Monday, December 12, 2022

USA movie box office for the second weekend in December 2022

 
The second weekend of December box office is down 17% compared to last year, down 60% compared to 2019 peak.

Source:  Box Office Mojo

Variety, 12/11/2022
Overall, it’s been a dismal weekend at the box office as exhibitors look ahead to “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which opens on Dec. 16. Ticket sales reached $32.8 million between Friday and Sunday, one of the worst collective results this year, according to Comscore. 
“A five-week stand at the top of box office charts — while great for ‘Wakanda Forever’ — is not a formula for ongoing success for the industry,” says Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Comscore. “This has placed enormous pressure on ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ to deliver big when it opens later this week.” 
He adds, “A lack of consistent crowd-pleasers has made for an uncharacteristically slow holiday season.”

Will Avatar 2 deliver?

The two members of this household aren't planning to attend.


12/11/2022 update starts here

Saturday's box office is down 11% compared to last year, down 73% compared to 2019 peak.

Source:  Box Office Mojo

The Wrap, 12/11/2022
With no new wide releases and the top 5 unchanged, the box office sank to near-record lows for the year this weekend as theaters are counting down the days until “Avatar: The Way of Water” gets things going again with an expected $150 million-plus opening starting this Friday. 
Overall totals this weekend sank to a dismal $38 million, the second lowest total seen this year and just barely above the $35 million recorded on the weekend of January 28, a weekend with no new wide releases and that had the seventh weekend of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” topping the charts.

12/11/2022 update starts here

Friday's box office is down 26% compared to last year, down 74% compared to 2019 peak.

Source:  Box Office Mojo

The Wrap, 12/6/2022
According to data from Box Office Mojo, the combined domestic box office total from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, 2022 came out to $1.41 billion, a drop of approximately $100 million from the same period last year when audiences were still slowly returning to reopening theaters and the biggest blockbusters were being graded on a pandemic curve.

Original 12/10/2022 post starts here

Thursday's box office is down 3% compared to last year, down 33% compared to 2019 peak.

Source:  Box Office Mojo

So far the 2022 holiday season has been a debacle for prestige movies.

New York Times, 12/9/2022
A year ago, Hollywood watched in despair as Oscar-oriented films like “Licorice Pizza” and “Nightmare Alley” flatlined at the box office. The day seemed to have finally arrived when prestige films were no longer viable in theaters and streaming had forever altered cinema. 
But studios held out hope, deciding that November 2022 would give a more accurate reading of the marketplace. By then, the coronavirus would not be such a complicating factor. This fall would be a “last stand,” as some put it, a chance to show that more than superheroes and sequels could succeed. 
It has been carnage. 
One after another, films for grown-ups have failed to find an audience big enough to justify their cost.

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