Thursday adm.	(so far)		April 14
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	--	22280	--
2	Scream 4	--	1510	--
3	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	--	1282	--
4	Limitless	--	628	--
5	Rio 3D	--	601	--

Toy Story 3's Thursday start - 32294 (only for the Cantonese version)

It is way behind Toy Story 3 in admissions but looks to be running par with Ip Man 2 for now. If it mirrors Ip Man 2, it could sneak past 2m.

Weekend of April 7-10, 2011:

1 N Rio Fox $357,164 - 38 - $9,399 $452,432 1
2 1 Daan gyun naam yu (Don't Go Breaking My Heart) Lark $347,762 -4.8% 40 +1 $8,694 $1,051,739 2
3 N Limitless Lark $253,165 - 20 - $12,658 $253,165 1
4 3 Beastly Golden Scene $185,012 -28.1% 19 - $9,737 $623,524 2
5 N Umizaru 3 (The Last Message) Intercontinental $157,155 - 12 - $13,096 $157,155 1
6 2 Sucker Punch WB $103,254 -66.3% 37 +2 $2,791 $569,639 2
7 N Hanna Sony $91,415 - 29 - $3,152 $91,415 1
8 4 Gnomeo and Juliet Disney $77,420 -64.3% 30 -5 $2,581 $457,177 2
9 5 The Lincoln Lawyer Deltamac $27,312 -67.4% 14 -4 $1,951 $165,869 2
10 N De vrais mensonges (Full Treatment) n/a $26,245 - 8 - $3,281 $26,245 1
11 13 Inside Job Sony $14,653 -4.2% 2 - $7,327 $42,198 2
12 8 The King's Speech Cable $11,895 -70.3% 5 -8 $2,379 $1,299,222 6

Rio manages to grab #1 by the skin of its teeth! Not a bad opening. It should find its way to about $800,000.

Fantastic for Don't Go Breaking My Heart. I've been hearing strong word of mouth for this one. $1.5m isn't out of the question.

Very good opening for Limitless. It beat out The Adjustment Bureau and Unknown's OWs.

Beastly is no slouch either. Drops only 28%. Fantastic marketing by the studio. What a huge success.

Superb opening for Umizaru 3. Sure, 3D helped a lot but it's on its way to beating Umizaru 2.

Sucker Punch is a disappointment. Theaters expected more from this movie considering it was marketed as a sci-fi action flick.

Hanna opened below expectations. This didn't look good nor appeal to many people.

Gnomeo's drop was expected. Its run so far has been ok. Not a disappointment and nothing to write home about.

Lincoln Lawyer had to make room for Limitless opening so a huge drop was expected. The Lincoln Lawyer flopped hard here.

Full Treatment (Beautiful Lies) did ok. It's appeal was only limited to the French speaking people and arthouse/indie moviegoers.

Good run for The King's Speech. Audiences really responded well to this movie.

	Thursday adm.			April 14
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	--	41967	--
2	Scream 4	--	6626	--
3	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	--	3820	--
4	Limitless	--	2579	--
5	Mr. & Mrs. Single	--	2381	--

Ip Man 2 - 47,608 (Opening thursday - 2nd day)

At this point, Sex is 5,000 admissions behind Ip Man 2 but factor in the 15,000 adm. from Ip Man 2's special opening and it's about 21,000 behind. It can make up for it this weekend though. The most impressive thing about this number is that it came with the lack of screens showing it. Quite a few 10 pm showtimes ended up getting full or close to it and 2nd day midnights (Thursday midnight 12:00 - 1:00 AM showings) were about 80-95% full. Surprisingly, there were no 7 or 8 pm sellouts to report.








This was the only morning show to sellout. Impressive nonetheless.


As for the rest, Scream 4 disappointed. It might not even make $200,000 this weekend.

Don't Go Breaking My Heart and Limitless had harsh but expected drops thanks to the screen loss. Mr and Mrs. Single flopped...especially when there was a better romantic movie that just came out a few weeks ago.

	Friday adm.	(so far)		April 15
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	--	26455	--
2	Scream 4	--	2542	--
3	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	--	1951	--
4	Limitless	--	1568	--
5	Mr. & Mrs. Single	--	1116	--

Sex & Zen increased by 19%. That's a good sign. The rest look pretty bland.

Schedule reports for this weekend upcoming.

Schedule:

	# of Showtimes				4/14 WKD
	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy	Scream 4	Rango (Can./Eng.)	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	Mr. & Mrs. Single
Olympian City
Friday	8	5		2	5
Saturday	18	6	5	2	3
Palace APM
Friday	11 (2)	7 (1)		5	5
Saturday	16 (2)	6 (1)	5	3	2
Mong Kok
Friday	17 (3 midnights)	6		1	3
Saturday	22 (3 midnights)	8		1	2
The One
Friday	18 (4 midnights)	8 (1)		4	3
Saturday	20 (2 midnights)	7 (1)	3	2	3
Pacific Place
Friday	2	6
Saturday	4 (2)	6 (1)	5

No real surprises here. Sex takes away the biggest screens on the weekend while others are put on smaller screens.

Thursday grosses - USD (HKD) / Cumulative USD:

1. Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy - $482,000 (3.75 m) / $482,000
2. Scream 4 - $41,156 ($320,000) / $41,156
3. Don't Go Breaking My Heart - $24,436 ($190,000) / $1,220,542
4. Limitless - $18,005 ($140,000) / $321,533
5. Mr. & Mrs. Single - $15,433 ($120,000) / $15,433
6. Rio - $12475 ($97,000) / $542,749

Other totals:

Umizaru 3 - $240,507
Beastly - $691,940

With those numbers, Sex is on its way to $2m. Scream should be able to muster $200,000 for the weekend. Ouch for Mr. & Mrs. Single.

	Friday adm.				April 15
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	--	43218	--	+3.0%
2	Scream 4	--	9443	--	+42.5%
3	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	--	5481	--	+43.5%
4	Limitless	--	4955	--	+92.1%
5	Mr. & Mrs. Single	--	3938	--	+65.4%

Great for Sex & Zen. I saw a few more 10 PM sellouts than yesterday. Also, most 10 PM showtimes were 90% full or above. Even most midnights were either full or 98-99% full. Word of mouth so far has been mixed but the weekend gross shouldn't be affected that much.

Below are my Friday gross projections based on yesterday's gross (HKD) and admissions.

Friday numbers (in US$):

1. Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy - $496,743
2. Scream 4 - $58,659
3. Don't Go Breaking My Heart - $35,063
4. Limitless - $34,598
5. Mr. & Mrs. Single - $25,531

Ip Man 2 Friday - 38,240

The gap between Ip Man 2 and Sex & Zen is down to 16,000. Will Sex continue to pour it on during the weekend?

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			April 16
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	--	38450	--	+45.3%
2	Rio (3D Cantonese)	--	2882	--	--
3	Scream 4	--	2621	--	+3.1%
4	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	--	2171	--	+11.3%
5	Limitless	--	1429	--	-8.9%

Wow. Sex pre-sales are reminding me a lot of Ip Man 2's. It didn't increase as much as Ip Man 2, but it didn't have another blockbuster to deal with nor did it get an early start.

The rest didn't increase much with the exception of Rio, who could have increased by more than 300%. Rango is either missing or not in the top 5.

Major disappointment for SCREAM 4.

How does the 3D porno fare compared to last year's ALICE IN WONDERLAND?

It's very close. It will probably come down to the exchange rate to determine its position.

If we look at Gulliver's Travels' admission #s, we can break it down like this:

	Daily admissions (OW)
	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy	41967	43218	63151	?
Gulliver's Travels	33147	59144	75559	66204
Gap	8820	-7106	-19514

Gulliver is clearly ahead and will increase its lead on Sunday.

With Alice, there is only one data point and that was Sunday's admissions (66,183). It's safe to say that Sex won't reach that number tomorrow, but, Alice's opening day was considerably smaller (HK$2.18m) vs. ($3.75m).

Using these figures for Gulliver's Travels' opening day...an average ticket to see GT would be only $67.87. Today, a ticket to see Sex & Zen is $89.35.

Note: I took the raw figures from that mysinablog and used the USD rate at the time for each to calculate the average ticket price.
[GT: ($2,250,000 HK / 33,147 adm. = $67.87]
[Sex: $3,750,000 HK / 41,967 adm. = $89.35]

Once Sex's final Sunday numbers come in, we can determine which of the two will have the higher opening and can make an educated guess as to how much it beat or lost to Alice.

Saturday adm.				April 16
Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	--	63151	--	+46.1%
Scream 4	--	15082	--	+59.7%
Don't Go Breaking My Heart	20270	8359	-58.8%	+52.5%
Limitless	14569	7803	-46.4%	+57.5%
Rio (3D Cantonese)	15115	6766	-55.2%	--

Excellent for Sex. Too little too late for Scream 4. Those are some good drops for all 3 holdovers. Don't Go Breaking My Heart had to deal with Sex. Lincoln Lawyer had no real competition but had showtimes cut across the board and Rio had to deal with Rango/Sex stealing screens.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			April 17
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	--	32447	--	-15.6%
2	Rio (3D Cantonese)	11781	4741	-59.8%	+64.5%
3	Scream 4	--	3076	--	+17.4%
4	Rio (3D English)	--	2207	--	--
5	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	11768	1723	-85.4%	-20.6%

Ok drop for Sex. I don't think word of mouth has spread that fast yet but it looks like it's due to the loss of midnight screenings/people watching it at night. Surprising for Rio. Looks like the Rango release date backfired. Not great for Scream 4. Big drop for Don't Go Breaking My Heart.

Chinese 3D porn film may get sequel

With the success of the film here, you can bet that a sequel will be greenlit. It only cost $2m or 3m to make and it should easily surpass that here, not including markets such as Taiwan, Australia or Singapore.

	Sunday adm.				April 17
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	--	48911	--	-22.5%
2	Scream 4	--	11839	--	-21.5%
3	Rio (3D Cantonese)	19543	10719	-45.2%	+58.4%
4	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	17401	7283	-58.1%	-12.9%
5	Limitless	11003	6133	-44.3%	-21.4%

Nice for Sex & Zen. Horrible for Scream 4. Solid bump for Rio. Not bad for Don't Go Breaking My Heart. Good for Limitless.

	Weekend adm.			Apr 14-17
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	--	197247	--
2	Scream 4	--	42990	--
3	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	--	24943	--
4	Limitless	--	21470	--

Just missed 200,000 admissions. Still, it was a perfect storm that lead to its success. Major curiosity factor + 3D prices + no tentpole release = $$$. Bad for Scream 4. Terrible release date. It could have been burned off last week or even next week on Easter weekend but going up against a juggernaut where couples/singles flock to the cinema was a bad decision. It's also a series that is past its prime. Don't Go Breaking My Heart had a decent hold. Having your target audience stolen away from you from a big release while dropping about 60% or so is a success in my opinion. Limitless held up extremely well.

	Daily admissions (OW)
	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy	41967	43218	63151	48911	197247
Gulliver's Travels	33147	59144	75559	66204	234054
Gap	8820	-7106	-19514	-36807

GT: 234,054 * $67.87 / 7.78 = $2,041,805 [actual: $1.8m]
Sex: 197,247 * $89.35 / 7.769 = $2,268,505

Sex could be below, at or just above $2m when actuals come in. It has a shot at beating Avatar's OW.

Next week's Easter hold for Sex will be key. The director for the film, Christopher Sun, has said that he hopes it stays in theatres for at least 4 weeks, so that it can rake in the extra money generated by the Labour Day holiday and possibly even the Buddha's Birthday (May 10).



http://www.gmanews.tv/story/217884/ente ... rotic-film

I think when all is said and done, Sex could end up bringing home $7.5m-8.5m (depending on this weekend's actuals).

	Monday adm.				April 18
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	--	23971	--	-51.0%
2	Scream 4	--	5202	--	-56.1%
3	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	--	3010	--	-58.7%
4	Limitless	--	1771	--	-71.1%
5	Mr. & Mrs. Single	--	1453	--	--

Spectacular for Sex & Zen. This proves that there is still a lot left in the tank for this movie. I don't think the upcoming Easter weekend will affect it that much although it will really need audiences on Thursday/Friday if it wants to keep the biggest screens for the weekend. Simply outperforming all of the new releases won't be enough.

The reason why I've been saying this about Sex & Zen is because there are 11 (or 12) new releases coming out this Easter weekend. Running down the list, I'll break it down into categories.

Contenders

Source Code - This follows in the path of Adjustment Bureau/Limitless/Unknown/The Lincoln Lawyer where it will get decent business. Reviews have been very good so I expect strong business. Achieving $400,000 will be no small feat this weekend even with the holidays as the revolving door of mentally tormented male action/drama flicks might have taken its toll on people. Ultimately, it has the best chance of coming out on top of the new releases.

Just Go With It - Playing to a relatively meagre selection of romantic comedy movies, Just Go With It hopes to capture the crowd that isn't into porn/action flicks/kids fluff or indie movies. It'll have a hard time though especially with Sex on people's minds. $250,000 is the ceiling in my opinion.

Hop - Even though it is up against 4 new releases of its kind, it still has the best chance of netting a respectable gross this weekend. That and because it's about Easter. This should have no problems getting screens especially after Rango flopped and Rio dying off but predicting this movie will be the hardest one as it could flop hard or go big and even claim #1 despite the immense competition. $150,000-$550,000

Middle-of-the-pack:

Red Riding Hood - Directed by the same person as Twilight, Red Riding Hood hopes to grab those Twi-hards and cash in. This may be a tale that one may not want to watch this weekend as kids will definitely want to catch a few films or the buzz on Sex is just too great at the moment. It will still grab some cash though.

Gantz - Japanese anime/manga is very popular here so it will grab many from that demographic but outside of it, it's hard to see the appeal of a black ball and black suits with guns as well as the foreign language barrier. I see it making around $150,000 for the weekend.

Non-contenders:

Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue/Doraemon: The New Record of Nobita - Spaceblazer/Sammy's Adventures - The Secret Passage 3D/Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf 3 - I lumped all these kids movies together because they each will carve out their own audiences but they will also eat into each other's as well.

Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son - I think parents will try and keep their kids away from this movie and will go to more family-friendly films. The appeal of this movie is VERY limited and I see this bombing.

Indie/Arthouse:

Incendies - This will play to a small audience but it could possibly grab the highest PSA out of all new releases. Depending on the number of theaters showing this, I see anywhere from $10,000 - $25,000 as its OW.

The 12th movie that might be released this weekend is Justin Bieber's concert tour movie. I don't see it making a lot of money here.

Notes:

- Pre-selling has begun for Thor in IMAX. It will be released on April 28.

- A Chinese Ghost Story is having special screenings this weekend. It will be released wide on April 28.

- The Green Lantern has moved from June 2 to June 16 to avoid a clash between Hangover 2 and X-Men: First Class.

Schedules for Thursday:

Pacific Place
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Hop (English) - 5 showings	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D - 2 showings (no change)	Beautiful Lies
Just Go With It - 6 showings	Rango (English) - 2 showings (down from 5)	Hanna
Red Riding Hood - 6 showings	Scream 4 - 3 showings (down from 6)	The Lincoln Lawyer
Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D English) - 4 showings	Rio (3D English) - 6 showings (up from 5)	The Eagle
Source Code - 7 showings	Limitless - 2 showings (down from 6)	Sucker Punch
Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue - 2 showings	Gnomeo & Juliet (3D English) - 1 showing (down from 2)

Palace APM
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Doraemon: The New Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer - 3 showings	Rango (Cantonese) - 1 showing (down from 4)	I Saw The Devil
Gantz - 3 showings	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D - 7 showings (down from 14)	Mr. & Mrs. Single
Hop (Cantonese) - 5 showings	Scream 4 - 2 showings (down from 7)	Umizaru 3: The Last Message (3D)
Just Go With It - 6 showings	Rio (3D Cantonese) - 2 showings (down from 3)	Hanna
Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf 3 - 2 showings	Don't Go Breaking My Heart - 1 showing (down from 4)	Limitless
Red Riding Hood - 5 showings		Beastly
Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Cantonese) - 4 showings
Source Code - 8 showings

Festival Walk
New	Holdovers	Leaving
A Chinese Ghost Story - 1 showing	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D - 10 showings (down from 12)	Mr. & Mrs. Single
Doraemon: The New Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer - 3 showings	Rango (English) - 1 showing (down from 5)	Hanna
Hop (English) - 3 showings	Scream 4 - 2 showings (down from 5)
Hop (Cantonese) - 3 showings	Rio (3D English) - 3 showings (down from 5)
Just Go With It - 5 showings	Rio (3D Cantonese) - 2 showings (up from 0)
Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf 3 - 2 showings	Limitless - 1 showing (down from 6)
Red Riding Hood - 5 showings	Beastly - 2 showings (down from 4)
Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D English) - 2 showings	Don't Go Breaking My Heart - 1 showing (down from 3)
Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Cantonese) - 1 showing
Source Code - 6 showings
Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue - 2 showings

So far the scheduling has been all over the place. This weekend's schedules should be interesting. I suspect that there are going to be more shuffling around than usual and that most theaters will either take it day-by-day or wait a bit to decide how they are going to distribute their screens.

Given that there are 5 new children's films out and that Rango, Rio and Gnomeo & Juliet are still playing, some unlucky films might not get shown.

http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2011/04/19/3 ... ox-office/

The $13.1m HK translates to $1,686,188 (using a 7.769 exchange rate). It beat out Lust, Caution which opened with $1.42m.

	Thursday adm.	(so far)		April 21
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	22280	9965	-55.3%
2	Source Code	--	2288	--
3	Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Can.)	--	1658	--
4	Red Riding Hood	--	1589	--
5	Gantz	--	1197	--

	Thursday adm.			April 21
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	41967	20196	-51.9%
2	Source Code	--	10973	--
3	Red Riding Hood	--	8816	--
4	Just Go With It	--	5033	--
5	Scream 4	6626	4421	-33.3%

Although this number is nothing to sneeze at, clearly poor word-of-mouth is setting in for Sex & Zen. The drop itself is inflated thanks to its record opening day but even with the holidays, this could still drop 40% for the weekend. Friday and Sunday should reduce the drop but Saturday's number will be key. It will get a nice boost come May 1 but just how much are theaters willing to give Sex bigger screens in favor of Thor/The Lost Bladesman next week?

Good for Source Code. It will go up in admissions throughout the weekend but screens have been stable for the weekend so far. It still has a chance at $400,000...maybe more.

Nice surprise for Red Riding Hood although I think this will be dropping as the weekend goes on. It was helped, I think, from the ads that portrayed this as another Twilight. This is being dropped for the Easter/kid movies in the afternoon this weekend but it is still putting up decent business.

Just Go With It is somewhat of a loser here. It can still rebound to over $200,000 but it is looking unlikely given that kids films will monopolize the screens in the mornings/afternoons and Sex/Source Code grabbing the bulk of the other business.

That is a good drop for Scream 4 but this will get decimated this weekend. Dropping over 50% is not of the question.

Speaking of which, The Lost Bladesman is already pre-selling in some theaters. So far, business hasn't been hot but it's been put on the biggest screens. Thor is doing good in the IMAX theaters and should be the favourite to take the weekend. I have no idea how they are going to schedule on the May 1 (Labour Day - Tuesday) holiday. There are reports that people in China are joining tours and coming down just to watch the Sex & Zen movie.

Schedule for May:

Release Date	Movie Title
May 5	Arthur Love Crime Fast Five Restless Submarine Water For Elephants Punished Buddha Mountain
May 12	With The Detective 2 Priest
May 19	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
May 26	Animal Kingdom The Beaver Love and Other Impossible Pursuits A Beautiful Life Kidnapped (Secuestrados)

It seems like a pretty dead month with the exception of Pirates. June will be a different story though.

As the only major release on its opening weekend, Pirates is going to dominate for 2 weeks and then crash. June 2 will see 2 or 3 blockbusters coming out that will definitely cut almost all of Pirates screens away.

I think Pirates will end up with $4.5-5m. It will have 2 weeks to itself and then it will collect scraps the rest of the way.

	Friday adm.	(so far)		April 22
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	26455	13059	-50.6%
2	Source Code	--	6055	--
3	Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Can.)	--	5362	--
4	Hop (Can.)	--	4111	--
5	Red Riding Hood	--	3431	--

	Friday adm.				April 22
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	43218	24251	-43.9%	+20.1%
2	Source Code	--	24095	--	+119.6%
3	Red Riding Hood	--	13543	--	+53.6%
4	Just Go With It	--	10539	--	+109.4%
5	Hop (Can.)	--	9540	--	--

Yikes. Only a 20% increase for Sex on a holiday. That is just plain awful. It's still a success but the drops this weekend have been pretty alarming. Sex's friday # is only 1.2% more than Monday's #. On the flipside, that is a solid increase for Source Code. It might even win Saturday/Sunday in admissions considering how bad Sex has been. Red Riding Hood...has the twilight factor? We could be seeing it here. I wouldn't be surprised if Sunday's admissions are less than Thursday's. Very good for Just Go With It. Nice to see Hop here. This will play very strongly this weekend. Sunday could see Hop jump to #2, maybe even #1 if it outdoes Source and Sex collapses further.

	Sunday adm.				April 24
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Source Code	--	17734	--	-9.6%
2	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	48911	17325	-64.6%	-28.7%
3	Red Riding Hood	--	7877	--	-23.6%
4	Just Go With It	--	7297	--	-15.7%
5	Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Can.)	--	6736	--	-9.5%

	Weekend adm.			Apr 21-24
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	197247	86056	-56.4%
2	Source Code	--	72426	--
3	Red Riding Hood	--	40545	--
4	Just Go With It	--	31525	--

So Sex falls 56% on a holiday weekend. That's amazing. And also disturbing. Source Code held its ground and overtook Sex on Sunday. It should cross $400,000 for the weekend. Red Riding Hood was a pleasant surprise. I thought that with all the animation/kid flicks out and with moviegoers still buying tickets to see Sex/Source Code that this would get lost in the shuffle. Maybe the Twilight factor is valid... Just Go With It disappointed. It can say, however, that it closed the gap between itself and Red Riding Hood with each passing day. Biggest surprises of the weekend were that Hop pretty much flopped and Sammy's Adventures led all kid flicks.

Interesting how the past 2 Easter weekends have seen the top film dwindle as the weekend goes on and the challenger rising/holding steady.

Next weekend will be pretty interesting besides the two openers. Last year on the weekend after Easter, all holdovers fell over 55% on Friday, and that was with tepid competition. This year, we have 2 decent-sized hits and with the holiday, box office should still flourish and retain a good chunk of the Easter boost.

Depending on the scheduling, Sex could fall over 80% on Friday. It has already begun to lose its biggest screens and was pushed out by the animation flicks/Source Code. The x-factor this weekend will be the May 1 holiday. People in China will get 3 days off (Apr. 30 - May 2) so Friday could see Sex drop 80% then do a total rebound on Saturday/Sunday and into Monday as well. If the reports about the May 1 holiday boom comes to fruition, Sex might be able to retain #1 for a third weekend. It's slim but there's still the possibility of it occurring. Source Code won't be affected much by the competition but will still feel the effects from the screen loss. It could fall 50-60% for the weekend. Kids' films will see another boost from the holiday so drops will be quite large but nothing major.

Easter Monday admissions:

	Monday adm.				April 25
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Source Code	--	15363	--	-13.4%
2	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	23971	10190	--	-41.2%
3	Red Riding Hood	--	7108	--	-9.8%
4	Just Go With It	--	7079	--	-3.0%
5	Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Can.)	--	6631	--	-1.6%

Figures:

Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy - $185,258 (Thursday) / $3,373,255 (in 12 days -- up till Easter Monday)
Source Code - $558,349 (5 day)
Red Riding Hood - $317,770 (5 day opening)
Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage - $261,163 (5 day)
Rio - $19,287 (Thursday), $88,769 (Friday?), $45,028 (Sunday?) / $1,016,350 (cumulative -- 19 day total)
Doraemon: The New Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer - $11,964 (Thursday), $32,163 (Friday) / $117,073 (5 day)
Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf 3 - $60,466 (5 day)
Just Go With It - $30,876 (Thursday)
Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue - $36,022 (5 day)
Hop - $240,579 (5 day)
Don't Go Breaking My Heart - $1,515,520 (26 day total)
Gantz - $102,921 (total)
Incendies - $27,016 (Thursday)

Thursday schedules for the 4/28 weekend:

Palace IFC
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Thor 3D - 7 showings	Hop (Eng.) - 2 showings (down from 5)	Rango (Eng.)
Room in Rome - 3 showings	Incendies - 1 showing (down from 5)	Rio (3D Eng.)
The Lost Bladesman - 7 showings	Just Go With It - 5 showings (no change)	Beautiful Lies (Full Afterthought)
	Red Riding Hood - 1 showing (down from 4)
	Source Code - 6 showings (down from 7)
	Inside Job - 1 showing (no change)

Olympian City
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Thor 3D - 6 showings	Doraemon: The New Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer - 2 showings (down from 3)	Scream 4
The Lost Bladesman - 7 showings	Hop (Can.) - 2 showings (down from 5)	Limitless
A Chinese Ghost Story - 5 showings	Just Go With It - 4 showings (down from 5)
	Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf 3 - 1 showing (down from 2)
	Red Riding Hood - 3 showings (down from 5)
	Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Can.) - 3 showings (down from 5)
	Source Code - 5 showings (down from 6)
	Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue (Can.) - 1 showing (no change)
	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D - 2 showings (down from 5)
	Rio (3D Can.) - 3 showings (down from 5)
	Don't Go Breaking My Heart - 1 showing (down from 2)

The One
New	Holdovers	Leaving
Thor 3D - 6 showings	Hop (Eng.) - 2 showings (no change)	Gantz
The Lost Bladesman - 7 showings	Just Go With It - 4 showings (down from 5)	Hop (Can.)
A Chinese Ghost Story - 8 showings	Red Riding Hood - 4 showings (down from 7)	Rango (Eng.)
	Source Code - 5 showings (down from 8)	Scream 4
	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D - 5 showings (down from 11)	Don't Go Breaking My Heart
	Rio (3D Eng.) - 1 showing (down from 3)

Thor is outselling The Lost Bladesman for opening day in most places so far. This is after The Lost Bladesman was given an extra week for pre-selling in a number of theaters. A Chinese Ghost Story had the benefit of having special screenings last week on Easter weekend so there will be less upfront demand.

Thor is still winning in opening day admissions, but The Lost Bladesman has made a comeback and has handily outpaced Thor in Friday admissions. Biggest shocker is that Lost Bladesman has sold more tickets in the business districts than Thor.

This could be the Labour Day factor where people flock down here to catch Sex & Zen but also watch The Lost Bladesman as well.

Thor hasn't been doing too badly in Friday admissions. It has experienced a Friday bump so far but whereas it might increase by 20%, The Lost Bladesman is increasing 60-80% from opening day.

Sex hasn't been getting favorable showtimes so heavy drops expected for Thursday/Friday.

A Chinese Ghost Story isn't doing so great but that could be due to less upfront demand.

Source Code looks like it's heading towards a 60-70% drop for Thursday/Friday.

	Thursday adm.	(so far)		April 28
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Thor 3D	--	8257	--
2	The Lost Bladesman	--	4779	--
3	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	9965	1658	-83.4%
4	Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Can.)	1658	1589	-4.2%
5	Source Code	2288	1197	-47.7%

A bit of a muted start for Thor. It will probably pick up during the weekend. Good start for The Lost Bladesman. Friday looks to be much closer in terms of admissions between the two.

No surprises about Sex. Theaters have been relentless with their showtimes. Very nice drop for Sammy's Adventures. Source Code will have bigger drops tomorrow/Sunday.

Weekend of April 21-24, 2011:

1 1 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy Newport $871,819 -47.5% 44 -24 $19,814 $3,242,613 2
2 N Source Code Golden Scene $457,050 - 31 - $14,744 $457,050 1
3 N Red Riding Hood WB $265,214 - 31 - $8,555 $265,214 1
4 N Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage Golden Scene $202,909 - 26 - $7,804 $202,909 1
5 N Hop EDKO $198,735 - 35 - $5,678 $198,735 1
6 N Just Go With It Sony $193,671 - 28 - $6,917 $193,671 1
7 3 Rio Fox $168,480 -18.3% 27 -8 $6,240 $970,352 3
8 2 Scream 4 Cable $114,501 -54.9% 28 - $4,089 $475,397 2
9 N Eiga Doraemon Shin Nobita to tetsujin heidan: Habatake tenshitachi n/a $94,440 - 24 - $3,935 $94,440 1
10 N Gantz Panasia $90,172 - 19 - $4,746 $90,172 1
11 4 Daan gyun naam yu (Don't Go Breaking My Heart) Lark $74,781 -51.0% 27 -8 $2,770 $1,494,846 4
12 8 Rango Intercontinental $55,808 -19.2% 17 -6 $3,283 $163,453 2
13 N Xi Yang Yang 3 (Please Goat and Big Wolf 3) Intercontinental $50,725 - 22 - $2,306 $50,725 1
14 5 Limitless Lark $44,596 -65.5% 12 -8 $3,716 $557,252 3
15 - Sien nui yau wan (Chinese Ghost Story) Newport $40,159 - 19 - $2,114 $40,159 -
16 6 Yin Hun Nan Nv Gala $29,833 -72.1% 10 -20 $2,983 $182,063 2
17 N Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue Deltamac $29,796 - 13 - $2,292 $29,796 1
18 7 Umizaru 3 (The Last Message) Intercontinental $24,025 -66.9% 7 -5 $3,432 $353,863 3
19 10 Sucker Punch WB $13,296 -43.3% 2 -5 $6,648 $651,741 4
20 N Incendies EDKO $12,679 - 2 - $6,340 $12,679 1
21 9 Beastly Golden Scene $6,990 -85.7% 2 -16 $3,495 $759,326 4
22 13 Inside Job Sony $5,424 -58.9% 2 - $2,712 $68,737 4
23 12 De vrais mensonges (Full Treatment) Panasia $5,266 -65.9% 2 -4 $2,633 $61,791 3
24 23 The Adjustment Bureau EDKO $1,619 -11.6% 1 -1 $1,619 $325,171 6
25 18 The King's Speech Cable $1,482 -61.7% 1 -4 $1,482 $1,308,653 8
26 N African Cats n/a $818 - 1 - $818 $818 1
27 16 Gnomeo and Juliet Disney $760 -92.8% 1 -5 $760 $493,744 4
28 28 Black Swan Fox $683 +21.8% 1 -2 $683 $2,430,720 9
29 20 Sacrifice Intercontinental $627 -73.9% 1 -1 $627 $38,677 4
30 21 Choy Lee Fut n/a $347 -84.7% 1 -4 $347 $17,132 3

Sex & Zen dropped smaller than expected given the huge drop in admissions this week.

Excellent for Source Code.

Red Riding Hood did good too.

Very close between 4-6.

Nice drop for Rio. Even better considering the insane amount of children's films that came out this week.

Disappointing for Scream 4.

Doraemon did ok. Gantz's number is disappointing especially when the sequel will be out in 2 weeks.

	Thursday adm.			April 28
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Thor 3D	--	20466	--
2	The Lost Bladesman	--	15881	--
3	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	20196	6392	-68.4%
4	Source Code	10973	5083	-53.7%
5	Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Can.)	--	2585	--

	Friday adm.	(so far)		April 29
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Thor 3D	--	9040	--
2	The Lost Bladesman	--	6489	--
3	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	13059	2666	-79.6%
4	Source Code	6055	2362	-61.0%
5	Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Can.)	5362	1334	-75.1%

	Friday adm.				April 29
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Thor 3D	--	22338	--	+9.1%
2	The Lost Bladesman	--	17417	--	+9.7%
3	Source Code	24095	8505	-64.7%	+67.3%
4	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	24251	7969	-67.1%	+24.7%
5	Just Go With It	10539	3323	-68.5%	--

Very good for Thor. It will do very well this weekend. The Lost Bladesman is still doing ok. Steep drops for the rest.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			April 30
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Thor 3D	--	13239	--	+46.4%
2	The Lost Bladesman	--	7058	--	+8.8%
3	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	12128	4626	-61.9%	+73.5%
4	Source Code	4397	2169	-50.7%	-8.2%
5	Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Can.)	3947	1877	-52.4%	+40.7%

Excellent for Thor. Looks like it will pass $1m OW with ease and has a decent shot at catching Iron Man's OW. The Lost Bladesman looks like it's fading. Nice rebound for Sex & Zen. Source Code got hammered this weekend...not good. Not bad of a drop for Sammy's Adventures.

	Saturday adm.				April 30
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Thor 3D	--	37071	--	+66.0%
2	The Lost Bladesman	--	28532	--	+63.8%
3	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	24284	13563	-44.1%	+59.5%
4	Source Code	19624	11205	-42.9%	+40.6%
5	Just Go With It	8656	4959	-42.7%	+49.2%

Excellent for Thor. That is also an excellent number for Lost Bladesman. It hasn't shown signs of frontloading just yet. Good rebounds for the other 3.

	Sunday adm.	(so far)			May 1
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Thor 3D	--	17012	--	+28.5%
2	The Lost Bladesman	--	8516	--	+20.7%
3	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	8840	4799	-45.7%	+3.7%
4	Source Code	4761	2912	-38.8%	+34.3%
5	Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Can.)	4021	2777	-30.9%	+47.9%

If Thor keeps this up, it will break 1.2m for the weekend. Lost Bladesman is holding on so that's a good sign. Not bad for Sex and Source Code. Very good for Sammy's Adventures.

	Sunday adm.				May 1
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Thor 3D	--	39375	--	+6.2%
2	The Lost Bladesman	--	28982	--	+1.6%
3	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	17325	13100	-24.4%	-3.4%
4	Source Code	17734	11578	-34.7%	+3.3%
5	Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Can.)	6736	5566	-17.4%	--

Fantastic for Thor, Lost Bladesman and Sammy's Adventures. Sex sees its first great hold finally. Even with the daily increase from Saturday and the screen loss, that is still a pretty hefty drop for Source Code.

	Weekend adm.			Apr 28 - May 1
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Thor 3D	--	119250	--
2	The Lost Bladesman	--	90812	--
3	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	86056	41024	-52.3%
4	Source Code	72426	36371	-49.8%

Thor and Lost Bladesman both delivered above expectations. Thor will finish above Iron Man's OW and will break $1.2m at least for the weekend. Lost Bladesman will come in with close to $600,000. The Lost Bladesman is not as well known as Ip Man but they took advantage of the Donnie Yen/Chinese holiday factors. Last year showed that two blockbusters could stand together and that Hong Kong does have the capacity to support two big movies (although at the expense of the holdovers). This year proved that medium-sized movies can surprise, carve out audiences for themselves, and holdovers can still do reasonably well at the same time.

If you're looking for more battles like these, well, you're in for a surprise! There will be more in the future including 2 in the summer (at this point).

Both Sex and Source Code's weekend drops aren't anything special. They both got hammered by screen loss and no Friday holiday to take advantage of.

Labour day admissions:

	Monday adm.				May 2
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Thor 3D	--	33563	--	-14.8%
2	The Lost Bladesman	--	24478	--	-15.5%
3	Source Code	15363	11074	-27.9%	-4.4%
4	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	10190	9855	-3.3%	-24.8%
5	Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (3D Can.)	6631	5875	--	5.6%

Weekend actuals/totals (from mysinablog):

1. Thor - $1,354,360 (5-day), around 1m 4-day.
2. The Lost Bladesman - $674,605 (5-day)
3. Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy - $4,100,416 (total)

A Chinese Ghost Story - $341,164 (5 day)
Source Code - $920,501 (total)
Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage - $455,744 (total)

These figures might get adjusted by BOM so possibility of Thor beating Iron Man's OW is still there.

_________________

Fast Five getting the most screens so far. It could break $300,000 OW. Water for Elephants is up there with a medium-sized release. Punished is getting screens too.

Weekend of Apr. 28 - May 1:

1 N Thor Intercontinental $1,058,900 - 49 - $21,610 $1,058,900 1
2 N Guan yun chang (The Lost Bladesman) EDKO $532,406 - 36 - $14,789 $532,406 1
3 1 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy Newport $412,960 -52.6% 34 -10 $12,146 $3,987,967 3
4 13 Sien nui yau wan (Chinese Ghost Story) Newport $223,238 +313.2% 36 +17 $6,201 $277,270 1
5 2 Source Code Golden Scene $207,008 -54.7% 32 +1 $6,469 $854,537 2
6 4 Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage Golden Scene $99,071 -51.2% 25 -1 $3,963 $412,412 2
7 6 Just Go With It Sony $89,178 -54.0% 27 -1 $3,303 $372,455 2
8 3 Red Riding Hood WB $69,299 -73.9% 30 -1 $2,310 $449,673 2
9 7 Rio Fox $58,310 -65.4% 18 -9 $3,239 $1,119,276 4
10 5 Hop EDKO $51,436 -74.1% 32 -3 $1,607 $338,600 2
11 9 Eiga Doraemon Shin Nobita to tetsujin heidan: Habatake tenshitachi n/a $30,047 -68.2% 24 - $1,252 $169,931 2
12 11 Daan gyun naam yu (Don't Go Breaking My Heart) Lark $24,193 -67.7% 13 -14 $1,861 $1,555,146 5
13 8 Scream 4 Cable $24,021 -79.0% 10 -18 $2,402 $549,721 3
14 10 Gantz Panasia $20,329 -77.5% 6 -13 $3,388 $141,727 2
15 14 Xi Yang Yang 3 (Please Goat and Big Wolf 3) Intercontinental $15,892 -68.7% 19 -3 $836 $88,922 2
16 12 Rango Intercontinental $11,193 -79.9% 8 -9 $1,399 $197,293 3
17 16 Yin Hun Nan Nv Gala $11,040 -63.0% 3 -7 $3,680 $207,402 3
18 17 Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue Deltamac $7,795 -73.8% 8 -5 $974 $50,683 2
19 N Habitación en Roma (Room in Rome) n/a $6,803 - 2 - $3,402 $6,803 1
20 18 Umizaru 3 (The Last Message) Intercontinental $5,865 -75.6% 4 -3 $1,466 $371,345 4
21 15 Limitless Lark $5,858 -86.9% 5 -7 $1,172 $581,240 4
22 20 Incendies EDKO $5,776 -54.4% 2 - $2,888 $23,890 2
23 22 Inside Job Sony $1,992 -63.3% 1 -1 $1,992 $73,080 5
24 21 Beastly Golden Scene $1,945 -72.2% 1 -1 $1,945 $763,817 5
25 23 De vrais mensonges (Full Treatment) Panasia $1,496 -71.6% 1 -1 $1,496 $71,895 4
26 24 The Adjustment Bureau EDKO $1,016 -37.3% 1 - $1,016 $326,719 7
27 26 African Cats n/a $951 +16.3% 1 - $951 $2,299 2
28 - L'arbre (The Tree) Golden Scene $782 - 1 - $782 $17,439 3
29 25 The King's Speech Cable $688 -53.6% 1 - $688 $1,309,914 9
30 28 Black Swan Fox $585 -14.4% 1 - $585 $2,431,560 10

Notes:

- Advanced ticketing for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in IMAX has started. So far, business has been good. It will open on May 18 with special screenings.

- Advanced ticketing for Pirates 4 in regular theaters has started. It will also open on May 18 with night special screenings. The first full day of release will be on May 19.

- Super 8 has been scheduled for an IMAX run. It will be released on June 9. Number of IMAX locations getting this movie is unconfirmed.

- Transformers 3 will also be shown in IMAX starting on June 30.

- Mission Impossible 4 will start showing in IMAX on December 15.

- Thor's run in IMAX will end when Pirates 4 opens.

- The 4D screen will start showing Pirates 4 on May 19.

- Mr. Popper's Penguins has been moved to July 7.

- The Conspirator is set for release on June 2.

	Thursday adm.	(so far)		May 5
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Thor 3D	8257	5643	-31.7%
2	Fast Five	--	3152	--
3	The Lost Bladesman	4779	1577	-67.0%
4	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	1658	1210	-27.0%
5	Water For Elephants	--	995	--

	Thursday adm.			May 5
Rank	Title	LW	TW	% chg
1	Fast Five	--	12031	--
2	Thor 3D	20466	8838	-56.8%
3	The Lost Bladesman	15881	4381	-72.4%
4	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	6392	3515	-45.0%
5	Punished	--	3510	--

I find it bizarre that Thor only managed a 1.57 multiplier from its presale admissions. Nevertheless, this is a weekend film and it should overtake Fast Five during the weekend in admissions. That is a very good opening number for Fast Five. It should be able to claim the biggest OW of the franchise. Frontloaded drop for The Lost Bladesman. Not a bad drop for Sex although the weekend drops won't be flattering. Not good for Punished.

Update (Pirates 4):

In one day of presales so far, Pirates has been doing well. There's usually a lull period before the storm begins with advanced ticketing for big event movies. Here, there are a few takers already buying their tickets. Ticket prices for Pirates 4 are on average $10 more than regular 3D movies.

IMAX is doing solid business. They released ticketing for it a few weeks back. Weekend mornings/afternoons are about 35-45% full so far.

	Friday adm.	(so far)			May 6
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Thor 3D	9040	6399	-29.2%	+13.4%
2	Fast Five	--	4154	--	+31.8%
3	The Lost Bladesman	6489	2043	-68.5%	+29.5%
4	Water For Elephants	--	1562	--	+57.0%
5	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	2666	1544	-42.1%	+27.6%

	Friday adm.				May 6
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Fast Five	--	14537	--	+20.8%
2	Thor 3D	22338	11977	-46.4%	+35.5%
3	The Lost Bladesman	17417	5926	-66.0%	+35.3%
4	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	7969	4624	-42.0%	+31.6%
5	Punished	--	4403	--	+25.4%

Nice increase for Fast Five. Decent hold by Thor and solid bump from Thursday. Terrible for The Lost Bladesman.

	Saturday adm.	(so far)			May 7
Rank	Title	LW	TW	WKD % chg	QD % chg
1	Thor 3D	13239	7627	-42.4%	+19.2%
2	Fast Five	--	6439	--	+55.0%
3	Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy 3D	4626	2642	-42.9%	+71.1%
4	The Lost Bladesman	7058	2389	-66.2%	+16.9%
5	Water For Elephants	--	1642	--	+5.1%

Gap between Thor and Fast Five is shrinking. I still think, however, that Thor can pull out a 100% increase from Friday though. There should be plenty of walk-ins for Thor. Good news for Thor is that the weekend is trending towards it although admissions are very close and vary by theater. Fast Five is looking just a bit frontloaded to me while Thor is picking up in admissions.