It's called Du Zhan in China. Not sure of the name in Hong Kong. It's Louis Koo's next. Here's the really effective teaser: http://movie.mtime.com/157240/trailer/40942.html

Like Dredd-levels of terribad. Only a 25% approval rating so far from users.

It's also getting the same reaction in China. Weird.

I liked Dredd, so I'll probably like Life of Pi. We'll go to see it this weekend.

Well HK and China do like effects-driven movies or blockbusters more than Oscar bait, so I suppose it's expected.

I just thought it may have done better because of the director being Asian. But he's from Taiwan, perhaps it'll do well there.

Thanks. It looks interesting. It's the much anticipated reunion of director Johnnie To and screenwriter Wai Kar-Fai. Looks like the film is co-financed by a Chinese studio. So it's a joint production.

Here's a 2-min teaser.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7vwNHnFdBE

Thanks, but I can't view youtube, but I prefer to see less of movies I want to see anyway, so it works just fine. Plus, I may have already seen it because that site I posted for you also has a longer trailer of Du Zhan on there.

Hotel Transylvania is delayed until February 7, 2013. Good move by Sony. Hotel Transylvania is the wrong kind of film for Christmas.

November 15 Weekend Actuals

								Nov 15 WKD
Rank	Movie	Distributor	Weekend BO	Weeks	Engmnts	Eng. average	% change	B.O. Cume
1	Cold War	Edko Films	$1,131,420	2	78	$14,505	-30%	$3,373,150
2	Skyfall	Sony	$457,476	3	54	$8,472	-45%	$4,073,782
3	Triad	Lark	$186,149	1	32	$5,817		$214,555
4	Argo	Warner Brothers	$133,763	1	25	$5,351		$133,763
5	When a Wolf Falls in Love With a Sheep	Intercontinental Films	$55,112	1	27	$2,041		$55,112
6	Alex Cross	Golden Scene Co	$33,076	1	12	$2,756		$33,076
7	360	Cable	$28,254	1	7	$4,036		$28,254
8	Natural Born Lovers	Newport Entertainment	$19,433	4	9	$2,159	-69%	$799,088
9	Umizaru 4: Brave Hearts	Intercontinental Films	$13,466	4	10	$1,347	-62%	$536,659
10	Silent Hill: Revelation 3D	Edko Films	$11,539	4	6	$1,923	-74%	$782,859

Outstanding for Cold War. It is enjoying very good WOM. 4.5m is a lock and 5m is likely to happen. Skyfall isn't doing too badly either. While WOM is not as great as Cold War, it has already passed 4m and will pass 4.5m before the end of its run. It will increase at least 50% from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Triad debuted to poor reviews and a weak opening weekend. It won't be making $500,000. Argo didn't generate much interest with the general public. $300,000 will be its target. When A Wolf Falls in Love with A Sheep bombed. It won't even pass $100,000. Alex Cross had very little promotion so no surprise that it didn't make much. 360 did OK but being in limited release won't help itself this week when Chronicle of My Mother opens nor will bad reviews. Natural Born Lovers finally sees a bigger drop with many openers and continued domination from Cold War. Decent total for it though. Umizaru 4 is a success. It is the only film of the franchise to pass $500,000. Silent Hill is edging closer to the 1st film's gross but it will just miss it.

	Thursday				November 22
Rank	Title	LW (adm.)	TW (adm.)	Gross (USD)	% chg (adm.)
1	Life of Pi	--	19,713	$247,696	--
2	Cold War	25,680	14,927	$124,119	-41.9%
3	Skyfall	7,558	4,142	$42,354	-45.2%
4	Triad	6,527	2,542	$20,726	-61.1%
5	Love in Time	--	2,478	$19,892	--

Good opening for Life of Pi. 2/3 of its business were from walk-ins. It is looking at 1.1m this weekend. Cold War had a nice hold. It will pass 4m this weekend. Skyfall is also holding up fairly well. Poor for Triad. Getting cut completely on Saturday and Sunday at some locations will hurt it. Love in Time had strong walk-ins, with 75% of ticket sales comprised of those.

Top 10
6. Rise of the Guardians (NEW) - 1,724 admissions. Major flop. $100,000 is unlikely.
7. Argo - 1,356 admissions (-61.6%). It didn't have a good opening weekend and theaters had to cut this to make room for Life of Pi and other openers.
8. Sinister - 1,006 admissions. Meh. HK was only an afterthought due to its success almost everywhere else.
9. The Words - 490 admissions. Blech. They delayed this 2 months just to open with these numbers?! They might as well have released it back in September then.
10. Chronicle of My Mother - 349 admissions. Solid opening from just 2 theaters.

Looks like RotG is underperforming here as well but then again there is BD2 releasing simultaneously (Mothers are not ready to take their kids this weekend )

Is RotG not flopping as hard there like it is here?

For all those interested, 3D share for Life of Pi on Thursday was 86.5% (2D 13.5%).

Life of Pi opens here next weekend though surprisingly with that much marketing RotG saw a muted release here. RotG should be flopping in Singapore as well I guess.

	Friday adm.	(so far)			November 23
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg	QD % chg
1	Life of Pi	--	9,190	--	+38.5%
2	Cold War	--	6,816	--	+112.0%
3	Skyfall	--	2,308	--	+125.0%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	1,137	--	+53.2%
5	Love in Time	--	724	--	+18.1%

Decent increase for Life of Pi. HUGE bumps for Cold War and Skyfall. Rise of the Guardians is coming back a bit but it is still a huge flop. Love in Time had a soft increase.

Despite Life of Pi receiving horrible reviews from early viewers, its approval rating quickly rose as more new reviews came in. Now the fantasy adventure flick is up to 71% and good word of mouth is spreading.

		Thursday Actuals						November 22
LW	TW	Title	Last Thu. (USD)	Thursday (USD)	% chg	Screens	Days	Total
--	1	Life of Pi	--	$188,793	--	68	1	$194,096
1	2	Cold War	$159,327	$92,875	-41.7%	53	15	$3,851,335
2	3	Skyfall	$60,407	$31,518	-47.8%	36	22	$4,256,202
--	4	Love in Time	--	$17,552	--	29	1	$17,552
3	5	Triad	$42,068	$15,011	-64.3%	28	8	$326,144
--	6	Rise of the Guardians	--	$13,140	--	27	1	$13,140
4	7	Argo	$21,244	$8,988	-57.7%	23	8	$196,603
--	8	Sinister	--	$6,704	--	13	1	$7,741
--	9	The Words	--	$4,604	--	6	1	$4,604
RE	10	Due West	--	$1,683	--	2	64	$2,448,867

Intouchables	$1,079,341
Natural Born Lovers	$810,156
Silent Hill: Revelation	$788,474
Umizaru: Brave Hearts	$542,906

Good start for Life of Pi. It should enter with about 1.3m for the 4-day weekend. Cold War fell softly. Very good hold. It will pass 4m this weekend and is headed for $700,000-$750,000 this weekend. Skyfall had a decent hold. It will break the 4.5m barrier this weekend with about a $230,000 weekend. Love in Time had a weak start. No doubt affected by the success of Cold War, it is looking at just $110,000 this weekend. Triad suffered the biggest blow and had the weakest hold of any returning film. Rise of the Guardians completely flopped but the weekend will push it into the top 5 over Triad. OW looks to be about $95,000-$100,000. Argo diminished and got taken down by the new releases this week. $300,000 doesn't seem likely. Bad for Sinister. It had little promotion though so not much was expected. The Words did terrible. Can't believe they delayed it for 2 months just to open to these numbers. Due West re-enters the top 10 based on its high ticket prices.

Glad it's doing better. I'm seeing it this morning.

	Friday					November 23
Rank	Title	LW (adm.)	TW (adm.)	Gross (USD)	% chg (adm.)	QD % chg (adm.)
1	Life of Pi	--	25,957	$321,158	--	+31.7%
2	Cold War	34,950	22,326	$187,451	-36.1%	+49.6%
3	Skyfall	12,492	6,588	$66,648	-47.3%	+59.1%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	3,198	$39,007	--	+83.2%
5	Love in Time	--	2,771	$22,681	--	+11.8%

A bit weaker than I expected for Pi. It'll pick up Saturday and Sunday. Cold War is doing well. Skyfall is holding ok. Rise of the Guardians had a much better Friday but it still doesn't make up for the really low Thursday start. Love in Time had a poor Friday.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			November 24
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg	QD % chg
1	Life of Pi	--	20,296	--	+120.8%
2	Cold War	--	10,402	--	+52.6%
3	Skyfall	--	3,634	--	+57.5%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	1,868	--	+64.3%
5	Argo	--	1,079	--	--

Life of Pi storms skyward on Saturday. Haven't seen an increase like that for a family film in a while. Cold War, Skyfall, Rise of the Guardians all had mediocre increases. Argo had a nice bump.

Release date for Star Trek Into Darkness has been set for May 16, 2013.

	Saturday					November 24
Rank	Title	LW (adm.)	TW (adm.)	Gross (USD)	% chg (adm.)	QD % chg (adm.)
1	Life of Pi	--	50,220	$587,245	--	+93.5%
2	Cold War	61,994	35,645	$290,735	-42.5%	+59.7%
3	Skyfall	21,473	10,514	$105,708	-51.0%	+59.6%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	5,192	$58,604	--	+62.4%
5	Love in Time	--	4,073	$32,170	--	+47.0%

Although it didn't double Friday's admissions, that is still an impeccable gain for Life of Pi. Very good again for Cold War. It didn't crumble under the weight of Life of Pi. Instead, it stood as a serviceable alternative. Skyfall got hit by Life of Pi doing so well today. Not as good as I thought for Rise of the Guardians. $100,000 is a tossup. Love in Time had really poor admissions the past few days. Disappointing considering it held a slight edge over Rise on Thursday.

	Weekend Projections			November 22
Rank	Title	TW	% chg	Total
1	Life of Pi	$1,350,000		$1,355,000
2	Cold War	$660,000	-41.4%	$4,420,000
3	Skyfall	$235,000	-51.6%	$4,455,000
4	Rise of the Guardians	$100,000		$100,000
5	Love in Time	$85,000		$85,000

Life of Pi makes it 17 openers over 1m+. Thursday was a bit slow but it came back with a vengeance on Saturday and will do the same on Sunday. 3m is happening for sure. 4m is doable but it needs to have an outstanding 2nd weekend hold. I think 4m will happen though given the strong reviews, which is now at 77%. Life of Pi will be the 15th film to gross over 3m in HK, making it the biggest year in terms of 3m+ grossers. With The Hobbit, Jack Reacher, Les Miserables, Wreck-It Ralph, The Grandmasters all on tap in December, there is still a lot more excitement to come at the top of the standings.

Cold War took a slight hit from the Pi fever but it is still pulling in audiences. Cold War is now going to break the 5m barrier. It should be able to pass Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy before The Hobbit takes over in 2 weeks. I think it will hit 5.3-5.4m before it crashes against The Hobbit. It's gunning for Ip Man 2 and has a realistic shot of beating Ip Man 2 if it holds well next week.

Skyfall managed ok with Pi opening but weekend audiences were led away from Bond and it lead to a harsher drop this week. It is passing 4.5m by next week and overall it could finish with 4.75m.

Rise of the Guardians crashed on opening weekend. $100,000 is 50/50 with Sunday deciding whether or not it makes it. Reaching 6 figures won't make it any better; it is still a colossal failure and theaters will pull it in week 2. $225,000 could be its final tally.

Love in Time stagnated this weekend. It couldn't capitalize on the head start it had on Rise on Thursday and fell behind it as the weekend progressed. Only looking at $85,000 this weekend which is a huge misfire.

Still, Bond's total in a smal market like HK is pretty good and will add to its OS total nicely.

Yep. Singapore is doing over 5m. Malaysia over 5m. Indonesia over 6m. These are all markets that are smaller than HK yet Skyfall is doing monstrous numbers in.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			November 25
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg	QD % chg
1	Life of Pi	--	24,912	--	+22.7%
2	Cold War	--	11,148	--	+7.2%
3	Skyfall	--	3,682	--	+1.3%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	2,781	--	+48.9%
5	Argo	--	1,204	--	+11.6%

Amazing for Life of Pi. It could increase a bit today. Not bad for Cold War. Looks like Skyfall is petering out. Excellent bump for Rise of the Guardians. This should be able to hit $100,000 for the weekend. Ok for Argo.

Do you know if Bullet to the Head will be released in HK?

Yeah, it will. It's a big release so they'll have to show it. But there hasn't been a date set yet. All we know is that The Last Stand is coming out in January and A Good Day to Die Hard on February 7.

Bullet to the Head could slot in on January 31 otherwise they'll have to wait until holidays are over to show it. I don't think they will schedule this against A Good Day to Die Hard but we've seen some stupid release dates before from HK distributors.

Sellouts bonanza for Life of Pi today. Pi is paddling towards a 5% increase today.

Is it a big release? I'm glad you're confident because HK is my only chance to see it at the cinema.

If you hear anything regarding it, can you please let me know?

It is. In HK, it's being distributed by WB so there's no chance of them not showing it.

	Sunday					November 25
Rank	Title	LW (adm.)	TW (adm.)	Gross (USD)	% chg (adm.)	QD % chg (adm.)
1	Life of Pi	--	53,047	$459,771	--	+5.6%
2	Cold War	56,894	30,841	$129,641	-45.8%	-13.5%
3	Skyfall	19,771	9,619	$124,862	-51.3%	-8.5%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	6,530	$90,230	--	+25.8%
5	Love in Time	--	3,493	$41,531	--	-14.2%

[Ignore the grosses.]

Pi increased 6% on Sunday. Wow.

	Weekend adm.			Nov 22-25
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Life of Pi	--	148,937	--
2	Cold War	179,518	103,739	-42.2%
3	Skyfall	61,294	30,863	-49.6%
4	Rise of the Guardians	--	16,666	--
5	Love in Time	--	12,815	--

	Weekend Estimates			November 22
Rank	Title	TW	% chg	Total
1	Life of Pi	$1,375,000		$1,380,000
2	Cold War	$650,000	-42.3%	$4,410,000
3	Skyfall	$235,000	-51.6%	$4,455,000
4	Rise of the Guardians	$110,000		$110,000
5	Love in Time	$85,000		$85,000

That is solid for Pi. 3m is locked and 4m should happen too. The only question is how high can it go. Cold War is now booked for 5m. Ip Man 2's gross is in its cross hairs. Skyfall just couldn't hold on this weekend. It still did ok though with a high profile release like Pi. It'll end with 4.75m. Stick a fork in Rise of the Guardians because it's done. It will get cut next week and leave with less than $300,000. Love in Time also majorly disappointed. It was overshadowed by Cold War.

Fantastic!

Given the early numbers RotG did well to recover though I still believe it was not enough and a lot of theaters will be taking it out. Too bad it won't be around till the holidays where it could have done much better.