If I remember correctly, Watchmen was released in two versions, the III-rated version and the softer IIB-rated version.

Not a big change but Iron Man 2 is now being released on April 30 instead of April 29.

Some theaters have released advanced ticketing for both Iron Man 2 and Ip Man 2 early and Iron Man is way out in front in admissions. Not that this was in doubt, but I think we are heading for a huge Iron Man 2 opening...although the loss of Thursday might sink its chances of an all time top 20 opening weekend.

Quick snapshot at Fest. Walk:

9:00 PM showing

Future X-Cops - 18 admissions
Kick-Ass - 18 admissions
Monga - 18 admissions
A Serious Man - 2 admissions
White NIght - 0 admissions

Quick snapshot at Pacific Place:

9:00 PM Showing

Shutter Island - 39 admissions (FULL - in the smallest theater)
Date Night - 37 admissions
Clash of the Titans - 35 admissions
Kick-Ass - 33 admissions
Brothers - 21 admissions
A Serious Man - 11 admissions

That is pretty pathetic that the movie in the smallest theater manages to sell out and beat every other movie in admissions at that timeslot.

Also, just 3 tickets separates Future X-Cops and Kick-Ass at this hour. Future X-Cops had about a 100+ lead but Kick-Ass eventually passed Date Night, Monga and Clash of the Titans and is now just 3 back from Cops.

Some other notes:

- How To Train Your Dragon is now showing on the weekends. IFC now has 2 showings. Pacific Place has 2 Dragon showings on Friday and 6 showings on Saturday. Other places have also increased showings of Dragon on Saturday or held steady from Friday.

- Iron Man 2 extended in IMAX till Apr. 9.

- Some theatres have released early ticketing for both Iron Man 2 and Ip Man 2. Iron Man 2 is way out in front in admissions in all theaters at this point but they have made only opening day available to the general public. Since Ip Man is being released on Thursday and Iron Man on Friday, Iron Man 2 definitely has the edge due to stronger weeknights.

- The 4D movie theater is really missing Avatar and Alice. Clash of the Titans and How To Train Your Dragon are both performing terribly and because of this, The Haunted Lighthouse is now being increased to 5 showings on Saturday compared with 2 when Avatar and Alice were still playing. Clash meanwhile is down to 2 showings and Dragon is up to 3.

Weekend of April 8-11, 2010:

TW LW Movie Studio Weekend Gross Change Screens Change / Avg. Gross-to-Date Week
1 1 Clash of the Titans (2010) WB $415,595 -69.9% 44 -4 $9,445 $2,453,095 2
2 2 How to Train Your Dragon Intercontinental $299,806 -34.8% 34 -3 $8,818 $1,084,247 2
3 N Date Night Fox $289,340 - 31 - $9,334 $289,340 1
4 5 2001: A Space Odyssey (Re-issue) Echoes of the Rainbow Newport $164,672 -31.3% 35 +1 $4,705 $2,686,464 5
5 3 Love Undercover 4 Beauty on Duty Lark $124,832 -54.4% 31 -5 $4,027 $564,429 2
6 8 Chi ming yu chun giu (Love in a Puff) Gala $122,569 +18.5% 19 -2 $6,451 $511,373 3
7 7 Alice in Wonderland (2010) Disney $77,971 -43.6% 14 - $5,569 $5,615,187 6
8 4 For lung (Fire of Conscience) n/a $77,799 -68.4% 36 -3 $2,161 $473,186 2
9 9 Avatar Fox $70,912 -15.5% 4 +1 $17,728 $22,397,161 17
10 6 Yue man xuan ni shi (Crossing Hennessy) EDKO $54,867 -70.9% 24 -1 $2,286 $327,739 2
11 10 The Spy Next Door Panasia $26,842 -65.1% 19 +1 $1,413 $153,332 2
12 N Viyon no tsuma (Villon's Wife) Lark $26,830 - 5 - $5,366 $26,830 1
13 11 Shutter Island Intercontinental $26,008 -38.5% 7 -2 $3,715 $900,686 5
14 N Amphetamine n/a $25,632 - 6 - $4,272 $25,632 1
15 12 Planet 51 Golden Scene $24,866 -38.3% 20 - $1,243 $104,174 2
16 13 The Hurt Locker Golden Scene $12,810 -63.5% 5 -2 $2,562 $609,651 5
17 14 When in Rome Disney $12,048 -23.4% 6 - $2,008 $200,033 3
18 N The Messenger Golden Scene $9,392 - 3 - $3,131 $9,392 1
19 17 The Fantastic Mr. Fox Fox $5,296 -36.9% 2 -3 $2,648 $54,259 3
20 18 It's Complicated EDKO $4,533 -38.8% 1 -1 $4,533 $374,709 5
21 16 Nodame Kantâbire: Saishuu-gakushou - Zenpen Panasia $3,192 -65.1% 1 -2 $3,192 $578,735 6
22 19 A Single Man Cable $2,125 -69.1% 1 -1 $2,125 $105,105 5
23 15 Yuet gwong bo hup (Just Another Pandora's Box) Lark $1,966 -78.5% 1 -4 $1,966 $487,079 4
25 21 The White Ribbon n/a $1,106 -78.0% 1 -1 $1,106 $23,599 3
26 22 The Lovely Bones Intercontinental $480 -89.9% 1 -1 $480 $215,670 4
27 25 Wonangsori (Old Partner) n/a $314 -23.6% 1 - $314 $5,445 3

No surprise that Clash had the second worst drop of the top 12 and fell 70% from it's fabulous opening holiday weekend. Poor word-of-mouth sunk this one.

Dragon had a great hold considering the holiday weekend last week. It could end up within $1 mill of Clash's total when all is said and done.

Date Night opened at a respectable 3rd place. Couples really push this one hard. Loners stayed far far away from it and by doing so, it was a bit difficult to sell out a show with only single seats left.

Echoes had a great hold considering the blow it took last weekend. It should end with about 3 mill which is terrific for a local movie.

Beauty on Duty somewhat collapsed in its second weekend dropping 54%. Date Night stole couples away from it and fans satisfied their appetite and came out in droves opening weekend to see it.

Love in a Puff had the best hold of weekend climbing 19% from last week's holiday weekend. As everyone was clamoring to see other movies last weekend, Love in a Puff took advantage of Dragon's weak weekdays and Clash's collapse to steal away audiences for itself. Word-of-mouth played a huge role as well as mostly everyone who has watched it has been praising this movie.

Alice in Wonderland had a somewhat better hold this weekend dropping 44%. Still, you have to wonder what happened that it went from having a HUGE opening weekend to finishing less than a 3.0 multiplier. IMAX is currently NOT showing any more screenings after April 18th so its next weekend could be its last money-making weekend.

Close behind, Fire of Conscience fell sharply as it crumbled 68% in its 2nd weekend. This one might have trouble beating The Hurt Locker in gross.

Avatar had one of the best holds of the top 12 shedding only 16% from last week. It will probably finish with around 22.6 or 22.7 mill. I don't think it will get enough admissions to get it past 23 mill in gross as its IMAX run is being curtailed by Iron Man 2. Currently, its IMAX run is only up till April 21 although I expect it to be extended till April 29 due to strong ticket sales.

Crossing Hennessy had the worst drop of the top 12 falling 71% from last week. Part of the huge drop was due to special screenings that took place 2 weeks earlier so the true % is probably significantly lower than that. I think the trailer just didn't interest people. I only went to see it due to the actress.

One ticket separated The Spy Next Door and Villon's Wife. The Spy Next Door looked awful and audiences ignored it while Villon's Wife opened modestly.

Shutter Island had a decent hold and crossed the $900,000 mark.

Amphetamine intrigued audiences and it opened close to Villon's Wife. I'd say the harsh rating (III) helped in this case as this movie was made for adults and not teenagers. The movie itself and the rating helped to bring audiences in as the subject matter and video posted above by i.hope generated controversy and discussion. Very good opening for it.

When one has a horrible opening weekend, a 38% drop the next is nothing to be boastful about. Planet 51 continued to be overshadowed by Dragon and in some ways Avatar as kids wanted to learn more about a cute, cuddly, ferocious dragon and not some alien families.

The Hurt Locker finally had its collapse as it lost a lot of audience. Still, a very good overall gross for it.

When In Rome had a nice drop.

The Messenger opened below $10,000. Its PSA wasn't that great although it was given the smallest theaters available.

Thursday admissions (April 15)

Rank	Title	Last week's admissions	This week's admissions	% drop from last week
1	Kick-Ass	--	3174	--
2	Future X-Cops	--	3165	--
3	Date Night	4667	2654	-43.1%
4	Monga	--	2427	--
5	Clash of the Titans	7043	2378	-66.2%

Photo finish for the top 2. Ok for Date Night. Clash got hit hard by the competition.



Friday admissions (April 16) so far

Rank	Title	Last week's admissions	This week's admissions	% drop from last week
1	Date Night	2490	1704	-31.6%
2	Monga	--	1566	--
3	Clash of the Titans	4208	1539	-63.4%
4	Kick-Ass	--	1364	--
5	Love in a Puff	--	1111	--

Friday admissions (April 16)

Rank	Title	Last week's admissions	This week's admissions	% change from last week
1	Kick-Ass	--	5065	--
2	Date Night	6414	4782	25.4%
3	Love in a Puff	3089	4060	31.4%
4	Future X-Cops	--	3091	--
5	Monga	--	2910	--

Love in a Puff continues to impress. As expected, Kick-Ass leads all new releases in admissions. What's surprising is that it overtook Date Night in the last few hours in admissions and this strong performance propelled it to victory. I knew Kick-Ass ticket sales at night were strong...just not that strong.

Saturday admissions (April 17) so far

Rank	Title	Last week's admissions	This week's admissions	% change from last week
1	Clash of the Titans	7604	2491	67.2%
2	Future X-Cops	--	2332	--
3	How To Train Your Dragon (3D - Cantonese)	4425	2008	54.6%
4	Date Night	3409	1865	45.3%
5	Kick-Ass	--	1829	--

I don't expect Cops 500 lead in admissions over Kick-Ass to last...even though Kick-Ass's presales for Saturday look really down compared to its Friday's presales at this time.

Saturday admissions (April 17)

Rank	Title	Last week's admissions	This week's admissions	% change from last week
1	Kick-Ass	--	8735	--
2	Date Night	13637	7114	-47.8%
3	Future X-Cops	--	7093	--
4	Love in a Puff	9306	6916	-25.7%
5	Monga	--	4368	--

Kick-Ass really came on strong during the afternoon and evening. Date Night barely squeaked by Future X-Cops. Monga overtook Clash in the very last update (11 PM update). Still very strong for Love in a Puff.

Sunday admissions (so far) - April 18

Rank	Title	Last week's admissions	This week's admissions	% change from last week
1	How To Train Your Dragon (3D - English)	3052	2953	-3.2%
2	Kick-Ass	--	2622	--
3	Future X-Cops	--	2581	--
4	Clash of the Titans	7604	2473	-67.5%
5	Date Night	3409	2052	-39.8%

While the Cantonese version of Dragon fell over 50%, the English version barely drops. First time I've ever seen Dragon lead pre-sales before. Kick-Ass is having very good pre-sales compared to yesterday. Yesterday, it was very close to Date Night and about 500 back of Cops. Today, Date Night is still 500 back of Cops but Kick-Ass has already made up the difference and started to gain on Future X-Cops. Clash continues to bleed.

	New Releases					April 15, 2010
Rank	Title	Origin	Rating	# Theaters	# Showings	Platform	Thursday	Admissions per showing
1	Future X-Cops	HK/China	IIA	33	148	Very Wide	HK$344,875*	39*
2	Kick-Ass	US/UK	III	35	159	Very Wide	HK$233,031	24
4	Monga	Taiwan	IIB	29	133	Wide	HK$157,168	20
10	White Night	South Korea	III	14	62	Semi-Wide	HK$56,562	15
-	Brothers	US	IIB	7	36	Limited	HK$32,000	15
-	A Serious Man	US	IIB	7	27	Limited	HK$30,000	19
-	Micmacs	France	IIB	4	20	Limited	HK$19,000	16
-	Naruto The Movie 6 - Shippuden	Japan	IIA	5	16	Limited	HK$7,000	7

		Holdovers				April 15, 2010
TW	LW	Title	Weeks	Thursday	% Change from LW	Total
3	3	Date Night	2	HK$179,544	-53%	HK$3,140,000
5	1	Clash of the Titans	3	HK$146,265	-77%	HK$20,148,610
6	6	Love in a Puff	4	HK$109,498	-11%	HK$4,489,045
7	8	Avatar	18	HK$70,190	-36%	HK$176,745,502
8	5	Echoes of the Rainbow	6	HK$69,749	-67%	HK$21,305,506
9	2	How to Train Your Dragon	3	HK$59,174	-87%	HK$8,886,446

*Unproportionally high numbers for Future X-Cops were reported in 5 of the theaters showing it. Adjusted for these outliers, its Thursday gross would be around $220,000, neck and neck with Kick-Ass.

Most holdovers barring Love in a Puff suffered big drops from last Thursday. That's understandable because last Thursday was a kid holiday. From Bluebomb's Friday and Saturday reports, we see Dragon recovered nicely.

Japanese anime Naruto The Movie 6 - Shippuden opened to a pitiful $7,000 for an average of $440 per showing. A lack of advertising can be blamed for the poor opening.

To give you the heads-up, Sunday's drops for most movies will be steeper than usual due to the telecast of Hong Kong Film Awards that night.

I heard that Bodygurards And Assassins won big while both Echoes of the Rainbow and Overheard each took home a few.

Yes, Bodyguards And Assassins took home Best Film, Director, Original Score, Cinematography, Action Choreography and a couple of others while Echoes of the Rainbow nabbed the Best Screenplay and Actor, New Performer and Original Song awards. Overheard only grabbed the Best Film Editing award.

Sunday admissions (April 18)

Rank	Title	Last week's admissions	This week's admissions	% change from last week
1	Kick-Ass	--	7135	--
2	Date Night	10483	5785	-44.8%
3	Future X-Cops	--	5764	--
4	How To Train Your Dragon (3D - English)	--	4724	--
5	Love in a Puff	6930	4239	-38.8%

- Alice's run is finished in IMAX. Last showing was on April 18. No IMAX showings in the smaller theater from Apr. 19-29.
- Avatar's run in IMAX has been extended to Apr. 27 (Tues.). Showtimes remain the same as the previous one (3 showings: 1 afternoon, 2 evening).
- How To Train Your Dragon looks to be done as well. It did not get extended like Avatar did. No morning shows at bigger IMAX theater.
- 4D theater starts showing Iron Man 2 on April 30.

How did Iron Man perform?

Great opening weekend...over $1 mill US but weak legs after that. It ended up with a 2.5 multiplier. With the exception of a few movies, movies tend to generally open big and die fast here. Typical releases last only 2 months as there are very few screens to allocate to movies.

____________________________________

How To Train Your Dragon has been extended in IMAX to Apr. 27. Looks like they were deciding which shows to give to Dragon.

With a few HK film awards in the bag, theaters have increased Echoes' showtimes to offset probable new demand.

WOW. If pre-sales is any indication, Toy Story should win Thursday. It is smoking all other new releases and holdovers. I'm not talking about afternoon business but 7 PM showings. 0_0 Apparently, this is not a typical animated film that lives and dies on the weekends. I am not sure if this demand will continue into next week with Toy Story 2 (especially with Iron Man 2 and Ip Man 2 coming out) but things look good for Toy Story 3 this summer.

Here's one theater that is showing Toy Story...

Pacific Place (Thursday - 7 PM showings only, keep in mind though that advanced ticketing for Thursday was only released this morning)

New

Legion - 2 admissions
The Ghost Writer - 5 6 admissions
Toy Story (3D English) - 28 34 admissions

Holdovers

Kick-Ass - 2 admissions
Date Night - 6 admissions
Crossing Hennessy - 0 admissions

_____________________________________

Next week could turn out to be one of the biggest weekends ever. You've got the two anticipated sequels: Iron Man 2 and Ip Man 2. Then you've got Toy Story 2, which looks to draw in considerable crowds (if Toy Story's presales are any indication). Theater owners are going to have to cut like 75% of the holdovers next week...Wednesday morning should be fun.

Speaking of Ip Man 2, theaters are giving it special Wednesday night screenings (probably to grab as much money it can before Iron Man starts showing on Friday)

In a stunning turn of events, the 4D theater is giving 2 showings back to Avatar for this week only (1 afternoon, 1 evening). Clash and Dragon are both down to 1 showing while Haunted Lighthouse is down to 3. Avatar's weekend number should increase by a huge margin when this weekend's final numbers are reported.

4-6 weeks is typical for a wide release. Films with good legs can stay longer. Films with poor box office and no theaters backing can get axed in week 2 or week 3. Theaters are very market-oriented; you can tell from Dragon losing weekday showings in week 3 or Love in a Puff gaining screens after 3 weeks in release.

April 22-25 Weekend Openers

New Releases					April 22, 2010
Title	Origin	Rating	# Theaters	# Showings	Platform
Legion (2010)	US	IIB	27	160	Very Wide
Toy Story (3D)	US	I	15	96	Wide
Amalfi	Japan	IIA	11	59	Semi-Wide
The Ghost Writer	UK/France	IIB	11	57	Semi-Wide
Agora	Spain	IIB	2	10	Limited
Little Ashes	UK	III	2	6	Limited

So this weekend has no openers from Hong Kong or China, a rare occasion for the year.

Legion
The film finally arrives in Hong Kong three months following its domestic release. It is one of the three contenders for the No. 1 spot this week. Even so, it is expected to do only moderate business here as box office goes on a brief hiatus before May.


Toy Story (3D)
Yet another film tries to capitalize on the 3D fever. But the re-release of Toy story has another purpose to serve, which is to build momentum for the summer release of Toy Story 3. With Dragon and Titans losing the steam, Toy Story should do decent business with the nostalgic factor. A top contender for No. 1 this weekend.


Amalfi
The latest offering from Japan is a political thriller set in Italy. Not a bad alternative movie choice in a market where Hollywood productions dominate.


The Ghost Writer
The film has garnered some media attention when it took home Silver Berlin Bear in Germany early this year. It can pose some challenge to Legion.


Agora
The Spanish film was surrounded by controversies in the religious circle for its alleged anti-Christian stance. Can controversies make this limited release a hit?


Little Ashes
The Robert Pattinson starrer is rated III here (so no persons under 18 are allowed.). This will keep the Twilight star's teenage fans from seeing this.

Weekend of April 15-18, 2010:

1 9 Avatar Fox $384,534 +442.3% 3 -1 $128,178 $22,809,803 18
2 N Mei loi ging chaat (Future X-Cops) n/a $220,393 - 33 - $6,679 $220,393 1
3 N Kick Ass n/a $218,782 - 35 - $6,251 $218,782 1
4 3 Date Night Fox $160,574 -44.5% 31 - $5,180 $540,047 2
5 2 How to Train Your Dragon Intercontinental $120,215 -59.9% 24 -10 $5,009 $1,259,388 3
6 1 Clash of the Titans (2010) WB $119,825 -71.2% 37 -7 $3,239 $2,693,943 3
7 N Monga n/a $115,760 - 29 - $3,992 $115,760 1
8 6 Chi ming yu chun giu (Love in a Puff) Gala $96,591 -21.2% 21 +2 $4,600 $659,651 4
9 4 2001: A Space Odyssey (Re-issue) Echoes of the Rainbow Newport $68,691 -58.3% 31 -4 $2,216 $2,802,935 6
10 N Baekyahaeng (White Night) n/a $43,138 - 14 - $3,081 $43,138 1
11 N Gekijô ban Naruto: Shippûden - Hi no ishi o tsugu mono (Naruto the Movie 2009) n/a $37,003 - 5 - $7,401 $37,003 1
12 N Brothers n/a $35,728 - 7 - $5,104 $35,728 1
13 7 Alice in Wonderland (2010) Disney $33,261 -57.3% 8 -6 $4,158 $5,665,110 7
14 N A Serious Man n/a $18,731 - 7 - $2,676 $18,731 1
15 N Micmacs à tire-larigot n/a $16,723 - 4 - $4,181 $16,723 1
16 5 Love Undercover 4 Lark $15,501 -87.6% 31 - $500 $621,972 3
17 8 For lung (Fire of Conscience) n/a $13,979 -82.0% 13 -23 $1,075 $515,232 3
18 10 Yue man xuan ni shi (Crossing Hennessy) EDKO $12,690 -76.9% 8 -16 $1,586 $360,905 3
19 12 Viyon no tsuma (Villon's Wife) Lark $12,341 -54.0% 5 - $2,468 $49,132 2
20 14 Amphetamine n/a $9,388 -63.4% 3 -3 $3,129 $44,908 2
21 15 Planet 51 Golden Scene $7,297 -70.7% 3 -17 $2,432 $114,962 3
22 11 The Spy Next Door Panasia $6,502 -75.8% 7 -12 $929 $167,861 3
23 13 Shutter Island Intercontinental $6,027 -76.8% 4 -3 $1,507 $914,146 6
24 16 The Hurt Locker Golden Scene $2,866 -77.6% 2 -3 $1,433 $615,008 6
25 19 The Fantastic Mr. Fox Fox $2,146 -59.5% 2 - $1,073 $56,890 4
26 20 It's Complicated EDKO $1,529 -66.3% 1 - $1,529 $377,350 6
27 22 A Single Man Cable $1,478 -30.5% 1 - $1,478 $107,009 6
28 18 The Messenger Golden Scene $840 -91.1% 1 -2 $840 $13,117 2

#1 in its 18th week. at Avatar's increase. Ok, so they added two showings per day of Avatar (3 PM showing and midnight showing) in IMAX...still, that shouldn't cause such a big increase. The 3 PM showings weren't full nor were the midnight showings. It will definitely bank $23 mill by next weekend.

Future X-Cops managed to squeak out a win over Kick-Ass. It had a good opening considering the negative reaction it got from the trailer. It was very frontloaded though as Kick-Ass managed to overtake Future X-Cops in admissions starting from Friday onwards.

Kick-Ass came up short in 3rd place but debuted well considering its rating. Had it not been rated III, it would have won over Cops in gross.

Date Night had a solid drop. With no new competition, it swooped up business from love couples.

How To Train Your Dragon had an iffy drop due to IMAX showtimes being cut in favor of Avatar. Still, those admissions for the English version of Dragon on Sunday really pushed it to win out over Clash of the Titans.

Speaking of Clash, it crumbled another 70% due to evaporating business, poor word-of-mouth and direct competition from Cops and Kick-Ass.

Monga debuted to mild business as it had just under a $4,000 PSA. While it might have been a hit in Taiwan, it won't get the same results here.

Love in a Puff continued its solid run by decreasing just 21% in its 4th week thanks to increased screens.

Echoes of the Rainbow delivered a sizable drop due to less screens and not enough business. It should be able to cross $3 mill with next weekend's re-expansion attributed to its trophy wins from the HK Film Awards.

White Night rounded out the top 10 with a $43,000+ US debut. This mystery romance thriller opened to little competition and opened mildly due to its III rating.

Naruto opened with the best PSA out of any new release. This just shows that Naruto is still very popular here.

Brothers opened to decent results. It wasn't going to be a breakout hit but the trailer really capitalized on the 'brotherly-love triangle' and thriller plot that intrigued a number of people to watch it.

Another disappointing hold for Alice. It might not even make it to a 3.0 multiplier because this week was its last week in IMAX. Also, almost all other theaters are dropping this next week to make room for other/newer releases. A disappointing run here to say the least.

A Serious Man opened weak and barely outlasted Micmacs.

Micmacs opened ok. To score over a $4,000 PSA for a foreign language film is not bad, I would say.

Beauty on Duty, Fire of Conscience and Crossing Hennessy pretty much died with so many screen losses. Beauty on Duty had it the worst. It retained all of its screens this week (even with 8 openers) and managed a pathetic $500 PSA.

Upcoming Releases

Release Date	Movie Title
April 28	Ip Man 2
April 29	Toy Story 2 (3D) Triple Tap
April 30	Iron Man 2 Dear John (or May 6)
May 6	Let The Right One In Mother And Child Beijing Is Coming (Special Screening) The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee (or May 13)
May 13	Dream Home Robin Hood The Bounty Hunter (or May 20)
May 20	Once A Gangster Nightmare On Elm Street
May 27	The Refuge Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time

- Both Avatar and How To Train Your Dragon in IMAX are extended till April 29.

Bring on next weekend! I can't wait to see how they screen allocate (ie. how many and which holdovers to cut). Every movie might even nosedive 60% or more when next week's numbers come in.

That wouldn't make any sense for Avatar, because that would require a >$120,000 PSA. Here's what Variety has:

1. Future X-Cops $221,809
2. Kick Ass $221,432
3. Date Night $160,568
4. Clash Of The Titans $120,784
5. How To Train Your Dragon $115,655
6. Love in a Puff $96,342
7. Echos of the Rainbow $68,753
8. Avatar $61,194
9. Monga $50,802
10. White Night $43,351

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout ... ong%20Kong

Still only a 14% drop, and a randomly huge $20,000 PSA average.

That makes more sense although the drop is not as good as I expected considering that it gained 2 extra IMAX showings per day.

The huge PSA is not random. It's due to it generating most of its gross from the 1 IMAX screen.

Thursday admissions (April 22)

Rank	Title	Last week's admissions	This week's admissions	% change from last week
1	Legion	--	5854	--
2	Kick-Ass	3174	2861	-9.9%
3	The Ghost Writer	--	2358	--
4	Love In A Puff	--	1495	--
5	Date Night	2654	1254	-52.8%

Very good for Legion although it'll need to make all it can get from this weekend. Kick-Ass showing great legs already with just a 10% drop in admissions from opening day. The Ghost Writer opened with a solid number too. This should end up doing well. Love In A Puff with a strong hold, probably down 15-35%. Date Night is slowing down.

Friday admissions so far (April 23)

Rank	Title	Last week's admissions	This week's admissions	% change from last week
1	Legion	--	2443	--
2	Kick-Ass	1364	1679	+23.1%
3	The Ghost Writer	--	1435	--
4	Date Night	1704	1102	-35.3%
5	Love in a Puff	1111	667	-40.0%

That's a very good hold for Kick-Ass, considering the film's frontloaded nature given its young demographic.

Will we see Echoes of the Rainbow jump back to the top 5 on Saturday and Sunday? I think so.

BOM screwed up again after the 2001 debacle.

Curious to see how Amalfi does. Do cast members factor in much in HK? Because as far as local cast members go, you can't get much bigger.

Yes, it does. I don't know if the cast members in Amalfi will make a difference here but a lot of local movies have benefited from starpower. Off the top of my head:

Just Another Pandora's Box (a shitload of "stars")
Future X-Cops
Beauty On Duty
72 Tenants Of Prosperity (same with JAPB)
All's Well Ends Well 2010



Well, it's not playing like a typical release aimed at teenagers because no one under 18 is allowed in. Adults are really generating the good word-of-mouth and the movie is benefiting from it.

I'm not sure about that one. I have Date Night, The Ghost Writer, Kick-Ass, Legion all ahead of it. That doesn't include the Toy Story admissions either. Even if we discard Toy Story's admissions, I think Love In A Puff would win out over Echoes.

I don't know who BOM hired to fix the International charts but they've been doing a poor job of getting names and numbers right.

Friday admissions				April 23
Rank	Title	Last week's admissions	This week's admissions	% change from last week
1	Legion	--	6514	--
2	Kick-Ass	5065	4800	-5.2%
3	The Ghost Writer	--	3986	--
4	Date Night	4782	2792	-41.6%
5	Love in a Puff	4060	2371	-41.6%

Legion increased only 11.3% from Thursday. Looks like it is frontloaded. Meanwhile, Kick-Ass is only down 5% from last Friday. The Ghost Writer had a healthy daily increase. Great reviews are really helping it. Date Night and Love in a Puff post identical week-to-week drops.

Saturday admissions (so far)				April 24
Rank	Title	Last week's admissions	This week's admissions	% change from last week
1	Legion	--	3758	--
2	The Ghost Writer	--	2107	--
3	Kick-Ass	1829	1808	-1.1%
4	Date Night	1865	1214	-34.9%
5	Love in a Puff	--	1198	--

Nice for pretty much everything.

Thursday's actuals are in!

On the Hollywood side: Legion (2010) took the top spot. Toy Story (3D) seconded. Kick-Ass was third, down only 10%. Avatar closed out the top 10 while Clash of the Titans fell out of the top 10.

On the local side: Future X-Cops nose-dived 60%. Echoes of the Rainbow increased from LW.

On the indie side: The Ghost Writer ranked fifth with its semi-wide platform. Amalfi did poorly. Agora had an impressive PTA.

More later.

Thursday, April 22

	New Releases					April 22, 2010
Rank	Title	Origin	Rating	# Theaters	# Showings	Platform	Thursday	Admissions per showing
1	Legion	US	IIB	32	168	Very Wide	HK$347,590	34
2	Toy Story (3D)	US	I	18	94	Wide	HK$236,212	25
5	The Ghost Writer	UK/France	IIB	13	61	Semi-Wide	HK$88,310	24
-	Amalfi	Japan	IIA	12	59	Semi-Wide	HK$43,000	12
-	Agora	Spain	IIB	2	10	Limited	HK$17,000	28
-	Little Ashes	UK	III	2	6	Limited	HK$5,000	14

		Holdovers					April 22, 2010
TW	LW	Title	Origin	Weeks	Thursday	% Change from LW	Total
3	2	Kick-Ass	US/UK	2	HK$207,061	-11%	HK$2,680,000
4	1	Future X-Cops	HK/China	2	HK$161,560	-53%	HK$2,550,000
6	8	Echoes of the Rainbow	Hong Kong	7	HK$86,532	+24%	HK$22,146,816
7	6	Love in a Puff	Hong Kong	5	HK$75,193	-31%	HK$5,499,737
8	3	Date Night	US	3	HK$68,493	-62%	HK$4,623,833
9	4	Monga	Taiwan	2	HK$51,367	-67%	HK$1,330,000
10	7	Avatar	US	19	HK$43,897	-37%	HK$177,395,820

Toy Story with only 25 admissions per showing? That doesn't look right. I remember it having way more admissions on Thursday than all holdovers and new releases in the theaters that were showing it. Most of the theaters showing it either moved it to bigger theaters on Friday or added showtimes or both. Some theaters even added 9 PM showings because it was outselling all other movies in presales for the 7 PM show.

	Saturday admissions			April 24
Rank	Title	LW's admissions	TW's admissions	% change
1	Legion	--	10548	--
2	Kick-Ass	8735	6757	-22.6%
3	The Ghost Writer	--	6682	--
4	Date Night	7114	4342	-39.0%
5	Love in a Puff	6916	3740	-45.9%

Nice rebound for Legion after a lackluster Friday. Still a very nice hold for Kick-Ass. Very good for The Ghost Writer. Date Night had another solid hold while Love in a Puff is starting to slip away...

	Sunday admissions	(so far)		April 25
Rank	Title	LW's admissions	TW's admissions	% change
1	Legion	--	3606	--
2	The Ghost Writer	--	2399	--
3	Kick-Ass	2622	1709	-34.8%
4	Echoes of the Rainbow	--	1217	--
5	Love in a Puff	--	1125	--

That's quite an alarming drop-off for Legion...decreasing from Saturday pre-sales. The Ghost Writer continues to impress. Kick-Ass's drop at first glance may look somewhat harsh but last week's numbers were really weird. First, Kick-Ass was reported to be ahead of Cops in the first update but in the second update, Kick Ass's number dropped by 500 admissions. So if that is the true number (instead of 2600 one) then the drop would be closer to -19%. Echoes finally passed Love in a Puff. I'm not sure if that's due to Puff's erosion after several good weeks or Echoes wins at the HK Film Awards. Maybe both.