« TV's best talk show isn't on TV | | Now you can be a stand-up and get a sitcom »
Premonition also continues to hold up, falling 46% to $5.1 million and a $39 million total but hanging on to seventh place for the second week in a row. Faring much worse was The Last Mimzy- which I hear isn't bad- which fell 60% in its second week to $4 million and a $16 million total. If it weren't for that title, though, who knows how much business it might have done? Falling equally hard (and deservedly so) in its second week was The Hills Have Eyes 2, down 59% to $3.9 million and a $15 million total. Fortunately, the budget came in at just $15 million, so Fox Atomic should at least break even on this one (ticket revenue is split by varying percentages between theatres and studios; movies have to do much more box office than just their budget to earn a decent return). Speaking of Sandler, his trip outside the box with Reign Over Me also isn't doing too well, falling 50% to $3.7 million and a $13 million total. Keep your eyes peeled for Click 2. Or something.
And I guess I was premature in touting Joseph Gordon-Levitt's rising star as The Lookout opened outside the top ten with just $2 million dollars from 955 theatres and a weak $2k average. I'm just Miramax thought a mid-sized opening might generate a little buzz before they went wider with it. My guess is it'll never see a wider theatre count than this, in spite of decent reviews. Too bad.
That's it for this week, oh moviegasm faithful. Tune in next week when Ice Cube cashes another paycheck in the unwanted sequel Are We Done Yet? (proving that he learned nothing from XXX2, another unwanted sequel), The Reaping tries to take advantage of a new term I learned from Variety this morning: Biblesploitation (referring to a horror film that uses religious themes to appeal to movie-going Christians, a la The Exorcism of Emily Rose), and the Weinsteins try to work their marketing magic on the three-plus hour double-feature Grindhouse.
Comments (2)
Elsewhere in the top ten, Meet the Robinsons opened with a decent $25 million from 3400 screens for a $7.3k average. Reviews weren't good, and while the opening is okay, especially for the spring, it doesn't exactly signal the sea-change in the use of 3D I'm sure Disney execs were hoping for.
Sorry, but you're wrong on this one. Meet the Robinsons in 3D can and is being considered a success. The film made $25 million, and $7 million is being attributed to the roughly 500 screens showing it in 3D. Theaters showing it in 3D also reported double the amount of sales for the 3D version, rather than the regular. So believe me, Disney is all about the 3D, and with the amount of theaters being equipped with digital 3D capable projectors, it won't be going anywhere soon.
1 of 2 | Posted by Vic | Posted on April 2, 2007 5:21 PM
Vic,
The per screen average was much higher on the 3D screens, but Ice Age: The Meltdown opened at the same time last year to $68 million. Even Chicken Little and Robots opened significantly better than Robinsons ($40 and $36). Disney isn't reporting a budget yet, but if it's in the vicinity of those two, they're going to have a hard time recouping, which will make it difficult to justify the added expense of 3D technology.
I'm not saying this is the end, or even a bad sign, for 3D, only that the per screen dollars in those theatres don't equal what Disney's big hits draw in without the bonus effects, which tells me audiences are interested, but not clamoring for it. But if anyone can make audiences feel they HAVE to see a movie in 3D, it's James Cameron.
2 of 2 | Posted by sutter kane | Posted on April 3, 2007 10:20 AM