Thursday actuals (December 13)
1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - $255,627 (opening day)
2. My Sassy Hubby - $50,350 (-20.5%)/$675,217
3. Life of Pi - $45,186 (-43.6%)/$4,309,513
4. Back to 1942 - $12,910 (-50.8%)/$236,261
5. Cold War - $10,199 (-59.4%)/$5,374,626

Others
Skyfall - $4,785,909
The Fierce Wife - $67,134
Rurouni Kenshin - $2,582 (-67.8%)/$77,462
A Ghost of A Chance - $2,065/$50,350
All About My Wife - $516 (opening day)

My Sassy Hubby held well. Ok for Life of Pi. Back to 1942 had an average hold. Cold War is fading.

	Saturday				December 15
Rank	Title	LW (adm.)	TW (adm.)	% chg (adm.)	QD % chg (adm.)
1	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	--	34,430	--	+52.4%
2	Life of Pi	29,638	11,919	-59.8%	+62.7%
3	My Sassy Hubby	19,945	11,604	-41.8%	+29.7%
4	Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2	--	6,292	--	--
5	Wreck-It Ralph	--	4,235	--	--

Decent increase for The Hobbit. All holdovers today saw steep drops compared to Thursday and Friday. Life of Pi went down 60% today because of Hobbit/Breaking Dawn Part 2/Wreck-It Ralph combo. My Sassy Hubby held the best of any holdover and only dropped 42%. Those are good sneak numbers for Breaking Dawn Part 2. Wreck-It Ralph unofficially opened to a fairly good number. It will increase on Sunday.

The Hobbit will generate a 3D market share of about 80-85% this weekend.

	Weekend Projections			December 13
Rank	Title	TW	% chg	Total
1	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	$1,500,000		$1,500,000
2	Life of Pi	$320,000	-56.5%	$4,585,000
3	My Sassy Hubby	$260,000	-36.0%	$885,000
4	Wreck-It Ralph	$75,000		$75,000
5	Back to 1942	$72,000	-54.5%	$295,000

Breaking Dawn Part 2 grossed $35,000 in sneaks.

A slow-ish start for The Hobbit. But if we compare its projected HK gross to other places, 1.5m isn't bad at all. I expect a slight increase over the Christmas holidays. Life of Pi is capsizing due to weaker Saturday/Sunday admissions. 5m is a toss up. My Sassy Hubby will have the best hold of the top 10. Likewise with almost all holdovers this weekend, its best days were Thursday/Friday when it only dropped 20%~. It'll pass 1m next week. Wreck-It Ralph sneaks were decent. The sneaks will help bring in more awareness before next week's official opening day. Early reviews are looking good. Back to 1942 was looking at an OK hold before dipping quite hard on Saturday. $400,000 is out of the picture.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			December 16
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg	QD % chg
1	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	--	16,525	--	+2.0%
2	Life of Pi	14,168	5,382	-62.0%	+24.0%
3	My Sassy Hubby	3,967	2,828	-28.7%	+22.4%
4	Wreck-It Ralph	--	2,473	--	+56.2%
5	Back to 1942	2,131	1,244	-41.6%	--

Not bad for The Hobbit. Life of Pi is still feeling the weight of lost Saturday/Sunday showings. It'll increase today. Great hold for My Sassy Hubby in pre-sales but it'll fall about 40% on Sunday. Huge increase for Wreck-It Ralph. It'll make close to 10,500 admissions in 2 days. Decent pre-sales hold for Back to 1942 but it will give way to a larger drop, possibly over 55% today.

I am looking at the real-time daily tracking at http://wmoov.com/movie/boxoffice

The Hobbit leads with 28,581 tickets sold for Sunday so far. In second place is Life of Pi with 10,951. Local Rom-com (?)My Sassy Husband is close behind with 9,072. Wreck-It-Ralph previews is 4th with 6,286. Based-on-real-life disaster pic "1942" is 5th with 2,945. Two leggy pics Cold War and Skyfall are 6th and 7th respectively. Further down the chart we have Japanese and South Korean offerings: Japan's A Ghost of a Chance at 8th, South Korea's The Fierce Wife at 9th, Japanese comic adaptation Rurouni Kenshin at 10th, and Japanese horror Penance at 11th. Red Dawn died fast here, even faster than Killing Them Softly, vanishing from the top 10 last week and screens getting cut down to 1 this week. Code Name: Geronimo suffered the same fate, currently at 15th, down from 5th last week.

Bluebomb, do you know who is releasing the Twilight series in HK? They surely messed up the potential of the supernatural romance there.

Golden Scene. They've released all the Twilight movies. I definitely think they should have shown this on November 15 or 29. They really wasted the potential by sticking Twilight at Christmas. Yes, a lot of their fans are students but people do not want to see a vampire movie at Christmas (even a romantic love story). Even worse is that The Hobbit and Les Miserables will fight for the female demographic, something that Eclipse, BD Part 1 and the first Twilight didn't experience. New Moon did and it made 1.897m, the lowest of the series.

That's why I don't think Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 will hit 2m. I see a 1.9-1.95m finish.

	Sunday				December 16
Rank	Title	LW (adm.)	TW (adm.)	% chg (adm.)	QD % chg (adm.)
1	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	--	32,628	--	-5.2%
2	Life of Pi	29,320	12,277	-58.1%	+3.0%
3	My Sassy Hubby	19,260	11,903	-38.2%	+2.6%
4	Wreck-It Ralph	--	6,578	--	+55.3%
5	Back to 1942	6,894	3,377	-51.0%	+16.3%

8 out of the top 9 films increased on Sunday except for The Hobbit. Still, that number is OK for The Hobbit. Underwhelming hold for Life of Pi. My Sassy Hubby held well. Massive Sunday increase for Wreck-It Ralph. It even beat Rise of the Guardians' biggest admissions day with just its Sunday previews. It will see a huge spike next week when it opens for good. It will at least quadruple Rise of the Guardians' final gross. Back to 1942 posted a solid Sunday increase as well.

	Weekend adm.			Dec 13-16
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	--	108,090	--
2	Life of Pi	83,104	36,666	-55.9%
3	My Sassy Hubby	60,519	40,119	-33.7%
4	Wreck-It Ralph	--	10,813	--
5	Back to 1942	22,506	10,588	-53.0%

	Weekend Estimates			December 13
Rank	Title	TW	% chg	Total
1	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	$1,500,000		$1,500,000
2	Life of Pi	$320,000	-56.5%	$4,585,000
3	My Sassy Hubby	$260,000	-36.0%	$885,000
4	Wreck-It Ralph	$80,000		$80,000
5	Back to 1942	$75,000	-52.6%	$298,000

Not much change with estimates except for the bottom 2 which saw double digit increases on Sunday.

Opening week(end) comparison
FOTR: No data
TTT: $1,806,454 (7 day week + previews)
ROTK: $1,762,788 (7 day week)
Hobbit: $1,500,000 (4-day est., 7 day over 2m -- 80-85% 3D)

I'd say that's an OK start for The Hobbit.

So atleast for the unadjusted numbers this is fine for Hobbit not a complete disaster that it looked a day or two before. It can still get legs there....how is the WOM there Blue?

The series is well in decline in HK, though. Not a great sign.

I will be adding to its revenue at the end of this week.

Good but not spectacular.

Declining? It's increasing. Maybe in admissions but that was to be expected since a Hobbit ticket is almost double the price of a ROTK one. Also, there's less reason for viewers to see this right of the gate with the prequel factor. The Hobbit will do very well over the holidays.

I meant in dollars, but I read it wrong. It is increasing, you're right.

December 13 Weekend Actuals

1. The Hobbit - $1,488,931 (weekend actual)
2. Life of Pi - $4,598,397 (~ $335,000 this weekend, -54.5%)
3. My Sassy Hubby - $913,486 (~ $290,000 this weekend, -29.0%)
Back to 1942 - $296,754 (~ $74,000 this weekend, -53.3%)
Cold War - $5,416,406 (~ $53,000 this weekend, -70.0%)
Penance (Part 1) - $9,031 (weekend actual)
All About My Wife - $2,838 (weekend actual)

Others
Skyfall - $4,806,125
A Ghost of A Chance - $64,511
Rurouni Kenshin - $91,606
Rise of the Guardians - $317,397
The Fierce Wife - $85,155

The Hobbit just missed 1.5m this weekend. I could have sworn Life of Pi made just over 4.6m this weekend. In any case, it has already passed 4.6m on Monday. 5m still unsure. My Sassy Hubby had a wonderful hold. Will pass 1m by Wednesday. Cold War stumbled 70% this weekend. 5.5m is gone. Penance Part 1 scored a $9,031 weekend from 1 theater. All About My Wife slumbered and opened very poorly.

Skyfall's time is just about up. A Ghost of A Chance, Rurouni Kenshin and The Fierce Wife won't make much more before leaving next week. Rise of the Guardians will be gone from the remaining theaters next weekend.

December 20 Predictions

Thursday schedules

Olympian City
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Wreck-It Ralph (Can.) - 2 showings	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 3D - 1 showing (▼ 6)	The Fierce Wife
Wreck-It Ralph (3D Can.) - 3 showings	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - 5 showings (-)	Cold War
CZ12 - 4 showings	Back to 1942 - 2 showings (▼ 4)
Jack Reacher - 5 showings	My Sassy Hubby - 2 showings (▼ 6)
Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 - 12 showings	Life of Pi - 2 showings (▲ 1)
	Life of Pi 3D - 1 showing (▼ 5)

Palace APM
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Wreck-It Ralph (Can.) - 1 showing	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 3D - 5 showings (▼ 9)	Rurouni Kenshin
Wreck-It Ralph (3D Can.) - 4 showings	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - 3 showings (▼ 5)	Life of Pi
CZ12 - 5 showings	My Sassy Hubby - 4 showings (▼ 7)	Cold War
Jack Reacher - 6 showings	Life of Pi 3D - 3 showings (▼ 5)
Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 - 11 showings

Cityplaza
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Wreck-It Ralph (Can.) - 1 showing	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 3D - 4 showings (▼ 10)	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Wreck-It Ralph (3D Can.) - 4 showings	Back to 1942 - 1 showing (▼ 4)	My Sassy Hubby
CZ12 - 7 showings	Life of Pi 3D - 1 showing (▼ 6)
Jack Reacher - 6 showings
Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 - 7 showings

Langham Place
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Wreck-It Ralph (Can.) - 1 showing	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey HFR 3D - 5 showings (▼ 6)	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Wreck-It Ralph (3D Can.) - 4 showings	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 3D - 1 showing (▼ 5)	Code Name Geronimo
CZ12 - 10 showings	My Sassy Hubby - 3 showings (▼ 8)	Cold War
Jack Reacher - 7 showings	Back to 1942 - 1 showing (▼ 4)	Love in Time
Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 - 10 showings	Life of Pi 3D - 2 showings (▼ 7)

Theaters are trying hard to boost Twilight to grab its first ever #1 weekend. Breaking Dawn Part 2 is getting the most showtimes at all locations due to very high pre-sales on Thursday. CZ12 is getting about 5 showtimes at Broadway but because it's a UA film, it is getting the most showtimes in most UA theaters. Jack Reacher looks to be getting 1 screen at most places. Wreck-It Ralph is getting morning and afternoon showtimes with a handful of theaters giving it night shows. The Hobbit will relinquish the biggest screen to Twilight and its showtimes will get cut in half due to the big competition. A mixed bag for Life of Pi with some theaters taking it out completely or leaving it with 1 showing while others have slashed half of its showings. My Sassy Hubby is still on at most locations with about 3-4 showtimes a day. Back to 1942 will leave a lot of theaters this week due to local competition from CZ12. Cold War is the big loser this week with more than 60% of theaters opting to show a different film.

MCL Telford:

Jack Reacher is HK$70, which is fine, but The Hobbit, even in 2D, is HK$85. Too much for me. Unfortunately I'll have to wait for China.

Bluebomb, is there a site where I can check all listings for all cinemas in HK? It annoys me when I have to go to each cinemas main site and check each cinema individually only to find out that it's too expensive or not showing at a decent time.

Yes, you can click here or here to find the full schedule for a movie.

With the first link, just click on any movie and the schedule will be shown below the synopsis.

Here's the Thursday schedule over at Langham Place for my predicted top 3 this weekend.

Langham Place
	Breaking Dawn 2					The Hobbit (all v.)					Jack Reacher
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Dec. 20	9:10 AM	51	180	28.3%	Dec. 20	9:20 AM	5	202	2.5%	Dec. 20	9:10 AM	14	180	7.8%
	10:55 AM	14	191	7.3%		12:30 PM	2	202	1.0%		11:25 AM	1	180	0.6%
	1:35 PM	38	191	19.9%		3:40 PM	12	202	5.9%		1:45 PM	3	180	1.7%
	3:50 PM	69	191	36.1%		6:50 PM	21	180	11.7%		4:50 PM	3	180	1.7%
	5:25 PM	75	191	39.3%		9:30 PM	28	202	13.9%		7:00 PM	49	202	24.3%
	7:40 PM	139	191	72.8%		12:40 AM	2	202	1.0%		9:55 PM	19	191	9.9%
	8:25 PM	141	191	73.8%							12:20 AM	3	180	1.7%
	10:35 PM	120	202	59.4%
	12:00 AM	53	180	29.4%
	12:50 AM	13	202	6.4%
Total		713	1910	37.3%	Total		70	1190	5.9%	Total		92	1293	7.1%

That is scary bad for The Hobbit and Jack Reacher. Breaking Dawn Part 2 has over a 10x advantage over The Hobbit and is doing nearly 8 times the business of Jack Reacher. Crazy.

Thanks Bluebomb.

Y'know, there's a couple of places that are showing The Hobbit for $60. Not sure how you feel about watching them in Yuen Long or Ngau Tau Kok though.

Posting the opening day schedules for the other 2 big openers as well.

Langham Place
	Wreck-It Ralph (all v.)					CZ12
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Dec. 20	8:50 AM	0	191	0.0%	Dec. 20	9:00 AM	14	202	6.9%
	11:20 AM	0	202	0.0%		11:05 AM	4	191	2.1%
	1:10 PM	8	191	4.2%		1:30 PM	10	202	5.0%
	3:20 PM	15	191	7.9%		3:50 PM	5	202	2.5%
	6:10 PM	38	202	18.8%		6:05 PM	0	191	0.0%
						7:20 PM	13	180	7.2%
						8:15 PM	27	202	13.4%
						9:40 PM	16	180	8.9%
						10:00 PM	0	180	0.0%
						12:25 AM	0	191	0.0%
Total		61	977	6.2%	Total		89	1921	4.6%

CZ12 is doing slightly better than I expected. It still doesn't excuse the fact that it has the most seats available but is doing slightly worse than Jack Reacher. Wreck-It Ralph isn't doing too bad. For a Thursday, that is decent for a kids movie. It's even doing well with the 6 PM showtime.

A couple of other theaters that scheduled Wreck-It Ralph for 7 or 8 PM are seeing solid admissions with that showing. So it's not just playing to families but couples as well.

I don't mind where I watch it. I'll only see it in 2D. How do you get to them? Tube stations etc.

HK$60 is fine. I'm going to MCL Telford for Jack Reacher at either 9:25am or 2:30pm. Depends if can cross the border and get to Kowloon Bay before 9am, I think that's too much to do. Anyway, are those locations you mentioned above close to Kowloon Bay?

Ngau Tau Kok is very close to Kowloon Bay. It's 1 stop over on the MTR.

Which cinema is that? and do you happen to know where the cinema at that stop is located?

For some reason that doesn't work. There was a multi-cinema booking site that I found once before but forgot to save. The background was orange. It was basic with only drop down menus and no graphics or images. Any idea what that is?

Ooh, you don't even need to take the MTR to Ngau Tau Kok. It looks like it's a very short walk from the Kowloon Baby MTR station (very close to MCL Telford).

http://www.infoguidehongkong.com/ngau-t ... house.html

Hmm, I've gotten lost around there before. I'm not going to that again. It's ok, I'll settle for Jack Reacher and check out The Hobbit another time in either HK or Shenzhen. Thanks for your help, though. Now I know that there's another "cheap" cinema near Kowloon Bay that I can check out in the future.