People seem fascinated with film box-office numbers, mostly in the years since a weekly top 10 starting being produced. Then moviegoers respond “Did you see what the No. 1 movie was?” as if there was some element of surprise.
The biggest surprises usually come in the form of what some people thought would do well, then come in at No. 7 and people respond, “Oh, that didn’t do very well, did it?”
But there might be a reason for that finish, and that’s where www.boxofficemojo.com can help you understand.
Six major studio pictures were released Wednesday, but there’s no race for No. 1. “Enchanted,” the Disney fairy tale musical, will top the box office.
If all six films opened in the same number of theaters, it would win anyway due to its broad appeal and family-friendly timing for the holiday week. But this isn’t going to be close, because it’s opening on 3,730 screens.
That’s more than 1,000 screens above the competition: “Hitman,” at 2,458; “The Mist,” at 2,423; “August Rush,” at 2,310; and “This Christmas” at 1,858 screens.
The other new opening in Tulsa on Wednesday was “No Country for Old Men,” the Coen brothers’ newest masterpiece, which had opened in larger markets and expanded to 860 screens nationwide this week. In the numbers game, it will finish low on the top 10 list, and for just that reason.
Check out www.boxofficemojo.com and its release schedules and you too will be able to predict in advance, with some degree of accuracy, the No. 1 (money-making) movie each week.
And never again will you say, “Well that movie tanked” if you see the numbers and realize that smaller films that require smaller financing open on smaller numbers of screens and make smaller amounts of money.
As Ron Burgundy might say, “It’s science.”
