|
|
 
Monday, November 23, 2009
|
|
|
2004-02-16
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. This week I was able to narrow the Pick of the Week down to only two choices, High Noon - (Buy from Amazon) and Father Ted - The Holy Trilogy - (Buy from Amazon.) Two very different DVDs, but both worth picking up. They may be more DVDs I'll end up buying, but this week was heavy on the limited releases, which I tend to rent before I buy.
|
|
|
2003-11-04
ionally a bad night for the box office. Younger kids are out trick or treating, and most parents are either out there with their kids or handing out candies at home. So when Halloween comes on a Friday you know the box office is going to be hurt. This year, most of the releases were scaled back from the much wider released that were previously planned. This hurt the box office to the tune of 21.7% from last week and 14.4% from last year.
By Thursday, Scary Movie 3 had lost nearly 90% of its opening night box office. This could mean one of two things, its audience is skewed very young and they couldn't go to the movies on a school night, or it's a really bad movie. After only taking in $20.0 million for its second weekend, a drop of 58.4%, the latter seems more likely. It did beat Scary Movie 2's box office, but topping the first’s will be all but impossible.
Coming in a very close second was Brother Bear with $19.4 million. Not opening on Halloween seemed to be a good strategy, but the two-day box office will still be seen as a disappointment to Disney. It will need better legs than Finding Nemo just to hit $100 million, and is no where close to Disney's animated fair of the past. And that holds true on the critical side as well; with only 39% positive, reviews are well below expectations.
If one movie benefited from Halloween it was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Its target audience was too old to trick or treat and was too young to have kids that wanted to trick or treat. It took in another $10.8 million to raise its total box office to over $66 million. That's more than double the cost to make and advertise the movie.
Radio made more at the box office than predicted, $9.6 million. However, it wasn't able to hang onto third place like I thought.
Fifth place was just as tight as I thought it would be with Runaway Jury taking it $6.5 million to $6.2 million over
Mystic River. The total box office for the two films are even closer with Mystic River holding a slight lead $33.5 million to $33.3 million.
In The Cut's performance was right in line with predictions. It managed only $2.1 million and just missed a spot in the top ten. With very poor reviews, look for this one to disappear from theatres quickly before having and unrated DVD released.
The Human Stain would have had the best per theatre average in the top 10, if it had made it in the top ten. However, it had to settle for $1.0 million and 15th place. Reviews are a little better than In the Cut, but not enough to suggest a much wider release is in the works.
The release of Alien: The Director’s Cut the biggest disappointment of the weekend. It was probably hurt by the multiple releases that are already on DVD, or the fact that a 9-DVD box set will be released in December. Whatever it was, while the critics are almost unanimous, the director's cut is excellent, the re-release was a bust earning only $1.0 million.
Submitted by:
|
2003-10-31
he opening of only one wide release, and some that don’t quite make that cut. Many were planned for wider openings than they got, and after this week we’ll see if it was a smart idea to cut back on the theatres.
Last week’s winner is likely to repeat at the top of the charts this week. Scary Movie 3 should take in about $25 million to raise its total to $80 million after just two weeks, topping the final box office of Scary Movie 2. Topping the first’s box office will be much harder to do.
Disney’s latest animated movie, Bother Bear, won’t open in theatres till Saturday. This is probably a good strategy given most kids will be out trick or treating today. However, I doubt most parents will want to be in a theatre with a bunch of kids on sugar highs. So Brother Bear’s prospects for the weekend are bleaker than most Disney movies. And with reviews that are well below par for Disney movies, $15 million will be all it will get.
Radio will again finish third with $9 million at the box office. This is a drop of only 33% and could spell some nice legs for the film. But even so, it will have to wait till the home market before it starts to show a profit.
Dropping a couple of spots will be The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It won’t be far behind Radio with $8 million. This box office will be helped out by some Halloween action, but bigger drops are coming for next week.
Mystic River and Runaway Jury will be in a very close contest for the last spot in the top five. Both will get around $6 million with Runaway Jury having a slight advantage.
In The Cut, which opened in just 6 theatres last weekend opens wider this weekend. But calling 800 theatres a wide release is not quite accurate. Reviews for the movie have been quite poor and there’s only so much Meg Ryan’s controversial sex scenes can do for a movie. Look for $2 million and possibly a spot in the top ten.
The release of Alien: The Director’s Cut was reportedly trimmed back from 1700 theatres. And considering how poorly the movie did during its Wednesday release that was probably for the best. It has failed to make the top ten either day and this weekend it will only get $1 million at most. This is too bad because the reviews are excellent. But if you don’t get a chance to see it in the theatres, you can always pick up the 9-DVD box set in December.
Lastly, Human Stain opens in 160 theaters. Also originally planned for a much wider release, its reviews suggest cutting back was the right thing to do. Box office wise, it should fall just below Alien: The Director’s Cut with under $1 million.
Submitted by:
|
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.
Submitted by:
|
|
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.
|
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.
|
2003-10-16
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 was bit of a weird week, the best sites either had little or no changes to an already impressive site, or there was a major update but with most content being marked coming soon. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
Alien: The Director's Cut
Current Content: The flash site was launched during the past week and while there is a lot of information, most of the multimedia is still marked coming soon. Synopsis, Trailer, Cast and Crew Bios, Production Notes and Legacy are there. So is an interesting twist on reviews, they have reviews for the original from 1979 and will have reviews for the Director's Cut when they are available. As I said, most of the multimedia is marked coming soon and this includes 6 clips, TV spots and an interview with Ridley Scott. The site also has good background music and animated intros. The only complaint I have is the animated intros are a little too long, they could be trimmed to improve the pacing of the site.
Beyond Borders
Current Content: The production notes and the cast and crew bios were added.
Big Fish
Current Content: The flash site launched this week but there is very little content. In fact, there is more content on the placeholder site then there is on the flash site. That could change as the release date nears, but there are no features marked 'coming soon' to let us know.
Elf
Current Content: Another game was added, Snowball fight, as was a section on Elf-themed self-help books.
Garfield
Current Content: The redirect was replaced with a placeholder site. Right now there's just the synopsis and cast list, but it says the trailer will be online in November. There's also more animation and sound than most placeholders have, and that's a good sign.
Gothika
Current Content: The flash site went live and it is good. Not so much for its content, (most of which is marked coming soon) but for the mood it creates. The background music helps, so do the little interactive features. And most pages there's something you can click on to see flashed from the movie and some text will appear. I even got the all the menu items to turn to, 'Not Alone' but I have no idea how and I can't seem to do it again. So far the site has the synopsis, trailer, more than two dozen images (all of which can be sent as e-cards) and quite a few downloads. Production notes, cast and crew bios and 2 movie clips are marked coming soon. This is the best mood for site since Identity, and just like that site Gothika wins the fervent Weekly Website Award.
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Current Content: There was a complete redesign of the site last week, the third design used, and the flash site is marked coming soon. There's less information about the movie than the last site, but more extras like wallpapers, screensavers, image gallery and even two full-length cartoons.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Current Content: Three more interviews were added to the site featuring Viggo Mortenson, Karl Urban and Peter Jackson. Most of the interviews are text, but they are supplemented with video clips. Also, information on the upcoming release of the soundtrack was added.
Love Don't Cost a Thing
Current Content: The trailer was added to the placeholder site.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Current Content: The Non-North American English International Sites is up, but it appears to be the same as the North American site.
The Matrix Revolutions
Current Content: This week's updates include more photos and the cover for the upcoming comic book.
Pieces of April
Current Content: Another movie opening this week with a website that hasn't changed since I last reviewed it. It's worth checking out for the extensive intro alone.
Radio
Current Content: Another flash site that launched this week. There's not much content, Synopsis, Trailer, Cast and Crew Bios, and four part production notes. There are two more previews marked coming soon.
Returner
Current Content: No changes since I first reviewed the site. Given the movie in question, the site could have used more flash.
Run Away Jury
Current Content: This site has previously won the Weekly Website Award. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get to the site right now; it's gone 404 on me.
Scary Movie 3
Current Content: So far there's just the trailer, four posters and a TV you can find. Since the movie is released next week, expect a large update soon.
Sylvia
Current Content: Opening this week, there was a bit of content added. There are six main sections, and each one except the last start with a little bit of animation and some background music. The music doesn't loop, so you only hear it when you change sections. The site has the usual information, Synopsis, Trailer and three other clips, Cast and Crew Bios, Image gallery, some downloads. It also has biographical information on the two main characters portrayed in the movie.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Current Content: Not much has changed, just new background music. The clip itself is long enough but the gap between loops is too long.
Timeline
Current Content: This site underwent a complete redesign this week and a lot of content was added, but even more is marked coming soon. It has the synopsis, cast and crew bios, both the teaser and the full trailer, image gallery (including some behind the scenes), downloads and even your chance to ask the director Richard Donner a question. Most of what is marked coming soon is multimedia, movie clips, behind the scene clips, interviews, concept art, etc. Production notes and news are also marked coming soon, as are three mysterious wormholes on the main page. I'm not sure what they do, but they might have something to do with the 1357 features marked coming soon.
Veronica Guerin
Current Content: The film opens tomorrow, but the cast and crew bios and film clips are still marked coming soon.
Submitted by: C.
|
|
2003-09-24
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.
Duplex
Current Content: It's a Miramax site. Boring beige background. Short synopsis. Cast and crew, no bios. The film opens in two days and the trailer is still marked coming soon.
Elf
Current Content: I know I usually love it when a site has background music, but I don't think I can take this background music for much longer. Maybe I'm old fashioned, But I feel it's too early for Christmas. Besides the background music this site has synopsis, trailer, photos, lots to download and a coloring book. Two of the sections also have more content marked coming soon, but no details on what that could be.
Gothika
Current Content: The trailer was added to the placeholder site.
The Haunted Mansion
Current Content: The full trailer was added to the site.
Honey
Current Content: No new content this week, but there was a redesign of the site.
Intolerable Cruelty
Current content: One of many flash sites that launched this week, and this one takes the divorce theme of the movie to heart. For instance, instead of downloads its called Disposable Assets. Besides the usual suspects, this site has a lot of interactive features and downloads. It also have TV spots and clips marked coming soon.
Kart Racer
Current Content: Having multiple, complete songs on a site is becoming a more common feature on sites, and this site has two. Besides the songs the site has the usual content plus a trivia game you have to register to play.
Kill Bill
Current Content: The flash launched this week and while there's a lot of content, most of it is either from the old site or is marked coming soon. There are flash intros to each of the characters, including one on Hanzo the sword, which was first on the old site. The last three characters are coming soon so is most of the new content, (Cast and Crew, Locations and Press Notes.) The character intros are good, especially Go-Go's which has some information on the band 5.6.7.8's and one of their songs you can listen to. I'm looking forward to when the rest of the sections are added and seeing how it all fits together.
Love Actually
Current Content: Just the placeholder site for now with the synopsis, cast and crew (no bios) trailer and photo gallery.
Love Don't Cost a Thing
Current Content: Typical Warner Bros. placeholder site with just the synopsis and a few images.
Luther
Current Content: The rest of the content has filtered in. There's an impressive amount of content, a lot of which deal with the historical aspect of the movie.
My Life Without Me
Current Content: Nothing new has changed since the site was first reviewed.
Mystic River
Current Content: The section on Clint Eastwood is now up. It consists of more than half a dozen interviews from the cast, the author of the novel and Clint Eastwood himself.
National Lampoon's: Dorm Daze
Current Content: This movie is set to be released this week, or maybe dumped is a better term. The site itself is offers nothing to keep the surfers attention. There's the trailer and four TV spots, none of which are intriguing, a few images and some posters.
Pieces of April
Current Content: The flash intro makes good use of flash animation and clips from the movie, both visual and audio. And it is definitely the best part of the site. All the usual suspects are there, (trailer, synopsis, cast and crew bios, production notes) but I kept going back to the introduction.
Prey for Rock and Roll
Current Content: Nothing new was added since the site was last reviewed but its still a great site with cool music that's just needed some extra flash to put it over the top.
The Punisher
Current Content: Complete redesign of the site. The old teaser site was moved and in its place is a new more in-depth site. It's still mostly teaser but there's a lot more background information.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Current Content: None, just a redirect.
Run Away Jury
Current Content: The sections that were marked coming soon last week were added this week. The last two characters were Nick Easter (3 clips) and Marlee (1 clip and 6 photos) as well as the clips section (4 clips) was added. Needless to say, this site is heavy into the multimedia. But it's not at the expense of other content, there's a synopsis, production notes and even a section on Hackman's and Hoffman's longtime friendship and how Run Away Jury is their first movie together. The excellent content combined with the animated intros, sound effects and background music add up to this week's emotional Weekly Website Review.
The Run Down
Current Content: A previously award winning site, this site have nearly everything a site should have. Animated intros, background music, video and audio clips, there's even a game to play. And this week several more multimedia clips were added including a behind the scenes featurette and three more clips from the movie.
The Singing Detective
Current Content: The trailer was added to the site, and the Coming Soon was removed.
Sylvia
Current Content: The teaser flash site is up with just the synopsis, trailer and image gallery. The full site is marked coming soon.
Tupac: Ressurection
Current Content: Nothing, just a redirect to the Paramount movie page.
Under the Tuscan Sun
Current Content: Just in time for this week's release, the flash site was launched and it has a good mix of multimedia and text content. For example, there's the trailer and five clips from the movie. There is also extensive cast and crew bios as well as behind the scenes information. There are also animated intros to each section and good use of music.
Yossi and Jagger
Current Content: This site is silent and still. In fact, the absence of any unusual features prevents the surfer from staying too long.
Submitted by:
|
2003-09-17
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.
Alien: The Director's Cut
Current Content: Just the intro and the trailer but hopefully more will be added before its release.
Anything Else
Current Content: The movie is being released this week, but there's nothing new to report since the site was last reviewed. There's still plenty of multimedia, but with quite a lot of redundancy and overlap.
Brother Bear
Current Content: The placeholder had been up for a long time, but the flash site finally launched this week. As with the preview two characters from the movie, Rutt and Tuke act as guides of sorts to the site. They pop up every once and a while a talk about practically everything but the website. Also on the site joining more traditional features like synopsis and trailer are character bios, games and image gallery and several clips.
Bubba Ho-Tep
Current Content: Opening this week in limited release the site was a disappointment to me. It's not that it's a bad site, but with such an original premise to the movie I was hoping that the site would be more original. There is a lot of news, reviews and previews as well as the synopsis and trailer, but the site screams for audio clips and animated intros.
Cold Creek Manor
Current Content: Last week's winning website had one last update before being released this Friday. The House is a single image you can explore and clicking on certain parts brings up short clips from the movie. It's intriguing without giving away too much information.
Fighting Tempations
Current Content: The site is an excellent mix of regular and unusual features. Like almost all sites it has the synopsis, trailer, cast and crew bios and production notes. Some less usual features include a music mixer, musical beginnings (information on music stars that got their start in gospel choirs) and Winamp player skins. But at central feature of the site is the music. Too many sites have no music at all, those that do usually only have a short clip that loops in the background, The Fighting Temptations has clips from the entire soundtrack on their site and six full songs. The music alone almost puts it ahead of the rest of the sites this week, and the overall site win the sentimental Weekly Website Award.
Godsend
Current Content: Still a placeholder site, but it’s a different placeholder site.
Good Boy
Current Content: The last two sections were added, almost. The Scoop will have all the cast and crew bios plus the production notes, but right now it just has the introduction. Playtime has a memory game with audio clips from the movie. Unfortunately, to hear all the clips you must play for all long time.
Honey
Current Content: Yet another release date on the site, this time December 5th, 2003. It's probably not the last release date we'll see.
Hypnotic
Current Content: It's been a while since this site first launched and since then there have been no updates. Where used, the background music is good. Unfortunately it is only used in one section.
Mambo Italiano
Current Content: No changes since the site was last reviewed. Still an effective but simple site in need of some more flash.
Run Away Jury
Current Content: Another flash site that launched this week, and with a movie like this mood is of the utmost importance. And the video clips do a good job setting the mood, but the music seems to counter it. Which is a shame as the background music is otherwise very well done. In addition to the video clips, there's the synopsis, trailer, cast and crew bios, image gallery and sections of the four main characters. So far only two are currently up, Rankin Fitch which has details on the jurors (just #3, #4 and #9 so far) and Wendall Rohr (3 video clips.) The last two characters are marked coming soon, as is the section for clips.
The Run Down
Current Content: Dangers of the Amazon, a series of humorous warning signs, was added to the site.
Second Hand Lions
Current Content: There were no new format changes since the site was last reviewed, but there was a learning guide added for parents and teachers.
School of Rock
Current Content: I've got a bone to pick with this site. Why is Prince listed under Funk? Prince? Come on. But I won't hold that against the site. This site has a fun atmosphere with little touches like being able to doodle in the notebook where most of the content is presented. It has a short synopsis, trailer, cast and crew bios, production notes, image gallery and news. There are also a few sections marked coming soon, the Music (hopefully they'll explain why they put Prince under Funk), video clips and games and download. Combined with the sound effects and segues, this should be an award winning site. But Prince isn't Funk so they're disqualified.
Underworld
Current Content: Another site that has previously won the weekly website award, there's been very little in the way of updates since then. Plenty more user sightings have been added as has more usual features like cast and crew bios.
Submitted by:
|
|
|
