Glad Spectre is doing well. Superb film. I'd see it again if I could.

	Thursday adm.	(so far)		November 19
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	% chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	6,999	--
2	Spectre	3,998	1,268	-68.3%
3	Return of the Cuckoo	--	1,206	--
4	She Remembers, He Forgets	730	706	-3.3%
5	Our Times	964	394	-59.1%
6	The Anthem of the Heart	--	207	--
7	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	347	138	-60.2%
7	Miss Hokusai	--	138	--
9	Lost in Hong Kong	--	122	--
10	Zinnia Flower	--	83	--

Pretty bad for The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2. Having 3D didn't help matters. It has to pray that its 3D surcharges will make up for lost admissions. Terrible for Spectre. It didn't help matters when it held tepidly last weekend. Horrible for Return of the Cuckoo. Amazing hold for She Remembers, He Forgets. Our Times did not hold very well.

	Thursday			November 19
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	% chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	19,249	--
2	Spectre	11,568	4,587	-60.3%
3	Return of the Cuckoo	10,179	3,681	-63.8%
4	She Remembers, He Forgets	3,290	2,958	-10.1%
5	Our Times	4,002	1,627	-59.3%
6	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	2,590	947	-63.4%
7	Daughter	--	435	--
8	Lost in Hong Kong	--	410	--
9	Zinnia Flower	--	371	--
10	Bridge of Spies	647	286	-55.8%

Very weak for The Hunger Games. It's down 30% from Maze Runner: Scorch Trials OD admissions. Reviews are coming in mixed with a score of 3.6/5. Not good for Spectre. Bad hold for Return of the Cuckoo. Excellent for She Remembers, He Forgets. Our Times is at the tail end of its run now.

	Friday adm.	(so far)			November 20
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	10,701	--	+52.9%
2	Spectre	7,854	2,969	-62.2%	+134.1%
3	Return of the Cuckoo	4,861	2,253	-53.7%	+86.8%
4	She Remembers, He Forgets	1,890	1,624	-14.1%	+130.0%
5	Our Times	1,777	806	-54.6%	+104.6%
6	Suffragette	332	231	-30.4%	--
7	The Anthem of the Heart	--	227	--	+9.7%
8	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	496	194	-60.9%	+40.6%
9	Bridge of Spies	317	167	-47.3%	--
10	Zinnia Flower	--	160	--	+92.8%

Not good for Hunger Games. Bad holds for Spectre, Return of the Cuckoo. Strong hold for She Remembers, He Forgets.

		Weekly Gross (Mon-Sun)							Nov 9-15
LW	TW	Title	Last Week (HKD)	This Week (HKD)	Days in release	% chg	Total (HKD)	This Week (USD)	Total (USD)
1	1	Spectre	$17,596,657	$13,011,788	11	-26.1%	$30,665,335	$1,682,305	$3,964,748
--	2	Return of the Cuckoo	--	$4,984,901	4	--	$4,984,901	$644,502	$644,502
2	3	Our Times	$6,057,828	$3,650,825	32	-39.7%	$40,121,509	$472,018	$5,187,345
4	4	She Remembers, He Forgets	$2,657,900	$3,538,537	11	+33.1%	$6,196,437	$457,500	$801,142
3	5	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	$3,234,185	$2,097,319	18	-35.2%	$7,915,670	$271,164	$1,023,423
5	6	Bridge of Spies	$1,340,790	$642,310	25	-52.1%	$8,662,703	$83,044	$1,120,008
--	7	Knock Knock	--	$601,134	4	--	$601,134	$77,721	$77,721
--	8	Suffragette	--	$285,274	4	--	$285,274	$36,883	$36,883
9	9	The Intern	$420,854	$239,224	53	-43.2%	$29,493,453	$30,929	$3,813,234
--	10	The Green Inferno	--	$237,695	4	--	$251,897	$30,731	$30,731

Spectre's drop on its 2nd week shows just how weak its legs are. As far as 2nd week drops go, that is one of the higher 2nd week drops by a blockbuster this year. Ok debut for Return of the Cuckoo. Weekday holds are inflating Our Times week to week hold. Strong for She Remembers, He Forgets. This will pass 1m by next week. Scouts Guide passed 1m this week, a superb gross for a film of this magnitude.

Thursday estimates
1. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - $284,439
2. Spectre - $4,266,599
3. Return of the Cuckoo - $905,036
4. She Remembers, He Forgets - $930,894
5. Our Times - $5,300,926
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse - $1,098,972
Lost in Hong Kong - $3,878 (11 people per showing average!)

3D definitely pushed Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 over Part 1. It is up 10-22% over Part 1's OD. 2D will receive a big push this weekend with many theaters swapping 3D for 2D or giving 2D more showtimes. You know 3D is not doing well when a leading 3D theater swaps out 3D entirely for 2D on the weekend!

Spectre should have no trouble passing Skyfall or 5m in 2-3 weeks time.

Return of the Cuckoo has had a decent run so far and will pass 1m by this weekend.

She Remembers, He Forgets is also on the train toward 1m this weekend.

Our Times has a had pretty good run so far and will finish in the 5.5-5.6m range.

What did Skyfall, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace finish with?

Skyfall - $37,769,692 HK ($4,879,584)
Quantum of Solace - $2,550,839
Casino Royale - $2,956,570

Less than 5m HK to go before Spectre becomes the highest grossing Bond film.

	Friday				November 20
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	24,085	--	+25.1%
2	Spectre	18,747	7,266	-61.2%	+58.4%
3	Return of the Cuckoo	11,791	5,430	-53.9%	+47.5%
4	She Remembers, He Forgets	5,510	4,595	-16.6%	+55.3%
5	Our Times	5,885	2,872	-51.2%	+76.5%
6	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	3,320	1,224	-63.1%	+29.3%
7	Daughter	--	661	--	+52.0%
8	Lost in Hong Kong	--	653	--	+59.3%
9	Zinnia Flower	--	561	--	+51.2%
10	Bridge of Spies	967	413	-57.3%	+44.4%

Pretty bad for Hunger Games Mockingjay 2. Spectre didn't hold well. Not good for Return of the Cuckoo. She Remembers held up nicely. Better for Our Times. Terrible hold for Scouts Guide.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			November 21
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	17,069	--	+59.5%
2	Spectre	12,837	4,413	-65.6%	+48.6%
3	Return of the Cuckoo	7,296	3,194	-56.2%	+41.8%
4	She Remembers, He Forgets	2,817	2,005	-28.8%	+23.5%
5	Our Times	2,503	1,122	-55.2%	+39.2%
6	The Anthem of the Heart	--	460	--	--
7	Bridge of Spies	645	289	-55.2%	+73.1%
8	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	779	267	-65.7%	+37.6%
9	Zinnia Flower	--	234	--	+46.3%
10	Lost in Hong Kong	--	229	--	--

Before anyone jumps for joy at that increase for Hunger Games, many theaters increased or completely switched Hunger Games to 2D on Saturday and afterward saw a bump in adm. pre-sales. Horrible for Spectre and Return of the Cuckoo. She Remembers is still ahead of the rest of the holdovers but it too saw its pre-sales drop a bit from last Saturday.

	Saturday				November 21
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	39,542	--	+64.2%
2	Spectre	31,863	12,684	-60.2%	+74.6%
3	Return of the Cuckoo	18,567	8,043	-56.7%	+48.1%
4	She Remembers, He Forgets	9,590	7,038	-26.6%	+53.2%
5	Our Times	9,680	4,674	-51.7%	+62.7%
6	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	4,876	1,815	-62.8%	+48.3%
7	Daughter	--	992	--	+50.1%
8	Bridge of Spies	1,715	971	-43.4%	+135.1%
9	Lost in Hong Kong	--	869	--	+33.1%
10	Zinnia Flower	--	697	--	+24.2%

Bad for Hunger Games. It should have broken 40,000 admissions today with the conversion to 2D. Spectre/Return of the Cuckoo had rough holds. She Remembers, He Forgets had a pretty good hold.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 OW projection - $1,600,000

Mockingjay Part 2 will secure the highest grossing OW of the franchise besting Catching Fire's OW of 1.38m but overall it has to be considered a slight disappointment with the screen count, 3D premium charges and lack of competition.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			November 22
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	11,463	--	-32.8%
2	Spectre	14,320	3,467	-75.8%	-21.4%
3	Return of the Cuckoo	8,129	2,011	-75.3%	-37.0%
4	She Remembers, He Forgets	2,827	1,229	-56.5%	-38.7%
5	Our Times	2,734	791	-71.1%	-29.5%
6	The Anthem of the Heart	--	355	--	-22.8%
7	Bridge of Spies	733	253	-65.5%	-12.5%
8	Daughter	--	223	--	--
9	Lost in Hong Kong	--	211	--	-7.9%
10	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	822	179	-78.2%	-33.0%

Most movies' admissions look out of place. Drops aren't this heavy with Sunday pre-sales in the wintertime. There might be a problem with the admissions site again.

Thanks. And nice, Spectre is setting records.

	Sunday				November 22
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	33,646	--	-14.9%
2	Spectre	30,483	12,244	-59.8%	-3.5%
3	Return of the Cuckoo	19,098	7,161	-62.5%	-11.0%
4	She Remembers, He Forgets	8,333	6,336	-24.0%	-10.0%
5	Our Times	8,908	4,822	-45.9%	+3.2%
6	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	4,793	1,819	--	+0.2%
7	Daughter	--	1,092	--	+10.1%
8	Bridge of Spies	1,616	892	-44.8%	-8.1%
9	Zinnia Flower	--	879	--	+26.1%
10	Lost in Hong Kong	--	806	--	-7.2%

Awful decline for Hunger Games Mockingjay 2. Spectre/Return of the Cuckoo did not take advantage. Nice hold for She Remembers, He Forgets. Our Times had a decent Sunday hold.

	Weekend adm.			Nov 19-22
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	% chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	116,522	--
2	Spectre	92,661	36,781	-60.3%
3	Return of the Cuckoo	59,635	24,315	-59.2%
4	She Remembers, He Forgets	26,723	20,927	-21.7%
5	Our Times	28,475	13,995	-50.9%
6	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	15,579	5,805	-62.7%
7	Daughter	--	3,180	--
8	Lost in Hong Kong	--	2,566	--
9	Bridge of Spies	4,945	2,562	-48.2%
10	Zinnia Flower	--	2,508	--

Weekend Estimates

1. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - $1,550,000
2. Spectre - $4,650,952
4. She Remembers, He Forgets - $1,098,141
5. Our Times - $5,426,111
Bridge of Spies - $1,162,738

Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 netted the biggest opening weekend in the franchise due to premium 3D prices and a empty marketplace. Legs haven't been The Hunger Games' franchise strong suit since the original and I don't expect a sudden resurgence due to it being the finale. WOM seems to be polarizing like Spectre. Sunday's drop could be major foreshadowing for its legs. Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 should finish with 3.3m, below Catching Fire's total.

Spectre is almost $200,000 away from Skyfall's total and it will eclipse that next week.

She Remembers, He Forgets is doing great. It could get to 1.5m before leaving theaters.

Our Times has had a very good run so far though it's nearing the end of its HK journey.

Any idea when Creed will be out in Hong Kong? I cannot find it on my usual HK site.

No idea but Oscar bait films are released 2-5 weeks ahead of the Oscars. This could come out in February.

Early Thursday schedules

Keeper of Darkness will lurk on 2 screens at most Broadway/AMC locations. Newcomer Victor Frankenstein scares up 1 screen. Hunger Games retains 1 screen while Spectre also gets 1 screen. The rest of the remaining screens will be dispersed between Return of the Cuckoo/Our Times/She Remembers, He Forgets.

Thanks, and I hope it does, because I have no chance to get to HK before January. But I do not believe it is THAT Oscar baity. We'll see.

	Thursday adm.	(so far)		November 26
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	% chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	6,999	2,735	-60.9%
2	Keeper of Darkness	--	2,189	--
3	Victor Frankenstein	--	850	--
4	She Remembers, He Forgets	706	707	+0.1%
5	Spectre	1,268	462	-63.6%
6	Return of the Cuckoo	1,206	422	-65.0%
7	By the Sea	--	372	--
7	Our Times	394	271	-31.2%
9	Zinnia Flower	83	215	+159.0%
10	Initiation Love	--	143	--

Weak hold for Mockingjay 2. Bad opening for Keeper of Darkness. Viewers weren't interested in the horror film. Ghastly for Victor Frankenstein. She Remembers, He Forgets was boosted by near full showings at The ONE and THE GRAND. Soft holds for Spectre and Return of the Cuckoo. By the Sea did not carry any weight with moviegoers. Our Times had a nice hold. Great for Zinnia Flower. Initiation Love is a special screening.

	Thursday			November 26
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	% chg
1	Keeper of Darkness	--	10,915	--
2	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	19,249	7,463	-61.2%
3	Victor Frankenstein	--	4,114	--
4	Spectre	4,587	1,910	-58.4%
5	She Remembers, He Forgets	2,958	1,626	-45.0%
6	Return of the Cuckoo	3,681	1,262	-65.7%
7	Our Times	1,627	1,192	-26.7%
8	By the Sea	--	1,003	--
9	Zinnia Flower	371	835	+125.1%
10	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	947	353	-62.7%

Good walk-ins for Keeper of Darkness. WOM stands at a very good 4.3/5. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 2 crashed and burned. Middling opening day for Victor Frankenstein. Opening day reviews have come in with a solid 4.3/5 score. Blah hold for Spectre. Bad hold for She Remembers. With the 2 pre-bought showtimes left out, its drop would be over 60%. Good hold for Our Times. Excellent for Zinnia Flower.

		Weekly Gross (Mon-Sun)							Nov 16-22
LW	TW	Title	Last Week (HKD)	This Week (HKD)	Days in release	% chg	Total (HKD)	This Week (USD)	Total (USD)
--	1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	$12,322,321	4	--	$12,322,321	$1,586,255	$1,586,255
1	2	Spectre	$13,011,788	$5,627,829	18	-56.7%	$36,293,164	$724,471	$4,672,028
2	3	Return of the Cuckoo	$4,984,901	$3,882,213	11	-22.1%	$8,867,114	$499,758	$1,141,465
4	4	She Remembers, He Forgets	$3,538,537	$2,364,788	18	-33.2%	$8,561,225	$304,419	$1,102,088
3	5	Our Times	$3,650,825	$1,995,374	39	-45.3%	$42,116,883	$256,865	$5,421,716
5	6	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	$2,097,319	$1,023,969	25	-51.2%	$8,939,639	$131,815	$1,150,801
6	7	Bridge of Spies	$642,310	$333,585	32	-48.1%	$8,996,288	$42,942	$1,158,094
10	8	The Green Inferno	$237,695	$265,965	11	+11.9%	$517,862	$34,237	$66,664
--	9	Daughter	--	$253,660	4	--	$253,660	$32,653	$32,653
7	10	Knock Knock	$601,134	$232,587	11	-61.3%	$833,721	$29,940	$107,325

Mockingjay Part 2 starts off with taking home the biggest OW in the Hunger Games franchise. Legs will be an issue. Spectre can still make it to 5m but it will need a better hold than last week to have a chance. Not that great for Return of the Cuckoo. Good hold for She Remembers, He Forgets. Decent hold for Our Times. 5.5-5.6m will be its final tally. Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is doing very well. HK is the #1 overseas market for Scouts outgrossing Russia, UK, Mexico, Taiwan and Australia.

Thursday estimates

1. Keeper of Darkness - $115,857
2. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - $2,059,684
3. Victor Frankenstein - $51,492
4. Spectre - $4,827,384
She Remembers, He Forgets - $1,184,318

Decent start for Keeper of Darkness. Not a great total so far for Mockingjay Part 2. From Monday-Thursday, it collected less than $400,000 combined. Meh start for Victor Frankenstein. It might pick up with very good word of mouth. Spectre is inching closer to 5m and should be able to make it by end of next week.

	Friday adm.	(so far)			November 27
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	10,701	4,754	-55.6%	+73.8%
2	Keeper of Darkness	--	2,699	--	+23.3%
3	Victor Frankenstein	--	1,685	--	+98.2%
4	Spectre	2,969	1,127	-62.0%	+143.9%
5	Return of the Cuckoo	2,253	736	-67.3%	+74.4%
6	She Remembers, He Forgets	1,624	546	-66.4%	-22.8%
7	By the Sea	--	537	--	+44.4%
8	Our Times	806	485	-39.8%	+79.0%
9	Zinnia Flower	160	385	+140.6%	+79.1%
10	The Anthem of the Heart	227	114	-49.8%	--

Slightly better for The Hunger Games. Typical horror film hold for Keeper of Darkness. It might see a slight increase from yesterday due to strong word of mouth. With no pre-bought showings for She Remembers, He Forgets on Friday, it joins the ranks of Spectre and Return of the Cuckoo for the worst hold of the top 10. By the Sea had an OK increase. Good for Our Times. Zinnia Flower saw a theater increase on Thursday/Friday and will see another round on Saturday. It should be able to double last weekend's gross this weekend.

	Friday				November 27
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Keeper of Darkness	--	12,939	--	+18.5%
2	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	24,085	11,520	-52.2%	+54.4%
3	Victor Frankenstein	--	6,644	--	+61.5%
4	Spectre	7,266	3,145	-56.7%	+64.7%
5	She Remembers, He Forgets	4,595	1,741	-62.1%	+7.1%
6	Return of the Cuckoo	5,430	1,694	-68.8%	+34.2%
7	Our Times	2,872	1,621	-43.6%	+36.0%
8	By the Sea	--	1,397	--	+39.3%
9	Zinnia Flower	561	1,146	+104.3%	+37.2%
10	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	1,224	400	-67.3%	+13.3%

Decent for Keeper of Darkness. WOM remains unchanged from yesterday. Mockingjay Part 2 had a slightly better hold than Thursday due to 3D for most sessions last Friday + no opening day effect. Victor Frankenstein had a solid increase. Spectre had a big decrease. She Remembers, He Forgets fell hard. Awful hold for Return of the Cuckoo. Nice hold for Our Times. Awesome for Zinnia Flower.
_________________________________________________
I've been seeing a lot of ads for Star Wars 4 weeks ahead of its release. That is the same promotion that The Avengers and other big movies got. What I didn't expect is the amount and scale of pre-selling it has gotten 4 weeks in advance! This is huge news when most blockbusters only start pre-selling 2 weeks in advance. Ticket prices are high with blockbuster prices included. Price for an IMAX ticket is fucking insane. At the most expensive theater, it is $200 HK for the morning session at 8:40 AM, $220 HK for late morning session + afternoon sessions and a whopping $240 HK ($30.96 US!!!!!!) at night. Pre-sales are already about 20% full with the most prime time shows.

Theater	Movie	Ticket Prices (HKD)	Ticket Prices (USD)
Palace IFC	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	$180	$23
	Transformers: Age of Extinction	$175	$22.50
	Avengers: Age of Ultron	$160	$20.60
	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	$150	$19.30
	The Avengers	$135	$17.50
	Maleficent (regular)	$125	$16
	Life of Pi	$120	$15.50

Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes in about average at the most expensive regular theater in HK.

Tomorrow I will detail the biggest Christmas battle ever coming up in Star Wars: The Force Awakens vs. Ip Man 3.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			November 28
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	17,069	6,934	-59.4%	+45.9%
2	Keeper of Darkness	--	3,824	--	+41.7%
3	Victor Frankenstein	--	2,463	--	+46.2%
4	Spectre	4,413	1,880	-57.4%	+66.8%
5	Return of the Cuckoo	3,194	986	-69.1%	+34.0%
6	She Remembers, He Forgets	2,005	937	-53.3%	+71.6%
7	Our Times	1,122	772	-31.2%	+59.2%
8	SM Town the Stage	--	663	--	--
9	By the Sea	--	556	--	+3.5%
10	Zinnia Flower	234	395	+68.8%	+2.6%

Weak hold for Mockingjay 2. Decent increase for Keeper of Darkness. Not bad for Victor Frankenstein. Spectre is not holding well. Awful for Return of the Cuckoo.

The biggest Christmas battle of the ages...Star Wars Episode VII vs. Ip Man 3

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Opening: December 17, 2015 (midnight)


The 7th episode will descend upon HK when December 17 hits midnight. Some theaters will open with midnight sneaks ahead of its ultra wide release some 11 hours later. There are many ads out and about 4 weeks ahead of its release. Many will want to see what Star Wars has in store as it will be the only release that week.

The Past

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith - $2,531,147 (below top 10 of 2005)
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones - $1,909,959 (below top 10 of 2002)
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - $2,921,715 (7th in 1999)

The Star Wars series has never been a phenomenon in Hong Kong. In each of the previous Star Wars films, all have failed to crack the top 5 for the year. This year the top 10 is comprised of 5m+ grossers so far. 9 of them have made 6m or more. It's also the first year where HK had 3 10m grossers.

2015 HK Box Office (through November 26, 2015)
1. Avengers: Age of Ultron - $17,119,057
2. Jurassic World - $12,396,205
3. Minions - $10,092,965
4. Inside Out - $8,498,382
5. Furious 7 - $7,676,766
6. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - $6,818,856
7. Ant-Man - $6,527,961
8. Stand By Me Doraemon - $6,036,377
9. Little Big Master - $6,015,499
10. Our Times* - $5,499,025

* - still in release

Star Wars has an uphill battle if it's going to join the 10m grosser club. Only 1 Christmas/week before Christmas opener has managed to do it (1 guess as to what it is). The 2nd highest grossing release during those 2 weeks is Kung Fu Hustle with over 8m then Infernal Affairs with 7m.

Star Wars is being compared to Avatar in box office potential and it has earned that right with massive marketing, blockbuster prices, very early and strong pre-selling. Where it falls apart is that those top 3 Christmas releases all have one thing in common: they are all originals. Compounding Star Wars' problem is that it has never had great legs. It's always been a one and done week with Revenge of the Sith and Attack of the Clones both having opening weeks accounting for 56% of their film's final gross.

Opening Week



Is there anything else that needs to be said?

What...ok. Well, nothing else is coming out that week so Star Wars will have all the screens to (mostly) itself. Early pre-selling has been great in IMAX, excellent in business and tourist areas but significantly weaker in rural areas. These areas take a bit more time to fill up so rest assured they won't sell out like hotcakes on its first or second day of pre-selling. The rural areas will definitely make or break Star Wars to the point where their collective power could affect Star Wars' total gross by more than 2m.

Theaters will likely showcase Star Wars on 4-5 screens with the potential for a blackout at a number of locations.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens' opening weekend will break the December opening weekend record but one caveat that the weekend before Christmas has is that it's very muted. We saw it with Ip Man in 2008, Avatar in 2009, Harry Potter 7-1 in 2010 and Night at the Museum 3 last year. All of those films were #1 on their respective opening weekends and managed to increase on their 2nd weekend (Christmas weekend). Star Wars has massive frontloading effect on opening week and will be pressed to make as much money as it can in 7 days with the arrival of Ip Man 3 the following week but this weekend is not known for gigantic opening weekends.

OW prediction: $3,600,000
Opening week prediction: $4,800,000

Legs

Possibly more important than a Christmas film's opening weekend is its legs. Unfortunately, Star Wars has not done well in that regard in the past. Most week before Christmas releases open during that time to not only corner the market but allow it to play relatively unopposed for 3 straight weeks.

At the end of its 7th day, Star Wars: The Force Awakens will pass 4m and be in the driver's seat for the winter 2015 crown. Unfortunately, the distributor for Ip Man 3 had other ideas when it moved its own tentpole from an early 2016 release to Christmas Eve. Along with 2 other semi-wide animation releases on December 24, it will lose most of its opening week screens to the new releases culminating in a decrease on opening weekend.

This weekend is reminiscent of the 2010 Christmas battle between Harry Potter 7-1 vs. Gulliver's Travels. Gulliver's Travels won Christmas weekend with 1.8m and sent Harry Potter reeling down 32% on its 2nd weekend but that's where the comparisons end. Ip Man 3 is a lot stronger than Gulliver's Travels and will dominate screens on Christmas. With Star Wars known for being frontloaded and with theaters spreading the holiday cheer to new films, The Force Awakens should drop an alarming 53% on its 2nd weekend to 1.7m.

3rd weekend should see a continuation of its troubling 2nd weekend. In the past, Star Wars films have seen bigger declines on its 3rd weekend after a weak hold on its 2nd. With the end of holidays nearing, Star Wars should dry up quickly. A 66% freefall would only leave it with $578,000.

4th weekend is the end of the holidays. Most films tumble. A 79% dump would be $122,500. At this point, it will have made 8.1m.

The rest of its run should make $200,000-$300,000.

OW: $3,600,000
Total: $8,400,000 (2.33 multiplier)

Ip Man 3
Opening: December 24, 2015


The finale to the Ip Man trilogy will kick its way into theaters Christmas Eve. All I know is that Donnie Yen is back after he said he probably wouldn't return for a 3rd one, Mike Tyson will be his opponent, it's going to kick a ton of ass and it will make a boatload of money.

The Past

Ip Man 2 - $5,558,704
Ip Man - $3,300,847

In December 2008, Ip Man karate chopped its way to an astounding 3.3m after a surprise OW win over Twilight and Madagascar. It produced a powerful 5.69 multiplier and kicked off of the franchise that will have lasted 7 years. By 2010, Ip Man 2 went toe-to-toe in the epic 'Battle of the Man' weekend that saw both Ip Man 2 and Iron Man 2 throw punches at each other the same weekend at the box office. Ip Man 2 won on opening weekend with its 1.7m 4-day vs. Iron Man 2's 1.5m 3-day and proceeded to crush Iron Man 2's spirit thereafter by holding onto #1 for 3 more weeks after that and dropping less than 50% on its 2nd, 3rd and 4th weekends.

Ip Man 3 will find itself against huge competition in Star Wars but it in itself is a big film. The Ip Man series has always had to deal with massive competition. As a self-starter in 2008, it won against Madagascar and Twilight and then in 2010, it took down a massive sequel on opening weekend. Ip Man 3's opening weekend won't nearly be as bad as it will have to deal with the 2nd weekend of a tentpole film. Star Wars is frontloaded so it will make most of its money in 7 days reducing the risk of dampening Ip Man 3's opening weekend or legs.

Opening Week

Christmas weekend is where more money is spent at the box office but with Ip Man 3 coming out, it will redirect most of the other opening grosses toward it. Unlike the MI4 vs. SH2 battle in 2011, this will see a long due sequel face off against a beloved sequel but on 2 consecutive weekends. This is unprecedented since distributors/studios will stay away from a big tentpole like Star Wars.

Ip Man 3 has a lot of things going for it. Goodwill from the previous 2 films. Donnie Yen returning. All of the major players returning plus a fresh face in Mike Tyson. Sequel. Finale factor. Christmas opening release date. The only thing stopping it will be itself and Star Wars.

Star Wars will be making most of its money in its first 7 days which means Ip Man 3 will corral the big screens when it comes out on Christmas Eve. When Ip Man 2 was released a day ahead of Iron Man 2, it got 4-5 screens. I see Ip Man 3 getting 2, maybe 3 screens if it's lucky. Star Wars will likely get 2 screens and then there still needs to be one screen allocated between Snoopy: Peanuts Movie and The Little Prince.

The goodwill from the previous 2 films though will make sure that pre-sales will be brisk and theaters might give Ip Man 3 an extra screen beginning on Boxing Day if Star Wars starts to trail off.

OW prediction: $2,500,000

Legs

Though no 1m+ Christmas opener has ever beaten the previous weekend's opener in HK, in recent years the one that opens during Christmas has the much better legs.

2nd weekend will have the holidays ending but the last weekend of 2009 (December 31 weekend), many films saw strong holds. The Ip Man series is no stranger to amazing holds and I could see this following its predecessors' holds. 2nd weekend is currently predicted at 1.9m (-24%).

3rd weekend will see the holidays disappear and Ip Man 3 will come down to earth a bit. A 35% drop would give it $1.235m for this weekend. By this point, it will have made over 7.6m.

4th weekend should see a slightly bigger drop with about 40% fall or a $740,000 weekend.

5th weekends have not been kind to the Ip Man series. I see this dropping more than 60%. A 65% crash would leave it with $260,000.

Rest of its run should combine for about $300,000-$400,000.

Opening weekend: $2,500,000
Total: $9,435,000 (3.77 multiplier)

	Saturday				November 28
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Keeper of Darkness	--	18,861	--	+45.8%
2	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	39,542	18,340	-53.6%	+59.2%
3	Victor Frankenstein	--	10,333	--	+55.5%
4	Spectre	12,684	5,589	-55.9%	+77.7%
5	She Remembers, He Forgets	7,038	3,315	-52.9%	+90.4%
6	Our Times	4,674	2,674	-42.8%	+65.0%
7	Return of the Cuckoo	8,043	2,340	-70.9%	+38.1%
8	Zinnia Flower	697	1,752	+151.4%	+52.9%
9	By the Sea	--	1,705	--	+22.0%
10	SM Town the Stage	--	738	--	--

Not bad for Keeper of Darkness. Not good for Mockingjay 2.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			November 29
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	11,463	6,226	-45.7%	-10.2%
2	Keeper of Darkness	--	4,030	--	+5.4%
3	Victor Frankenstein	--	2,339	--	-5.0%
4	Spectre	3,467	1,786	-48.5%	-5.0%
5	Return of the Cuckoo	2,011	839	-58.3%	-14.9%
6	Our Times	791	752	-4.9%	-2.6%
7	She Remembers, He Forgets	1,229	751	-38.9%	-19.9%
8	By the Sea	--	538	--	-3.2%
9	SM Town the Stage	--	481	--	-27.5%
10	Zinnia Flower	--	397	--	+0.5%

All adm. from last week are deflated which means the drops are very inflated. In any case, that's a bad decline day-to-day for Hunger Games Mockingjay 2. Great for Keeper of Darkness.

Ha, as if IP Man 3 would even be minor problem for something as huge as Star Wars.

lol..............Ip Man 2 vs. Iron Man 2 is all I have to say.

What do you think Star Wars 7/Ip Man 3 will gross?

	Sunday				November 29
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Keeper of Darkness	--	17,317	--	-8.2%
2	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	33,646	15,183	-54.9%	-17.2%
3	Victor Frankenstein	--	8,747	--	-15.3%
4	Spectre	12,244	4,760	-61.1%	-14.8%
5	Our Times	4,822	2,655	-44.9%	-0.7%
6	She Remembers, He Forgets	6,336	2,475	-60.9%	-25.3%
7	Return of the Cuckoo	7,161	2,075	-71.0%	-11.3%
8	Zinnia Flower	879	1,352	+53.8%	-22.8%
8	By the Sea	--	1,352	--	-20.7%
10	SM Town the Stage	--	532	--	-27.9%

Pretty good for Keeper of Darkness. Steep decline for Mockingjay 2.

	Weekend adm.			Nov 26-29
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	% chg
1	Keeper of Darkness	--	60,032	--
2	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	116,522	52,506	-54.9%
3	Victor Frankenstein	--	29,838	--
4	Spectre	36,781	15,404	-58.1%
5	She Remembers, He Forgets	20,927	9,157	-56.2%
6	Our Times	13,995	8,142	-41.8%
7	Return of the Cuckoo	24,315	7,371	-69.7%
8	By the Sea	--	5,457	--
9	Zinnia Flower	2,508	5,085	+102.8%
10	Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	5,805	1,853	-68.1%

Weekend Estimates

1. Keeper of Darkness - $635,000
2. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - $620,000 (-60.9%)/$2,590,000
3. Victor Frankenstein - $350,000

These are disappointing results for Mockingjay 2 regardless if it wins this weekend or not. Keeper of Darkness overperformed. Horror movies don't do well in HK so to see it potentially pull off a #1 upset on Mockingjay 2's 2nd weekend is surprising. Bleh for Victor Frankenstein.

Weekend Estimates

1. Keeper of Darkness - $708,016
2. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - $605,000 (-61.9%)/$2,574,605
3. Victor Frankenstein - $296,079
4. Spectre - $5,020,479 by Tuesday
Return of the Cuckoo - $1,287,302
By the Sea - $45,055
Our Times - $5,599,765 by Tuesday

Upcoming release schedule

Release Date	Movie Title
December 3	Point Break The Vanished Murderer Port of Call In the Heart of the Sea The Crow's Egg Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen
December 10	Legend Freeheld Burnt Go Lala Go 2 Before We Go Sinister 2 Initiation Love
December 17	Star Wars: The Force Awakens Love the Coopers
December 24	Ip Man 3 The Little Prince Yo Kai-Watch Movie Snoopy: The Peanuts Movie
December 31	Joy Secret in Their Eyes The Boy and the Beast Anniversary

December will be monopolized by Star Wars 7/Ip Man 3. I'm not going to talk about the first two weeks or the last week of December since they don't matter. On the December 24 weekend, 3 animation releases will battle it out on the low end of the spectrum. The Peanuts Movie has the inside track on actually getting a screen since it's the Hollywood animated release of the winter and at least 4 screens will end up with either Ip Man 3 or Star Wars on the December 24 weekend. The Little Prince might be able to sniff out half day showings at most theaters along with Yo Kai Watch.

2016 release dates

Release Date	Movie Title
January 8	The Revenant
January 14	Steve Jobs The 5th Wave Salut d'Amour
January 21	Our Brand is Crisis 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi Love in Late Autumn
February 4	The Good Dinosaur Deadpool
February 11	Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
February 25	Zoolander 2 The Danish Girl
March 17	Kung Fu Panda 3
March 24	Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
June 9	Warcraft: The Beginning

The Good Dinosaur v. Deadpool battle on Chinese New Year week. I don't see The Good Dinosaur doing all that well. Meanwhile, Alvin and the Chipmunks 4 is released a week later. That makes me wonder if theaters will be showing advanced screenings of Alvin in advance on the CNY holidays.

Interesting that Kung Fu Panda 3 is released the week before the Easter holidays. Normally animation releases come out the week of. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice should do well. Possibly 3m OW even with KFP3 out.

No idea.

I think Keeper of Darkness performed in line with expectations. It had star power in actor/director Nick Cheung (Unbeatable). Cheung is in my knowledge one of the few widely liked public figures in Hong Kong, a rare find in today's showbiz. Keeper was Cheung's second directorial effort. His first was the generally trashed Ghost's Hunger Ritual, which debuted to $792,000 last July. Keeper's OW was actually slightly down from that.

Opening weekend:
Ghost's Hunger Ritual - $791,923
Keeper of Darkness - $741,528

Hungry Ghost Ritual's OW includes nearly $200,000 worth of previews and was released in the heart of summer where box office is more robust. Still, Keeper of Darkness is going to exceed HGR's total in a period that's generally considered very weak for HK box office (last week of November/first week of December). That's an overperformer.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Opening Day Watch

Festival Walk
	Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Dec. 17	11:15 AM	110	354	31.07%
	1:50 PM	45	354	12.71%
	4:25 PM	92	354	25.99%
	7:00 PM	197	354	55.65%
	9:35 PM	159	354	44.92%
Total		603	1770	34.07%

Very strong pre-sales almost 2 weeks out. This theater is one of the better performing locations for Star Wars at the moment.

Let's compare the ticket prices of Transformers 4 and Avengers 2 with Star Wars 7.

vs. vs.

Cyberport: -$10
Palace IFC: -$25 Transformers, -$10 Avengers
Hollywood: -$10
The ONE: -$5 Transformers, = Avengers
Cinematheque: -$10
Mongkok: -$5 Transformers, = Avengers
Palace APM: -$5 Transformers, -$10 Avengers
Kwai Fong: -$10
Tsuen Wan: -$10
Kingswood Ginza: +$5 Transformers, -$10 Avengers

In essence, both Transformers 4 and Avengers 2 received long running time surcharge while it looks like Star Wars did not. It seems like all films starting from Star Wars opening day will see another $5 price hike. Most theaters will be priced $10 less than The Avengers while The ONE/Mongkok are outliers by equaling its Star Wars ticket price with The Avengers.

A couple of days ago, we looked at one of Star Wars 7's best performing theaters. Today, we'll look at one of its weaker locations.

Kwai Fong
	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Dec. 17	11:35 AM	19	189	10.05%
	2:10 PM	0	189	0.00%
	4:40 PM	4	189	2.12%
	7:10 PM	27	189	14.29%
	9:40 PM	9	189	4.76%
Total		59	945	6.24%
Dec. 18	11:35 AM	7	189	3.70%
	2:10 PM	1	189	0.53%
	4:40 PM	5	189	2.65%
	7:10 PM	43	189	22.75%
	9:40 PM	8	189	4.23%
Total		64	945	6.77%
2-day total		123	1890	6.51%

While Star Wars monster theaters are approaching 1,000 admissions already, there are a number of theaters that are lagging well behind. Kwai Fong is doing 10 times less business than Festival Walk so far. The 7 PM Thursday/Friday showtimes are selling slowly. The Friday 9:30 pm showing is virtually empty with less than 5% filled.

I've never seen such division for a blockbuster movie. Star Wars 7 has had more than 1 week of pre-selling with about 1 and a half weeks to go but I can name more than 10 theaters that are performing similar to Kwai Fong. On the other hand, the business district, tourist areas and TKO theaters are all performing very well. It's strange. One movie that I remember performing like this was Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. That did really well in the business district but was a loser in rural areas.