66th Portuguese Box-Office Analysis

Another week of box-office Bliss in Portugal. And especially this week, it was a very special one.
We had 6 new films on the top 20 movies but not even one got to be in the top three spots. The first one just appears at number 6 and it’s the only one at the top 10. And at the front no big news. It’s the same three movies. Do we have a new number one? Did Mr. Scorsese lose his first place? Who knows? But you will in a few seconds if you continue reading.
Despite the small openers the business was up 10% comparing to last week’s results. That means 224868 spectators for the first ten movies of the week.

So here are the numbers:

This concerns the week from 16 to 22 of November.

Legend

Position and Movie
Number of Theaters
Number of Spectators (Week)
Average per Theater / Week
Comparison w/ last Week’s Result
Number of Spectators (Total Run)
Week of Release
1. The Departed
64
53939
843
-17%
118808
2nd Week
2. The Devil Wears Prada
50
33191
664
+4%
187180
4th Week
3. The Perfume
22
30764
1398
+3%
60847
2nd Week

4. Filme da Treta
33
20257
614
-1%
260082
6th Week

5. Children of Men
32
14791
462
+36%
78334
4th Week

6. A Special Year
15
14236
949
-
14236
1st Week

7. Boog & Elliot
36
12940
359
-11%
64212
3rd Week

8. Marie Antoniette
15
11060
737
+66%
71806
5th Week

9. Barnyard
34
10640
313
-1%
198849
7th Week

10. The Illusionist
12
10369
864
+52%
26229
3rd Week

11. 16 Blocks
14
8176
584
-
8176
1st Week

12. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Prequel
12
6740
562
-
6740
1st Week

13. Unknown
15
6389
426
-
6389
1st Week
.
.
15. Viúva Rica Solteira não Fica
14
4860
347
-
5223
1st Week
.
.
.
19. Corrigindo Beethoven
11
3119
284
-
3119
1st Week

The Champion:

And yes, no news at the top of the box-office throne. Mr Scorsese still calls the shots. "The Departed" is still number 1. And this is way before the Oscar buzz so this are very good news for him. His latest movies are having lots of people watching them. And this is not the best one. “The Aviator” was a bigger success, despite what the rest of the world is concerned. In it´s second week it made in excess of 50000 spectators so a very strong second week for him. Only 17% down. Expected to finish its run around 200.000 total spectators.

The New Players:

As announced the first opener appears at number 6. It’s “A Special Year” the incursion from Mr Ridley Scott in the comedy department. We have to admit that side of him is not very much shown. He tried it this time but as expected with much lower results than from his latest “Kingdom of Heaven”. That was something more than expected. We are talking Blockbuster vs Small Movie. It still made 14236 in just 15 theaters. So that means a pretty good average of 949.

“16 Blocks” is found at number 11 with 8176 spectators. In any other week this result would have land him in the top 10 but not on this. That place was, this week, above 10000 so though break. Still a decent result for a film with 0% marketing and that landed from the air in the middle of the theater, unannounced. The result was then, the expected.

At number 12 is “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Prequel” with just 6740 spectators. The horror has gone from extremely profitable, when the remake of the Texas Chainsaw was out to now that is complete box-office poison. At least in here. But I think the world is following. Will disappear as fast as it appeared.

At number 14 we have "Unknown". A complete ovni in here. We don´t know where it came from but it had some very respectable people in it. Caviezel, Kinnear, Pantoliano, Pepper. And it happens in a very small place. It really builds up, the tension. But what it didn´t build up on was in spectators. Only 6389 answered the call. But i guess they went to it blank because this one not even a glimpse i had of it. This was an alien for sure.

“Viúva Rica Solteira não Fica”, the latest Portuguese movie from José Fonseca e Costa finished at number 15 with only 5223 spectators and a far from impressive 347 average. Portuguese movie industry is still in bad shape. Wait, Portuguese movie individuals (since the 50´s there isn’t a industry here). But I think this was a good try. But what came before really took it’s tool and this movie paid the price. People outside Portugal might not understand this last sentence but that live here sure do.

Finally, the last opener of the top 20 was “Copying Beethoven" that landed in 19 with just 3119 spectators. Another one that was made for Oscar bait and what didn´t finish the race. They say Ed Harris is impressive, as Beethoven, but since nobody saw it, nobody is sure of it. Every year there are this movies that just don´t make the cut. This was one of them. Was it unfair? Maybe.

The Winner of the Week:

This was surely not expected. The winner of this week was Sofia Copolla´s latest “Marie Antoniette” due to an impressive 66% rise in spectators and a average rise from 393 to 737. It almost doubled the result, which constitutes the most amazing rise, ever in the Portuguese Box-Office. Amazing.

The Looser of the Week:

It´s "Copying Beethoven" with 3119 spectators and failing to deliver what was expected of it. And the average below 300 speaks for itself. Pretty disapointing for Ed Harris, one great actor for sure.

See you next week.

Good Night and Good Films.