No Sour Grapes as Apple's iPAD Pre-Orders Top 120K In One Day

Yes, we know our picture is misleading. Someone was having shots for lunch...Now, we can't say for certain who that could be. But since we also just spotted our newest intern Erin go bra-less down the breezeway, our list of suspects is narrowing.

Much unlike Apple Computer's broadband frequency, which must have been jam-packed  when Apple began taking pre-orders for their new iPad tablet last Friday.  How bad was that Apple jam? In just one day, America's 'Apple-juiced' appetites proved just how hungry they were: according to  Investor Village, Apple sold over 120,000 iPad pre-orders 12 March, when both the iPad WiFi and iPad 3G models went live to buy.  

 iPad WiFi is scheduled to physically appear in Apple retail stores 03 April, leaving  some industry worry-warts to wonder if Apple can meet the demand. But by all accounts -- especially bank accounts -- it's looking to us like those crazy and creative Cupertinians most definitely can. Pre-order sales of 120K equate to roughly $75 million in revenue for Apple -- in one day.  By comparison, James Cameron's Avatar earned a 'whopping' $27  million on its first day, and required three days to crawl towards the $80M mark. To Avatar fans everywhere, we have only one thing to say: How 'bout them Apples?

Box Office Record for 2009 Is SFX Not Attendance

If you can't recognize the sound from your open window, pumping up the volume of Entertainment Tonight or Access Hollywood will do the trick nicely, too. Yup, that's the sound of the Hollywood folks patting each other on the back (Ignore that noise the sounded like someone doubling over -- that was just Sony Pictures sucker-punching Sam Raimi.) over last year's record-breaking box office. For the first time -- and with just a little help from James Cameron's blue man movie Avatar -- movies have grossed more than $10 billion at the North American (US and Canada) box office. [link] 

Like so many of the economic analyses that have been hitting the fan lately, this one's just another numbers trick -- or a bad case of denial.  We can't believe the boys of Tinsel Town could manage to make so much money without knowing how count it.  Then again, a closer look at the numbers suggests that maybe they don't really want to. 

Check out the chart with us and you'll see: sure, total box office is the biggest number on the board, but force your peepers one column over to left and you'll see what your pocketbook's known for the past decade: the cost of a single movie ticket has risen pretty damn dramatically over the last ten years -- a 47% price hike, to be specific.  

We're thinking that $10 billion-plus box office isn't looking as grand. But we don't want to jump to conclusions, either.  To corroborate, let's check that second column on the chart -- Total Tickets Sold each year. Damn, dabbler, check that: more tickets were sold in 1999 than they were last year: 56 million, actually, if we were counting.  Maybe folks were just freaking over Y2K and splurged, who's to say? But in fact, of the 11 years on the chart, six of them have higher ticket sales than 2009, and attendance has remained relatively stable most of the time.  One could consider that decent news, except for the same period,  North America's movie-going population grew by 33 billion people. That's a lot of people who aren't in line buying popcorn. 

When you top of this slice of reality with the fact that 2009's DVD sales declined over $1 billion dollars from the year before [link], the truth of the matter ain't a friendly one.  The box office may look bigger, but only because our trips through the turnstile cost more every time.  Hollywood's blockbusters keep getting bigger and maybe even better -- but it's all-too-clear that just to maintain the status quo, they've got to be.  

AVATAR: Worldwide Numerology (Part I)

James Cameron's newest achievement, Avatar, was not tracking well with the comic book movie crowd. Turn the calendar back not two months, and that evidence can be found everywhere, from the columns of online movie critics to popular sci-fi forums  and all the  genre-catering fan-sites in between.   

Despite Cameron's past cinematic successes - most notably Titanic, which took in more than $1.8 billion at the worldwide box office after its release in 1997 - otherwise SFX--hungry fans were showing little interest in Avatar -- and even worse, the media had already begun to write the film's obituary six weeks before its premiere.  Several stories focused on Avatar's biggest - and most dangerous - looming question:  Can  20th Century Fox make money on a film based on an original, unfamiliar story, with no Hollywood superstars, a vanishing DVD market, and a price tag approaching $500 million?   

Hit the Holiday Season fast-forward, and while some questions still remain, all reports of Avatar's demise have been proved extremely premature.  Lead by Avatar,  Christmas weekend box office sales totaled  a record-setting $278 million overall.  Avatar, in its second week, contributed $75 million to the X-Mas jackpot, with newly-opened Sherlock Holmes adding just over $64.  Fox's Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel, which the studio had positioned as a financial safety-cushion for Avatar should it fail, actually came in third, earning Fox another $50 million.  And as of last weekend, Avatar's 15-day total has surpassed $300 million domestically; worldwide, the film has now earned over $620 million. 

Closer to the hearts of superhero movie lovers, Avatar's first weekend haul of $75.6 million narrowly surpassed Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, which earned $75.2 million the first weekend it opened in July, 2008.  Avatar's well on-track to unseat another superhero's record this weekend, too:  Spider-Man's $45 million weekend earnings  after its third week of release.  As of this blogging, Box Office Mojo reports that Avatar's Friday proceeds were $25.2 million.  All we can say is, Batman's got every right to be surprised.

Instead of just dumping Avatar's facts and figures into this blog, our hope is to offer a little insight into this movies astronomical performance.  For example, Avatar's earned even more money in India than it has domestically -- in its first two weeks, the take-home pay was $560 million.    

Look for our analysis next week, dabblers.  Meanwhile, we're calling on all of you to help us out. What are your thoughts about Avatar's success? Where does the hype and over-the-top ticket sales come from?  If you've seen the movie, did you like it? How would you rank it among your all-time faves? Does it even make the list?  And would you give this movie an Academy Award for Best Picture?  Write in, let us hear from you with your Back Issues! Thanks, everyone!

Studio 22: From 22 to 2012

Thanks to Hollywood, characters that once slugged it out on the page are now doing so on the big screen, and with great success.

Yet while last summer may have seen The Dark Knight go toe to toe with Iron Man, the summers ahead promise box-office brawls like never before. It's studio vs studio for years to come, and as Disney/Marvel squares off against Warner Bros/DCE, Sony, Fox, and more, the only sure winners will be the fans.

Abbracadabbling's Studio 22 has scoured the 'net for weeks, and with dates checked and re-checked, is proud to present a first glimpse of the unprecedented number of super hero blockbusters coming soon to a theater near you!

For the best in Super Hero Box Office, keep your seats down, your eyes on the screen, and your bookmarks here. Studio 22 will be back!