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Thursday, November 26, 2009
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2003-03-29
be the closest weekend in a long time as the top four films are within $600,000 of each other according to early estimates. Leading the way with $4.2 million is Head of State, with The Core ($3.8 million) Basic ($3.7 million) and Bringing Down the House ($3.6 million) all very close behind.
Consider two additional facts. First, holdovers tend to have much better internal multiplier than opening weekends. And second, last Friday Bringing Down the House was behind the first place movie (Dreamcatcher) by half a million before taking the weekend by over a million. So there is a very real chance Bringing Down the House could finish first for the fourth weekend in a row. Something that hasn’t happened since Fellowship of the Ring did it during the winter of 2001 – 2002.
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2003-03-28
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After 3 weeks of box office domination by an escapist comedy, an escapist adventure movie looks set to take over the box office crown.
The Core contains all the elements needed for box office success - special effects, heroism, tough but beautiful women, tough but sensitive men, and a story line that bears almost no relation to reality.
A popcorn-muncher's dream.
Movie theaters figured out this is the kind of entertainment people are looking for right now, and it's booked in 3,017 theaters this weekend, which should give it a strong opening.
Mission to Mars earned $22 million on its opening weekend in March, 2000 in 3,054 theaters, and I'm projecting a $20 million debut for The Core (add a little for ticket inflation, take a little for the generally depressed market at the moment).
Basic is the latest war movie to hit theaters, and looks headed for modest opening numbers, and terrible numbers in the weekends to follow.
I'm projecting a $13 million opening, and a rapid decline to follow.
The final wide release this weekend is the Chris Rock comedy Head of State, which will unspool in a fairly limited 2,151 theaters.
That suggests an opening of no more than $6 million, although it could get a minor boost from being a comedy - a genre that people seem to be seeking out at the moment.
Among the returning movies, Bringing Down the House should manage around $11 million, and take 3rd in the chart.
Dreamcatcher will drop sharply, to around $7 million, giving Chicago a shot at 4th place - it is running at around a 10% increase from last week right now, boosted by its Oscar wins, and should take close to $7 million over the weekend.
| Rank | Movie | Theaters | Change | Weeks in
Release | Distributor |
| 1 | Core, The | 3,017 | New | 1 | Paramount |
| 2 | Dreamcatcher | 2,945 | n/c | 2 | Warner Bros. |
| 3 | Bringing Down the House | 2,910 | +39 | 4 | Buena Vista |
| 4 | Basic | 2,876 | New | 1 | Sony |
| 5 | Agent Cody Banks | 2,786 | -583 | 3 | MGM |
| 6 | Chicago | 2,701 | +136 | 14 | Miramax |
| 7 | View from the Top, A | 2,508 | n/c | 2 | Miramax |
| 8 | Hunted, The (2003) | 2,244 | -273 | 3 | Paramount |
| 9 | Head of State | 2,151 | New | 1 | Dreamworks |
| 10 | Piglet's Big Movie | 2,084 | n/c | 2 | Buena Vista |
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| 44 | 1 + 1 = 11 | 18 | New | 1 | Eros |
| 52 | Assassination Tango | 7 | New | 1 | MGM/UA |
| 54 | Stevie | 4 | New | 1 | Lions Gate |
| 55 | Raising Victor Vargas | 2 | New | 1 | Gold Circle/IDP |
| 56 | Fellini: I’m a Born Liar (Fellini: Sono un Gran Bugiardo) | 1 | New | 1 | First Look |
| 57 | Unknown Pleasures (Ren Xiao Yao) | 1 | New | 1 | New Yorker |
| 58 | Good Old Naughty Days, The | 1 | New | 1 | Strand |
Estimated Theater Counts for Next Week's Openers
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2003-03-24
this year, a movie has finished first in the box office race three weekends in a row. Bringing Down the House racked up another $16.2 million to raise it’s total box office to an amazing $83 million in just three weeks. We’ll see this week if Steve Martin’s stint at hosting the Oscars will help give a bounce to the box office, but it’s hard to imagine it getting any better.
As predicted, in second place was the Stephen King adaptation, Dreamcatcher. It’s $15.0 million opening haul was better than predicted. However, it did have very poor reviews, low CineScores and a genre not known for its longevity at the theatres. So don’t expect too much more out of Dreamcatcher.
In third was Agent Cody Banks at $9.2 million, a drop of 34%. That’s only an average drop for a movie with Agent Cody Bank’s target audience. Better than Spy Kids, but not as good as Spy Kids 2. But with a budget much lower than either of those movies, it should still make the studios very happy.
Fourth place was snagged by the surprising View From the Top. Pulling in $7.0 million can’t be considered a success by any stretch of the imagination. But with its horrid reviews, it’s better than expected. But back to the bad news, View From the Top had awful reviews, a poor internal multiplier, weak CineScores, etc. It should drop faster than Dreamcatcher.
Deja view dominated fifth place as last week’s big military movie disappointment, The Hunted, became this week’s biggest drop-off with just $6.5 million. Just like last weekend when Tears of the Sun was the biggest drop-off after being the previous week’s big military movie disappointment. This should send the makers of Basic into full panic mode, as Basic will most likely be next week’s big military movie disappointment and the week after’s biggest drop-off.
Piglet’s Big Movie was only able to manage 7th place with $6.1 million. Stranger still is it’s lower than expected internal multiplier, especially for its target audience. This is also unusual given its great reviews and very high CineScores. We’ll have to wait till next week to see if this means Piglet’s Big Movie won’t have the legs of the other Disney reduxes.
Barely making the top ten was the fourth release of the week, Boat Trip at $3.8 million. That figure was a little less than predicted and with the audience reactions, don’t expect it to make much more during the rest of its run.
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2003-03-21
ovies are opening wide but will any of them unseat Bringing Down the House as box office champ?
The Contenders:
Dreamcatcher: Opening in nearly 3000 theatres, this Stephen King adaptation is the latest in a long line of Stephen King adaptations. And that’s a mixed blessing. For every Green Mile in Stephen King’s movie career there’s a Mangler. Dreamcatcher is not as bad as that, but its reviews are very poor so don’t look for this one to be a blockbuster. Dreamcatcher should do a little better than $11 million for its opening weekend.
Piglet’s Big Movie: Opening in just 2000 theatres, this Disney redux is the latest in a long line of Disney Reduxes. Follows in the footsteps of The Tigger Movie, Return to Neverland, The Jungle Book 2, etc. Reviews are almost immaterial (but quite good) considering how dependable these movies have been at the box office. Like those movies The Piglet Movie should make around $10 million in its opening weekend and about $50 million overall.
View From the Top: Opening in 2500 theatres … maybe. Miramax has just hours to delay the release of View From the Top for the seventh or eighth time; I’ve lost track. Officially it was delayed due to worries over whether the public was willing to laugh at the airline industry. Rumors were circulating that it was actually delayed cause it just wasn’t funny. And the reviews seem to support the second theory. Reviews are simply awful with Rotten Tomatoes currently showing only 8% fresh. Look for View From the Top to make a $5 million debut before disappearing quickly.
Boat Trip: Opening in just 1700 theatres, and for good reason. Reviews are on par with View From the Top, at only 9% of them positive. Oscar winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. is apparently trying to make people forget just how good of an actor he can be. Boat Trip will make about $4 million this weekend before sinking completely.
And the winner is…
Bringing Down the House: Should bring in another $15 million to become the first movie of 2003 to finish first three weeks in a row.
Agent Cody Banks should remain in the top five, and perhaps Chicago will join him there.
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2003-03-20
mic book adaptations made casting news recently and not all of it good.
Shortly after being reported that the competition for the role of Superman was down to just Brendan Fraser and Matthew Bomer it was reported that both were no longer in the running. So who is rumored to play Superman now? Cinescape reported it could be Henry Cavill, who starred in The Count of Monte Cristo. Maybe. What is known is director Brett Ratner is dropping out of the project to work on Rush Hour 3. He cited the casting troubles as one of the reasons for his decision. At this rate it may be smarter for Warner Bros. to take a play from Terry Gilliam and make a movie about making the Superman movie instead of the Superman movie itself.
The reports of a Spider-Man casting crisis were apparently exaggerated. Speculation was that Tobey Maguire’s back was too sore to return as Spider-Man. In his place Donnie Darko star Jake Gyllenhaal would take his place. However, as it turns out this rumor started when Tobey Maguire’s publicists simply stated her concern over the physical nature of Spider-Man 2 after just completing two physically demanding roles. The term, "mild discomfort" was used, so you can see why entertainment journalists assumed Tobey Maguire would be forced to drop out of the sequel to 2002’s biggest movie.
Thomas Jane, who can be seen starting this week in Dreamcatcher, may have slipped past Kurt Russell for the role as The Punisher. While promoting Dreamcatcher, Jane let it slip that he might have the role, however, later on when asked he said, "I've been told not to talk about it." Oops.
Lastly, Halle Berry has been very critical of her role as Storm in the X-Men movies. So much so that she has refused to participate in a third movie if there is one. (And there mostly likely will be.) So it comes as bit of a surprise that she is in talks to take on another comic book role, Catwoman. A movie based on the Batman nemesis has been in the works since Michelle Pfeiffer played the character in Batman Returns. Since then Ashley Judd and Nicole Kidman have been pegged to play the title character. If Berry does land the role she will be joining the likes of Lee Meriwether, Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-03-19
k promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here’s a list of highlights, plus one last look at websites for films opening this week. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
Boat Trip
Current Content: Very simple design that hasn’t changed since the site first launched. Includes just the basics (Synopsis, Trailer, Character Bios and Photo Gallery) with no real style to draw in surfers.
City of Ghosts
Current Content: The movie is still a month away, so the lack of extras beyond the synopsis and trailer isn’t unexpected. However, there are no hints at future additions to encourage surfers to come back at a later date.
Down and Out with the Dolls
Current Content: Opening in limited release this week, this site has both HTML and Flash versions with a lot of information about the movie, the cast and crew, news and reviews. Also there is the trailer and a music video by the band, The Paper Dolls. The flash site also includes an interactive tour of the Dollhouse that includes introductions to the characters and clips of some of the songs from the movie. Another example of a low budget movie making good use of internet promoting and winner of the unequalled Weekly Website Award.
Dreamcatcher
Updated Content: This website has already won The Weekly Website Award and while there is a little more revealed in the flash site it is not enough new content for a second win.
Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
Updated Content: I checked this site this morning and there was a new version up. I checked back this afternoon and the old version was back. Very strange. Which version is up when you read this is anyone’s guess. The new version looked like a school bulletin board with downloads, (movie poster and some wallpaper) a ‘live’ chat, a toilet cam, and a lot of spelling mistaktes.
Ghosts of the Abyss
Updated Content: Disney continues to roll out more content for this award winning site. Recently three more features were added: A tour of the Titanic, an interactive timeline and downloadable guide to the Titanic in .pdf format. And a few more sections are still marked coming soon.
Levity
Current Content: Flash Site starts with scenes from the robbery with happen 22 years before the events of the movie. Once the intro is done, there’s lots of information to read (synopsis, cast and crew bios, production notes and the director’s statement. Periodically images from the flash intro of the robbery reappear. While this is an interesting concept, it does make reading the text very difficult and disrupts the flow of an otherwise good site.
Piglet’s Big Movie
Current Content: A well designed site that should be fun to navigate for youngsters. Includes movie and character information, trailer, a music video and short clips of some of the movie’s songs. Also includes wallpapers and a game to play.
View from the Top
Current Content: Just a short synopsis, trailer and cast and crew, not even cast and crew bios, just the names. For a movie opening this week, there’s not much to entice surfers to go and see this movie.
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2003-03-10
he name, Dave Thomas most people immediately think of Doug McKenzie, his brother Bob and beer … Lots of beer. But for his latest movie he’s trading in his suds for scrubs. Dave Thomas is writing, directing and starring in the medical comedy, Whitecoats, currently being filmed in Edmonton, Alberta.
Dave Thomas plays the Chief of Medicine of St. Albert’s Hospital, a training hospital where interns work for their all-important third year. Joining him in the cast are comedian Dave Foley of Kids in the Hall and NewsRadio, SNL Alumni Dan Aykroyd, character actor Saul Rubinek whose work includes A Nero Wolfe Mystery and Fraiser plus many up and comers including Ingrid Kavelaars who can be seen in Dreamcatcher.
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2003-03-05
k promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here’s a list of highlights. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Current Content: Synopsis, Trailer and Clips, Images, Character Bios and Theatre Listings.
Dreamcatcher
Current Content: Synopsis, Trailer, Photo Gallery, Behind the Scenes photos, clips and journal, Cast and Crew Bios, Description of Native Dreamcatchers, and a Flash Site with is a little slow to navigate at times. Still, it wins the prestigious Weekly Web Site Award.
Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
Current Content: Teaser Trailer, Poster and Wallpaper.
Identity
New Content: In addition to a Synopsis and a Trailer a new Flash Site was launched which is high on style, but low on sanity. I like it.
Kill Bill
Content: Trailer, Flash Site with an Intro, Wallpapers, Web board, and Quotes.
Raising Victor Vargas
Current Content: Cast and Crew Bios, Stills, Wallpaper, E-Cards, Reviews and Articles.
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