While you were getting ready for last weekend's premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, the stock market was already rewarding IMAX
Unlike most blockbusters this year, Harry Potter didn't have the help of RealD
Film |
IMAX Opening Weekend Domestic Box Office |
Percent of Total Box Office |
Domestic IMAX Theatres |
Box Office Per Theatre |
---|---|---|---|---|
Avatar |
$9.5 Million |
13.0% |
178 |
$53,400 |
Alice in Wonderland |
$12.1 Million |
10.5% |
188 |
$64,400 |
Inception |
$7.2 Million |
11.5% |
197 |
$36,500 |
Harry Potter |
$11.8 Million |
9.4% |
239 |
$49,400 |
Inception and Harry Potter were both 2-D films, which don’t command quite the attention and dollars from IMAX theaters, accounting for some of the per-screen box office drop-off. Still, the low percentage of total domestic box office leaves me wondering if IMAX has lost its touch or if it's suffering at the hands of a younger audience that isn’t as willing to go for the premium ticket. DreamWorks
The record weekend should lead to a solid result in the fourth quarter, but will probably fall short of the first quarter, which Avatar dominated. Avatar ended up making more than $200 million in IMAX box office and it's probably a bit of a stretch to expect that from Harry Potter.
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