Well I do think this is box office worthy, so don't move it yet!

Google has just come out with "Google Trends," where you can type stuff in and see the volume of searches on it, and exactly where the searches are taking place. I think as box office watchers, this will be IMMENSELY helpful, and could help us better gauge how a film is doing, and in particular more accurately gauge international performance (which has been quite difficult at times). For example, I type in "Da Vinci Code," and to no surprise, searches from Paris are among the top 5.

The best part is, you can see the peaks of volume searches, so I think this will be helpful in comparing how well a trailer was received compared to an earlier one. For example, we might expect a better received trailer to see a higher increase in volume for a film.

Anyways, here it is, I think we should definitely use this and look at the summer box office in depth.

Or maybe I'm the only one that finds this remotely interesting! haha.

http://www.google.com/trends


And yes, I know there are other "buzz" gauges, but I think this one is much more informative than alot of the other ones, which are more short term based (ex Yahoo Buzz), while this shows more clear long term patterns.

well...maybe. but tis too close....for example, superman and pirates are very close so tis hard to tell which has more googler buzz.

Ex of application:

Snakes on a plane search: 10 ten searches all domestic (expected)

Over The Hedge: 9 domestic, 1 UK top search

Xmen 3: Mostly domestic

The Break Up: Top search from Chicago, which is also Vince Vaughn's hometown. Coincidence? I don't think so!

Superman: It looks like it could do really, really well in Brazil if these searches are indicative of possible box office.

Charlotte's Web: Domestic dominates 2/3 top 3, so this could be indicative of a lack of international interest...

I think this will be a great box office tool!

I know, but we can split up buzz info alot!

-Monthly/yearly breakdowns
-Country by country breakdown
-City by city breakdown (including top cities in country)
-Language breakdown

They also have markers of big movie news events, and where they fit on w/ the top search graphs. It's quite useful, and from what I've been searching, its corresponding well w/ past box office numbers. For example, Germany has 7/10 searches for Ice Age 2, and has been its strongest performer by far non-domestic.

This looks promising, but it's effectiveness will be limited until Google has much of its mainstream base using it. Even Yahoo's Buzz Chart, which has been generally helpful, has proven to be off enough where reliable buzz may be difficult to gauge consistently. But, any tool like this is helpful, so let's keep an eye on it.

I say go for it.

It can't be much worse than Swimfan's MovieFone.

But you really can't beat Ronnie's Parking Lot reports. I think they may revolutionize the way we predict movies!

http://www.google.com/trends?q=da+vinci ... 06&geo=all

http://www.google.com/trends?q=da+vinci ... ate=2006-4

Check out April 2006, Superman and Da Vinci Code

It's VERY close between them.

http://www.google.com/trends?q=da+vinci ... ate=2006-4

If anyone has any doubts about whether Da Vinci Code, just take a look at this:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=mission+ ... 06&geo=all

It's not even close!

Here's just domestic:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=mission+ ... &date=2006

Btw, if the graph does not show up, push search again...

I wonder if this will create any new members to the Da Vinci Code 300m club


The Da Vinci Code is almost as popular as jesus
http://www.google.com/trends?q=da+vinci ... &date=2006

More Popular than Britney Spears
http://www.google.com/trends?q=da+vinci ... &date=2006

More Popular than Superman Returns
http://www.google.com/trends?q=da+vinci ... &date=2006

And Much, Much, Much more popular than protected sex
http://www.google.com/trends?q=da+vinci ... &date=2006

HAHAHAHA check this out.

http://www.google.com/trends?q=fat+porn

Can anyone really savy with international numbers help me interpret how well Google trends reflected some of these international openings in terms of overperforming and underperforming? Thanks in advance!

Uh.. I just looked at the graphs and as presented the data is a month behind.. In other words the 'ordinate' is divided into months, but the data only runs through April..
1. Maybe Google is selling more recent trends to the companies, and delaying their release to the public...
2. or the graph needs to be shifted one month on the ordinate...
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One should also note that the public searches follow 'news' mentions.. So advertising works to get more hits, but more hits can be a down trend if it comes from a concern over content.. Thus the Phillipines(Catholic) have the highest searches but may have a low theater box...
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vector 496.... cheers

Funny... first thing I did when I went there is do the Da Vinci vs. X-Men one, too and it's a pretty big disconnect between the two. Da VInci Code has slowly creeped up over the course of April while X-Men is just sitting there.

Here's some fun comparisons:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=Ian+Mcke ... l&date=all

but:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Magneto% ... l&date=all

i think DVC is now more popular than jesus, considering its may and this was what it looked like late april
http://www.google.com/trends?q=da+vinci ... ate=2006-4

Da vinci code is searched because there is a lot of talk about it in the media and some people who havnt read it want to know more about it. Add all the people who are searching about the book + all the people searching about the movie - and you have a huge number.