In Contention

Tag: Box Office

  • FRIDAY FORECAST: Celebrity ‘Apprentice’

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Hey gang, it’s the weekend we’ve all been waiting for. “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” finally opens and satisfies our bloodlust for not one, but two fantasy collaborations between the Walt Disney company and Jerry Bruckheimer per summer. Perhaps only Pixar can rival their impressive streak of quality entertainment which includes “G-Force,” “Coyote Ugly” and “Bad Company.” More like good company!

    Nicolas Cage teams with the two of them for the seventh time and the hope is obviously to pull in “National Treasure” numbers. Actually, all six previous collaborations have earned over $125 million, so they obviously bring out the best in each other. Unfortunately, “National Treasure” looked brisk and fun while “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” looks dark and muddled.

    The film already opened on Wednesday and earned $7 million in its first two days. Not looking good for the old Cagester and Bruckmeister as the weekend should only muster another $18 million or so, becoming yet another summer title reliant on international grosses to make a profit. Maybe Jerry will have to stick to TV producing where he lords over, at my last count, 361 crime or detective shows. And at least Cage is shrewd with his money. Oh wait.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: WTF?

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Forget everything I said about it being ballsy marketing your movie with a bunch of unknown, potentially scene-stealing creatures. I forget that if the creatures are at all adorable, then you automatically debut with $60 million at the box office.

    Seriously. What happened with “Despicable Me?” I’m not afraid to admit that three weeks ago I thought this would debut with $15 million. Instead, it’s the number one movie in America with $60.1 million in the bank. That already makes it the biggest computer animated film Universal has ever put out and rivals some of the better openings for non-franchise DreamWorks pictures. It should now have no problem becoming the fourth animated film of 2010 to pass $200 million. No words.

    Speaking of that threshold, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” raced past it with some conviction, dropping 49% to $33.4 million. It’s about $7 million the running total of “New Moon” by this point and will have a hard time reaching the same peak. Still, it’s more than enough to have provided more work for Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Has that not been deemed a war crime yet?

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: I ain’t got time to bleed

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Summer keeps puttering along and based on the reaction to Kris’s multiple posts on the subject, we’re all just biding our time until “Inception” comes out. I knew people wanted to see it, but I can’t remember the last time people were refreshing their browsers to see a couple of reviews.

    Nolan’s latest is still a week away though, and we have other business to cover. Mainly, some weird cartoon and the re-imagining of an 80’s action classic. Weeks ago I had this pegged as an easy weekend for “Predators” to win, but Fox has lowballed the screen count and skimped on the marketing for what should have been a no-brainer. So, let’s start with “Despicable Me.”

    Universal has released a grand total of two computer animated films before this week. The first was the $14.4 million grossing Veggie Tales movie, “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything”, which I didn’t see because I think Christian vegetables are weird, but still think it’s one of the best titles of all time. Their second release was the $56.3 million wonder, “The Tale of Despereaux.”

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  • MONDAY CENTS: Rob bless America

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Happy Independence Day everyone! I trust you ate some grilled meat, camped out on a beach for the day and saw some fireworks. I know I did. Apparently, others also went to see a movie called “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” since it topped the four day weekend with $82.5 million. Why is it a four day weekend? Couldn’t tell you. Movie people just like the fourth of July so much that any Monday that falls directly adjacent to it automatically becomes a Holiday too.

    Breaking “Eclipse” down, it grossed $93 million on Wednesday and Thursday, $69 million for the traditional three day period, another $13.5 million on Monday, which all adds up to $175.3 million in six days. Catch all that? Technically, that $69 million is the weakest opening weekend figure of the series, but the film has already almost outgrossed the total of the first film, so let’s not get hung up on technicalities. Twihards came out in force and even though the film will drop precipitously from here, it will likely make its $68 million budget back just from t-shirts at Hot Topic so these grosses are almost irrelevant.

    The only thing I’ll say is that “New Moon” had $186.9 million after six days and so that film’s total of $309.3 million is already out of reach, indicating that we have seen the peak of Edward and Bella’s popularity. Unless Kristen Stewart does a nude scene in “Breaking Dawn.” Or Taylor Lautner too, for that matter.

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: Vampires and Shyamalan suck

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Are you guys seeing this Uruguay-Ghana game? Unbelievable finish. But it’s Independence Day weekend and we are supposed to be talking about all things American. Like sissy vampires and casting obviously foreign parts movies with good old white actors!

    The weekend will go long with most people getting Monday off and it’s actually already begun with “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” opening on Wednesday and “The Last Airbender” debuting yesterday. Let’s start with the record breaker. The latest installment of Stephanie Meyer’s abstinence trilogy debuted on the largest number of screens ever, only nineteen months after the first film came out and shocked the industry. It earned $30 million in midnight screenings alone and chalked up a $68.5 million opening day.

    That’s the fourth biggest single day gross in history and a little behind the all-time champ and previous “Twilight” entry, “New Moon” and its $76.0 million. Taking away the midnight rush, we’re looking at a Wednesday gross of $38.5 million for “Eclipse” and then a Thursday of $24.2 million. Definitely starting a slow slide, but not disastrous. Almost $100 million in the bank already and we have a long weekend ahead of us where “Eclipse” could feasibly earn another $100 million.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Grown Ups’ and their toys

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Adam Sandler’s agent successfully convinced him that cancer was way less funny than Kevin James’s blubby body falling down repeatedly and that agent has his finger on America’s pulse. “Grown Ups” is not the number one movie this weekend, though, so we’ll come back to it in a second.

    “Toy Story 3” dropped a respectable 47% to $59.0 million and easily repeated at the summit of the chart. It’s running total passed $225 million and the drops should get considerably better from here on out. I guess this means that the success of the first two films wasn’t down to the popularity of Jim Varney after all.

    Okay, now there’s that movie about “Grown Ups.” Seemingly named by an Executive’s five year old son and possibly written by him as well, the Adam Sandler comedy grossed $41.0 million for the weekend. That almost matches the $42.7 million of “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” and goes a bit better than the $39.6 million of “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.”

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: Things get Cruisazy!

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    This post is a little late so sorry if it’s brief. Turned out to be a very hectic Friday. I should have gone to a “Jonah Hex” screening for a little piece and solitude. Hey-oh!

    But seriously folks, we have two new releases to talk about, one of which has already been out for two days so let’s start there. Tom Cruise aims to repair his damaged reputation with the action/comedy/romance, “Knight and Day.” “Vanilla Sky” co-star Cameron Diaz has got his back and James Mangold directs. While the media likes to paint a grim picture of Cruise’s appeal, the simple box office facts are that the man has only had one miss to his name in recent years and that was “Lions for Lambs.”

    Given his supporting role and mutual star power coming from Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, we can go ahead and call it not Tom’s fault. “Mission: Impossible III” underwhelmed domestically but did just fine overseas. “War of the Worlds” was a mega-blockbuster, “Tropic Thunder” crossed $100 million with direct help from his buzz-worthy cameo and “Valkyrie” came close to the same mark in a crowded Christmas market with less than stellar reviews.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: Wonder toys

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    As it turns out, Armond White was unable to convince most Americans to not see “Toy Story 3.” Pixar’s eleventh animated feature became their highest debuting in history with a $109.0 million weekend. That also makes it the third biggest June debut and third biggest animated debut of all time, while instantly placing it in pole position to wind up the most successful film of the summer.

    Maybe it was the 3D, maybe it was the weak market, or maybe it was nostalgia for Jim Varney but the film was able to one up the $89.8 million debut of “Toy Story 2,” although its $27,100 per theater average is virtually identical to the figure posted by its predecessor. Reviews amongst those who don’t receive weekly death threats are universally positive and this should have the staying power to flirt with $400 million by the end of its run.

    Are we looking at the second threequel to get a Best Picture nomination and the first without similar recognition for the previous installments? In a word, yes.

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: Toys!

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Let’s be honest here. Everybody likes toys. Everybody likes Pixar movies. Everybody likes Tim Allen. These three pillars of civilization will ensure that “Toy Story 3” has a gigantic opening weekend and ignites the box office in ways that will make Jaden Smith look like “Marmaduke.”

    It was fifteen years ago when “Toy Story” opened at the Thanksgiving box office and recorded a $53.3 million opening. Essentially beginning a new era of family film, the well-reviewed, Oscar nominated picture went on to gross $348.8 million and become the highest grossing film of 1995.

    Four years later, a sequel intended to go straight to DVD instead came out in theaters and earned $89.8 million on opening weekend. Reviews were sensational, instantly becoming one of the most beloved sequels of all time and a final gross of $380.3 million makes it still the second biggest Pixar film ever.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Karate’ top

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    After weeks of disappointing returns and underperforming titles, the box office was saved once again by Will Smith. Only this time he did it not by putting out a new film, but by having unprotected sex with his wife twelve years ago. His fairy dust box office genes have passed on to son Jaden, who stars in our number one movie this weekend, “The Karate Kid.”

    The groans were loud and plentiful when this remake was announced and even more so when Smith was cast. At some point, the groans must have turned into quiet, shameful anticipation as Sony saw a debut just a little shy of what major titles like “The Incredible Hulk” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” have done on this same weekend. $56 million to be exact, proving that audiences aren’t exactly tired of Hollywood’s unoriginality after all.

    But let’s focus on the positive. Summer 2010 was saved by a mid-budget film with all three main roles filled by minorities. Now that’s original.

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: Hey, remember the 80s?

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    A thousand apologies for being off the grid for a little over a week. I was in Germany for a screening of my film and was happily without internet or phone for most of the trip. Sadly, I returned to the news that “Shrek Forever After” was still the number one movie in the States. Honestly, I can’t leave you people alone for a minute.

    Last week’s slate was always going to be a crop of modest performers but this week is a little different. Hollywood double dips into the 80s nostalgia well and at least one of the films carries a very high price tag that will need some juice to be recouped.

    But first let’s talk about “The Karate Kid.” Some ultra nerds have been complaining that it’s false advertising because Jackie Chan actually teaches Kung Fu this time, but if that was really an issue then the original would have been called “The Karate Man,” since I’m pretty sure Ralph Macchio was 35 when it came out. Regardless, Sony is hoping to gain kids with the PG rating and pre-teen protagonist, teens with the martial arts and Jackie Chan, and finally adults with nostalgia. Test screenings went extremely well (so says Sony) and I think the film could surprise with a $30 million weekend.

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  • MONDAY CENTS: Uh-oh

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    The number one movie over the long Memorial Day weekend is “Shrek Forever After” with $55.7 million. That’s the lowest amount for a chart-topping film over Memorial Day since “Casper” in 1995. While Paramount will be delighted to hold on to the top spot and claim a morale boosting 39% dip for the jolly green giant, it won’t mask the fact that this weekend was kind of a disaster for studios and theater owners.

    Dropping 39% over the three days and only 21% is a sorely needed win for “Shrek Forever After.” That gives it much better legs than the last installment and saves it from recording an embarrassing total. When it’s all said and done, it will still be the lowest grossing film in the franchise, but it will handily pass “How to Train Your Dragon” at least.

    The runner-up spot is a toss up. “Sex and the City 2” claimed it on the three day weekend, but estimates have “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” overtaking it for the four day. But let’s start with the lovely ladies. Carrie Bradshaw and company started on Thursday with $14.3 million, as previously reported. For a Thursday, that was fine as long as the Friday saw a significant uptick. But it didn’t.

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: Disrespect the Middle East edition

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    There’s a mild controversy every time a “Sex and the City” movie comes out where it is mercilessly trashed for existing by male critics who, the accusation goes, often let comparable trash starring men get off easy. Well, you all know that I can not be labeled one who lets any trash off easy so I have free reign to say that anyone who looks up to the women in this movie is probably a terrible person and I weep for humanity that this will be another big hit for Warner Bros.

    “Sex and the City 2” has already opened and earned $14.2 million yesterday. Is that good? Yes. Is it great? No. The first film made $29.6 million on its opening day, albeit being a regular Friday and then dropped drastically to record a weekend tally of $63.2 million. As far as opening days being front-loaded in a weekend, “Sex and the City” is one of the top 15 worst offenders ever and sequels tend to be even worse. But since it’s just a Thursday, no need to panic yet.

    I suspect the film will pick up slightly to around $18 million on Friday and then record around $45 million for the weekend, before adding another cool $8 or $9 million on Monday. All told that will be close to $70 million in five days and set the film up for a profitable run. For some reason, the original was enormous overseas and that should again be the case. But seriously ladies, have some self respect and put your considerable weight (bad choice of word?) as a consumer behind something that doesn’t make you look like a worthless idiot.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: Pain in the ‘Shrek’

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    We did it guys! Collectively, we have decided that the Shrek property, after three dreadful installments, is no longer an untouchable juggernaut, but just a regular old extremely profitable movie. We have also decided that summer 2010 is going to give movie theater owners a lot of headaches, for which the only prescription is to make popcorn $17 and sell ads on the back of the chairs in front of you. Enjoy!

    Let’s clarify. “Shrek Forever After” is the number one movie at the box office with $71.3 million, instantly becoming the most pathetic film ever to make $70 million in three days. Why? Maybe because “Ice Age: The Meltdown” can debut with $82.6 million in March? But mostly because “Shrek the Third” debuted with $140.5 million in 2007. When you factor in the fact that “Shrek Forever After” probably earned most of its coin from inflated 3D prices, you are looking at less than half the tickets sold from one film to the next. That’s an almost unprecedented exodus for an established franchise like this.

    General fatigue with the characters and the universe is the obvious explanation, but that still only takes you so far. We’re three weeks in now and summer 2010 is posting up consistently disappointing numbers. Granted, “Iron Man 2” and “Robin Hood” came in right around expectations, but the lack of an encouraging or surprising box office performer so far this summer is cause for concern.

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: Is it ogre yet?

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    That fat, green face to the right is the most successful animated character in the history of film. You guys have made him an icon of cinema greater than Don Corleone, Marty McFly and Jack Sparrow as far as box office receipts are concerned. Whatever hilarious adventure he undertakes with his wise-cracking donkey sidekick, you are game for. His latest batch of hijinks comes with the laziest pun title ever and a general feeling of distaste from the third installment.

    “Shrek Forever After” is the big debut this week and will easily win the weekend. There hasn’t been a big family film released in eight weeks (Sorry Brendan Fraser) and the market is ripe for a new blockbuster. The thing is opening in every theater across the country with 3D prices ballooning up to $20 in some places. All the ingredients are there for the film to best the $140.5 million opening of “Shrek the Third.” Except that people generally thought “Shrek the Third” was terrible. How these discerning viewers found anything different at all from film to film in this series is beyond me, but I gave up after the wretched first so what do I know?

    Any time a franchise entry disappoints, the next film takes a hit and so I’m thinking that “Shrek Forever After” will hover around the $100 million mark for the weekend. Could do $95 million or could do $105 million, but nowhere near that $140.5 million. Regardless, the film will make oodles of money for DreamWorks and Mike Myers will continue to confuse doing a Scottish accent for funny in more films.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: Taking ‘Hood’ stock

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott helped steal $37.1 million from the poor on behalf of the rich as “Robin Hood” enters the chart in second place this week. The humorless duo courted the older adult audience, and in that respect, this is a solid enough debut. Not quite up to the snuff of “Gladiator,” but a better start than the $22.7 million summer 2005 launch of Crowe’s “Cinderella Man,” a film which is often cited as the one that killed big budget adult dramas being released in the heart of summer.

    Where the film goes from here is up to the word of mouth which, from what I can gather, is mediocre. It’ll need a healthy push to reach $100 million, but I think we’re looking at another “Public Enemies” situation where the film stalls out just under the mark around $95 million. But before you bring Universal some hankies to cry in, you can expect that number to be almost tripled in overseas territories. Crowe lives to leave another interview!

    So that means that “Iron Man 2” is the number one film again this week. Good job Iron Man. The comic book superhero dropped a perilous 59% and continues to do the absolute bare minimum to avoid being called a disappointment. These grosses are perfunctory and little else and it’s sad that we’ve reached a point that a possible $350 million finish is blasé. Again, the film has already topped the $200 million mark overseas as well so this is a very profitable venture for Marvel. The third film is already in pre-production and Martin Lawrence has entered negotiations to replace Don Cheadle.

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: ‘Robin’ of schlocksley

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Fresh off a tepid debut at Cannes, Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe have unleashed their fifth collaboration upon the world. Forget Scorsese and DiCaprio, these guys are taking actor-director bromance to another level. Together, they’ve given us Oscar winning hits (“Gladiator”), non-Oscar winning hits (“American Gangster”) and non-Oscar winning non-hits (“A Good Year” and “Body of Lies”). Which category will “Robin Hood” fall under?

    The one comparison everybody can’t stop making is to “Gladiator” so let’s start there. The sword and sandals epic also launched in May, of 2000, and slashed up a $51.4 million debut. That was at the very beginning of May with no other summer movies out in competition it should be noted. Both director and star have become much more prolific and popular since then so maybe we should assume that “Robin Hood” could do a little better.

    Not so fast! Medieval/historical epics have had a torrid last few years at the box office. Scott’s own “Kingdom of Heaven” was supposed to kick off the 2006 summer season with a bang but only managed a $24.4 million debut and $58.8 million finish. Oliver Stone gave it the old college try with “Alexander” and found $17.5 million to start en route to a $43.9 million total. Granted, people hated that thing.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: The ‘Iron’ is still hot

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    “Iron Man 2” landed with a softer than expected $133.6 million to easily win the weekend. Now, is it even possible for $133.6 million to ever be disappointing? That’s the ninth biggest opening weekend of all time for crying out loud. Plus the film has already racked up more than $300 million worldwide so there is no danger of it not being extremely profitable for Paramount. Still, I think this just about the bare minimum it could have possibly made without raising some eyebrows. The original film opened on the same week two years ago to $109.2 million, which at the time made it the third biggest debut ever for a non-sequel.

    Being as popular as it was, a bigger debut for the sequel was an absolute requirement. Films in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Shrek” franchises took enormous leaps from the debuts of their first film to second, but to be fair, those original films both opened with much more modest numbers than the first “Iron Man.” With “Spider-Man 3” proving that you can open in the beginning of May and earn more than $150 million without breaking a sweat, there’s really no reason why “Iron Man 2” shouldn’t have done the same.

    There’s certainly no competition. They brought back all the ingredients that made the first film likable (except no one will mind if we replace the black guy, right?). Some might be quick to say the lack of 3D hurt it, but that’s nonsense. Whatever the case, I’d now say that surpassing the $352.6 million of the original is not a foregone conclusion and ending the summer as the number one film is also unlikely. Your move, “Twilight!”

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