180	71.1%		2:30 AM	0	180	0.0%
	10:00 PM	81	191	42.4%		12:10 AM	21	202	10.4%
	12:20 AM	4	191	2.1%		1:40 AM	4	191	2.1%
	2:40 AM	0	191	0.0%
Total		622	1730	36.0%	Total		633	1528	41.4%	Total		521	1146	45.5%

I probably should have added Love in the Buff in the table. Anyways, no one seems to be running away with this. Very tight between the top 3 in admissions. It looks like The Hunger Games is playing well with families and couples as the 4 main showtimes all seem to be close to each other. Its admissions number for the midnight showing is fantastic as well. A Simple Life is doing good in daytime showtimes although night shows still seem to be a soft spot. Morning shows haven't been as robust as the last 2 weeks for it. Nightfall seems steady all around.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			March 24
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games	--	10,922	--	+53.7%
2	A Simple Life	18,839	9,698	-48.5%	+47.9%
3	Nightfall	11,853	8,010	-32.4%	+56.6%
4	Love in the Buff	--	6,457	--	--
5	The Iron Lady	4,288	1,444	-66.3%	--

I expected a slightly higher number for The Hunger Games. I still think it will pass 26k today. A Simple Life has been slowly dying in pre-sales this weekend. I wonder if it will pick up with walk-ins today. Bigger falls expected today and Sunday. Nightfall seems steady but it will have harsher drops today and tomorrow. Love in the Buff could possibly hit top 3 today. I wouldn't count it out to slip past Nightfall for #2 today. Big dive by The Iron Lady.

	Saturday adm.				March 24
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games	--	27,500	--	+57.2%
2	Nightfall	41,481	21,000	-49.4%	+33.2%
3	A Simple Life	38,259	17,500	-54.3%	+43.3%
4	Love in the Buff	--	13,500	--	--

Figures for the top 4 are estimates through 9 PM. Final actuals are higher. Strong for The Hunger Games. Nightfall did OK. A Simple Life looks to be running out of gas. Very good opening for Love in the Buff.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			March 25
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	A Simple Life	21,929	11,203	-48.9%	+15.5%
2	The Hunger Games	--	10,298	--	-5.7%
3	Nightfall	13,588	7,652	-43.7%	-4.5%
4	Love in the Buff	--	5,265	--	-18.5%
5	John Carter 3D	7,380	1,541	-79.1%	--

Big increase for A Simple Life. The Hunger Games is still doing good. Nightfall is slowly slipping back. Huge drop-off for Love in the Buff but these previews will be added onto next week's gross. Shockingly bad for John Carter.

	Weekend Projections			March 22
Rank	Title	TW (est.)	% chg	Total (est.)
1	The Hunger Games	$750,000		$750,000
2	Nightfall	$460,000	-44.5%	$1,610,000
3	A Simple Life	$380,000	-45.7%	$2,850,000
4	Love in the Buff	$145,000		$145,000
5	Jack and Jill	$75,000		$75,000

OK for The Hunger Games. Its start wasn't anything spectacular but it could have done a lot worse. WOM is mixed here. I don't see it having spectacular holds the next few weeks. Nightfall and A Simple Life are still pulling their weight although both seem to be losing steam. Nightfall is headed for about 2.2m while A Simple Life should close with about 3.3m. Love in the Buff had strong pre-sales which bodes really well for next weekend. Terrible for Jack and Jill.

	Sunday adm.				March 25
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games	--	27,121	--	-1.4%
2	Nightfall	37,930	19,973	-47.3%	-4.9%
3	A Simple Life	36,781	18,619	-49.4%	+6.4%
4	Love in the Buff	--	15,120	--	+12.0%
5	John Carter 3D	14,204	3,089	-78.3%	--

Good for The Hunger Games. Sunday's drop for Nightfall should be closer to -10% in admissions. A Simple Life had a potent Sunday. Love in the Buff is showing strength. Major collapse by John Carter.

	Weekend adm.			Mar 22-25
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	The Hunger Games*	--	85,048	--
2	Nightfall*	123,659	68,033	-45.0%
3	A Simple Life*	110,338	56,740	-48.6%
4	Love in the Buff*	--	28,620	--

Note: Admissions for the top 4 includes Saturday's numbers which are 9 PM estimates.

	Weekend Estimates			March 22
Rank	Title	TW (est.)	% chg	Total (est.)
1	The Hunger Games	$775,000		$775,000
2	Nightfall	$480,000	-42.1%	$1,630,000
3	A Simple Life	$380,000	-45.7%	$2,850,000
4	Love in the Buff	$200,000		$200,000
5	John Carter	$80,000	-80.2%	$1,840,000

The Hunger Games had a decent opening. The majority of its admissions were from walk-ins. Nightfall had a pretty good drop but pre-sales have been getting weaker and weaker which suggest most of the target audience has watched it. Walk-ins remain steady. A Simple Life had a fairly huge drop considering the recent awards but pre-sales remain very active. Walk-ins have been sluggish though. Very strong opening from Love in the Buff. Weak for John Carter. 2m might be out of its reach.

The Hunger Games weekend actual: $709,000

Thursday schedules (Broadway)

Olympian City
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Love in the Buff - 11 showings	Love Lifting - 1 showing (▼ 5)	Jack and Jill
Wrath of the Titans - 6 showings	The Hunger Games - 5 showings (▼ 7)	John Carter 3D
The Grey - 5 showings	Nightfall - 5 showings (▼ 6)
	A Simple Life - 1 showing (▼ 6)
	The Iron Lady - 1 showing (▼ 2)

Palace APM
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Love in the Buff - 12 showings	Jack and Jill - 2 showings (▼ 5)	The Iron Lady
Wrath of the Titans - 8 showings	Love Lifting - 1 showing (▼ 3)	The Second Woman
The Grey - 6 showings	The Hunger Games - 4 showings (▼ 11)
	Nightfall - 7 showings (▼ 12)
	A Simple Life - 2 showings (▼ 4)

Love in the Buff is commanding a lot of showtimes. Let's see if it'll be enough to defeat Wrath of the Titans in 3D. The Grey is getting mostly full-day showtimes at several locations. This should be going semi-wide to wide. Holdover Nightfall got saved the most but I don't see it having a great drop. The Hunger Games doesn't look like it will have a very great hold this week especially when it's not getting 2 screens this weekend. A Simple Life could fall over 60% this weekend depending on how UA schedules the films this week. Jack and Jill, John Carter, The Second Woman, Love Lifting and The Iron Lady are all sacrificial lambs.

More Thursday schedules (Broadway)

Pacific Place
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Wrath of the Titans - 6 showings	Carnage - 2 showings (▼ 4)
The Grey - 5 showings	Jack and Jill - 3 showings (▼ 5)
	The Hunger Games - 7 showings (▼ 8)
	Nightfall - 4 showings (▼ 6)
	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - 2 showings (▼ 4)
	A Simple Life - 1 showing (▼ 2)
	The Iron Lady - 3 showings (▼ 4)
	A Separation - 1 showing (-)

The One
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Love in the Buff - 10 showings	Jack and Jill - 1 showing (▼ 5)	The Second Woman
Wrath of the Titans - 7 showings	The Hunger Games - 5 showings (▼ 10)
The Grey - 5 showings	Nightfall - 6 showings (▼ 11)
	A Simple Life - 1 showing (▼ 5)
	The Iron Lady - 1 showing (-)

Thursday UA schedules

Langham Place
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Love in the Buff - 9 showings	The Hunger Games - 11 showings (▼ 12)	Jack and Jill
Wrath of the Titans - 7 showings	Love Lifting - 1 showing (▼ 3)	The Second Woman
The Grey - 2 showings	Nightfall - 3 showings (▼ 7)	Love Strikes
	A Simple Life - 6 showings (▼ 7)	John Carter 3D

Windsor Cinema
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Love in the Buff - 4 showings	The Hunger Games - 7 showings (-)	Nightfall
	A Simple Life - 5 showings (▼ 6)	Carnage

iSquare
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Love in the Buff - 5 showings	The Hunger Games - 6 showings (-)	Nightfall
	A Simple Life - 5 showings (▼ 6)	Love Strikes
	Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara - 1 showing (-)	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The Hunger Games is in full command at UA theaters. Love in the Buff will get a bit of screen time there but for the most part, Hunger and A Simple Life are the two movies that UA theaters will show the most. Wrath of the Titans is also getting booked into UA theaters but not to the extent of Love in the Buff. Nightfall is the big loser here, losing half of its UA locations this weekend. Other big losers at this theater chain are Jack and Jill, The Second Woman, Carnage and John Carter.

March 29 Predictions

March 22 Weekend/Total Actuals

1 Nightfall - $1,618,699
2 The Hunger Games - $720,359 (weekend actual)
3 A Simple Life - $2,822,810
4 John Carter - $1,845,239
5 The Iron Lady - $666,783
6 Jack and Jill - $71,084 (weekend actual)
7 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - $106,159
8 Love Lifting - $47,976/64,832 (weekend actual)
9 Love Strikes - $78,899
10 The Second Woman - $26,383 (weekend actual)

	Thursday adm.	(so far)		March 29
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Love in the Buff	--	7,994	--
2	Wrath of the Titans 3D	--	3,690	--
3	The Hunger Games	4,918	2,345	-52.3%
4	A Simple Life	3,850	1,811	-53.0%
5	Nightfall	3,798	1,154	-69.6%

Love in the Buff admissions will go up quickly with walk-ins. Not good for Wrath of the Titans at all. The Hunger Games's drop is OK. A Simple Life fell decently considering the loss of showtimes. Harsh drop for Nightfall but walk-ins will push it past A Simple Life today and most likely tomorrow.

Honourable mention - Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Rise of the Planet of the Apes had a couple of uncertainties leading up to its release but all of that got flattened as Apes posted a $1.05m opening weekend, beating out Cars 2 on the traditional 4-day weekend. It held well in its 2nd weekend before succumbing to the weight of all the competition in the following 3 weekends and walked away with 3.07m total.

6. Overheard 2



Released: August 18
OW - $889,778
Total - $3,092,131 (3.48 multiplier)

Like many local crime dramas before it, Overheard 2 is the quintessential film. It has recognizable actors, action, high stakes drama and a suitable soundtrack accompanying the movie. What propelled it to new heights was great word of mouth that sustained its grip over the HK box office in its first 4 weeks of release. After the disappointment of the first Overheard, many were concerned that Overheard 2 would either be a rehash of the original or experience an even worse dip in quality. Their concerns would soon turn into anticipation as positive reviews rolled in and declared this better than the first one.

Slipping into the August 18 release date, it was the first of its kind for months and it powered ahead on opening weekend, taking in more than the other two openers, Larry Crowne and Final Destination 5, combined. In admissions, this took control on Thursday, storming to #1 with an average 18,374 admissions. WOM started to seep through as Friday bounced back with a 44% increase to lead all releases with a solid 26,363 admissions number. Saturday nearly doubled Friday's number as it took advantage of the great WOM and weekend and it pounced, shooting up 94% to 51,196 admissions, one of the best Saturday % increases of the 2011 summer. That wouldn't even be the highlight of its weekend as it slithered up another 9% on Sunday to finish off the weekend with 55,552 admissions and a whopping 151,485 in admissions over the 4-day weekend. That admissions number translated to $889,778 for the 4-day weekend. Its opening weekend beat the likes of other recent fellow local dramas by a big margin including The Beast Stalker, The Stool Pigeon and the first Overheard. Overheard 2 increased from the first Overheard by 30% and made more than $200,000 extra than its predecessor opening weekend.

2nd weekend brought the release of the sci-fi Western Cowboys & Aliens and 5 other releases. When Cowboys & Aliens' release date was first announced, there was much anticipation but interest started to wane in the weeks leading up to its opening day. That set the stage for Overheard 2 to deliver a good hold and it did just that. It fell 37% on its 2nd Thursday and fell 28% for the weekend to an outstanding 1.94m in 11 days. It would pass the first Overheard and 2m by the end of week 2, making it the biggest local crime drama in the past 3 years.

Its 3rd weekend saw kids go back to school but its drop remained steady declined only 35%. By contrast, The Stool Pigeon fluttered away 58%, The Beast Stalker 60% and Overheard 49% on their 3rd weekends respectively. It cruised to its 3rd weekend on top with a magnificent $416,066 for a 2.6m total.

4th weekend threw a wrench into Overheard 2's quest for a top 10 spot as 6 new openers clamored for screens that week. It performed below par and squandered 65% to put its 3m hopes in jeopardy and a place in the top 10 out of reach.

Things didn't go much better for Overheard 2 in its 5th weekend as it delivered the worst PSA of any film in the top 10 that week and fumbled 59% but one bright spot did happen. It hit its next milestone in 3m and snuck out a 5th week in the top 10.

6th weekend was the end of the road for it as it lost 60% and had the worst PSA of the top 15 but it tiptoed by Rise of the Planet of the Apes in the end.

While most of the damage was done in the first two-thirds of its run, it proved to doubters and critics alike that sequels can make a good run at the box office in the summer. This not only beat Overheard's opening weekend but consistently performed better than it in drops which was definitely not expected. Where most of the local box office faded into the background, this completely ran away and put local films back on the map in a way not many people visualized.

Top 10 Surprises of 2011 Recap (so far)

10. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
9. X-Men: First Class
8. Mr. Popper's Penguins
7. Fast Five
6. Overheard 2

All schedules updated along with new May schedule posted.

								Mar. 22 WKD
Rank	Film Title	Distributor	Weekend BO	Weeks	Theaters	Per Theater Average	% change	B.O. Cume
1	Hunger Games, The	UA Films/Emperor	$721,445	1	37	$19,499		$997,753
2	Night Fall	Edko	$457,758	2	39	$11,737	-45%	$1,773,481
3	Simple Life, A	UA Films/DW	$348,023	3	38	$9,159	-50%	$2,950,130
4	John Carter	Walt Disney Int'l	$86,691	3	31	$2,796	-79%	$1,882,672
5	Jack And Jill	Sony Int'l	$71,119	1	21	$3,387		$101,113
6	Love Lifting	Gala Films	$64,812	1	15	$4,321		$95,962
7	Iron Lady, The	Edko	$44,634	3	12	$3,720	-69%	$684,059
8	Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy	Deltamac	$30,465	2	8	$3,808	-44%	$117,412
9	The Second Woman	Golden Scene	$26,476	1	18	$1,471		$40,589
10	Carnage	Golden Scene	$23,784	1	6	$3,964		$33,906

Decent opening for The Hunger Games. Nice hold for Nightfall. Not bad for A Simple Life. John Carter got trampled. Terrible for Jack and Jill. Awful for Love Lifting. The Iron Lady twisted the wrong way. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy had a respectable hold. Horrible for The Second Woman. Weak for Carnage.

	Thursday adm.			March 29
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Love in the Buff	--	18,662	--
2	The Hunger Games	12,933	7,411	-42.7%
3	Wrath of the Titans 3D	--	6,534	--
4	A Simple Life	8,413	4,048	-51.9%
5	Nightfall	11,299	3,622	-67.9%

Healthy start for Love in the Buff. It is just a little bit behind You Are the Apple of My Eye's opening Thursday admissions. Quite good for The Hunger Games. Poor for Wrath of the Titans although I can't help but feel that its admissions are being under-reported like John Carter. Decent for A Simple Life. Sizable drop for Nightfall.

Release Date	Movie Title
April 4	Titanic 3D Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf 4
April 5	Mirror Mirror The Lorax Guilty of Romance Man on a Ledge The Soul of Bread Bollywood: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
April 8	Long Qing Shi Yi Ban Shi Ji
April 11	Battleship
April 12	Shame Sunny
April 19	407 Dark Flight The Cold Light of Day In Darkness Machine Gun Preacher Any Other Side Silenced Lives in Flames
April 26	The Avengers First Time Declaration of War Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels

April should be a very profitable month. We'll have 3 weekends where total grosses should be over 2m, maybe all 4 weeks if April 19 turns out to have 1 or 2 shockers.

April begins with Easter weekend and this year, there's going to be some serious money-making. April 4, 6, 8 and 9 are all public holidays so grosses are expected to pull in amazing business over the week. With the Ching Ming Festival on April 4, studios have offered to release some movies on April 4 (Titanic and Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf 4) while others are offering special night previews (Mirror Mirror) so all movies will probably have some sort of advanced previews on April 4 leaving it with inflated grosses for the "4-day weekend". This week could top 5m total (Tues-Mon). Titanic is going to be the big movie as couples (ladies and their forced significant others) will storm theaters ready to reminisce about Leo back in his younger days. On tap, however, is Mirror Mirror, also ready to do some mega business. Romance movies are trending toward being more popular nowadays especially with the explosion of Apple of My Eye last year. Other offerings like The Soul of Bread and Guilty of Romance will most likely be for a small target audience. The Lorax will play heavily to children as they have been ignored for the past 2 months. Man on a Ledge is hoping to benefit from the action crowd like Source Code last year but that had a more interesting premise than this. Ledge has also been delayed at least twice which doesn't bode well for it. Bollywood hopes to work like 3 Idiots did and start small but gradually increase its earnings.

April 12 will feature Battleship and pretty much nothing else. The April 11 sneaks will beef up its gross for the weekend and it is looking at a weekend of about 1.2m right now. It should be a hit but not a mega blockbuster. I can't help but wonder if Battleship should have moved to Easter here because it will have 4 holidays instead of only 3. The Wednesday holiday along with the Friday-Monday layoff could help its grosses. Right now though, I also think Battleship could get away with having some special screenings Easter weekend. None of this year's films really stand out except Titanic but Titanic is a wildcard. It could easily surprise or flop. Therefore, Battleship having early previews could get people talking before its release. Shame should be a limited release. Sunny will play to a niche audience.

April 19 is the "dead" weekend of the month as distributors and studios look to put their blah films to die. None of them are expected to gross more than $400,000 at this point for the weekend.

The Avengers will mark the territory on April 26. Early predictions seem to have it at 1.8m for OW. First Time, Declaration of War and Thomas & Friends are all counterprogramming. The Avengers will continue to play strongly with the May 1 holiday the next week and no real strong competition until Men in Black III on March 24.

		Thursday Actuals						March 29
LW	TW	Title	Last Thu. (USD)	Thursday (USD)	% chg	Theaters	Days	Total
--	1	Love in the Buff	--	$143,113	--	46	1	$423,751
--	2	Wrath of the Titans	--	$105,159	--	43	1	$109,471
1	3	The Hunger Games	$111,145	$64,189	-42.2%	39	8	$1,061,119
2	4	Nightfall	$77,170	$27,242	-64.7%	31	15	$1,815,054
3	5	A Simple Life	$54,394	$26,530	-51.2%	35	21	$2,981,991
--	6	The Grey	--	$14,514	--	16	1	$14,514
--	7	Love Actually…Sucks	--	$5,243	--	5	1	$5,243
6	8	Love Lifting	$8,143	$5,243	-35.6%	12	8	$101,743
5	9	Jack and Jill	$11,179	$3,506	-68.6%	12	8	$104,319
8	10	The Iron Lady	$7,191	$3,346	-53.5%	8	22	$687,971

John Carter	$1,882,142
Mr. & Mrs. Gambler	$750,290
Hugo	$659,582
The Artist	$423,751
The Ides of March	$318,976

Good opening for Love in the Buff. It looks headed to over 1m this weekend including previews. It looks like Wrath's opening Thursday admissions were underestimated like John Carter. Its opening Thursday gross doesn't change the fact that it is below average for a 3D film of this magnitude. Wrath is heading to about $600,000-$700,000. Good hold for The Hunger Games. Nightfall nosedived. A Simple Life did decently although weekend drops will be larger. The Grey debuted softly. Love Actually...Sucks did OK on Thursday. Love Lifting declined well. Jack & Jill completely fell apart. The Iron Lady did better than recent Thursday holds.

Weekend will be very interesting to watch as nothing is pulling away. All of the top 5 is experiencing slow pre-sales at different theaters.

	Friday adm.	(so far)			March 30
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Love in the Buff	--	11,563	--	+44.6%
2	The Hunger Games	7,108	5,936	-16.5%	+153.1%
3	A Simple Life	6,557	2,561	-60.9%	+41.4%
4	Wrath of the Titans 3D	--	2,232	--	-39.5%
5	Nightfall	5,114	2,002	-60.9%	+73.5%

	Friday adm.				March 30
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Love in the Buff	--	24,737	--	+32.6%
2	The Hunger Games	17,494	14,690	-16.0%	+98.2%
3	Wrath of the Titans 3D	--	12,910	--	+97.6%
4	Nightfall	15,761	6,118	-61.2%	+68.9%
5	A Simple Life	12,208	5,206	-57.4%	+28.6%

Just an ok increase for Love in the Buff. The Hunger Games had an excellent drop. Wrath's Thursday admissions look to be underestimated so I'm assuming these Friday admissions are more in line with its actual admissions. (Only 80% of HK theaters are included.) Nightfall is still posting hefty drops although it did increase a healthy 69% on Friday. A Simple Life is running out of steam. That is its biggest admissions drop on the weekend since it opened.

_______________________________________________________________________
Facts about the top 5 surprises of 2011

- None of them are from the summer. 4/5 films of the bottom tier of the top 10 are summer hits; there are no summer entrants in the top 5.

- Only 2 movies are from Hollywood.

- 2 of the top 5 are 3D releases.

- 4 of the top 5 are huge hits in Hong Kong but may not be everywhere else.

Can you guess the top 5 and in what order?

You're the Apple of My Eye, 3 Idiots, Sex & Zen 3D, Sanctum 3D, X-Men: First Class.

Piece of cake.

Nice try but not quite. All will be revealed soon.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			March 31
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Love in the Buff	6,457	16,117	+149.6%	+39.4%
2	Wrath of the Titans 3D	--	8,541	--	+282.7%
3	The Hunger Games	10,922	6,426	-41.2%	+8.3%
4	A Simple Life	9,698	4,318	-55.5%	+68.6%
5	Nightfall	8,010	2,552	-68.1%	+27.5%

	Saturday adm.				March 31
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Love in the Buff	13,500	43,240	+220.3%	+74.8%
2	The Hunger Games	27,500	22,115	-19.6%	+50.5%
3	Wrath of the Titans 3D	--	21,971	--	+70.2%
4	Nightfall	21,000	10,186	-51.5%	+66.5%
5	A Simple Life	17,500	10,125	-42.1%	+94.5%

	Weekend Projections			March 29
Rank	Title	TW (est.)	% chg	Total (est.)
1	Love in the Buff	$950,000		$1,230,000
2	Wrath of the Titans	$650,000		$650,000
3	The Hunger Games	$470,000	-34.9%	$1,470,000
4	Nightfall	$190,000	-58.5%	$1,965,000
5	A Simple Life	$170,000	-51.1%	$3,120,000

Explosive opening for Love in the Buff. It not only crushes Wrath of the Titans but surpasses Love in a Puff's total in 4 days (+ sneaks). Wrath of the Titans got sidelined by Buff. If it wasn't facing such tough competition, it would have done a lot better, possibly a 1m start. Interesting to note that Wrath of the Titans has not beaten Clash of the Titans admissions on any given day. Thursday, Friday and Saturday's Wrath admissions have all come in below Clash's admissions on those particular days. The Hunger Games had an exceptional outing. Even though the top 2 combined for more than 1.5m, it only dropped 35%. Good WOM must be spreading. Nightfall took a turn for the worst this weekend. A Simple Life is holding on but interest is dying down.

Titanic sneaks start on April 3. Ticket sales have been selling out quickly in IMAX. Regular theaters are doing fine. The only problem is the running time and theaters do not have that many screens to allocate especially with 9 releases out this weekend.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			April 1
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Love in the Buff	5,265	14,951	+184.0%	-7.2%
2	Wrath of the Titans 3D	--	9,524	--	+11.5%
3	The Hunger Games	10,298	6,161	-40.2%	-4.1%
4	A Simple Life	11,203	5,233	-53.3%	+21.2%
5	Nightfall	7,652	2,956	-61.4%	+15.8%

	Sunday adm.				April 1
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Love in the Buff	15,120	36,284	+140.0%	-16.1%
2	Wrath of the Titans 3D	--	19,762	--	-10.1%
3	The Hunger Games	27,121	16,880	-37.8%	-23.7%
4	A Simple Life	18,619	9,558	-48.7%	-5.6%
5	Nightfall	19,973	8,599	-56.9%	-15.6%

	Weekend adm.			Mar 29-Apr 1
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Love in the Buff*	28,620	122,923	+329.5%
2	Wrath of the Titans 3D	--	61,177	--
3	The Hunger Games*	85,048	61,096	-28.2%
4	A Simple Life*	56,740	28,937	-49.0%
5	Nightfall*	68,033	28,525	-58.1%

Note: Last weekend's admissions includes Saturday estimates.

	Weekend Estimates			March 29
Rank	Title	TW (est.)	% chg	Total (est.)
1	Love in the Buff	$950,000		$1,230,000
2	Wrath of the Titans	$675,000		$675,000
3	The Hunger Games	$470,000	-34.9%	$1,470,000
4	Nightfall	$190,000	-58.5%	$1,965,000
5	A Simple Life	$170,000	-51.1%	$3,120,000

April 5 Predictions

Wrath beat The Hunger Games at the finish line in admissions. Love in the Buff had a pretty strong Sunday even though 7,000 admissions disappeared in 1 day. A Simple Life managed to slip by Nightfall, something it also took the finish line to do.

There are no real changes to estimates although that Wrath number may be too low. The Hunger Games had an amazing hold this weekend. It's going to pass 2m with ease now. The Nightfall and A Simple Life battle is going on strong. Nightfall will still have the edge when actuals come in but grosses will be much closer this weekend than they have been the 2 previous weekends.

Wednesday outlook

Love in the Buff is firmly in front. Titanic is doing well with limited showtimes. Mirror Mirror sneaks have been lukewarm. Wrath is doing OK. Hunger Games has done slightly better than Wrath in admissions.

Thursday

Early theater schedules are seeing big cuts for holdovers. The Hunger Games, Nightfall, A Simple Life are all down to 1 showtime per day at different locations. Wrath of the Titans gets half day showtimes while Love in the Buff is carrying around 2 screens.

The openers are posting intriguing results. Mirror Mirror and The Lorax are getting full day and half day showtimes respectively at a number of theaters. Titanic is only getting half day showtimes. Man on a Ledge is showing half day. Brutal scheduling for the holdovers so far.

Tuesday watch
Titanic has not made it into the top 5 admissions yet today.

Thursday schedules

Palace APM
New	Holdovers	Leaving
The Lorax (3D Can.) - 5 showings	Wrath of the Titans 3D - 6 showings (▼ 9)	The Iron Lady
Man on a Ledge - 5 showings	Love in the Buff - 13 showings (▼ 17)	The Second Woman
Mirror Mirror (Eng.) - 5 showings	The Grey - 1 showing (▼ 5)
The Soul of Bread - 1 showing	The Hunger Games - 1 showing (▼ 3)
Titanic 3D - 3 showings	Nightfall - 6 showings (▼ 8)
	A Simple Life - 1 showing (▼ 2)

Festival Walk
New	Holdovers	Leaving
The Lorax (3D Can.) - 2 showings	Wrath of the Titans 3D - 6 showings (▼ 7)	Jack and Jill
The Lorax (3D Eng.) - 5 showings	Love in the Buff - 6 showings (▼ 7)	A Separation
Man on a Ledge - 4 showings	The Grey - 2 showings (▼ 5)
Mirror Mirror (Eng.) - 6 showings	The Hunger Games - 5 showings (▼ 8)
Titanic 3D - 3 showings	Nightfall - 5 showings (▼ 6)
	A Simple Life - 3 showings (▼ 5)
	The Iron Lady - 2 showings (-)

Langham Place
New	Holdovers	Leaving
The Lorax (3D Can.) - 4 showings	The Hunger Games - 8 showings (▼ 10)	The Grey
Man on a Ledge - 5 showings	Wrath of the Titans 3D - 6 showings (▼ 7)	Nightfall
Mirror Mirror (Eng.) - 4 showings	Love in the Buff - 8 showings (▼ 9)
Mirror Mirror (Can.) - 1 showing	A Simple Life - 2 showings (▼ 5)
Titanic 3D - 2 showings

No really outstanding debuts expected this week. Theaters seem to be going forward with Buff and Wrath. I am not convinced that Wrath will do normal holiday business. It seems very frontloaded to my eye.

The Hunger Games is losing some theaters and showtimes at Broadway. UA will continue to promote this.

There's no real clear consensus except for Love in the Buff repeating as the top film. Everything else seems to be in a big pack huddled together.

________________________________________________

The Avengers has gotten one of the biggest marketing campaigns ever here. This has been promoted ever since January and no other film has seen that kind of early promotion. It should be able to reach 2m but there are things that concern me about the OW for this film. While marketing has been extremely aggressive, all 4 of the superhero films last year couldn't pass 1.3m OW. Iron Man 2 came up with 1.53m with a 3-day weekend against Ip Man 2 (Battle of the 'Man' sequels). 3D should help it clear 2m OW although superhero movies tend to get stuck in a rut after opening weekend.

One good thing that is helping is that none of the openers after it will be very big including Dark Shadows. I think this could run the table for about a month before Men in Black 3 takes over.

There could be some overlap with Battleship's 3rd weekend but I don't think it will affect it too much. I don't see Battleship making much money as it seems to grab people by hype, explosions and the nametag 'Transformers' and not by WOM. There is a minuscule chance though that Battleship does break out and if that's the case then The Avengers should see OW returns down.

The 1st major contender of the summer arrives April 26.

Weekend actuals

1. Love in the Buff - $1,180,786
2. Wrath of the Titans - $614,185
The Grey - $84,981

Holy crap, that is terrible for Wrath.

	Tuesday adm.					April 3
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg	% chg from Fri.
1	Love in the Buff	--	30,035	--	--	+21.4%
2	Wrath of the Titans 3D	--	12,964	--	--	+0.4%
3	The Hunger Games	--	12,859	--	--	-12.5%
4	Nightfall	--	5,702	--	--	-6.8%
5	A Simple Life	--	5,524	--	--	+6.1%

Love in the Buff is doing really well. Good increase. Not liking that number for Wrath. Ouch for The Hunger Games. Nightfall is bleeding admissions badly. A Simple Life increased due to the holiday effect.

	Wednesday adm.	(so far)				April 4
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg	% chg from Sat. so far
1	Love in the Buff	--	17,602	--	--	+9.2%
2	Wrath of the Titans 3D	--	7,789	--	--	-8.8%
3	Titanic 3D	--	7,313	--	--
4	The Hunger Games	--	6,253	--	--	-2.7%
5	A Simple Life	--	4,871	--	--	+12.8%

Love in the Buff could reach 50,000 admissions today. Wrath is continuing to lose admissions by the day here. Not a good sign. Excellent start for Titanic! It'll definitely be frontloaded but this might hit $200,000-$250,000 opening day. Underwhelming for The Hunger Games. Longer action films should do well on holidays. Great showing for A Simple Life.

	Wednesday adm.					April 4
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg	% chg from Sat.
1	Love in the Buff	--	43,364	--	--	+0.3%
2	The Hunger Games	--	18,362	--	--	-17.0%
3	Wrath of the Titans 3D	--	17,419	--	--	-20.7%
4	Titanic 3D	--	11,563	--	--	--
5	A Simple Life	--	9,205	--	--	-9.6%

Excellent for Love in the Buff. Hefty drops for The Hunger Games and Wrath of the Titans. Great opening for Titanic 3D. This is going to at least double all 3D re-releases' OWs in the past 3 years. Not bad for A Simple Life.
__________________________
Interestingly enough, The Lorax was supposed to get an IMAX release this weekend but Titanic snatched it away. I don't know how FOX pulled it off but it's working as Titanic is about 75-85% full for all showtimes (advanced ticketing released up until Easter Monday).

Wrath is getting some IMAX showtimes too but it's doing the opposite of Titanic, only 5-10% full with each showtime.