MCN Columnists
Leonard Klady

By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com

Posted Sunday, September 16th, 2007 - Comments Off on Death Wish XXX …
Be Sociable, Share!

Death Wish XXX …

September16, 2007
Weekend Estimates
Summer Market Share

The distaff vigilante yarn The Brave One led all comers with a debut weekend estimated at $13.8 million. There was no lack of competition with two other films making their national bows and more than a minion opening in limited release.

The comedy Mr. Woodcock ranked third overall with $8.6 million and the Korean monster movieDragon Wars – that country’s top 2007 release – entered the fray with $4.9 million.

A clutch of films that premiered at the recently completed Toronto festival segued into theaters with the first leg of their platform strategies. Toronto’s people’s choice winner Eastern Promises had the most potent per theater average with $37,500 in 15 situations while the Beatle’s homage Across the Universe was tuneful with a $29,200 average from 23 venues. Also good was the $141,000 gross for the Iraq war rumination In the Valley of Elah in nine theaters. However it wasn’t smooth for Silk with a $1,000 average in 122 venues and Moving McAllister was listless with $29,400 at 86 locations. Also disappointing was the Utah opening of Return with Honor that garnered $37,100 from an initial wave of 23 engagements.

Weekend ticket biz provided an autumnal $75 million in revenues that dipped slightly from last weekend by 3% and improved microscopically from 2006 by 2%. A year ago debuts of Gridiron Gang and The Black Dahlia led the field with respective openers of $14.4 million and $10 million.

While more thoughtful than a Charles Bronson vendetta, The Brave One wasn’t packing the $20 million heat pundits had identified going into the weekend. The Jodie Foster starrer was drawing a 70% plus 30 crowd according to exit polls and skewing slightly more female. The big question is whether it can tap into a younger crowd with fierce competition for that sector arriving in the coming weeks.

Similar concerns also dogged Mr. Woodcock while Dragon Wars looked brawny with the aggressive push demonstrating a niche that eluded The Host, another Asian monster tale that couldn’t quite decide whether to go genre or upscale.

The narrow/wide conundrum was in evidence with the initial toe test for both Eastern Promises andAcross the Universe. Both opted for limited bows despite the former’s appeal to young males and the latter’s wide musical potential. Neither film received across the board critical endorsement but initial commercial potency at least provides the solid bedrock for upcoming expansion.

The first of a clutch of Iraq war dramas, In the Valley of Elah racked up numbers that suggest the film will be pushing uphill to secure more than respectable returns. However, the first blush for bothKing of California and December Boys bodes little hope of building on critical buzz or word-of-mouth to provide commercial momentum. And Silk, a big canvas adventure-romance, shapes up as the season’s first prestige casualty.

– Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates – September 14-16, 2007

Title
Distributor
Gross (average)
%Chng
Theas
Cume
The Brave One
WB
13.8 (5,010)
–
2755
13.8
3:10 to Yuma
Lions Gate
8.8 (3,290)
-38%
2667
28.2
Mr. Woodcock
New Line
8.6 (3,860)
–
2231
8.6
Superbad
Sony
5.1 (1,760)
-32%
2910
111.3
Halloween
MGM
5.0 (1,630)
-48%
3051
51.2
Dragon Wars
FreeStyle
4.9 (2,150)
–
2269
4.9
The Bourne Ultimatum
Uni
4.2 (1,600)
-26%
2611
216.2
Balls of Fury
Focus
3.3 (1,180)
-42%
2758
28.8
Rush Hour 3
New Line
3.3 (1,490)
-33%
2208
133.3
Mr. Bean’s Holiday
Uni
2.6 (1,470)
-24%
1770
28.4
Shoot ‘Em Up
New Line
2.6 (1,250)
-54%
2108
10.4
The Nanny Diaries
MGM
2.2 (1,100)
-32%
1971
24
Hairspray
New Line
1.2 (1,060)
-30%
1155
116.4
Stardust
Par
1.2 (1,090)
-34%
1078
36.4
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoe
WB
.86 (1,460)
-17%
589
289.4
The Simpson Movie
Fox
.69 (860)
-48%
799
181.3
Across the Universe
Sony
.67 (29,220)
–
23
0.7
Death at a Funeral
MGM
.64 (1,980)
-11%
324
6.6
War
Lions Gate
.63 (790)
-58%
802
22.9
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
Uni
.81 (980)
-41%
613
117.94
Eastern Promises
Focus/Alliance
.56 (37,530)
–
15
0.6
Underdog
BV
.55 (670)
-38%
815
41.8
Becoming Jane
Miramax
.53 (750)
-38%
702
17.8
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)
$72.50
–
–
–
% Change (Last Year)
2%
–
–
–
% Change (Last Week)
-3%
–
–
–
Also debuting/expanding
In the Valley of Elah
WIP
.14  (15,780)
–
9
0.14
Silk
Picture/Alliance
.13 (1,040)
–
122
0.13
In the Shadow of the Moon
Thinkfilm
72,300 (3,440)
90%
21
0.8
Ira & Abby
Magnolia
40,300 (5,750)
–
7
0.04
Return with Honor
Excel
37,100 (1,613)
–
23
0.04
King of California
First Look
34,200 (6,840)
–
5
0.03
Moving McCallister
First Independent
29,400 (340)
–
86
0.03
December Boys
WIP
15,500 (3,870)
–
4
0.02
The Great World of Sound
Magnolia
6,500 (3,250)
–
2
0.01

Domestic Summer Market Share (May 3 – Sept 3, 2007)

Rank 2007
 Distributor
Gross
Mkt Share
% Change
From 2006
Rank
2006
1
 Paramount
724.6
17.40%
45%
4
2
 Universal
609.5
14.60%
61%
6
3
 Buena Vista
580.7
13.90%
-26%
1
4
 Warner Bros.
544.7
13.10%
31%
5
5
 Sony
521.3
12.50%
-26%
2
6
 Fox
470.1
11.30%
-14%
3
7
 New Line
251.2
6.00%
386%
14
8
 MGM
169.3
4.10%
373%
11
9
 Lions Gate
92.3
2.20%
36%
7
10
 Focus
43.2
1.00%
33%
8
11
 Fox Searchlight
34.2
0.80%
203%
15
–
 Other
127.5
3.10%
–
–
–
 –
4168.6
100.00%
11%
–
% Change 2006 (Other Distributors)
–
 Paramount Vantage
–
–
-58%
–
–
 Picturehouse
–
–
-47%
–
–
 Sony Classics
–
–
-11%
–
–
 Weinstein Co.
–
–
-81%
–
Be Sociable, Share!

Comments Off on Death Wish XXX …

Comments are closed.

Klady

Most Recent Comments Archives

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon