In Contention

Tag: Sunday Cents

  • SUNDAY CENTS: Photo finish!

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

    One last bit of excitement before the summer ends and Tapley starts posting random Redskins photos on Sundays. We have a dead heat race for the top spot at the box office, but estimates are handing the crown to “The Last Exorcism.” If it does, indeed, win the weekend, it will be the first time Lionsgate has had two consecutive number one films.

    The official estimate is $21.3 million, which puts it just a fraction behind the $23.1 million debut of “Exorcist: The Beginning” on this same weekend of 2004. It’s also a smidge behind the $24.5 mil debut of Lionsgate’s similar looking 2009 shocker, “The Haunting in Connecticut,” but let’s remember that this is a no budget endeavor with no recognizable actors that the studio had to market with smarts and Eli Roth’s name.

    Incidentally, they couldn’t use Roth’s name to market his own movie, “Hostel Part II,” to a debut past $9.5 million, but the man can’t win them all. Now we just sit back and wait for the inevitable porno knock-off called “The Last Circumcision.”

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: Six Flags > Movies

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

    Sorry this is checking in a little late today but I’ve been at Six Flags all day having the time of my life. I hadn’t been since they opened a crazy new ride called Tatsu and it kind of blew my mind, but the X will always be the best ‘coaster. In any case, some movies came out this weekend too and performed with varying degrees of success.

    The number one movie, again, is “The Expendables.” Stallone and his fellow band of ‘roid Rangers dropped 53% to $16.5 million but took advantage of a terrible weekend to notch a second frame at the summit. The last time Sly was in a film that spent two weeks at the top was in 1993, when Wesley Snipes was huge and an unknown Sandra Bullock and Jack Black lent support in “Demolition Man.”

    “Vampires Suck” confirmed the absence of any justice or God in the world by opening in second place with $12.2 million. $18.6 million has already been conned out of America since Wednesday and I’m pretty sure that’s ten times the total amount of my top 10 favorite films of last year combined.

    “Eat Pray Love” takes the bronze, dropping 48% to $12.0 million. Don’t be surprised if this is the real runner-up when actuals are released and even though that drop might seem harsh, “Julie & Julia” did almost exactly the same before leveling out and sticking around through early September.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: AARP Action Squad!

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

    The internet had been buzzing for weeks. Would the fact that he spent most of the decade in straight to video titles hurt his box office clout. Did Dolph Lundgren still have the box office muscle we all thought he had or did the lackluster performance of “Direct Contact”, “Hidden Agenda” and “The Mechanik” cause too much irreparable damage? We have our answer this weekend as “The Expendables” tops the chart with $35.0 million.

    Some had speculated that since Dolph hadn’t appeared in a single film that hit theaters since his role as “Street Preacher” in “Johnny Mnemonic” that nobody would care about him punching people in the face and killing them anymore. I’m sorry we ever doubted you Dolph. He is now solely responsible for the sixth biggest Lionsgate debut of all time (biggest non-Madea, non-“Saw”). Word of mouth is likely to be atrocious as it seems he wasn’t able to deliver on the early Oscar promise of the project. A steep drop awaits next week but maybe now the Lundgren haters will stay in their place.

    “Eat Pray Love” takes second place with $23.7 million. Readers suggested I went over the line making fun of this film and the women who might like it so I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves here.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Cats’ is a dog

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

    Hey gang. Sorry this is late but I spent all morning at work and then all afternoon at the Home Depot Center watching the Galaxy get shellacked by the Chicago Fire and getting a sunburn on half my face. I’ll try to keep it short and sweet.

    The number one movie, for a third weekend in a row, is “Inception.” It’s the third film to spend three weeks at the top in 2010, but the first that wasn’t in 3D. The drop was 36%, a bit harsher than last weekend’s slip and gave it $27.5 million for the three days and $193.3 million total. The film is holding fantastically well and will be only the third live action film of the summer to cross the $200 million mark. The $268.4 million of “The Matrix” is not out of reach, which would make it the most successful original sci-fi property since “Independence Day.” that movie with the big, blue things.

    “Dinner for Schmucks” performed to expectations with $23.3 million. As I mentioned on Friday, that’s a bit above normal for Paul Rudd, who is used to sharing a bill with B-listers like Jason Segel and Seann William Scott. Throw Steve Carell in the mix and you’re good for an extra few million. Throw in an animated Steve Carell in a ridiculous accent and you’re good for the surprise smash of the summer. No wonder he’s leaving “The Office.”

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Inception’ shakes ‘Salt’

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

    Despite the collective nerd consciousness being zeroed in on the events happening in San Diego, there were enough nerds elsewhere to propel “Inception” to a second week at the top of the box office. Actually that’s unfair, it’s not just nerds who are seeing the movie as Christopher Nolan’s dreamscape now looks to be the leggy, late summer blockbuster that nerds and Warner Bros. always hoped it would be. If it gets my Mom to go, then it’ll be a downright phenomenon, but the last non-animated film she saw was probably “Mamma Mia!.”

    Alright, “Inception” dropped a petite 31% to $43.5 million and easily walked away with what I predicted would be a close race at the box office. For comparison, “The Dark Knight” dropped 53% in its second weekend, but that was coming off a much, much higher figure and it eventually settled into 35-40% drops after that. If “Inception” continues at this pace or better, it could make a decent pass at $300 million. To put those legs into perspective, you would have to go back six years to “Meet the Fockers” to find a film that crossed that threshold with a debut under $65 million.

    “The Other Guys” will take a bit of the audience away, but other than that, I don’t see much in terms of competition. While remakes and sequels continue to post one and done weekend numbers and get people talking, it’s nice to see “Avatar” and “Inception” showing that original properties are the ones that keep them talking.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: On closer ‘Inception’

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

    Alright, let’s talk about “Inception.” People have been salivating over this thing since before it even went into production and the marketing campaign Warner Bros. put together was pretty top notch. The director was coming off the biggest film of the decade (at that time) and the cast was impressively assembled, led by one of the biggest names on the planet. Early reviews were ecstatic and the market was desperate for a live action blockbuster to live up to the hype.

    With all that said, “Inception” opened at the top of the box office this weekend with $60.4 million. Is that any good? Well, it’s less than “The Dark Knight” made in one day, but it’s by far the biggest opening of Leonard DiCaprio’s career. With no previous source material and a tricky sci-fi premise aimed at adults, Warner Bros. was always going to have an uphill battle here.

    As far as summer sci-fi goes, it’s a little less than what “I, Robot” debuted with in July 2004, but well ahead of the $48.8 million launch for “Minority Report,” which had Cruise and Spielberg to help sell. That film had similarly positive reviews and went on to gross 3.7 times its debut with a $180.7 million finish. If “Inception” were to do the same, we’d be looking at a $223 million total.

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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • SUNDAY CENTS: Steady Krueger

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

    26 years ago, “A Nightmare on Elm Street” opened to $2.9 million on 165 screens and enjoyed healthy word of mouth to reach $55.5 million total, putting Wes Craven and New Line Cinema on the map in the process. Now New Line is owned by Warner Bros. and Wes Craven is back to milking a different old cash cow, but Freddy Krueger has made his way back to the silver screen. Jackie Earle Haley takes over for Robert Englund and audiences showed enough interest to cough up $32.2 million to check it out.

    That’s better than the $29.2 million of “Halloween,” but not quite as good as the $35.5 million of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” Word of mouth is almost guaranteed to be poisonous and it may as well not exist when “Iron Man 2” opens next week so I’d consider it a success if the film can make $60 million total. That should still be profitable for Warner Bros. and ensure at least six or seven sequels.

    The only other new release was “Furry Vengeance,” which took fifth place and $6.5 million. It’s too depressing to even dedicate a few minutes trying thinking of a joke for this movie. I actually think “Cruel Intentions” and “Just Friends” are better than they should be so it’s a shame to see Roger Kumble fall so far. He was probably my favorite hack director, but now he’s lost me.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: For real this time, ‘Dragon’ ‘Back-Up’ to #1

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

    No photo finishes and no Monday recounts needed. “How to Train Your Dragon” has definitely topped the chart this weekend, four weeks after debuting there. The last time a film leapt back up to number one after a three week hiatus was “The Passion of the Christ,” which had the help of Easter weekend to do it. It is, quite simply, a feat that isn’t possible in today’s box office climate and Paramount should be congratulated for their efforts. The film dropped a tiny 24% to $15.0 million and is well on course to pass the $200 million mark that “Monsters vs. Aliens” couldn’t hit last year. It’s also the lowest gross for a number one film since September.

    Jennifer Lopez proved she still has some of the goods by lifting “The Back-Up Plan” to second place and $12.3 million. That’s already more than “Extraordinary Measures” made total and gives CBS Films reason to keep their doors open for a few more months. I have no idea why this film did this well except that there hasn’t been an old fashioned romantic comedy since “Valentine’s Day.” I’m still also not sure why there are even hijinks or complications in this plot. The guy falls in love with her… but she’s pregnant! So?

    “The Losers” became a self-fulfilling prophecy for Warner Bros., entering the chart at number four with $9.6 million. To give you some perspective, some terrible movie called “The Marine” starring a wrestler opened to $8.3 million a few years ago. That’s the calibre of performance we’re talking about. The studio might have had better luck naming the film what it actually is, “The Cocky Douchebags.”

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: New releases ‘Dragon’ behind

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

    Internet nerds once again failed to make their presence known at the multiplex as “Kick Ass” surrendered to the runner-up spot on a relatively weak frame. As significant as online and fanboy buzz can be, time and again it has led to disappointing debuts more than bank-breaking grosses. “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,” “Grindhouse,” and “Snakes on a Plane” are just a few of the recent examples. If it wasn’t for the success of “Sin City” and “300,” Hollywood would probably disregard the internet all together.

    But let’s start at the top. “How to Train Your Dragon” becomes the first film since “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” to return to the summit of the box office after a hiatus. A slim drop of 20% earned the animated comedy $20.0 million and ups the cume to $158.6 million after four weeks. The $229.8 million it would need to become the highest grossing non-“Shrek” film for DreamWorks Animation is not out of the question, although still a bit unlikely.

    “Kick Ass” debuts with $19.8 million and will still end up profitable for Lionsgate and the filmmakers, but reiterates the ceiling for R-rated comic book adaptations. Coincidentally, the debut is almost identical to another R-rated action flick that Lionsgate bought after fanboys went nuts at preview footage- “Rambo.” It may have suffered from some younger kids buying tickets to “Dragon” and sneaking in, but it may have also suffered from the amount of people who get boners thinking about pre-teen girls with guns being significantly lower than expected.

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