On Sunday come the estimates, then on Monday the actuals: box office numbers for the just-concluded weekend. Industry watchers and insiders can live and die by these numbers, in our era of the blockbuster and the all-important opening weekend. But how much do ordinary moviegoers or even die-hard movie fans care about them?
Do you pay any attention to the Monday-morning box office reports? Even if just out of curiosity about the horse-race aspect of the blockbuster culture?
I do, of course — I’ve been covering the North American box office for quite a while now, and recently I began watching the U.K. box office. I wish Hollywood weren’t so focused on these numbers, but this is the reality of the industry at the moment. I’d like to think, though, that talking about those numbers with a bit of awareness toward how to change that focus is a first step toward changing the blockbuster culture. I haven’t quit figured out yet how even changing the focus can happen, never mind anything beyond that, but I’m thinking about it.
(If you have a suggestion for a QOTD, feel free to email me.)
What report(s) do you read on Monday?
Thanks.
Yes. But I’m pretty much addicted to this kind of stuff.
Sometimes I even find myself hanging out in the Box Office Mojo forums just to talk about the daily weekday numbers.
The only time I bother is when I’m uncertain as to how popular a movie might be. Usually when something seems like it has a niche audience. Serenity is a good past example. I’m equally curious as to how Watchmen will do, whether it will appeal to more than just the geek audience, as Spider-man and Dark Knight did.
Yup. I’ve been checking Boxofficeguru.com for years. I check every Thursday for predictions, and Monday for weekend figures.
It’s mainly curiosity, but I do like to see if movies I like are well-received monetarily. I actually find myself getting upset if they are not. Same thing if some crappy movie makes a gob of money. I shake my head for America.
I check them because I play HSX and they affect my portfolio, although most of the adjustments are done on Sunday evening.
No, I don’t. I really don’t care whatsoever.