2010 Trimester 1 Report

We're already four months into the year, and we're only just beginning to touch on the good films of this year. January offered absolutely nothing special, and the only film that could be classified as good was Daybreakers. Then February came around the corner and gave us awful romantic comedies (Valentines Day), failed attempts at Harry Potter (Percy Jackson and the Whatever), and some good psychological thrillers (Shutter Island). Once March dawned upon us, we finally got a decent look at the potential of this year's films.

Alice in Wonderland may not have been the spectacle we all hoped for, but it touched the right crowd, and captured much of the 3D hype following Avatar. After opening to over $100 million, it grew just enough legs to push past the $300 million mark, previously unheard of from a film released so early in the year. Then after a few weeks of inconsequential films, 3D's playability really got a run for it's money. Just after movie theatres upped the prices for 3D movies, How to Train Your Dragon debuted, with a smaller than hoped for $42 million.
While not as high as estimates put it, Dragon definitely benefited from positive reviews and word of mouth, and may grind out a profit in the coming weeks. The following week 3D continued its run of false promises with Clash of the Titans. The film had a lot of excitement going for it and it should have opened somewhere in the range of $90 million. The opening total of $61 million could be blamed on bad reviews, and word of mouth, competition in the 3D market, and a failure to deliver on the 3D affects.

Last week Date Night came close to conquering Titans, but was edged out by a small amount. This weekend it should have no trouble trumping Clash, but considerably more trouble with Kick-Ass entering on a wave of hype and critical praise. We'll find out later today just how well the film played out.