'Passion' a Box Office Hit on First Day (The Passion of the Christ)

yahoo ^ | By DAVID GERMAIN

[vpintheak]

This is really great. At the least this film will make people think. I heard on the radio today that critics are saying it's too violent. I say deal with it, it was a violent event and the world is violent.

[FormerACLUmember]

Figure most Christian households will purchase a DVD. Figure this will be a mega-hit from Korea to Nigeria to Brazil and every where in-between. Figure a huge repeat business.

I estimate a $300 million gross on these bases.

[Johnny_Cipher]

Mel Gibson (news)'s "The Passion of the Christ" took in an estimated $15 million to $20 million after just one day of release

Where did Yahoo! get these numbers? Its still Wednesday, and I know for a fact that all of the evening shows tonight (around here at least) are sold out. I think you can probably double that $15 to $20 million figure.

[KantianBurke]

Bet those folks stayed out in movie lines for months to see this drek realize their time would have been better spent in Mel's line.

[FormerACLUmember]

I heard on the radio today that critics are saying it's too violent.

"Hypocritics" who all of a sudden found a movie that is violent! Never in Hollywood's history has a movie with violence been made!

[Joe 6-pack]

"I heard on the radio today that critics are saying it's too violent."

These are obviously the same critics that called Oliver Stone to task for "Natural Born Killers." < /sarcasm>

[luckymom]

...That falls far short of the single-day record of $43.6 million held by "Spider-Man"...

How many theaters did Spiderman open in, anyway???

[miltonim]

3,615

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=spiderman.htm

[ambrose]

Figure this will be a mega-hit from Korea to Nigeria to Brazil and every where in-between. Figure a huge repeat business.

Gibson's decision to have the dialogue in Aramaic with subtitles puzzled some... but it makes sense... everyone, worldwide, gets to have the same "experience".

[Pete]

Let's do a little math. Assume the 20 million figure.

I have seen that it is opening on 4500 screens. So that is is $4444 per screen assuming 20 million total. Now, let's assume 5 showings a day for each screen. So that is $888 per showing. Finally, assume $8.00 per ticket. That means that there are an average of 111 seats filled for each viewing.

Now, maybe I am wrong, but most of the theaters I have been to have a lot more than 111 seats. I don't know the average number of seats in a theater. Let's just say 500, which is probably low, and let's assume only 80% capacity per viewing (which is probably low given what we have heard about today). That would be 400 seats x $8 = $3200 per viewing. $3200 x 5 viewings per day is $16,000 per screen. $16,000 x 4500 screens means a first day take of $72 million.

Did I do that right? Somebody want to check my math? Also, if anyone has better stats on theaters feel free to recalc? Bottom line, 20 million seems low.

[rit]

3,615 theaters

[pbear8]

I have seen that it is opening on 4500 screens.

I've read 2800 screens from several sources.

[lodwick]

Passion bttt.

[laconic]

What he doesn't explain is that most movies are measured by their box office for a three-day (Fr,Sa,Su) WEEKEND opening. Anything over $25 million for the three days is generally considered great, $20 million on a single WEEKDAY is phenomenal. For example, Master & Commander, The Patriot, The Last Samurai and Cold Mountain each took in about $25 million on a three-day weekend and each went on to take in about $100 million in box office (The Patriot got $125 million).

[TexasCajun]

The entire movie is in sub-titles? Latin or something is spoken the whole movie?

[eno_]

You are right, but weekday matinees are dead time for all movies. Mostly you have a 7pm and a 9:30 or 10pm show time, may a staggered one on a second screen. If you figure it for just evening screenings, they are full, with some left over for matinees.

[Pete]

I've read 2800 screens from several sources.

From the article above

"The Passion" opened on 4,643 screens in 3,006 theaters

[eno_]

Dialog is in Aramaic and Latin, with subtitles.

This is not a user-friendly movie, making the sales even more impressive.