Is the Galileo TV series or past films in the series really popular in Hong Kong?

The star of the series, Fukuyama Masaharu, landed in Hong Kong today for the premiere of the new film Midsummer Formula and was welcome by over 1,000 people at the airport sending it into a panic.

http://eiga.com/news/20130626/16/

BOM has the last film, Suspect X, opening in first place and ranking 24th for the year earning $1.6 million. I doubt it happens, but maybe Midsummer Formula can beat Man of Steel this weekend?

I'm not sure how popular the series is. I guess over 1,000 people at the airport greeting Fukuyama Masaharu means that's it's very popular.

That would be incredibly embarrassing for Man of Steel if that happened because Midsummer Formula opens on Saturday.

Many release dates have been added or changed to the schedule including Blue Jasmine, Escape Plan and jOBS. Release Dates

The summer's biggest animation is 2 weeks away. Let's see how it's doing.

Langham Place
	Monsters University (3D Can.)
Jul. 11	9:00 AM	8	202	3.96%
	11:10 AM	12	202	5.94%
	1:20 PM	5	202	2.48%
	3:30 PM	9	202	4.46%
	5:40 PM	18	202	8.91%
	7:50 PM	112	202	55.45%
Total		164	1212	13.53%
Jul. 12	9:00 AM	8	202	3.96%
	11:10 AM	3	202	1.49%
	1:20 PM	0	202	0.00%
	3:30 PM	4	202	1.98%
	5:40 PM	10	202	4.95%
	7:50 PM	92	202	45.54%
Total		117	1212	9.65%
Jul. 13	9:00 AM	32	202	15.84%
	11:10 AM	40	202	19.80%
	1:20 PM	14	202	6.93%
	3:30 PM	46	202	22.77%
	5:40 PM	52	202	25.74%
	7:50 PM	64	202	31.68%
Total		248	1212	20.46%
Jul. 14	9:00 AM	30	202	14.85%
	11:10 AM	28	202	13.86%
	1:20 PM	26	202	12.87%
	3:30 PM	39	202	19.31%
	5:40 PM	33	202	16.34%
	7:50 PM	26	202	12.87%
Total		182	1212	15.02%

Fantastic for Monsters University especially since these admissions were bought only by UA club members and not non-members. There are no 10 PM showings yet but I'm sure that will change with the exceptional 7 PM showings.

At Windsor Cinema, Friday night has nearly sold out in just 1 morning.

Let's see how Blind Detective and Despicable Me 2 weekend previews are shaping up at The GRAND.

The Grand Cinema
	Blind Detective					Despicable Me 2 3D Can.					Despicable Me 2 3D Eng.
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Jun. 29	10:20 AM	17	136	12.50%	Jun. 29	2:00 PM	54	261	20.69%	Jun. 29	9:50 AM	39	143	27.27%
	2:40 PM	46	136	33.82%		6:00 PM	64	143	44.76%		4:05 PM	74	143	51.75%
	4:55 PM	12	74	16.22%		9:50 PM	40	143	27.97%		7:55 PM	49	143	34.27%
	7:30 PM	19	136	13.97%
	9:30 PM	25	74	33.78%
	12:20 AM	8	136	5.88%
Total		127	692	18.35%	Total		158	547	28.88%	Total		162	429	37.76%

Good for Despicable Me 2. Those Blind Detective pre-sales aren't bad either.

	Thursday			June 27
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	% chg
1	Man of Steel	--	30,254	--
2	World War Z	31,412	14,326	-54.4%
3	Now You See Me	13,664	6,457	-52.7%
4	Epic	--	5,115	--
5	Badges of Fury	--	365	--
6	Miracle in Cell No. 7	815	354	-56.6%
7	American Dreams in China	998	342	-65.7%
8	So Young	732	213	-70.9%
9	The Hangover 3	2,421	179	-92.6%
10	Searching for Sugar Man	155	178	+14.8%

Eek. WWZ beat Man of Steel's opening day admissions and that had Wednesday night previews to dilute its opening Thursday admissions. However, Man of Steel will have a very high ratio so gross should be higher than World War Z for Thursday. I'm pegging Man of Steel's Thursday to come in between $350,000-$365,000.

	Daily admissions (OW)
	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
World War Z	9,704	31,412	36,313	64,800	62,886	205,115
Man of Steel		30,254				30,254
Gap	-9,704	-10,862	-47,175	-111,975	-174,861

So far, World War Z won Thursday by 1,000 admissions. Friday will be Man of Steel's victory because people don't like to watch long movies during a weekday. It will see a very nice bump on Friday and overpower World War Z's Friday admissions.

Pretty good holds for World War Z and Now You See Me, however, everything will take a hit this weekend. Both could still fall over 65% this weekend. Epic did meh numbers. It's not going to get a 100% increase on Saturday with Despicable Me 2/Blind Detective getting previews and Midsummer Formula opening. Terrible for Badges of Fury. Decent for Miracle in Cell No. 7. Openers killed American Dreams in China and So Young. The Hangover 3 got decimated by Man of Steel. Searching for Sugar Man did great.
_______________________________________________________________
This weekend will be a bit of a mess with Despicable Me 2 and Blind Detective getting sneak previews and Midsummer Formula opening on Saturday. As such, all Thursday releases and holdovers will see a decrease in showtimes on Saturday/Sunday.

Saturday screen counts

NEW

Midsummer Formula - 1 screen (opening)
Despicable Me 2 - 1 screen (half-full day showtimes)
Blind Detective - 1 screen (half-full day showtimes)

Thursday Openers

Man of Steel - 2 or 3 screens (down from 3/4 screens, less showtimes)
Epic - 1 screen (same, less showtimes)

Holdovers
World War Z - 0.5-1 screen (down from 2 screens, less showtimes)
Now You See Me - 0.5 screen (down from 1 screen, less showtimes)

I've talked about Despicable Me 2 and Blind Detective but I haven't really discussed Midsummer Formula. The previous film, Suspect X made over 1.5m in 2008 and interest for Midsummer Formula is quite high. At Langham Place, this is doing very well.

Langham Place
	Midsummer Formula
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Jun. 29	9:15 AM	60	180	33.33%
	11:10 AM	28	191	14.66%
	2:00 PM	82	180	45.56%
	4:30 PM	117	180	65.00%
	9:45 PM	73	191	38.22%
	12:15 AM	6	191	3.14%
	2:45 AM	0	191	0.00%
Total		366	1304	28.07%

Great pre-sales so far. Other locations have seen similar business as well. This will make over $200,000 in 2 days.

	Friday adm.	(so far)			June 28
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Man of Steel	--	16,825	--	+36.2%
2	World War Z	12,836	6,651	-48.2%	+71.6%
3	Now You See Me	5,746	3,015	-47.5%	+85.7%
4	Epic	--	2,615	--	+15.9%
5	Badges of Fury	365	255	-30.1%	+1.6%
6	American Dreams in China	614	153	-75.1%	+71.9%
7	The Hangover 3	1,086	101	-90.7%	+40.3%
8	Miracle in Cell No. 7	--	100	--	+19.0%
9	A Late Quartet	--	68	--	--
10	Like Someone in Love	--	63	--	--

Pretty good for Man of Steel. Decent for World War Z and Now You See Me. Not bad for Epic.

June 27 Thursday Actuals

1. Man of Steel - $381,600
2. World War Z - $159,859 (-52.3%)/$3,206,220
3. Epic - $55,435
4. Now You See Me - $51,567 (-51.8%)/$2,747,267
American Dreams in China - $2,836 (-51.1%)/$605,920
Miracle in Cell No. 7 - $2,707 (-52.3%)/$145,678
So Young - $1,418 (-66.7%)/$165,016
Pee Mak Phra Khanong - $348 (-94.6%)/$1,287,902

Very high ratio in gross for Man of Steel. It is going for 2.6-2.7m this weekend. World War Z held alright and will pass 4m by the Monday holiday. 4.7m is its target. Epic did OK considering the weaker admissions. WOM is excellent. It should be able to make $350,000 this weekend. Now You See Me had a decent hold and will pass 3m after this weekend. American Dreams in China passed $600,000 on Wednesday. Very good gross overall. Miracle in Cell No. 7 continues its hot WOM. It has made over 3x its opening weekend. It will clinch $150,000 this weekend. So Young crumbled under the weight of Man of Steel. $200,000 is not happening. Special mention goes out to Pee Mak Phra Khanong, which declined 95% on Thursday. It is only showing in 1 theater and with 1 showtime per day. It is extremely close to 10m HK and will secure the milestone by the holiday.

Upcoming Japanese releases

Sadako 2 - September 19
The Girl in the Sun - October 12
The Wind Rises - December 19
The Tale of Princess Kaguya - January 30, 2014

Sadako 2 is the sequel to the hit of the same name. The Girl in the Sun will be interesting but I doubt it will do much even though it stars Nodame and Domyoji. The Wind Rises is the big ticket item here. It's Hayao Miyazaki's rumored last work. It should do very well although right now a lot of family films are clogging up that date. 4 family films come out that week including 3 animation movies. The Tale of Princess Kaguya is another Studio Ghilbi production and could do good numbers since it will be released on Chinese New Year.

Despicable Me 2 isn't looking too bad on Saturday. Blind Detective is doing OK, just slightly below Despicable Me 2. Not as many theaters gave it sneak previews like they did with Despicable Me 2.

Ratings of current releases

Man of Steel - 71% like it; 4/5 rating
World War Z - 85% like it; 4.1/5
Now You See Me - 91% like it; 4.2/5
Epic - 100% like it; 4.3/5
Switch - below 50% like it; 1.2/5
Badges of Fury - 47% like it; 3.2/5
Miracle in Cell No. 7 - 89% like it; 4.7/5
American Dreams in China - 88% like it; 4.3/5
The Hangover 3 - 63% like it; 3.7/5
After Earth - 66% like it; 2.3/5
Star Trek Into Darkness - 89% like it; 4.4/5
Fast & Furious 6 - 93% like it; 4.3/5
Pee Mak Phra Khanong - 91% like it; 4.3/5

	Friday				June 28
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Man of Steel	--	34,945	--	+15.5%
2	World War Z	36,313	19,639	-45.9%	+37.1%
3	Now You See Me	19,096	8,930	-53.2%	+38.3%
4	Epic	--	6,706	--	+31.1%
5	Badges of Fury	939	774	-17.6%	+112.1%
6	Miracle in Cell No. 7	966	509	-47.3%	+43.8%
7	American Dreams in China	1,376	381	-72.3%	+11.4%
8	A Late Quartet	--	223	--	--
9	Fast & Furious 6	817	180	-78.0%	--
10	The Hangover 3	2,914	166	-94.3%	-7.3%

Disappointing final admissions for Man of Steel. Pre-sales -> final admissions multiplier was only 2.08. Excellent hold for World War Z. I think there is now a legitimate chance it could beat Man of Steel. Wow. Now You See Me had a good hold. OK for Epic. Nice increase for Badges of Fury but still very bad overall. American Dreams in China got shaken violently by the openers this week. Poor for Fast & Furious 6. Catastrophic for The Hangover 3.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			June 29
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Man of Steel	--	24,395	--	+45.0%
2	World War Z	23,811	10,012	-58.0%	+50.5%
3	Midsummer Formula	--	6,147	--	--
4	Epic	--	4,931	--	+88.6%
5	Now You See Me	8,733	4,165	-52.3%	+38.1%
6	Despicable Me 2	--	3,992	--	--
7	Blind Detective	--	1,995	--	--
8	Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Rouge	--	402	--	--
9	Badges of Fury	340	322	-5.3%	+26.3%
10	Miracle in Cell No. 7	438	168	-61.6%	+68.0%

All films not released today saw weaker increases. Man of Steel's increase is not bad but in the grand scheme of things, it is not great at all. I don't know if it can pull off 60,000 admissions today but it needs to in order beat World War Z's opening weekend. Decent hold for World War Z. It was going to have heavier drops today and tomorrow so all in all it's not bad. Great start for Midsummer Formula. Not great for Epic although it did have the biggest increase. Good for Now You See Me. Average pre-sales for Despicable Me 2. Below average for Blind Detective. Terrible for Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Rouge. They should have held on to it and release it in August. Badges of Fury is not moving a lot of tickets. First average hold for Miracle in Cell No. 7.

	Daily admissions (OW)
	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
World War Z	9,704	31,412	36,313	64,800	62,886	205,115
Man of Steel		30,254	34,945			65,199
Gap	-9,704	-10,862	-12,230	-77,030	-139,916

It appears that World War Z will win in admissions. Who would have thought?

3 PM update: Man of Steel has passed 36,000. I think it will only get to 57,000 admissions today. World War Z currently stands at 17,000 admissions while Midsummer Formula has just cracked 10,000 admissions today. Epic is closing in on Formula though in 4th with 9,300 admissions. Despicable Me 2 has overtaken Now You See Me for 5th with 7,000 admissions over 6,700 for the latter.

Early reviews for the Saturday openers are coming in and they do not look good.

Despicable Me 2 - 25% like it
Blind Detective - 0% like it, 1.8/5
Midsummer Formula - 60% like it, 2.6/5

	Saturday				June 29
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Man of Steel	--	48,774	--	+39.6%
2	World War Z	64,800	23,108	-64.3%	+17.7%
3	Midsummer Formula	--	12,782	--	--
4	Epic	--	10,625	--	+58.4%
5	Now You See Me	29,616	8,318	-71.9%	-6.9%
6	Despicable Me 2	--	7,448	--	--
7	Blind Detective	--	4,546	--	--
8	Badges of Fury	1,070	821	-23.3%	+6.1%
9	Miracle in Cell No. 7	1,756	568	-67.7%	+11.6%
10	So Young	1,091	325	-70.2%	--

Not good for Man of Steel. It couldn't even reach 50,000 admissions. It will make less than World War Z's opening weekend. OK for World War Z. Strong beginning for Midsummer Formula. It won't reach the levels of Suspect X but it's a very good opening day. Better for Epic but slow opening weekend. Huge drop for Now You See Me today. The openers took away its screen and it was left to share with other films. Average for Despicable Me 2. Bland for Blind Detective. Good hold for Badges of Fury but soft increase and opening weekend. Miracle in Cell No. 7 was affected by the Saturday previews/openers. So Young is a massive failure.

	Daily admissions (OW)
	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
World War Z	9,704	31,412	36,313	64,800	62,886	205,115
Man of Steel		30,254	34,945	48,774		113,973
Gap	-9,704	-10,862	-12,230	-28,256	-91,142

World War Z is running away with this now. This bodes really well for Monsters University which opens in a little less than 2 weeks.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			June 30
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Man of Steel	--	27,264	--	+11.8%
2	World War Z	26,711	11,747	-56.0%	+17.3%
3	Epic	--	7,547	--	+53.1%
4	Midsummer Formula	--	6,647	--	+8.1%
5	Despicable Me 2	--	5,919	--	+48.3%
6	Now You See Me	9,930	5,284	-46.8%	+26.9%
7	Blind Detective	--	2,509	--	+25.8%
8	Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Rouge	--	392	--	-2.5%
9	Badges of Fury	421	355	-15.7%	+10.2%
10	American Dreams in China	623	206	-66.9%	--

Not that good for Man of Steel. Maybe walk-ins will pick up later today. Decent for World War Z. Not bad for Epic. Midsummer Formula could be very frontloaded. Ok for Despicable Me 2. Acceptable hold for Now You See Me. Still not that great for Blind Detective. Poor for Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Rouge. Badges of Fury had a great hold but a low start. American Dreams in China got clobbered by the new openers.

Another typhoon is coming and is expected to impact Monday's and Tuesday's admissions. This could be good news for Man of Steel. If people want to take refuge from the deluge of rain, Man of Steel would be the best choice to watch.

Typhoon Signal No 1 has been raised. Conditions are expected to deteriorate tomorrow.

Lots of additions to the release date schedule. These include dates for Escape Plan, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Sadako 2, Insidious: Chapter 2 and Project Blue Book. Full update here: Release Dates

	Sunday				June 30
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Man of Steel	--	51,118	--	+4.8%
2	World War Z	62,886	23,908	-62.0%	+3.5%
3	Epic	--	14,655	--	+37.9%
4	Midsummer Formula	--	13,036	--	+2.0%
5	Despicable Me 2	--	9,680	--	+30.0%
6	Now You See Me	28,315	8,930	-68.5%	+7.4%
7	Blind Detective	--	5,502	--	+21.0%
8	Badges of Fury	1,203	930	-22.7%	+13.3%
9	Miracle in Cell No. 7	1,663	594	-64.3%	+4.6%
10	So Young	900	338	-62.4%	+4.0%

The holiday-fueled Sunday didn't really help much for Man of Steel and World War Z. Epic/Despicable Me 2 had fantastic increases while Midsummer Formula buzz seems to have waned quickly.

	Daily admissions (OW)
	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
World War Z	9,704	31,412	36,313	64,800	62,886	205,115
Man of Steel		30,254	34,945	48,774	51,118	165,091
Gap	-9,704	-10,862	-12,230	-28,256	-40,024

Yeesh, those Saturday/Sunday gaps make Man of Steel's admissions look terrible.

	Weekend adm.			Jun 27-30
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	% chg
1	Man of Steel	--	165,091	--
2	World War Z	195,411	80,981	-58.6%
3	Epic	--	39,258	--
4	Now You See Me	90,691	32,635	-64.0%
5	Midsummer Formula	--	25,818	--
6	Despicable Me 2	--	17,128	--
7	Blind Detective	--	10,048	--
8	Badges of Fury	3,212	2,890	-10.0%
9	Miracle in Cell No. 7	5,200	2,025	-61.1%
10	So Young	3,554	1,015	-71.4%

Not a great weekend for Kal-El.

	Weekend Estimates			June 27
Rank	Movie	TW	% chg	Total
1	Man of Steel	$2,100,000		$2,100,000
2	World War Z	$900,000	-59.2%	$3,945,000
3	Epic	$425,000		$425,000
4	Now You See Me	$260,000	-63.2%	$2,955,000
5	Midsummer Formula	$190,000		$190,000

June 27 Weekend Estimates

Today is the 16th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China. Since 1997, an annual protest rally has been held to mark the day.

This year's theme is "demanding full democracy". An open society with a multi-party legislature, a vibrant media (more so than the US media), and a growing presence of anti-establishment vocals. It's hard to see Hong Kong function without a democratically elected leader.

If the turnout is really big, box office could see a drop off from yesterday.

Typhoon Signal No. 3 has been in effect for the past few hours.


Will people really want to protest in stormy conditions? And box office will likely see a dip today anyways because tomorrow is a workday. The last two Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day's have seen increases because they were either coming off a weekday (2011) or they were scheduled on a Sunday which meant that they would get an extra holiday on Monday (2012).

In normal condition, I would expect at least 300,000 people show up. But since the weather is not friendly, I take 100,000 off that number.

The protest is largely seen as a referendum on the region's widely unpopular chief CY Leung. The more people take it to the streets, the more mandate the pro-democracy camp has in bargaining with Beijing over democratic reform.

Tropical Storm Rumbia has strengthened into a Category 1 Typhoon. Heavy rain and winds are lashing HK right now courtesy of Rumbia's outer bands.

	Monday adm.	(so far)			July 1
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Man of Steel	--	22,313	--	-18.2%
2	World War Z	--	10,407	--	-11.4%
3	Despicable Me 2	--	9,091	--	+53.6%
4	Epic	--	9,044	--	+19.8%
5	Midsummer Formula	--	6,090	--	-8.4%
6	Now You See Me	--	5,347	--	+1.2%
7	Blind Detective	--	2,717	--	+8.3%
8	Badges of Fury	--	402	--	+2.6%
9	Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Rouge	--	385	--	-1.8%
10	Miracle in Cell No. 7	--	315	--	+55.9%

Huge decrease for Man of Steel. It had the worst increase of the top 10. Not good for World War Z. Despicable Me 2 jumps big. Epic had a nice increase. Midsummer Formula continues to be frontloaded. OK for Now You See Me. Good for Blind Detective.

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/07/01/typhoon-bah-protesters-flood-hong-kong-streets/

Not bad. The weather seemed to have no negative effect on the turnout. I wonder how the box office did today.

HKSAR Day admissions

	Monday adm.				July 1
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Man of Steel	--	45,814	--	-10.4%
2	World War Z	27,343	24,358	-10.9%	+1.9%
3	Epic	--	17,493	--	+19.4%
4	Despicable Me 2	--	12,957	--	+33.9%
5	Midsummer Formula	--	11,835	--	-9.2%
6	Now You See Me	12,737	9,298	-27.0%	+4.1%
7	Blind Detective	--	5,693	--	+3.5%
8	Badges of Fury	818	821	+0.4%	-11.7%
9	Miracle in Cell No. 7	732	702	-4.1%	+18.2%
10	So Young	568	400	-29.6%	+18.3%

Terrible decrease for Man of Steel. Part of the drop is due to average WOM and the other is due to the long runtime. World War Z had a strong hold. Very good for Epic. Good for Despicable Me 2. Midsummer Formula's downward spiral keeps on going. OK hold for Now You See Me. Blind Detective is not doing very well. Strange for Badges of Fury. It had the worst increase of the top 10 but it was the only film of the top 10 to increase week-week. Great hold for Miracle in Cell No. 7. Not bad for So Young.

	5-day admissions	Jun 27-Jul 1
Rank	Title	5-day adm
1	Man of Steel	210,905
2	World War Z	105,339
3	Epic	56,751
4	Now You See Me	41,933
5	Midsummer Formula	37,653
6	Despicable Me 2	30,085
7	Blind Detective	15,741
8	Badges of Fury	3,711
9	Miracle in Cell No. 7	2,727
10	So Young	1,415

June 27 5-day Weekend Actuals

1. Man of Steel - $2,561,942 (opening weekend actual)
2. World War Z - $4,191,683
3. Epic - $513,162 (opening weekend actual)
4. Now You See Me - $3,008,058
5. Despicable Me 2 - $300,419 (sneak previews actual)
6. Midsummer Formula - $273,342 (opening weekend actual)
Badges of Fury - $87,675 (opening weekend actual)
Miracle in Cell No. 7 - $162,458

Monsters University article updated

I'll have a larger Monsters University update later.

Thursday schedules

Palace IFC
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Despicable Me 2 (3D Eng.) - 5 showings	Midsummer Formula - 3 showings (=)	The Great Gatsby 3D (Tue.)
Blind Detective - 5 showings	Man of Steel 3D - 8 showings (▼ 13)
	Epic (3D Eng.) - 3 showings (▼ 5)
	Now You See Me - 4 showings (▼ 5)
	American Dreams in China - 1 showing (=)
	Searching for Sugar Man - 2 showings (=)

The ONE
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Despicable Me 2 (3D Can.) - 1 showing	Midsummer Formula - 6 showings (▼ 7)	Epic (3D Can.)
Despicable Me 2 (Can.) - 1 showing	Epic (Can.) - 1 showing (=)	American Dreams in China
Despicable Me 2 (3D Eng.) - 3 showings	Epic (3D Eng.) - 3 showings (▲ 2)
Blind Detective - 8 showings	Epic (Eng.) - 1 showing (=)
	Man of Steel 3D - 7 showings (▼ 8)
	Man of Steel - 4 showings (▼ 6)
	World War Z 3D - 1 showing (▼ 2)
	World War Z - 3 showings (▼ 6)
	Now You See Me - 3 showings (▼ 5)

Windsor Cinema
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Despicable Me 2 (3D Can.) - 3 showings	Midsummer Formula - 2 showings (▼ 3)	Epic (Can.)
Despicable Me 2 (Can.) - 1 showing	Man of Steel 3D - 5 showings (▼ 8)
Blind Detective - 3 showings	Man of Steel - 1 showing (=)
	World War Z 3D - 1 showing (▼ 3)
	Now You See Me - 3 showings (=)

Despicable Me 2 is getting 1 screen at most places. A couple of theaters have given it 2 screens including at The GRAND but Man of Steel remains the popular choice for theaters. A number of them have put Despicable Me 2 on the 2nd biggest screen or have it sharing the biggest screen with Man of Steel. Blind Detective is being put on 1 screen.

Man of Steel remains on top with the most showings, securing 2 screens at the majority of locations. Midsummer Formula is doing okay as well with most of its showings retained from last weekend. Epic did ok and still has most of its showtimes. Its screen has gotten smaller though. World War Z and Now You See Me have done OK. World War Z will lose more showtimes and screens than Now You See Me to make room for the new openers.

Thursday schedules

Part 1 of Monsters University pre-sales

Here's a snapshot at how Monsters University is doing at UA locations.

Cityplaza
	Monsters University	3D Can.
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Jul. 11	9:00 AM	70	277	25.27%
	11:10 AM	41	277	14.80%
	1:20 PM	41	277	14.80%
	3:30 PM	100	277	36.10%
	5:40 PM	67	277	24.19%
Total		319	1385	23.03%
Jul. 12	9:00 AM	30	277	10.83%
	11:10 AM	22	277	7.94%
	1:20 PM	17	277	6.14%
	3:30 PM	24	277	8.66%
	5:40 PM	49	277	17.69%
Total		142	1385	10.25%
Jul. 13	9:00 AM	133	277	48.01%
	11:10 AM	83	277	29.96%
	1:20 PM	85	277	30.69%
	3:30 PM	172	277	62.09%
	5:40 PM	155	277	55.96%
Total		628	1385	45.34%
Jul. 14	9:00 AM	157	277	56.68%
	11:10 AM	109	277	39.35%
	1:20 PM	117	277	42.24%
Total		383	831	46.09%
4-day total		1472	4986	29.52%

Opening day seems very strong while Friday is a bit slower. Saturday and Sunday are looking out of this world with more than 45% filled on both days. Cityplaza is semi-hard to fill entirely.

Windsor Cinema
	Monsters University	3D Can.
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Jul. 11	5:40 PM	36	78	46.15%
Total		36	78	46.15%
Jul. 12	7:50 PM	72	78	92.31%
Total		72	78	92.31%
Jul. 13	5:40 PM	66	78	84.62%
Total		66	78	84.62%
3-day total		174	234	74.36%

Windsor Cinema is one of the easiest places to sell out. The Friday night session hasn't moved at all since that morning it came out. Clearly, people are waiting for more showtimes. The 5:40 PM showtime is telling. It's already more than 45% full on a weekday and it is not an evening showtime.

This is how The Dark Knight Rises was doing 1 week before release at Langham Place.


Now, let's see Monsters University 8 days before release at Langham Place.

Langham Place
	Monsters University	3D Can.
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Jul. 11	9:00 AM	76	202	37.62%
	11:10 AM	65	202	32.18%
	1:20 PM	36	202	17.82%
	3:30 PM	86	202	42.57%
	5:40 PM	86	202	42.57%
	7:50 PM	143	202	70.79%
Total		492	1212	40.59%
Jul. 12	9:00 AM	43	202	21.29%
	11:10 AM	34	202	16.83%
	1:20 PM	8	202	3.96%
	3:30 PM	24	202	11.88%
	5:40 PM	39	202	19.31%
	7:50 PM	149	202	73.76%
Total		297	1212	24.50%
Jul. 13	9:00 AM	105	202	51.98%
	11:10 AM	102	202	50.50%
	1:20 PM	92	202	45.54%
	3:30 PM	120	202	59.41%
	5:40 PM	125	202	61.88%
	7:50 PM	124	202	61.39%
Total		668	1212	55.12%
Jul. 14	9:00 AM	110	202	54.46%
	11:10 AM	138	202	68.32%
	1:20 PM	91	202	45.05%
	3:30 PM	110	202	54.46%
	5:40 PM	114	202	56.44%
	7:50 PM	109	202	53.96%
Total		672	1212	55.45%
4-day total		2129	4848	43.92%

Phenomenal for Monsters University. Besides the 1:20 PM showtime, other times look extremely good. Saturday and Sunday are looking insane. It's already more than 55% full with those showtimes.

These pre-sales are definitely rivaling Harry Potter 7-2. Where Monsters University has the edge over Harry Potter are the amazing pre-sales for Saturday/Sunday. Harry Potter 7-2's magnificent pre-sales came for opening day but Monsters University are spread out with Friday being the weak link. Monsters University's current pre-sales are outpacing The Avengers, Iron Man 3 and The Dark Knight Rises.