I've been obsessing with box office than I normally do in the past. I casually monitored US box office over the years but it was only last year that my interest intensified to almost the same level with my love for music charts and US TV ratings. Oh yes, another media statistics content that I love to consume! Anyway, I've been hanging out at Box Office Theory forum a lot lately and well I started updating the Philippine box office thread there and let me share to you the list but first here are some notes:
- The following box office stats are from the ever awesome Box Office Mojo's Philippine Box Office Index. Thus, my box office comparisons and analysis are only limited to what Box Office Mojo has in its records.
- I added some stuff like the Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol box office for 2012 since Box Office Mojo does not include that 2011 holdover on their Top Movies 2012 list. Meanwhile the box office numbers for the holdovers from the MMFF last year are not reported on Box Office Mojo so they are not on the list.
- There's a discrepancy with Underworld Awakening's box office stat on the said site. On the latest weekend box office they posted (Feb 8-12, 2012) the movie;s gross to date is already $2.2 million but on their 2012 Box Office list, they have it only at around $755k. I followed the gross to date of the latest weekend box office list since it's more believable and consistent with its previous reports they posted and I strongly believe the 2012 box office list is just an error.
Filipinos certainly love vampires as Underworld Awakening leads the Philippine Box Office so far this 2012 earning rought $2.2 million dollars and roughly 96 million pesos. I don't think Underworld Awakening has a shot to cross 100 million pesos mark as the show is already gone in most theaters. Following Underworld Awakening are the first foreign releases of the year Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows with $1.4 million / 61 million pesos and Alvin and the Chipmunks with $1.3 million / 56 million pesos. In 2010, The first Sherlock Holmes earned $1.1 million while the second Alvin & The Chipmunks movie was close roughly earning $1.1 million as well. With the ticket prices over the two years that passed, both movies roughly earned the same amount of money with their predecessors. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol earned roughly $1.1 million / 50 million pesos from its overall gross of $3.9 million and 168 million pesos. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island settles in at the 5th place with $1.1 million / 47 million pesos, a big movie from its predecessor Journey to the Center of the Earth which just $755k in 2008. Local movies A Mother Story and My Cactus Heart roughly earned the same amount and if reports are to be believed both movies are modestly budgeted that even if their total box office are far below Star Cinema's standards, the studio could still see profit. David Fincher's The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo earned $209 K / 8.8 million pesos in its short two-week run in limited screens. Since the movie is rated R18, the movie lost a hundred possible theater to screen in because the biggest cinema chain in the country from SM malls have a policy of not exhibiting R18 movies. The box office is decent but not spectacular as last year an R-18 rated movie The Hangover earned $676,073 with almost the same amount of screens The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo here. But it should be noted that The Hangover 2 is a comedy unlike David Fincher's film which also runs for 2.5 hours thus limiting screen times as well. On a personal note, We have to commend the local distributor for screening The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo here with an R-18 rating and most importantly without cuts. They could easily downgraded the movie to an R-13 rating so SM can't screen (thus more money) but I appreciate that the film was screened the way the people behind it envisioned it.
Top Movies for 2012 To Date (as of Feb. 12, 2012)
Dollars
- Underworld Awakening - $2,280,649
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - $1,460,261
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked - $1,323,682
- Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol* - $1,187,103*
- Journey 2: The Mysterious Island -$1,108,638
- The Darkest Hour - $784,836
- Chronicle -$687,886 -
- (local) A Mother's Story - $574,764
- (local) My Cactus Heart - $542,331
- The Vow - $368,308
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - $209,512
- Contraband - $195,034
- Safe House - $134,013
- We Bought a Zoo - $131,497
- The Grey - $94,296
- Star Wars Episode 1 3D - $80,953
- The Woman in Black - $61,869
- Haywire - $55,483
- J.Edgar - $42,929
- Man on a Ledge - $37,513
- Coriolanus - $27,332
- Underworld Awakening - 96,756,534 PHP
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - 61,951,573 PHP
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked - 56,157,209 PHP
- Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol* - 50,362,845 PHP*
- Journey 2: The Mysterious Island -47,033,967 PHP
- The Darkest Hour - 33,296,667 PHP
- Chronicle -29,183,564 PHP
- (local) A Mother's Story - 24,815,781 PHP
- (local) My Cactus Heart - 23,008,393 PHP
- The Vow - 15,625,467 PHP
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 8,888,547 PHP
- Contraband - 8,274,317 PHP
- Safe House - 5,685,502 PHP
- We Bought a Zoo - 5,568,319 PHP
- The Grey - 4,000,508 PHP
- Star Wars Episode 1 3D - 3,434,431 PHP
- The Woman in Black - 2,624,792 PHP
- Haywire - 2,365,429 PHP
- J.Edgar - 1,948,538 PHP
- Man on a Ledge - 1,588,510 PHP
- Coriolanus - 1,180,075 PHP
*For 2012 only. Total box office: $3,969,223 / 168,442,905 pesos
