I think he referred to ASM2's OD falling on a holiday. 1 in 80 people in the US would translate to $33 million in gross, not $400m.

good point

With 3D price premium, it can go over $40m.

Its all about expectations. Even if theater owners want to make a movie huge there are signs that you cannot ignore. SW7 is certainly doing great here and will be very close to records but its because that is the only option for EVERYONE at this point specially with December holidays in full force.

TASM 2 grossed 3.4m on OW on 251,000 adm. so 1/30 in Hong Kong saw it on opening weekend.

Thursday estimates

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - $717,840 (on 746 showings - 60 people per showing average, represents more than 85% of box office on Thursday)
2. Keeper of Darkness - $2,053,536
Point Break - $999,849
Port of Call - $512,743
Ten Years - $5,768
Love the Coopers - $4,486

Star Wars misses the top 10 opening days of all time. With that opening day number, it will crack 3m this weekend and become the biggest December opening of all time. It will also snag the largest December weekend on record beating Avatar's 2nd weekend record of 2.8m.

Great total for Keeper of Darkness. Good for Point Break. Port of Call rebounded a bit from its opening weekend performance. Solid opening for Ten Years. This will break a $25,000 PTA this weekend. Horrible for Love the Coopers.
_________________________________________________
Pre-sales for the sneak previews this weekend are on average solid.

Ip Man 3 leads the way with solid sneaks. A couple of showtimes are already 70% full, with one 80% filled by yesterday. Most showtimes are closing in on 50% filled capacity.

The Peanuts Movie/The Little Prince are behind but not by much. The Peanuts Movie is enjoying success in both rural and urban areas while The Little Prince is playing well in the business district and tourist areas.

		Weekly Gross (Mon-Sun)							Dec 7-13
LW	TW	Title	Last Week (HKD)	This Week (HKD)	Days in release	% chg	Total (HKD)	This Week (USD)	Total (USD)
1	1	Keeper of Darkness	$6,084,803	$3,520,281	18	-42.1%	$15,137,302	$451,250	$1,940,387
2	2	Point Break	$3,452,832	$3,477,090	11	+0.7%	$6,929,922	$445,713	$888,317
4	3	In the Heart of the Sea	$2,640,774	$2,372,132	11	-10.2%	$5,012,906	$304,073	$642,583
5	4	Port of Call	$1,552,880	$1,813,709	11	+16.8%	$3,489,646	$232,491	$447,323
3	5	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	$3,335,108	$1,636,865	25	-50.9%	$25,279,061	$209,822	$3,240,416
--	6	Burnt	--	$1,215,920	4	--	$1,215,920	$155,863	$155,863
--	7	Go Lala Go 2	--	$562,887	4	--	$562,887	$72,154	$72,154
7	8	Spectre	$1,090,529	$537,268	39	-50.7%	$40,349,747	$68,870	$5,172,264
6	9	Victor Frankenstein	$1,497,864	$443,787	18	-70.4%	$4,213,931	$56,887	$540,166
--	10	The Crow's Egg	--	$437,425	11	--	$764,993	$56,071	$98,061

	Friday				December 18
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	--	41,669	--	+3.3%
2	The Peanuts Movie	--	2,286	--	--
3	Keeper of Darkness	5,479	1,973	-64.0%	+7.2%
4	Point Break	5,816	1,410	-75.8%	+17.4%
5	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	2,714	1,050	-61.3%	+27.3%
6	Port of Call	3,315	1,045	-68.5%	-2.1%
7	Burnt	3,523	936	-73.4%	+35.7%
8	Love the Coopers	--	899	--	+82.4%
9	Go Lala Go 2	1,401	822	-41.3%	+12.6%
10	Initiation Love	892	812	-9.0%	+43.2%

Though it seems it went up slightly on Friday, it lost 2,000 in admissions from Wednesday midnights. Peanuts Movie had decent sneaks. Bad holds all around from #3-#7. Love the Coopers might be gaining momentum. Good hold for Go Lala Go 2. Excellent for Initiation Love.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			December 19
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	--	38,988	--	+36.7%
2	The Peanuts Movie	--	2,326	--	+28.1%
3	Ip Man 3	--	2,213	--	--
4	The Little Prince	--	1,160	--	--
5	Ten Years	--	611	--	+8.1%
6	Keeper of Darkness	1,624	464	-71.4%	+19.9%
7	Port of Call	1,438	437	-69.6%	+46.6%
8	Love the Coopers	--	426	--	+51.6%
9	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	952	424	-55.5%	+48.3%
10	Burnt	1,377	387	-71.9%	+27.3%

One of the weakest increases I've seen for a December blockbuster. It should be able to get to 60,000 admissions today. 60,000 admissions on 782 showings would be 76 admissions per showing for the day. With showtimes spread out through 3 days, The Peanuts Movie had deflated admissions on Saturday. Good start for Ip Man 3. Ip Man 3 is right behind Peanuts Movie while having half the number of Peanuts' showtimes today (67 vs. 133). It will handily win #2 in admissions today. The Little Prince opens in 4th but with half of Ip Man 3's showtimes (33 in all). Love the Coopers led the top 10 increase thanks to proximity to the holidays and playing to families.

Star Wars 7 is losing another round of screens or moving to smaller theaters on Monday at most locations.

Increasing

The Peanuts Movie previews
Ip Man 3 sneaks
Keeper of Darkness
Other holdovers

Decreasing

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars 7's Monday drop from Thursday will be very ugly.

	Opening	Saturday	3D showings
	Pirates 4	Toy Story 3	Transformers 3	Harry Potter 7-2	The Avengers	Iron Man 3	The Amazing Spider-Man 2	Transformers: Age of Extinction	Avengers: Age of Ultron	Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Pacific Place	21	28	28	22	27	27	22	22	29	22
Total	21	28	28	22	27	27	22	22	29	22
Palace APM	25	23	32	27	34	30	19	24	33	18
Total	25	28	35	34	37	34	28	29	37	19
Tsuen Wan	18	22	20	18	24	22	20	19	26	14
Total	18	22	22	21	24	25	22	21	26	17
Palace IFC	21	24	24	21	23	25	18	15	26	24
Total	21	24	24	21	23	25	18	15	26	24
Festival Walk	N/A	N/A	26	26	32	32	23	26	38	25
Total	N/A	N/A	33	32	32	36	29	27	38	27
The One	N/A	N/A	N/A	31	34	33	29	30	36	18
Total	N/A	N/A	N/A	33	34	35	33	31	37	21
The Grand Cinema	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	31	33	30	46	31
Total	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	40	37	39	34	53	35

After its Thursday underperformed, this is what happened to Star Wars on Saturday. Most theaters were not even close to Avengers 2 or Iron Man 3's showtimes and some theaters at Broadway/AMC went below the 20 showing benchmark.

	Saturday				December 19
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	--	59,026	--	+41.7%
2	Ip Man 3	--	8,095	--	--
3	The Peanuts Movie	--	4,533	--	+98.3%
4	Keeper of Darkness	8,702	2,917	-66.5%	+47.8%
5	The Little Prince	--	2,183	--	--
6	Port of Call	5,237	1,673	-68.1%	+60.1%
7	Point Break	8,897	1,442	-83.8%	+2.3%
8	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	4,130	1,235	-70.1%	+17.6%
9	Initiation Love	1,739	1,163	-33.1%	+43.2%
10	Burnt	4,508	1,110	-75.4%	+18.6%

Woah, this didn't even hit 60,000 admissions despite a number of theaters adding more 2D showtimes. Final tally: 59,026 admissions on 766 showtimes = 77 admissions per showing.

Ip Man 3 sneaks towered over the 3D animated family fare previews to place 2nd with more admissions than both Peanuts/Little Prince combined. Its final admissions per showing average was a staggering 115. I saw a bunch of sellouts today. Highlights include recording 95% capacity at Kwai Fong for the entire day including the midnight showing. Hollywood averaged more than 200 people per showing on Saturday.

The Peanuts Movie did not fare nearly as well. Its Friday night sneaks diluted its Saturday leading to only an average of 34 people per showing for the day. Sunday will be much stronger than Saturday.

The Little Prince did better than Peanuts in the people per average showing department with 66 but Peanuts had 20+ Friday night sneaks vs. just 2 for The Little Prince. The Little Prince is doing better than Peanuts in the business district but everywhere else is Peanuts territory between the two.

The holdovers outside of Initiation Love did poorly with all the sneak previews going on.

	Weekend Projections			December 17
Rank	Movie	TW	% chg	Total
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	$3,210,000		$3,210,000
2	The Peanuts Movie	$175,000		$175,000
3	Ip Man 3	$165,000		$165,000
4	Keeper of Darkness	$100,000	-66.2%	$2,150,000
5	The Little Prince	$80,000		$80,000

Star Wars successfully completes its job with the biggest December weekend of all time and the highest OW in December. It's not bad but the 4 IMAX theaters are constituting 20%, maybe even 25% of its OW gross. The insane $60-$80 price jump in IMAX for Star Wars pretty much means that no other film will beat that record for a long long time unless if more IMAX's are built or if other studios follow suit with these hijinks. Also, it's kind of ridiculous that Disney resorted to these tactics to set the biggest December weekend on record and make it appear as if HK is a strong market for Star Wars. I'm still dumbfounded and a bit peeved by the Star Wars prices in IMAX.

The Peanuts Movie holds the edge over Ip Man 3 with 3 days of sneaks vs. 2 and 3D prices in the weekend race for 2nd. Terrible but expected hold from Keeper of Darkness. OK sneaks for The Little Prince but it will be overshadowed by Ip Man 3/Peanuts beginning on Thursday.

Early Christmas Eve schedules/pre-selling

Christmas Eve schedules have been posted at various theater chains. At GH, Ip Man 3 is the frontrunner with the biggest or 2nd biggest theater. Star Wars drops to the 3rd of 4th biggest theater. Peanuts/The Little Prince/Yo-Kai Watch share the biggest screen or 2nd biggest screen with each other. MCL has Star Wars on the biggest theater and Ip Man 3 in the 2nd. Snoopy is in the 3rd biggest screen while The Little Prince will only have a couple of showtimes on the smallest screen here. Yo-Kai Watch is being promoted by MCL so it will receive 2-5 showtimes a day on the 2nd or 3rd biggest screen. At Broadway/AMC, Star Wars 7 is the winner at most locations over Ip Man 3 with Peanuts in 3rd and Little Prince in 4th.

Pre-sales are telling a different story with Ip Man 3 way out in front at almost all locations at GH/MCL that have released pre-selling before Saturday. At one theater, Ip Man 3 is doing 17x Star War 7's business on Thursday night.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			December 20
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	--	41,626	--	+6.8%
2	The Peanuts Movie	--	3,727	--	+60.2%
3	Ip Man 3	--	2,783	--	+25.8%
4	The Little Prince	--	1,688	--	+45.5%
5	Ten Years	--	562	--	-8.0%
6	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	1,000	538	-46.2%	+26.9%
7	Burnt	1,385	495	-64.3%	+27.9%
8	Point Break	2,476	470	-81.0%	--
9	Port of Call	1,515	448	-70.4%	+2.5%
10	Keeper of Darkness	1,694	395	-76.7%	-14.9%

Eh for Star Wars. Nice for The Peanuts Movie. Decent for Ip Man 3. Good increase for The Little Prince.

Early Christmas Day pre-selling

Ip Man 3 continues its dominance over Star Wars at more rural locations. At places such as Festival Walk where Star Wars 7 is doing big business, it has leading Ip Man 3 by a slight margin. Really it does not tell us what we didn't know before, those theaters where Star Wars 7 is playing well this week will continue to do so into Christmas while others where Star Wars 7 has underwhelmed will shift their focus to Ip Man 3.

Star Wars franchise performance in Hong Kong:

SW4 - HK$2,742,069 (1978 yearly rank: 11)
SW5 - HK$5,742,063 (1980: 4)
SW6 - HK$11,906,244 (1983: 10)
SW1 - HK$22,410,913 (1999: 6)
SW2 - HK$14,760,538 (2002: 18)
SW3 - ~HK$19,692,324 (2005: 11)

The franchise is pretty consistent in Hong Kong, except for Attack of the Clones, which disappointed. It is not as popular as movies like E.T., King Kong (1976), or the Harry Potter series. But it ranks inside the top 20 in the yearly chart consistently. If SW7 makes less than HK$46m (or US$5.9m), it will rank outside of the yearly top 10 and be considered a disappointment for the reboot.

It will be a major disappointment if Star Wars 7 makes less than 7m. Less than 5.9m is flop level.

	Sunday				December 20
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	--	60,394	--	+2.3%
2	Ip Man 3	--	9,003	--	+11.2%
3	The Peanuts Movie	--	7,176	--	+58.3%
4	The Little Prince	--	2,896	--	+32.7%
5	Keeper of Darkness	7,548	2,409	-68.1%	-17.4%
6	Port of Call	4,634	1,408	-69.6%	-15.8%
7	Point Break	8,137	1,353	-83.4%	-6.2%
8	Burnt	3,988	1,196	-70.0%	+7.7%
9	Initiation Love	1,744	1,123	-35.6%	-3.4%
10	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	3,974	1,101	-72.3%	-10.9%

Top 4 all posted increases. That is a very good increase for Ip Man 3 but The Peanuts Movie's jaw dropping 58% gain on Sunday is simply outstanding. The Little Prince also had a notable 90 people per showing average on Sunday, 2nd best of the top 4 behind Ip Man 3.

	Weekend adm.			Dec 17-20
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	% chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	--	201,418	--
2	Ip Man 3	--	17,098	--
3	The Peanuts Movie	--	13,995	--
4	Keeper of Darkness	26,027	9,139	-64.9%
5	Point Break	27,058	5,406	-80.0%
6	The Little Prince	--	5,285	--
7	Port of Call	15,485	5,193	-66.5%
8	Burnt	14,104	3,932	-72.1%
9	Initiation Love	5,017	3,665	-26.9%

	Weekend Estimates			December 17
Rank	Movie	TW	% chg	Total
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	$3,220,000		$3,220,000
2	The Peanuts Movie	$190,000		$190,000
3	Ip Man 3	$180,000		$180,000
4	Keeper of Darkness	$95,000	-67.9%	$2,145,000
5	The Little Prince	$70,000		$70,000

The top 3 all had better than expected holds on Sunday. This weekend will pass the 4m mark like last year's did though how Star Wars does in actuals will decide if this is the biggest weekend before Christmas of all time.
________________________________________________________
We will now turn our attention to the upcoming Christmas weekend where there is a surprise brewing.

The ONE
	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	(all v.)				Ip Man 3					The Peanuts Movie	(all v.)				The Little Prince	(all v.)
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Dec. 24	9:00 AM	6	163	3.68%	Dec. 24	9:00 AM	13	163	7.98%	Dec. 24	9:10 AM	7	111	6.31%	Dec. 24	9:35 AM	13	163	7.98%
	11:00 AM	4	163	2.45%		11:00 AM	8	111	7.21%		5:30 PM	28	111	25.23%		11:35 AM	6	163	3.68%
	11:35 AM	6	163	3.68%		1:35 PM	6	163	3.68%		7:15 PM	56	111	50.45%		1:40 PM	4	163	2.45%
	1:00 PM	4	111	3.60%		3:30 PM	14	111	12.61%							3:40 PM	33	163	20.25%
	2:10 PM	6	163	3.68%		6:10 PM	70	163	42.94%							5:40 PM	76	163	46.63%
	3:35 PM	4	163	2.45%		8:10 PM	107	163	65.64%							7:40 PM	59	163	36.20%
	4:45 PM	18	163	11.04%		10:10 PM	114	163	69.94%							9:40 PM	70	163	42.94%
	7:20 PM	36	163	22.09%		12:10 AM	19	163	11.66%							11:40 PM	16	163	9.82%
	9:55 PM	39	163	23.93%
	12:30 AM	12	163	7.36%
Total		135	1578	8.56%	Total		351	1200	29.25%	Total		91	333	27.33%	Total		277	1304	21.24%

Strong sales from Ip Man 3 but look what's behind it. The Little Prince is doing exceptionally well here. I am surprised that the 5:40 Cantonese showing is doing the best because the English version of animations usually do the best at this theater. Star Wars is a complete disaster before the 4:45 pm showing and is not doing much better with the 7-9pm showtimes yet. Peanuts 7 pm looks OK but it does not have enough showtimes to really make a mark.

The ONE
	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	(all v.)				Ip Man 3					The Peanuts Movie	(all v.)				The Little Prince	(all v.)
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Dec. 25	9:00 AM	16	163	9.82%	Dec. 25	9:00 AM	12	163	7.36%	Dec. 25	9:10 AM	21	111	18.92%	Dec. 25	9:35 AM	22	163	13.50%
	11:00 AM	18	163	11.04%		11:00 AM	28	111	25.23%		5:30 PM	31	111	27.93%		11:35 AM	24	163	14.72%
	11:35 AM	26	163	15.95%		1:35 PM	29	163	17.79%		7:15 PM	16	111	14.41%		1:40 PM	35	163	21.47%
	1:00 PM	29	111	26.13%		3:30 PM	42	111	37.84%							3:40 PM	56	163	34.36%
	2:10 PM	13	163	7.98%		6:10 PM	54	163	33.13%							5:40 PM	60	163	36.81%
	3:35 PM	27	163	16.56%		8:10 PM	30	163	18.40%							7:40 PM	32	163	19.63%
	4:45 PM	10	163	6.13%		10:10 PM	21	163	12.88%							9:40 PM	24	163	14.72%
	7:20 PM	26	163	15.95%		12:10 AM	4	163	2.45%							11:40 PM	6	163	3.68%
	9:55 PM	12	163	7.36%
	12:30 AM	4	163	2.45%
Total		181	1578	11.47%	Total		220	1200	18.33%	Total		68	333	20.42%	Total		259	1304	19.86%

The Little Prince overtakes Ip Man 3 on Christmas. Excellent job. Star Wars picks up from its slow Christmas Eve ticket sales. Peanuts falls from its Christmas Eve admissions.

No figures yet for Star Wars. We might have to wait for HKMPIA's numbers.

Christmas Market Situation

Star Wars 7 is really struggling to corral admissions. Though many locations have seen an uptick on admissions on Christmas Day, it is still below Ip Man 3 at most locations and even The Little Prince. Christmas weekend leans heavily on pre-sales though walk-ins are important as well. Harry Potter 7-1 had trouble with walk-ins on Christmas Day, mustering up only 35% in walk-in sales. Star Wars 7 has seen slightly more % of walk-ins since opening day but it is still well below normal for a December release.

Ip Man 3 is looking good although it is starting to look like Twilight on Christmas Day. Sales are much slower on Christmas Day although the holiday is inclined to benefit longer blockbuster movies and animated films more. Still, the stalled momentum on Christmas does not look all that good. One advantage that it has over Star Wars 7 so far is that it is demonstrated excellent walk-in admissions with its weekend previews. If this continues, this should be #1 over the holiday period.

The Little Prince is doing very well. It is not far behind Ip Man 3 on Christmas Eve and it is playing quite strongly on Christmas Day. The problem that it has is the theater count. It is most likely that this will not play in the same amount of theaters as The Peanuts Movie but admissions have been strong thus far and should bode well for this weekend.

The Peanuts Movie has fallen off the map with poor admissions per showing this weekend. Theaters have started to slash showtimes on Thursday to make room for other movies. If it does not have any staying power, this could drop to #4 behind The Little Prince.

The rent is too damn high in HK. So is the ticket price.

Three theater chains raised ticket price ahead of the holiday. Broadway, UA, and MCL "coincidentally" increased regular ticket price by $0.65 at some locations on December 17. (http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/realtime/news/20151218/54551362)

At Broadway's Palace APM:

2D regular - $10.97
2D discount Tuesday - $9.03
2D morning shows - $7.10
2D senior - $2.58

3D regular - $14.84
3D discount Tuesday - $10.97
3D morning shows - $9.03

Film length surcharge - $1.29

So a SW7 3D regular ticket costs US$16.13!

Firstly, they've been doing this extra $5 HK increase for the past few years now. It's nothing special. Certain places like The ONE and Cinematheque saw increases 3 times this year (Chinese New Year, National Day holiday and now Christmas holidays). Secondly, don't forget about the blockbuster surcharge. If a movie's runtime is under 140 minutes, they can still charge extra if a movie is deemed a hot ticket item. They don't tell you that but they will sometimes file the extra $5-$10 HK quietly under the long duration surcharge.

	Monday adm.				December 21
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	--	27,159	--	-55.0%
2	Ip Man 3	--	4,800	--	-46.7%
3	The Peanuts Movie	--	3,419	--	-52.4%
4	Keeper of Darkness	--	1,376	--	-42.9%
5	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	1,019	--	-7.4%
6	Point Break	--	844	--	-37.6%
7	Burnt	--	814	--	-31.9%
8	Ten Years	--	629	--	--
9	Go Lala Go 2	--	628	--	--
10	Initiation Love	--	623	--	-44.5%

That is decent for Star Wars. It is down 33% from Thursday's admissions (- midnights). With midnights included, it is down around 36%. Good for Ip Man 3.

	Tuesday adm.	(so far)			December 22
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	--	17,946	--	--
2	The Peanuts Movie	--	3,071	--	--
3	Ip Man 3	--	1,526	--	--
4	Ten Years	--	450	--	--
5	Burnt	--	244	--	--
6	Keeper of Darkness	--	232	--	--
7	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	212	--	--
8	Port of Call	--	197	--	--
9	Point Break	--	177	--	--
10	Love the Coopers	--	164	--	--

Not bad for Star Wars.

Thursday schedules

A note before we begin. Anniversary will get in on the action this weekend with sneaks and almost every theater will accommodate some showtimes to it.

Broadway/AMC

Palace APM
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Ip Man 3 - 10 showings	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 9 showings (▲ 8)	Point Break
The Peanuts Movie (3D Can.) - 4 showings	Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 3 showings (▼ 8)	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
The Peanuts Movie (Can.) - 2 showings	Keeper of Darkness - 3 showings (=)	Burnt
The Little Prince (Can.) - 6 showings	Initiation Love - 5 showings (▲ 4)
Yo-Kai Watch - 3 showings

Most Broadway/AMC theaters will push Ip Man 3 onto 10 or more showtimes on Christmas Eve. The business district, however, has Star Wars firmly entrenched with 3 screens and have left Ip Man 3 with half day showtimes. Pre-sales for Ip Man 3 have been lightning fast with more than half of Broadway/AMC's theaters needing to add Ip Man 3 showtimes on Thursday. The Little Prince will have an advantage over Peanuts here. In some cases, theaters have moved to Ip Man 3 into the biggest screen on Saturday/Sunday with The Little Prince on the 2nd biggest screen, sending Star Wars 7 down to the 3rd biggest screen.

UA

Cityplaza
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Ip Man 3 - 7 showings	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 16 showings (▼ 17)	Love the Coopers
The Peanuts Movie (3D Can.) - 6 showings	Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 2 showings (▼ 4)	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
The Little Prince (3D Can.) - 2 showings	Port of Call - 3 showings (▼ 4)	Before We Go
The Little Prince (3D Eng.) - 1 showing	Keeper of Darkness - 5 showings (▼ 7)	In the Heart of the Sea
Yo-Kai Watch - 3 showings	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - 4 showings (▼ 5)

Scheduling politics are occurring at UA. Star Wars 7 is being shown on 2-3 screens with Ip Man 3/The Little Prince/The Peanuts Movie/Yo-Kai Watch sharing the rest of the available screens. Cityplaza even has Ip Man 3 on its smallest screen the entire Christmas weekend. Pre-sales here are great for Star Wars and weaker for everything else due to Star Wars 7 getting Christmas pre-selling nearly a week and a half early while the new openers started pre-selling today.

MCL

STAR Cinema
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Ip Man 3 - 12 showings	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 8 showings (▲ 4)	Burnt
The Peanuts Movie (3D Can.) - 2 showings	Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 4 showings (▼ 12)	Go Lala Go 2
The Peanuts Movie (3D Eng.) - 4 showings		She Remembers, He Forgets
The Little Prince (Can.) - 2 showings
The Little Prince (Eng.) - 1 showing
Yo-Kai Watch - 8 showings

At this theater chain, Yo-Kai Watch is being heavily promoted while Ip Man 3 is getting over 10 showtimes average outside of JP theater. Star Wars 7 is still on the biggest screen here but its grip is loosening quite a bit with the other 2 getting scheduled with numerous showtimes. The Peanuts Movie will play at every theater here while The Little Prince is either not showing or playing in 1-3 showtimes per day.

Golden Harvest

Tsing Yi
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Ip Man 3 - 10 showings	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 2 showings (▲ 0)	Keeper of Darkness
The Peanuts Movie (3D Can.) - 1 showing	Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 4 showings (▼ 12)	She Remembers, He Forgets
The Peanuts Movie (Can.) - 6 showings	Go Lala Go 2 - 1 showing (=)
The Little Prince (Can.) - 3 showings
The Little Prince (3D Can.) - 1 showing
Yo-Kai Watch - 5 showings

Ip Man 3 is the general winner with it being scheduled on the biggest or 2nd biggest screen. Yo Kai Watch is in the 2nd position with The Peanuts Movie not far behind. Star Wars 7 drops to 4th position at this theater.

Cinema City
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Ip Man 3 - 14 showings	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D 4DX - 3 showings (▼ 5)	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Atmos
Ip Man 3 4DX - 4 showings	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D - 7 showings (=)	Port of Call
The Peanuts Movie (Can.) - 5 showings	Star Wars: The Force Awakens Atmos - 1 showing (▲ 0)	Keeper of Darkness
The Little Prince (Can.) - 3 showings	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 4DX - 1 showing (▼ 2)	Point Break
Yo-Kai Watch (Can.) - 3 showings	Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 4 showings (▲ 3)
	Go Lala Go 2 - 1 showing (▼ 5)

At Ip Man 3's home base, Ip Man 3 wins the showtime count with 18 showtimes on Thursday vs. 16 for Star Wars altogether. Ip Man 3 is killing it in pre-sales here on Thursday night with one midnight showing nearing 50% capacity.

	Tuesday adm.				December 22
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	--	33,947	--	+25.0%
2	Ip Man 3	--	9,218	--	+92.0%
3	The Peanuts Movie	--	6,668	--	+95.0%
4	Keeper of Darkness	--	1,729	--	+25.7%
5	Point Break	--	1,130	--	+33.9%
6	Burnt	--	937	--	+15.1%
7	Port of Call	--	880	--	--
8	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	868	--	-14.8%
9	Go Lala Go 2	--	856	--	+36.3%
10	Ten Years	--	715	--	+13.7%

Very good for the top 3. Ip Man 3's increase is particularly impressive with it nearly matching Peanuts' increase.

	Wednesday adm.	(so far)			December 23
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	--	17,377	--	-3.2%
2	The Peanuts Movie	--	3,529	--	+14.9%
3	Ip Man 3	--	2,020	--	+32.4%
4	The Little Prince	--	1,163	--	--
5	Anniversary	--	993	--	--
6	Ten Years	--	359	--	-20.2%
7	Keeper of Darkness	--	272	--	+17.2%
8	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	--	246	--	+16.0%
9	Burnt	--	212	--	-13.1%
10	Port of Call	--	169	--	-14.2%

Star Wars 7 is giving back some of its pre-sales gain from yesterday. Decent for Peanuts. Very good for Ip Man 3. Thursday nights are filling up quite quickly which have caused spillage into Wednesday. The Little Prince is back with a good pre-sales number.

Christmas Eve pre-sales at Palace APM (taken at 8 PM on Tuesday)

Palace APM
	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	(all v.)				Ip Man 3					The Peanuts Movie	(all v.)				The Little Prince	(all v.)
Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled	Day	Time	Seats sold	Seats available	% filled
Dec. 24	9:00 AM	15	112	13.39%	Dec. 24	9:20 AM	152	286	53.15%	Dec. 24	8:55 AM	46	98	46.94%	Dec. 24	9:00 AM	30	167	17.96%
	10:45 AM	18	98	18.37%		11:00 AM	69	167	41.32%		10:50 AM	59	114	51.75%		11:30 AM	61	112	54.46%
	11:30 AM	49	286	17.13%		2:50 PM	40	167	23.95%		12:35 PM	27	114	23.68%		1:30 PM	15	112	13.39%
	2:00 PM	41	286	14.34%		4:30 PM	106	286	37.06%		2:20 PM	16	114	14.04%		3:35 PM	63	112	56.25%
	3:20 PM	19	98	19.39%		6:30 PM	173	286	60.49%		4:05 PM	31	114	27.19%		5:50 PM	65	98	66.33%
	4:50 PM	65	167	38.92%		8:30 PM	214	286	74.83%		7:00 PM	75	98	76.53%		8:15 PM	92	112	82.14%
	5:40 PM	40	112	35.71%		9:50 PM	23	114	20.18%
	7:20 PM	35	163	21.47%		10:30 PM	214	286	74.83%
	7:50 PM	46	98	46.94%		11:50 PM	4	114	3.51%
	9:55 PM	69	163	42.33%		12:30 AM	45	286	15.73%
	10:20 PM	20	98	20.41%
	12:30 AM	34	167	20.36%
Total		451	1848	24.40%	Total		1040	2278	45.65%	Total		254	652	38.96%	Total		326	713	45.72%

Star Wars 7 is having some trouble here as not even one showing is over half full. 2D is playing slightly better than 3D here as the 2 PM, 4:50 PM and midnight showings are doing pretty well. 5:40 pm showings and after are all 3D (- midnight showing). Ip Man 3 has had hot pre-selling that it has caused moviegoers to catch it at an earlier time. The 6:30 pm showing is nearly on par with the 8 and 10 pm shows and the 4 pm one is doing great. The 9:50/11:50 pm showtimes were added at 7 pm (one hour before I took these admissions). Decent for Peanuts and The Little Prince is doing very well but it's worthy of noting that all of The Little Prince's showtimes are in 2D while Peanuts has a mix of 3D/2D.

		Weekly Gross (Mon-Sun)							Dec 14-20
LW	TW	Title	Last Week (HKD)	This Week (HKD)	Days in release	% chg	Total (HKD)	This Week (USD)	Total (USD)
--	1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	--	$26,645,964	4	--	$26,645,964	$3,447,541	$3,447,541
1	2	Keeper of Darkness	$3,520,281	$1,613,101	25	-54.2%	$16,750,403	$208,708	$2,167,221
--	3	The Peanuts Movie	--	$1,561,533	0	--	$1,561,533	$202,036	$202,036
2	4	Point Break	$3,477,090	$1,205,162	18	-65.3%	$8,135,084	$155,927	$1,052,543
4	5	Port of Call	$1,813,709	$878,818	18	-51.5%	$4,368,464	$113,704	$565,206
6	6	Burnt	$1,215,920	$741,068	11	-39.1%	$1,956,988	$95,881	$253,201
5	7	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	$1,636,865	$724,375	32	-55.7%	$26,003,436	$93,722	$3,364,409
7	8	Go Lala Go 2	$562,887	$724,181	11	+28.7%	$1,287,068	$93,696	$166,525
--	9	The Little Prince	--	$607,461	0	--	$607,461	$78,595	$78,595
3	10	In the Heart of the Sea	$2,372,132	$557,349	18	-76.5%	$5,570,255	$72,111	$720,697

Biggest December opening weekend of all time for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It also landed inside the top 10 opening weekends of all time, just in front of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The Peanuts Movie and The Little Prince were close to estimates. Ip Man 3 not being in the table above just means the studio will roll all the previews into its opening weekend hoping to ensure it a #1 opening ahead of Star Wars Christmas weekend.

	Top 15 Opening Weekends
Rank	Movie	HK Gross	US Gross
1	Avengers: Age of Ultron	$49,517,186	$6,405,895
2	Transformers 3	$39,672,804	$5,132,356
3	Transformers: Age of Extinction	$37,274,585	$4,822,105
4	Iron Man 3	$36,625,419	$4,738,124
5	Minions	$34,402,090	$4,450,499
6	The Avengers	$34,252,069	$4,431,091
7	Jurassic World	$31,253,631	$4,043,191
8	Spider-Man 3	$28,663,114	$3,708,064
9	Harry Potter 7-2	$28,203,934	$3,648,661
10	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	$26,645,964	$3,447,541
11	The Amazing Spider-Man 2	$26,617,352	$3,443,409
12	Monsters University	$25,768,640	$3,333,614
13	The Dark Knight Rises	$25,762,940	$3,332,877
14	Toy Story 3	$25,703,435	$3,325,179
15	Harry Potter 6*	$23,201,611	$3,001,525

*Kung Fu Hustle made 3.2m on its OW in 2004 but since no exact figures are given, Harry Potter 6 takes its place.

Pretty good for a non-Marvel, Transformers franchise. Though I hate including previews into opening weekends, for the purposes of this chart, all previews will be included with a movie's opening weekend. Minions also drops to #10 OW if you exclude its previews ($27,877,377 for 4-day OW).
_______________________________________________________
Ip Man 3 looks to do about 35,000-40,000 in pre-sales alone on Thursday while Star Wars 7 is zooming for 25,000-30,000.

	Thursday adm.	(so far)		December 24
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	% chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	30,870	28,227	-8.6%
2	Ip Man 3	--	28,064	--
3	The Little Prince	--	11,079	--
4	The Peanuts Movie	--	10,089	--
5	Anniversary	--	7,412	--
6	Yo-Kai Watch	--	5,629	--
7	Initiation Love	--	743	--
8	Ten Years	585	647	+10.6%
9	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	206	360	+74.8%
10	Burnt	194	288	+48.5%

Ip Man 3 looks a bit low even with Star Wars 7's huge advantage in UA theaters/Palace IFC/Pacific Place/Cyberport. Pretty good for the rest of the top 6. Anniversary sneaks are shaping up to be very good.

12 PM update: Ip Man 3 has a slight lead of 1,700 admissions over Star Wars. GA reaction to the 3 major new releases is identical: 4.3/5. Yo-Kai Watch sits at a terrible 1.7/5.

	Thursday			December 24
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	% chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	40,329	42,342	+5.0%
2	Ip Man 3	--	40,617	--
3	The Little Prince	--	15,546	--
4	The Peanuts Movie	--	14,110	--
5	Anniversary	--	10,602	--
6	Yo-Kai Watch	--	7,150	--
7	Initiation Love	567	1,296	+128.6%
8	Ten Years	745	832	+11.7%
9	Keeper of Darkness	1,840	638	-65.3%
10	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	825	487	-41.0%

Before anyone jumps up and down for these numbers, many UA theaters and possibly others were not reported for Ip Man 3. Ip Man 3 actually crossed 40,000 admissions by 4 pm but as night came, admissions would go up and then come crashing down so in essence there are 2 fundamental problems with Ip Man 3's Thursday admissions. The first is that many theaters were not reported and the second is that admissions went down more than several times on Thursday. This calls into Ip Man 3's sneaks into question. It may have even made more than what was reported. The site that tracks admissions crashed Wednesday night which might be the cause of Ip Man 3's disappearing admissions.

My best guess for Ip Man 3's Thursday admissions is 56,000 but we will never know Ip Man 3's ballpark admissions now. On the other hand, Star Wars 7 admissions don't seem to be affected. They steadily went up throughout the day and did not have anything major happen to them like Ip Man 3's.

The Little Prince and The Peanuts are in a huge fight for #3. The Little Prince might have won in admissions but most are coming at the expense of 2D showtimes. Fewer theaters are showing the 3D version of The Little Prince than they are doing for The Peanuts Movie. Yo-Kai Watch did alright.

Opening day reviews for the 4 new openers are quite solid. Peanuts is the highest with 4.5. Ip Man 3 is off to a very good start with a 4.3. The Little Prince is right behind with a 4.2 and Yo-Kai Watch recovers from its horrific start from this morning.

I saw a lot of sellouts for Ip Man 3 on Thursday including this theater:


Citygate is one of the absolute hardest places to sellout in HK. It's remote and pre-selling is practically unheard of at this theater. I think I've only seen 1 or 2 movies sell out a showtime at Citygate.

Other places that reported a sellout:

Windsor Cinema
Kornhill
Palace IFC
Pacific Place
Palace APM
The ONE
Tsuen Wan
Kingswood Ginza (another incredibly hard one to sellout!)
Kwai Fong
Paris London New York Milano Theater
Cinema City
Broadway Mongkok

Other places may have sold out showings too.

	Daily admissions (OW)
	Previews	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
Ip Man 2	15,463	47,608	38,240	74,368	73,483	249,162
Ip Man 3	40,620	40,617				81,237
Gap	25,157	18,166	-20,074	-94,442	-167,925

Ip Man 3's Thursday is below its previews number which should not happen even with 5 days of previews. After all, Ip Man 3's opening day is Christmas Eve. Yeah, Christmas Eve is slightly depressed but Ip Man 3 was outperforming everything on Thursday by a significant margin.

	Friday adm.	(so far)			December 25
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	28,528	37,201	+30.4%	+31.8%
2	Ip Man 3	--	34,652	--	+23.5%
3	The Peanuts Movie	1,816	13,332	+634.1%	+32.1%
4	The Little Prince	--	12,202	--	+10.1%
5	Yo-Kai Watch	--	7,559	--	+34.3%
6	Anniversary	--	7,016	--	-5.3%
7	Initiation Love	--	700	--	-5.8%
8	Burnt	304	656	+115.8%	+127.8%
9	Ten Years	565	604	+6.9%	-6.6%
10	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	286	446	+55.9%	+23.9%

Even more UA theaters aren't being reported for Ip Man 3. Very good for Star Wars. Peanuts over The Little Prince on Friday...The Peanuts Movie might be playing to the slightly younger crowd than The Little Prince. Good for Yo-Kai Watch.

Thursday estimates

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - $593,470 (-17.3%)/$5,418,643 (36,500 admissions on about 440 showtimes, avg 83 per showing; 3D share 66%, 45 theaters playing)
2. Ip Man 3 - $399,947/$1,019,221 (Previews: $619,274; 39,500 admissions on almost 300 showings, avg 135 per showing; 42 theaters playing)
3. The Peanuts Movie - $174,170/$574,118 (Previews: $399,948; 13,500 admissions; avg 66 per showing from more than 200 showings)
4. The Little Prince - ($145,000)/$296,735 (Previews included; avg. more than 75 per showing, lower 3D share than Peanuts Movie, more than 180 showtimes)
5. Anniversary (previews) - $96,761/$193,522
6. Yo-Kai Watch - $64,507 (6,200 admissions on 110 showtimes from 29 theaters; avg 55 per showing)

This is interesting. I just calculated how much Star Wars is benefiting from IMAX and it's significant. They are showing Star Wars 7 times a day during the holidays which times that by 4 IMAX theaters and by an average of 300 seats per theater, that is a staggering 8,400 admissions that Ip Man 3 does not have access to. Include outlier theaters like Palace IFC/Pacific Place and Cyberport where they are deliberately limiting showtimes for Ip Man 3 and that figure increases to about 13,000-14,000. That means that from those 7 theaters alone, Star Wars has at least a 13,000 seat advantage against Ip Man 3. Hateful 8...meet the Vengeful 7. I think I truly underestimated how much those 7 skew in favor of Star Wars 7 when nearly every other theater is reporting more business for Ip Man 3 and in some cases, doubling Star War 7 admits.

Anyway, the skew for Star Wars is ridiculous. Only 36.5k admits and nearly $600,000 in gross. Geez. Ip Man 3 won the day in admissions but that Thursday number looks a little low. Previews look very high too. That is pretty good for The Peanuts Movie despite the competition. HK will probably be one of Peanuts' biggest Asian territories. The Little Prince did very well too despite the source material being foreign but there's been huge promotion from EDKO so this didn't do all that badly. Theaters going with 2D instead of 3D helped as well.

Anniversary sneaks look very good. Yo-Kai Watch did OK.

	Friday				December 25
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Ip Man 3	--	54,982	--	+35.4%
2	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	41,669	54,635	+31.1%	+29.0%
3	The Peanuts Movie	2,286	19,500	+753.0%	+38.2%
4	The Little Prince	--	18,232	--	+17.3%
5	Anniversary	--	12,425	--	+17.2%
6	Yo-Kai Watch	--	9,539	--	+33.4%
7	Initiation Love	812	1,443	+77.7%	+11.3%
8	Burnt	936	993	+6.1%	--
9	Ten Years	--	718	--	-13.7%
10	Keeper of Darkness	1,973	634	-67.9%	-0.6%

Ip Man 3 gets the win on Friday in admissions. The trend this weekend has Ip Man 3 steady while Star Wars 7 seems to be fading gradually. Sunday will be a very big day as Ip Man 3 can secure a weekend victory (including previews) over Star Wars 7 with the holiday officially over and the tide going back to the action flick on a non-holiday. The Peanuts Movie took command of 3rd place today beating The Little Prince. Reception seems to be warm with it delivering the highest marks of the new releases this week. The Little Prince is performing more like a drama than an animated movie. One of the lowest increases of the top 10 on Friday, that does not bode well for the rest of the weekend. Solid for Anniversary. Decent for Yo-Kai Watch.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			December 26
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Ip Man 3	2,213	32,179	+1354.1%	-7.1%
2	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	38,988	31,368	-19.5%	-15.7%
3	The Peanuts Movie	2,326	13,259	+470.0%	-0.5%
4	The Little Prince	1,160	8,931	+669.9%	-26.8%
5	Yo-Kai Watch	--	6,413	--	-15.2%
6	Anniversary	--	5,633	--	-19.7%
7	Ten Years	611	586	-4.1%	-3.0%
8	Burnt	387	529	+36.7%	-19.4%
9	Initiation Love	--	462	--	-34.0%
10	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	424	414	-2.4%	-7.2%

Good hold for Ip Man 3 from Friday pre-sales. Most movies fall in 15% range on Boxing Day pre-sales so to fall under 10% is a great sign. Some theaters gave it extra showtimes beginning on Saturday so that might be why it didn't fall all that much from Friday. Eh for Star Wars 7. The drop week-to-week does not look all that good. Great hold for Peanuts. This is resonating well with moviegoers. In stark contrast, terrible for The Little Prince. Peanuts has stolen admissions away from The Little Prince. Standard drops for Yo-Kai Watch and Anniversary.

5 PM Update: Ip Man 3 has passed 50,000 admissions and leads Star Wars 7 by over 5,000 admissions. In the battle of the animated films, The Peanuts Movie is 3,500 admissions ahead of The Little Prince.

	Saturday				December 26
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Ip Man 3	8,095	55,219	+582.1%	+0.4%
2	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	59,026	48,360	-18.1%	-11.5%
3	The Peanuts Movie	4,533	18,145	+300.3%	-6.9%
4	The Little Prince	2,183	15,244	+598.3%	-16.4%
5	Anniversary	--	12,629	--	+1.6%
6	Yo-Kai Watch	--	8,135	--	-14.7%
7	Initiation Love	1,163	1,140	-2.0%	-21.0%
8	Burnt	1,110	943	-15.0%	-5.0%
9	Ten Years	--	715	--	-0.4%
10	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	1,235	660	-46.6%	--

Incredible for Ip Man 3. Of all the releases in the past 5 years that ranked in the top 5 on December 26, only 2 besides Ip Man 3 increased (Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, Secret Life of Walter Mitty). Neither of them were as big as Ip Man 3. This bodes really well for Ip Man 3 down the stretch because all the films that have dropped less than 10% on December 26 from Christmas have gone onto at least a 3.4x multiplier. This means that for Ip Man 3, 7m is locked and 8m is very likely. At this point, we cannot count out 9m or even 10m. Star Wars 7 dropped hard despite having a holiday sandwiched between a holiday and a rest day. There really is no excuse for Star Wars 7 not to fall more than 10% despite heavy competition from Ip Man 3. Theaters were really pushing for Star Wars 7 this weekend but Ip Man 3 just kept on pouring it on with walk-ins so theaters gave Ip Man 3 slightly more showtimes starting on Saturday.

Star Wars 7 has good pre-selling but its Achilles heel has been walk-ins. I feel like there's a disconnect between the Star Wars watchers and the general audience who will want to watch something last minute. Star Wars is failing to pick up much of that crowd and it still has not had 50% walk-ups on any day since it has been released.

The Peanuts Movie rallied from its Thursday loss to The Little Prince in admissions and has opened up to almost a 3,000 admissions lead over TLP. Peanuts is the highest rated movie of the openers this week so to see it have good legs won't be too surprising. Along with Ip Man 3, this will be expected to finish with 3x its opening weekend, if not more with the hold in admissions today. For The Little Prince, this has been a terrible holiday so far. After its admissions win over The Peanuts Movie on Thursday, it was the weakest film of the top 5 full releases on Thursday and it had the biggest decline on Saturday. It also is the only film from the top 6 that garnered less admissions than its Christmas Eve admissions.

Anniversary might be picking up steam. Strong admissions. Decent for Yo-Kai Watch.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			December 27
Rank	Movie	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Ip Man 3	2,783	25,324	+810.0%	-21.3%
2	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	41,626	24,812	-40.4%	-20.9%
3	The Peanuts Movie	3,727	11,115	+198.2%	-16.2%
4	The Little Prince	1,688	6,340	+275.6%	-29.0%
5	Yo-Kai Watch	--	4,937	--	-23.0%
6	Anniversary	--	3,391	--	-39.8%
7	Ten Years	562	661	17.6%	+12.8%
8	Burnt	495	408	-17.6%	-22.9%
9	Initiation Love	--	322	--	-30.3%
10	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	538	317	-41.1%	-23.4%

Decent for Ip Man 3. Not good for Star Wars but it did have 2 holidays preceding it so the film was going to drop pretty hard on Sunday. I see Ip Man 3 winning by over 10,000 admissions today. Very good for Peanuts. Terrible for The Little Prince. It has gone from being up over 5,000 admissions ahead of Yo-Kai Watch on Christmas Eve to now less than 1,500. Ok for Yo-Kai Watch.

	Weekend Projections			December 24
Rank	Movie	TW	% chg	Total
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	$2,480,000	-28.1%	$7,305,000
2	Ip Man 3	$2,075,000		$2,520,000
3	The Peanuts Movie	$840,000		$1,240,000
4	The Little Prince	$565,000		$715,000
5	Anniversary	$410,000		$507,000

Not great for Star Wars but it held up better than I expected. That's the good news. The bad news is that for a holdover film to drop almost 25% on this type of weekend configuration is very bad. In 2009, 2 films in the top 10 dropped by more than 35% on this exact weekend configuration and they both saw declines the next weekend over 80%. Star Wars isn't going to reach those heights but it could possibly fall 60-65% next weekend even with New Year's Day falling on a Friday. 10m is unlikely at this point with huge declines expected beginning next weekend. 9m is possible. Ip Man 3 had to battle outside influences and theater politics this weekend but it surpassed almost all expectations. Theaters were really dumb to only put this on 1 screen on Thursday since this is a sequel to 2 pretty well received hits. The marketing campaign was small and scattered and did not help Ip Man 3. Luckily, audiences that saw the film early were receptive and that pushed Ip Man 3 to defeat Star Wars in admissions. In gross, Ip Man 3 will lose the 4-day but if you tack on its previews, it will win. The holds this weekend have been fantastic so far and its future looks extremely bright with not much competition. The Peanuts Movie was in tough with 2 big movies and 2 animated films but it came out the best of the rest to snag #3. 3D prices aside, the film is doing well with users, scoring the highest of the 4 new films. This should make over 3.5m. The Little Prince suffered awful drops this weekend and it looks like it will be on its way out with less than 1.5m total. Anniversary opened to pretty strong sneaks and this will enter next weekend. Early reviews haven't been kind. That could change the course of its box office beginning on New Year's Eve.