2010: The Year in Box Office

The top ten grossing films in of 2010 are:

1. Toy Story 3- $415.0
2. Alice in Wonderland- $334.1
3. Iron Man 2- $312.1
4. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse- $300.5
5. Inception- $292.5
6. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 1- $277.2
7. Despicable Me- $250.9
8. Shrek Forever After- $238.3
9. How to Train Your Dragon- $217.5
10. The Karate Kid- $176.5

There's two probable Oscar overlaps (three if How to Train Your Dragon beats the odds), four animated features, five sequels, two remakes, or whatever the term, five features released in 3-D for added inflation, and one true original film.  Business as usual, and for a list on terms of popularity this one is I think a bit more favorable in comparison to many years (even though the ghastly and ugly Alice in Wonderland needn't be remembered for anything, in my opinion.)  And as receipts and analysis gets plugged in and reverberated throughout the Hollywood machine, the fact remains that 2010 was the second highest grossing year in box office history, while actual movie theater attendance took a hefty decline.  Does one outweigh the other; is movie theater viewing already becoming culturally passe?

And now for a more micro view of 2010 box office; the films that played limited engagements.  Over the past few years, many have noted, the in-flux state of independent films.  What with many indie studios closing it's doors the past years, along with the specialty divisions of top Hollywood studios (Miramax! Warner Independent!-- all gone.)  2010 was, at least as of late, kind of booming...

Top Ten Theater Averages of 2010 (opening weekend only):

1. The King's Speech (averaged $88,863 on 3 screens)
2. Black Swan (averaged $80,212 on 17 screens)
3. The Fighter (averaged $75,003 on 4 screens)
4. The Kids Are All Right (averaged $70,282 on 7 screens)
5. 127 Hours (averaged $66,213 on 4 screens)
6. The Ghost Writer (averaged $45,752 on 4 screens)
7. Cyrus (averaged $45,429 on 4 screens)
8. The Secret of Kells (averaged $39, 826 on 1 screen)
9. Greenberg (averaged $39,384 on 3 screens)
10. Hereafter (averaged $36,720 on 6 screens)

To put into perspective, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, which had the best opening screen average in wide release, averaged $30,000-- it didn't even crack the top ten.