HANSEL & GRETEL Claims Box Office Crown

28 Jan 2013

SINGAPORE - HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS claim the box office crown with US$829,085 from 60 screens (including IMAX 3D) for a screen average of US$13,818 and a cumulative total of US$878,605 to date.

Also making its debut is the Oscar Best Picture nominated film ZERO DARK THIRTY, which collected US$190,670 from 22 screens for a screen average of US$8,667. Fellow Oscar nominees THE SESSIONS and THE MASTER also debut but to the dismal sums of US$23,500 and US$6,009 for gross and US$2,136 and U$3,005 for screen averages respectively.

Tsunami Survivor Drama clinches Top Spot

21 Jan 2013

SINGAPORE - The total box office slips further for a 4th straight week as 3 new releases generate decent debuts with screen averages above US$10,000 each. THE IMPOSSIBLE tops the box office with US$382,475 from 36 screens and a screen average of US$10,624, MAMA grosses US$293,209 from 29 screens for a screen average of US$10,111, while CLOUD ATLAS collects US$147,789 from 14 screens for a US$10,556 total.

Also opening is the Korean comedy RUNWAY COP, which grosses US$31,396 from 6 screens for a US$5,233 screen average. 10 YEARS, the high school reunion drama comedy starring Channing Tatum scores one of the worst openings in recent years with US$4,347 from 11 screens for a disastrous US$395 screen average. The lowest screen average of 2012 was for the single print release, THE VOICE MAKES A MIRACLE which started with US$432.

GANGSTER SQUAD commands the No. 1 Spot!

14 Jan 2013

SINGAPORE - GANGSTER SQUAD takes over the top spot with US$362,354 from 24 screens for a strong screen average of US$15,098.

Other debuts include the rebooted YOUNG AND DANGEROUS: RELOADED (古惑仔：江湖新秩序) (US$127,491), the drama comedy SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (US$118,189), the crime comedy SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (US$37,944) and the Miley Cyrus headlined teen flick, SO UNDERCOVER (U$33,859). These films had screen averages in the range of US$6,324 to US$7,968.

DEADFALL and RUST AND BONE may have been critically acclaimed but failed to find their audiences. DEADFALL grossed US$26,388 from 11 screens for a miserable US2,339 screen average while RUST AND BONE bombed on arrival with US$7,701 from 3 screens for a screen average of US$2,567.

TAXI! TAXI! loses the no.1 spot to LES MISÉRABLES by a slim margin

7 Jan 2013

SINGAPORE - LES MISÉRABLES ascends to no. 1 in its second week as it collects another US$379,850 for a total of US$1,581,907 to date.

Most of the new films make encouraging debuts, with the first domestic film of the year, TAXI! TAXI! (德士当家) leading the pack and debuting at no. 2.

Only a slim US$6,390 separates TAXI! TAXI! from LES MISÉRABLES. The drama comedy about two taxi drivers grossed a healthy US$492,010 (including sneak previews), with a strong first 4-day screen average of US$17,784 from 21 screens. If it follows its current trajectory, TAXI! TAXI! could become the latest domestic film that is not produced by Mediacorp Raintree Pictures or directed by Jack Neo to cross US$1m. In 2011, Gilbert Chan's army horror, 23:59 grossed US$1,208,479, while Michelle Chong's debut romance comedy, ALREADY FAMOUS (一泡而红) made US$1,010,384.

More than US$160m from 2012's Movies

7 Jan 2013
[Updated on 14 Apr 2013]

SINGAPORE -

More than US$160million!

That's probably how much people in Singapore spent watching movies in cinemas in 2012. And this excludes the gross from 2011 releases that played into 2012, as well films from India - which I'll love to include but figures are not available at this point of writing.

Before I continue with a look at how movies performed at the Singapore Box Office in 2012, here's a few disclaimers:

1) My observations are based on data that's publicly available - as such, the figures are not absolute, but should give an overview of the market.

2) While I've tried to include the grosses from all films, some do slip through, especially independent releases that were not reported on Box Office Mojo.

3) Films released in 2011 that continue into 2012 will be excluded.

4) The total gross from films released in 2012 but play into 2013 will be included.

2012: A Look Back at Singapore Films

5 Jan 2013
[Updated 14 Apr 2013]

SINGAPORE -

In 2012 -

13 Singapore films made their way to theatres. That's 4 more than the year before.

Only 3 films managed to gross more than US$1m, compared to 5 in 2011.

Based on available data, 6 films crossed US$1m in both Singapore and Malaysia, compared to 5 in 2011.

The average gross of a Singapore film in its domestic market is US$822,222, up 4.92% from 2011 (US$783,653).

Overall, Singapore films grossed a total of US$9,866,674 at the domestic box office in 2012 - a 39.9% improvement from 2011 (US$7,052,881).

CZ12 closes the year on a high note

31 Dec 2012

SINGAPORE - Jackie Chan's CZ12 (a.k.a. CHINESE ZODIAC) (十二生肖) holds the top spot for the final two weeks of 2012. It has collected US$2,810,093 to date and is the top grossing Hong Kong release this year, a feat which it achieved during the first four days of release. It's the highest grossing Hong Kong film since IP MAN 2 (叶问2: 宗师传奇) finished with US$3,291,610 in 2010.

CZ12 also the year's top Mandarin language film (not counting AH BOYS TO MEN (新兵正传), which is actually a mix of Mandarin, English and other languages). Released on 44 screens, the film's screen average for the 2 weeks stood at US$25,172 and US$20,270. Only one other film - AH BOYS TO MEN, managed to maintain a screen average above US$20K for two consecutive weeks for 2012.