Box Office Hell – Thursday, Aug 9
UPDATED – Friday, 7:36a pdt
The most interesting thing about the Rush Hour series is that it has never been that big overseas. Though it is sold as an action film, it is a comedy of misunderstanding, which requires some language barriers to be overcome. And much as we in America hate to discuss it, Chris Tucker is Black and Black doesn’t sell very well overseas. It also doesn’t help that Jackie Chan is much more overexposed in the rest of the world than he is here in America… and that Tucker has done nothing to make himself more of a world commodity in the years since RH2. All that said, look for the film to do $150m in the rest of the world, meaning that $100 million domestic will put the overly expensive effort into the black… and over that is gravy. (This does not mean that New Line will be happy with less than $200 million or that Russell Schwartz will not somewhat unfairly absorb the heat all the way from Fiji or wherever he is putting his feet up this weekend for that if they don’t.)
And for the record, the Rush Hour 2 opening was $67.4 million on August 3 weekend, 2001.
Stardust is almost fully funded by overseas money and Paramount is treating it like something they found on their shoe, much as they did Perfume. They are spending more on ads, by contractual obligation, but the answer to whether Stardust is a flop or not will be found overseas, not here… a fact about which the folks who made the movie are completely aware. The biggest problem with that, however, is that unlike Perfume, the film is not going out to the world until after the U.S. and it could be tainted as a flop here.
The irony of Daddy Day Care is that this sequel to the much critic-killed comedy is so cheap that they will come close to profit this weekend (calculating in ancillaries) if they open anywhere near these projections.
Transformers will hit $300 million tomorrow on its way to doing 2x the total of its first six days.
Evan Almighty is not going to make it to $100 million… and it looks like Universal is not going to attempt extraordinary measures to get it there.
Sicko is fighting to pass An Inconvenient Truth to be the #4 doc box office film… and will probably just get over the finish line… expect some drama or another to rear up before the month is out.
Holy crap. Daddy Day Camp making more than Hot Rod???
There is no justice.
Even if you think it’s all about marketing, trailers for Hot Rod totally killed locally. Who the f**k was enthused about Daddy Day Camp?
It did screen in timely fashion for critics though. Maybe there’s a lesson in that.
I have a feeling that Stardust is gonna do less than 10 million, which is bad news for the fantasy genre.
And I also have a feeling that Daddy Day Camp is gonna do more than 10 million, which is bad news for the universe.
“Holy crap. Daddy Day Camp making more than Hot Rod???”
Even if you throw an obvious piece of crap like “Daddy Day Camp” at the family demographic, somebody’s going to run headfirst into a wall to catch it.
“Even if you think it’s all about marketing, trailers for Hot Rod totally killed locally.”
The rumors of those deaths are greatly exaggerated. If trailers for “Hot Rod” had really killed anywhere, it would’ve pocketed more than $5 million over the weekend.
Where’s Becoming Jane? Isn’t it in wide-release this week? If it is, it will surely make some dough.
Daddy Day Camp did about $700k on Wed., so I think, in reality, it’s looking at less than $4 million.
I don’t think the players took that Wed. number into consideration.
Hi, David, they’re not too different, but could you please use the updated numbers (they go up on Thursday nights when actual theatre counts are announced):
http://www.comingsoon.net/weekendwarrior/2007/aug10.php
Thanks!
BTW, I still can’t sign into Hot Blog using Safari, which always worked in the past.. .I have to switch to another browser to sign in to comment, which is a huge pain and the main reason I haven’t posted much here.
Who are all these people that want to see Rush Hour 3?
As a fellow Safari user I can report that I just had no problem just signing in. No idea what your problem might be although (if you’re on a Mac) it’s probably a damaged keychain or cache.
I had been getting some dropped graphics on the main Hot Button page for the last week but they seemed to have fixed themselves just this morning.
Sorry for the off topic-ness. I agree that Daddy Day Care looks like crap
I can’t even believe they made Daddy Day Camp. I mean, honestly!
I think Coming Soon has a more likely number for Rush Hour 3. I can’t imagine the fan base has expanded much in the six years since Rush Hour 2.
I didn’t know that Eddie Murphy wasn’t in Daddy Day Camp. The story sounds awful. Cuba Gooding Jr. is beyond saving, poor guy. It already has a 2.8 rating on imdb.
In Thailand, they are advertising Rush Hour 3 as a Jackie Chan movie with lots of kung fu and comedy. The language barrier does exist, but I’m sure Thais would get the jokes, unless they are plays on words, which cannot be translated. It’s slapstick comedy, anyone will laugh at a guy falling down on his face.
haven’t seen any ads for Stardust here in Thailand, but I am looking forward to see it. I like fantasy, fairy-tale stories.
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I saw an audience preview of RH3 and the audience was in stitches (me included). It’s a retread, been there done it before, the two players looked less energetic …Chan doesn’t move like he used to…and his face is creasing… but the comedy scenes were classic IMO. The French translating nun doing whose on first routine with Tucker, the anti-American cab driver…in other words, they picked some darn good supporting comedy players to prop up the storyline and the leads…and that model Noemi Lenoir is a stunner.
Kind of reminescent of the Road movies with Hope & Crosby. Silly, illogical, meanders all over the place, but still fun.
This will top off somewhere between 150-175 domestic. I said it here first.
Predictions:
http://www.worldofkj.com/articleIndex.php?tid=30687
It really is strange how Chris Tucker has decided to do Rush Hour films only and nothing else. Putting your entire career in Bret Ratner’s hands seems like a very unsavvy move, no matter how much his upfront fees are on those films, and I’m sure they are outrageous. I don’t know a single person that is going to see this one, which probably means it will be a big hit…
Stardust has some really terrible early word of mouth, even from some people involved in the film, so isn’t it possible that Paramount thinks the film is a turd and just wants to cut their loses?
Perfume seems to be a much different story – it’s tough to explain why Paramount dumped it after it was such a HUGE hit in Europe… Any guesses?
I wanted to go to the movies this weekend but since I’ve seen Bourne it looks like there isn’t anything else worth checking out, since what I’ve heard about Stardust is that it’s a mess.
Maybe I’ll check out THIS IS ENGLAND, which is playing in LA. I hear great things.
I think Chris Tucker is a realist. and he might be lazy, but he’s savvy enough to know he has a lot of strikes against him: a) comparison to Eddie; b) can’t compete for scripts given to Will Ferrell, et al.; c) black and therefore given sh***y degrading scripts; d) black and therefore not able to work on what he wants to work on….repeat– he’s a realist. He’s made his money, invested it, and he prob. doesn’t want to get in that rat race. He could go Bernie Mac and be a bit player in Oceans movies, do a TV comedy… possibilities, but I think he has a F*** it attitude, take the money and run.
And what are we to make of Jackie Chan’s whose better days are behind him….he’s doing the same thing…he’s a) chinese; b) a martial artist who was bigger in Asia than here; c) not given scripts directed by Ang Lee….
These two are more realistic than we think they are.
…and he can’t read.
I have the feeling that RH3 is not going to crack 50 million in its opening weekend and it will not make more than 140 million for its domestic run. Of course, I don’t think I could have predicted the insane numbers the second one put up, which were even more puzzling after I got around to finally renting it.
I love the “Chris Tucker can’t read” rumor! I’ve accepted it into my Unsubstantiated Celebrity Rumors That I Choose to Believe pantheon, alongside John Travolta’s penchant for 20ish waiters and Denise Richards’ past as one of Heidi Fleiss’ girls.
there have been rumors about Chris Tucker being Bat Shit Crazy since Friday came out in ’95. So I don’t think it’s a backlash thing.
I can’t remember the name of the show, but there was a special hosted by Henry Louis Gates that starred Chris Tucker and Ophrah and other African-American celebrities as Gates helped them trace their heritage back to Africa using DNA. It was a great special, and Chris Tucker was paricularly charming and interesting in it.
Water: “Becoming Jane” goes semi-wide this week — and barely (601 theaters). A wide release is now >1200.
“Perfume” was a DreamWorks title in the US, promoted by name-checking an arthouse pic from before Y2K.
I for one applaud Chris Tucker’s work ethic. Now if we could only get Rob Schneider, Adam Sandler, and Tim Allen to make only one film every six years, the world would be a better place.
“Transformers will hit $300 million tomorrow on its way to doing 2x the total of its first six days”
Your implication being that this is a bad thing, right?
Is the conventional wisdom of black actors not having huge overseas upside contigent on the kinds of movies black actors find themselves in? Urban dramas and comedies aren’t particularly big, and I think Dreamgirls was hurt by the lack of the music genre’s popularity than not having any white faces. The racial struggle over music proprietorship might be something overseas audiences don’t “get”.
Is it possible that a crusades movie starring Denzel Washington as a moorish warrior, or an all black swords and sandals movie in Ancient Egypt might do just fine?
Is the conventional wisdom of black actors not having huge overseas upside contigent on the kinds of movies black actors find themselves in? Urban dramas and comedies aren’t particularly big, and I think Dreamgirls was hurt by the lack of the music genre’s popularity than not having any white faces. The racial struggle over music proprietorship might be something overseas audiences don’t “get”.
Is it possible that a crusades movie starring Denzel Washington as a moorish warrior, or an all black swords and sandals movie in Ancient Egypt might do just fine?
And much as we in America hate to discuss it, Chris Tucker is Black and Black doesn’t sell very well overseas.
How about “Chris Tucker is Fucking Annoying and Fucking Annoying doesn’t sell very well overseas”? I mean, we’re not America.
The pc answer is that there isn’t a large black population in countries like Germany and Japan that drive the foreign market and so the people there simply can’t relate to most black films or stars.
The un-pc answer is that racism is even stronger in other countries than it is here.
I think the reality is somewhere inbetween. And in that somewhere is the notion that comedies do not sell well without star power, and that there are only a handful at best of black stars that are known overseas.
Barbershop made like $100 million in the US, like $1 mil overseas.
But I imagine American Gangster will do well everywhere, not only because of it’s genre (thriller), internationally known director, and white co-superstar, but also because Denzel is a huge star international star regardless of race. Unless he’s making little dramas like Antone Fisher.
Skylark: ” and I think Dreamgirls was hurt by the lack of the music genre’s popularity than not having any white faces. The racial struggle over music proprietorship might be something overseas audiences don’t “get”.” DG was a hit overseas, the highest revenue of any all-black movie produced by Hollywood. The studio really pushed it overseas in fact they flew Jennifer over to Japan to promote it.
Domestic: $103,365,956 66.9%
+ Foreign: $51,200,910 33.1%
that’s pretty damn good, don’t you think?
howabout comedies in general don’t do as well overseas? they are hard to translate properly. the cultural references don’t line up. and vice versa. comedies from overseas don’t play all that well in the u.s. either.
That Dreamgirls number was great…for a “black” film. I wonder how it compares with Chicago?
As for comedies, yes, they typically don’t translate overseas without huge star power. Regarless of race.
As to comedies from overseas not playing well in the US, I’m just not sure any movies from overseas play well in the US. Were there any this year? If so, I imagine they were in English and from the UK with established stars….
Carpet: Why MUST you compare it to Chicago? We were talking about All-black cast movies making it overseas….not all white cast movies.
To answer your question Wrektum, to say that half the tickets purchased for your film was in the first six days is kinda weak. though I doubt you’ll hear complaining at DW or Paramount.
The comedy thing is also true overseas. Simpsons exempted of course.
“The un-pc answer is that racism is even stronger in other countries than it is here.”
I disagree on that as racism is not a big issue in Thailand. That maybe because the Chinese decendants and the ‘real’ Thais look similar enough (althought I can still tell the difference). There is more of a rift between Bangkokians and rural people (who are seen as not up-to-date.) We don’t have a black population and I think racism is mostly very harsh on them.
the 4 pt show Carpetmuncher is called ‘African American Lives’ Chris Tucker was charming & lovely in it actually and totally immersed himself in the project.
Looks like Stardust will be getting my money this weekend.
Chris Tucker makes no movies other than Rush Hour films because he no longer has interest in making ANY movies. It takes a lot of persuading to even get him to look at a project, and as far as I know, he’s no longer attached to anything, preferring instead to work on his charity foundation.
Not to trump my own blog, but I wrote about this issue a long time ago (well, March) when I read an article in the New York Times stating that people outside of America are racist.
http://kamikazecamel.blogspot.com/2007/03/are-we-racist-or-just-picky.html
It is incredibly offensive and insulting to say that just because movies with largly african american casts don’t do well overseas is because we’re racist. Are Americans racist because the first ever all-indiginous Australian film Ten Canoes barely made anything? No. Are Americans racist because they prefer the American remake of The Ring to the original Asian version? No.
That and, let’s face it, a lot of these urban-based films are shite. The Madea films for instance. Are we racist because here they were send direct-to-dvd? Or do American audiences just have a high tolerance for terrible movies?
To quote myself.
“Australia has it’s own niche “urban” films if you will. We have Australian-made films. Those films I mentioned feel destinctly “american”. Very much made specifically for African American audiences. Just like a movie such as the Aussie hit Ten Canoes, which features an all-black cast, is a very typically aussie film that wouldn’t sell to American audiences. Does that make Americans racist to Australian indiginous people? Hardly. It just means their stories don’t translate.”
Done. Finished. Sealed. I’m glad most people here seem to be of the mind that it’s about the quality and not alterior motives. Still, if anyone thinks that international audiences are racist then, well, they’re pathetic human beings.
Kamikaze: Sorry if this seems like a cheap shot, but.. I’d take your comments more seriously if you used Spell Check now and then. Ok? For example: It’s “ulterior motives,” not “alterior motives,” ok?
I suspect Stardust may be like Labyrinth, or The Princess Bride…a lot more beloved later down the line when people have seen it on video and TV a fair bit.
The last Gaiman fantasy movie, MirrorMask, was great but nobody saw it.
I can’t wait to see Stardust. It comes in theater here in October!!!!! Until then…
FWIW, SBD has:
Rush Hour 3–19.09M
Bourne–10.47M
Simpsons–3.52M
Stardust–3.07M
Underdog–2.23M
Stardust isn’t bad, it’s just not great, and all the joy is in the supporting performances (particularly De Niro, Pfeffer, and Gervais). The main relationship is too underwritten to work, though Danes does quite a nice job with her big third act monologue. Hard to market, too, without big stars or an overall “high concept.”
Joe. Thanks for pointing out my plentiful inadequacies. I’ll make sure to appease you in the future whenever I make comments on The Hot Blog.
Kamikaze: Good.