Opening Weekends: 4,000+ Theatres

Thus far, only 26 films have opened in 4,000+ theatres. Among those, only Over the Hedge had an opening below $40m and thus a per-theatre average below $10,000.

Some more interesting points:

-9 of the 26 releases have registered opening weekends above $100m.

-9 of the films are animated, all of them CGI

-18 of the films are franchise films: sequels, threequels, etc.

-6 of the films are superhero/comic book films

-4 of the films have an avg. of $30k+, 8 of $25k+, and 12 of $20k+

1	The Dark Knight	$158,411,483	4,366	$36,283
2	Spider-Man 3	$151,116,516	4,252	$35,540
3	The Twilight Saga: New Moon	$142,839,137	4,024	$35,497
4	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	$135,634,554	4,133	$32,817
5	Shrek the Third	$121,629,270	4,122	$29,507
6	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	$114,732,820	4,362	$26,302
7	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	$108,966,307	4,234	$25,736
8	Shrek 2	$108,037,878	4,163	$25,951
9	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	$100,137,835	4,260	$23,507
10	Iron Man	$98,618,668	4,105	$24,024
11	Spider-Man 2	$88,156,227	4,152	$21,232
12	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	$85,058,003	4,099	$20,751
13	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	$77,835,727	4,325	$17,997
14	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	$77,108,414	4,285	$17,994
15	Transformers	$70,502,384	4,011	$17,577
16	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	$63,106,589	4,056	$15,559
17	Kung Fu Panda	$60,239,130	4,114	$14,642
18	Monsters Vs. Aliens	$59,321,095	4,104	$14,454
19	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	$54,713,046	4,007	$13,654
20	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian	$54,173,286	4,096	$13,226
21	Superman Returns	$52,535,096	4,065	$12,923
22	Mission: Impossible III	$47,743,273	4,054	$11,776
23	Shark Tale	$47,604,606	4,016	$11,853
24	Madagascar	$47,224,594	4,131	$11,431
25	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	$41,690,382	4,099	$10,171
26	Over the Hedge	$38,457,003	4,059	$9,474

Est. admissions and adjusted for inflation, the grosses are as follows (est. avg. for 2010 $7.75):

#	Film	Est. Adm.	Count	Avg.	Adjusted	Adj. Avg.
1	The Dark Knight	22,062,881	4,366	5,053	$170,987,325	$39,163
2	Spider-Man 3	21,964,610	4,252	5,166	$170,225,727	$40,034
3	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	20,707,565	4,133	5,010	$160,483,633	$38,830
4	The Twilight Saga: New Moon	19,433,896	4,024	4,829	$150,612,695	$37,429
5	Shrek the Third	17,678,673	4,122	4,289	$137,009,715	$33,239
6	Shrek 2	17,397,404	4,163	4,179	$134,829,880	$32,388
7	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	16,676,282	4,362	3,823	$129,241,185	$29,629
8	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	14,825,348	4,234	3,501	$114,896,446	$27,137
9	Spider-Man 2	14,195,850	4,152	3,419	$110,017,836	$26,498
10	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	13,946,774	4,260	3,274	$108,087,496	$25,373
11	Iron Man	13,735,191	4,105	3,346	$106,447,727	$25,931
12	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	11,572,517	4,099	2,823	$89,687,010	$21,880
13	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	11,207,618	4,285	2,616	$86,859,042	$20,270
14	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	10,589,895	4,325	2,449	$82,071,685	$18,976
15	Transformers	10,247,440	4,011	2,555	$79,417,656	$19,800
16	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	8,789,219	4,056	2,167	$68,116,444	$16,794
17	Kung Fu Panda	8,389,851	4,114	2,039	$65,021,345	$15,805
18	Monsters Vs. Aliens	8,070,897	4,104	1,967	$62,549,454	$15,241
19	Superman Returns	8,020,625	4,065	1,973	$62,159,846	$15,291
20	Shark Tale	7,665,798	4,016	1,909	$59,409,935	$14,793
21	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	7,443,952	4,007	1,858	$57,690,627	$14,397
22	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian	7,370,515	4,096	1,799	$57,121,492	$13,946
23	Madagascar	7,367,331	4,131	1,783	$57,096,818	$13,822
24	Mission: Impossible III	7,289,049	4,054	1,798	$56,490,132	$13,934
25	Over the Hedge	5,871,298	4,059	1,446	$45,502,561	$11,210
26	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	5,672,161	4,099	1,384	$43,959,246	$10,724

Lowest Opening Weekends in 3,000 and 3,500 Theatres

Films that open widely in 3,000+ theatres tend to open with at least $10m, and films with 3,500+ theatre counts almost always register openings higher than $25m, but there have been times were films have registered low openings despite wide saturation. Among those, the worst by far has been Hoot, which had a disastrous $3.37m opening in 3,018 theatres. The following is a list of the worst openings in 3,000 and 3,500 theatres.

Worst Opening Weekends in 3,000+ Theatres

1	Hoot	$3,368,197	3,018	$1,116
2	The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising	$3,745,315	3,141	$1,192
3	Meet Dave	$5,251,918	3,011	$1,744
4	Imagine That	$5,503,519	3,008	$1,830
5	New York Minute	$5,962,106	3,006	$1,983
6	The Wild Thornberrys	$6,013,847	3,012	$1,996
7	Quest for Camelot	$6,041,602	3,107	$1,944
8	Shorts	$6,410,339	3,105	$2,065
9	Astro Boy	$6,702,923	3,014	$2,224
10	Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas	$6,874,477	3,086	$2,227
11	The Nativity Story	$7,849,304	3,183	$2,466
12	Aliens in the Attic	$8,008,423	3,106	$2,578
13	The Ant Bully	$8,432,465	3,050	$2,764
14	School for Scoundrels	$8,602,333	3,004	$2,863
15	Cheaper by the Dozen 2	$9,309,387	3,175	$2,932
16	Stuck on You	$9,411,055	3,003	$3,133
17	Babylon A.D.	$9,484,627	3,390	$2,798
18	Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo	$9,626,287	3,127	$3,078
19	Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium	$9,630,085	3,164	$3,043

Worst Opening Weekends in 3,500+ Theatres

1	Charlotte's Web (2006)	$11,457,353	3,566	$3,212
2	Herbie: Fully Loaded	$12,709,221	3,521	$3,609
3	Nim's Island	$13,210,579	3,513	$3,760
4	Snakes on a Plane	$13,806,311	3,555	$3,883
5	Gridiron Gang	$14,414,630	3,504	$4,113
6	Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit	$16,025,987	3,645	$4,396
7	The Shaggy Dog	$16,310,058	3,501	$4,658
8	The Legend of Zorro	$16,328,506	3,520	$4,638
9	Just Like Heaven	$16,408,718	3,508	$4,677
10	RV	$16,414,767	3,639	$4,510
11	Surf's Up	$17,640,249	3,528	$5,000
12	Fred Claus	$18,515,473	3,603	$5,138
13	Speed Racer	$18,561,337	3,606	$5,147
14	Flushed Away	$18,814,323	3,707	$5,075
15	Land of the Lost	$18,837,350	3,521	$5,350
16	The Spiderwick Chronicles	$19,004,058	3,847	$4,939
17	Poseidon	$22,155,410	3,555	$6,232
18	Monster House	$22,217,226	3,553	$6,253
19	The Polar Express	$23,323,463	3,650	$6,389
20	Open Season	$23,624,548	3,833	$6,163

Films With $30M+ Openings Weekends in Less than 3,000 Theatres

As suggested by the post title, this is a list of all the 48 films that opened above $30m while playing in less than 3,000 theatres. A sub-3000 theatre count is not entirely unheard of nowdays, but it is unusual for blockbusters. Tyker Perry's films, which tend to play to a particular audience and have thus a concentrated target, are the most obvious examples of recent films that had large openings from relatively small theatre counts. Hannah Montana's enormous opening on an incredibly small theatre count is an obvious standout as well.

1	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace	$64,820,970	2,970	$21,825
2	Batman Forever	$52,784,433	2,842	$18,572
3	8 Mile	$51,240,555	2,470	$20,745
4	Independence Day	$50,228,264	2,882	$17,428
5	Jurassic Park	$47,026,828	2,404	$19,561
6	Batman Returns	$45,687,711	2,644	$17,279
7	Batman & Robin	$42,872,606	2,934	$14,612
8	Scary Movie	$42,346,669	2,912	$14,542
9	Twister	$41,059,405	2,414	$17,008
10	Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail	$41,030,947	2,032	$20,192
11	The Lion King	$40,888,194	2,552	$16,022
12	Batman	$40,489,746	2,194	$18,454
13	The Fast and the Furious	$40,089,015	2,628	$15,254
14	The Waterboy	$39,414,071	2,664	$14,795
15	Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls	$37,804,076	2,652	$14,254
16	Air Force One	$37,132,505	2,919	$12,720
17	Interview with the Vampire	$36,389,705	2,604	$13,974
18	Star Wars (Special Edition)	$35,906,661	2,104	$17,065
19	Gladiator	$34,819,017	2,938	$11,851
20	Couples Retreat	$34,286,740	3,000	$11,429
21	Ransom	$34,216,088	2,676	$12,786
22	Wedding Crashers	$33,900,720	2,925	$11,589
23	101 Dalmatians (Live Action)	$33,504,025	2,794	$11,991
24	The Haunting	$33,435,140	2,808	$11,907
25	A Bug's Life	$33,258,052	2,686	$12,382
26	Lethal Weapon 3	$33,243,086	2,510	$13,244
27	Superbad	$33,052,411	2,948	$11,211
28	Rush Hour	$33,001,803	2,638	$12,510
29	Scream 2	$32,926,342	2,663	$12,364
30	Blade II	$32,528,016	2,707	$12,016
31	Terminator 2: Judgment Day	$31,765,506	2,274	$13,969
32	Saw II	$31,725,652	2,949	$10,758
33	The Truman Show	$31,542,121	2,315	$13,625
34	Liar Liar	$31,423,025	2,845	$11,045
35	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	$31,126,882	2,222	$14,008
36	Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour	$31,117,834	683	$45,560
37	Bringing Down the House	$31,101,026	2,801	$11,103
38	Star Trek: First Contact	$30,716,131	2,812	$10,923
39	Knocked Up	$30,690,990	2,871	$10,690
40	Bruno	$30,619,130	2,756	$11,110
41	Saving Private Ryan	$30,576,104	2,463	$12,414
42	Bram Stoker's Dracula	$30,521,679	2,491	$12,252
43	The Happening	$30,517,109	2,986	$10,220
44	Unbreakable	$30,330,771	2,708	$11,200
45	The X-Files: Fight the Future	$30,138,758	2,629	$11,463
46	DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story	$30,070,196	2,694	$11,161
47	The Exorcism of Emily Rose	$30,054,300	2,981	$10,081
48	Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion	$30,030,661	2,194	$13,687

A Note on The All Time Domestic #1s: Star Wars, E.T., Titanic

As noted here, Titanic held the record for biggest domestic film for for 620 weeks, or 4,343 days, or 11 years, 10 months, and 19 days.

What about previous record holders? Well, given the sparse data, exact dates can't really be given for films prior to the 1980s, although Gone With the Wind has occupied the top perch for longer than any film, from 1939 to the 1960s. Beginning with E.T., however, it is possible to get some exact info. OK, so here it goes:

Between its May 1977 opening and E.T. release in June, 1982, Star Wars: A New Hope had accumulated a total of $307,263,857, making it the biggest film of all time, surpassing Jaws, whose total was at around $260m. As evident from this chart, Star Wars' total did not approach $200m, let alone $300m, until well after 1977, and it's likely that the film did not surpass Jaws until sometime in the middle of 1978, a year after its release.

E.T. opened on June 11th, 1982. Almost exactly two months later, in August, Star Wars was re-released, adding $15,476,285 to its original tally. That brought A New Hope's total to $322,740,142- the benchmark E.T. had to surpass in order to claim the all-time record.

As it happens, while Star Wars was having its re-release, E.T. was experiencing a stunning run at the box office. The film was #1 for most of the summer, and would end up with 16 weekends at #1, more than any other film and one more weekend than Titanic.

E.T. surpassed the $300m mark on Dec. 11th, 1982, 184 days into its run (see here), and surpassed Star Wars' initial total of $307.3m on Dec. 25th, 1982.

On January 14th, 1983, with a total of $322,956,667, E.T. surpassed Star Was to claim the record for biggest domestic release. If we take mid-1978 as the moment at which Star Wars surpassed Jaws, then that means that it held the record for biggest film of all time for roughly 4 1/2 years, or 54 months.

E.T.'s initial total came out to an enormous $359,197,037. The film had two re-releases, one in 1985, and one in 2002 (which we don't have to worry about). The film's 1985 release was hugely successful, adding $40,607,502 to the film's initital gross for a total of $399,804,539. This number, so tantalizingly close to $400m, would be the domestic benchmark for over a decade, until Star Wars' re-release in 1997.

The Star Wars trilogy was re-released in 1997. The re-releases were spectacularly successful; A New Hope added $138,257,865 to its gross, bringing its total just before Titanic's release to $460,998,007, thereby allowing the film to re-claim the all-time title from E.T.

Star Wars surpassed E.T.'s $399.8m, and became the first film to surpass the $400m mark, on February 13th, 1997.

E.T. was the #1 film of all time, therefore, between January 14th, 1983 and February 13th, 1997. It held the record for an astonishing 5,144 days (801 more than Titanic), or almost 735 weeks (115 weeks more than Titanic), or for slightly more than 14 years.

Star Wars' reign as the new, old champ, of course, did not last long. The film was surpassed by Titanic on March 14th, 1998. Star Wars was, therefore, #1 for 394 days, or 56 weeks and 2 days. In combination with its initial run, the film was #1 for around 5 1/2 years, or roughly 67 months.

In summary, therefore:

E.T. January 14th, 1983-February 13th, 1997 (5,144 days)

Star Wars: A New Hope February 13th, 1997-March 14th, 1998 (394 days)

Titanic March 14th, 1998-February 2nd, 2010 (4,343 days)

Avatar February 2nd, 2010-?

One interesting note: since Star Wars surpassed Jaws in the summer of 1978, for the last 30 years, the domestic box office crown passed from one film to another during the first three months of the year.

The Road to #1: An Avatar Box Office Chronology

The following two charts essentially track Avatar's progress up the box office chart, as it was surpassing various films on its way to the #1 spot domestically. As you can see, the brisk pace of the film up the charts is quite amazing. It took the film only ten days after it passed The Dark Knight to surpass Titanic's all time record.

Avatar Surpasses Titanic's Domestic Record

The most prestigious record at the domestic box office is now, as expected, Avatar's. On Tuesday, Avatar surpassed Titanic to become the biggest film of all time at the North American box office. The film, now at $601,141,551 after 47 days, surpassed Titanic's $600,788,188 cume. James Cameron is now the only filmmakers whose film has surpassed his previous one to achieve the all time record. Steven Spielberg came very, very close with Jurassic Park and E.T., but Jurassic Park, while it raced past E.T. globally, remained well behind E.T. on the domestic front.

Avatar will not be losing much steam anytime soon, and looks headed for $800m now. A truly historic run, irrespective of the film's artistic merits.

As for Titanic, it became the biggest film of all time on March 14th, 1998, on its 86th day, by surpassing Star Wars: A New Hope's $461m, which included the $138m tally from the film's 1997 re-release.

Titanic was #1 domestically for 620 weeks, or 4,343 days, or 11 years, 10 months, and 19 days.

It is highly unlikely that Avatar's record will stand for this long. In fact, I expect a film to surpass Avatar sometime this decade, as ticket price inflation will increase the likelihood of $500m+ films. And as Avatar itself demonstrates, nothing remains stagnant at the box office.

Avatar Weekend Records: 2nd to 7th Weekends

In my opinion, the most impressive aspect of Avatar's run domestically and internationally has been its amazing legs; the film has held up incredibly well weekend to weekend, and in fact now holds the biggest second to seventh weekends. Also incredible: the difference between its new records and the previous ones. The film has been ahead of the other films, mostly Titanic, by very wide margins. The film will have enough to steam to get the 8th weekend record as well next week, but the 9th weekend record, which is held by Titanic with $28m, looks to be finally too insurmountable for Avatar. Overall, however, a truly historic streak of records.

	Second Weekend	Gross	Count	Avg.
1	Avatar	$75,617,183	3,456	$21,880	Diff. #1&2	$450,717
2	The Dark Knight	$75,166,466	4,366	$17,216	% Diff.	0.60%
3	Shrek 2	$72,170,363	4,223	$17,089
4	Spider-Man	$71,417,527	3,615	$19,755
5	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	$62,345,264	4,133	$15,084
	Third Weekend	Gross	Count	Avg.
1	Avatar	$68,490,688	3,461	$19,789	Diff. #1&2	$23,453,776
2	Spider-Man	$45,036,912	3,615	$12,458	% Diff.	52.08%
3	The Dark Knight	$42,664,219	4,266	$10,001
4	Shrek 2	$37,931,716	4,131	$9,182
5	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	$35,215,201	4,133	$8,520
	Fourth Weekend	Gross	Count	Avg.
1	Avatar	$50,306,217	3,422	$14,701	Diff. #1&2	$21,589,907
2	Titanic	$28,716,310	2,746	$10,458	% Diff.	75.18%
3	Spider-Man	$28,508,104	3,876	$7,355
4	The Dark Knight	$26,117,030	4,025	$6,489
5	The Chronicles of Narnia 1	$25,686,555	3,853	$6,666
	Fifth Weekend	Gross	Count	Avg.
1	Avatar	$42,785,612	3,285	$13,025	Diff. #1&2	$12,774,578
2	Titanic	$30,011,034	2,767	$10,846	% Diff.	42.57%
3	The Sixth Sense	$22,896,967	2,775	$8,251
4	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace	$18,859,021	3,019	$6,246
5	The Dark Knight	$16,379,293	3,590	$4,562
	Sixth Weekend	Gross	Count	Avg.
1	Avatar	$34,944,081	3,141	$11,125	Diff. #1&2	$9,705,361
2	Titanic	$25,238,720	2,771	$9,108	% Diff.	38.45%
3	The Sixth Sense	$16,511,464	2,782	$5,935
4	Mrs. Doubtfire	$16,346,568	2,325	$7,030
5	Aladdin	$15,642,073	2,255	$6,936
	Seventh Weekend	Gross	Count	Avg.
1	Avatar	$31,280,029	3,074	$10,176	Diff. #1&2	$5,372,857
2	Titanic	$25,907,172	2,853	$9,081	% Diff.	20.74%
3	The Passion of the Christ	$15,216,723	3,240	$4,696
4	The Blind Side	$11,912,749	2,926	$4,071
5	Mrs. Doubtfire	$11,536,024	2,345	$4,919

Here's a graph comparing Avatar's weekends grosses with those of either the top films or the previous record holders. Avatar corresponds to the black line; the other reflects The Dark Knight's opening weekend record, Spider-Man 1's previous third weekend record, and for the rest, Titanic's previous 4th to 7th weekend records.

Avatar: International Market Shares

This is a ranking of Avatar's markets and the share of the film's total that they account for. France's share, of course, is amazing, as is Australia's and that of many other territories. Avatar's total is spread out generously across many territories. In other words, it's doing great everywhere.

Country/Territory	Share	Total Gross
United States of America	26.974%	$495,990,100
France	6.789%	$124,843,250
China	5.608%	$103,113,774
Russia	5.235%	$96,259,863
Germany	5.211%	$95,811,129
United Kingdom and Ireland	5.068%	$93,186,189
South Korea	4.334%	$79,691,558
Japan	4.225%	$77,697,099
Australia	4.188%	$77,003,943
Spain	4.133%	$76,001,259
Canada	3.032%	$55,751,400
Brazil	2.107%	$38,740,895
Italy	2.039%	$37,486,649
Mexico	1.929%	$35,469,025
India	1.211%	$22,276,532
Taiwan	1.180%	$21,695,287
Hong Kong	0.913%	$16,779,658
Poland	0.895%	$16,453,985
Netherlands	0.883%	$16,240,875
Sweden	0.870%	$15,991,521
Denmark	0.866%	$15,917,610
Switzerland	0.707%	$12,999,706
Turkey	0.673%	$12,381,951
Greece	0.631%	$11,606,384
Austria	0.618%	$11,366,599
Belgium and Luxembourg	0.567%	$10,420,392
Norway	0.543%	$9,982,702
Colombia	0.510%	$9,374,152
Czech Republic/Slovakia	0.505%	$9,293,702
New Zealand and Fiji	0.481%	$8,836,171
Thailand	0.435%	$8,004,189
Venezuela	0.422%	$7,767,524
Chile	0.411%	$7,564,359
Portugal and Angola	0.403%	$7,407,474
Singapore	0.403%	$7,405,758
Argentina	0.394%	$7,238,075
Malaysia	0.348%	$6,407,423
Israel	0.342%	$6,288,772
Ukraine	0.323%	$5,942,885
Hungary	0.316%	$5,805,220
Indonesia	0.285%	$5,234,122
Philippines	0.283%	$5,197,803
United Arab Emirates	0.282%	$5,177,465
Romania	0.233%	$4,287,054
Finland	0.227%	$4,179,338
Peru	0.210%	$3,870,255
Bulgaria	0.164%	$3,024,267
Ecuador	0.109%	$1,996,001
Slovenia	0.076%	$1,391,581
Croatia	0.058%	$1,058,533
Dominican Republic	0.056%	$1,036,515
Bolivia	0.056%	$1,020,908
Egypt	0.054%	$989,389
Latvia	0.049%	$899,415
Lithuania	0.048%	$889,003
Lebanon	0.048%	$885,944
Kuwait	0.048%	$880,572
Iceland	0.047%	$865,636
Vietnam	0.045%	$835,523
Estonia	0.043%	$793,376
Serbia and Montenegro	0.038%	$702,398
Qatar	0.035%	$636,745
Uruguay	0.033%	$601,515
Jordan	0.028%	$513,589
Trinidad & Tobago	0.028%	$506,153
Jamaica	0.025%	$453,684
Bahrain	0.020%	$366,396
Oman	0.008%	$141,192
Syria	0.006%	$110,169
Nigeria	0.006%	$105,308
Ghana	0.001%	$22,231
WORLDWIDE		$1,838,802,321
NORTH AMERICA (US&CA)	30.005%	$551,741,499
INTERNATIONAL	69.995%	$1,287,060,822

AVATAR's Worldwide Performance: Per Capita (UPDATE)

This is an update of a chart I posted a while ago (please see below for more info). All of the country totals are for January 24th or January 20th, as is the data for North American and Worldwide grosses. Sources for the box office data is here and for population here.

All of the countries have (of course) improved. Since last Sunday, the film's international has risen to $1.352B, and it will add at least another $80m this weekend. The international tally, in the end, should be well above $1.8B, and the film looks headed for $2.6B Worldwide. Amazing.

Country/Territory	Per Capita Gross	Total Gross	Population
Australia	$ 3.4821	$77,003,943	22,114,000
Denmark	$ 2.8771	$15,917,610	5,532,531
Iceland	$ 2.7256	$865,636	317,593
Hong Kong	$ 2.3941	$16,779,658	7,008,900
Norway	$ 2.0567	$9,982,702	4,853,800
France	$ 1.9185	$124,843,250	65,073,482
Sweden	$ 1.7137	$15,991,521	9,331,523
New Zealand and Fiji	$ 1.6996	$8,836,171	5,199,100
Switzerland	$ 1.6727	$12,999,706	7,771,600
Spain	$ 1.6534	$76,001,259	45,967,632
South Korea	$ 1.6488	$79,691,558	48,333,000
Canada	$ 1.6414	$55,751,400	33,965,000
United States of America	$ 1.6085	$495,990,100	308,354,000
Singapore	$ 1.4848	$7,405,758	4,987,600
United Kingdom and Ireland	$ 1.4013	$93,186,189	66,501,008
Austria	$ 1.3575	$11,366,599	8,372,930
Germany	$ 1.1701	$95,811,129	81,882,342
United Arab Emirates	$ 1.1258	$5,177,465	4,599,000
Greece	$ 1.0266	$11,606,384	11,306,183
Netherlands	$ 0.9794	$16,240,875	16,581,900
Taiwan	$ 0.9404	$21,695,287	23,069,345
Belgium and Luxembourg	$ 0.9197	$10,420,392	11,329,726
Israel	$ 0.8375	$6,288,772	7,509,000
Finland	$ 0.7807	$4,179,338	5,353,600
Portugal and Angola	$ 0.6964	$7,407,474	10,636,888
Russia	$ 0.6783	$96,259,863	141,915,979
Slovenia	$ 0.6782	$1,391,581	2,051,770
Italy	$ 0.6222	$37,486,649	60,250,535
Japan	$ 0.6092	$77,697,099	127,530,000
Estonia	$ 0.5919	$793,376	1,340,415
Czech Republic/Slovakia	$ 0.5833	$9,293,702	15,934,334
Hungary	$ 0.5797	$5,805,220	10,013,628
Bahrain	$ 0.4632	$366,396	791,000
Qatar	$ 0.4519	$636,745	1,409,000
Chile	$ 0.4445	$7,564,359	17,018,000
Poland	$ 0.4319	$16,453,985	38,100,700
Latvia	$ 0.3998	$899,415	2,249,700
Bulgaria	$ 0.3992	$3,024,267	7,576,751
Trinidad & Tobago	$ 0.3780	$506,153	1,339,000
Mexico	$ 0.3298	$35,469,025	107,550,697
Kuwait	$ 0.2950	$880,572	2,985,000
Venezuela	$ 0.2714	$7,767,524	28,623,000
Lithuania	$ 0.2670	$889,003	3,329,227
Croatia	$ 0.2387	$1,058,533	4,435,056
Malaysia	$ 0.2264	$6,407,423	28,306,700
Lebanon	$ 0.2097	$885,944	4,224,000
Colombia	$ 0.2071	$9,374,152	45,263,000
Brazil	$ 0.2014	$38,740,895	192,325,000
Romania	$ 0.1997	$4,287,054	21,466,174
Argentina	$ 0.1803	$7,238,075	40,134,425
Uruguay	$ 0.1790	$601,515	3,361,000
Turkey	$ 0.1731	$12,381,951	71,517,100
Jamaica	$ 0.1669	$453,684	2,719,000
Ecuador	$ 0.1415	$1,996,001	14,111,000
Peru	$ 0.1329	$3,870,255	29,132,013
Ukraine	$ 0.1292	$5,942,885	46,011,345
Thailand	$ 0.1263	$8,004,189	63,389,730
Bolivia	$ 0.1033	$1,020,908	9,879,000
Dominican Republic	$ 0.1027	$1,036,515	10,090,000
Jordan	$ 0.0813	$513,589	6,316,000
China	$ 0.0772	$103,113,774	1,335,230,000
Serbia and Montenegro	$ 0.0671	$702,398	10,474,000
Philippines	$ 0.0564	$5,197,803	92,226,600
Oman	$ 0.0496	$141,192	2,845,000
Indonesia	$ 0.0226	$5,234,122	231,369,500
India	$ 0.0190	$22,276,532	1,175,500,000
Egypt	$ 0.0127	$989,389	77,724,000
Vietnam	$ 0.0097	$835,523	85,789,573
Syria	$ 0.0050	$110,169	21,906,000
Ghana	$ 0.0009	$22,231	23,837,000
Nigeria	$ 0.0007	$105,308	154,729,000
WORLDWIDE	$ 0.2704	$1,838,802,321	6,799,500,000
NORTH AMERICA (US&CA)	$ 1.6106	$551,741,499	342,564,000
INTERNATIONAL	$ 0.1993	$1,287,060,822	6,456,936,000

Avatar Estimated Admissions: Daily, Weekend, Weekly, Total

Admissions figures are always problematic in North America, since films are simply not tracked that way, but Avatar poses a particular challenge, because of the 3D and IMAX effect. The New York Times recently gave 56m as the rough estimate for tickets sold through last Monday, at which point Avatar's gross stood at $554.9m. You can read the article here.

The relevant passage:

Fox said 72 percent of worldwide sales for “Avatar” came from 3-D screens. If Mr. Dergarabedian’s estimates are correct, the movie has accounted for roughly 56 million admissions in domestic theaters to date.

That means that Avatar's average ticket price is around $9.9, which is astonishingly high. Almost 35% higher than the 2009 average of $7.35. Using that figure as the benchmark, then, here are the estimated admissions figures for Avatar's daily numbers:

Day	Weekday	Daily #	Weekend #	Weekly #	Total #
1	Friday	2,702,232			2,702,232
2	Saturday	2,578,691			5,280,923
3	Sunday	2,499,429	7,780,352		7,780,352
4	Monday	1,655,133			9,435,485
5	Tuesday	1,624,895			11,060,380
6	Wednesday	1,661,141			12,721,521
7	Thursday	1,126,363		13,847,884	13,847,884
8	Friday	2,332,833			16,180,717
9	Saturday	2,856,001			19,036,717
10	Sunday	2,449,261	7,638,094		21,485,978
11	Monday	1,961,428			23,447,406
12	Tuesday	1,847,538			25,294,945
13	Wednesday	1,865,265			27,160,209
14	Thursday	1,488,701		14,801,026	28,648,910
15	Friday	2,552,930			31,201,840
16	Saturday	2,609,652			33,811,492
17	Sunday	1,755,670	6,918,251		35,567,161
18	Monday	817,632			36,384,793
19	Tuesday	740,125			37,124,918
20	Wednesday	697,896			37,822,813
21	Thursday	615,601		9,789,504	38,438,414
22	Friday	1,341,480			39,779,894
23	Saturday	2,148,438			41,928,332
24	Sunday	1,591,518	5,081,436		43,519,850
25	Monday	516,282			44,036,132
26	Tuesday	511,791			44,547,923
27	Wednesday	479,168			45,027,091
28	Thursday	474,626		7,063,304	45,501,718
29	Friday	1,049,926			46,551,643
30	Saturday	1,742,839			48,294,483
31	Sunday	1,529,014	4,321,779		49,823,497
32	Monday	1,173,317			50,996,813
33	Tuesday	423,328			51,420,141
34	Wednesday	383,112			51,803,253
35	Thursday	398,506		6,700,042	52,201,759
36	Friday	911,969			53,113,728
37	Saturday	1,649,096			54,762,824
38	Sunday	968,640	3,529,705		55,731,465
39	Monday	327,292			56,058,757
40	Tuesday	323,035			56,381,792

AVATAR vs. TITANIC International Market Shares

Avatar surpassed Titanic's international gross over the weekend, thus claiming one of Titanic's three big records. Avatar has made $1,287,060,822 internationally thus far, roughly $50m more than Titanic's once insurmountable $1,248,025,607. Sometime on Monday, Avatar claimed the ultimate, worldwide record by surpassing Titanic's global total of $1.848B. The domestic record is several days away from being surpassed, but it is an inevitability.

I have run out of words to describe Avatar's worldwide performance. It is, now, quite literally incomparable. I don't expect Avatar to hold the international record for as long as Titanic did, but its final tally, which will probably be around $1.8B or so, will be extremely difficult to match anytime soon.

I think it is useful to look at the market share for each film, and how much the major territories contributed to the grosses for both films.

Two things stick out:

1) Both Avatar and Titanic did exceptionally well in every market. Consistency is one of the key features of both films' successes.

2) Whereas Japan was the main market for Titanic, it is clear that for Avatar, the newer markets (China, Russia, and South Korea) have made the big difference and pushed the film over the top. In a way, the differences between the two films reflect the changes in the global economic structure. China recently surpassed Japan as the second largest economy in the world, and the economies of Russia and other emerging markets have grown by a disproportionately larger market. China is on track to surpass France as Avatar's largest market.

A Look at Film Multipliers

Multipliers are a measure of a film's longevity, and are calculated simply by dividing a film's total by a film's opening weekend. The higher the multiplier, the greater a film's legs, that is, the more impressive and healthier a film's run.

The following are charts ranking films with domestic totals of $30m or more (minus re-releases) from 1982 to the present. So, in other words, the charts below track how well medium and large sized films over the last three decades have held up during their subsequent runs.

Unfortunately, due to the varied release patterns, multipliers alone don't give an exact idea of how well films hold up. Most films open wide and drop weekend to weekend until they are pulled from theatres. Some films, such as Driving Miss Daisy or Chicago, open in limited release and then go wide later in order to take advantage of awards publicity. And yet other films, above all Disney's animated releases, such as Aladdin, The Lion King, and Pocahontas, open in a few theatres just prior to broad, nation-wide openings.

I've tried to make several charts in order to engage with these different release patterns and give credit to various films that held up remarkable well. With that in mind, here is a chart simply showing films, irrespective of their openings, and the largest multipliers:

#	Title	Multiplier	Total ($M)	Op. Wknd ($M)
1	Mr. Holland's Opus	5,707.865	$82.57	$0.014
2	Driving Miss Daisy	1,445.431	$106.59	$0.074
3	On Golden Pond	1,337.086	$119.29	$0.089
4	Aladdin	1,105.186	$217.35	$0.197
5	Snatch	1,085.785	$30.33	$0.028
6	The Killing Fields	1,078.285	$34.70	$0.032
7	I Am Sam	964.883	$40.31	$0.042
8	Beauty and the Beast	899.580	$145.86	$0.162
9	Chariots of Fire	855.833	$58.97	$0.069
10	Toy Story 2	819.062	$245.85	$0.300
11	A Civil Action	809.229	$56.71	$0.070
12	Fried Green Tomatoes	782.575	$82.42	$0.105
13	Thirteen Days	741.238	$34.59	$0.047
14	Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey	689.500	$41.83	$0.061
15	Traffic	671.895	$124.12	$0.185
16	Legends of the Fall	655.443	$66.64	$0.102
17	Murphy's Romance	644.335	$30.87	$0.048
18	Good Morning, Vietnam	637.763	$123.92	$0.194
19	Moonstruck	631.984	$80.64	$0.128
20	The Crying Game	618.641	$62.55	$0.101
21	Black Hawk Down	604.143	$108.64	$0.180
22	My Dog Skip	599.453	$34.13	$0.057
23	Platoon	574.625	$138.53	$0.241
24	March of the Penguins	563.213	$77.44	$0.137
25	A Bug's Life	559.213	$162.80	$0.291
26	Million Dollar Baby	558.436	$100.49	$0.180
27	Gran Torino	545.029	$148.10	$0.272
28	A Fish Called Wanda	541.456	$62.49	$0.115
29	Philadelphia	539.949	$77.45	$0.143
30	Nell	537.539	$33.68	$0.063
31	The Verdict	534.523	$53.98	$0.101
32	The Cider House Rules	522.672	$57.55	$0.110
33	Good Will Hunting	507.246	$138.43	$0.273
34	Grand Canyon	492.154	$33.24	$0.068
35	Anastasia	484.535	$58.41	$0.121
36	Life Is Beautiful	481.394	$57.25	$0.119
37	Wag the Dog	467.663	$43.06	$0.092
38	A Beautiful Mind	465.047	$170.74	$0.367
39	The Queen	462.584	$56.44	$0.122
40	Chocolat	453.671	$71.51	$0.158
41	Leaving Las Vegas	451.992	$32.03	$0.071
42	Shakespeare in Love	447.823	$100.32	$0.224
43	Nobody's Fool	425.386	$39.49	$0.093
44	Absence of Malice	416.896	$40.72	$0.098
45	Dangerous Liaisons	410.542	$34.67	$0.084
46	Born on the Fourth of July	406.937	$70.00	$0.172
47	My Big Fat Greek Wedding	404.174	$241.44	$0.597
48	Gandhi	402.338	$52.77	$0.131

This is a list of films with openings larger than $2m. Chicago and Pocahontas, among many others, were still very much in limited release:

#	Title	Multiplier	Total ($M)	Op. Wknd ($M)
1	Chicago	82.262	$170.69	$2.075
2	Pocahontas	52.637	$141.58	$2.690
3	The Empire Strikes Back	42.643	$209.40	$4.910
4	An Officer and a Gentleman	39.276	$129.80	$3.305
5	Arthur	35.102	$95.46	$2.720
6	Tootsie	31.983	$177.20	$5.540
7	Terms of Endearment	30.989	$108.42	$3.499
8	E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial	30.349	$359.20	$11.835
9	Fantasia 2000 (35mm & IMAX)	26.481	$60.66	$2.291
10	9 to 5	26.039	$103.29	$3.967
11	Raiders of the Lost Ark	25.231	$209.56	$8.306
12	Rain Man	24.669	$172.83	$7.006
13	Out of Africa	23.938	$87.07	$3.637
14	Flashdance	22.796	$92.92	$4.076
15	Crocodile Dundee	21.745	$174.80	$8.039
16	Top Gun	21.578	$176.79	$8.193
17	Titanic	20.979	$600.79	$28.638
18	Full Metal Jacket	20.907	$46.36	$2.217
19	Little Women (1994)	20.771	$50.08	$2.411
20	Fatal Attraction	20.604	$156.65	$7.603
21	Bean	20.095	$45.32	$2.255
22	Coal Miner's Daughter	19.957	$67.18	$3.366
23	Back to the Future	18.885	$210.61	$11.153
24	Grumpy Old Men	18.109	$70.17	$3.875
25	The Karate Kid	18.048	$90.82	$5.032
26	48 HRS.	18.048	$78.87	$4.370
27	Ghost	17.851	$217.63	$12.192
28	Reds	17.369	$40.38	$2.325
29	Ghostbusters	16.883	$229.24	$13.578
30	Home Alone	16.729	$285.76	$17.082

This is perhaps the most interesting chart. It lists films with openings above $10m. E.T. and Titanic are obviously the big standouts, but note Avatar, which already has a remarkable multiplier of 7.163, which will only get bigger and will almost certainly now pass 10x. Amazing.

#	Title	Multiplier	Total ($M)	Op. Wknd ($M)
1	E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial	30.349	$359.20	$11.835
2	Titanic	20.979	$600.79	$28.638
3	Back to the Future	18.885	$210.61	$11.153
4	Ghost	17.851	$217.63	$12.192
5	Ghostbusters	16.883	$229.24	$13.578
6	Home Alone	16.729	$285.76	$17.082
7	Three Men and a Baby	16.157	$167.78	$10.384
8	Pretty Woman	15.815	$178.41	$11.281
9	Beverly Hills Cop	15.430	$234.76	$15.215
10	Who Framed Roger Rabbit	13.936	$156.45	$11.226
11	Forrest Gump	13.484	$329.69	$24.451
12	There's Something About Mary	12.844	$176.48	$13.741
13	Gremlins	11.842	$148.17	$12.512
14	As Good as It Gets	11.777	$148.48	$12.607
15	Sister Act	11.737	$139.61	$11.895
16	Look Who's Talking	11.570	$140.09	$12.108
17	The Sixth Sense	11.000	$293.51	$26.681
18	Return of the Jedi	10.973	$252.58	$23.020
19	Mrs. Doubtfire	10.709	$219.20	$20.469
20	Miss Congeniality	10.631	$106.81	$10.047
21	Twins	10.017	$111.94	$11.175
22	Rocky III	9.986	$124.15	$12.431
23	Parenthood	9.523	$100.05	$10.506
24	City Slickers	9.518	$124.03	$13.032
25	The Silence of the Lambs	9.497	$130.74	$13.767
26	Stuart Little	9.324	$140.04	$15.018
27	Honey, I Shrunk the Kids	9.165	$130.72	$14.263
28	A Few Good Men	9.108	$141.34	$15.517
29	The Karate Kid Part II	9.097	$115.10	$12.652
30	Jumanji	9.065	$100.48	$11.084
31	Jerry Maguire	9.011	$153.95	$17.084
32	Hook	8.849	$119.65	$13.523
33	The Ring	8.600	$129.13	$15.015
34	Aliens	8.472	$85.16	$10.052
35	Speed	8.387	$121.25	$14.456
36	Disclosure	8.245	$83.02	$10.068
37	Night at the Museum	8.243	$250.86	$30.434
38	Cast Away	8.089	$233.63	$28.883
39	A League of Their Own	7.827	$107.53	$13.739
40	Basic Instinct	7.781	$117.73	$15.129
41	Dumb and Dumber	7.772	$127.18	$16.363
42	Something's Gotta Give	7.764	$124.73	$16.065
43	The Fugitive	7.739	$183.88	$23.759
44	Cape Fear	7.708	$79.09	$10.261
45	Superman II	7.672	$108.19	$14.101
46	Fun with Dick and Jane	7.671	$110.33	$14.384
47	The Untouchables	7.609	$76.27	$10.023
48	Jurassic Park	7.593	$357.07	$47.027
49	The Green Mile	7.593	$136.80	$18.017
50	The Santa Clause	7.496	$144.83	$19.322
51	Rambo: First Blood Part II	7.455	$150.42	$20.176
52	The Prince of Tides	7.452	$74.79	$10.035
53	Sleeping with the Enemy	7.374	$101.60	$13.778
54	Presumed Innocent	7.364	$86.30	$11.719
55	Sleepless in Seattle	7.342	$126.68	$17.254
56	The Bodyguard	7.341	$121.95	$16.612
57	A Time to Kill	7.338	$108.77	$14.823
58	Charlotte's Web (2006)	7.243	$82.99	$11.457
59	Lethal Weapon 2	7.222	$147.25	$20.389
60	The Family Man	7.181	$75.79	$10.555
61	Seven	7.178	$100.13	$13.950
62	Avatar	7.163	$551.74	$77.025
63	The Hunt for Red October	7.110	$122.01	$17.162
64	Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom	7.099	$179.87	$25.337
65	Saving Private Ryan	7.082	$216.54	$30.576

Here is a ranking of films with totals above $100m:

#	Title	Multiplier	Total ($M)	Op. Wknd ($M)
1	Driving Miss Daisy	1,445.431	$106.59	$0.074
2	On Golden Pond	1,337.086	$119.29	$0.089
3	Aladdin	1,105.186	$217.35	$0.197
4	Beauty and the Beast	899.580	$145.86	$0.162
5	Toy Story 2	819.062	$245.85	$0.300
6	Traffic	671.895	$124.12	$0.185
7	Good Morning, Vietnam	637.763	$123.92	$0.194
8	Black Hawk Down	604.143	$108.64	$0.180
9	Platoon	574.625	$138.53	$0.241
10	A Bug's Life	559.213	$162.80	$0.291
11	Million Dollar Baby	558.436	$100.49	$0.180
12	Gran Torino	545.029	$148.10	$0.272
13	Good Will Hunting	507.246	$138.43	$0.273
14	A Beautiful Mind	465.047	$170.74	$0.367
15	Shakespeare in Love	447.823	$100.32	$0.224
16	My Big Fat Greek Wedding	404.174	$241.44	$0.597
17	Slumdog Millionaire	392.536	$141.32	$0.360
18	Juno	346.717	$143.50	$0.414
19	Dances with Wolves	307.909	$184.21	$0.598
20	Dreamgirls	272.769	$103.37	$0.379
21	The Lion King	197.167	$312.86	$1.587
22	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	193.121	$128.08	$0.663
23	American Beauty	151.006	$130.10	$0.862
24	The Aviator	119.590	$102.61	$0.858
25	The Blair Witch Project	92.946	$140.54	$1.512

And finally, here is a ranking of the most successful films, those with $200m in total. Aladdin opened in limited release initially, as did Toy Story 2 and The Lion King. The biggest story here is My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which all things considered has had the most impressive multiplier of any film over the last three decades:

#	Title	Multiplier	Total ($M)	Op. Wknd ($M)
1	Aladdin	1,105.186	$217.35	$0.197
2	Toy Story 2	819.062	$245.85	$0.300
3	My Big Fat Greek Wedding	404.174	$241.44	$0.597
4	The Lion King	197.167	$312.86	$1.587
5	The Empire Strikes Back	42.643	$209.40	$4.910
6	E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial	30.349	$359.20	$11.835
7	Raiders of the Lost Ark	25.231	$209.56	$8.306
8	Titanic	20.979	$600.79	$28.638
9	Back to the Future	18.885	$210.61	$11.153
10	Ghost	17.851	$217.63	$12.192
11	Ghostbusters	16.883	$229.24	$13.578
12	Home Alone	16.729	$285.76	$17.082
13	Beverly Hills Cop	15.430	$234.76	$15.215
14	Forrest Gump	13.484	$329.69	$24.451
15	The Sixth Sense	11.000	$293.51	$26.681
16	Return of the Jedi	10.973	$252.58	$23.020
17	Mrs. Doubtfire	10.709	$219.20	$20.469
18	Night at the Museum	8.243	$250.86	$30.434
19	Cast Away	8.089	$233.63	$28.883
20	Jurassic Park	7.593	$357.07	$47.027
21	Avatar	7.163	$551.74	$77.025
22	Saving Private Ryan	7.082	$216.54	$30.576
23	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace	6.650	$431.09	$64.821
24	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	6.637	$313.36	$47.211
25	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	6.550	$305.41	$46.631
26	Terminator 2: Judgment Day	6.449	$204.84	$31.766
27	Shrek	6.321	$267.67	$42.348
28	Batman	6.204	$251.19	$40.490
29	Wedding Crashers	6.173	$209.26	$33.901
30	The Hangover	6.166	$277.32	$44.979