News Stories About Basic UK Box Office Report 2003-06-25 ttp://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2003/MTRX2.php>Matrix Reloaded made its sensational debut in May, no one could really tell how far THIS rabbit hole would go. But it soon became clear that Reloaded was a big thing, Critics say it has dropped off to quickly in the US. Nonsense, reloaded has stuck in the top ten for 40 days. Thats a Long time for any flick to stay in that reigon, and its takings offshores are still strong despite the same stiff competition that knocked it off the US top rolling out across the world. But reloaded is set to stop at around 720-740 Million, depending on US performance in the months to come. "2 Fast 2 Furious" furiously smashed in at number one in the uk after extensive advertising. It took $2.7 Million($4.5 Million) for its first weekend, but Reloaded only took 660k. But with a healthy $30 Million ($50.5 Million) from the UK alone in its bank, And no sign of slipping to let the nearest rival, Identity, overtake it, Reloaded should stay in the top three for a few weeks yet. But Identity has started out strong, knocking Anger Management down to fourth. The movie has opened to brilliant reviews and good buzz, being likened to intellegent hits like "The Usual Suspects" it did take a fairly healthy $51 Million in the us, enough to cover its budget. But the main competition for all, sure to crush the other grosses, its the mega-hyped and Uber advertised "Bruce Almighty" which hits cinemas this friday in the UK. With three weeks of pre-release advertising under its belt, Bruce is sure to demolish the box office competition, In previews alone in limited theartres this weekend, it took an astonishing $1.8 Million($2.9 Million). The hit comedy looks like its legs will be challenged too, with Charlies Angels 2 making its debut the week after Bruce's release, it will just show how Mighty he is. One things a dead cert, 2 Fast wont be Furious enough to fight of Bruce and The Angels, its expected to drop to fourth when Bruce is released. Reloaded could make big dropoffs, but due to a surprisingly strong UK support base, its likely to fluctuate between 2-4th positions for a while. Elsewhere on the UK Charts, Igby Goes Down, the "Indie-Teen Movie Of The Year" rose a place, knocking X-2 down to 11th while it nestled into the top ten. And John Travolta's "Basic" debuted with an embarrasing £248k ($412k) Weekend, while a good figure for UK, the number was much lower than the millions expected, but the critics trashed the return of travolta, "Connie Nielsen is like a walking acting folio, she morphs her accent more than she blinks, and Travolta is totally outshone by Jackson" Bringing Down The House slipped three places in the charts. The Queen Latifah hit had not mirrored the huge success it enjoyed in the US, it is expected to close in the UK at around $5 Million.($8.3 Million) British Classical Diva, Charlotte Church's acting debut, "I'll Be There" is also opening soon, but reviews have been mixed, one speaking on Church-"Is worse than Madonna and makes you realise Britney wasnt that bad in Crossroads" and another on the same subject "Church is up to the role, it was written with her personality in mind, so the acting wasnt challenging, and it shows" Forthcoming UK Releases Summer 2003 Sure Hits: Bruce Almighty, Charlies Angels 2: Full Throttle, T3: Rise of The Machines, Legally Blonde 2*, Tomb Raider 2 Maybes: The Extraordinary Leauge Of Gentlemen, Hollywood Homicide, Bad Boys II, The Hulk, Spy Kids 3D Report Researched and Writ New Releases Open 1 - 2 - 3 2003-04-07 he first three places at the box office this weekend, while last weekend’s releases faired poorly in their second week. Box office was down, after climbing last week, and is now just a few million above the weakest it’s been all year. So far it has been a weak year for the movies. In first place was Phone Booth at $15.0 million, roughly in line with predictions. The Colin Farrell suspense film had very good reviews, but poor CinemaScores. Perhaps people didn’t know what to expect before they bought their tickets. Or perhaps the real-time format was too strange. Either way, this movie won’t have the legs the studio would like. But with a production budget of $10 - 12 million, I don’t think they’ll lose any sleep over it. What a Girl Wants came in second with $11.4 million, almost the same as Amanda Bynes’s first movie, Big Fat Liar. Reviews were not good, but the CinemaScores were excellent, getting an A+ among the target audience, and even more surprising were the good grades among men of all ages. So this movie should have legs, and $50 million should be a safe bet. A Man Apart rounds out the three wide releases with $11.0 million, not as much as the studios would have liked, but also not the disaster that it could have been. Dreadful reviews were offset but average CinemaScores, but don’t expect A Man Apart to make back its low production budget of $36 million. (Which is low by Hollywood standards.) Last week’s 1 - 2 comedy punch finished this week 4 - 5. Coming in fourth was Head of State with $8.6 million. That’s only a 36.5% drop, which is good, not great, but good. Bringing Down the House had its largest weekly drop, but that was still just a 33.4% drop to $8.3 million. That was good enough for fifth place and $111 million total. The other two movies that opened last week didn’t fair so well this week. The Core lost just shy of 50% and Basic lost a little more than 53%. With only one movie opening wide next week, one or both could remain in the top ten next weekend. But that’s not a guarantee. The only other movie to open in more than a few cities was DysFunKtional Family. The Eddie Griffin stand-up comedy movie tanked, managing only $1 million. Much less than most analysts predicted. Submitted by: Head of State the Head of the Class 2003-03-31 LEFT"> Buy this poster at AllPosters.com Head of State and Bringing Down the House battled for top stop at the box office this weekend, while the two other new releases faired poorly. Head of State came in first with $13.5 million, a good figure when you consider its relatively small budget and the small number of theatres it was playing in. With reasonable CinemaScores, this film should have reasonable legs - nothing amazing, but enough to make the studio heads happy. Chris Rock’s first attempt at directing has done significantly better than most analysts predicted and should lead to more opportunities to direct in the future. Bringing Down the House failed to become the first film to win the weekend for weeks in a row since The Fellowship of the Ring. However, it was able to squeak over the $100 million mark by mere thousands. It is only the second film release this year to do so, after How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days did it on Saturday. And it reached the mark in less than half the time. The Core came in third with only $12.0 million, which is nothing short of a disaster. Its estimated $70 million production and $30 million Print and Advertising budgets means this movie will end up costing Paramount a bundle. This movie failed to live up to analysts' predictions and its chances of sticking around in the top ten for more than one more week are minimal. Also failing to live up to expectations was Basic, which could only muster $11.5 million. While cheaper than The Core, it still won't see a profit. In fact, after factoring in the exhibitor's share, the domestic box office probably won't cover John Travolta's salary. Expect Basic to lose more than half its box office next weekend before dropping out of the top ten. Chicago re-entered the top 5 after its big win at the Oscars last week. Its box office climbed slightly to $7.2 million due in part to the increase in theatre count. However, it only increased by about 150 theatres, not the 300 - 400 predicted after its 6 Oscar wins last Sunday. With two of the three openers this week ready for a collapse at the box office, and none of next week's opening films creating much of a buzz, Chicago could stay in the top five for another week. Submitted by:	Early Friday Results Show Tight Race 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. Submitted by:
The Core Ready for Weekend Win? 2003-03-28 BLE ALIGN="LEFT">
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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
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

Movie	Theaters	Distributor
What a Girl Wants	2,600	Warner Bros.
Phone Booth	2,500	Fox Searchlight
Man Apart, A	2,400	New Line
DysFunkTional Family	600	Miramax
Cowboy Bebop	19	Destination/Gold Circle
Guys, The	15	Focus Features
Good Thief, The	6	Fox Searchlight
Cet Amour-La (That Love)	2	New Yorker
Waiting for Happiness (Heremakono)	1	New Yorker
Under the Skin of the City (Zie-e Poost-e Shahr)	1	Magnolia

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Movie Websites Launches for March 20 - March 26

2003-03-26

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. This week no site stuck out and screamed, ‘Give me an award!’ They either didn’t have enough information, or didn’t format the information well, or just didn’t strike me as special. I was tempted to simply not give an award this week, but I instead gave it to the best of the rest, so to speak. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details, please.

Assassination Tango
Current Content: Not much here to see, just the bare basics (Synopsis, trailer, etc.) Granted, there might not be a lot of their target audience in cyber-space. But the website still could have been much more engaging


Basic
Current Content: The flash site has a long intro that hits most of the points the trailer does. After that, too much of the focus is on the making of the movie instead of trying to sell the movie. The flash site only has the trailer, while the regular site have the trailer, a photo gallery and six preview scenes. Why these six specific scenes where chosen is a bit of a mystery as they weren’t particularly intriguing. A minor annoyance was the way the buttons expanded on the flash site. If you move from right to left the expanding and contracting buttons become a hindrance.


The Core
Current Content: Quite a lot of information, with all the usual suspects present (Synopsis, Trailer, Cast and Crew Bios, etc.) However, the user interface seems to be based more on ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if …’ rather than what would make a better website. Also, the website would have been a perfect place to explain the science behind the movie, as this is the biggest complaint given in the various reviews, previews, etc. I’ve seen. On the plus side, if you click the panic button you can play a game of pong.


Envy
Current Content: None. Just a placeholder image till the official site is activated later on. Look for an update here when it does.


Head of State
Current Content: Has a lot to offer, but for some reason never seems to come together as a cohesive whole. Which is too bad, cause if it did it would have won the Weekly Website Award. As it is, it’s still worth your time to watch the clips and interviews, read the synopsis and production notes, and make the old white people dance, etc.


Lara Craft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life
Current Content: The first movie’s site is now the new movie’s site. Just launched, there are more features marked ‘Coming Soon’ then there are currently on the site, but that’s a good thing as it will entice surfers to come back for more. Among the site more unusual features is a countdown to the release accurate to 1/1000th of a second. Hopefully my entertainment planning never needs that kind of precision. On a side note: The sign up form assumed I lived in the United States, and there was no way to change that.


The Lizzie McGuire Movie
Current Content: In addition to the synopsis and the trailer, this website now has a photo gallery, wallpaper and a music video of Why Not by Hillary Duff. There’s also a poster, but you need to agree to Term of Use to download it. I’ve never seen that before. There are more features marked, ‘Coming Soon.’ Not the best site I’ve reviewed, but has good content with no flaws. So it’s the winner of the Weekly Website Award.


Sweet Sixteen
Current Content: Simple site with a good layout. Includes a synopsis, trailer and cast and crew bios. Hopefully as the release date nears more information will be present, especially in the press and awards section.


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Bringing Down the House on Top: Part Three

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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Movie Website Launches for March 6 - March 12

2003-03-12

t week 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.

Basic
Current Content: Synopsis, Trailer and other Clips, Photo Gallery, and a Flash site with the previous features plus Cast and Crew Bios, production notes and wallpapers.


Bend It Like Beckham
Current Content: Synopsis, Trailer and other Clips, Cast and Crew Bios, Photo Gallery, Reviews, Theatre Finder, Message Board, E-Cards, Madlibs and a Psychic Soccerball. This week’s co-winner of the indescribable Weekly Website Award with Willard.


Charlie’s Angels 2: Full Throttle
Current Content: Synopsis, Teaser Trailer, Cast and Crew Bios, Photos and Behind the Scenes shots. Much more is labeled coming soon, including Flash Animation and Games.


The Hulk
Updated Content: Added a new Flash Intro and some more wallpaper to an already packed website with more to come as the release date nears.


Jet Lag
Current Content: Synopsis and cast and crew.


The Magdalene Sisters
Current Content: Synopsis and cast and crew.


My Baby’s Mama
Current Content: Synopsis and cast and crew.


Pokemon Heroes: Latias and Latios
Current Content: Synopsis and cast and crew.


Valentin
Current Content: Synopsis and cast and crew.


Willard
Updated Content: Synopsis, Trailer, Cast and Crew Bios, Production Notes, Photos and a Slideshow, Wallpaper, build your own wallpaper, AIM Icons, Poster, Screensavers, E-Cards and Rat Packs. There’s a Q&A section with the Rat Wrangler and other information of the trained rats in the movie. Also included is a music video of Crispin Glover singing Ben. It’s almost too surreal to watch, but you have to see it! Co-Winner of the Weekly Website Award with Bend it Like Beckham.


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Travolta’s Money Demands May Kill Career

2003-03-03

://www.the-numbers.com/people/JTRAV.html>John Travolta’s latest projects may never get off the ground due to unreal salary demands. Reportedly, Travolta demanded $23 million in salary plus $4 million in expenses to star in a Western called The Outlaws. After factoring in the theater’s take, the movie would have to gross approximately $50 million just to pay for Travolta’s salary. A feat 3 of his last four movies haven’t done (not counting his cameo in Goldmember.)

And this isn’t the first time Travolta’s made expensive demands to do a movie. During the filming of Basic he required 8 Armani T-shirts, at $350 a piece, per day. All because he refused to wear the same shirt twice, for religious reasons.

It’s been nearly 10 years since Pulp Fiction revived his career, but since then there has been few hits compared to the misses. With an average cost of $60 million per movie (not including marketing) and an average box office of a few million less than that. Factoring in adverting and the theatres’ cut of the box office and it’s a wonder John Travolta still gets any offers.

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