Communications & Media & Entertainment - Industry News
| SNL Kagan Box Office Report – Week 44 |  |
November 06, 2009 4:59 PM ET
By Wade Holden
|  Related Companies | Related Articles |
The first week of the winter season started out strong thanks to the King of Pop's documentary and the sleeper hit "Paranormal Activity." The first week of the season grossed $134.5 million, 13.9% growth versus $118.0 million in the comparable week of 2008. Total gross for the year is up 8.1% to $8.76 billion, while admissions are nearly 1.20 billion, a 5.9% increase over last year. 
"Michael Jackson's This Is It" grabbed the top spot with a $34.4 million opening week, with $23.2 million coming in the Friday-to-Sunday period. Meanwhile, "Paranormal Activity" dropped to second place with $23.0 million, pushing its total gross to $84.6 million. Overall, the top 20 films of the week grossed $127.0 million for an average of $6.3 million. 
The top 20 films of the year are virtually unchanged from last week, with "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" on top with a likely unbeatable $402.1 million. The top 20 films of the year have grossed nearly $3.81 billion and averaged $190.3 million. In comparison, the top 20 films at this point last year had grossed $3.55 billion and averaged $177.4 million. 
Time Warner Inc. remains the top distributor with 29 films grossing $1.72 billion for a 19.6% share of the box office. The major distributors grossed $7.73 billion through Week 44, taking 88.3% of the box office, while the independents have made $1.03 billion for an 11.7% share. The top studio is still Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. with a 15.4% share from $1.35 billion. Paramount Pictures Corp. is the only other studio to gross more than $1.00 billion at $1.23 billion from 11 films. Fox is on the verge of reaching the $1 billion milestone with $997.1 million. 
Economics of TV & Film is a regular feature from SNL Kagan, offering exclusive research and commentary. | 
Add to Library