Part 1 is here.
2013 Summer Comedy Schedule
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Movie
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Date
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The Big Wedding
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May 2
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Quartet
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May 23
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21 and Over
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May 30
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The Hangover 3
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June 6
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My Awkward Sexual Adventure
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June 27
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The Heat
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July 4
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I’m So Excited
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July 11
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The Internship
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August 22
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In a land far away from the blockbusters of the summer sits that little troublemaker who constantly strives to be the center of attention. He cracks jokes to lighten the mood; you laugh and then you settle down and carry on with your day. This is what will happen this summer when comedies take to the stage and not try to embarrass themselves when up against blockbusters, animation movies or local productions.
Back in the old days, comedies used to be unpopular at the box office until Hangover in 2009. Hangover didn't open that great but it held on for weeks with great word of mouth abound. It ended with over a 3x multiplier and set up the sequel for a good run. 2010 didn't have any comedies to speak of so when Hangover 2 came out in Summer 2011, it changed the landscape for comedies. It opened against X-Men: First Class and drank $500,000 worth of booze that weekend. Much of that was due to the goodwill from the first Hangover and good marketing. On its 2nd weekend, Hangover 2 experienced the best hold of any wide release that weekend. At that time, people were itching for a comedy and word of mouth was decent. It had 3 weekends of very good holds, below 45% on each. On its 5th weekend, Hangover 2 was not able to sidestep the next comedic adventure, vomiting 80%, but it skipped town with a 3 multiplier once again and 1.6m total, more than double the first Hangover.
Mr. Popper's Penguins slid into HK as counterprogramming to Transformers 3 on July 7. While Transformers 3 ruled with an iron fist that weekend, Mr. Popper's Penguins surprised by gliding into 2nd place with over $900,000. Although it did have the big-small interaction effect like Gulliver's Travels, it was strictly marketed on the comedic merits of Jim Carrey and the slapstick humour involving himself and penguins. Mr. Popper's saw a weekend explosion at many theaters as operators either gave it bigger screens or added another screen. It also won 3/4 days in individual admissions over Transformers 3 and pocketed more than 175,000 admissions opening weekend. Its 2nd weekend saw the finale of Harry Potter bolt into theaters. Harry Potter 7-2 targeted its demographic but while Harry Potter was off to a thunderous opening, Mr. Popper's Penguins fell 52%, a good hold despite Harry Potter 7-2 accounting for almost 3/4 of that weekend. It would need balls of frozen ice to survive its 3rd weekend though. Kung Fu Panda 2 was delayed 2 months just to take advantage of the summer months in HK and was ready to open July 21. Mr. Popper's Penguins flinched just a little, slipping -55%. It was another good hold with the whirlwind competition surrounding the furry creatures. 4th weekend saw a slight reprieve with only Wu Xia out but Cars 2 held sneak previews that weekend (along with the next), which sent Mr. Popper's tripping over the 50% mark. 5th and 6h weekends brought about the end of Mr. Popper's Penguins, thanks to Smurfs, Cars 2 and Captain America. Although it had to deal with interminable obstacles throughout its run, it was no slouch in theaters, building on good word of mouth as well as playing to families at the right time. It held on for almost 2.5m, bumbling past such stalwarts like Black Swan, Thor and the aforementioned Cars 2.
2 short months after the release of Mr. Popper's Penguins, HK was the site of another laugh out loud film, this time from an unlikely source. 3 Idiots premiered in just 9 theaters on September 1. The Indian comedy started its run with a very good opening weekend of almost $75,000. The widely available comedy moved toward a semi-wide release the next weekend, adding 4 more theaters into the mix. It increased and it did it again the very next and the next. It survived a plague, a typhoon, the biggest Chinese language movie of all time, a detective up against a top secret agent, vampires and Chinese New Year. It stunned everyone and HK became its top international market.
2012 could not match 2011 but there were standouts and surprises. American Reunion reclaimed $600,000 while The Dictator stole 1.3m from HK citizens, making it the biggest Sacha Baron Cohen film where he is the leading role. Outside of summer, Intouchables garnered great reviews and more than 1m total but Ted was the star with over 3.8m stuffed in his belly.
2013 will feature a mix of different comedies but the biggest surprise of all is how many have been scheduled in total. Last summer saw just 2 comedies come to the forefront but so far 8 have been scheduled for this summer.
The Big Wedding invites everyone to their gathering on May 2 but people will be either coming off the high of watching Iron Man 3 or will watch Iron Man 3 that weekend. The Big Wedding is playing only as counterprogramming against Iron Man 3. The weekend after such an enormous weekend is really weak for openers and with the sheer volume of openers that week, The Big Wedding may march only to $250,000 opening weekend.
Quartet premieres May 23 but it will be playing to little fanfare, either through the arthouse circuit or with a limited release. The quartet will be up against Fast & Furious 6 so not much will be expected from this comedy.
21 and Over lets loose the following weekend but when you have the genius minds of a very successful comedy, whose comedy has a sequel touching down next weekend, you are not going very far. It's like when you get hand-me-downs for Christmas and then you see your sibling get a new computer or some robot toy that you want. It's so unfair. 21 and Over looks bad and will have no legs to speak of. Less than $50,000 here.
We come to the big daddy of comedies this summer, The Hangover 3, which gets its lights punched out June 6. Hangover and Hangover 2 were huge successes in HK and so it is natural that this trendsetter gets the very nice early June release date. Just like last time, Hangover 3 will duel with a sci-fi flick although there will be questions on both sides. There is a lot of potential on this weekend and Hangover 3 could breakout big. $750,000 opening weekend and more than 2m total.
My Awkward Sexual Adventure gets published on June 27 but no one will care because a certain superhero will fly in from another planet to stop bad guys. This sex journey will show in a limited release and not much will be grossed.
The Heat draws its gun against The Lone Ranger and Despicable Me 2 the first weekend of July. Starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy and directed by Paul Feig, this Bridesmaids-esque movie hopes to capture the magic that Bridesmaids did in 2011. It will do less than Bridesmaids in N. America but The Heat will draw more moviegoers than Bridesmaids in HK. There are few girl power movies besides this one out this summer so it will have that demographic to itself. A lot of competition will exist when it barks orders but comedies will be in short order after Man of Steel takes away the screens. It could target $300,000 opening weekend and about $800,000 total.
I'm So Excited, the Spanish comedy that takes off July 11, will be deluged by Monsters University that weekend. It has already moved around the schedule and foreign languages are unappealing to viewers. This looks like another arthouse movie which means a total less than $100,000 will happen.
Way out near the end of summer is The Internship. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson partner up in this comedy about two salesmen who battle against tech geeks for internships at one of the biggest web companies in the world. This Wedding Crashers meets The Social Network comedy looks to make a nice run near the end of summer. Horrible Bosses churned out a nice total in 2011 and this movie could do similar numbers. If the tentative release date stays, this could pop out $850,000 total.
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