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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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2008-09-08
TV on DVD is at its peak for the year, just in time for the new season to start. However, because last season was cut short by the writers' strike, and so many studios are not taking that into account in the pricing, there are fewer releases at are contenders for DVD Pick of the Week. But we do have a worthy recipient of the award, Fist of Legend - Buy from Amazon, the latest release from Dragon Dynasty. Also, while the week was slow on top, it was busy overall, so much so that we had to split the week's list into two parts again. Part I can be found here.
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2007-12-02
It's the first of December. (At least it was when I was writing this intro the first time. I was only going to do a dozen or so releases, but the list ballooned well out of control.) This week kicks off our second annual Holiday Gift Guide with a look at some high definition releases, because nothing says holidays like a format war.
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2007-05-22
It's the first busy week of the month, and it won't get this busy again for the rest of summer. There is literally a hundred releases mentioned on this week's list, roughly half of which are coming out to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of John Wayne. However, while there were plenty of those releases coming out, it was another classic movie to win the DVD Pick of the Week. That classic film is The Third Man - Criterion Collection - 2-Disc Edition - Buy from Amazon.
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2006-07-29
There were not that many releases from this week's crop to chart, but it was a newcomer taking top spot as She's the Man lead both the rental and the sales chart this week. It earned $5.57 million after one week of rentals while the sales figures were not released as usual.
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2006-07-22
For the third weekend in a row, Failure to Launch topped the rental charts as it added $5.77 million over the week for a total of $25.18 million after three.
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2006-07-15
A near total lack of competition allowed Failure to Launch to remain in first place with $8.87 million over the week for a two-week total of $19.41 million.
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2006-07-08
Failure to Launch wasn't the only new DVD release to chart this week, but it was far and away the best. The film took first place with $10.42 million, which was nearly double its nearest competition.
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2004-11-01
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 Looney Tunes - Golden Collection, Volume Two - Buy from Amazon and Star Trek - The Complete Second Season - Buy from Amazon.
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2004-07-07
Tonight King Author opens in just a tad over 3000 theatres. And while there are some similarities to last years surprise hit, Pirates of the Caribbean, its future looks much less secure.
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2004-04-19
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.
It was a special edition that caught my eye this week, A League of Their Own - (Buy from Amazon) and it is my DVD pick of the week.
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2004-03-01
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of last nights Oscars was the lack of surprises. Even the sweep by Lord of the Rings: Return of the King wasn't that big of a shock.
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2004-02-29
The final results are in from our Predict the Academy Awards Competition, and Numbers readers are forecasting a Lord of the Rings sweep at the ceremony tonight.
A stunning 90% of voters are calling for Lord of the Rings to win Best Picture and Peter Jackson to win Best Director - some of the strongest predictions we've seen in the 7 years we've been running the poll.
The movie is also projected to win in every other category in which its nominated.
With no Rings stars nominated for acting awards though, some of the other results are still ripe for speculation.
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2004-02-23
The 10th Annual Screen Actor Guild Awards were handed out on Sunday, and there were a not a whole lost of surprises this year. At least not if you take the Golden Globe awards into consideration.
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2004-01-27
Nominations for the 76the Annual Academy Awards were announced today. As always, here is a list of the nominations, plus reactions below.
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2004-01-25
With the awards ceremony only hours away, here's one last look at the theatrical nominations for tonight's 61st annual Golden Globes awards.
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2004-01-18
On Thursday the 10th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards(R) Nominations were announced. Here is a list of all the nominations in theatrical categories as well as a brief reaction to them.
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2004-01-09
January is usually the time when studios dump movies that looked like a good idea on paper, but didn't pan out. This year looks like no exception as the two new movies are getting destroyed by the critics. In fact, the only film that looks capable of challenging Lord of the Rings: Return of the King for the lead is the wide expansion of Big Fish.
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2003-12-11
After surprising analysts at the box office this summer, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl has broken records at the home market. The Disney DVD sold 4 million combined VHS and DVD copies in just the first 24 hours, and went on to sell 11 million copies in its first week. That last figure is a record for most units sold in the first week for a live-action feature.
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2003-11-26
The Thanksgivings Long weekend is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year at the box office. And tonight there are four new movies opening competing for the holiday dollar.
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2003-11-11
ions made on Friday were beaten at the box office, (albeit mostly by very slim margins) but the one movie that failed to live up to predictions did so by such a large margin that it wiped out the gains of all the other movies. Even with The Matrix Revolutions under-performing, we still saw a huge increase from last weekend (up nearly 50%) but a much smaller increase from last year (up just 6%, roughly the average increase in ticket prices.)
Even lowered expectations after Wednesday's and Thursday's weak performance were too high as The Matrix Revolutions failed to crack the $50 million milestone for its opening weekend. The $48.5 million was just above Scary Movie 3's opening two weeks ago. Its three day weekend was barely more than half what The Matrix Reloaded made during its three day opening weekend, and The Matrix Revolutions earned almost 40% less during its first five days than The Matrix Reloaded earned in the first 4 days. It is important to keep in mind that this is still a good opening weekend, it's just not the massive hit most people were assuming it would be. But why didn't The Matrix Revolutions live up to expectations? It was mostly do to great expectations, when the film didn't break any new ground it was attacked. This led to very poor reviews and bad word of mouth. How well will it do for the rest of its run? It's a little too early to know for sure, but it will still be one of the biggest movies of the year. It will just be closer to X-Men 2 than Finding Nemo. And The Matrix Trilogy will go down in history as one of the most successful movie franchises of all time.
Elf could be the real story of the weekend. Costing just a fraction of The Matrix Revolutions, Elf earned $31.1 million for its opening weekend. Thus ensuring Christmas movies will open earlier and earlier each year till we're surrounded by the holiday all year long. Moving on … Elf's family friendly nature and excellent reviews should bode well for this movie's legs and it should top last year's early Christmas entry, The Santa Clause 2.
Brother Bear earned slightly more than prediction with $18.5 million, off just 4% from last weekend. However, it did have an extra day to earn that $18.5 million as it opened wide last weekend on Saturday, not Friday. Comparing this Saturday and Sunday to last Saturday and Sunday and we see a roughly 25% drop. Still good, but not spectacular given its target audience.
After earning $48 million during its opening weekend, Scary Movie 3 has struggled to reach the $100 million milestone. If it fails, it will be the only movie to open with $40 million or more that has failed to reach that mark. Fortunately for all those involved, it held up better during its third weekend than it did the previous weekend. $10.8 million is still a 46% drop, but it does all but guarantee $100 million at the box office. If not by next weekend, then it will earn it by the weekend after next.
Radio continues to show strong legs with $7.2 million. However, even with strong legs its total box office of $36 million is just above its production budget. Add in P&A and the theatres' cut and Sony will have to wait for strong home market sales before they see a profit.
Love Actually has sleeper hit written all over it. After a successful preview, it opened this weekend with $6.9 million, a bit higher than Sunday's Studio estimates. All this was done in fewer than 600 theatres to give the film a per screen average of just shy of $12,000. Love Actually should climb into the top five next week when its theatre count doubles. And the overall positive reviews should help it maintain its box office as we head into the holiday season.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl earned just over $600 thousand to surpass Star Wars: Attack of the Clones on the All-Time domestic charts.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-10-27
nd to close out October with records set for widest October opening, biggest opening weekend in October and best overall October box office. With all these box office records being set, it's no surprise the box office was up 14% from last week and 21% from last year.
It was no surprise that Scary Movie 3 won the weekend; it was a surprise how much it earned. $48.1 million dollars was not only well ahead of all predictions, it was also a record for the biggest opening weekend in October. It also broke the record for widest opening in October at 3,503 theatres. For this type of movie reviews are almost a non-issue; however, the PG-13 rating may have helped the overall box office by allowing more high-school males to get tickets. Budget information hasn't been released yet, but it is expected to be between the first two movies in the Scary Movie Trilogy, and even with a $25 million ad campaign Scary Movie 3 will show a profit by the end of next weekend. Needless to say, there is another sequel in the works, this time lampooning Super Heroes.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre also beat expectations, albeit by a much smaller margin. The $14.5 million earned in its second week was only a 47% drop at the box office, very good given the genre and advanced hype. It was also enough to push its total past $50 million and to start showing a profit for the studio.
The latest attempt by Cuba Gooding Jr. to regain acting legitimacy came in third place with $13.3 million, just below predictions. Reviews for Radio are not strong enough to erase the memory of Boat Trip, and were in fact weaker than the rest of the top ten at only 35% positive.
After a weaker than expected opening weekend, The Runaway Jury had a much better than expected second weekend. The courtroom drama lost less than 30% of its box office to land at $8.4 million and fourth place. This could be an indication of strong legs to come, but no amount of legs will allow the film to recover the estimated $80 million production / P&A budget.
For the second weekend in a row, Mystic River rounded out the top five. This time its box office was $7.8 million, down just 25%. Its box office total is now just shy of its production budget of $25 million.
If there is any accountability in the movie industry then the performance of Beyond Borders should cost someone their job. The budget for this movie has been estimated at anywhere from $50 to $70 million, but its first weekend it only made $2.1 million and failed to make the top ten. That's a per theatre average of just $1154, compare that to The Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl which made $1271 per theatre and it was in its 16th week of release. Reviews are going to be no help either; at just 16% positive it has the lowest number of positive review for any movie currently in wide release by nearly 20 percentage points. Paramount will be lucky to make back 10% of its investment before it hits the home market.
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2003-10-20
to October, the last two weekends have shown amazing growth especially when compared to last year. Overall the box office was up 4.5% from last week and an amazing 25% from last year.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre just missed becoming the second biggest opener in October as its $28.1 million was $1 million less than Sunday's estimates. Reviews for the film also suffered dropping to just 36% positive. With poor reviews, a weak internal multiplier, fanboy effect and the horrow genre The Texas Chainsaw Massacre will have trouble hitting $70 million. However, it only cost $13 million to make and even with an advertising budget closer to $30 million, this movie will make a profit during it's domestic run. Needless to say, there is a sequel in the works. But given how the sequels to the original performed, this is probably not a good idea.
Kill Bill: Volume 1 held up better than expected to walk away with $12.4 million and a second place finish. That's a drop of just 43.8%, not a bad result normally, and very good considering the rest of the year.
It turns out The Runaway Jury won't quite turnaround John Grisham Hollywood career. Its opening weekend of just $12.1 million was weak, and with reviews that were good, but not great, it probably won't have the legs to succeed.
The School of Rock added another $11.0 million to push its total past $50 million. It is now tracking ahead of Freaky Friday's weekend numbers, but with school kids in school its weekday numbers are really dragging it down.
Helped by great reviews, including 100% from the cream of the crop, Mystic River landed in fifth place with $10.4 million. But with a per theatre average of just $7,120 and the MPAA screener ban, that's probably not enough to make it a serious Oscar contender.
After doing well in its native country of Ireland, Veronica Guerin came crashing down this week. Opening in less than 500 theatres, it was only about to make $611 thousand or roughly $1300 per theatre. That was much lower than expect, and even the mediocre reviews don't explain it.
As expected, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl cross $300 million on Friday. It now sits behind Star Wars: Attack of the Clones on both the domestic and worldwide charts.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-10-17
remake of a 1973 horror classic, the return of John Grisham, the not quite wide release of a docu-drama and the expansion of last week's Per Theatre Average Chart topper. With so much new, the top five will mostly be new movies with holdovers only occupying a couple of places.
Having the best shot at top spot is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a remake of the 1973 movie of the same name. First of all, the advertising campaign claims that this movie is 'inspired' by a true story, which is overstating the facts. It is inspired by real life events in the same way Who Framed Roger Rabbit is inspired by real life events. Also, these crimes involved were also the inspiration for both Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs, both of which are superior movies. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is following in a long line of low budget horror movies released this year starting with Darkness Falls in January and with the most recent example, House of the Dead, opening just last week. The most successful of these movies this year was Freddy vs. Jason and Texas Chainsaw Massacre hopes to duplicate its success. And while it is opening in roughly the same number of theatres (3016 to 3014) and has roughly the same reviews (43% to 41%), it isn't opening at an as lucrative time of the year. So look for a $22 million opening.
In the early 90's John Grisham was one of the hottest Hollywood properties. Three of the first four movie based on his novels passed $100 million at the box office, with the fourth just missing that feat. But after that, the next three movies made just over $60 million combined. The Runaway Jury is the first John Grisham movie in over five years, and granted it won't break any personal bests for him in either reviews or box office. However, it should pull in $18 million during its opening weekend and have a total closer to the first four than the last three.
The School of Rock will continue its strong performance at the box office. It will drop to third in its third week adding another $11 million to its already impressive total.
With direct competition and the lack of opening weekend hype, Kill Bill: Volume 1 will drop a little more than 50% at the box office to just under $11 million.
Rounding out the top five is Mystic River, which expanded into over 1400 theaters on Wednesday. Reviews have been great for the film and its box office should jump up to $10 million. It will need another jump in its theatre count and continued success at the box office for it to become a serious Oscar contender.
The last movie opening in more than a few cities is Veronica Guerin. Opening in less than 500 theatres to moderately positive reviews it should earn around $3 million but may or may not make the top ten.
On final note, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl should cross $300 million this weekend. It will be only the second movie to do so this year, and the 16th all time.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-10-14
the-numbers.com/movies/2003/BADB2.php>Bad Boys II added another $16.1 million from 3,625 screen in 41 markets to push its international box office total to $64.3 million and worldwide total past $200 million. The sequel opened number one in an amazing 10 markets and is now just one week away from topping the original's total international box office of $75.6 million.
Despite playing on less than 1000 screens in just 14 markets, Finding Nemo earned $13.4 million and second place for the weekend. Nearly half the screens and more than 90% of its box office came from its first wide release in the U.K. Finding Nemo's international total now stands at $108.3 million with many more major openings to come.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen took in $13.0 million this week, which put its international total ahead of its domestic total, $68.7 million to $66.4 million. The results are still disappointing, but not the disaster they were domestically.
After seven weeks at number one, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl finished second last week. This week it dropped to fourth with just $6.1 million, roughly half of last week's figure. With no more major openings, it is unlikely the film will climb much higher on the all-time charts.
The final installment in the Spy Kids Trilogy has yet to open in most major markets, but it still earned $4.1 million and a fifth place finish last weekend. While the three movies earned an average of more than $100 million domestically, they didn't fare as well internationally. However, with $17.2 million in only 10 markets, Spy Kids 3D: Game Over should easily beat the previous two films' totals.
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2003-10-08
ne openings in Germany, France, Australia and Switzerland, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen won the international box office race this week. It earned a respectable $14.6 million on 3,327 screens over 34 markets. There's good news; another week like that and its international total will top its domestic box office. There's also bad news; that's still not enough to make the movie a success.
After an unbelievable seven weeks at the top of the international box office, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl dropped to second with $11.1 million on 4,608 screens. It has now passed $300 million internationally, the 23rd film to do so, and $600 million worldwide, 18th on that list. The next major milestone is only $10 million away when it becomes the 20th highest grossing movie on the international market, passing E.T..
Close behind Pirates was Bad Boys II with $10.8 million on 4,608 screens to push its international total to $43.5 million. In a couple of weeks it should hit $200 million worldwide.
American Pie: The Wedding opened in Italy over the weekend and easily took top place with $2.4 million. Its international box office of $6.7 million for the weekend was good enough for 4th place. It is edging closer to $100 million internationally and $200 million worldwide.
In fifth place was The Italian Job with $4.7 million, on only 1453 screens. It has yet to open in some major markets like Germany, so bigger weekends are yet to come.
Finding Nemo opened in an exclusive performance Leicester Odeon Square in London over the weekend pulling in nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Nemo Watch: International Edition kicks off into high gear next weekend when it opens wide in the U.K. Despite not opening in most major international markets the Pixar animated classic has already earned $95 million internationally.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-10-03
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl continues to lead the international box office despite dropping weekend totals. This week's take of $12.7 million was a significant drop from last week, but was still nearly double its nearest competitor. It was also enough to move the movie into 20th place on the all-time worldwide box office, ahead of Armageddon. It will still take a few more weeks to break $300 million internationally and $600 million worldwide.
The Italian Job stayed in second place with $6.5 million, nearly the same as last weekend. Its international take is now $28.2 million with several openings in large markets still to come. These include South Korea this weekend and Germany later in November.
A pair of number one openings in Asia helped S.W.A.T. to a weekend total of $4.6. It's still way too early in the game to tell where its final figure will land.
Four was the charm for Calendar Girls, which topped the U.K. box office in its fourth week of release there. The British comedy has only opened in a few countries but was still able to take fourth place internationally with $3.6 million. It opens stateside on December 19th.
Rounding out the top five was American Pie: The Wedding, also with $3.6 million. It's hard not to compare its run to the first two, and with more than 2 dozen openings still to come beating American Pie's $100 million internationally is almost guaranteed. Topping American Pie 2's $140 less assured, but still quite likely.
On a side note, Nemo Watch: International Edition will kick into high gear this weekend. Finding Nemo is being shown in previews in the U.K. this week before opening wide next weekend. We will then see a better picture on how the movie will compare to other hits this year and other animated movies from the past.
Submitted by: C.S.
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2003-09-25
in a row Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl finished first with $20.0 million. Its international total is now $270 million, second best for the year (behind The Matrix Reloaded's total of over $450 million.) Without any more major openings expect the weekly numbers to slow down. But $300 million by the end of September or shortly after is expected.
A number one opening in the U.K. helped propel The Italian Job into second place this weekend. $3.6 million earned there was more than half the $7.1 million international total this week. The Italian Job will need strong legs internationally to match its domestic run.
Three movies were in a virtual tie for third place with $4.2 million each. In third was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. A number one finish in Brazil and a second place opening in Australia led Bad Boys II into fourth place. While first place openings in Holland and Norway gave American Pie: The Wedding fifth place.
On an additional note, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines finished first in Italy this past weekend and by doing so it was able to open in first place in every market. That's quite a feat.
Submitted by: C.S.St
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2003-09-19
nd, I will not be talking like a Pirate for the entire story. Instead, I'll just point you to the official homepage of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. But before we got on with the real story, I will give you two pieces of advice. First, it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day and not International Dress Like a Pirate Day, if you show up to work wearing an eye-patch you are on your own. Second, despite how it sounds, 'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey' is not a dirty saying, however, that won't stop you from getting into trouble if you use it.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl has plenty to celebrate easily winning last weekend's international box office race with $29.7 million. That figure was earned partial through strong openings in markets like Greece and Australia. And partially through strong holdovers in markets like Germany and Italy. Worldwide total for the movie crossed $500 million and into 25th place on the all time chart.
Well back was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with $6.6 million. Results can only be described as solid, and while the international run will top its domestic performance, the price tag for the movie is too high for it to be called a success.
American Pie: The Wedding finished in a virtual tie with Bruce Almighty with $5.1 million. The last in the American Pie Trilogy will finish somewhere in between the first two movies domestically, but much closer to the first. Internationally it has been fairing better in many markets and could top the second's $131 million.
Meanwhile, Bruce Almighty's second first place finish in France propelled the movie to $5.1 million internationally for the weekend. Its international total is $212 million, and it has yet to open in Japan. It's already the highest grossing Jim Carrey movie of all time and its worldwide total could hit $500 million.
After a one week exclusive showing in London, Calendar Girls opened wide in the U.K. and pulled in most of its $2.7 million international haul there. It won't open stateside till December 19th.
In other news, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers passed Jurassic Park into fourth place on the all-time worldwide box office. Combined with the massive rental and sales in the home market and the outlook for Lord of the Rings: Return of the King is very impressive with $1 billion worldwide box office not out of the question.
Submitted by: The Dread Pirate C.S.Strowbridge
For to find out your own pirate name take the
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2003-09-16
disastrous performance, this week we have three movies that can all be described as a success to one degree or another. This led to a huge increase of 28% from last weekend, and a more modest increase of 2.6% from last year, all of which can be explained with increased ticket prices.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico cost just $30 million to make, half the average cost of a Hollywood movie but more than four times the combines production budgets of the first two movies in the El Mariachi trilogy. So it would be difficult for it to be as profitable at the box office. However, in just one weekend Once Upon a Time in Mexico earned nearly as much as the first two movies earned in their entire run. $23.4 million compared to $27.5 million. With solid reviews it will easily pay for its production costs domestically, and make a profit internationally.
Almost perfectly matching predictions was Matchstick Men with $13.1 million. With a stronger internal multiplier than the other movies opening this week, and stronger reviews, Matchstick Men should have better legs at the box office as well. This could lead to a final tally near or even north of $50 million.
Also performing close to expectations was Cabin Fever, which made $8.6 million during its opening weekend. Reviews started out strong, but as the weekend went on they started to drop, however, they managed to hold on to the 60% positive needed for an overall positive result. It will be interesting to see how it performs over the coming weeks, but it is safe to say the studio is already impressed.
So far, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star has had an interesting run. It started with an opening weekend win, albeit by the narrowest of margins, but then dropped to seventh place by Tuesday before finishing the week in sixth place. Normally, this will spell doom for a movie's chances in its second weekend. However, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star climbed nearly 400% from Thursday to Friday and lost less than 25% in its second weekend with $5.0 million. Now I don't have the demographics for this movie, but the numbers suggest the average movie goer seeing Dickie Roberts is going to identify less with David Spade, and more with his adoptive brother and sister. Such a young audience is surprising but could be the saving grace for the movie.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl did make $4.5 million at the box office, more than predicted, but finished one spot lower in fifth place. It is now in 18th on the All Time chart and should make it to 17th place after next weekend, overtaking The Empire Strikes Back.
Freaky Friday may not have made it into the top five, but it did earn $4 million this weekend to break the $100 million barrier. A very surprising result, especially when compared to its budget.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-09-12
ks since Open Range opened to positive reviews. At that was just one movie in an otherwise bad week. To find more than one movie opening wide to positive reviews you would have to go as far back as May 30th when Finding Nemo and The Italian Job were released. This week, all three wide releases are getting favorable reviews (and so are many limited releases, but more on that later.)
As for the actual box office predictions for the weekend, that's a little more confusing. During the past week four different movies finished first in the dailies.
The final installment in Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi trilogy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, has the widest opening this week and should finish first at the box office. The movie has a production budget more than four times the first two combined, but that's only $30 million (half what the average Hollywood movie costs.) Robert Rodriguez is a master of getting the most bang for his buck and a $20 million opening will be his reward. And with overall positive reviews it will easily have the legs to make a healthy profit for the studio.
From 1996 - 1997 Nicolas Cage had 3 $100 million dollar movies in a row, since then only one of his next 10 releases was able to cross that barrier. It's doubtful that Matchstick Men will be able to do that, but is should open to the tune of $13 million. And with it's reviews, which are overwhelmingly positive, should help him regain some his box office and critical clout lost in recent years.
The third wide release should open in third place. Cabin Fever, which opens in only a little more than 2000 theatres, should have similar box office results as 28 Days Later. Cabin Fever has a wider release, but weaker reviews and is opening at a weaker time of the year. An opening of $8 million and better legs than the genre usually allows will spell profit for the studio on this release.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl spent the mid-week in first or second place and looks to translate that into another top five finish this weekend. Another $4 million will take its domestic total past Home Alone and into 18th place on the all time chart.
In fifth place will be another Disney release with legs, Freaky Friday. With $3 million this weekend, it will be the 21st movie to make $100 million this year. However, unless Once Upon a Time in Mexico surprises it will be the last movie to do so till November when The Matrix Revolutions is released.
One movie you didn't see in the top five was Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. Despite finishing first last weekend, it had dropped to seventh by Tuesday and with three wide releases this week it's chances of sticking around the top five this week are minimal. And with even more movies opening next weekend, it should drop out of the top ten and that would tie a record.
There are also several limited releases opening this week: Lost in Translation, Dummy, Millennium Actress, Warrior of Light, So Close and all are getting positive reviews. Also, long time Per Theatre Average charter American Splendor expands into nearly 200 more theatres this weekend.
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2003-09-12
in Germany, Italy and others Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl easily won this week's international box office race with $38.5 million. This includes first place opening of $10.5 million in Germany, $4.2 million in Italy and excellent holdovers in other nations; it was in first place after five weeks in the U.K. Internationally it has earned $190 million international and over $100 million in Europe alone.
Well back were Bruce Almighty with $7.9 million, most of that from it's opening in France and American Pie: The Wedding with $7.0 million in still just a handful of markets.
Finding Nemo was fourth with $4.8 million helped by a strong holdover in Australia. The next big opening for Finding Nemo will be on October 10th in the U.K. After than we will have a better handle on where the movie will end up on international and worldwide charts.
Thanks to big openings in Spain and Hong Kong The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen made the top five with $4.5 million. Expect international performances to beat its domestic haul, but that will be too little, too late to save this production.
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2003-09-08
tarted much slower than predicted. Not only did the two new movies fail to deliver at the box office (or critically), none of the holdovers managed to perform well either. Not only was the weekend the weakest of the year so far, it was arguably the weakest in the past several years. The total box office was down 35% from last week and 7% from last year.
Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star was in a close battle to win top spot at the box office this week. It did come in a bit lower than expected with only $6.7 million, and with very poor reviews don't expect much more than that for the rest of its run. On the positive side, with a production budget believed to be under $20 million it could show a profit from the home market.
While a drop of 57% is massive no matter how you look at it, it wasn't as massive as predicted. Combined with the poor showing of the rest of the holdovers, that led to Jeepers Creepers 2 dropping only one spot to second place with $6.6 million.
With the best drop-off in the top five, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl climbed two places into the top three. Its 9th weekend grab of $5.3 million was also enough to vault it over The Matrix Reloaded into second place for the year and 19th on the all time chart.
Still one weekend away from the coveted $100 million club, Freaky Friday earned another $5.0 million at the box office.
S.W.A.T. managed one last weekend in the top five adding another $4.6 million to its total.
Both the early reviews and the box office for The Order were a little better than expected. Reviews were at one time at 28% positive, nothing to brag about, but not the complete disaster. However, they have since come down and are now at 10% including 0% from the Cream of the Crop. And its opening weekend take of $4.4 million is better than expected. But when compared to an estimated production budget of $35 million, a few hundred thousand more at the box office is essentially meaningless.
American Wedding dropped out of the top ten this week, but it was able to cross the $100 million mark. That's enough to cover the production budget and a bit of the advertising. Add in its international run, which has barely started, and you have a profitable performance.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-09-05
you than The Labor Day long weekend is the slowest long weekend of the year. The rest of September is traditionally the slowest time of the year. And this year it looks to break no traditions with only two marginal releases.
The box office should be led by Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, the latest David Spade movie. Reviews for Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star are almost twice as good as Spade's previous movie, Joe Dirt, but at 19% that's not much praise. Joe Dirt made $8 million during its opening weekend, but it opening in several hundred more theatres and during a more lucrative time at the box office. Better reviews and higher ticket prices will leave Dickie Roberts with the same opening weekend.
Many families saw movies last Monday to celebrate back to school, ok, the parents were celebrating while the children were mourning. I think a significant number will also go to movies this weekend as a treat for the children who survived the first week. This should help Freaky Friday maintain most of its box office. $6.5 million is good, but not quite good enough to cross $100 million this week.
Poor reviews, sequel effect, horror genre, post long weekend and the general ennui of 2003 will lead to a massive drop at the box office for Jeepers Creepers 2. Look for a drop just north of 60% for a weekend box office of $6 million.
Very few movies have shown real legs at the box office this year. So far this year's champion has to be Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl which, if my calculations are correct, will move up a spot on the charts for a second week in a row. Also, the $5.5 million earned will push it past The Matrix Reloaded into second place for the year.
Spending its last week in the top five will be Open Range. Another $5.0 million will increase its total past $50 million in four weeks. That may not seem like much compared to the $300 million Pirates of the Caribbean is shooting for, but it's the best Kevin Costner effort since Waterworld.
And that leads us to the second new release of the week, The Order. How bad are the prospects for The Order? Firstly, it wasn't screened for reviewers and that's never a good sign. Secondly, it has been bounced around to no less than four release dates, also not a good sign. And it underwent a name change after a disastrous preview screening in 2002. And now it has been dumped during the weakest time of the year in fewer than 2000 theatres. An opening weekend of only $4 million and a quick exit from theatres is the most likely result.
On a more positive note, American Wedding should break through the $100 million barrier this weekend. If it does it will be the 20th movie to do so this year, with Freaky Friday becoming 21st just a few days later. It's almost a lock that 2003 will set the record for most $100 million movies in a single year. With a couple of surprises we may even see 30 $100 million movies this year.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-09-03
the-numbers.com/movies/2003/PIRAT.php>Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl continues to perform well both domestically and internationally. This weekend its international box office was $20.5 million despite no major openings. Next week in a whole other story altogether, the swashbuckling flick opens in both Germany and Italy. Total worldwide take is over $400 million, with $500 million well within reach.
American Pie: The Wedding continues to amass large numbers in a small number of markets. Another $10.1 million was added to its international total this week in just six markets. The real surprise is how well the movie is holding onto its box-office with smaller than expected drops in most markets.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines cracked the $250 million mark internationally this weekend. With its nearly $150 million domestically Terminator 3 is now just a few hundred thousand from $400 million worldwide.
The international box office for Lara Croft: Cradle of Life is mediocre at best. In some markets is it performing well, but in most it is significantly below the original's performance. It did manage $7.2 million this week, but with only two more major international releases, its total will be disappointing.
$400 million worldwide is a popular number this week. Finding Nemo, or as I will refer to it, Finding Nemo: The Search for Nemo (It was the only movie in the top five without a colon in the name.) An international catch of $6.2 million pushed it past $400 million. More than 80% of its box office came from the record setting opening in Australia. However, after next week's release in Hungary there is a more than a month till its next release, October 10th in the U.K.
In other news, The Hulk managed to top $100 million internationally this week. That will allow the studio to save some face, but they still won't be happy with the results.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-09-03
r a long weekend, this Labor Day long weekend broke records for biggest opening weekend and highest total box office. It's no surprise that the three day total is up, albeit only 0.8% from last weekend, and the four day total is up approximately 9% from last year.
Jeepers Creepers 2 broke the record for best Labor Day weekend, a record that the original set in 2001. Despite reviews that were much worse than the original, Jeepers Creepers 2 made $15.3 million for the 3 day weekend and $18.4 million total.
As predicted, Freaky Friday was able to climb back into second place. The addition $9.2 million / $12.6 million puts the Disney remake roughly one week away from $100 million.
The next three movies were very close. In fact, their standing at the box office changes depending on if you count Monday or not.
S.W.A.T. did crack the $100 million mark this week, and did it with a better than expected $8.3 million / $10.8 million. That was good for 3rd / 4th depending on how many days you count.
Earning almost exactly what it was predicted to, Open Range nevertheless finished one place lower for the three day weekend and two places lower for the four day weekend. With a final tally of $8.1 million / $10.7 million it was just a rounding error behind S.W.A.T.
It seems than Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl benefited the most from the long weekend as its box office was up the most out of the top five (or the top ten for that matter.) Its $8 million for the 3 day weekend was good enough for fifth place. But add in Monday's figure and the total of $10.8 put it into third place.
And now for an update on the three other movies are trying for the $100 million club this weekend.
Charlie's Angels: Full throttle lost almost two thirds of its box office from last weekend, but that was still more than enough.
The Italian Job's expansion helped more than expected as the movie rose to 12th place with $3 million. Almost $1 million more than it needed to cross $100 million.
Seabiscuit needed the most money at the box office to make it. It also earned the most, hitting $100 million on Sunday.
Next on the list to cross $100 million? As I've already mentioned, Freaky Friday could do it next weekend, but American Wedding will probably beat it to that goal.
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2003-09-02
rs can't escape the California recall election.
For the second month running, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the proud owner of our most-visited actor page, pushing Viggo Mortensen into second place.
Mortensen had dominated our rankings for almost two years (and would make a great Governor of California, if you ask me...).
Rising stars among the actors: Colin Farrell (up 36 places to 6th in the chart); Brittany Murphy (up 20 to 9th), Kevin Costner (up 73 places to 12th) and Shia Labeouf (up 24 places to 19th).
Gigli boosted the page views for Ben Affleck (moving him up 24 places to 11th) and Jennifer Lopez (up 16 places to 41st).
We think the effect will be temporary.
See our complete popular people list
On the movie front, Pirates of the Caribbean continued its strong run, rising above Terminator 3 to top the charts.
Freddy vs. Jason slashed its way to number 2 in our chart, backed by some strong box office numbers.
Gigli was 4th, backed by just about the worst box office numbers anyone had ever seen (until Grind (18th in our rankings) came out).
Among future releases, The Battle of Shaker Heights has been getting surprising amounts of traffic and sits at number 8 in our chart.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (42nd) still generates the most long-term buzz, although Troy (37th) is also garnering a lot of interest.
See our complete popu
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2003-08-29
Labor Day long weekend is the slowest long weekend of the year. And this year looks to be no exception. Only one new movie is opening, however, The Italian Job is expanding to over 1900 theatres in a push to reach the $100 million milestone. Like last week, expect limited releases to get a boost from weak wide releases.
Finishing first will be no problem for Jeepers Creepers 2, the real question is whether it will beat the original. Earlier this summer it would have been a forgone conclusion that the sequel would open bigger, and drop faster, than the original. But lately that hasn't always been the case. Reviews for Jeepers Creepers 2 are bad, currently a little more than half what the original got. Added in sequel burn out and you get $13 million Friday to Sunday and $16 for the long weekend.
I know Freaky Friday finished fourth last week, but by Thursday it had risen to 2nd place. Add in the family friendly nature and this movie should benefit the most from the Labor Day long weekend. $8 million for Friday to Sunday and $10 million overall.
Coming in third for the third week in a row will be Open Range. Targeted at a more mature audience, this movie will also benefit more from the long weekend than other movies coming in virtual tie with Freaky Friday. $8 million for Friday to Sunday and $10 million overall.
S.W.A.T. has been in first place on the daily charts since Wednesday, but several other movies have been gaining on it during the week. So it will drop to fourth for the weekend, but the $7 million / $9 million it will earn will be enough to push it over the $100 million mark.
Returning to the top five after two weeks at number 6 is Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. At the beginning of the week it was more than $500 thousand out of top spot, but by Thursday it was only a little more than $100 thousand and comfortably in the top five. And even without a long weekend Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the black Peal had held up well at the box office. So expect it to do even better this weekend. $6 million Friday to Sunday and $8 million over the long weekend.
Three other movies are trying for the $100 million club this weekend.
After last weekend, Charlie's Angels: Full throttle had only $500,000 to reach the milestone, and even battle mid-week numbers would have cut that in half by Thursday. After taking into account the drop of 40% of its theatre count this weekend it should still make the grade by Monday.
The Italian Job is just a little more than $3 million away and this weekend it expands to over 1900 theatres. That gives it an outside shot at $100 million this weekend, but even if it just cuts the gap in half it should reach it by the end of next weekend.
Lastly, Seabiscuit has made more than $95 million, including more than $6 million last weekend. Giving its strong legs and the long weekend it has a very good chance at $100 million by Monday as well.
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2003-08-26
the international box office was Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. This weekend's total of $20.5 million also helped the Disney adventure movie pass the $100 million mark internationally. The total was earned with a number one opening in Russia and several low drop-offs in other key markets like the U.K. and France.
Continue to perform well in a limited number of markets was American Pie: The Wedding. The latest in the American Pie trilogy has only opened in 5 markets, but its weekend take of $12.3 million was good enough for second place.
Winding down its international run, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines finished third with $10 million. It is now just a couple of weeks from $250 million internationally and $400 million worldwide.
Also in international box office news, The Matrix Reloaded reached $450 million internationally. It will be interesting to see how well Finding Nemo can perform in comparison. We will know more after next weekend as Finding Nemo opens in Australia on the28th.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-08-22
=http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2003/FNEMO.php>Finding Nemo became the undisputed highest grossing animated movie of all time beating The Lion King total including its IMAX run. And that's not the only milestone Finding Nemo could beat this week. It is now less than $1 million from topping Forest Gump for eighth place overall. Also, each dollar it brings in increases the odds it will finish number one for the year. Right now it has a 1 to 2% chance of doing that. While its release is still four months away, I'd estimate The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King final tally will be $350 million, plus or minus $20 million. (And nearly double that internationally.)
There were other milestones that were crossed or will be crossed this week. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl crossed $250 million, only the third film to do that this year. And Spy Kids 3D will cross $100 million tonight, (it's currently only $500 thousand below that figure.)
Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle and The Italian Job are both widening their respective releases to try and hit $100 million. Charlie's Angels was about $4 million back of the milestone when the pushed started last week and it has since cut the gap in half. The Italian Job needs about the same and will expand next weekend. This strategy doesn't always work. Pearl Harbor was just $5 million back of $200 million when Disney tried to do the same, and it only managed to add an extra $3 million.
Onto other, more esoteric milestones, Chicago is less than $100 thousand from topping A Beautiful Mind. When it does, it will be in third place on the All Time Never Hit #1 Chart.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-08-20
the-numbers.com/movies/2003/PIRAT.php>Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl led the way internationally this week with four first place finishes in its four openings. Belgium, France, Holland and Spain all saw amazing premieres as the movie earned $24.1 million to raise its worldwide total past the $300 million mark. It is now just a few million away from entering the Top 100 Worldwide box office.
Meanwhile, Terminator 3 dropped to second place as it crossed the $200 million mark sometime during the mid-week. Its weekly totals are slowing down with $16.1 million this week. Also, it is quickly running out of major markets with only China and Italy to go.
American Pie: The Wedding, as American Wedding is known overseas, managed third place despite being released in just two markets. This week it earned $8.5 million in just the U.K. and Australia.
Finding Nemo has yet to create a major wave internally adding just $2.5 million for a total of $61 million. It will open in Australia on Aug 28, which should generate some impressive numbers. But even after that, major openings are few and far between till the Christmas season.
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2003-08-15
movies opening wide this week, and with such a crowded market at least two will bomb. And considering the dubious quality of the release, they could all fail to make much of an impact. With so many new openings I'm going to profile them first and then deal with the rest of the top five after.
Freddy vs. Jason - Ten years too late. The Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises are some of the longest lasting with a combines 17 films between them. But despite this they have less than $450 million domestic box office. That's less than Austin Powers has made in just 3 movies. Predictions for this movie go as high as $30 million, but that's more 10 of the previous films earned in their entire run. And the people who grew up with the franchises have grown up themselves and are unlikely to see another slasher movie. Reviews are about what you would expect, 33% overall and about half that for the cream of the crop. Look for about $15 million this weekend and about $35 million overall.
Uptown Girls - MGM misses again. This is the eighth movie released by MGM/UA this year, and so far only one has beaten expectations (Agent Cody Banks) and one other will be profitable (Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde.) Normally I'd give this movie an extra boost given it's target audience, but this year there has been several movies aimed at similar audiences from What a Girl Wants to The Lizzie McGuire Movie to the more recent How to Deal and Freaky Friday. Unfortunately for MGM, reviews are closer to How to Deal than Freaky Friday. And so will the box office. $10 million this week, but with better legs it could top Freddy vs. Jason's $35 million.
Open Range - The Best reviewed wide release of the week. In fact, its score of 77% is higher than the other three movies combined. Too bad it is also the smallest release of the four opening in just over 2000 theatres. Recently Kevin Costner movies haven't performed well at the box office, and chances are good reviews won't save this one. $8 million opening weekend and good word of mouth will be its only hope.
Grind - Worse reviews that Gigli? As I'm writing this Grind is currently sitting at only 8% positive, which's the same score as Gigli. However, even Gigli had one cream of the crop reviewer give it a positive review, the same can't be said for Grind. The only thing going for this movie is it is relatively unknown, so at least there's no negative buzz surrounding it. $5 million opening weekend before dropping out of theatres by September.
If I lived in Cleveland I'd be checking out American Splendor this weekend. Since I don't I'll see if any of the local theatres are playing Passionada. If not, well, I've got a pretty good DVD collection I could dip into.
Now on to the holdovers.
Repeating at top spot will be S.W.A.T., not due to its quality, just because there's so little competition this week. It will stop roughly 55%, but that still leaves $16 million, good enough for first place.
Freaky Friday will drop one spot to land in third. A weekend total of $14 million will raise its run to nearly $60 million. More than it cost to make and advertise.
Making one more appearance in the top 5 will be Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. It's just $100,000 from beating Bruce Almighty for third place this year. It is starting to slow down and the race for 2nd place is becoming more interesting. $9 million this weekend will leave it just short of the $250 million mark.
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2003-08-12
Friday's predictions, but the holdovers all fell faster than expected. This mixed result led the box office down 3.4% from last week and 2.3% from last year.
S.W.A.T. not only finished first, but did so with a much higher box office than predicted. An opening weekend of $37.1 million is pretty good for a movie budgeted at $70 million. However, weak reviews will probably mean its legs will be cut short. Still, if it does similar business internationally it should make a profit before it hits the home market.
Even after upping my prediction for Freaky Friday last Friday, it wasn't enough. The Disney remake earned an impressive $22.2 million on a production budget of just $26 million. (Although P&A budget could be more than the production budget.) Garnering some of the best reviews this summer, which was a bit of a surprise, and given its family friendly nature, this movie could have serious legs.
Dropping more than expected, but better than average was the last in the American Pie trilogy, American Wedding. Earning $15.5 million in its second weekend will make getting $100 million a little harder to come by, but still within reach.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl earned another $13.0 million this weekend, but probably won't overtake Bruce Almighty till next weekend, and not mid-week like I predicted.
Seabiscuit dropped a little more than expected, down to $12 million. With a total box office of nearly $70 million, breaking the $100 million mark could be possible, but it will have to show some serious legs to get there.
Barring a complete collapse of two of next week's four new openings Finding Nemo has spent it's last week in the top 10. And while it earned $2.5 million last weekend it is still a couple of weeks before it beats Forest Gump into 8th place.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-08-09
wide releases this week, one of which was already released on Wednesday. Reviews for both movies started out strong, but only one was able to hold on to the positive press.
This week sees the release of Colin Farrell's fourth of five movies this year. Each one will either bring him closer to superstardom or overexposure. And while it's almost a sure thing S.W.A.T. will finish first, it looks like this movie won't make Colin Farrell a superstar. Reviews started out strong, over 80% on Wednesday, but have now fallen to just over 50%, and they could fall farther as the weekend progresses. In the end $25 million for the weekend and a total take equal to its production budget are in the cards.
My prediction for Freaky Friday's Wednesday opening was right on the money with $6 million. However, my prediction that the reviews would take a drop was not. In fact, reviews have increased to 89%. Because of this I'm increasing my prediction for the weekend to $20 million.
After disappointing figures its first week, American Wedding will start to quickly drop down the list landing in third place this week. Its box office will be cut in half to just under $17 million, which is better than most this summer.
Its weekday numbers are tracking on par with last week, but Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl is starting to shed theatres so a slightly bigger drop-off than last week is in the cards. That still leaves Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl $15 million and just shy of Bruce Almighty. It should beat that movie sometime mid-week.
The battle for fifth place is too close to call at this point. Seabiscuit did have a miniscule 15% drop last week, but it also had a more than 20% increase in theatre count. And without a significant increase in theatres with week I see a much larger drop in box office, down to $13 million. That's the same number I see for Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. That would bring its three week total to $90 million, ahead of Spy Kids 2's total run.
Nemo Watch takes a break this week as there are no milestone that Finding Nemo is likely to cross this week. At least not on the domestic front.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-08-06
arkets, and winning all 12, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines grabbed an amazing $34 million over the weekend. Its international total is already at $139.5 million, just shy of the $143 million it has earned domestically. After winning the previous three weekends with relatively small number of prints, Terminator 3 release has expanded to 45 markets and 5800 prints.
Those figures were much higher than second place Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. The pirate movie made $7.9 million in just 8 markets including a number one finish in Mexico.
Finding Nemo crossed its first international milestone earning $3.9 million in 19 markets to pass $50 million. That may seem like a small figure, but Finding Nemo has yet to open in many major international markets including France, U.K., Australia, Germany and Japan.
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2003-08-04
ter than expected this week, however in most cases it was just a slight increase. And one of the movies that missed expectations really missed them. This led to an overall drop in the box office, 8.8% from last week and 7.7% from last year.
While American Wedding finished first, it didn't dominate the box office like predicted. $33.4 million is quite short of the predicted $42 million, but not bad for a movie that cost $50 - $60 million to make, (advertising not included.) Reviewers were quite kind to the movie giving it a 55%, just shy of the overall positive mark. But considering it's a sequel, longevity at the box office is still an issue.
To say Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over didn't live up to expectations would be unfair. Sure, it only made $19.5 million when I predicted $21 million. However, my prediction was higher than most and the drop was only 42%, much better than most movies this year. Nearly $69 million after two weeks is also a great success and it should become the highest grossing movie in the Spy Kids Trilogy.
Just 25 days into its run Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl crossed the $200 million dollar mark. That ties Titanic for 10th fastest to reach that milestone. It should beat X-Men 2 sometime this week to rise to fourth place for 2003.
Seabiscuit did better than expected dropping only 15% to $17.6 million. However, that was with an increase of nearly 22% in theatre count. Taking that into account it’s a Per Theatre average drop of a little more than 30%, still impressive. But it is most likely not impressive enough for its budget.
Bad Boys II did much better in its third week dropping only 42%. The movie earned $12.7 million and could beat the original's worldwide gross with just its domestic run.
Gigli did better than expected both critically and financially. That is not to say that it did well in either case, cause it didn't. I just had really, really low expectations. It got better ratings than Boat Trip and better box office than From Justin to Kelly. Both were mild surprises. However, 7% overall and 3% from the Cream of the Crop reviewers (which was much lower than the 10% Boat Trip received) and only $3.8 million at the box office were both incredibly low. This movie's final box office could end up being less than one tenth its total budget.
On a much happier note, Finding Nemo actually climbed a spot in its tenth week in release. It reached $320 million and now sits in 9th place all time.
Also on a happy note, Fox Searchlight expanded Bend it Like Beckham into more than 1000 theatres this week. This is almost twice its previous high of 555. It pulled in another $1.8 million the most it earned in a single weekend since Memorial Day and by the end of next weekend should cross $30 million.
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2003-08-01
g released this week and both are getting better reviews that I thought they would. Neither is getting good reviews, but they are higher than I thought they'd be.
A safe bet to take first place, American Wedding is the third feature in the American Pie trilogy. Reviews for this installment are surprisingly high, currently at 58%, just shy of the overall positive mark and just shy of the first film. Also, given it's a straight up comedy and not an action film I think it will get a bit of a boost. $42 million for its opening weekend and a profitable run.
Speaking of profitable runs, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over should do much better during its second weekend that most this year. It should earn another $21 million to raise its total take to $70 million in just two weeks. That's more than its total budget, but after taking the Theatres' share into account, it still has a few more weeks till the studio sees a profit.
Becoming the 5th film of 2003 to break $200 million, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl is looking at $16 million at the box office. At this point $250 million is looking like a sure thing. Can The Matrix Reloaded be overtaken, again?
Dropping the least this week will be Seabiscuit with $15 million. That's less than 30%, but still not enough given its high budget. The best the studio can hope for is some Oscar buzz when it's released to video.
Another 50% drop is in store for Bad Boys II. This will leave it with only $10 million at the box office and in fifth place. That's enough to cross the $100 million mark, but it won't beat its production budget.
Gigli has been getting a lot of press recently, and none of it good. Some are already calling it the worst movie of all time. Reviews are the worst for a widely reviewed movie this year, 4% overall and 0% from the Cream of the Crop reviewers. Most predictions have Gigli bombing at the box office, but I'm going to buck the trend and say it's going to bomb in epic proportions. We're talking bombing of From Justin to Kelly proportions. So bad Sony's stock will drop into negative numbers. So bad Miramax will push back Jersey Girl to some time in the next century. So bad the very fabric of space-time will be torn asunder. Ok, maybe not that bad, but it certainly won't be good. $3 million this week, less than $1 million the next and out on video by September.
On a happier note, Finding Nemo entered the Top Ten All-time Domestic Grosses this week. And it should pass Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by the end of the weekend. After that, there's a large gap to the next film, Forrest Gump.
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2003-07-29
n on the Per Theater average was evenly split between wide and limited releases. It was a limited release, Camp, that won the weekend with $54,294 in just 3 theatres at an average of $18,098.
While Camp won the weekend, what is more interesting is that Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl spent its third weekend on the list. It even beat Lara Croft' s opening Per Theater Average.
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2003-07-28
a shocker with only one movie acting as predicted. Overall, there were more positive surprises than negative ones with the top five all making more than $20 million at the box office. And this is reflected in the 5.7% growth from last week and the 4.2% growth from last year.
The end of the Spy Kids trilogy started off with a bang. Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over beat every prediction I saw earning an impressive $33.4 million in its opening weekend. That's very nearly double what the last one earned, and significantly above the original. Reviewers were not so kind giving it just below 50%. Weaker reviews, the fact that it's a sequel and the 3-D gimmick could lead to smaller legs, but $100 million is still an attainable goal.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl dropped more than I expected, but it still earned an impressive $23.1 million this weekend. That's just a 32% drop, better than Finding Nemo during its third weekend. It's too early to say it could top Finding Nemo, but Bruce Almighty is in danger of losing third place.
Bad Boys II managed to recover after really weak mid-week numbers. It only dropped 53% to $22.1 million. (It's a sad indictment of the movies when a 53% drop can be seen as doing good.)
On Friday when I said somewhere in Paramount there is someone asking, 'Is it too late to get our money back on Tomb Raider?' I had no idea it would be this bad. For a movie that cost nearly $100 million grabbing only $21.8 million is a bomb, plain and simple. And the news isn't getting any better, abysmal reviews and the sequel effect will lead to weaker legs and $50 million could be out of reach.
The only movie to get positive reviews finished in fifth place. Seabiscuit did beat my prediction with $20.9 million, but with a total budget of over $100 million it's going to need very long legs to show a profit.
Finding Nemo is finally showing signs of weakness at the box office. It earned $4.4 million in its ninth week of release, which was significantly below my prediction. And because of that it just missed making the top ten. It did beat The Lion King to become the highest grossing animated movie of all time (Not counting The Lion King's Imax run.) It should beat The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring tonight and move into the top ten of all time.
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2003-07-25
er three movie compete for the all-important opening weekend. This time we have two sequels and a biopic competing. However, only one movie has a real chance at taking the top spot.
Somewhere in Paramount there is someone asking, 'Is it too late to get our money back on Tomb Raider?' With a price tag the same as the first, but prospects that are much, much lower. No prediction I've seen has it matching the original's $47.7 million, and some even go as low as $30 million. I'd go that low too, especially considering some of the reviews. Any way you slice it, 25% is bad, but it's much higher than the orginal's 18%. Still, most moviegoers are wary of sequels so I think $33 million will be as good as it gets, and big drops will be in store for the coming weeks.
Staying in second and moving in on $200 million is Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. By Tuesday it had overtaken Bad Boys II for top spot and is tracking for another sub 30% loss. $26 million and a place in the Top 100 of All Time will happen this weekend. And it should make $200 million by the end of the next.
Bad Boys II has really fallen during the week. By Tuesday it was traking similar to Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, and that movie lost more than 60% during its second weekend. I don't think Bad Boys II will do quite so bad, but it will drop a lot. Just north of $20 million for the weekend and $100 million is now a safe bet.
The third installment in the Spy Kids trilogy is here. Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over is getting just average reviews and its 53% postive at Rotten Tomatoes is quite a drop from the first two. Kids movies should be more impervious to the sudden sequel adversion at the box office. But beating the last movie will be difficult. A slightly better opening at $19 million the first weekend is an improvement, but $75 million overall is a bit of a drop.
The last movie to open wide this week is Seabiscuit. Opening in less than 2000 theatres will hurt its box office. But the reviews will not; 79% is the best-reviewed wide release of the week. The highest predictions are more than double the lowest, and I'd be more inclined to agree with the low end here. $12 million for the weekend and no come from behind finish here.
Lastly, the Finding Nemo watch continues. These weekend it will earn about $6 million, putting its total at nearly $314 million. That will make it the highest grossing animated movie of all time beating The Lion King. It will also put it ahead of The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and into the top ten of all time.
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2003-07-23
n few hits this year, with even fewer surprise hits. Sure, the fact that Finding Nemo is leading the box office race is a surprise to many, but the fact that it was a hit was almost guaranteed back when it was first announced
However, if you asked earlier in the year which movies would have a shot at $200 million almost nobody would have picked Pirates of the Caribbean. It was based on a ride at Disneyland, and the previous attempt to adapt a ride led to the bomb The Country Bears. And it was a pirate movie, the last pirate movie to do well at the box office was … does Muppet Treasure Island count? But after being in the theatres just two weekends it seems like $200 million is almost a sure bet. The real question is, how high can it go?
Just 13 days into its run it is the fifth highest grossing movie of the year, having just passed Anger Management. However, there's a large gap to get to X-Men 2 at $214 million. After 13 days, X-Men 2 had $155 million compared to the Pirates' $138 million, however, the Pirates are also pulling in more than twice the weekday numbers. And in its third weekend it should earn more than X-Men did on the same weekend. Looks like beating the mutants is just a matter of time.
And that might not be the end of the Pirates conquests.
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2003-07-23
/www.the-numbers.com/movies/2003/DTYPT.php>Dirty Pretty Things opened this week and led the Per Theatre Average, earning over $100,000 in just five theatres. The film directed by Stephen Frears had an average of $20,102, which was well ahead of the second place film.
Both the second and third place films have already earned mainstream success. At $14,602 Bad Boys II came in second and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl earned $10,132 in its second weekend in release.
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2003-07-21
ee wide releases was able to match predictions, however, better than expected performances from the holdovers helped the box office rise 3.65% from last weekend, and nearly 25% from last year.
Pulling in more in its first day than the original did its first weekend was Bad Boys II. Finishing first was expected, but the $46.5 million did beat expectations. Two factors make long term success doubtful. First, the reviews were bad at just 26%. Second, the movie is a sequel and recent history is pretty clear on how sequels do.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl second weekend was better than expected, with a smaller drop-off than even Finding Nemo. Pirates hauled in $34.o million, only 27% lower than last weekend. It broke the $100 million milestone in just 10 days and surpassed its production budget in just 12. Needless to say, there is a sequel in the works.
For the second week in a row The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has done better that expected. This has more to do with really low expectations than with a genuinely good showing at the box office. Its second weekend total was $10.2 million, down only 56%. While bad, is not the complete collapse predicted.
With Terminator 3 falling faster than predicted, Arnold Schwarzenegger seems destined to start a career in politics. In its third week it could only must $9.3 million. For a movie that cost between $170 to $200 million to make, that is unacceptable.
Also Finishing a little weaker than I predicted was British comedy Johnny English. Only making $9.1 million may seem like a disappointment, but the movie has already made more than $100 million overseas. So whatever it makes in its domestic run is icing on the cake. Reviews are quite a bit better than the other two openers, but at only 37% that's not much of a compliment.
Mandy Moore's latest movie earned less than half what her previous movie earned its opening weekend. Even assuming a budget south of $20 million, its initial take of just $5.8 million must be seen as a disappointment. And the reviews don't suggest better results in the weeks to come.
Not only did Finding Nemo crack the $300 million club and top Star Wars: Attack of the Clones it did it with $7.3 million, quite a bit more than the weekend's predictions. Up next for this summer's unstoppable movie, Independence Day, which it should beat mid-week and Return of the Jedi which it will beat by next weekend.
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2003-07-18
pening this week, only one is opening in more than 3000 theatres. It is getting the majority of the press and others will have to fight for the scraps.
Almost guaranteed to lead the box office, for one week anyway, is the sequel Bad Boys II. This is the widest release of the week at just under 3200 theatres, it is also the worst reviewed release of the week. Although it might switch with How to Deal before the weekend is over. The original made roughly $15 million during it's opening weekend and $65 million overall. Bad Boys II's opening will land right in the middle of those two figures. $40 million and a chance to become the first movie to open with more than $40 million to fail to make $100 million total box office.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl has a chance to do what no movie has done since Finding Nemo, not collapse on its second weekend of release. Word of mouth for this film is excellent and it should finish the weekend with $30 million.
The next three spots will be very close together.
Terminator 3 will finish third for the second week in a row with just over $10 million. While that's an improvement over last weekend's drop, it's still too high considering Terminator 3's price tag.
Rowan Atkinson has a huge following internationally, but that has never translated into domestic box office gold. Johnny English is the best reviewed new movie of the week, but at 42% that speaks more to the poor quality of its competition than its own strength. At 2,236, it also had the smallest release of the three wide releases. Johnny English has already made $100 million internationally, but it will have to settle for $10 million opening weekend and approximately $30 million overall.
How to Deal has a shade more theatres than Johnny English, and a tiny fraction better reviews at Rotten Tomatoes than Bad Boys II, (currently less than 0.4% better.) But it will have to settle for fifth place with just under $10 million. (I told you they were close.)
In other box office news, Finding Nemo will earn almost $6 million to top $300 million for its run. This will put it ahead of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and into 14th place. At this pace, a spot in the top ten is a real possibility.
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2003-07-15
e overall box office but the per theatre average as well was Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Its $14,265 per theatre average was ahead of Northfork's $12,296. The only other film to top $10,000 was Swimming Pool ($10,617) in its second week in release.
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2003-07-14
ing us more than a few surprises, but so far most have not been pleasant. This week, surprisingly, both new movies opened above expectations and finished first and second at the box office. Overall, the box office hit $144 million, up nearly 6% from last week, and 0.43% from last year.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl not only finished first this weekend, but also did it with better than expected numbers. $46.6 million this weekend and $70.6 million since it opened is great news. However, it is unknown whether is can withstand the second weekend which has killed most movies this year. Solid reviews should help, but it's too early to tell, especially the way this year is going.
More than doubling my prediction was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Granted, my prediction was incredible low and $23.1 million is still not enough considering the film's production and advertising budgets. Review for The League are, in a word, aweful so expect a large drop-off for next weekend.
The fact that Terminator 3 didn’t drop 60% at the box office is a bit of good news given the most recent history. However, a second week draw of only $19.5 million is not what the studio was hoping for and could be the final push for Arnold Schwarzenegger needed to join politics.
Dropping to fourth was Legally blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde with $12 million. It's second week drop-off of 45.86% was just one third of one percent higher than the original's. Nevertheless, I doubt Legally Blonde 2 will have the same legs as the first.
With its $8.5 million, not only did Finding Nemo beat Home Alone this weekend, it also beat The Empire Strikes Back. It is now in 16th place on the All-Time chart. By the end of next weekend, Finding Nemo should pass $300 million.
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2003-07-11
to be a disappointing year at the box office. What is needed is a surprise hit to get people back into the theatres. And this weekend could give us that hit. This weekend could also give us the biggest bomb of the year.
After solidly beating predictions on Wednesday and maintaining strong numbers on Thursday, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl will easily finish first and do better than first predicted. On the negative side, since I published my predictions on Wednesday, its reviews have dropped from a high of 87% positive to 79%. This is still above all but a handful of movies this year. Again, I have a hard time believing Pirates of the Caribbean will beat Terminator 3. In its first two days, Pirates of the Caribbean has made just under $24 million. In its first two days, (not counting Tuesday's preview) T3 made just over $24 million. However, T3's Thursday numbers were helped out by the July 4th Holiday. Then again, Pirates of the Caribbean won't have a holiday to help it's weekend numbers. All in all, $42 million is the target for the movie this weekend, but good word of mouth could propel it past T3 and closer to $50 million.
In a summer of huge opening and fast drops, Terminator 3 hopes to buck that trend. However, its mid-week numbers have not been as strong as they needed to be. It is looking like it will lose nearly exactly 50%, dropping to $22 million. The saddest thing about it, is in this day and age that could be considered a strong performance.
Third place is another sequel, Legally blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, which is holding up better than T3. Thursday's box office was only 25% below T3. $14 million in its second week is a little better drop-off than the original's and could lead to a higher total box office.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has unmitigated disaster written all over it. Which is terrible to see, cause the Comic series it was loosely based on is excellent indeed. Changes were made to, 'improve marketability' and to satisfy star's egos and what you have left is, simply put, a mess. Unlike Pirates of the Caribbean, which was one of the best reviews movies of the year, The League is getting some of the worst. They are currently at only 18%, and much lower for the Cream of the Crop. This could be a disaster of The Avengers proportions. $10 million this week, $3 to $4 million next week, out of the top ten the week after.
Rounding out the top five is Finding Nemo. So far, every week Finding Nemo has hit some milestone, beat some record, etc. This week it's passing Home Alone into 17th place on the All-Time chart. Ok, it's not much, but it’s something. $8 million at the box office, and barring a complete collapse by either Legally Blonde 2 or the newcomer Johnny English, it will be it's last appearance in the top five. Seven weeks in the top five is very impression for the New Marketplace. (More on the New Marketplace later.)
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2003-07-10
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 there were a lot of new sites for smaller independent titles, as well as a lot of limited releases for this week. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
Bad Boys II
Current Content: No new issue, but a new was to check out the content, Virtual Miami. It adds a bit more flare to an already well done site.
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
Current Content: Opening night is a long time away, so it's not surprising there's very little content. So far just the synopsis, trailer and image gallery.
The Holy Land
Current Content: A very simple site, no animated transitions and no sound. And except for the trailer, it's just images and text. Despite the simple format, I found myself drawn into the site. It was a very interesting read, with not just the synopsis and cast and crew bios but with very extensive production notes and even more press.
The Haunted Mansion
Current Content: I liked the background music / sounds for this site. But the real draw for me was the concept art. The costumes were good, but the artwork for the mansion was incredible. There is also a synopsis, a trailer and a poster. But that was secondary to the concept art.
I Capture the Castle
Current Content: This is an otherwise good site marred by two problems. Firstly, it is another silent site. I wish more websites would incorporate sound into their site. Secondly, when I tried to watch the trailer none of the links worked. I was able to find the trailer elsewhere.
Dirty Pretty Things
Current Content: This site doesn't treat the movie like a movie. So while there's a synopsis and character bios, there's not mention of cast or crew or behind the scenes, etc. There is a trailer, but even that's is off-site. There's not much in the way of sound or animation, which is a shame.
Jeepers Creepers 2
Current Content: Flash site launched this week, and it's almost entirely multimedia. No synopsis, no cast and crew bios, no productions note, yet. There's even a section for characters and it's all clips from the movie. In fact, most of this site is clips. Changing between sections shows you a flash animated pseudo-clip, there's for other clips from the movie, and two trailers. Speaking of the trailers, is it me or does the teaser trailer show a more in-depth look at the movie than the full trailer? There is also an image gallery, storyboards and downloads.
Kilometer Zero
Current Content: Simple presentation with sparse content. There's a synopsis, trailer, crew and character bios, (but no cast bios), a short note from the directors and a list of theatres. There's no sound and just two animated gifs.
The League
Current Content: New opening menu with international sites is up. But so far only the two English sites are available. When this site first opened, I was very impressed. There's more content dealing with just the characters than most sites have total. Then there's the usual information, Synopsis, cast and crew bios, production notes, the teaser and full trailers and two TV spots. The updates on the Nautilus and Technology were a bit of a disappointment, but overall the sight is still good.
Northfork
Current Content: This site's use of a view-master in its presentation is imaginative. The site does have the necessary elements, (synopsis, trailer, cast and crew bios) and a couple of minor extras, (under populated chat room and a theatre finder.) However, there is little else; what it has is done well, it could just use a little more. Some background music and a sound effect for the view-master, for instance.
Open Range
Current Content: Low key, but not low tech. This site has background music, sound effects and animated transitions. So right away you have a good format, and a fitting style. The content is not bad, synopsis, trailer, cast and crew (no bios.) There's also an image gallery and some wallpapers and screensavers to download. Plus a couple more sections marked coming soon.
Passionade
Current Content: Another site with no background music, no sound effects and no animated links; it's just text and images. However, practically ever image is a link so the site is still engaging. Not only are the all the usual features here, but there's also a section on Fado, the style of music that features prominently in the movie. And there are several seafood recipes marked coming soon. I'll be paying extra attention for that update.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Current Content: Arr, after going to this site I was as happy as an old coat who's loaded to the gunwhales and off to crack Jenny's tea cup. Background music, sound effects, animated transitions, a game, what more could you want? Arr, so ye want some content. Aye, matey! How about synopsis, cast and crew bios, plus a very detailed production notes. So ye be sayin' tat ain't enough! Yeah be wantin' multimedia! There's a photo gallery and concept art. Not enough? Well there's two trailers, six clips and 5 behind the scenes segments. What! Now ye be demanding some booty as well. There's wallpapers, posters, buddy icons, screensavers and more! Still, lookin' to take what not be yers, ye scurvy dogs. Ye might as well set anchors away and haul wind, cause it will be cold enough in hell to freeze the balls off a Brass Monkey before I be tellin' you more. (Note: That last statement wasn't as dirty as you think. A brass monkey was a device used to keep canon balls neatly stacked near the canons. However, when the weather got cold the metal would contract causing the canon balls to fall off. Hence the phrase, 'Freezing the balls off a Brass Monkey.' And you thought it was dirty.) Which a review filled with that much Pirate Speak, it's no surprise it wins the Arrrrmorous Weekly Website Award.
Runaway Jury
Current Content: So far it's just the placeholder site. Cast and crew, (no bios) a two sentence synopsis and the trailer. It's not set to be released till mid-October, so the current lack of content is not surprising.
Sea Biscuit
Current Content: This could be a good site. Unfortunately, most of the content is still marked coming soon. The main attraction is 30 modules that have quotes and audio and / or video clips from the movie. It seems a little too haphazard for me, but as the rest of the site is added it might all come together.
Second Hand Lions
Current Content: The second Robert Duvall movie site reviewed this week, and for the most part it is a placeholder site. Trailer, gallery, poster, e-cards and a wallpaper to round out the content. There are a couple of extra touches. First, a lion will roar intermittently. Secondly, a bi-plane trailing smoke will fly across the site. The flash site should open when the release date draws near.
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2003-07-09
g the jump on the weekend by opening today. And if my bad Pirate talk didn't give it away, it's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. This movie is the second from Disney based on rides from their Theme Parks. The first, The Country Bears, did very poorly at the box office and that led many analysts, me included, to be very pessimistic about Pirates' chances. And the early ads did very little to sway those feelings.
However, later stages of the campaign showcased a good mix of action, FX and the most over-the-top performance from Johnny Depp I've ever seen. It was then that Pirates of the Caribbean started to look like it might be good. And the reviews are definitely agreeing with the latter sentiments. Currently it has an amazing 86% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. It is the best-reviewed major release since Finding Nemo. And the fourth best wide release of the year after 28 Days Later and X-Men 2, (Note: 28 Days later was a wide release at 1258 theatres, but not a major release.)
But what does this mean for Pirates of the Caribbean's chances at the box office? I have a hard time believing it could beat Terminator 3's performance last week, even with the stronger reviews. But it could come very close, $11 million for the day and $35 million for the weekend.
But the biggest impact could be on the International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Now off to the theatres! And handsomely now, ye scurvy dogs. Or ye'll meet the rope's end.
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