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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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News Stories About Grind
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2004-01-27
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. If I were to pick just one DVD this week, it would without doubt be Time Bandits - (Buy from Amazon.) Or The Critic . Or both. Yeah, I'd have to pick both. But there are plenty of choices for everyone this week.
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2003-08-26
ses this week did significantly worse than expected, however, the holdovers didn't pick up the slack as they usually do. This led to a massive 31.5% drop from last weekend but a 12.2% increase from last year. An interesting note, the top four films this week remained in the same order as they did last weekend. I don't know when that last happened.
While Freddy vs. Jason did finish first, that's a small bit of good news in an otherwise terrible second week performance. It was only able to grab $13.2 million, well below most predictions, which resulting in a 64% drop-off. The biggest second week drop off for a number one movie since The Hulk, and second largest such drop overall. Next weekend when the similarly targeted movie Jeepers Creepers 2 opens could spell an even worse result.
Second place again went to S.W.A.T. with $10.6 million. $100 million by next week is the goal and there's talk of a new TV spin-off in the works.
Just missing predictions by a rounding error was Open Range which added $9.5 million to it's total. Unfortunately, this genre usually doesn't do well internationally and the studio will most likely have to wait till the home market to see a profit.
Freaky Friday was the only movie to outperform its predictions, albeit by only a few hundred thousand. The $9.3 million earned this week makes the movie very close to showing a profit after only 3 weeks of release.
The first of three new releases this week was The Medallion, which could only manage $8.1 million and fifth place at the box office. The Medallion had the best reviews of any wide release of the weekend, but at 20% it really doesn't mean much. Despite similar reviews and international performances as The Tuxedo this movie couldn't find an audience domestically. This probably means Jackie Chan needs to do something different in his next film. And Around the World in 80 Days does look different than the usual Jackie Chan movie.
Some analysts had My Boss's Daughter finish in the top five. However, not only did it miss the top five, like I predicted, it barely landed in the top 10. It could only grab $4.9 million in its opening weekend, which was only good enough for tenth place. It also had the lowest per theatre average in the top ten. This movie wasn't screened for the critics, and for good reason. My Boss's Daughter only managed a lowly 11% positive.
Getting the worst reveiws of the week was Marci X. This could be the movie that stops people from making fun of Gigli. That's how bad it did both at the box office and with the critics. It's apropos that I compared Marci X to Grind since Marci X finished in 17th place with less than $900 thousand and Grind finished 18th. Marci X earned less in its first weekend than Finding Nemo did in its 13th. Marci X's per theatre average for its first weekend was lower than Daddy Day Care's in its 16th weekend. This is a failure that should result in people being fired and careers coming to an end.
To update the box office of the movies I mentioned on Friday, Thirteen and American Splendor both did well enough to be featured on the top ten per theatre average chart. Step into Liquid and The Magdalene Sisters both saw significant increases in their box office and both should cross the $1 million mark mid-week while The Secret Lives of Dentists crossed that mark on Friday. And Passionada saw its per theatre average increase from last weekend.
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2003-08-22
ems to be little to get a movie fan interested this week. At least when it comes to wide releases.
It's almost a foregone conclusion that Freddy vs. Jason will finish first this week, just as much as it's a foregone conclusion that it will lose at least 50% at the box office. Just the genre alone would suggest that. Add in the Fanboy effect and sequelitis and the like and a drop of closer to 60% is likely. Mid-week numbers have been horrible; Freddy vs. Jason has lost more than 84% of its daily box office since last Friday. That's on par with The Hulk, which went on to lose nearly 70% at the box office during its second week. The one thing this movie has going for it is the complete lack of competition this week. This should help it grab $15 million this weekend.
The Medallion has already opened internationally and the numbers are average at best. It's currently tracking about 10% lower than The Tuxedo, and that performance should be similar stateside. Reviews are also on lower than The Tuxedo, in other words, bad. Really bad. Although most reviewers did comment on how special effects are replacing stunts in Jackie Chan's movies. (He's turning 50 next year, cut him some slack.) The Medallion should earn about $12 million this weekend.
In third place is S.W.A.T. This TV show turned movie didn't drop nearly as much as expected last weekend and should continue to show some legs. Not a lot mind you, but better than average for the summer. The $11 million is should grab this week will put it close to $90 million and it should cross $100 million by the end of next weekend.
Open Range added a few more theatres in its second week, but it's still not enough to crack the top ten theatre count this week. It will fair better at the box office coming in fourth with $10 million.
Rounding out the top five is Freaky Friday. $9 million for its third weekend is good news for this $26 million movie. $100 million total could be in the cards for Freaky Friday.
Just missing the top five will be My Boss's Daughter. When judging how well a movie will do one of the factors to consider is advertising. Not just how well is the advertising done, but does it even exist. In the case of My Boss's Daughter I've only seen a few ads on TV and it doesn't even have an official website. Earlier in the week it was expected to open in about 1200 theatres, but Dimension Films pushed to have it opening is a respectable 2200 theatres. This after being bounced around to no less than 4 release dates. Add in the fact that is wasn't screen for critics and $7 million opening weekend is about as good as it gets.
Doing even worse and just missing the top ten will be Marci X. A lot of things have been blamed for the soft summer this year from pirates to text messaging. But the real culprit is quality or the lack thereof. You can't tell me there aren't better scripts that haven't been made. Like the previous movie, Marci X wasn't screened for critics and advertising has been nearly non-existent. And with a release of just over 1200 theatres, this movie will probably do even worse than last week's loser Grind did.
But fret not brave reader. There is hope at the box office this weekend in the form of limited releases. Thirteen opened on Wednesday and if the reviews are correct it deserves to find an audience. And the reviews are even better for last week's winner of the per theatre box office, American Splendor (which expanded into 26 more theatres this week.) Other limited releases that should be worth checking out include Passionada, (reviews.) Step into Liquid, (reviews), The Secret Lives of Dentists, (reviews) and The Magdalene Sisters, (reviews.) It may take a little more effort to find a theatre showing these movies. But if enough people see them, then maybe Hollywood will make more high quality movies and fewer movies like Marci X.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-08-18
couple of surprises this week, and they were pleasant ones. This helped the box office rise by 4.9% from last week, and an amazing 32% from last year.
Beating practically all predictions, and not just mine, was Freddy vs. Jason. $36.4 million was not only double my prediction, it was higher than the total box office of all but one Friday the 13th movie and all but two Nightmare on Elm Street movie. Where were all these fans last year when Jason X bombed at the theatres? However, Freddy vs. Jason did have pretty bad reviews, although they were on par with the rest of the Nightmare and Friday the 13th series. Add in the genre, fanboy effect, sequelitis and your looking at a large drop next weekend. Oh, and before I get anymore more insulting e-mail on this topic please remember two things: 1.) Try and use actual words and proper grammar, when you say stuff like, 'u r stupid' it just makes me pity you. 2.) Try and be insulting. I hang out in ASVS so it takes a lot to offend me. Be creative, be witty, don't repeat, 'LOL' a dozen time and expect it to have an effect.
S.W.A.T. is holding onto its box office better than expected but it still dropped over 50% this weekend. 51.1% to be more precise leaving a figure of $18.1 million. A relatively average result.
Going back to the genre that made him a star, Kevin Costner did better than expected with Open Range. Buoyed by the best reviews of any wide release this week, it was able to earn $14.0 million this week.
Freaky Friday made just a fraction less than predicted at $13.4 million. It's probably just a couple weeks away from making Disney a profit.
Conversely, Uptown Girls made a fraction more than predicted at $11.3 million. However, reviews suggest future earnings will be hurt by word of mouth and MGM will most likely have to wait till the Ancillary market (Hotels, Airliners, Cruise Ships, etc.) before it sees a profit.
Over the weekend reviews for Grind improved all the way to 9% positive, just ahead of reviews for Gigli. However, its box office was actually worse at only $2.5 million. Grind's per theatre average was barely more than $1000, lower than Finding Nemo in its 12th weekend, and lower than Bend it Like Beckham in its 23rd weekend.
Submitted by: C.
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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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2003-08-13
k promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here’s a list of highlights, plus one last look at websites for films opening this week. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
American Splendor
Current Content: This site takes full advantage of the movie's comic book origins. All the content is presented in comic book form complete with panels and pages you can turn. This includes a lot of the regular features but the coolest is getting to read stuff that Harvey Pekar wrote in his own handwriting. Page after page has been simply scanned in for you to read. Gives a little more insight that most sites allow. If only it had some sound. Even without sound this is the best site of the week and the winner of the pragmatic Weekly Website Award.
Cold Creek Manor
Current Content: The site hasn't launched yet, but at least there's a placeholder site instead of just a redirect. Just the trailer and the poster are available for now.
Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star
Current Content: The flash site opened this week and while it has the usual features (synopsis, trailer, cast and crew bios, production notes) it's the extras that I really liked including two games. One is a 'Where are they now?' Video Poker game and the other is an obstacle course Slip 'n' Slide. Having something interactive on a site is really big plus.
Freddy vs. Jason
Current Content: Two clips and the TV spot were added to the site since last time, as was an extensive Behind the Bloodbath section. This brings the total content on this site to impressive levels. The format is also well done with mood setting background music, animated segues and audio clips from the movie. Too bad it's so bright, the previous darker look fitted the film better.
Grind
Current Content: The movie opens this week, but nothing much has changed with this site since I reviewed it last.
Luther
Current Content: There's an impressive amount of animation. Unfortunately, outside the trailer there is no sound. And while all of the usual features are there, even more are marked coming soon including lots of historical information.
My Life Without Me
Current Content: This site has good content, good animated segues, the only thing it's missing is sound. No effects, no background music, in fact no sound outside the trailer. The Spanish language version of the site has an animated intro with sound, so you might want to check that out before returning to the English version.
Open Range
Current Content: Almost all of the content marked coming soon last time has been added. The majority of this new content is the director's commentary, which is more of a behind the scenes look since many more people speak than just Kevin Costner.
Passionada
Current Content: This is a relatively simple site animated segues or background music, in fact the only sound outside the trailer is a short clip of Fado, which is the style of music featured in the movie. However, there is enough content both usual and unusual to keep the surfer interested. I especially liked the seafood recipes. I also like how nearly every image is a link it makes the simple design more intriguing.
Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Current Content: A clip from Hollywood Access was added to the site.
Second Hand Lions
Current Content: This is the third format for this website. It has mostly the same content as before, just with more animations and sound effects. Each version is more elaborate than the next and at this rate by the time the movie is released it will be more complex than The Matrix website.
Uptown Girls
Current Content: The background music is too short. I can't emphasize that enough. It gets repetitive before the intro is finished. There's also very little of the regular content, just the synopsis, trailer and a few images. The only other content is a few slideshows that introduce the characters.
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2003-07-30
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. Strange mix this week with mostly placeholders plus a few minor changes. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
American Wedding
Current Content: Nothing has changed since I reviewed it last week. TV Spots and clips are still marked coming soon. But you can still check out the trailer, 'Bubble Clips', games, etc.
And Now Ladies and Gentlemen
Current Content: All the usual features are here, presented in a simply fashion with nice animated segues. There is, unfortunately, no sound. The inclusion of background music would have really helped this site stand out.
Anything Else
Current Content: Just a placeholder site. Currently it just has the name and release date. ... Wait a second, the trailer was just added. How's that for up to the minute updates.
Bollywood/Hollywood
Current Content: It was just learned that the movie's American release was pushed back a month, but the site has been up since it's Canadian release last year. A Bollywood Musical by way of Canada, this site naturally has a lot of music. There are six clips including Rocky's Song, which pays on the home page. Now the music is very much Bollywood themed so it's probably something you've never heard before, but it grows on you. There's also the synopsis, cast bios, the trailer and animation on every page. It's the little touches like the animations that helped this site win the wondrous Weekly Website Awards.
Bubba Ho-Tep
Current Content: Most of this site is dedicated to the press this film has received, and there is a lot of it. Reviews, stories, audio clips, etc., it's all there. There's also a synopsis and a trailer, but there should have been some more sounds as well. I would have loved to hear some Bruce Campbell as Elvis quotes.
Envy
Current Content: The VaPOOrizer site was removed and replaced with the old placeholder site.
Freaky Friday
Current Content: A few more features were added, the Wild to Mild personality test, Fortune Cookies and Teenage Translator. The bios, party planner and auditions are still marked coming soon.
Freddy vs. Jason
Current Content: New images from the Weight In were added to the site.
Gigli
Current Content: This movie opens this week and Sony still hasn't launched a flash site. The last time that happened was with Hollywood Homicide, and we all know how that turned out.
Grind
Current Content: This site has an impressive amount of behind the scene clips. However, it is missing some of the regular info, like synopsis and cast and crew bios. There is some info on the characters and images and a game to play.
Gothika
Current Content: Typical Warner Bros. placeholder site with just a single image and a synopsis. Full site should be launched as the release date nears.
Intolerable Cruelty
Current Content: The site just launched but the movie doesn't come out till October. So right now there's just the synopsis, trailer and a few photos.
The Magdalene Sisters
Current Content: It's a Miramax site. So you know what that means.
The Run Down
Current Content: Slightly different format for the placeholder site. The trailer was added, and so were some animation and quotes for the transitions.
Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Current Content: Placeholder site with just the poster, photos (two of them) and news from the set.
The Secret Lives of Dentists
Current Content: This site screams for sound, which is too bad cause it has pretty much everything else. All the usual suspects are here, including not only the trailer bur four clips. There's even a section for the music, but no actual music.
Under the Tuscan Sun
Current Content: Placeholder site with trailer, poster and 20 images.
Wonderland
Current Content: Another placeholder site with just the trailer.
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