In Contention

Category: Sunday Cents

  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Monsters’ ball

    Monsters vs. Aliens“Monsters vs. Aliens” came storming out of the gate with a $58.2 million opening this weekend. That comes from an ultra-wide 4,104 theaters, the fourth-widest release ever for a non-sequel, and that’s enough to top the debuts of “Shrek,” “Madagascar” and every other DreamWorks animated non-sequel aside from “Kung Fu Panda.” It also handily beats the $45 million debut that “Horton Hears a Who!” managed during this same time period last year.

    Paramount marketed the life out of this thing, and 3D in general, and it appears to have paid off. With a budget reportedly topping $150 million and at least another half of that spent on promotions, it will be a welcome sigh of relief for the studio brass to see that it caught on with families this week.

    Last week I predicted low on “The Haunting in Connecticut” because I thought audiences might be tired of horror product. After all, this was the seventh horror film to go wide in the 13 weeks of 2009 so far. Silly me. Audiences came out in droves, earning the film $23 million and the ninth biggest debut in Lionsgate’s history.

    Who are these people chomping at the bit to see anything even remotely scary? Is it the same group of people seeing all of them or is there a guy out there who thinks, “’The Last House on the Left’ looks lame. But ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’ looks awesome!” I’m pretty sure I can spoil the endings to all of them at once right now: You wasted your money.

    Back in seventh place is “12 Rounds” with $5.3 mil. John Cena is clearly no Dwayne Johnson and he may not even be Hulk Hogan. Remember “Suburban Commando?” Of course you do. Anyway, this debut tallied less than Cena’s debut, “The Marine,” and it marks another step backward for director Renny Harlin. The man behind classics like “Cliffhanger,” “Die Hard 2” and “The Long Kiss Goodnight” saw his last film go straight to DVD, and now this. I blame Geena Davis, who left him during production of his last great epic: “Deep Blue Sea.”

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: Strong showing for “Knowing”

    KnowingI guess I should listen to the murmurs. Nicolas Cage’s sci-fi extravaganza “Knowing” took the top spot at the box office this weekend with $24.8 million. In terms of Cage’s career, it’s no “National Treasure” and can’t compete with the holy trifecta of Cage action — “The Rock,” “Face/Off” and “Con Air” — but it does help wipe away some of the bad taste left in the mouth by “Bangkok Dangerous” and “Next.”

    Long story short, this guy’s career is the very definition of inconsistent. The result is doubly impressive given that Disney could only manage a similar result for their much more heavily marketed sci-fi adventure last week. I can’t imagine reviews, word of mouth or legs will be great so the big debut is a massive boost for Summit Entertainment, a company still finding its feet and identity.

    Second place goes to the Apatow-less “I Love You, Man.”  $18 million is pretty much the exact same amount as “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Role Models” debuted with and since reviews are in the same ballpark, this should do comparable overall business as well. Incidentally, I saw the film last night and found it to be pretty worthless aside from a charming performance by Paul Rudd and one inspired joke involving iTunes. If you want to see an amazing and hilarious “bromantic” comedy, wait for “Humpday” in July.

    Our third and final opener is the Clive Owen/Julia Roberts caper “Duplicity.”  Adult-targeted films never stand a chance against shit that blows up, so $14.4 million is a respectable enough place to start.  Star power ain’t what it used to be but the pedigree of the talent in front of and behind the camera should ensure that this one sticks around for a couple of weeks. In the comedic heist sub-genre, “Out of Sight” debuted with $18.5 million in the summer of 1998 and “Bandits” did $16.6 million in 2001. Both finished around $55 million.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Witch Mountain’ takes the crown, ‘Watchmen’ falls hard

    Race to Witch MountainEDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to the first installment in what will be a weekly column looking at box office here at In Contention.  Chad Hartigan and I attended film school together in another life.  But for the last three years he’s been a box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations.  He’s also tried his hand at making a feature (last year’s “Luke and Brie are on a First Date,” which played the festival circuit) and you may have enjoyed a spat or two with him in our comments section.  Chad will be here every Sunday afternoon wrapping up the weekend and looking ahead to the next one.  We welcome him to the IC family and look forward to his weekly take on the dollars and cents of showbiz.

    Hello all.  Before I dive into the first installment of Sunday Cents, two things to note: Figures discussed here are estimates and actual figures released on Monday could change things slightly, but usually not significantly.

    Also, any figures I draw from the past will be adjusted for inflation. That’s just how I do things. You may argue that adjusting figures doesn’t portray an accurate comparison because of things like DVD and blah, blah, blah, but in the end, comparisons are all arbitrary anyway so it doesn’t matter.

    So, with that out of the way…what happened this weekend?

    Well, “Race to Witch Mountain” came out on top with a cool $25 million. That’s almost exactly the same as “The Game Plan,” which debuted at $24 million and represents the only other time Disney picked The Rock to headline one of their films. Family sci-fi is a tough sell (“The Last Mimzy,” anyone?), so on one hand it’s a good result. On the other, compared to the $41.5 million debut that “Wild Hogs” managed in March of 2007, it seems a little soft.  There’s no family competition for two weeks so “Mountain” will have a chance to stretch its legs and it’ll have to make as much as possible before “Monsters vs. Aliens” comes along and obliterates it.

    The second remake to open this weekend was Universal’s “The Last House on the Left.”  Debuting in third with $14.7 million is pretty standard issue for this kind of film, with “The Hills Have Eyes,” “House of Wax” and “The Fog” all opening in the same ballpark.  They can’t all be “Friday the 13th.”

    Way back in 10th is the final new release of the week, “Miss March.”  Is it too soon to start talking Razzies? Actually, to be honest, if I was forced to choose a film to see out of these three, “Miss March” gets my $10. It could use it, as the $2.4 million the film pulled couldn’t even match “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”‘s ninth week. The Kevin James comedy keeps on plugging and has amassed a ridiculous $138 million so far, by the way.

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