Shakefire.com - Box Office Ramble

The death of big stars and bigger budgets

Peter Oberth — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 20:47:54 +0000

On the eve of another big budget summer which will see a slew of sure-fire blockbusters (Iron Man 3, Fast & Furious 6, Star Trek Into Darkness, Man of Steel), sure-fire misses (G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Oblivion, World War Z, The Lone Ranger) and possible hits (After Earth, Pacific Rim, Monsters University), Shakefire takes a look into why the movie industry has been teetering on self-destruction this year and should be worried for its future should they continue on this path.

There are no more big stars, no more guaranteed blockbusters simply because who is behind the camera or in front of it. The only way to guarantee a blockbuster now is if it is a sequel to an already hit franchise (such is the case with The Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall, even The Avengers and the upcoming Iron Man 3). Gone are the days of quarter billion dollar budgets for rookie films like Jack the Giant Slayer, John Carter and Battleship. There are now 4 proven methods; one will almost guarantee a profit another will lower the risk that studios put in while also potentially saving budding stars reputations (just ask Taylor Kitsch, star of Battleship and John Carter). Keep in mind when viewing these numbers that a blockbuster caliber movie isn't considered a success unless it makes it's money back domestically and generally twice its budget worldwide. The reason for this is that most movies will have individualy distributors in different markets that take different percentages, if not the entire gross and the massive marketing money is not included in the budget shown.

WHAT ISN'T WORKING: The "Crazy Money Method & A-Lister Method"
This method calls for spending big budgets on unproven vehicles and mediocre budgets on big names with little to no success.

JOHN CARTER (2012)

Budget: $250 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $73,078,100

Worldwide Gross: $282,778,100

BATTLESHIP (2012)

Budget: $209 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $65,422,625

Worldwide Gross: $303,025,485

JACK THE GIANT SLAYER (2013)*

Budget: $195 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $30,956,833

Worldwide Gross: $44,656,833

*Still in theatres

TOTAL RECALL (2012)

Budget: $125 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $58,877,969

Worldwide Gross: $198,467,168

DARK SHADOWS (2012)

Budget: $150 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $79,727,149

Worldwide Gross: $239,127,149

WRATH OF THE TITANS (2012)

Budget: $150 million

Proven Predecessors: Clash of the Titans proved nothing

Domestic Gross: $83,670,083

Worldwide Gross: $301,970,083

RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (2012)

Budget: $145 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $102,418,576

Worldwide Gross: $302,718,576

BULLET TO THE HEAD (2012)

Budget: $55 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $9,463,404

Worldwide Gross: $9,463,404

THE LAST STAND (2012)

Budget: $45 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $12,050,299

Worldwide Gross: $31,327,294

WHAT IS WORKING: The "Tyler Perry Method"

Now, this is a practice that has been common overseas for decades. This method is to produce a film with an extremely low budget in the range of $8-15 million with the intention of capturing a large portion of a certain demographic with no intention of spending the extra money just to fail overseas. Tyler Perry has built an empire around this and I don't see him changing it any time soon.

TYLER PERRY'S MADEA'S WITNESS PROTECTION (2012)

Budget: $20 million

Proven Predecessors: Tyler Perry Movies

Domestic Gross: $66,653,242

Worldwide Gross: $66,653,242

THINK LIKE A MAN (2012)

Budget: $12 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $91,547,205

Worldwide Gross: $96,070,507

WHAT IS WORKING: The "Geek Method"

Sure, it would have been easy for Warner Bros. to throw $200 million at a Batman reboot but Christopher Nolan didn't need it. He did it for $100 million. Knowing that audiences would go in with caution, Batman wouldn't necessarily be a hit out of the gate. Nolan took a small-ish budget, stripped the Bat down and focused on making a quality film to re-engage the audience. He didn't try to trick fans with big CGI effects, huge stars and a crappy story. With that first relatively low budget, he proved his franchise and earned higher budgets for the subsequent releases. Warner Bros. hedged their bets, did it right and it paid off, same goes for their ventures into Lord of the Rings and even Harry Potter. Lionsgate had a similar method for The Hunger Games as did Summit for the Twilight franchise.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)

Budget: $250 million

Proven Predecessors: Batman Begins, The Dark Knight

Domestic Gross: $448,139,099

Worldwide Gross: $1,081,041,287

THE AVENGERS (2012)/

Budget: $220 million

Proven Predecessors: Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor

Domestic Gross: $623,357,910

Worldwide Gross: $1,511,757,910

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY (2012)*

Budget: $215 million

Proven Predecessors: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Domestic Gross: $301,451,679

Worldwide Gross: $1,001,451,679

*Still in theatres

SKYFALL (2012)

Budget: $200 million

Proven Predecessors: Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace

Domestic Gross: $304,295,238

Worldwide: $1,108,283,816

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012)

Budget: $230 million

Proven Predecessors: Original Spider-Man Trilogy

Domestic Gross: $262,030,663

Worldwide Gross: $752,216,557

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN, PART 2 (2012)

Budget: $120 million

Proven Predecessors: The Twilight Franchise

Domestic Gross: $292,312,252

Worldwide Gross: $829,212,252

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2 (2011)

Budget: $175 million

Proven Predecessors: Harry Potter Franchise

Domestic Gross: $381,011,219

Worldwide Gross: $1,328,111,219

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012)

Budget: $78 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $408,010,692

Worldwide Gross: $686,533,290

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (2013)

Budget: $125 million

Proven Predecessors: The Hunger Games

Domestic Gross: ??

Worldwide Gross: ??

WHAT IS WORKING: "The Paycut Method"

Recently, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots actually took a wage cut in order to stay under the NFL salary cap. In short, he took one for the team. Hopefully it will be the start of a trend that will reverberate into other industries and find its way into Hollywood.

A-Listers working on a lower budget, maybe with a little backend should the movie be successful. This method would guarantee the actor doesn't just choose a paycheck, they would actually choose quality with the hope that it would make more money, thereby lining their pocket. This method can be seen in recent movies like Looper, Flight, Silver Linings Playbook, Argo, Magic Mike and Ted.

TED (2012)

Budget: $50 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $218,815,487

Worldwide Gross: $543,315,487

MAGIC MIKE (2012)

Budget: $7 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $113,721,571

Worldwide Gross: $167,221,571

ARGO (2012)

Budget: $44.5 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $132,975,211

Worldwide Gross: $218,175,211

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (2012)

Budget: $21 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $116,166,712

Worldwide Gross: $187,454,603

FLIGHT (2012)

Budget: $31 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $93,772,375

Worldwide Gross: $154,172,375

LOOPER (2012)

Budget: $30 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $66,486,205

Worldwide Gross: $166,521,158

WHAT IS WORKING: The "No star, no problem Method"

Sure Jessica Chastain is someone now but when she signed on for her two big 2013 movies, she wasn't. She had an Oscar nomination under her belt for The Help, but that wasn't enough to boost her star power so producers got her on the cheap. Jason Bateman is a mid-level star so he is cheap enough and Melissa McCarthy is a minor TV star, always a cheap bet. If stars like Tom Cruise, Will Smith and even Jim Carrey don't realize that they don't bring the same profitability as they used to and start taking cuts for the better of the team, their days will undoubtedly be numbered. Who needs them when a studio can spend much less for non A-list stars and directors and still hit it out of the park with tentpoles like The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man? Or better yet, turn their profit over hundreds of times on filler movies like Chronicle, The Vow, Magic Mike and Identity Thief?

IDENTITY THIEF (2013)*

Budget: $35 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $108,870,435

Worldwide Gross: $110,529,450**

*Still in theatres

**Has not opened in most markets

WARM BODIES (2013)*

Budget: $35 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $62,270,039

Worldwide Gross: $89,589,359

*Still in theatres

MAMA (2013)*

Budget: $15 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $70,921,840

Worldwide Gross: $104,821,840

*Still in theatres

THE VOW (2012)

Budget: $30 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $125,014,030

Worldwide Gross: $196,114,570

ZERO DARK THIRTY (2012)

Budget: $40 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $93,764,400

Worldwide Gross: $106,764,400

ACT OF VALOR (2012)

Budget: $12 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $70,012,847

Worldwide Gross: $81,272,766

CHRONICLE (2012)

Budget: $12 million

Proven Predecessors: NONE

Domestic Gross: $64,575,175

Worldwide Gross: $126,636,097

So, despite it's massive failure, Jack the Giant Slayer may have done something good. Gone are the days of automatic $125 million budgets without a proven model. Gone are the days of big money for big names regardless of what the film actually is. Perhaps this will bring quality back to movies over quantity. Perhaps...but I doubt it.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

It is now being reported that Oz, The Great and Powerful has a budget north of $300 million after all the massive advertising budgets are factored in. Will this be another failure in Hollywood's pocket or another Alice in Wonderland-like success story for Disney? Though the word of mouth is great, it's still tracking around $80 million. With that kind of opening, it will almost certainly make it's budget back worldwide and, with good reviews and almost nothing competing with it before Iron Man 3 opens in May, it certainly has room to grow. My guess is that this will be a rare exception where a big budget rookie film (no, The Wizard of Oz doesn't count as a predecessor seeing that it's over 70 years old) is a massive success but Hollywood shouldn't fool itself into thinking that this can happen more than once every few years.

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Box Office

Angels & Demons barely eeks out Star Trek in week 2

Peter Oberth — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:46:51 +0000

Box Office Ramble Series

Nothing too exciting going on this weekend with only one new wide release. Angels & Demons barely had enough steam to outpace the strong-legged Star Trek in it's second weekend. The two most impressive things of the weekend were probably Management's stunningly low bow (see below) and Monsters Vs. Aliens mere 8% drop even after shedding 234 screens.

ANGELS & DEMONS ($48,000,000)
Ron Howard may have trumped his previous movie's $18 million gross (Frost/Nixon) but he fell nearly $30 million short of The Da Vinci Code's $77 million opening in 2006. Although the opening was a bit of a disappointment comparatively, it was on nearly 200 less screens and it is Ron Howard's third largest opening behind the aforementioned The Da Vinci Code and 2000's How the Grinch Stole Christmas ($55 million). As for Tom Hanks? It was his second largest opening ever behind The Da Vinci Code, not bad for someone who has a lifetime gross of over $3 billion.

MANAGEMENT ($378,000)
The much talked about Jennifer Aniston movie completely faltered in it's 212 theater opening weekend, making less per theater than even the already deemed failure Next Day Air. Management will likely roll out into a few more theaters but plans for a major wide relesae are likely going to be exchanged for a quick DVD release.

The full weekend box office ticked in as follows:

TW	LW	Title (click to read review)	Weekend Gross	Total Gross
1	N	Angels & Demons	$48,000,000	$48,000,000
2	1	Star Trek	$43,000,000	$147,611,000
3	2	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	$14,800,000	$151,091,000
4	3	Ghosts of Girlfriends Past	$6,860,000	$40,062,000
5	4	Obsessed	$4,550,000	$62,571,000
6	5	17 Again	$3,400,000	$58,395,000
7	8	Monsters Vs. Aliens	$3,000,000	$190,552,000
8	7	The Soloist	$2,425,000	$27,527,000
9	6	Next Day Air	$2,281,000	$7,6,000
10	9	earth	$1,680,000	$29,071,000

Source: Box Office Mojo

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Star Trek destroys Next Day Air, sends Wolverine screaming

Peter Oberth — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:11:45 +0000

Box Office Ramble Series

The summer officially began last weekend with the surprisingly monster success of the against-all-odds blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine and continues this week with the revamping of the once profitable Star Trek franchise. The other new release, Next Day Air? Fail.

STAR TREK ($76,500,000 including Thursday sneaks)
The previous Star Trek movie, Star Trek: Nemesis, was such an enormous failure that the franchise seemed dead in the water. Enter JJ Abrams. Much like last week's hit Wolverine, Abrams decided to go the prequel route, telling the origins of Spock, Kirk and the rest of the Enterprise crew. While Nemesis conjured up $43 million in it's entire run, Star Trek (2009) tallied up enough in it's opening weekend to rocket past 1998's Insurrection ($70 million) and 1984's The Search for Spock ($76 million) and should have no problem beating out 1986's The Voyage Home ($109 million) to become the top grossing Star Trek movie.

NEXT DAY AIR ($4,000,000)
Hey, at least it made enough to become the 2,446th opening weekend ever! There isn't much to say about this one other than it opened pretty much even with expectations against the blockbuster Star Trek, though it's $3,515 per theater isn't a complete waste. This one should leave theaters with less than $15 million.

The full weekend box office ticked in as follows:

TW	LW	Title (click to read review)	Weekend Gross	Total Gross
1	N	Star Trek	$72,500,000	$76,500,000
2	1	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	$27,000,000	$129,624,000
3	2	Ghosts of Girlfriends Past	$10,450,000	$30,246,000
4	3	Obsessed	$6,600,000	$56,247,000
5	4	17 Again	$4,405,000	$54,167,000
6	N	Next Day Air	$4,000,000	$4,000,000
7	6	The Soloist	$3,605,000	$23,501,000
8	5	Monsters Vs. Aliens	$3,379,000	$186,892,000
9	7	earth	$2,488,000	$26,086,000
10	9	Hannah Montana: The Movie	$2,414,000	$74,083,000

Source: Box Office Mojo

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Wolverine defies all, McConaughey's a ghost and Terra is invisible

Peter Oberth — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:42:00 +0000

Box Office Ramble Series

Wolverine defied bad press and an early leak to completely rip apart not only the competition of the week but every other movie so far this year, opening the summer frame with great promise while a slew of other potential blockbusters linger close behind.

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE ($87,000,000)
Hugh Jackman stars in an X-Men movie every 3 years since 2000, so how did this fourth outing fare? Pretty well. Wolverine opened higher than X-Men ($54 million) and X2:X-Men United ($85 million) but fell far short of the third, X-Men: The Last Stand ($102 million). With some strong competition coming starting this Friday with Star Trek so it will likely only beat the first X-Men's total take ($157 million) but won't come near X2 ($214 million) or The Last Stand ($234 million). It seems that the early leak only fueled the fire that is Wolverine, though the studio will likely claim that it would have opened higher than The Last Stand were it not for the theft. It was, however the highest opening for Ryan Reynolds and Liev Schreiber. Breathe easy Fox, this one will make back it's $150 million budget before heading to DVD.

GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST ($15,325,000)
This one was on the lower end of average for romantic comedies but it was a bit predictable nonetheless. Ghosts opened lower than similarly themed Just Like Heaven ($17 million) but higher than last years Ghost Town ($5 million). Although Matthew McConaughey usually opens higher with romantic comedies, ala Fool's Gold ($21 million), Failure to Launch ($24 million) and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days ($23 million), Ghosts did a decent job of starting to erase last year's Surfer, Dude ($52,132 TOTAL gross) from our minds.

BATTLE FOR TERRA ($1,064,000)
What is this, you may ask? How could it open wide this weekend and not be on the top 10 below? The answer to both of those questions seem to be related. With minimal marketing, it's no surprise the awareness of this 3D CGI sci fi movie was dangerously low, opening at number 12 with a weak $916 per theater (compared to Wolverine's $22k+).

The full weekend box office ticked in as follows:

TW	LW	Title (click to read review)	Weekend Gross	Total Gross
1	N	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	$87,000,000	$87,000,000
2	N	Ghosts of Girlfriends Past	$15,325,000	$15,325,000
3	1	Obsessed	$12,200,000	$42,002,000
4	2	17 Again	$6,355,000	$48,497,000
5	6	Monsters Vs. Aliens	$5,800,000	$182,405,000
6	4	The Soloist	$5,600,000	$18,108,000
7	5	earth	$4,184,000	$21,848,000
8	3	Fighting	$4,173,000	$17,507,000
9	8	Hannah Montana: The Movie	$4,075,000	$70,857,000
10	7	State of Play	$3,655,000	$30,883,000

Source: Box Office Mojo

Tags:

Battle for Terra

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men

Wolverine

Miley lines Disney's wallets while Rogen can't defend himself and Dragonball just sucks

Peter Oberth — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:54:07 +0000

Box Office Ramble Series

Miley Cyrus stretched her pop fame a little longer this weekend while Seth Rogen kept status quo and Dragonball Evolution couldn't even live up to the disappointing expectations everyone pegged on it.

HANNAH MONTANA: THE MOVIE ($34,000,000)
Dwinling audience? Not exactly. Despite what some have claimed, Miley Cyrus' fame is not fading, at least not any time soon. After the tremendous failure of Disney colleagues the Jonas Brothers' theatrical attempt, Miley redeemed the Disney Channel name with an opening $3 million higher than her surprisingly enormous opening of the concert movie Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour. The numbers seem a bit skewed at first, however, as her latest outing opened on over 400% more theaters. The movie, as expected, was very front-loaded, taking in over half of it's weekend take on Friday and numbers should continue to fall sharply as the weeks go on, possibly tallying around the same as her concert movie ($65 million). No records broken here but a very solid opening indeed.

OBSERVE AND REPORT ($11,140,000)
Anna Faris took a dip from the August opnening of her headling The House Bunny ($14 million) but was her second highest opening without the words "Scary Movie" in the title. As for Seth Rogen, he upped his tally from October's Zack and Miri Make a Porno ($10 million) which was a sharp dip from August's Pineapple Express ($23 million) as well as 2007's Superbad ($33 million) and Knocked Up ($30 million). Not to mention the recent hit Monsters Vs Aliens ($59 million), but that is just a voiceover, does that really count?

DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION ($4,650,000)
Ahh, Dragonball. The movie that no one thought should or could be made into a movie ended up being the movie that...well, shouldn't have been made into a movie. The most popular manga and anime of all time clunked it's way clumsily into the box office fray this weekend, getting knocked out faster than you can say kamehameha (if you can say it, that is). This failure was seen from a mile away as Director James Wong (The One) alienated fans by altering the storyline so much that it was only recognizeable by name (and, even that can be argued as the story can be more closely assimilated with Dragonball Z and not Dragonball, in which Goku is seen as grade school age). This was perhaps Wong's highest profile movie of his career but the first to fail to generate a double digit opening weekend behind Final Destination ($10 million), The One ($19 million) and Final Destination 3 ($19 million). To make matters worse, the movie failed to even make as much as the recent flop Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. And, to make matters even WORSE than that, if numbers hold, it will have generated less than $1 million on Sunday. For a high profile action movie based on a built-in audience source, this one was just a failure all around. Seems like the spirit bomb backfired this time. If you don't believe me, just head on over to Matt's review.

The full weekend box office ticked in as follows:

TW	LW	Title (click to read review)	Weekend Gross	Total Gross
1	N	Hannah Montana: The Movie	$34,000,000	$34,000,000
2	1	Fast & Furious	$28,783,000	$118,042,000
3	2	Monsters Vs. Aliens	$22,617,000	$141,009,000
4	N	Observe and Report	$11,140,000	$11,140,000
5	4	Knowing	$6,670,000	$68,006,000
6	5	I Love You, Man	$6,412,000	$58,997,000
7	3	The Haunting in Connecticut	$5,710,000	$46,297,000
8	N	Dragonball Evolution	$4,650,000	$4,650,000
9	6	Adventureland	$3,433,000	$11,450,000
10	7	Duplicity	$2,997,000	$36,848,000

Source: Box Office Mojo

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Miley Cyrus

Hannah Montana

Hannah Montana: The Movie

Dragonball

Dragonball Z

Dragonball Evolution

Dragonball: Evolution

. Seth Rogen

Vin Diesel returns strong, Kristen Stewart can't cut it without the vamps

Peter Oberth — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:51:19 +0000

Box Office Ramble Series

After (embarassingly) barely beating out Disaster Movie last August for the number 1 spot with Babylon A.D., Vin Diesel had his first bonified hit since 2005's The Pacifier and his first all around action hit since XXX in 2002 perhaps proving that he should stay behind the wheel a little more. Kristen Stewart showed that she should probably stick to crushing on vampires rather than awkward 80's guys as Adventureland failed to strike a chord with her legion of fans. Monsters Vs. Aliens heldover pretty decently in the wake of no other kid's movies, falling aruond 43% but still having the second largest per screen average ($8,155) behind Fast & Furious ($20,950).

FAST & FURIOUS ($72,508,000)
After a slight downturn with 2006's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (the only F&F movie not to feature Paul Walker, Vin Diesel or both, outside of a small cameo), the franchise picked back up as if it never went away, amassing an enormous record setting $72 million opening, besting the 2001's original ($40 million), 2002's sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious ($50 million) and, of course, 2008's Tokyo Drift ($23 million). Not only that, Fast & Furious has already raked in $10 million more in it's first three days than Tokyo Drift brought in during it's entire 84 day run, ulimately taking the crown from 300 ($70 million) as the largest spring opening ever, the highest April opening ever (over Anger Managements 2003 gross of $42 million) and, of course, easily taking over Monsters Vs. Aliens as the highest opening of 2009. That didn't last long, did it?

ADVENTURELAND ($6,010,000)
This one hurts. Sure, it was an indie movie, but it was an indie movie that was attempting to be the next "it" movie. The decent reviews were there, but it seems that no one can quite market a quirky indie comedy like Fox Searchlight (Napoleon Dynamite, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine). Director Greg Mottola took an 80% nosedive from his 2007 hit Superbad, albeit on over 1,000 less screens. This also marked Ryan Reynolds' worst wide opening ever, falling just short of 2005's Waiting... ($6,021,106), if numbers hold.

The full weekend box office ticked in as follows:

TW	LW	Title (click to read review)	Weekend Gross	Total Gross
1	N	Fast & Furious	$72,508,000	$72,508,000
2	1	Monsters Vs. Aliens	$33,510,000	$105,700,000
3	2	The Haunting in Connecticut	$9,550,000	$37,240,000
4	3	Knowing	$8,130,000	$58,204,000
5	4	I Love You, Man	$7,850,000	$49,287,000
6	N	Adventureland	$6,010,000	$6,010,000
7	5	Duplicity	$4,300,000	$32,376,000
8	6	Race to Witch Mountain	$3,351,000	$58,388,000
9	7	12 Rounds	$2,300,000	$9,022,000
10	11	Sunshine Cleaning	$1,879,000	$4,775,000

Source: Box Office Mojo

Tags:

Fast & Furious

Fast and Furious

Adventureland

Monsters beat down horror, WWE fails again

Peter Oberth — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:07:31 +0000

Box Office Ramble Series

So, after months of teasing starting with the Super Bowl, of all places, Monsters Vs. Aliens opened, and it opened big. Also coming in big was The Haunting in Connecticut, reviving the year of horror that was briefly derailed by The Last House On The Left 2 weeks ago. Meanwhile, over in WWE movie land, 12 Rounds flopped like the rest.

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS ($58,200,000)
If it holds, MvA will take the crown from Watchmen as the biggest opening of the year so far (further embarassing the Watchmen debacle). But, in terms of CGI movies, it fell short of Wall-E, Cars, and even Dreamworks own Magascar: Escape 2 Africa. For a first run in what is likely to become a franchise (don't they all lately?), it's not too shabby.

THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT ($23,010,000)
Opening higher than The Unborn and The Uninvited but fell well short of both Friday the 13th and My Bloody valentine 3D. For a non-remake against a potential non-competing blockbuster, the $20 million+ opening is actually extremely impressive.

12 ROUNDS ($5,300,000)
As far as WWE films go, this one was, well, exactly what is expected of a movie produced by World Wrestlined Entertainment: poor. It's $5 million opening, however, is enough to nearly equal WWE's previous effort, The Condemned, in it's entire theatrical run ($7 million).

The full weekend box office ticked in as follows:

TW	LW	Title (click to read review)	Weekend Gross	Total Gross
1	N	Monsters Vs. Aliens	$58,200,000	$58,200,000
2	N	The Haunting in Connecticut	$23,010,000	$23,010,000
3	1	Knowing	$14,705,000	$46,220,000
4	2	I Love You, Man	$12,600,000	$37,007,000
5	3	Duplicity	$7,556,000	$25,639,000
6	4	Race to Witch Mountain	$5,637,000	$53,295,000
7	N	12 Rounds	$5,300,000	$5,300,000
8	5	Watchmen	$2,755,000	$103,296,000
9	7	Taken	$2,700,000	$137,074,000
10	6	The Last House On The Left	$2,611,000	$28,459,000

Source: Box Office Mojo

Tags:

Monsters Vs. Aliens

The Haunting in Connecticut

12 Rounds

Witch beats down Watchmen and wins the race to the top

Peter Oberth — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:43:00 +0000

Box Office Ramble Series

2009 is human after all. The first big "blockbuster" of the year, ironically seems to be the movie that turned 2009 back into a normal year. Watchmen, after a lower than expected opening last week, plummeted over 67% to fall to number 2, making way for Race to Witch Mountain to takeover number 1. Actually, aside from Watchmen, all the other holdovers in the top 10 seemed to fair pretty well.

RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN ($25,000,000)
This is Dwayne Johnson's best opening of his career. Of course, this is the first movie "Dwayne Johnson" has ever been in. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson helped open Get Smart at $38 million in 2008 and simply "The Rock" helped open The Mummy Returns at $68 million in 2001 and headlined The Scorpion King at $36 million in 2002. Regardless of his moniker,this was his best headling effort in nearly 7 years.

THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT ($14,658,000)
Following the surprising opening of My Bloody Valentine 3D ($21 million) in January and the massive opening of Friday the 13th last month ($40 million), this one seems like a failure. But, the fact is, this is just returning horror (especially remakes) back to what they were pre-2009. $14 is a pretty strong opening for what is ultimately a pretty low budget movie.

TAKEN (9.3% Drop after 7 weeks)
Ok, this one isn't new but this is certainly worth a mention as no one else really seems to be. This is the ultimate juggernaut of the year (sorry Jason). Tallying just short of $200 million worldwide, the big story is the domestic take, or rather the fact that it just won't go away. Without the help of any Award buzz or lingering marketing campaigns, the huge success of this one can only be based off of word of mouth. Taken hasn't fallen out of the top 5 after 7 weeks in theaters, dropping less than 10% this weekend while simultaneously dropping 158 theaters. It is now the highest grossing movie that Luc Besson has written (Transporter, The Fifth Element, etc) and the highest grossing headliner for Liam Neeson. It is the number 2 kidnapping movie of all time and should easily pass Ransom ($136 million) for number one.

MISS MARCH ($2,350,000)
Fox Searchlight hits hard every year (Napoleon Dynamite, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire), but I think it's safe to say that Miss March is NOT going to be their 2009 hit. The low budget comedy from a few of the people that created The Whitest Kids in the Room barely managed to open inside the top 10, generating just $350,000 more than the 5 week old flop, Confessions of a Shopaholic. Unless word of mouth gets strong (doubtful based on the middling reviews), this one seems to be dead in the water.

The full weekend box office ticked in as follows:

TW	LW	Title (click to read review)	Weekend Gross	Total Gross
1	N	Race to Witch Mountain	$25,000,000	$25,000,000
2	1	Watchmen	$18,070,000	$86,005,000
3	N	The Last House On The Left	$14,658,000	$14,658,000
4	3	Taken	$6,650,000	$126,833,000
5	2	Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail	$5,130,000	$83,209,000
6	4	Slumdog Millionaire	$5,025,000	$132,625,000
7	5	Paul Blart: Mall Cop	$3,100,000	$137,767,000
8	6	He's Just Not That Into You	$2,905,000	$89,004,000
9	7	Coraline	$2,655,000	$69,144,000
10	N	Miss March	$2,350,000	$2,350,000

Source: Box Office Mojo

Tags:

The Last House on the Left

Taken

Miss March

Watchmen

Race to Witch Mountain

Watchmen disappoints with huge opening?

Peter Oberth — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:39:18 +0000

Box Office Ramble Series

Superheroes, Tyler Perry, Liam Neeson, a poor millionaire and a mall cop. The weekend didn't exactly showcase anything new but it did still hold a few surprises. Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail held surprisingly strong to tack on to his most successful outing yet. The success stories of the year continued to, well, be successful. Taken and Paul Blart: Mall Cop both moved up a spot after 6 and 8 weeks, respectively, while Slumdog Millionaire fell one. But, the big story of the weekend was...

WATCHMEN ($55,655,000)
The "unfilmable" movie turned out to be the movie that probably shouldn't have been filmed. After mixed reviews, the adaptation of the popular 80's graphic novel turned in what seems like a respectable opening but, once delved deeper, looks pretty disappointing. You may be asking why a starless movie full of unknown superheroes raking in $55 mil could be deemed a failure? First, the $150 million movie barely made over a third of it's production cost (not factoring in marketing). Second, predictions ran as high as $80 million and upward. Third, Zack Snyder's previous outing, 300, shocked everyone with over $70 million, setting the bar pretty high. Fourth, the movie has been in the making for over 2 decades, making it one of the most highly anticipated movies of all time, amongst it's fans. Fifthly (it's a word), the movie seemed to live up to expectations with a strong $25 million Friday opening, which would normally translate to a $65-75 million opening but it trailed off so heavily that it is likely set to drop 65-70% next weekend and if Race to Witch Mountain performs well, will drop it down to number 2 or lower, ultimately leaving theaters barely scratching the $125 million mark.

The full weekend box office ticked in as follows:

TW	LW	Title (click to read review)	Weekend Gross	Total Gross
1	N	Watchmen	$55,655,000	$55,655,000
2	2	Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail	$8,800,000	$76,505,000
3	4	Taken	$7,450,000	$118,049,000
4	3	Slumdog Millionaire	$6,925,000	$125,441,000
5	6	Paul Blart: Mall Cop	$4,200,000	$133,643,000
6	5	He's Just Not That Into You	$4,020,000	$84,647,000
7	7	Coraline	$3,313,000	$65,680,000
8	9	Confessions of a Shopaholic	$3,121,000	$38,356,000
9	2	Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience	$2,785,000	$16,791,000
10	10	Fired Up	$2,600,000	$13,360,000

Source: Box Office Mojo

Tags:

Watchmen

Madea bitchslaps Jonas Brothers, sends Street Fighter running

Peter Oberth — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:19:37 +0000

Box Office Ramble Series

It seems that Madea won't go down without a fight, and she certainly won't be upended by a bunch of snotty teenagers. The Jonas Brothers concert movie, which was being pushed as the "event of the year" went down in flames as it couldn't even muster enough teenieboppers to topple Tyler Perry's cross dressing giant in her second weekend, helping Perry score his highest box office total of his career.

JONAS BROTHERS: THE 3D CONCERT EXPERIENCE ($12,700,000)
Sure, Disney was trying to make the Jonas Brothers out like the second coming of The Beatles but they were a little bit more like the second coming of *NSync, well, movie-wise at least. Jonas Brothers appeared on twice the amount of screens as Hannah Montana's similar event last year but could barely make a third of what that movie totalled opening weekend ($31 million). Sure, Jonas Brothers nearly $10,000 per screen average is nothing to sneeze at, but perhaps Disney's projections should have been more realistic and they will now realize that the "Jonas Brothers extravaganza" may be a bit contrived afterall.

STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI ($6,000,000)
The original Street Fighter was no monumental success but, compared to this predictable flop, it might as well have been Titanic. The original, opening just a sqeak above this one ($6,859,495) in 1994 went on to make over $33,000,000 domestic and just under $100 million world wide. This one will likely fall out of theaters with around $10-12 million total and maybe tack on another $1-2 million overseas. Surely, everyone had to see this one coming.

The full weekend box office ticked in as follows:

TW	LW	Title (click to read review)	Weekend Gross	Total Gross
1	1	Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail	$16,500,000	$64,850,000
2	N	Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience	$12,700,000	$12,700,000
3	5	Slumdog Millionaire	$12,150,000	$115,148,000
4	3	Taken	$9,950,000	$107,882,000
5	4	He's Just Not That Into You	$5,875,000	$78,525,000
6	8	Paul Blart: Mall Cop	$5,600,000	$128,1062,000
7	2	Coraline	$5,252,000	$61,145,000
8	N	Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li	$4,650,000	$4,650,000
9	7	Confessions of a Shopaholic	$4,490,000	$33,662,000
10	9	Fired Up	$3,800,000	$10,137,000

Source: Box Office Mojo

Tags:

Jonas Brothers

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

Jonas Brothers The 3D Concert Experience