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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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News Stories About Daredevil
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2008-09-30
A much smaller list of films on this week's list. How small? It fit on one page. This is mainly for two reasons. One, I didn't get to the backlog of late arrivals. I hope to get a big chunk of them done for next week, but I have ten new releases to get through first. Secondly, the first of the summer monster hits came out this week, and Iron Man scared away a lot of the competition. Speaking of competition, there was quite a race for the DVD Pick of the Week with the Two-Disc Collector's Edition or Blu-ray release of Iron Man near the top of the list. As was the Judd Apatow Unrated Comedy Collection, also on Blu-ray. I couldn't decide which was better, so I'm giving the title of DVD Pick of the Week to both. Other contenders were Sports Night - The Complete Series 10th Anniversary Edition and Taxi to the Dark Side - Buy from Amazon, and Can't Hardly Wait, although the last one comes with a "Guilty Pleasure" warning.
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2004-11-29
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases and a few from the growing TV on DVD section, including the winners of the DVD Pick of the Week, Spider-Man 2 - Special Edition and Tru Calling - The Complete First Season - Buy from Amazon.
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2003-07-02
3 and it’s time to look at the state of the movie industry, and the news is decisively mixed. The overall box office is down approximately 1.5% while the average ticket price has increased more than 2.5%. And there’s no monster hit like last year’s Spider-Man. But despite this, so far in 2003 just the top ten movies represent almost 40% of the box office. (Up nearly 4 percentage points from last year.)
Good news is the dramatic increase in the number of $100, $200 million movies, and the number of $50 million openings. All are double what they were this time last year. Also good news, production budgets seem to be coming down, closer to 2001’s figures.
But even with lower average costs, of the 60 movies that received a wide release, only about half made more at the box office than it cost to make. Factor in P&A budgets and theatres’ share and only a handful will make a profit domestically.
Highest grossing movie by June 30th
2002: Spider-Man at $395,874,471.
2003: The Matrix Reloaded at $269,409,164.
Number of $200 million movies
2002: 2 (Spider-Man and Attack of the Clones)
2003: 4 (The Matrix Reloaded, Finding Nemo, Bruce Almighty, X2: X-Men United)
Number of additional $100 million movies
2002: 3 (Ice Age, Scooby-Doo, The Sum of All Fears)
2003: 6 (Anger Management, Bringing Down the House, 2 Fast 2 Furious, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Hulk, Daredevil)
Number of $50 million openings
2002: 3 (Spider-Man, Attack of the Clones, Scooby-Doo)
2003: 6 (The Matrix Reloaded, X2: X-Men United, Finding Nemo, Bruce Almighty, The Hulk, 2 Fast 2 Furious)
Submitted by: C.
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2003-03-29
mates, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was just $200,000 short of the $100 million mark, and will definitely cross it today. It is the first movie released in 2003 to reach that milestone, beating Daredevil in what was once a close race. Daredevil was more than $1 million short of that mark when the weekend started and it is shedding theatres fast. In fact, it lost more than half its theatre count in just one week. At this rate, it will take a couple more weeks to reach $100 million and Bringing Down the House will easily beat it to that mark. The unstoppable Steve Martin comedy is just $9 million short and should make it by Monday, twice as fast as either of the other two films.
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2003-03-10
ar since Steve Martin’s last movie was released and over three years since he last had a wide release. But it looks like that absence didn’t cause his fans to forget about him. Bringing Down the House brought in $31.1 million this weekend, a opening weekend record for both Steve Martin and his Co-Star Queen Latifah. This was much higher than almost anyone predicted and should lead to an increase in demand for everyone involved, especially Eugene Levy who has four movies being released this year.
The only other movie opening wide this week was Tears of the Sun staring Bruce Willis, which was in second place with a box office of $17 million. With a budget of $75 million (and almost 50% more for advertising) Sony has to be disappointed with this figure.
Still doing well after 3 weeks is Old
School. Just over $9 million this week raises its total past $50 million. Moving up a place to fourth was Chicago, now in its eleventh week. The multiple Oscar nominated film continues its impressive post nomination run adding almost $7 million to its total box office. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is still hanging in the top 5 and should reach $100 million, but probably not before Daredevil does.
Of note, last week’s winner Cradle 2 the Crave fell from first to sixth with an unbelievable 60% drop. We haven’t seen that kind of drop since Star Trek: Nemesis dropped 76%.
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2003-03-05
sorship Board has banned Daredevil citing, "violent content" and "Hero-worshipping someone with a devil-sounding name." While Daredevil can not be shown, Final Destination 2 is allowed despite its much more violent and gory nature. These overreaching and inconsistent rulings are drawing criticisms in the mostly Muslim country and calls for revamping Malaysia's Film Censorship Board’s procedure are being made.
Censorship is not a new problem in Malaysia. Prince of Egypt was banned for religious insensitivity and Schindler's List was banned when the Film Censorship Board called it Zionist Propaganda. And it’s not just movies. TV episodes, music videos and even commercials featuring the stars like Brad Pitt and Jennifer Love Hewitt have been banned.
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2003-03-03
/www.the-numbers.com/movies/2003/CRGRV.php>Cradle 2 the Grave was the only movie to open wide and it won the weekend race with little difficulty. The Jet Li and DMX action movie made a more than respectable $16.5 million. However, Jet Li’s movies tend to open well and crash quickly afterwards. Cradle 2 the Grave could prove to be an exception, but we’ll have to wait another week before that could be judged.
With only one film opening wide this week the real winners were last weeks’ holdovers. Starting with Old School which held on to second spot with $14.0 million, a drop of less than 20% from last week. An amazingly small drop-off considering the genre. Old School could beat director Todd Phillips’s previous best box office, which was with Road Trip at just shy of $70 million.
Daredevil didn’t fare so well as it dropped from first to third while losing 38.5% of its second weekend box office. While this was the largest drop in the top 10 it is still much better than last week’s 55% drop. This should help Daredevil cross the $100 million mark before its run is over.
In fourth place is the Romantic Comedy that Wouldn’t Die, also known as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. This week it made a little over $10 million, only an 11.5% drop. So far this movie has had amazing legs and should cross the $100 million mark, possibly before Daredevil does. Next week it could still be hanging on in the top five, which is bad, 'cause typing How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days over and over again is giving me carpal tunnel syndrome.
Still in fifth place 10 weeks into its run is Chicago with only a tiny 5% drop from last week. Chicago beat $100 million this weekend and should beat Rocky Horror Picture Show for third place on the all time box office list for Musicals. Grease will likely remain first on that list with over $188 million.
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2003-03-02
X Warner Bros. actioner Cradle 2 the Grave lept its way to #1 this weekend, grossing a relatively mild $17.1 million opening weekend for a not-bad per screen average of $6,520.
In second place is DreamWorks' comedy Old School. The comedy had good word-of-mouth and dropped only 20% to gross $13.8 million from 2,742 cinemas. In two weekends it has grossed an excellent $37.2 million.
In third place is Fox's Daredevil. After freefalling a massive 55% last weekend, the Man Without Fear recovered only slightly this weeking, falling 39% to a gross of $11 million. The superhero flick has grossed a lower-than-expected $84.1 million in three weekends.
In fourth place is Paramount's rom-com How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The film is showing some terrific legs, falling only 12% from last weekend for a gross of $10.1 million. It has amassed $77.5 million in four weekends, surely excellent news for Paramount.
And sitting pretty at #5 is Miramax's Chicago. The 13-times-Oscar-nominated film gross $8.1 million, a drop of only 1.4% from last weekend.
The Top 10 looked like this this weekend...
1. Cradle 2 the Grave ($17.1 million)
2. Old School ($13.8 million)
3. Daredevil ($11 million)
4. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days ($10.1 million)
5. Chicago ($8.1 million)
6. The Jungle Book 2 ($6.7 million)
7. Shanghai Knights ($4.8 million)
8. The Life of David Gale ($4.3 million)
9. Gods and Generals ($2.7 million)
10. The Rec
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2003-02-24
the-numbers.com/movies/2003/DARED.php>Daredevil was only able to grab $18.5 million during its second week at the box office, good enough for first place. However, the loss of 55% was greater than expected. Fox claims this loss was due in part to post-holiday weekend slumps. However, Presidents’ Day is not a big holiday for movies and the snowstorm that hit the Northeast lessened its effect even more. If Daredevil doesn’t rebound next week with a lose of less than 40% it will have a very difficult time crossing the $100 million mark. Making it the first movie to make $40 million on its opening weekend to fail to hit that milestone.
In second place, making $17.5 million (exactly what I predicted) was Old School. This teen comedy staring 30 year olds got surprisingly great reviews. It was the only movie opening wide last week that got an overall fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Also living up to predictions was How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days with $11.6 million for third place. In fourth was Jungle Book 2 which only dropped 24% from its first weekend. A phenomenon which can be entirely explained by the complete lack of competition for its target audience, a trend that will continue till March 21st when Piglet’s Big Movie is released. Just behind in fifth place was Chicago with $8.2 million. Chicago should hit the $100 million mark next weekend.
As for the rest of the new releases, none made much of an impact at the box office. The Life of David Gale just failed to make the top 5 with $7 million. Gods and Generals made slightly more than predicted, but still not enough. Its production and advertising budget was nearly $90 million, so less than $5 million during it’s opening weekend has to been seen as a huge disappointment. And sitting in 9th place with less than $4 million is Dark Blue, which I predicted would make more than twice as much.
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2003-02-21
entrants into the box office race this weekend, but don’t expect any of the to challenge Daredevil for the top spot. Even a 50% drop would leave DD with a box office of more than $20 million. With no real competition that should be enough to win.
The widest opening this weekend is for the frat comedy Old School starring Will Farrell, Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn. None of who are big box office draws. Better than expected reviews could help out, although the target audience for these movies generally don’t read reviews. Expect similar numbers to other comedies of a similar maturity level. Almost 2,700 theatres and a predicted $6,500 per theatre for a total of $17.5 million.
Battling for third will be How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Dark Blue with Kurt Russell. Kurt hasn’t stared in a big hit since Stargate, and with an ad campaign that wasn’t aggressive enough and less than 2,200 theatres he’ll have to wait even longer. Dark Blue will lose a close race for 3rd with both movies getting between $11 and $12 million.
Chicago is still picking up theatres, but will start to lose box office, but slowly for the next couple of weeks. $10 million and 5th place is reasonably safe bet.
The Life of David Gale at 2,000 theatres and Gods and Generals at 1,500 theatres are the only other movies opening wide this weekend. But with such low theatre counts and generally awful reviews they will not factor in the top 5. In fact, Gods and Generals might not factor in the top 10.
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2003-02-19
.the-numbers.com/movies/2003/DARED.php">Daredevil easily won the Presidents’ Day weekend race with a four day total of $45 million, just a little higher than most predictions. However, its Friday to Sunday internal multiplier was only 2.63 and low Cinemascores suggests that Daredevil won’t have the legs fellow Marvel comic book creation Spider-Man had. It will probably end up with a final box office of $100 to $125 million.
The Jungle Book 2 came in 4th with $14 million, in line with recent Disney sequels like Return to Neverland. Similar opening weekends suggest The Jungle Book 2 should finish with a box office just shy of $50. But it will do better business with home video market than it did in the theatres.
Notable holdovers this week include How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which couldn’t maintain its Valentine day boost, but still only lost 21% compared to last weekend. Buoyed by the Oscar buzz, Chicago’s box office increased this week by nearly 18% for a total so far of more than $80 million. But that increase can be entirely attributed to the increase in Chicago’s theatre count as its per theatre average dropped a few percent. Rounding out the top 5 was Shanghai Knights, which lost nearly 43% from its debut last week. That’s quite steep and doesn’t bode well for its long-term box office success.
It does appear that, for the most part, any increase in box office due to the long weekend was nullified by the blizzard conditions in the North East.
Submitted by: C.S.
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2003-02-15
ted Daredevil to break Hannibal’s record for highest February opening, which is good, cause it won’t. It will come closer than most experts predicted, (although here at The Numbers we’re closer than most) with more than $15.6 million on Friday alone. The only other movie opening wide on Friday was The Jungle Book 2, which pulled in $3 million.
The Oscar bump was barely noticeable as Chicago only made $4 million. A million more than last Friday but in 400+ more theatres, for a per theatre increase of only 10%. Other movies with multiple nominations got similar bumps, but most were so far down the list that it hardly mattered.
The real surprise for holdovers the weekend was How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which only dropped 10% from last Friday. Since opening weekends tend to be more frontloaded, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days could actually have a better the second weekend at the box office than their first. The other sophomore movies didn’t do so well. Deliver us From Eva lost a very respectable 33% but Shanghai Knights lost nearly 43%. Maybe The Tuxedo’s sluggish performance at the box office wasn’t Jennifer Love Hewitt’s fault after all.
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2003-01-30
ic Books are entering a new Golden Age. When X-Men was a hit in 2000 movie studios started snapping up every comic book property they could get their hands on. After since last years highest grossing domestic film, Spider-Man, is also based on a comic book, look for this trend to continue.
Upcoming Comic Book movies include:
Daredevil: Starring Ben Afleck, Jennifer Garner and Michael Clarke Duncan. In the Marvel Universe, Daredevil and Spider-Man live and work in the same city, but since the two licensing deals went to two different movie companies all references to one another had to be removed from the films. Opens in two weeks on February 14th.
X2: Sequel to X-Men, starring Patrick Stewart, Famke Jannsen, Anna Paquin, Alan Cumming, and many, many more. With a production schedule that was more flexible than the first movie’s, X2 should be bigger and better than the first. Release date is May 2nd, 2003.
The Hulk: Starring Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly and a whole lot of CGI. Variety reports that the F/X for The Hulk is expected to break new ground, although it is hard to imagine the F/X could beat Gollum from The Two Towers. Release date is June 20th, 2003.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: A comic book of a most unusual nature. Set in the late 19th century England and with a cast of characters from Sean Connery as Allan Quatermain to Shane West as Tom Sawyer this Alan Moore comic book could be the most unique comic book movie in a long time. Release date is July 11th, 2003.
Batman: We could write a weekly column dedicated to who is attached to direct Batman. This week it’s Memento director, Chris Nolan. Release date is to be announced.
Superman: This movie is playing musical directors like Batman, but with the lead actors as well. Josh Hartnett, Jude Law, Ashton Kutcher and Brendan Fraser are among the actors rumored to suit up as The Man of Steel. To Confuse matters more, some of the directors will only direct if their choice for Superman is cast. And Vice versa. The longer this soap-opera continues the more appealing it is to have Nicolas Cage star in the Kevin Smith scripted Superman.
Ghost Rider: Speaking of Nicolas Cage, he will be starring in Ghost Rider. Without only slight script problems, (The first draft was too violent for the PG-13 rating the studio was going for.) this movie should get underway shortly. Release date is also to be announced.
Danger Girls: Jessica Biel is rumored to be the front-runner to star in this adaptation of J. Scott Campbell’s independent comic. One of the hottest, if least punctual, independent comic books is based around an organization of female adventurers / super spies.
And there’s many more, including sequels to Spider-man and Blade II, remake of Barbarella the cross-over Batman vs. Superman, etc.
Note: As regular readers of The Numbers know, all release dates are subject to change, repeatedly.
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2003-01-04
r Daredevil is online at Apple.com.
Click here
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