Weekend Box Office - June 18-20, 2010 |
Written by US Townhall staff
|
Monday, 21 June 2010 16:20 |
As expected, Disney-Pixar's latest, Toy Story 3, grabbed the top spot with the second $100+ million dollar weekend of the summer after Iron Man 2. Also as expected, the fact that Toy Story 3 played on thousands of 3-D screens led to Shrek Forever After taking a huge hit in its box office as Shrek was displaced on those screens by Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Shrek was down 64.4% in its fifth weekend, which was the largest drop in the top 12. At this rate, the so-called "final chapter" will likely not reach $250 million in domestic box office, making this installment by far the least attended in the franchise. Looks like the big green guy will be going out with a whimper instead of a bang.
Jonah Hex, the other film that opened wide this weekend couldn't even begin with a bang and will likely disappear from theaters with most of the public never having known it was there in the first place. Jonah shot itself in the foot with a dismal $5.3 million debut against an estimated $47 million production budget. This will undoubtedly be the lowest grossing movie based on a DC Comics character since 1997's Steel (although that embarassment only grossed a total of $1.7 million at theaters during its entire run, which only lasted about 2 weeks). Originally, Warner Bros. buried this movie in the August release month, but for some reason decided to switch it to mid-June perhaps as counterprogramming to the more family-oriented fare playing now. They should have stuck to their original plan because now Jonah Hex has gotten lots of attention as being a high-profile bomb, which will severely damage its future DVD sales as well.
Among the holdovers, Prince of Persia had the smallest drop – only about 14% – in its fourth weekend, but it's still unlikely to crack the $100 million barrier domestically. However, it still continues to perform exceptionally well overseas with more than 72% of its total box office coming from foreign territories. Last week's champ, The Karate Kid, retreated over 46%, but still lifted its 10 day total to more than $107 million. It's quite possible that, if future weekends show smaller drops, Jaden Smith could have a $200 million domestic blockbuster on his hands.
Toy Story 3 gave a big boost to the box office this weekend and made a significant gain over the same weekend last year. It remains to be seen, however, whether this positive turnaround we've experienced for the last two weekends will continue. This Friday's new releases are Knight and Day, the new Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz action flick, and Grown Ups, the new comedy starring Adam Sandler and his buddies, Kevin James, David Spade, Chris Rock, and Rob Schneider. Cruise has had a rough few years at the box office in the wake of his unfairly hammered couch-jumping appearance on Oprah, and the ads for Sandler's latest don't seem to promise the raunchy Hangover-style laughs that his core audience has come to expect. Both flicks could open below expectations.
Here are the domestic box office actuals for the weekend of June 18-20, 2010:
|
Read more...
|
|
Weekend Box Office - June 11-13, 2010 |
Written by US Townhall staff
|
Tuesday, 15 June 2010 02:10 |
After the last several weeks of lackluster movie sales, the box office got a significant boost by the surprisingly high debut of the remake of The Karate Kid starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. At least we were surprised. Internally, we thought that it would debut in the mid-20 million dollar range (as the A-Team remake did), so we were quite shocked to see an extremely healthy $55.6 million domestic open. If this does well overseas, this could be the breakout hit of the summer. As it is, assuming attendance doesn't drop drastically, it appears that the younger Mr. Smith will be on his way to joining his father as summer blockbuster king. Even better is that the film was made on a production budget of $40 million, which means that it will definitely turn a profit based on box office receipts alone. Expect pre-production on the sequel to begin immediately.
In contrast, the news for the remake of The A-Team was all bad. Not only did it manage an unimpressive $25 million debut, but it was made on a production budget of $110 million. This means that it would need to gross $220 million just to break even on box office sales. If the executive who greenlit this bomb is still working at Fox, he or she should perhaps start updating his or her résumé.
Two other movies are showing interesting trends at the box office, and those are The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Sex and the City 2. What's interesting is that while neither of these movies is exactly setting the domestic box office on fire, they are performing spectacularly well overseas. In addition to the ho-hum $72 million domestic take of Persia, it has also grossed a staggering $190 million in foreign markets for a worldwide total approaching $300 million. On the distaff side, Sex and the City 2 has proven to be a disappointment locally and may not even reach $100 million, but outside the US and Canada, the gals have hauled in an additional $132 million. This very much mirrors the behavior of the first film where a full 64% of its worldwide gross came from foreign markets.
As for the four movies that opened last week, none of them proved to have any holdover with each dropping about 50%. Splicers, however, dropped a full 60%, which is normal for a horror genre flick that fails to catch on with the larger audience. Shrek Forever After, meanwhile, was finally kicked out of the top spot after three weeks, but is still holding on relatively well, down a relatively modest 38% in its fourth weekend. However, next week's premiere of Toy Story 3 will change that dramatically as Shrek may lose many of the 3-D theaters it had in favor of the return of the old Pixar favorite.
Next week, in addition to the aforementioned Toy Story 3 comes the debut of the fourth comic book movie of the summer (after Kick-Ass, The Losers, and Iron Man), Jonah Hex. Josh Brolin stars as the disfigured bounty hunter cowboy from the American Old West. Megan Fox, recently fired from the Transformers franchise co-stars. We don't think the race will even be close between the two. The real story is how The Karate Kid will fare as the family audience undoubtedly flocks to see the return of Woody and Buzz Lightyear.
Also, in this lackluster summer, can Toy Story 3 muster enough muscle to secure an opening weekend in excess of $100 million? We'll find out next week at this time.
Here are the domestic box office actuals for the weekend of June 11-13, 2010:
|
Click here to see the box office chart for June 11-13, 2010...
|
Weekend Box Office - June 4-6, 2010 |
Written by US Townhall staff
|
Tuesday, 08 June 2010 00:35 |
Last week, we predicted that Shrek Forever After could hold on for a third week at the top even if it fell 40% because none of the four major releases being planned had guaranteed wide audience appeal. Almost exactly as we stated, Shrek did land in the winner's circle once again, with a drop that was close to what we thought. Falling 41.2% in its third week, Shrek Forever After managed almost $25.5 million at the box office, easily taking the top spot.
Among the four major new releases, none set the world on fire, but Get Him to the Greek proved to be the victor. Even better for its distributor, Universal Studios, is that, although Greek's $17.6 million take is relatively modest, the movie's production budget was only $40 million. Now, this means that the movie needs about $80 million just to break even, which this will not do, but it will still fare better than Ashton Kutcher's latest, Killers, which only openend with $15.8 million against a $75 million budget – this puts the film's breakeven at $150 millon, which it will not get anywhere near.
Kutcher is plugged into the center of Hollywood and seems to be everywhere, but his track record at the box office has not reflected the hype around him at all. No movie that he's ever been the star of has grossed more than $80 million domestically – this being 2008's What Happens in Vegas, which ended its domestic run at $80.3 million. However, it did do better overseas, which allowed it to amass a final global box office of about $220 million. The difference was that the concept and tone of Vegas was a lot more clear to audiences as compared to Killers, and Vegas has the added advantage of costing only $35 million to produce. This meant that Vegas was able to make back its production cost based only on its domestic box office.
The latest comic strip animal to leap to the big screen as a CGI adaptation, Marmaduke, came in below most other entries in this sub-genre such as the Garfield films or Alvin and the Chipmunks. Any sequel to Marmaduke is likely to go straight to video. Adrien Brody's scifi/horror flick, Splice, was dead on arrival and will not have a shot at the $60 million it would take to recoup its $30 million production budget.
Only two new releases next week, both remakes of stale concepts in a season overcrowded with such remakes and sequels: The A-Team and The Karate Kid. We wouldn't be surprised to see each one come in at over $20 million, but doubt either has any sort of real staying power. No, the box office won't really get the kick in the pants that it needs until the weekend of June 18-20 when Toy Story 3 –admittedly yet another sequel, but one that seems to be more highly anticipated – opens. Hopefully, this will prove to be the go-to movie for families that Shrek Forever After should have been.
Here are the domestic box office actuals for the weekend of June 4-6, 2010:
|
Click here to see the box office chart for June 4-6, 2010...
|
Weekend Box Office - May 28-31, 2010 |
Written by US Townhall staff
|
Monday, 31 May 2010 20:48 |
For the second time since the Summer Movie Season officially kicked off on May 7, none of the new releases took the top spot at the box office for the weekend. We waited an extra day to bring you the results due to the extended four day Memorial Day weekend, and now they're in. Shrek Forever After, despite being the weakest entry in the series in terms of audience attendance held on to first place with no problem from either of the two new releases, Prince of Persia or Sex and the City 2.
Sex and the City 2 was off noticeably from the opening of the first film in the franchise. Two years ago, Sex 1 opened with more than $57 million, and it did it in a standard 3-day weekend. Dropping 33% from the original does not bode well for the health of this franchise given the lack of high profile competition for female-oriented films at the theaters. The three other chick-flicks in the top 10, Letters to Juliet, Just Wright, and Date Night have all been in theaters at least 2 weekends prior to this, so clearly the first Sex and the City film was an event that is not going to be repeated this time around. Prince of Persia's debut was solid, but not spectacular, but as we stated last week, adaptations of video games into movies hasn't become the bankable formula that, say, comic books have.
Among other disappointments, MacGruber had the steepest drop in the top 10 in its second week, off a full 53% from its meager opening take. It will likely top out at $10 million for its entire box office run, about half of what it needed to make in order to recover its $10 million budget as the share of the box office that the studio takes, the so-called "rental fee," is only about 55% of the entire box office tally.
Four major new releases crowd the cinemas next weekend, but none of them seem to be particularly pungent: Get Him to the Greek (starring Russell Brand and Jonah Hill), Killers (Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl), Marmaduke (Marmaduke), and Splice (Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley). If Shrek holds well, it could possibly land at the top of the heap once again because even if it fell 40% from its three day take this weekend, it would still rake in over $26 million, and we're not sensing the general audience is on pins and needles awaiting any of the four new movies for next week.
Here are the Domesitc Box Office estimates for the weekend of May 28-31:
|
Read more...
|
Weekend Box Office - May 21-23, 2010 |
Written by US Townhall staff
|
Monday, 24 May 2010 00:00 |
Shrek looks as surprised as we were with this weekend's box office results. Although the fourth film in the franchise, Shrek Forever After (aka Shrek: The Final Chapter) easily took the top spot with an estimated domestic take of $71.3 million, it represents the lowest audience attendance in the series' history. Perhaps it was the mixed reaction people had to the third film coupled with the higher prices for the 3D showings, but the crowds failed to materialize in the numbers that everyone was expecting. It took in only 55% of what we were predicting in our last week's box office report.
The other new release, MacGruber, fared far worse, taking in only $4.1 million domestically – on the low side even for a Saturday Night Live spinoff feature film. It would seem that what works for a one minute series of sketches does not translate into a 90-minute event. Go figure. The one-joke premise of the sketches and the fact that it's a parody of a television series, MacGyver, that most people under 25 have never actually seen sealed its fate. Still, given that the film only cost $10 million to make, it should become profitable once all revenue streams are factored in such as DVD, pay-per-view, and cable. We don't see this turning a profit based solely on box office, however, because a $10 million film would need to take in about $20 million at the box office just to break even, and that's simply not in the cards for MacGyver's less talented son.
Among recent debuts, once again Date Night had the smallest drop and cleared the $90 million dollar hurdle. That last $10 million to make it an even $100 million might prove impossible, though. Other romantic comedies aren't doing nearly as well. The Back-Up Plan and Just Wright are proving to be misfires, while the jury is still out on Letters to Juliet. On the action front, Robin Hood lost about half its audience, and will likely not reach even $120 million domestically. However, the film is doing better overseas, particularly in Europe as expected. With Shrek Forever After taking many of the 3D screens away from fellow DreamWorks film How to Train Your Dragon, Dragon suffered its biggest hit and fell an enormous 63% from last week. This was the largest drop in the top 12.
Next week's highlights include Jake Gyllenhaal in the video game epic, The Prince of Persia. We're not quite sure what to make of this one as video game movies tend to be as iffy a proposition as a Saturday Night Live movie, but it and the Sex and the City sequel, another film that we feel is not a sure thing given that it takes place outside of the city and isn't quite the event that the first film was, are the only major releases next week. As we said in our report a few weeks ago, this is shaping up to be a blah summer overall.
Here are the estimates for Domestic Box Office for the weekend May 21-23, 2010:
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
|
Page 7 of 8 |
MORE INTERVIEWS...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
cast of The Apprentice 10 |
BATMAN film producer MICHAEL USLAN
|
• Sherri Shepherd
• Vanessa Minnillo
|
All My Children creator AGNES NIXON
|
Bronx Opera's BEN SPIERMAN
|
cast of Big Brother 12 |
BOBBY FLAY & STEVE ELLS of America's Next Great Restaurant |
Cast of the play Bridgeboy |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Library of American Comics' BRUCE CANWELL |
RYAN McPARTLIN & SARAH LANCASTER |
CRYSTAL CHAPPELL
• part 1: Guiding Light
• part 2: Days of Our Lives
|
soapcentral.com founder DAN KROLL |
DAN PARENT of Archie Comics |
DAVID LYONS of The Cape |
DEBBIE GIBSON & TIFFANY |
Author DEDE EMERSON of A Different Kind of Streetwalker |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BOB DOWLING of the 3D Entertainment Summit |
Indie filmmaker ELIANA UJUETA of Beneath the Rock |
comic book artist JAMAL IGLE |
Genesis Repertory's JAY MICHAELS, MARY MiCARI, & actors |
Oscar-winning actor JEREMY IRONS |
Animation historian JERRY BECK
• 1st interview
• 2nd interview
|
singer-songwriter JOSH GROBAN |
web series producer KAI SOREMEKUN of Chick
• 1st interview
• 2nd interview
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oscar-winning actress KATHY BATES of Harry's Law |
Television producer KENNETH JOHNSON of V, Bionic Woman, Incredible Hulk |
KYLE BORNHEIMER & HAYES MacARTHUR of Perfect Couples |
• Terrence Howard, René Balcer
• Dick Wolf, Alfred Molina, Alana de la Garza
|
publisher DAN HERMAN of Hermes Press |
COUNTESS LuANN de LESSEPS of The Real Housewives of New York City |
author MAX ALLAN COLLINS of Road to Perdition |
WWE Champion Mike "The MIz" Mizanin |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
JEFF HAYNE of Mill Creek Entertainment
• 1st interview
• 2nd interview
|
singer-actor NICK LACHEY |
supermodel NIKI TAYLOR talks The Celebrity Apprentice |
actor PAUL REISER of The Paul Reiser Show |
actor-producer RICKY GERVAIS of The Office |
actress-television host ROSIE O'DONNELL |
comic book writer STEVE NILES |
• Ian Anthony Dale, Nick Wauters
• Jason Ritter, Sarah Roemer, Blair Underwood, Željko Ivanek
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THORE SCHÖLERMANN & JO WEIL of Verbotene Liebe |
Peabody & Emmy award winning journalist TOM BROKAW |
Emmy award winning actor TOM PELPHREY of Guiding Light |
actors from The Apothecary Theatre Company |
TORI SPELLING & DEAN McDERMOTT of sTORIbook Weddings |
|
|
MORE FEATURES...
|