July 14 weekend actuals

1. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows II Warner Bros Int'l $3,640,758 1 41 $88,799 0 $4,117,370
2. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon Paramount Int'l $686,224 3 44 $15,596 -64 $9,848,601
3. Mr. Popper's Penguins Fox Int'l $435,152 2 38 $11,451 -53 $1,871,760
4. Tree Of Life, The Golden Scene $73,619 2 10 $7,362 -44 $281,144
5. Beach Spike Edko $26,016 2 11 $2,365 -77 $197,107
6. Beginning of the Great Revival, The UA Films/Emperor $5,871 4 5 $1,174 -76 $579,510
7. 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy Newport Ent. $5,336 14 2 $2,668 -51 $5,289,156
8. Something Borrowed Intercontinental $2,743 5 2 $1,371 -7 $341,611
9. Cure (2011) To Be Determined $2,651 1 2 $1,325 0 $3,129
10. Hangover 2, The Warner Bros Int'l $2,619 7 2 $1,310 -40 $1,592,192

Harry Potter's PSA was pretty close to Transformers 3's opening weekend PSA. I'm very surprised that it made less than $500,000 on the 3 weekdays combined. It looks a bit funky to me. Transformers had a good drop. Mr. Popper's Penguins also had a good drop. I wasn't expecting Tree of Life to drop under 50% so that is an outstanding hold. Beach Spike did horrible as usual.

Records updated.

2011 OW:

1. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon - $4,302,758 ($5,126,924 incl. previews + Wed.)
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - $3,640,758
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - $2,333,672
4. Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D - $1,660,031
5. I Love Hong Kong - $1,383,839 ($1,602,824 incl. previews)
6. All's Well That Ends Well 2011 - $1,289,596
7. X-Men: First Class - $1,180,064
8. Thor - $1,060,507
9. Sanctum - $1,008,465
10. The Green Hornet - $955,641

Top 10 of 2011

1. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon* - $9,848,601
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - $5,847,846
3. Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D* - $5,289,156
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2* - $4,117,370
5. I Love Hong Kong - $3,425,520
6. X-Men: First Class* - $3,325,094
7. Sanctum - $2,833,859
8. Shaolin - $2,632,485
9. All's Well That Ends Well 2011 - $2,607,597
10. Thor - $2,490,495

	Thursday adm.			July 21
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	36,457	--
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	87,422	30,937	-64.6%
3	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	11,212	6,635	-40.8%
4	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	--	6,529	--
5	Mr. Popper's Penguins	16,101	6,467	-59.8%

Kung Fu Panda 2 admissions - 42,986 (3D share: 84.8%)

Disappointing pre-sales to final admissions % increases for the top 2. Both numbers are pretty bad. It looks like both got hit by each other. Either way, the only bright spot was Transformers which came out with the best drop of the top 5. Mr. Popper's Penguins got hit by Panda 2, declining sales and being moved to smaller theaters.

	Friday adm.	(so far)			July 22
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	53,109	20,203	--	+14.8%
2	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	18,877	--	-7.0%
3	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	7,025	3,949	-43.8%	+17.5%
4	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	--	3,596	--	+40.2%
5	Mr. Popper's Penguins	5,987	2,632	-56.0%	+37.4%

Ok for Harry Potter. Obviously really disappointing for Panda but it still might beat out Harry Potter on Friday. Harry Potter's Friday should end around 36,000 so it's going to need a 2 multiplier to pass it but then again, it didn't even crack a 2 multiplier yesterday...Transformers is still doing well although I suspect the weekend drop will be bigger. Mr. Popper's Penguins lovefest is apparently over. Move over, pandas have taken over as the cutest thing in theaters.

Looks like the winner for the summer contest has been decided. Transformers 3 is pretty much uncontested. Five KJers were smart enough to pick the right one in the poll.

Looks like Variety didn't update the weekday numbers for all movies. They have posted the revised totals for all films.

1. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows II Warner Bros Int'l $3,640,758 1 41 $88,799 0 $5,083,351
2. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon Paramount Int'l $686,224 3 44 $15,596 -64 $10,064,500
3. Mr. Popper's Penguins Fox Int'l $435,152 2 38 $11,451 -53 $2,012,989
4. Tree Of Life, The Golden Scene $73,619 2 10 $7,362 -44 $305,286
5. Beach Spike Edko $26,016 2 11 $2,365 -77 $206,940
6. Beginning of the Great Revival, The UA Films/Emperor $5,871 4 5 $1,174 -76 $584,121
7. 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy Newport Ent. $5,336 14 2 $2,668 -51 $5,290,771
8. Something Borrowed Intercontinental $2,743 5 2 $1,371 -7 $342,508
9. Cure (2011) To Be Determined $2,651 1 2 $1,325 0 $4,454
10. Hangover 2, The Warner Bros Int'l $2,619 7 2 $1,310 -40 $1,593,251

		Thursday Actuals				July 21
LW	TW	Title	Last Thu. (USD)	Thursday (USD)	% chg	Total
--	1	Kung Fu Panda 2	--	$313,942	--	$313,942
1	2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2	$790,625	$312,191	-60.5%	$5,366,749
2	3	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	$113,993	$56,135	-50.8%	$10,059,811
--	4	Love Is The Only Answer	--	$49,711	--	$55,182
3	5	Mr. Popper's Penguins	$88,826	$37,487	-57.8%	$2,052,346
4	6	The Tree Of Life	$11,880	$7,173	-39.6%	$314,414
6	7	Microsex Office	$1,832	$1,832	+0.0%	$432,480
7	8	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	$1,426	$1,429	+0.2%	$5,258,521
8	9	Green Lantern	$1,400	$1,400	+0.0%	$1,460,346
--	10	Soul Kitchen	--	$1,292	--	$1,292

Pretty close for the top 2. Kung Fu Panda 2 will widen the margin on the weekend even if Harry Potter ends up winning Friday (which seems like a definite possibility at this point). Great hold for Transformers. Good start for Love Is The Only Answer. I guess the previews helped drum up new business. Not a good drop for Popper's although Panda 2 kind of killed it. The Tree of Life is still doing great. I don't know what's going on with the bottom of the chart. Soul Kitchen did ok. It should come up with a $6,000 PSA which isn't bad.

	Friday adm.				July 22
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	35,294	--	-3.2%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	75,251	34,025	-54.8%	+10.0%
3	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	13,088	7,502	-42.7%	+13.1%
4	Mr. Popper's Penguins	18,014	7,294	-59.5%	+12.8%
5	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	--	6,833	--	+4.7%

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			July 23
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	69,129	31,685	-54.2%	+56.8%
2	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	31,370	--	+66.2%
3	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	12,046	6,160	-48.9%	+56.0%
4	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	--	5,899	--	+64.0%
5	Mr. Popper's Penguins	8,494	3,794	-55.3%	+44.1%

The race for weekend supremacy is on. Take a look at the number of showtimes for both Kung Fu Panda 2 and Harry Potter 7-2 in the chart below.

	Showtimes
	Harry Potter 3D English	Kung Fu Panda 2 3D Cantonese	Kung Fu Panda 2 3D English
Olympian City
Saturday	11	8
Sunday	11	8
Biggest Screen?	Split	Split
Palace APM
Saturday	16	14
Sunday	14	12
Biggest Screen?	Yes (morning [9 AM] + night)	Yes (morning [11 AM] + afternoon)
The One
Saturday	16	9
Sunday	14	14
Biggest Screen?	Split	Split
Pacific Place
Saturday	16		15
Sunday	12		18
Biggest Screen?	Yes		No
Palace IFC
Saturday	16		11
Sunday	14		11
Biggest Screen?	Yes		No
Festival Walk
Saturday	17	10	6
Sunday	15	8	8
Biggest Screen?	Sat. - Yes (morn. [11 AM] + night); Sun. - Yes (night)	Sat. - Yes (aft.); Sun. - Yes (morn., aft.)	Sat. - Yes (morn. [9 AM]); Sun. - No
Tsuen Wan
Saturday	10	12
Sunday	10	12
Biggest Screen?	Split	Split

Some theaters schedule Saturday/Sunday at the same time so they aren't able to account for any differences in terms of pre-selling for the weekend. Clearly, Kung Fu Panda 2 has an advantage on Sunday as the theaters that schedule day-by-day have rewarded massive pre-selling with more showtimes. This will have an impact on next weekend's drop for Kung Fu Panda 2 as well. It will drop below 50% and could possibly drop in the 20% range if WOM spreads. Staying flat will be a challenge especially with Sunday having more showtimes.

Harry Potter lost the momentum that it had on Thursday and Friday and theaters noticed the drop and have cut its showtimes in favor of Panda and have even gave the biggest screen away to Panda on Sunday. Harry Potter will be at a huge disadvantage next weekend and should see a big drop.

So Panda will just be able to match HP's 2nd weekend numbers...that's really poor.

July 21 Weekend Projections

1. Kung Fu Panda 2 - 1.67m
2. Harry Potter 7.2 - 1.6m
3. Transformers 3 - $325,000

	Saturday adm.				July 23
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	62,914	--	+78.3%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	108,526	56,974	-47.5%	+67.4%
3	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	22,151	12,474	-43.7%	+66.3%
4	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	--	11,896	--	+74.1%
5	Mr. Popper's Penguins	23,933	11,212	-53.2%	+53.7%

Kung Fu Panda 2 managed to pull away slightly from Harry Potter. Even if we use Thursday's ratios as a blueprint for Saturday's, KFP2's 2D sales will help carry Panda 2 farther away from Harry Potter. A good drop for Harry Potter though tomorrow's drop will be larger thanks to screen losses. Still a very good drop for Transformers. I'm surprised it's holding up this well even with the opening in China this week and with KFP2 opening locally. Interesting to note that Transformer's drops have gotten bigger everyday this week. Mr. Popper's held slightly better today though tomorrow it will drop over 55% in admissions.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			July 24
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	39,483	--	+25.9%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	71,737	34,360	-52.1%	+8.4%
3	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	--	8,674	--	+47.0%
4	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	13,023	7,339	-43.6%	+19.1%
5	Mr. Popper's Penguins	10,910	4,534	-58.4%	+19.5%

Probably the best Sunday pre-sales increase I've seen all summer for a big release. With this, Kung Fu Panda 2 has a shot at 70k admissions although I think it will fall short. Harry Potter definitely got hurt by the showtimes/screens loss. Demand is fading and this does not bode well for next week. It will struggle to hit 50k admissions today. Transformers is looking like it make about 12k admissions while Popper's is headed for a drop over 55% for the day.

Notes:

- Wu Xia advanced ticketing is now on sale. It comes out next week (July 28).

- The Smurfs advanced ticketing is also out. It will start showing on August 4.

- More theaters have added weekend showtimes for Cars 2 for pre-selling next week (July 30-31) and the weekend after (Aug. 6-7). Cars 2 will be released on August 11.

Actual

Kung Fu Panda 2 - 1.6m

	Sunday adm.				July 24
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	73,679	--	+17.1%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	104,809	54,747	-47.8%	-3.9%
3	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	--	14,778	--	+24.2%
4	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	21,559	12,483	-42.1%	+0.1%
5	Mr. Popper's Penguins	26,442	11,754	-55.5%	+4.8%

	Weekend adm.			Jul 21-24
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	208,344	--
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	376,008	176,683	-53.0%
3	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	--	40,036	--
4	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	68,010	39,094	-42.5%
5	Mr. Popper's Penguins	84,490	36,727	-56.5%

This weekend's recap and next weekend's predictions will be delayed.

NW preview: It looks like a typhoon is headed our way next weekend (Friday night/Saturday morning) so grosses might be heavily affected. KFP2 is favored to win a 2nd weekend. Will have more analysis in my predictions.

The Tree of Life, in its third week of release, is showing longevity. On Sunday, the film, playing on 8 screens with 20 showings, had the same per-showing-average as opener Kung Fu Panda 2 (87 screens, 521 showings). Its current gross stands at US$350,000.

Kung Fu Panda 2 actual - $1,738,975 US (13,549,791 HKD)

Thursday schedules

Palace IFC
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Wu Xia - 7 showings	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D English) - 11 showings (▼ 12)	Mr. Popper's Penguins
Nowhere Boy - 5 showings	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D English) - 8 showings (▼ 14)
	The Tree Of Life - 1 showing (-)
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D - 2 showings (-)
	Certified Copy - 1 showing (-)

Pacific Place
New	Holdovers	Leaving
The Beaver - 5 showings	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D English) - 11 showings (▼ 14)
Wu Xia - 6 showings	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D English) - 8 showings (▼ 12)
	Mr. Popper's Penguins - 2 showings (▼ 5)
	The Tree Of Life - 2 showings (▼ 3)
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D - 4 showings (▲ 3)

Olympian City
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Doraemon: Nobita And The New Steel Troops - 4 showings	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese) - 6 showings (▼ 8)	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D English)
The Beaver - 5 showings	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese) - 3 showings (▼ 4)	Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Wu Xia - 7 showings	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D English) - 6 showings (▼ 11)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D Cantonese) - 1 showing (-)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (English) - 4 showings (▼ 5)
	Mr. Popper's Penguins - 2 showings (▼ 3)
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D - 3 showings (-)

Palace APM
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Doraemon: Nobita And The New Steel Troops - 3 showings	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese) - 7 showings (▼ 11)
Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night - 5 showings	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese) - 3 showings (▼ 5)
Wu Xia - 8 showings	Love Is The Only Answer - 3 showings (▼ 6)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D English) - 7 showings (▼ 13)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D Cantonese) - 1 showing (▼ 2)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (English) - 3 showings (-)
	Mr. Popper's Penguins - 2 showings (▼ 5)
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D - 3 showings (-)

Festival Walk
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Doraemon: Nobita And The New Steel Troops - 3 showings	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese) - 8 showings (-)	Kung Fu Panda 2 (English)
The Beaver - 5 showings	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese) - 2 showings (-)
Wu Xia - 7 showings	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D English) - 7 showings (▼ 8)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D English) - 9 showings (▼ 15)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D Cantonese) - 1 showing (▼ 2)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (English) - 1 showing (▼ 2)
	Mr. Popper's Penguins - 4 showings (▼ 5)
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D - 3 showings (-)

Kung Fu Panda 2 survived quite well even with the batch of new films coming out this week. It either retained the biggest screens or has the most showtimes. It is going to be #1 this weekend. Wu Xia got the 2nd or 3rd biggest theaters at most locations. The Kung Fu Panda 2/Harry Potter duo are simply going to generate more business. Harry Potter retained its prime peak hour showtimes over Kung Fu Panda 2 but lost more showtimes than Panda.

Last weekend's recap and this weekend's predictions should be up sometime tomorrow.

-53% drop for HP is very good. KFP2 will try to save itself from a disappointing run this weekend.

July 21 Recap

August schedule will be delayed. They are 2 schedules floating around so I am unsure which one to use at the moment. Cowboys & Aliens may be moved to August 25 and Horrible Bosses may open on August 25.

	Monday adm.				July 18
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	22,453	--	-69.5%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	42,777	20,518	-52.0%	-62.5%
3	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	--	5,904	--	-60.0%
4	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	9,214	5,492	-40.4%	-56.0%
5	Love Is The Only Answer	--	4,900	--	--

	Tuesday adm.				July 19
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	35,739	--	+59.2%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	58,678	28,735	-51.0%	+40.0%
3	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	--	8,879	--	+50.4%
4	Love Is The Only Answer	--	6,932	--	+41.5%
5	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	11,606	6,700	-42.3%	+22.0%

Kung Fu Panda 2 is starting to pull away from Harry Potter on weekdays.

I think I finally figured out the August schedule...here it goes.

Release Date	Movie Title
August 4	Captain America: The First Avenger The Smurfs Life In A Day Warring States Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: Operation Golden Spy
August 11	Cars 2 Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes Little White Lies Fortune Buddies
August 18	Final Destination 5 Overheard 2 Larry Crowne
August 25	Cowboys & Aliens Horrible Bosses Insidious Snow Flower And The Secret Fan The Whistleblower Summer Love The Woman Knight Of The Mirror Lake

	Wednesday adm.				July 27
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	43,150	24,118	-44.1%	-16.1%
2	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	--	23,575	--	-34.0%
3	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	11,345	7,294	-35.7%	+8.9%
4	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	--	5,515	--	-37.9%
5	Love Is The Only Answer	--	5,467	--	-21.1%

Harry Potter and Transformers received the Wednesday boost. That is a good number for Kung Fu Panda 2 though. It managed to increase from Monday which always means good news.

	Thursday adm.	(so far)		July 28
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	20,300	10,492	-48.3%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D English)	17,599	9,301	-47.2%
3	Wu Xia (Cantonese)	--	4,192	--
4	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	3,361	2,527	-24.8%
5	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	2,565	1,982	-22.7%

Good hold for the top 2. Kung Fu Panda 2 might not even drop 50% from opening day. Harry Potter also had a good hold but the trend this week has been that Kung Fu Panda 2 pulls ahead as the day progresses so this 1,000 admissions lead will probably turn into a 3,000-4,000 lead at the end of the day. Wu Xia is behind The Lost Bladesman and needs a 4 multiplier to pass The Lost Bladesman opening day admissions. Great holds for Transformers and the 2D version of Panda.

August 4

Captain America: The First Avenger vs. The Smurfs

Captain America: The First Avenger

The last of the superhero movies this year will duke it out with animated blue people in what should prove to be a great battle for bragging rights. It is expected to win the weekend although this should be a close battle. Captain's counterparts have done fairly well with opening weekends but it's what happened after that separated the superhero films. X-Men has surprisingly done the best even though it didn't get a 3D boost which suggests that strong WOM fueled people to watch it in droves. Thor crumbled after 5 days. Green Lantern, on the other hand, opened to a mediocre number and fell off the wagon after that. Captain America's reviews suggest that people will like this one and the historical setting could gain a few viewers. Also, the brand is easily recognizable and popular like X-Men, so a good opening weekend is expected. In fact, it will probably have the best opening weekend of this year's superhero movies.

Legs will be very interesting to watch as Cars 2 and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes come out the weekend after and are expected to post big grosses. It could fall somewhere in the 55-65% range that weekend but should stabilize on the August 18 weekend before taking another plunge August 25 when Cowboys & Aliens looks to carry the torch as well as 6 other openers hoping to do the same thing. The 5th weekend will be relatively light so it could see its best drop there if it hasn't already lost most of its showtimes. It has the juice to get to 3m in my opinion but it needs a good enough 2nd weekend drop to do it.

OW - $1,350,000
Total - $3,150,000

The Smurfs

The Smurfs come to life in this new live action release set for August 4. It was supposed to be released on August 18 but Columbia moved it when Cars 2 moved to August 11. Originally, I thought The Smurfs would have little chance at succeeding this weekend but my mind changed when I saw it get advanced ticketing 2 weeks out. Although pre-sales are doing ok so far, this will be like another Mr. Popper's Penguins except with 3D sized grosses. The Gulliver's Travels comparison has worked well so far and kids will eat this up. It does have competition with Kung Fu Panda 2 to still carry screens but it looks like kids are looking for the next thing to watch and this will be it. Its prospects have been dim from the start with it being sandwiched between Panda and Cars 2 but changed with advanced ticketing. Now, it might be able to find its own audience as kids hope to take advantage of the boredom by watching movies.

Opening weekend should be fantastic and with 3D charges, you can bet that families will go for the morning show so I expect a lot of traffic during those hours. It won't be like the 4 quadrant film like Toy Story 3 or even reach the heights of Kung Fu Panda 2 but 3D charges should keep its opening weekend very respectable. Also, with Cars 2 opening, the opening weekend should be bigger than normal. Legs should be very short as Cars 2 comes out the next week and it will stop Smurfs from gaining any traction. This will definitely cause it to crumble in its 2nd weekend. 3rd weekend should stabilize a bit as there are no kids films opening in the marketplace but screens could be cut if business degrades a lot in its 2nd weekend. 4th weekend has no kids films coming out but it will have to contend with 7 new openers: 3 of which look to be contenders for #1 that weekend.

OW - $1,050,000
Total - $2,400,000

July 28 Predictions

Updated predictions - July 28 Weekend

1. Kung Fu Panda - $1.15m (-34%)
2. Harry Potter - $1m (-42%)
3. Wu Xia - $450,000
4. Cars 2 - $350,000
5. Transformers - $200,000 (-23%)
6. Doraemon - $120,000

Cars 2 is getting full day schedules at most Broadway locations this weekend. This has caused Kung Fu Panda 2 to be bumped from the biggest screens while Harry Potter is getting bigger screens at peak hours. Transformers is getting showtimes cut to make room for Cars 2. Wu Xia's being moved to a smaller screen.

Looks like this will be the same story next weekend when Captain America/Smurfs open.

_____________________________

The schedule for August is pretty packed. Captain America and The Smurfs will command the big bucks next week. Cars and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes should be a great battle. August 18 will be the most interesting for me because Overheard was a surprise hit back in 2009 and the Final Destination series has been picking up steam. It could turn out to be a very close battle if Final Destination disappoints/Overheard overperforms. Larry Crowne will pick up any leftovers. August 25 will be one insane weekend as Horrible Bosses, Cowboys & Aliens and Insidious are all expected to contend for #1. Overheard might be able to grab #1 as well.

	Thursday adm.			July 28
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	36,457	20,572	-43.6%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	30,937	16,267	-47.4%
3	Wu Xia (Cantonese)	--	15,102	--
4	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	6,635	4,525	-31.8%
5	Doraemon: Nobita And The New Steel Troops	--	4,252	--

Very good drop for Kung Fu Panda 2. Pretty good for Harry Potter. Wu Xia is tracking below The Lost Bladesman. Transformers had another incredible drop and Doraemon opened ok.

	Friday adm.	(so far)			July 29
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	18,877	13,023	-31.0%	+24.1%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	20,203	11,326	-43.9%	+21.8%
3	Wu Xia (Cantonese)	--	5,479	--	+30.7%
4	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	3,949	2,864	-27.5%	+13.3%
5	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	3,596	2,351	-34.6%	+18.6%

Nice drop for Panda. Good drop for Harry Potter. Very good increase for Wu Xia. Great drops for Transformers and the 2D Panda version.

	Friday adm.				July 29
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	35,294	24,917	-29.4%	+21.1%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	34,025	18,878	-44.5%	+16.1%
3	Wu Xia (Cantonese)	--	17,055	--	+12.9%
4	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D	7,502	5,324	-29.0%	+17.7%
5	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	6,833	4,813	-29.6%	--

Those are really good drops for Kung Fu Panda and Transformers. Harry Potter's drop isn't bad but it could have held better given the competition. That's a solid increase for Wu Xia. It needs it if it wants to beat The Lost Bladesman's OW.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			July 30
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	31,370	20,347	-35.8%	+56.2%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	31,685	15,932	-49.7%	+40.7%
3	Cars 2 (3D Chinese)	--	8,417	--	--
4	Wu Xia (Cantonese)	--	8,192	--	+49.5%
5	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	5,899	3,686	-37.5%	+56.8%

Very good drops for both versions of Kung Fu Panda considering half of the theaters elected to give Harry Potter the other big screen. Bad drop for Harry Potter considering that many theaters have been trying to save this for the past 2 weeks. Next weekend, it will freefall. Great start for Cars 2. It will be around 15,000-20,000 for the day. Wu Xia is doing great and has a chance of passing Harry Potter today.

How does it compare to The Lost Bladesman?

Pre-sales

	Wu Xia	The Lost Bladesman
Thu	4192	4779
Fri	5479	6489
Sat	8192	7058
Sun		8516
Total	17863	26842

It's given itself a shot of passing The Lost Bladesman with today's number although I'm not sure if that low Saturday increase for The Lost Bladesman is due to the holiday or erosion or both.

Final admissions

	Wu Xia	The Lost Bladesman
Thu	15102	15881
Fri	17055	17417
Sat		28532
Sun		28982
Total	32157	90812

The gap has been shrinking but it could increase again today with The Lost Bladesman having a holiday fueled Saturday. Wu Xia needs to have a 3.5 multiplier to pass it...something that it only achieved on Thursday.

		Thursday Actuals				July 28
LW	TW	Title	Last Thu. (USD)	Thursday (USD)	% chg	Total
1	1	Kung Fu Panda 2	$313,942	$168,771	-46.2%	$2,585,027
2	2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2	$312,191	$157,341	-49.6%	$7,613,241
--	3	Wu Xia	--	$95,480	--	$97,538
4	4	Love Is The Only Answer	$49,711	$36,795	-26.0%	$426,087
3	5	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	$56,135	$32,434	-42.2%	$10,511,592
--	6	Doraemon: Nobita And The New Steel Troops	--	$24,608	--	$24,608
5	7	Mr. Popper's Penguins	$37,487	$18,906	-49.6%	$2,318,844
--	8	Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night	--	$9,006	--	$10,267
6	9	The Tree Of Life	$7,173	$5,502	-23.3%	$376,034
--	10	The Beaver	--	$4,422	--	$4,422

Good drop for Kung Fu Panda 2. Its run, however, has been very disappointing. This is playing more like Ice Age than it is Toy Story 3. It needed to have a big opening to even have a shot at passing Harry Potter but it's only had good drops and that won't be enough. This doesn't bode well for Cars 2 either if a film of this magnitude only opens to 1.7m. Harry Potter could fall over 50% this weekend. It needs to drop less to avoid a screen cut next week. Very solid start for Wu Xia. It should come within $75,000 of The Lost Bladesman's opening. Amazing hold for Love Is The Only Answer. This is playing like a mini Don't Go Breaking My Heart. Transformers is having a great run so far and will be close to 10.7m after this weekend. 11m should be no problem but after that, it's really a toss-up. It'll depend on how well it drops this weekend. That is a disappointing number for Doraemon although it did have to contend with Panda and Cars 2. Still, it might not even hit $100,000 after hitting $150,000 with the last movie. Not bad for Popper's Penguins. Its run has been nothing short of incredible. Dylan Dog did pretty awful. Another great drop for The Tree Of Life. $400,000 should be achievable. Really bad for The Beaver. It managed to do half the gross of Dylan Dog while having a half more theaters.

	Saturday adm.				July 30
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	62,914	42,714	-32.1%	+71.4%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	56,974	29,597	-48.1%	+56.8%
3	Wu Xia (Cantonese)	--	29,257	--	+71.5%
4	Cars 2 (3D Chinese)	--	12,571	--	--
5	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	11,896	8,021	-32.6%	+66.7%

Still very good for Kung Fu Panda 2. Disappointing for Harry Potter. Excellent for Wu Xia. It has a good chance at surpassing The Lost Bladesman's OW admissions now.

	Wu Xia	The Lost Bladesman
Thu	15102	15881
Fri	17055	17417
Sat	29257	28532
Sun		28982
Total	61414	90812

Cars 2 had a terrible admissions increase for the day. Just +53%. I think its chances of landing at #1 the weekend it opens (August 11) are now very slim. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes should take it.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			July 31
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	39,483	25,168	-36.3%	+23.7%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	34,360	17,672	-48.6%	+10.9%
3	Cars 2 (3D Chinese)	--	11,309	--	+34.4%
4	Wu Xia (Cantonese)	--	10,247	--	+25.1%
5	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)	8,674	5,573	-35.8%	+51.2%

Great drop for KFP2. Harry Potter's drop is still unimpressive. Cars 2 had a very nice increase from yesterday's pre-sales but it needs a good final tally otherwise it should have a tough time retaining its drop next week. Another excellent increase for Wu Xia and it defeats The Lost Bladesman in pre-sales.

	Wu Xia	The Lost Bladesman
Thu	4192	4779
Fri	5479	6489
Sat	8192	7058
Sun	10247	8516
Total	28110	26842

Interesting to note that Wu Xia gained throughout the weekend suggesting that word of mouth for this movie isn't frontloaded like how it was with The Lost Bladesman. It should be able to hit 30k for today and around $550,000 for the weekend.

Wu Xia has pretty brilliant direction and cinematography.

The ending kinda sucks though. Really deux es machina.

I know. The whole theater was laughing at that ending. WTF was that crap?

August 11

Cars 2 vs. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

Cars 2

Pixar returns as Cars 2 heads to the box office race track. Back in 2006, the original went head to head against Superman Returns and lost by a 1m margin. This time, it'll be the favourite to beat as it battles Rise of the Planet of the Apes for the weekend. With 2 weekends of special screenings, its official opening weekend should be very much deflated. It also has the 3D boost which should push it ahead of its predecessor's opening even with the 2 weekends of sneak previews. Pre-sales for Cars 2 its first weekend have been good but not outstanding which suggests a lower opening than Kung Fu Panda 2. It has the IMAX bonus as well which will work in its favour as it tries to dust off the disappointment label produced by animated films so far this summer.

As far as competition goes for its first weekend, besides Apes, it will have to battle Smurfs and Captain America, along with any residuals for Kung Fu Panda 2 and even Harry Potter. Wu Xia could also be a factor should it hold well. The competition for Cars 2 is much stronger than it was when the original opened to a fairly empty marketplace. Marketing so far has been very strong with the studio emphasizing on the fact that it's made from the same company as Toy Story 3. Movies about cars has recently grown here and box office grosses have seen it rise in the last few years. The Fast and Furious franchise has seen its box office takings almost septuple (x7). Cars 2 should see some growth as well although its expansion is due more to its 3D grosses than people liking cars more. Still, it doesn't hurt and kids will want to see this after Toy Story 3. Word of mouth may be a huge factor come opening weekend as 2 weekends of special screenings could make or break the film.

Its legs are an entirely different story as it will get pummeled the week after by Final Destination and Overheard as they are both expected to gross big sums. The weekend after doesn't look much better as 6 new openers come out with 3 expecting to contend for #1 so Cars will need to hold great its 2nd weekend or face imminent death the following week. September 1 weekend will be ok as Bad Teacher is the only real contender of the bunch but Contagion follows on September 8 which should be able to gross a good opening weekend. Schedule is not on its side so it will have to gross as much as it can within the next 3 weekends.

OW - $1,100,000 ($1,500,000 -- including previews)
Total - $3,100,000

Note: This prediction for Cars 2 was made well in advance of this weekend's numbers. Although I think its chances of #1 have diminished considerably, I'm going to follow through with my original predictions.

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

Entering the fray is the much talked about Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. While James Franco has been publicly crapping on this movie to anyone who will listen, the rest of us are somewhat intrigued by this movie even though expecting any sort of genius film is out of the question. The trailer managed to arouse a lot of interest and awareness is very high. Had Cars 2 not opened in 3D, this would have had a legitimate shot at #1 but due to the theaters unwillingness to schedule any 3D movie in 2D, this will just have to settle for 2nd place. King Kong finished with over 5m way back in 2005 so a total somewhat close to it is possible. This movie might not be as well known as King Kong, but it's done its job with the trailer(s) and interest should be there. I think an opening over 1m could happen but Apes would need insane admissions for that to occur. At this point, I'm settling into the $800,000 range for now.

Legs should be fairly short. Like Cars 2, it faces off against Final Destination and Overheard the following week, then Cowboys & Aliens, Horrible Bosses and Insidious the weekend after. Theaters are more likely to keep the 3D movie even if the 2D film is keeping up in admissions so it won't have legs.

OW - $800,000
Total - $2,200,000

	Sunday adm.				July 31
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	73,679	48,632	-34.0%	+13.9%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	54,747	31,028	-43.3%	+4.8%
3	Wu Xia (Cantonese)	--	28,516	--	-2.5%
4	Cars 2 (3D Chinese)	--	16,573	--	+31.8%
5	Doraemon: Nobita And The New Steel Troops	--	9,493	--	--

	Weekend adm.			Jul 28-31
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	208,344	136,835	-34.3%
2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	176,683	95,770	-45.8%
3	Wu Xia (Cantonese)	--	89,930	--

Cars 2 - 29,144 adm. (Chinese 3D)

July 28 Recap

July 21 Weekend

1. Kung Fu Panda 2 Paramount Int'l $1,744,330 1 43 $40,566 0 $2,413,616
2. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows II Warner Bros Int'l $1,724,408 2 41 $42,059 -53 $7,477,072
3. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon Paramount Int'l $317,462 4 35 $9,070 -54 $10,539,361
4. Love is the Only Answer Newport Ent. $235,838 1 26 $9,071 0 $383,606
5. Mr. Popper's Penguins Fox Int'l $194,945 3 35 $5,570 -55 $2,299,717
6. Tree Of Life, The Golden Scene $44,318 3 8 $5,540 -40 $371,496
7. Soul Kitchen First Distributors $6,049 1 1 $6,049 0 $9,470
8. 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy Newport Ent. $5,173 15 2 $2,587 -3 $5,298,116
9. Beach Spike Edko $3,217 3 2 $1,609 -88 $212,591
10. Certified Copy First Distributors $2,339 4 2 $1,170 12 $45,693

Thursday Schedules

Pacific Place
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Captain America: The First Avenger 3D - 7 showings	The Beaver - 3 showings (▼ 5)
The Smurfs (3D Eng.) - 6 showings	Wu Xia (Cantonese) - 5 showings (-)
	Wu Xia (Putonghua) - 1 showing (-)
	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D English) - 7 showings (▼ 11)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D English) - 6 showings (▼ 8)
	Mr. Popper's Penguins - 2 showings (▲ 1)
	The Tree Of Life - 1 showing (▼ 3)
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D - 1 showing (▼ 4)

Olympian City
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Captain America: The First Avenger 3D - 6 showings	Doraemon: Nobita And The New Steel Troops - 2 showings (▼ 4)
Captain America: The First Avenger - 5 showings	The Beaver - 1 showing (▼ 4)
The Smurfs (3D Eng.) - 2 showings	Wu Xia - 7 showings (-)
The Smurfs (3D Can.) - 5 showings	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese) - 3 showings (▼ 6)
	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese) - 3 showings (-)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D English) - 1 showing (▼ 5)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D Cantonese) - 1 showing (-)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (English) - 4 showings (▼ 5)
	Mr. Popper's Penguins - 1 showing (▼ 3)
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D - 1 showing (▼ 3)

Palace APM
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Captain America: The First Avenger 3D - 7 showings	Doraemon: Nobita And The New Steel Troops - 2 showings (▼ 3)	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese)
Captain America: The First Avenger - 4 showings	Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night - 4 showings (▼ 6)	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D Cantonese)
The Smurfs (3D Eng.) - 5 showings	Wu Xia - 8 showings (-)	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (English)
The Smurfs (3D Can.) - 3 showings	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese) - 4 showings (▼ 7)	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D
Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called Operation Golden Spy - 3 showings	Love Is The Only Answer - 3 showings (▼ 5)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D English) - 5 showings (▼ 7)
	Mr. Popper's Penguins - 1 showing (▼ 2)

Festival Walk
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Captain America: The First Avenger 3D - 6 showings	Doraemon: Nobita And The New Steel Troops - 1 showing (▼ 3)	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D Cantonese)
Captain America: The First Avenger - 2 showings	The Beaver - 1 showing (▼ 5)
The Smurfs (3D Eng.) - 5 showings	Wu Xia - 2 showings (▼ 7)
The Smurfs (3D Can.) - 7 showings	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese) - 6 showings (▼ 8)
	Kung Fu Panda 2 (Cantonese) - 1 showing (▼ 2)
	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D English) - 3 showings (▼ 7)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D English) - 5 showings (▼ 9)
	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (English) - 1 showing (-)
	Mr. Popper's Penguins - 1 showing (▼ 4)
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D - 1 showing (▼ 3)

I am really unimpressed by Broadway's and UA's scheduling this weekend. They decide that Harry Potter deserves peak showings and more showtimes over Kung Fu Panda 2 even after Kung Fu Panda 2 is doing more business (more than 2x at some locations)? And showing Harry Potter in the biggest screens over Captain America/Smurfs? Are they insane? Ridiculous. I don't even know why they are pushing so hard for Harry Potter. It hasn't been having great drops so this weekend's scheduling is clearly not market driven.

August 4 Predictions

This year's Doraemon film had to follow last year's 30th Film Anniversary release, so it's understandably weaker by comparison.

Also wanted to commend you for keeping up with this thread, and in great detail, every week!

That's interesting to note. Thanks.

Early Friday Update:

Smurfs is running close to Captain America. Some theaters are showing a huge spike for The Smurfs while others have Captain America ahead. Kung Fu Panda 2 is in front of Harry Potter at the moment.

Starting this week, I'm going to be adding a new feature to this thread. I'll post the weekly Monday-Sunday grosses for the top 10 films. Also, I'll be counting down my top 5 surprises of 2011 so far which will be starting very soon.

		Weekly Gross							July 25-31
LW	TW	Title	Last Week (HKD)	This Week (HKD)	Days	% chg	Total (HKD)	This Week (USD)	Total (USD)
--	1	Kung Fu Panda 2	--	$13,779,810	11	--	$27,391,456	$1,767,912	$3,514,250
--	2	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2	--	$12,459,845	18	--	$65,339,962	$1,598,564	$8,382,942
--	3	Wu Xia	--	$3,909,323	4	--	$3,909,323	$501,555	$501,555
--	4	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	--	$2,607,694	33	--	$83,029,347	$334,560	$10,652,443
--	5	Love Is The Only Answer	--	$2,434,832	11	--	$4,308,342	$312,382	$552,748
--	6	Cars 2	--	$1,566,999	0	--	$1,566,999	$201,041	$201,041
--	7	Mr. Popper's Penguins	--	$1,416,020	25	--	$18,629,304	$181,671	$2,390,089
--	8	Doraemon: Nobita And The New Steel Troops	--	$843,483	4	--	$843,483	$108,216	$108,216
--	9	The Tree Of Life	--	$402,208	25	--	$3,122,955	$51,602	$400,666
--	10	Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night	--	$346,590	4	--	$346,590	$44,466	$44,466

Keep in mind these are last week's grosses from Monday-Sunday, not Thursday-Wednesday. All of the openers though are weekend numbers. Pretty good start for Wu Xia. Cars 2 did ok. Doraemon dropped from the previous but that is still a good figure with the amount of competition. Dylan Dog didn't do too badly.

Looking ahead to 2012 openers...we have

January 5 - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
January 21 - Puss In Boots
February 2 - Anonymous
April 5 - The Pirates! Band Of Misfits
April 19 - Battleship
April 26 - The Vow
May 17 - Men In Black III
July 5 - Ice Age 4
July 19 - The Dark Knight Rises
August 2 - Total Recall

Obviously, Ice Age and The Dark Knight Rises will be the 2 biggies. Amazing Spider-Man has not been scheduled yet although I'm confident it will go head-to-head against Ice Age. Battleship opening a month earlier than N.America is a surprise but they might be doing an early Asia release to gain some buzz after the success of 2012.

2011 IMAX Schedule

August 11 - Cars 2
August 25 - Cowboys & Aliens
September 8 - Contagion
October 6 - Real Steel
November 24 - The Adventures of Tintin
December 15 - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
December 22 - Happy Feet 2

July 28 Weekend Actuals

1. Kung Fu Panda 2 Paramount Int'l $1,099,948 2 42 $26,189 -37 $3,805,994
2. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows II Warner Bros Int'l $930,881 3 40 $23,272 -46 $8,659,731
3. Wu Xia (Dragon) UA Films/WE $503,268 1 37 $13,602 0 $625,577
4. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon Paramount Int'l $178,418 5 30 $5,947 -44 $10,772,315
5. Love is the Only Answer Newport Ent. $169,358 2 26 $6,514 -28 $619,157
6. Doraemon The Movie: Nobita And The Steel Troops: The New Age Universe Ent. $107,911 1 25 $4,316 0 $137,009
7. Mr. Popper's Penguins Fox Int'l $90,242 4 30 $3,008 -54 $2,422,185
8. Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night Intercontinental $44,501 1 7 $6,357 0 $59,566
9. Beaver, The Golden Scene $31,644 1 8 $3,955 0 $40,357
10. Tree Of Life, The Golden Scene $30,748 4 8 $3,844 -31 $413,461

2011 OW:



2011 Releases with $1m+ weekends:



Top 10 of 2011



* Denotes movie still in release

Sex & Zen's number remains unchanged for now. I will switch its numbers to BOM's when its run is over. Same with all the others currently in release.

	Thursday adm.	(so far)		August 4
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Captain America: The First Avenger 3D	--	11,135	--
2	Smurfs (3D Cantonese)	--	8,332	--
3	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	10,492	5,519	-47.4%
4	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D English)	9,301	4,511	-51.5%
5	Smurfs (3D English)	--	2,623	--

	Thursday adm.			August 4
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Captain America: The First Avenger 3D	--	25,949	--
2	Smurfs (3D Cantonese)	--	15,089	--
3	Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D Cantonese)	20,572	10,589	-48.5%
4	Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D English)	16,267	8,199	-49.6%
5	Captain America: The First Avenger	--	5,489	--

Good increase for Captain America. That's a nice start for it. As for how it compared to its brethren...

	Thor	X-Men: First Class	Green Lantern	Captain America
Thursday	20,466	32,105	15,032	31,438
Friday	22,338	33,129	16,560
Saturday	37,071	64,048	27,952
Sunday	39,375	63,745	25,488
Total	119,250	193,027	85,032	31,438

Ahead of both Thor and Green Lantern but just behind First Class. This should translate to about a 1.25m OW. Maybe 1.3m if it has a very strong weekend increase.

The Smurfs opened alright. It did not have the impact like Mr. Popper's Penguins had last month though.

	Mr. Popper's Penguins	The Smurfs
Thursday	28,289	15,089
Friday	30,289
Saturday	56,921
Sunday	59,544
Total	175,043	15,089

Including the other versions of The Smurfs, it looks like The Smurfs did a grand total of about 19-20k admissions today. Still well behind Popper's although they could end up with similar opening day grosses.

Kung Fu Panda 2 and Harry Potter both held on ok but I am more impressed by Kung Fu Panda 2's drop since it had the less favourable showtimes.



Top 5 Biggest Surprises of 2011: Jan-Jul Edition

5. Don't Go Breaking My Heart



OW - $365,308 ($430,207 incl. previews)
Total - $1,584,052 (4.34 multiplier)

When this opened on March 31, few expected this to win that weekend. Instead, it managed to beat expectations and finished on top beating a Hollywood remake of a popular fairytale and an action-fantasy film. It had great reviews and in its 2nd official weekend, it slipped just 4.8% from its opening weekend and finished a very close 2nd by just $10,000. While the drops after were more normal for a romantic movie, this went on to finish at a very good 1.58m and is the biggest romantic comedy of the year, local or foreign.