That "admissions per showing" was an estimate. I assumed the average ticket price was $92 for Toy Story (3D) and $60 for the rest. The actual price for Toy Story (3D) could be lower.

What is your take on Amalfi's disappointing number? None of the Japanese releases since Departures and Ponyo has drawn much mainstream attention. Back in the old days, films like Ringu and Love Letter could easily take the top spot of the box office. Now, films from East Asia countries including South Korea have come to serve a more niche market which continues to be diminished by Hollywood films.

By the way, the BOM weekend number for Naruto: The Movie includes sneak previews from the week before.

I suspect Echoes of the Rainbow will overtake Love in a Puff Saturday when the actuals come out. That is because the ticket sales provided by wmoov includes only 80% of the theaters. Newport, the distributor for Echoes, is one of the theater chains that do not report their numbers to wmoov.

That $92 average per ticket is WAY too high. At the cheapest theater and the most expensive theater, a ticket to see Toy Story only costs $10 more than Legion (includes all showings -- morning-night).

Amalfi is disappointing, no doubt. I think foreign films in general though (not just East Asian movies) are suffocating because they are already at a disadvantage with most of the population not being able to speak/understand a language other than Cantonese. Take for instance, Monga. A hit in Taiwan. Here? Dangerously close to not cracking $200,000 US. With more prominence on English and Chinese in the education system, people would naturally gravitate towards those English/Chinese films rather than take a risk watching foreign language films (regardless of the subject matter, stars, etc.). I don't know about you, but when I was deciding whether or not to watch Nodame Cantabile, the only reason I decided not to go was that I was afraid that poor subtitles would inhibit my understanding of the film. They already make crappy English subtitles for most Cantonese films so I feared the worst with a foreign film.

That's interesting about Newport not reporting to wmoov. Any other theater chains that you know of that don't report to wmoov?

MCL chain is another one.

What do you think of Clash's epic collapse over here? And Alice's mediocre holds?

I didn't think Clash would disintegrate that fast. Alice is a bit of an enigma. It had a good second weekend hold and then fell apart. I thought that it would pass a 3.0 multiplier with ease but it's proving to be very difficult.

Clash of the Titans' collapse is self-explanatory: opening on a holiday weekend, poor word of mouth, competitions from Dragon and Kick-Ass.

I think Alice's not-so-good legs can be attributed to its loss in IMAX showings to Avatar. Since IMAX accounts for a relatively high proportion of a film's total gross in Hong Kong compared to other big countries, losing IMAX showtimes put Alice in a big disadvantage. Also, good word of mouth from Echoes also stole the thunder from Alice somewhat.

The thing with Alice is that it had its own IMAX screen. It actually took the smaller IMAX screen away from Avatar but the larger screen continued to show Avatar (and it is still playing it) due to very high demand. Alice has only itself to blame for losing IMAX completely 1 1/2 weeks before Iron Man opens. I do agree with you on Echoes though.

It was pretty bad to see weekend afternoon showings only 50% full (194 seater IMAX theater) for Alice. I do wonder why they didn't just add Alice till Apr. 29 like the other IMAX theater did with Avatar/Dragon or show something else in its place rather than miss out on 1 1/2 weeks of extra money.

What are they showing then?

Nothing. I can understand cutting your losses with an underperforming movie but to not show anything for 12 days? That's just stupid business if you ask me.

I find it cool that high rated movies like Avatar, Kick-Ass, Shutter Island are all dropping slowly while mediocre films or mixed word-of mouth movies like Alice drop in the middle and terrible movies or toxic word-of-mouth movies like Clash of the Titans gets dumped quickly.

It's not 100% accurate but it's generally safe to say that if it's a good movie, it won't drop as hard as most of the other films.

Avatar watch: Avatar should see a small drop or an increase from last weekend. Thursday's numbers are in but Avatar will make most of its money on Sunday from IMAX and the 4D screen.

The Ghost Writer watch: It was trending upwards in admissions on Sunday. Unfortunately, I don't have Sunday's admissions but I wouldn't be surprised if it overtook Legion for the #1 spot.

Legion watch: It slowed down from Saturday. Negative/mixed word-of-mouth already in effect?

Toy Story watch: Toy Story should win the weekend over Legion. Not only did it get moved to the biggest screens in most theaters and had extra showings on Friday, but with its short runtime, it got the most showtimes out of any movie as well. While it didn't have as many theaters as Legion, it certainly made up for it with bigger sales in admissions and gross (higher 3D ticket prices).

April 28-May 2 preview:

With Ip Man 2 and Iron Man 2 set to battle it out, theater owners are probably left wondering which holdovers to cut. Well, they'll have a couple of days to decide when Ip Man 2 comes out on April 28 with special screenings after 7 PM. Iron Man 2 comes out April 30 and some theaters have already dedicated 2-3 screens just for it only. Iron Man opened to double what Ip Man did in its first 4 days but Ip Man came out on top in total gross. Ip Man definitely benefited from Christmas holidays but it will have no such help this time around. Quality must be very good for the sequel to have a shot at beating Iron Man 2's total.

We can't forget about the other openers as well. Triple Tap and Dear John are set to be released as well although I wonder if it is a mistake on the distributor's part to schedule it on the same weekend when 2 tentpole releases come out. With theaters having to make room for Iron Man 2 and Ip Man 2, many will choose to ignore these films as they will go for the movie that will generate the most business.

Iron Man 2 will win the weekend due to upfront demand although if the quality of both movies remains the same from their predecessors, we could see a small decrease or an increase in business for Ip Man 2 the 2nd weekend.

Forget about 8 new releases coming out in the same week. This weekend is poised to become one of the most contested weekends ever. Are you ready for the Ip Man vs. Iron Man showdown? I know I am.

Who ya got? For me, Iron Man will win OW and total.

Iron Man 2 - 2.3M / 6.3M (OW / Total)
Ip Man 2 - 1M / 5.6M

Although I'm not sure if I'm being too optimistic in my Ip Man 2 prediction in that will it be able to get $1M due to Iron Man taking screens away from it or that it would be able to achieve over a 5.0 multiplier after opening with that much.

Director Derek Tung-Sing Yee's Triple Tap has been moved to June. Dear John can provide good counter-programming given both the "Man" movies are male-driven.

Iron Man 2 targets a younger audience while Ip Man 2 gets martial art movie fans excited. Both films will be frontloaded. Which has better legs depends on screen allocations from week 2 onwards. Which film is your first choice, Iron Man 2 or Ip Man 2?



Iron Man 2
This poster looks so bland. I can make one myself by copying and pasting Google images.


Ip Man 2
This poster has an old-fashion feel to it. Nostalgia (with some melodrama thrown in) is a fashion brought about by Echoes of the Rainbow. Can Ip Man 2 capitalize on that?

I think both films are targeting some of the same demographics. Young people, males, action movie fans and comic book fans will definitely make the trip opening weekend to see Iron Man 2 but Ip Man 2 is also geared towards the young, male, action movie fan along with the family demographic mixed in. A central line in the Ip Man 2 trailer was whether winning the fight or going home to the family was more important to Ip Man.

I don't think Ip Man 2 will be very frontloaded. With Iron Man 2 taking up 2-3 screens per theater, it is definitely going to absorb most of the business this weekend leaving Ip Man to attract moviegoers who have seen Iron Man 2 after week 1.

It is VERY close because I loved both films a lot. My first choice would have to be Ip Man 2 though. Both films were very well made and it's only a matter of preference. I personally thought Iron Man was a great summer flick but was missing something but Ip Man had something that Iron Man didn't have. What it was I don't know. There's one thing that is clear though: I will watch both movies in theaters, perhaps on opening weekend.

What about you?

I am giddy in excitement and anticipation for these two movies. Not only am I excited about the movies themselves but also which holdovers theater owners are going to cut. It's going to be a bloodbath. With Toy Story 2 and Dear John in the mix, some theaters may end up cutting all holdover movies to make room for these new releases. This is definitely going to be one of the most exciting box office weekends in a while. The winner of the opening weekend is fairly predictable but how much both movies make and who will win the overall total is up for grabs, I think.

Will both movies cut into each other's gross or will one just make most of its money one weekend leaving the other one to pick up the pieces? If both succeed, we could see more head-to-head battles from now on. This may be a turning point in Hong Kong box office history.

I think both films will be frontloaded since they are both sequels. But I agree with you that Iron Man 2 will be most people's first choice based on the screen count and presales. That may help Ip Man 2's legs. Btw, is Iron Man 2 playing in 3D?




I don't really have a choice here; Ip Man 2 is not opening here. I will probably catch it on DVD. If I had a choice, I would pick the one that looks more entertaining or with a shorter running time. But my excitement is not as much about the two films as about their box office performance.



We will see. I am happy to see more competitions like this.

No. Iron Man 2 is only showing in 2D here.

I meant which movie do you prefer out of Iron Man and Ip Man.

Upcoming Releases

Release Date	Movie Title
April 28	Ip Man 2
April 29	Toy Story 2 (3D)
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) The Crazies
May 7	Remember Me (or May 27)
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

Added: The Crazies, Remember Me

I've been tracking 3 theaters this week to see which movies they are going to cut and it doesn't look pretty so far. One theater is already cutting half of its movies on Wednesday with more to come on Thursday, I'm sure. Who are the casualties? Well, a couple of them have only been out for 2 weeks. Oh and by the way, you'll be shocked to learn how many shows one theater gives Ip Man 2 on Thursday. Tables to come...tomorrow (when scheduling that includes Iron Man 2 comes out)!

Wednesday admissions so far:

1. Ip Man 2 - 4,407
2. Legion - 1,465
3. Toy Story (3D Cantonese) - 927
4. Toy Story (3D English) - 633
5. Kick-Ass - 557

That's an excellent start for Ip Man 2. Keep in mind that Ip Man 2 starts showing after 7 PM so these numbers are only for evening and late night showings. I wouldn't be surprised if it cracked 20,000 adm. on Thursday. The large number of screens definitely support this as many theaters are giving it 2, 3, or even 4 screens. If it could break 30,000 adm. even on a weekday, that would be something.

Beware. The tables you are about to see are so horrifying that you might not be able to see anything else for awhile. You have been warned.

Pacific Place
New	Holdovers - # of Wed. showings	HOs - # Thu. Shows	HOs - # Fri. shows	Leaving
Ip Man 2 - Wed. (4), Thu. (8), Fri. (7)	The Ghost Writer - 5 showings	5	3	Shutter Island (Tuesday)
Iron Man 2 - Fri. (17)				Crossing Hennessy
Toy Story 2 (3D English) - Thu. (5), Fri. (4)				Legion (Thursday)
				Kick-Ass (Thursday)
				Toy Story (3D English - Thursday)
				Little Ashes (Thursday)
				A Serious Man (Thursday)
				Brothers (Thursday)
				Date Night (Thursday)
				How To Train Your Dragon (3D English - Thursday)

Yes...after only one week of being shown, Legion is gone. A new record!

Note: For the openers, the # in parentheses means the number of showings it will have on that day.

Palace APM
New	Holdovers - # of Wed. showings	HOs - # Thu. Shows	HOs - # Fri. shows	Leaving
Ip Man 2 - Wed. (9), Thu. (25) [2 midnight shows], Fri. (15)	Legion - 7 showings	4	1	Monga
Iron Man 2 - Fri. (23)				White Night
Toy Story 2 (3D Cantonese) - Thu. (8), Fri. (5)				Future X-Cops
				How To Train Your Dragon (3D Cantonese)
				Beauty on Duty
				Love in a Puff
				Kick-Ass (Thursday)
				Toy Story (3D Cantonese - Thursday)
				Echoes of the Rainbow (Thursday)
				Date Night (Thursday)

Olympian City
New	Holdovers - # of Wed. showings	HOs - # Thu. shows	HOs - # Fri. shows	Leaving
Ip Man 2 - Wed. (4), Thu. (14), Fri. (13)	Toy Story (3D Cantonese) - 7 showings	4	1	Shutter Island
Iron Man 2 - Fri. (18)				Monga
Toy Story 2 (3D Cantonese) - Thu. (7), Fri. (5)				White Night
				Planet 51 (Cantonese)
				How To Train Your Dragon (3D Cantonese)
				Kick-Ass (Thursday)
				Echoes of the Rainbow (Thursday)
				Date Night (Thursday)
				Legion (Thursday)
				The Ghost Writer (Thursday)
				Love in a Puff (Thursday)

Special report:

Mong Kok
New	# of showings Wed.	# of showings Thu.	# of showings Fri.
Ip Man 2	9 (2 midnight)	26 (3 midnight)	15 (2 midnight)
Iron Man 2			19 (3 midnight)

I think we can safely say...no other day will top this release date for awhile.

Note: As new shows are being added for Ip Man 2 and Iron Man 2, these lists are not and should not be considered as final.

Wednesday admissions (final):

1. Ip Man 2 - 15,463

Thursday admissions (so far) - April 29:

1. Ip Man 2 - 16,664
2. Legion - 844
3. Toy Story (3D Cantonese) - 511
4. The Ghost Writer - 478
5. Kick-Ass - 331

Yes, you are reading that right. The #2 film in admissions for April 29 has less than 1,000 and #1 has over 16,500. Then again, numbers for Toy Story 2 have not been added in yet.

I prefer Iron Man 2 because it looks more entertaining. But I don't have much faith about these Hollywood or Hong Kong/China commercial vehicles.

Ip Man 2 and Iron Man 2 are killing all holdovers. Interesting. I'd like to know what "arthouse theaters" BC Cinematheque and Cine-Art House are showing.

- First post is updated with the latest film schedule made by Bluebomb.

BC Cinematheque - Still showing a lot of holdovers on Friday. The Ghost Writer, Amphetamine, Micmacs, Brothers, A Serious Man.

Cine-Art House

Still showing Echoes of the Rainbow, Villon's Wife, The Ghost Writer along with Iron Man 2 and Ip Man 2.

What's the plot of IP Man?

The film is loosely centered on the martial arts master Yip Man.

Avatar watch: After 19 (or 20 if you count Thursday with this week) weeks or 134 days of being in theaters, Avatar will officially be gone from cinemas today (barring any new showtimes).

Weekend of Apr. 22-25, 2010:

1. Legion Sony Int'l $221,338 1 31 $7,140 0 $221,338
2. Toy Story (3D) Walt Disney Int'l $217,151 1 16 $13,572 0 $217,151
3. Kick Ass Lark Films $185,070 2 33 $5,608 -16 $504,896
4. Future X-Cops Newport Ent. $103,223 2 29 $3,559 -53 $411,281
5. Ghost Writer, The Deltamac $90,250 1 12 $7,521 0 $90,250
6. Echoes of the Rainbow Mei Ah Films $83,502 7 31 $2,694 21 $2,817,324
7. Date Night Fox Int'l $75,989 3 28 $2,714 -53 $664,881
8. Love in a Puff Gala Films $67,881 5 21 $3,232 -30 $766,671
9. Avatar Fox Int'l $50,836 19 4 $12,709 -17 $22,534,968
10. Amalfi: Rewards of the Goddess Panasia Films $47,031 1 12 $3,919 0 $47,031

These numbers are from Variety. After last week's fiasco with Avatar, I do not trust BOM's numbers anymore.

Here are BOM's numbers anyway:

1 N Legion (2010) Sony $219,274 - 31 - $7,073 $219,274 1
2 N Toy Story in 3D Disney $215,797 - 18 - $11,989 $215,797 1
3 3 Kick Ass Lark $185,047 -15.4% 32 -3 $5,783 $501,743 2
4 2 Mei loi ging chaat (Future X-Cops) Newport $103,009 -53.3% 30 -3 $3,434 $410,148 2
5 N The Ghost Writer Deltamac $90,113 - 13 - $6,932 $90,113 1
6 9 2001: A Space Odyssey (Re-issue) Newport $83,370 +21.4% 26 -5 $3,207 $2,923,847 7
7 4 Date Night Fox $75,196 -53.2% 28 -3 $2,686 $661,451 3
8 8 Chi ming yu chun giu (Love in a Puff) Gala $67,723 -29.9% 21 - $3,225 $765,540 5
9 N Amalufi: Megami no hôshû Panasia $52,684 - 12 - $4,390 $52,684 1
10 1 Avatar Fox $50,800 -86.8% 4 +1 $12,700 $22,886,617 19
11 5 How to Train Your Dragon Intercontinental $47,184 -60.8% 20 -4 $2,359 $1,322,891 4
12 7 Monga n/a $45,937 -60.3% 24 -5 $1,914 $209,732 2
13 6 Clash of the Titans (2010) WB $34,325 -71.4% 22 -15 $1,560 $2,767,196 4
14 N Agora (Mists of Time) EDKO $15,950 - 2 - $7,975 $15,950 1
15 12 Brothers Panasia $13,379 -62.6% 6 -1 $2,230 $60,781 2
16 10 Baekyahaeng (White Night) EDKO $12,364 -71.3% 9 -5 $1,374 $71,011 2
17 15 Micmacs à tire-larigot Intercontinental $8,080 -51.7% 3 -1 $2,693 $30,505 2
18 13 Alice in Wonderland (2010) Disney $7,688 -76.9% 3 -5 $2,563 $5,676,032 8
19 14 A Serious Man Golden Scene $6,926 -63.0% 4 -3 $1,732 $31,402 2
20 17 For lung (Fire of Conscience) n/a $5,541 -60.4% 4 -9 $1,385 $526,017 4
21 16 Love Undercover 4 Lark $5,268 -66.0% 4 -27 $1,317 $631,621 4
22 20 Amphetamine n/a $5,120 -45.5% 2 -1 $2,560 $54,942 3
23 18 Yue man xuan ni shi (Crossing Hennessy) EDKO $4,525 -64.3% 4 -4 $1,131 $370,305 4
24 19 Viyon no tsuma (Villon's Wife) Lark $4,154 -66.3% 4 -1 $1,039 $57,806 3
25 N Little Ashes n/a $3,869 - 2 - $1,935 $3,869 1
26 23 Shutter Island Intercontinental $2,775 -54.0% 2 -2 $1,388 $918,669 7
27 11 Gekijô ban Naruto: Shippûden - Hi no ishi o tsugu mono (Naruto the Movie 2009) Panasia $2,029 -94.5% 4 -1 $507 $40,451 2
28 21 Planet 51 Golden Scene $1,558 -78.7% 1 -2 $1,558 $117,482 4
29 24 The Hurt Locker Golden Scene $923 -67.8% 2 - $462 $617,179 7
30 25 The Fantastic Mr. Fox Fox $613 -71.4% 2 - $307 $57,692 5

Another close call this weekend. I am having doubts that Legion really won over Toy Story. Not only was it beaten admissions by Toy Story but the average price of a ticket to see Toy Story was higher by $10 due to 3D. If Toy Story really did lose then it lost due to lack of theaters opting to show it. Nonetheless, Legion used Thursday to its advantage because those theaters showing Toy Story gave Legion its biggest screens on Thursday then stuck Toy Story with the biggest screens the rest of the weekend due to high demand.

Kick-Ass had an amazing hold although I'm not quite sure if the majority of the public who went to watch it really understood the jokes/one-liners as well as a native speaker would. Still, the drop itself is great and word-of-mouth is really pushing people to see it.

Future X-Cops suffered in its 2nd week. As everyone who wanted to see it saw it opening weekend, few remained to watch it with other movies out there.

The Ghost Writer had an excellent opening for this type of movie. It benefited from strong reviews.

Echoes of the Rainbow increased this weekend thanks to increased demand after winning some HK Film Awards.

Date Night took a tumble. Increased competition from Toy Story and excellent word-of-mouth for Kick-Ass left Date Night on the sidelines.

Love in a Puff had a good hold although it did decrease more than usual the past few weeks. I'm guessing the HK Film Awards had an effect as it generated headlines for Echoes and took away business from Puff.

Avatar had a great hold as it was only down 17%. Boosted by the return of the 4D screen, moviegoers spread the word that it was back in 4D and that really benefited its Sunday and inflated the rest of the weekend.

Amalfi debuted in the top 10 as it grossed just under $50,000 US. An ok opening for a foreign language film. It definitely had some success in some areas but really didn't do much in others.

One thing to note from BOM's weekend numbers is Agora. It finished with one of the highest PSA out of any movie and the controversy got people curious. Great opening.

	Thursday admissions			April 29
Rank	Title	LW's admissions	TW's admissions	% change
1	Ip Man 2	--	47608	--
2	Toy Story 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	1601	--
3	The Ghost Writer	2358	1320	-44.0%
4	Legion	5854	1254	-78.6%
5	Toy Story (3D Cantonese)	--	1106	--

Impressive start for Ip Man 2! Very good for The Ghost Writer and Toy Story. Ok for Toy Story 2. Legion is on life support.

	Friday admissions	(so far)		April 30
Rank	Title	LW's admissions	TW's admissions	% change
1	Iron Man 2	--	31977	--
2	Ip Man 2	--	16953	--
3	Toy Story 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	672	--
4	The Ghost Writer	1435	320	-77.7%
5	Amalfi	--	189	--

Amazing for Iron Man 2! Still very impressive for Ip Man 2. Pretty sad when the #5 movie in admissions has only sold 189 tickets so far (with 80% of theater chains reporting).

Thursday's actuals are in.

Opening Thursday in 36 theaters on 83 screens with 470 shows, Ip Man 2 made HK$2,817,776 for a total of HK$3,730,000. The total included the movie's Wednesday evening previews (about HK$910,000). The Thursday gross accounted for about 80% of the daily total for all movies.

Thursday - $2,817,776 (US$350,681)
Per Theater Average - $78,271 (US$10,110)
Per Screen Average - $33,949 (US$4,381)
Per Showing Average - $5,995 (US$774)
Admissions per showing - 99

Wow, it will fly past my $1M prediction. Probably $1.4M seeing that it's been taking a bigger screen away from Iron Man 2 on Sunday. Some theater owners are paying for their mistake of putting Ip Man 2 on the very small screens while leaving 3 or 4 bigger screens to Iron Man 2.

	Friday adm.			April 30
Rank	Title	LW's adm.	TW's adm.	% chg
1	Iron Man 2	--	56582	--
2	Ip Man 2	--	38240	--
3	Toy Story 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	1148	--
4	The Ghost Writer	3986	982	-75.4%
5	Love in a Puff	2371	844	-64.4%

Simply amazing for Iron Man 2. Outstanding for Ip Man 2 in the face of direct competition. Love in a Puff had a good hold.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)		May 1
Rank	Title	LW's adm.	TW's adm.	% chg
1	Iron Man 2	--	51587	--
2	Ip Man 2	--	37962	--
3	Toy Story 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	1500	--
4	Toy Story (3D Cantonese)	--	835	--
5	Amalfi	--	610	--

Story of this weekend:

Iron Man 2 - AMAZING!!!
Ip Man 2 - Amazing!!

I think this just goes to show that HK is capable of playing 2 blockbusters at once. In the future, if battles like these are going to be scheduled, HK cinemas need to upgrade and have more screens (like what The Grand Cinema has -- 12) or they need to have really big 400+ seat theaters.

By the way, admission #s may not be posted tomorrow or Sunday because I will be watching Iron Man 2 and Ip Man 2 on those days at night.

Friday -> Saturday admissions increase (12:00 AM update)

Iron Man 2 - +19610 (+61.3%)
Ip Man 2 - +21009 (+123.9%)

^ looking forward to your crowd reports.

Early Sunday ticket sales (as of 1 am HKT)

1. Iron Man 2 42,292
2. Ip Man 2 39,965
3. Toy Story 2 (3D Cantonese) 1,378
4. Toy Story (3D Cantonese) 697
5. The Ghost Writer 582

The gap between Iron Man 2 and Ip Man 2 starts narrowing down. Iron:Ip ratio is 1.058, down from Saturday's 1.359. Ip Man 2 is showing some legs.

	Saturday adm.			May 1
Rank	Title	LW's adm.	TW's adm.	% chg
1	Iron Man 2	--	96078	--
2	Ip Man 2	--	74368	--
3	Toy Story 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	2316	--
4	Toy Story (3D Cantonese)	--	2169	--
5	Amalfi	--	1410	--

Amazing for Iron Man 2 and Ip Man 2. Iron Man 2 should cross 100,000 admissions if you include the missing theaters. If we take i.hope's Ip Man 2's Thursday gross, Iron Man 2 should have made over $700,000 US on Saturday. Ip Man 2 looks to generate $475,000 US. Toy Story close to Toy Story 2 in admissions? Was the first so beloved that people want to see it again? Amalfi must be having great word-of-mouth. Very good number for it.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)		May 2
Rank	Title	LW's adm.	TW's adm.	% chg
1	Iron Man 2	--	42292	--
2	Ip Man 2	--	39965	--
3	Toy Story 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	1378	--
4	Toy Story (3D Cantonese)	--	697	--
5	The Ghost Writer	2399	582	-75.7%

Looks like Iron Man 2 is frontloaded. Ip Man 2, however, has increased in pre-sales every day since it has opened. The increase for Sunday's pre-sales can be attributed to the takeover of larger screens that went to Iron Man 2 earlier. Ip Man 2's number is very impressive when you consider that Iron Man 2 had a 15,000 lead in admission pre-sales on Friday.

Also...

Ip Man 2
98% full - 77 seater
9:50 PM

Movie: Trailer does the movie a disservice. The fight scenes that they showed in the trailer made Ip Man seem weak. He kept hitting guys so many times and they still didn't go down, but in the movie, they shortened those parts and made him seem powerful yet graceful. Great movie even though there wasn't much of a plot. The fighting scenes and sequences were amazing though. Donnie Yen was so awesome as Ip Man. It's a shame he won't be playing the role Ip Man anymore. 8.5/10

There was no applause or crowd reaction after the movie. We all just left.

Friday numbers:

Iron Man 2 opened to about HK$3,300,000 (US$425,000).

On its second day, Ip Man 2 fell 14% to HK$2,400,000 (US$310,000). Its total stands at HK$6,100,000 (US$790,000).

^ About Ip Man 2: Are they fighting Japanese guys this time around?