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Leonard Klady

By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com

Posted Sunday, March 30th, 2008 - Comments Off on 21 or Bust…
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21 or Bust…

The card counting added up to an estimated $24.1 million as the debut of 21 ascended to the top of weekend movie going. The solid bow coupled with a better than expected $9.4 million opening for Superhero Movie still could not stave off another box office erosion as the movie experience hunkers down in the weeks leading up to the “summer” movie season.

The frame also featured the latest dullish response for the war-themed Stop-Loss of $4.5 million and barely a trot for Run Fat Boy Run at $2.2 million. New niche entries were also commercially tepid including the thriller Flawless with Demi Moore grossing $187,000 from 35 sites and the French comedy import Priceless tallying $101,000 at 24 venues.

Weekend revenues were inching toward $105 million that reflected an 8% down turn from what had been hatched seven days earlier. There was a more severe 22% decline when placed alongside the 2007 session when preems of Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons held sway with respective b.o. of $33 million and $25.1 million.

Industry pundits anticipated that the real events inspired 21 wouldn’t quite reach its title figure and while it didn’t break the bank, going over was a winning hand. Clearly it and the Iraq-war inspired Stop-Loss were targeting the core young adult crowd that comprises the largest core of frequent movie goers. And though the latter film did yeoman-like work to cover up that film’s serious content, the audience preferred to keep it in Vegas.

Stop-Loss received respectful and better reviews but its mixed message is unlikely to sustain in the marketplace. Saturday business was flat with opening day while 21 experienced an 11% boost.

Horton Hears a Who became the first 2008 release to gross in excess of $100 million (Juno is the calendar year’s other 6-figure movie) on Friday. The film along with the (commercial) ironically titled Shutter thrust Fox into top spot on the market share chart last week.

Under the Same Moon expanded its reach with an additional 124 playdates and retained a healthy $5,340 theater average. The heart-warming immigration saga is playing in a mix of Hispanic, art and mainstream locations but with rare exception is working best in the former venues. Unrelated, Meet the Browns experienced an uncharacteristic 62% sophomore drop and as such it’s folly to tag it as either anomaly or trend.

Perhaps more telling is the non-response to Run Fat Boy Run that was a big hit in England (where it’s set) last fall. The adult romantic comedy has been on the decline for several years Stateside and now appears to be a genre whose success is largely predicted on marquee casting.
– Leonard Klady

Weekend Finals – March 28-30, 2008

– – Title Distrib Weekend % Change Theaters Cume Wks
1 New 21 Sony 24,105,943 – 2648 24,105,943 1
2 1 Horton Hears a Who Fox 17,740,106 -28% 3826 117,589,254 3
3 New Superhero Movie MGM 9,510,297 – 2960 9,510,297 1
4 2 Meet the Browns Lions Gate 7,481,508 -63% 2016 32,549,825 2
5 4 Drillbit Taylor Par 5,713,585 -45% 3061 20,487,226 2
6 3 Shutter Fox 5,221,016 -50% 2756 18,998,604 2
7 5 10,000 B.C. WB 4,947,174 -45% 3056 84,992,525 4
8 New Stop-Loss Par 4,555,117 – 1291 4,555,117 1
9 7 College Road Trip BV 2,357,756 -26% 2270 38,322,829 4
10 8 The Bank Job Lions Gate 2,780,168 -34% 1605 24,084,605 4
11 6 Never Back Down Summit 2,359,406 -51% 1869 21,249,499 3
12 New Run Fat Boy Run Picturehouse 2,340,743 – 1133 2,340,743 1
13 9 Vantage Point Sony 2,301,751 -39% 1739 69,399,231 6
14 10 Under the Same Moon Weinstein Co. 2,250,081 -19% 390 6,674,433 2
15 12 The Other Boleyn Girl Sony 1,271,544 -38% 1119 24,933,952 5
16 13 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Focus 1,151,400 -22% 516 9,397,977 4
17 14 The Spiderwick Chronicles Par 753,637 -37% 659 69,399,646 7
18 16 Fool’s Gold WB 578,206 -39% 640 68,102,984 8
19 11 Doomsday Uni 555,245 -75% 888 10,587,205 3
20 19 Juno Fox Searchlight 485,416 -37% 444 141,976,542 17
21 27 Alvin and the Chipmunks Fox 450,980 21% 354 216,501,860 16
22 17 Jumper Fox 414,619 -56% 481 78,399,493 7
23 24 National Treasure: Book of Secrets BV 376,565 -3% 320 218,309,061 15
24 21 The Counterfeiters Sony Classics 373,580 -25% 98 2,412,581 6
25 35 Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventu nWave 335,705 83% 49 10,163,696 26
26 22 In Bruges Focus 335,336 -29% 210 6,456,934 8
27 38 Married Life Sony Classics 301,634 111% 120 711,436 4
28 23 The Bucket List WB 297,947 -27% 303 91,423,959 14
39 15 Semi-Pro New Line 275,339 -84% 426 33,106,383 5
30 New One Two Three Eros 246,724 – 16 246,724 1
31 18 Race UTV 241,938 -74% 96 1,184,265 2
32 29 The Band’s Visit Sony Classics 222,995 -16% 121 2,246,202 8
33 26 Definitely, Maybe Uni 215,765 -42% 260 31,793,115 7
34 34 27 Dresses Fox 209,374 11% 226 76,150,977 11
35 20 Step Up 2 the Streets BV 206,034 -62% 285 57,207,787 7
36 33 U2 3D nWave 200,465 -4% 50 7,201,533 8
37 New Flawless Magnolia 181,910 – 35 181,910 1
38 32 There Will Be Blood Par Vantage 180,946 -14% 263 39,982,631 14
39 28 Be Kind Rewind New Line 153,953 -68% 189 10,900,170 6
40 31 Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus 3-D BV 150,697 -29% 29 64,857,351 9
41 25 Penelope Summit 146,026 -62% 222 9,535,615 5
42 New Priceless IDP 116,308 – 24 116,308 1
43 47 The Eye Lions Gate 106,458 42% 174 31,296,958 9
44 43 The Hammer Intl Film Circuit 104,803 8% 34 236,430 2
45 42 Dolphins and Whales 3-D 3D Entertainment 104,559 2% 12 704,313 7
46 41 Cloverfield Par 83,724 -19% 120 79,952,254 11
47 37 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Uni 75,235 -50% 114 42,168,445 8
48 55 Caramel Roadside Attract. 74,147 59% 48 671,079 9
49 36 No Country for Old Men Miramax 71,444 -59% 122 74,223,625 21
50 39 I Am Legend WB 60,503 -47% 136 256,339,571 16
51 48 Space Station 3-D Imax 59,249 -17% 8 74,218,688 311
52 44 Paranoid Park IFC/Filmoption 53,206 -44% 39 386,327 4
53 46 First Sunday Sony 52,314 -37% 101 38,234,701 12
54 40 La Ligne brisee Alliance 50,874 -52% 54 705,915 4
55 61 Meet the Spartans Fox 50,574 30% 72 38,150,732 10
56 45 Enchanted BV 49,441 -44% 101 128,289,076 19
57 51 Snow Angels WIP 49,126 -8% 29 178,770 4
58 52 Magnificent Desolation Imax 48,406 -8% 9 23,169,153 132
59 30 Funny Games WIP 45,530 -81% 65 1,228,505 3
60 49 Deep Sea 3-D WB 45,302 -25% 10 34,788,535 109
61 67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation City Lights 43,856 36% 21 443,977 7
62 72 Planet B-Boy Elephant Eye 39,262 41% 8 79,827 2
63 53 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Miramax 35,833 -30% 37 5,941,276 18
64 54 Atonement Focus 35,070 -25% 58 50,890,159 17
65 New Samson and Delilah Bigger Picture 31,798 – 120 31,798 1
66 New Shelter Regent 31,015 – 1 36,032 1
67 56 Persepolis Sony Classics 28,070 -37% 39 4,155,965 14
68 50 Rambo Lions Gate 27,042 -51% 73 42,781,147 10
69 62 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days IFC/Mongrol 26,597 -30% 35 1,284,441 20
70 64 Diary of the Dead Weinstein Co. 26,137 -27% 47 855,380 7
71 73 The Water Horse: Legend of Deep Sony 25,315 -5% 54 42,052,838 14
72 63 The Savages Fox Searchlight 20,587 -45% 33 6,536,275 18
73 60 Continental, un film sans fusils Christal 19,586 -50% 12 265,742 16
74 59 Sleepwalking Overture 19,416 -51% 47 145,162 3
75 78 Roving Mars BV 18,568 -9% 10 8,429,568 114
76 76 The Duchess of Langeais IFC 18,465 -23% 11 164,179 6
77 69 Borderline TVA 18,025 -41% 17 1,120,080 8
78 58 The Great Debaters MGM 17,673 -56% 40 30,203,433 14
79 57 Jodhaa Akbar UTV 17,235 -36% 15 3,422,704 7
80 71 Up the Yangtze KinoSmith 17,091 -41% 6 422,837 8
Source: MCN/EDI

Estimates – March 28-30, 2008

Title Distributor Gross (averag % chang Theater Cume
21 Sony 24.1 (9,100) – 2648 24.1
Horton Hears a Who Fox 17.6 (4,610) -28% 3826 117.5
Superhero Movie MGM 9.4 (3,180) – 2960 9.4
Meet the Browns Lions Gate 7.6 (3,750) -62% 2016 32.6
Drillbit Taylor Par 5.7 (1,850) -45% 3061 20.4
Shutter Fox 5.4 (1,960) -48% 2756 19.2
10,000 B.C. WB 4.8 (1,570) -46% 3055 84.9
Stop-Loss Par 4.5 (3,520) – 1291 4.5
College Road Trip BV 3.4 (1,510) -27% 2270 38.3
The Bank Job Lions Gate 2.6 (1,650) -37% 1605 23.9
Never Back Down Summit 2.4 (1,290) -50% 1869 21.3
Vantage Point Sony 2.3 (1,340) -39% 1739 69.3
Run Fat Boy Run Picturehouse 2.2 (1,980) – 1133 2.2
Under the Same Moon Weinstein Co. 2.1 (5,340) -25% 390 6.3
The Other Boleyn Girl Sony 1.3 (1,170) -36% 1119 25
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Focus 1.1 (2,160) -24% 516 9.4
The Spiderwick Chronicles Par .71 (1,080) -41% 659 69.4
Fool’s Gold WB .56 (880) -41% 640 68.1
Doomsday Uni .53 (600) -77% 888 10.6
Juno Fox Searchlight .50 (1,130) -35% 444 142
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $98.80 – – –
% Change (Last Year) – -22% – – –
% Change (Last Week) – -8% – – –
Also debuting/expanding
The Counterfeiters Sony Classics .37 (3,360) -25% 111 2.4
Flawless Magnolia .19 (5,340) – 35 0.19
Priceless IDP .10 (4,230) – 24 0.1
One Two Three Eros .09 (2,920) – 30 0.09
My Brother is an Only Child Thinkfilm 8.920 (8,920) – 1 0.01
Hats Off Abramorama 5,720 (5,720) – 1 0.01
American Zombie Cinema Libre 3,650 (3,650) – 1 0.01

Domestic Market Share – To March 27, 2008

Distributor (releases) Gross Market Share
Fox (9) 389.7 18.50%
Warner Bros. (12) 364.1 17.20%
Buena Vista (8) 259.8 12.30%
Paramount (6) 191.9 9.10%
Sony (10) 187.3 8.90%
Universal (6) 125.9 6.00%
Lions Gate (7) 124.7 5.90%
Fox Searchlight (3) 118.5 5.60%
Par Vantage (6) 64.1 3.00%
New Line (4) 60.7 2.90%
Focus (4) 54.1 2.60%
Miramax (3) 37.8 1.80%
Summit (2) 28.3 1.30%
Overture (2) 20.8 1.00%
MGM (6) 20.3 0.90%
Other * (79) 62.8 3.00%
* none greater than 0.45% 2110.8 100.00%

Top Domestic Grossers – To March 27, 2008

Title Distributor Gross
Juno * Fox Searchlight 113,564,674
Horton Hears a Who Fox 99,849,148
The Bucket List * WB 90,378,651
National Treasure: Book of Secret BV 84,668,814
10,000 B.C. WB 80,045,351
Cloverfield Par 79,868,530
Jumper Fox 77,984,874
27 Dresses Fox 75,941,603
Alvin and the Chipmunks * Fox 68,973,565
The Spiderwick Chronicles Par 68,646,009
Fool’s Gold WB 67,524,778
Vantage Point Sony 66,948,480
Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Co BV 64,547,158
Step Up 2: The Streets BV 57,001,753
I Am Legend * WB 56,933,914
Rambo Lions Gate 42,754,105
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Uni 42,093,210
Atonement * Focus 39,617,946
There Will Be Blood * Par Vantage 39,438,070
First Sunday Sony 38,182,387
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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