Hollywood Eyes Smooth Seas for Year-End Box Office
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hollywood’s film studios enter the second week of holiday moviegoing with seafaring adventure “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” leading an armada of films that are expected to produce a strong season, box office watchers said on Thursday.
Next to the summer, the holiday period that begins in early November and runs through year-end marks the second biggest season for theater owners and accounts for more than 20 percent of total annual ticket sales.
Major releases include “Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat” on Nov. 21 and the long Thanksgiving weekend’s “The Haunted Mansion,” “Bad Santa” and Oscar hopeful “The Missing.” December big guns include Tom Cruise adventure “The Last Samurai” and the final chapter in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”
Despite a flat box office based on higher ticket prices and lower admissions through October, industry experts believe the slew of major flicks will have box office registers ringing up sales ahead of the New Year.
“We think the strength of the holiday season films should help 2003 domestic box office meet or exceed the $9.4 billion record set in 2002,” said veteran entertainment analyst Jeff Logsdon of investment firm Harris Nesbitt Gerard.
That is good news for theater chains like No. 1 U.S. operator Regal Entertainment Group, No. 2 chain AMC Entertainment Inc., and Carmike Cinemas Inc.
The enthusiasm contrasts to the start of 2003 when box office watchers forecast flat to lower ticket sales after 2002’s 13 percent increase in the United States and Canada.
Through October, the domestic box office was off around 2 percent, but last week’s Christmas film “Elf” from Time Warner Inc. unit New Line Cinema turned in a strong $32 million and Walt Disney Co.’s family movie “Brother Bear” proved a solid draw in its second week.
Combined with a $50 million domestic debut for “The Matrix Revolutions” the third film in a trilogy from Time Warner’s Warner Bros., ticket sales now stand off only 0.3 percent year-to-date at $7.77 billion versus $7.79 billion last year, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Inc.
This week, the gap could widen as “Master and Commander” compares against 2002 mega-hit “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” which spurred a weekend box office of $173 million for the third highest-grossing weekend of 2002, Logsdon said.
The holiday news is not all cheery, either. Higher box office figures have been built on a 4 percent rise in average ticket prices to $6.03 and a 4 percent drop in admissions to 1.28 billion, according to Exhibitor Relations.
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