US Box Office Seasonal Patterns
I looked all over Google for some basic box office analysis of seasonal patterns. Well, either no one ever thought to put a few charts online or they are not very good at making them available through search engines 
Anyways, I just went ahead and did my own, for easy reference…
I made the next two charts using data from Box Office Mojo and gross intake from each week’s top 12 movies at the US box office. The first chart plots each year between 2000 and 2009 while the second chart aggregates each months so we can more clearly analyze seasonal patterns.
As you can see from the charts, May, June and July are the most profitable months of the year closely followed by November and December. On the opposite end of the spectrum is September, the lowest grossing month of the year as kids return to school. The end of August and the month of September is usually the period when studios release their least promising movies because of this reason.
Anyone surprised at the findings? If you have anything possibly interesting that you would like me to look into, you can let me know in the comments.
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18 Comments
Nice article, though none of it really surprises me at all. What would’ve been interesting to see if you put 2010 on here as well, because of Avatar, a few more records have been broken, such as the HUGE Valentines weekend.
I love how “300″ sticks out like a sore thumb on this. Or is it sad that is the first thing I notice when I look at the charts and know what movie it is without looking at the year?
Thanks Red. I only wanted to see the “average”, not particular years so I could see for myself whether often-mentioned seasonal patterns were real.
Biggest surprise of the chart – what was it about January 2009 that caused that spike?
Gran Torino, Marley and Me, Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Taken
I don’t get Kevin James’ appeal, and therefore I did not contribute to Paul Blart, and therefore, I’m a better person for it. Okay?
I did not either Ripley! I eventually saw the movie on Starz and yes, it’s an absolutely mediocre movie, and yet, it was #1 at the US box office for two weeks…
KEVIN JAMES IS HILARIOUS! His movies haven’t been that great… though I am looking forward to the one he’s doing with Sandler and his SNL alumns this year. If you want to like him, watch his stand-up special Sweat The Small Stuff!
Wow, you really do love charts, don’t you Castor?
He..he.. I’m hardly surprised by this either, seems like Summer is always golden for Tinseltown and around Christmas people do like going to the movies, too. Perhaps January benefits from December leftover when family/friends are still around? Or maybe it’s just so darn cold there’s not much else to do but go to the movies (right Castor?)
That’s how it was when I worked at Blockbuster. When we were in desperate need of sales, we would wish for rain or a drop in temperature because people would flock to the store.
Maybe I do love charts. You learn something and they are pretty to look at lol
Well, that’s the reality of it Ruth. What is there to do in Minnesota when it’s -10F outside with snow and ice everywhere?!? Hitting the movie theater is close to the top of the list.
Red: Interesting insight! I used to work at a grocery store and use to wish for massive rain flash flood, snow storms or tornado warnings so the store would be nearly empty! It take a lot to prevent people from coming to the grocery store!
Great research, Castor! I’m not at all surprised by September, as I can’t remember the last time I even saw a movie in the theater during that month. Bad movies really go there to die.
You have the hottest movie blog EVER!
@ Rachel: Thanks! It truly is garbage time.
@ Frank: LMAO, thank you sir
It’s just so sexy. And how do I get a custom avatar on your site?
Frank, to get your personalized avatar (which will also work on your own site and every WordPress blog out there!), you only need to log into your WordPress dashboard, click on “My Account” on the top left hand corner and upload a picture in the “Change Gravatar box” on the right of the screen. Voila!
I have one, it’s a picture of Roy Scheider from “All That Jazz”. It works on some blogs, and not on others. I don’t get it. Laaaame. See “Clash” in theaters in 2D, I think you’ll dig it. Seriously.
Oh, and Criterion is releasing “Antichrist” for the fall. HOT!
Nice post, but – as you conceded – nothing too surprising. It does demonstrate that families and kids drive the Box Office, with spikes occurring during the holidays.
Part of me wonders if Hollywood will manage to shift those goal posts (there’s been a conscious attempt to make March the start of summer, with Watchmen and the more successful Fast & Furious trying last year and Alice in Wonderland this year – as Red said above, I blame 300′s success).
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