Jericho

How can Day after Tomorrow not be expected to do well? It opened Memorial Day weekend. Possibly the biggest box office weekend of the year per history. If people in the industry really thought it wasn't a "big" movie, something else would have moved to open that day and forced DAT to move or suffer the consequences.

Mr. Cinema

If Harry Potter does break Spiderman's opening weekend record, it ain't gonna last long. Spidey 2 will have the top opening weekend record when it opens.

Hokeyboy

Hmm...

HP-POA is, at its core, a "family" film, which usually means a huge Saturday uptick. However, it is also an "event" film which, IIRC, usually have more consistent daily weekend takes. Also word of mouth can weaken a Saturday gross and demoralize the film on Sunday.

I dunno; word of mouth is pretty strong on the film, and it's a family film. Even if it grosses $35 mill on Saturday and $30 million on Sunday, it still outgrosses Spidey's weekend booty. If it follows the box-office pattern of COS, it'll top off at around $300 million. If it follows the original SS, $350 million. If it has a stronger retention rate, who knows?

I think $300-$350 million is a reasonable expectation. It's only real family competition is SHREK 2, which is doing smashingly but has already generateed $300 million in revenue (and will probably do another $100 million easy.)

Whoda thunkit? Shrek, Spidey, and Potter look to gross at least $300 million (and most likely, plenty more) apiece. Is that a record for a summer? Does this mean more high-profile sequels? Or does this mean more high-profile sequels that are actually good?

Pants Pickle.

kevin75

just off topic a bit...i think that the whole "all time box office champ" thing should be reformatted. instead of $$ sales, they should start counting tickets sold. while i do enjoy keeping an eye on the B.O. totals, this is getting ridiculous.

back on topic...i went to see DAT yesterday and in a 300 seat theater there were maybe 20 people there which worked fine for me. outside there were 2 lines of at least 50 people per waiting to get into HP.

Hokeyboy

I got premiere seating tonite for HP. $17 bucks a pop. Assigned seats. Free popcorn, valet parking, no one under 21, HUGE reclining seats, and a hot young date! Good god, it's been ages. More as this develops, but first... *CLAPS*... a Volta!

atari2600

agreed kevin. ticket prices are going up - hence sales goes up. if they count inflation i bet many older films are still way up there.

atari2600

matt; where was this? what theater does this?!?!?

jaeufraser

Wow, that's incredible. I figured 90 or so million for Potter this weekend, but that just blows the top off. That's the third opening in a row that's blown past expectations.

Regarding Day After Tomorrow, this movie is far from a disapointment. High estimates on DAT were 180 million before it opened, with most predicting 125-150. Sure, this weekend drop off is large, but you gotta remember that the opening weekend was bigger than they expected, and international is bound to be big on it. I'm sure Fox is very pleased with how it's performed.

wildcatlh

When you adjust for inflation, you don't get many recent movies on top:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted/

Still some incredible numbers though.

CreatureX

Even considering inflation, I think the comparison is still not fair. I doubt Gone With the Wind would have made that much if it had to go up against all the entertainment competition today's movies have to face (home DVD, internet, videogames, cable/satellite, etc.)...

B.A.

JasonF

You also have to consider how many times Gone With the Wind was re-released over the years, and that the idea that I can watch GWTW whenever I want is a relatively new idea -- until 20 years ago, I was at the mercy of re-releases and TV broadcasts, and until 15 or 20 years before that, it was only re-releases.

atari2600

wow...that inflation list is cool. over a billion dollars for gone with the wind and star wars?!?! WOW!

and notice that only 4 of the top 50 were made in the last 5 years.

Hokeyboy

The Muvico Theater in Boca Raton. It's amazing, and the only way I can watch movies anymore. The higher ticket prices keeps the obnoxious teenybopper/mallrats away, the age limit keeps the kids away, and the people who pay this have their own balcony section. It's frickin' great!!

(It's also over an hour drive from my house, so I save it for special occasions: LOTR films, HP, etc.)

I'm sure they do it in other cities as well, but this is the only place in South Florida that does it.

solipsta

Awesome! The Exorcist made $666 million.

Deftones

I think that was the point I was trying to convey. It's doing better than projected, and much better than both Troy and VH are doing.

Jackskeleton

I comfirm that fox is pleased with Day After Tomorrow's take in both domesticlly and internationally. Combined with dvd sales down the line it was a good thing.

cruzness

I think alot of people here forget that international ticket sales and DVD/Video sales can double or triple a films domestic theatrical run.
Which is sad considering how badly Troy and Van Helsing bombed.

cruzness

So seeing as how HP3 is making exceptionally big bank, does this mean Cuaron will start getting big projects or maybe even be given HP5 to direct?