WU XIA fights its way to Top Screen Average!

31 July 2011

WU XIA is the top screen average earner (US$17,521) for the weekend of Jul 21-24.

Playing only on 25 screens, the latest martial arts flick from Hong Kong debut with US$438,014. In comparison, the last Donnie Yen film, THE LOST SWORDSMAN opened to US$639,176 from 29 screens and a screen average of US$15,433.

WU XIA is currently the 4th highest grossing HK film in Singapore this year, and will attempt to outdo SWORDSMAN, which made US$1,082,246.

The much publicized SEX AND ZEN: EXTREME ECSTASY, which is available in both 2D and 3D versions, arrives on 11 screens and grosses US$158,354. The result is encouraging, with reports of sold out shows despite poor reviews, a truncated international version and a release more than 3 months after the film opened in HK, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.

Raunchy chick flick BRIDESMAIDS starts off with an encouraging US$154,307 from 13 screens, while HANNA, the thriller about a young female assassin starts off with US$111,127 from 12 screens.

Three independent releases also fight for the box office dollars, with Michael Winterbottom's A SUMMER IN GENOVA (US$9,613, 2 screens) and the Keanu Reeves headlined HENRY'S CRIME (US$4,859, 1 screen) debuting to average numbers. The only real casualty seems to be the mis-titled WIN WIN. The comic drama starring Paul Giamatti limps out of the door with a weak US$2,997 from 1 screen.

Meanwhile, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 continues to reign at no.1 - grossing more than US$1m during its second weekend. Only 2 other films achieved this feat this year - TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON and KUNG FU PANDA 2.

THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 also edges out PART 1 to be the top Harry Potter film in Singapore - it's currently the 3rd highest grossing film this year and the 10th highest grossing movie in Singapore of all time.

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON is inches away from dethroning AVATAR as Singapore's top film of all time. With S$10,533,931 earned to date, it is less than S$900k from achieving its goal. However, this may be a difficult feat if the film continues at its current rate of depreciation.

Meanwhile, last week's release A BEAUTIFUL LIFE ends its run with US$10,504 - very close to the last Shu Qi romance drama IF YOU ARE THE ONE 2 (US$10,451).

For the full box office list, click here.

(To check out the trailers of the new films, click on the film's title).

Final Harry Potter explodes with US$3m debut!

24 July 2011

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 opens on 107 screens to score an impressive screen average of US$28,227 (S$34,404) and a total gross of US$3,020,290 (S$3,681,280). It's the second biggest weekend debut and second widest opening film this year (and perhaps, ever *).

The final chapter in the Harry Potter series improved upon the previous installment which grossed US$2,207,425 (S$2,858,814) over its first weekend with a screen average of US$20,042 (S$25,956).

With such numbers, the final Harry Potter film stands a strong chance of outgrossing the last installment of the Harry Potter film, which was also the top grossing film in the franchise to date with US$4,546,240 (S$5,879,198).

Most of the blockbuster movies usually end their run with a total gross that is at least double their debut weekend gross (TRANSFORMERS 3 debut with US$4.162m, total gross is now US$8.373m; KUNG FU PANDA 2 debut with US$2.627, total gross is now US$7.41m; X-MEN: FIRST CLASS debut with US$1.724m, it has grossed US$4.444m to date).

So it's also a safe bet that the film will at least end up in the year's top 3 by the end of its run, behind the phenomenally successful TRANSFORMERS and KUNG FU PANDA sequels.

TRANSFORMERS LOOKING TO BEAT AVATAR

Meanwhile, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON hits S$10,205,626, becoming only the second film in Singapore to gross more than S$10 million.

It stands a chance at setting a new record as it's just about S$1.178m short of matching AVATAR - Singapore's top grossing film of all time.

BROWN SUGAR HITS; BEAUTIFUL LIFE NOT SO SWEET

There aren't that many R21 films released here, so BROWN SUGAR's gross of US$14,941 from 2 screens is actually not bad. The film might actually turn out to be profitable if the acquisition fee is not that high.

The Shu Qi and Liu Ye headlined A BEAUTIFUL LIFE from director Andrew Lau starts off with a single print and US$4,419. Not terrific numbers. For comparison's sake, the last Shu Qi starring romance IF YOU ARE THE ONE 2 ended its run with US$10,451 from a first weekend debut of US$5,595.

This week's box office can be found here.

* based on available data that stretches back to mid-2007.

Transformers All-Time No. 3!

13 July 2011

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON is now the 3rd highest grossing film of all time in Singapore. And next week, it'll probably surpass KUNGFU PANDA 2 to become 2011's top movie and no. 2 film of all time. Only US$32,032 separate the two titles as of last weekend.

Meanwhile, JANE EYRE becomes the highest grossing single print release, surpassing THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT. It's also the second longest running film of the year (8 weeks) after THE FIGHTER (9 weeks).

Amongst new releases, LARRY CROWNE (US$135,333) and MR. AND MRS. SINGLE (US$23,761) debut to unimpressive results. The French comedy BEAUTIFUL LIES starring Audrey Tautou opens outside the top 10 on 1 screen, but it's off to a promising start as its screen average is the 2nd highest this week, ahead of LARRY CROWN and almost 2.5 times that of MR. AND MRS. SINGLE.

This week's box office can be found here.

Transformers Stomp Sg Box Office!

7 July 2011

As expected, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON stomps into theatres on a record breaking 126 screens and has grossed US$4,120,240 (S$5,050,714) to date. Its weekend gross accounted for almost 88.98% of all the tickets sold and the film is now the 4th highest grossing film in Singapore this year.

Without a doubt, it will be no. 2 when the box office figures are tabulated next week, and stands a shot at trying to de-throne this year's top film KUNG FU PANDA 2 which has grossed an estimated US$7,292,761 (S$8,939,685).

The previous TRANSFORMERS movie REVENGE OF THE FALLEN grossed US$5,834,711 (S$8,399,767).

Meanwhile, showing amazing legs is JANE EYRE, a 1-print release that has grossed US$52,853 in its 7th week of screening. That puts it in 2nd place amongst highest grosses for a single print release this year behind only THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (US$53,320).

Two other single print releases did not fare quite as well:

BARNEY'S VERSION grossed US$8,587 while PINOY SUNDAY, the first film under The Picturehouse Exclusive Showcase banner (since the demise of the Picturehouse as a physical screening venue), grossed only US$9,894 after 3 weeks of screening. As of now, both films are amongst the lowest grossing films for a single print release this year.

Some of the films that were suppose to act as counter programming to the blockbusters this season have fared poorly. MIRAL - another new single print release grossed US$3,121 - one of the lowest for a single print release in its opening weekend.

The full list of films can be found here:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/intl/singapore/?yr=2011&wk=26&p=.htm