It did presumably open at one Toronto location, but whatever that one is, it hasn't reported to EDI. The other locations open it on the 27th.

I hope it does great and expands at a decent rate so my theater will get it sometime in January.

Question, as a movie-noob, why did they only release the movie dreamgirls in 852 theaters when they could have done like 3000+,
imagine how much they would have made then, X 4 would make approx. 25+ M opening day. Phew.

I know there's probably a good reason for keeping the theaters limited but can someone explain ?

How Dreamgirls could preform compared to the other big Xmas openers (With the $1.15M made in limited release added on):

Ali - $48.9M
Catch Me If You Can - $140.7
Patch Adams - $141.2M
Cheaper By the Dozen - $149.3M
The Talented Mr. Ripley - $107.8M
The Godfather Part III - $88.6M
Stepmom - $130.7M
Fat Albert - $79.4M
Paycheck - $88.6M

Average them all out, and you get $108.4M. And none of these films were even released like Dreamgirls (In a small amount of theaters with plans of major expansions), so it'll be a VERY interesting film to watch perform. Could it even pass The Departed?

I think its too early to discount Charlotte's Web.


From 1999:
1 (new) The Talented Mr. Ripley Paramount Pictures Drama $6,389,000 2,305 $2,772 $6,389,000 1
2 (3) Any Given Sunday Warner Bros. Drama $5,707,000 +166.81% 2,505 $2,278 $14,370,000 4
3 (5) The Green Mile Warner Bros. Drama $3,432,000 +152.17% 2,875 $1,194 $48,572,000 16
4 (new) Galaxy Quest Dreamworks SKG Comedy $3,310,000 2,410 $1,373 $3,310,000 1
5 (1) Stuart Little Sony Pictures Comedy $3,309,000 +5.48% 2,905 $1,139 $34,139,000 9
6 (6) Man on the Moon Universal Drama $3,196,000 +144.72% 2,075 $1,540 $8,026,000 4
7 (2) Toy Story 2 Buena Vista Adventure $3,124,000 +16.13% 3,150 $992 $172,942,000 37
8 (4) Bicentennial Man Buena Vista Drama $2,523,000 +66.21% 2,765 $912 $18,240,000 9
9 (8) Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo Buena Vista Comedy $2,278,000 +243.07% 2,162 $1,054 $32,159,000 16
10 (7) Anna and the King 20th Century Fox Drama $1,746,000 +112.41% 2,140 $816 $11,281,000 9

On Dec. 25th, 1999 Stuart Littlewent up only 5.5%, and TS2 went up 16% from Dec. 24th.

Here's 2000:

The Top Movies of Monday, December 25, 2000

Movie Distributor Genre Gross Change Thtrs. Per Thtr. Total Gross Days
1 (1) Cast Away 20th Century Fox Drama $10,968,669 +88.47% 2,769 $3,961 $39,852,075 4
2 (3) What Women Want Paramount Pictures Romantic Comedy $5,743,044 +111.92% 3,044 $1,887 $70,199,545 11
3 (4) The Family Man Universal Comedy $4,549,095 +133.29% 2,388 $1,905 $15,104,055 4
4 (5) Miss Congeniality Warner Bros. Comedy $3,807,152 +109.76% 2,669 $1,426 $13,853,686 4
5 (2) How the Grinch Stole Christmas Universal Comedy $2,483,785 -14.65% 3,150 $789 $235,119,990 39
6 (7) Dracula 2000 Miramax Horror $2,410,956 +84.89% 2,204 $1,094 $8,636,567 4
7 (6) The Emperor's New Groove Buena Vista Adventure $1,872,563 +15.23% 2,887 $649 $24,212,108 11
8 (8) Vertical Limit Sony Pictures Action $1,689,877 +112.56% 2,405 $703 $38,505,441 18
9 (10) Dude, Where's My Car? 20th Century Fox Comedy $1,419,313 +186.73% 2,100 $676 $24,591,612 11
10 (new) All the Pretty Horses Miramax Western $1,304,971 1,483 $880 $1,304,971 1


Emperor went up only 15.23%. Similar to Web.

So I'll wait until later this week before saying Web is done.

Yes. They looked at RENT and PRODUCERS horrible per screen averages from going 1500+ within two
weeks of opening. They decided mimicking most of the aspects of CHICAGO grafted onto how you
would open an African American drama was better to build buzz from sold out shows.

Basically, with a movie like this, there are several areas where there is absolutely 0% of the target audience and no one would rush out and see it. Thus, those areas would contribute very little to the overall gross. However, by releasing the film in areas that appeal to the target audience, you can help to ensure a better performance. This also allows for positive word of mouth to spread and maybe change the minds of people in areas where the film would've bombed if it had been released immediately in 3,000+ theaters.

I hope that's an accurate explanation. If it's not, someone please correct me.

Thats huge for Dreamgirls, and Pursuit did monsterous as well. Rocky and NATM increased about what was expected of them. And congrats to Black Christmas, even if it doesnt go much pass this day. Too bad for CW.

NATM should be over 90 million by the end of next weekend
Pursuit should be over 85
Rocky should be well over 50 million.

That's fantastic for DG. But I sense an Ali like rushout. Regardless, if it is a good film, it'll hold well after the holidays.

Great for Museum. It's heading past $200 m at the rate its going. It should be able to pull $10 m grosses for the next week, and pass $100 m likely by the end of next weekend, which I see it going up in.

Happyness will be past $100 m within the next week. I don't know where the talk of it not getting to $100 m came from.

Good for Rocky. I hope it can build up buzz this entire week, going into next weekend.

where the heck is 4day estimates? Mojo must still be on vacation....

They posted that they won't be updating until Wednesday when actuals are available.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout ... egoryid=13
To print this page, select "PRINT" from the File Menu of your browser.

Posted: Tue., Dec. 26, 2006, 10:05am PT'Dreamgirls' a holiday treat
Film expands to over $10,000 per screen average
By IAN MOHRParamount and Dreamworks' bigscreen musical adaptation "Dreamgirls" bowed to $8.7 million on Christmas, the studios estimated Tuesday morning.
Tuner, toplining Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy, expanded yesterday from three screens to 852. Per screen average was over $10,000.

"Dreamgirls" cume, which includes a limited run of special "roadshow" engagements with $25 ticket prices, stands at $9.5 million.

In 2002, Miramax's musical "Chicago" roped in $9.2 million by its second frame, when it expanded to 304 screens.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956303.html

I went to the 10:45am Christmas day showing of Dreamgirls and it was sold out... I thought it would be the easiest time to go see this movie.

People, the movie is an awesome crowd pleaser, it's going to make bank.

So above $6 mill was possible.

Thanks, you explained it perfectly.

So will they increase the number of theaters in the next days or weeks ?
They made almost 10 M on opening day on such a short amount of theaters, that is unheard of.Crazy.

Also, Pursuit of happyness made almost 8 M. WOW. Almost as much on opening day. Didn't quite expected that.

Similar to Chicago, Dreamgirls should go very wide, very soon. I could either see it expanding VERY quickly like within the next two or three weeks, or expanding gradually up until mid-February.

It should play for awhile, unlike the aforementioned Ali, it's not a heavy drama, it's like a mixture between Chicago and Ray to be quite honest. Should probably compare it to movies like that.

BTW, for those saying that it's awful for Charlotte's Web, keep in mind that all the kids films in 2000 (Grinch, Emperor's New Groove, etc.) all slightly increased on Christmas Day and had massive increases on December 26.

Yes it will be expanding. Box Office Mojo lists one due to happen on Jan. 12th, but with this sort of opening I could see it being a week earlier. And while it is extremely rare, Borat pulled a similar feat back in November, shocking just about everyone. I think Dreamgirls is slightly less impressive because this was Christmas Day, historically one of the very biggest days for movie theaters.

Absolutely ridiculous for Dreamgirls.

800 theatres... I don't think this it's a fluke for both DG and Borat. It just creates hype and lines, and everybody feels that they have to be one of the first ones to see it.

I'm sure that the pursuit of happiness benefitted from Dreamgirls sold out showings.. When a film like this, or Borat, has so any sellouts across the country, it benefits all movies because it gets people into theatres, even if they see something that they didn't originally go for...

Just FYI,

Both Chronicles of Narnia and Cheaper by the Dozen increased 75% from Christmas Day to the 26th of December. Harry Potter had 91%

Now, Night at the Museum will not rise to those heights, because it attracts more than just the family audience. I'd say it will see an increase somewhere in the lines of King Kong last year, of 30 %, which would still be a fantastic number.

But Charlottes Web and Happy Feet could both as much as double what they made Christmas day. that's pretty decent. And they should stay around that level all week long.

Last Year, everything except wolf creek increase, so expet Black Christmas to have a drop, and Dreamgirls I imagine will stay about the same, since there was somewhat of a rush yesterday, yet people who couldn't get in yesterday will likely try again today....

AND....

early yesterday we officialy passed 2005's total gross, so everything from today on is gravy. We will finish the year somewhere between 9.0 - 9.1 billion.

Quite spectacular number for Dreamgirls

just because it was a big hit here doesnt mean its going to be a big hit there.
We brits are totally into bleakness.

Has anyone mentioned Dreamgirls ranks as the 10th best Christmas Day number of all time, and the 9 ahead of it were all on over 2,400 theaters? Unbelievable.