MCN Columnists
Leonard Klady

By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com

Sting Like a Lion, Float Like a Santa

November 11, 2007
Weekend Estimates
Domestic Market Share

Last weekend’s leaders switched positions with the animated yellow jacket Bee Movie edging out the crime saga American Gangster with respective estimates of $25.7 million and $24.5 million. That left weekend freshmen scrambling for patrons with holiday family entry Fred Claus corralling a solid $18.5 million while political thriller Lions for Lambs couldn’t sell its agenda on a $6.4 million gross and the nail biter P2 barely raised neck hairs with a $1.8 million tally.

New niche and specialized entries flooded the marketplace including unprecedented exposure for Bollywood fare. Two high profile Indian musicals cracked the top 25 with Saawariya posting an impressive $540,000 and Om Shanti Om grossing a record breaking $1.7 million debut reflecting warm global response in India and Diaspora outposts in the U.K., Australia and South Africa.

Fueled by strong critical response No Country for Old Men rang up an eye-popping $42,390 average from 28 engagements while the chills were tame for the second Horrorfest anthology that grossed $417,000 and limited bows of non-fiction entries War/Dance and Steal a Pencil for Mewere no better than fair.

However the deluge did not expand the marketplace. The weekend total of slightly more than $110 million was 18% behind from seven days earlier. It also trailed 2006 by 13% when second weekerBorat reigned with a $28.3 million box office.

Last weekend’s freshmen leaders both weathered incoming fire well with Bee performing at 68% and Gangster at a 56% level. The latter film propelled Universal to a yearly tally of more than $1 billion on Saturday at a record pace.

The bigger questions (and prospects) hung over the costly family newcomer Fred Claus. The rush to judgment perspective wasn’t rosy but the film opened comparably to the likes of The Santa Clauseand Charlotte’s Web and with Thanksgiving coming up fast could find itself one of the better long distance runners even with fierce competition for general audiences.

Neither critics nor crowds were kind to the revived UA label Lions for Lambs. The high profile cast and hot button theme couldn’t overcome marketplace reticence. With Valkyrie – about the historic plot to assassinate Hitler by Nazi officers – in the wings, there’s pronounced industry nervousness about the banner’s ability to sustain under current management.

The frame also saw the debut of Summit as a domestic distributor with an inauspicious toe tester inP2. The psychological thriller pancaked along with dull response to the eight-title Horrorfestpackage and both appear to be on the fast track to Blockbuster.

Bollywood appeared to be making Hollywood-like misjudgments with two high profile films butting heads for Diwali holiday business. Om Shanti Om had been tipped as out-performing Saawariyaand the Mumbai crowd largely saw no benefit in squandering its global audience with a head-to-head showdown. Om appears headed for record breaking grosses but if it falls short pundits will have someplace facile for their finger pointing.

The violent, quirky adaptation of No Country of Old Men got off to a fast start following considerable festival exposure. Still there’s a degree of caution hanging over its expansion in light of fierce niche competition in the wings in a season that’s already seen not quite traditional on-going vitality for the likes of The Darjeeling Limited, The Assassination of Jesse James and Lust, Caution.

– Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates – November 9-11, 2007

itle
Distributor
Gross (average)
% change
Theater
Cume
Bee Movie
Par
25.7 (6,550)
-32%
3928
71.9
American Gangst
Uni
24.5 (8,020)
-44%
3054
80.8
Fred Claus
WB
18.5 (5,130)
3603
18.5
Lions for Lambs
MGM
6.4 (2,870)
2215
6.4
Dan in Real Life
BV
5.7 (2,940)
-27%
1941
30.5
Saw IV
Lions Gate
4.7 (1,600)
-55%
2904
57.7
The Game Plan
BV
2.3 (1,080)
-40%
2161
85.3
30 Days of Nights
Sony
2.0 (1,200)
-46%
1696
37.3
P2
Summit
1.8 (860)
2131
1.8
Martian Child
New Line
1.7 (870)
-48%
2020
6
Michael Clayton
WB
1.5 (1,340)
-45%
1150
35.5
Om Shanti Om
Eros
1.7 (14,6550)
114
1.7
Why Did I Get Ma
Lions Gate
1.4 (1,570)
-45%
908
53.1
Gone Baby Gone
Miramax
1.4 (1,490)
-36%
957
17
No Country for Old
Miramax
1.2 (42,390)
28
1.2
Into the Wild
Par Vantage
.95 (1,610)
-26%
590
12.4
Bella
Roadside Attract.
.87 (3,150)
-19%
276
3.7
Nightmare Before
BV
.84 (1,780)
-45%
473
14.1
Across the Univer
Sony
.82 (1,410)
-32%
582
22.3
The Darjeeling Lim
Fox Searchlight
.68 (1,760)
-44%
386
9.2
Lars and the Real
MGM
.64 (2,240)
-17%
286
3
The Comebacks
Fox
.56 (790)
-61%
706
12.7
Saawariya
Sony
.54 (6,350)
85
0.55
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)
$106.20
% Change (Last Year)
-13%
% Change (Last Week)
-18%
Also debuting/expanding
Horrorfest
FreeStyle
.42 (1,290)
323
0.42
Before the Devil K
Thinkfilm
.36 (3,520)
-2%
103
0.98
War/Dance
Thinkfilm
15,900 (5,300)
3
0.02
I’ll Believe You
Stand Up
11,700 (400)
29
0.01
Christmas in Won
FreeStyle
10,100 (670)
15
0.01
Steal a Pencil for
7th Art
9,660 (3,220)
3 0.01

Top Limited Releases – To November 8, 2007

Title
Distributor
Gross
Waitress
Fox Searchlight
19,074,800
Notes on a Scandal
Fox Searchlight
16,889,774
The Last King of Scotland
Fox Searchlight
13,987,084
The Namesake
Fox Searchlight
13,569,248
The Nightmare Before Christ
BV
13,238,062
Into the Wild
Par Vantage
11,443,048
The Lives of Others
Sony Classics
11,286,112
Deep Sea 3-D
WB
11,178,161
La Vie en Rose
TVA/Picturehouse
10,007,790
Once
Fox Searchlight
9,384,266
Volver
Sony Class/Seville
8,667,708
The Darjeeling Limited
Fox Searchlight
8,482,953
Death at a Funeral
MGM
8,411,022
El Cantante
Picturehouse
7,556,712
The Painted Veil
WIP
7,552,537
Away from Her
Mongrel/Lions Gate
5,747,729
Rescue Dawn
MGM
5,484,401
Paris je t’aime
First Look/Maple Pic
5,291,651
Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagon
Sky High
4,733,404
Magnificent Desolation
Imax
4,707,172

Domestic Market Share – November 8, 2007

Distributor (releases)
Gross (millions)
Mrkt Share
Paramount (18)
1312.5
16.20%
Sony (26)
1169.5
14.40%
Warner Bros. (27)
1080.9
13.30%
Buena Vista (18)
1074.5
13.20%
Universal (19)
984.4
12.10%
Fox (19)
760.8
9.40%
New Line (12)
420.4
5.20%
Lions Gate (20)
354.6
4.40%
MGM (22)
293.3
3.60%
Focus (8)
107.9
1.30%
Fox Searchlight (12)
99.7
1.20%
Miramax (8)
78.9
1.00%
Picturehouse (7)
56.9
0.70%
Paramount Vantage (6)
46.9
0.60%
Other * (157)
280
3.40%
8121.2
100.00%
Be Sociable, Share!

Comments are closed.

Klady

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