MCN Columnists
Leonard Klady

By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com

Posted Sunday, May 4th, 2008 - Comments Off on Mahvalous!
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Mahvalous!

The industry crossed its fingers and let out a sigh in hopes that Iron Man would kick off the summer season with a $100 million debut. And when Thursday sneaks were tossed into the mix the tally reached an estimated $101.8 million. In the record books it ranked second among non-sequel debut weekends and elevated the cred of its talent pool.

The session’s counter programming offering was the romantic comedy Made of Honor that ranked second with a $15.4 million bow. But the comic book transplant accounted for about 64% of ticket sales that added up to a lot of stamina for any holdover title that maintained 60% of its prior weekend gross.

The potent alternatives were to be found among niche freshmen that included David Mamet’s martial arts ruminationRedbelt and the Brit coming-of-ager Son of Rambow. Both films generated per engagement averages of more than $10,000 from respectively six and five screens. A pair of Canadian productions launched with Fugitive Pieces generating a respectable $66,000 from a mix of U.S. and Canadian dates but Lea Pool’s Mama est chez le coiffeur was commercially inert in Quebec. There were also good single screen results for Mr. Lonely and the gender-bending Viva.

The spotlight was intensely focused on Iron Man with trackers microscopically notating the super hero’s appeal (or lack thereof) for women and old folk born prior to 1983. Studio exits polls rendered a not unsurprising 62% male audience but there was an unexpected 57% majority result for +25s. The latter is likely a combination of grown boy nostalgia and generally positive or mixed positive reviews. The film additionally opened in 57 countries internationally with the studio reporting an additional estimate of $96.7 million.

Expectations weren’t particularly high for the Patrick Dempsey vehicle Made of Honor and its performance was in range of the $15 million to $18 million projections. It skewed 68% female and 62% older and is apt to evaporate quickly as the viewing alternative in the marketplace.

Overall box office ballooned 85% from seven days earlier to roughly $158 million. However, it lagged 17% behind 2007 whenSpider-Man 3 provided the promise of a record season with an initial salvo of $151.1 million.

Apart from the new entries, the films struggling (and largely succeeding) at finding their target niche are the indie drama The Visitor and the non-fiction Young@Heart. Neither is likely to set records even within the limited realm but both are bearing up against the increasingly competitive and sated rarefied adult crowd. There’s also initial favorable traction for Then She Found Me but the suspicion is greater that it will have more difficulty sustaining as the season progresses.
– Leonard Klady

Weekend Finals – May 2-4, 2008

Title Distrib Weekend % Change Theaters Cume Wks
1 New Iron Man Par 98,618,668 – 4105 102,118,668 1
2 New Made of Honor Sony 14,756,850 – 2729 14,756,850 1
3 1 Baby Mama Uni 10,065,010 -42% 2548 32,062,480 2
4 2 Harold & Kumar Escape Guantanamo WB 6,114,373 -59% 2545 25,369,337 2
5 4 Forgetting Sarah Marshall Uni 6,059,920 -45% 2872 44,732,340 3
6 3 Forbidden Kingdom Lions Gate 4,187,897 -63% 2960 45,112,303 3
7 5 Nim’s Island Fox 2,677,543 -41% 2478 42,471,660 5
8 6 Prom Night Sony/Alliance 2,403,313 -47% 2434 41,350,731 4
9 7 21 Sony 2,002,471 -50% 2242 78,959,237 6
10 8 88 Minutes Sony 1,545,084 -57% 1765 15,368,925 3
11 9 Horton Hears a Who Fox 1,337,562 -46% 1463 149,817,680 8
12 10 Deception Fox 883,417 -62% 2001 4,000,654 2
13 19 Drillbit Taylor Par 730,231 84% 427 31,164,888 7
14 11 Street Kings Fox Searchlight 708,142 -67% 855 25,133,327 4
15 13 Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed Rocky Mountain 678,304 -51% 656 6,613,256 3
16 16 The Visitor Overture 606,597 27% 130 1,576,256 4
17 12 Leatherheads Uni 572,320 -69% 1022 30,332,745 5
18 14 Smart People Miramax 325,787 -64% 401 8,943,977 4
19 30 Young@Heart Fox Searchlight 315,357 44% 121 925,669 4
20 17 Shine a Light Par Vantage 278,006 -35% 142 4,846,348 5
21 23 Dans une galaxie pres de chez vous 2 TVA 258,434 -17% 102 1,305,693 3
22 47 Then She Found Me Thinkfilm 230,461 217% 72 353,750 2
23 31 The Spiderwick Chronicles Par 212,364 0% 287 71,148,699 12
24 26 The Counterfeiters Sony Classics 204,303 -24% 157 4,440,307 11
25 15 Superhero Movie MGM 202,879 -77% 463 25,263,751 6
26 20 Under the Same Moon Weinstein Co. 193,182 -51% 324 12,102,872 7
27 24 Fool’s Gold WB 167,202 -48% 303 69,864,325 13
28 28 Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure nWave 159,979 -49% 47 12,229,070 31
29 New Mama est chez les coiffeurs Equinoxe 156,198 42% 156,198 1
30 22 10,000 B.C. WB 152,182 -57% 265 93,644,301 9
31 21 Meet the Browns Lions Gate 148,506 -60% 205 41,939,392 7
32 38 Never Back Down Summit 145,658 26% 217 24,569,276 8
33 18 The Ruins Par 141,870 -66% 240 16,939,323 5
34 33 The Bucket List WB 131,101 -29% 245 93,073,200 19
35 27 Vantage Point Sony 128,606 -50% 254 72,793,289 11
36 29 College Road Trip BV 115,322 -55% 214 43,480,349 9
37 New Fugitive Pieces Maximum/IDP 102,212 – 30 102,212 1
38 39 Priceless IDP 96,366 -16% 44 972,860 6
39 36 Jumper Fox 81,823 -36% 141 79,461,432 12
40 37 Dolphins and Whales 3-D 3D Entertainment 79,960 -36% 14 1,378,214 12
41 41 U2 3D nWave 79,202 -44% 15 7,755,229 15
42 40 National Treasure: Book of Secrets BV 74,278 -32% 145 219,455,217 20
43 57 The Other Boleyn Girl Sony 70,631 32% 194 27,022,480 10
44 34 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Focus 69,907 -51% 136 12,150,353 9
45 New Redbelt Sony Classics 63,361 – 6 63,361 1
46 32 The Bank Job Lions Gate 61,261 -69% 101 29,732,923 9
47 25 Tashan Yash Raj 58,190 -81% 62 428,923 2
48 42 Flawless Magnolia 57,228 -37% 61 918,500 6
49 35 Shutter Fox 56,357 -58% 120 25,705,936 7
50 44 In Bruges Focus 55,260 -28% 71 7,488,507 13
51 New Son of Rambow Par Vantage 53,789 – 5 53,789 1
52 New Kuruvi Ayngaren 48,594 – 7 48,594 1
53 59 Space Station 3-D Imax 48,224 -2% 6 74,812,132 325
54 45 My Blueberry Nights Weinstein Co. 46,743 -37% 52 472,087 5
55 62 Deep Sea 3-D WB 45,034 15% 10 35,142,788 114
56 48 The Life Before Her Eyes Magnolia 41,218 -41% 34 166,373 3
57 49 Step Up 2 the Streets BV 37,947 -44% 85 57,899,456 12
58 68 Magnificent Desolation Imax 35,153 -2% 6 23,667,003 136
59 50 Stop-Loss Par 33,852 -46% 52 10,851,448 6
60 New Standard Operating Procedure sony Classics 31,543 42% 11 53,746 2
61 54 27 Dresses Fox 31,247 -58% 51 76,758,772 16
62 61 The Band’s Visit Sony Classics 29,659 -36% 43 2,852,892 13
63 66 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Uni 29,054 -20% 51 42,451,560 13
64 63 Married Life Sony Classics 28,600 -35% 54 1,414,195 9
65 43 U, Me Aur Hum Eros 27,995 -65% 44 1,077,089 4
66 55 Emma Smith: My Story Candlelight 27,742 -50% 27 406,174 4
67 58 Penelope Summit 25,211 -53% 60 9,956,977 10
68 74 Roving Mars BV 24,362 -6% 10 8,610,715 119
69 46 Juno Fox Searchlight 23,901 -68% 71 143,434,240 22
70 60 Alvin and the Chipmunks Fox 23,892 -50% 81 217,272,684 21
71 79 Jellyfish Zeitgeist 23,724 -9% 13 118,620 5
72 64 Flight of the Red Balloon IFC 23,707 -43% 13 230,807 5
73 75 Roman de Gare IDP 22,533 -11% 2 59,783 2
74 52 Run Fat Boy Run Picturehouse 21,866 -63% 42 5,968,495 6
75 51 Where in the World is Osama …? Weinstein Co. 20,964 -65% 46 307,371 3
76 77 Up the Yangtze KinoSmith/Zeit 19,958 -9% 8 551,427 12
77 New Edge of Heaven Metropole 19,002 – 3 19,002 1
78 96 My Brother is an Only Child Thinkfilm 18,977 43% 12 121,159 6
79 67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation City Lights 18,342 -50% 25 696,755 12
Source: MCN/EDI

Estimates – May 2-4, 2008

Title Distributor Gross (average) % change Theaters Cume
Iron Man Par 98.3 (23,950) – 4105 101.8
Made of Honor Sony 15.4 (5,660) – 2729 15.4
Baby Mama Uni 10.2 (4,010) -41% 2548 32.2
Forgetting Sarah Marshall Uni 6.2 (2,140) -44% 2872 44.8
Harold & Kumar 2 WB 6.0 (2,370) -60% 2545 25.3
Forbidden Kingdom Lions Gate 4.1 (1,370) -64% 2960 45
Nim’s Island Fox 2.7 (1,070) -41% 2478 42.5
Prom Night Sony/Alliance 2.4 (980) -47% 2434 41.3
21 Sony 2.0 (910) -49% 2242 79
88 Minutes Sony 1.5 (880) -57% 1765 15.4
Horton Hears a Who Fox 1.3 (890) -47% 1463 149.8
Deception Fox .83 (410) -64% 2001 3.9
Street Kings Fox Searchlight .71 (830) -67% 855 25.1
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed Rocky Mountain .65 (1,000) -53% 655 6.6
The Visitor Overture .64 (4,920) 34% 130 1.6
Leatherheads Uni .56 (550) -69% 1022 30.3
Drillbit Taylor Par .51 (1,190) 29% 427 30.9
Smart People Miramax .33 (820) -64% 401 8.9
Young@Heart Fox Searchlight .32 (2,640) 45% 121 0.94
Shine a Light Par Vantage .31 (2,180) -28% 142 4.9
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $154.00 – – –
% Change (Last Year) – -17% – – –
% Change (Last Week) – 85% – – –
Also debuting/expanding
Then She Found Me Thinkfilm .23 (4,130) 213% 55 0.32
Fugitive Pieces Maximum/IDP .11 (3,530) – 26 0.11
Mama est chez le coiffeur Equinoxe 66,050 (1,570) – 42 0.07
Redbelt Sony Classics 62,700 (10,450) – 6 0.06
Son of Rambow Par Vantage 52,500 (10,500) – 5 0.05
Mr. Lonely IFC 17,200 (17,200) – 1 0.02
Viva Biller 8,400 (8,400) – 1 0.01
XXY Film Movement 3,400 (3,400) – 1 0.01

Domestic Market Share – To April 24, 2008

Distributor (releases) Gross Market Share
Fox (11) 496.6 18.20%
Warner Bros. (13) 401.2 14.70%
Sony (13) 323.4 11.80%
Buena Vista (8) 271.6 9.90%
Paramount (8) 237.7 8.70%
Universal (9) 218.4 8.00%
Lions Gate (8) 191.2 7.00%
Fox Searchlight (5) 145.5 5.30%
Par Vantage (7) 69.1 2.50%
New Line (4) 61.7 2.30%
Focus (4) 59.3 2.20%
Miramax (4) 46.7 1.70%
MGM (9) 45.6 1.70%
Summit (2) 34.4 1.30%
Overture (3) 21.8 0.80%
Other * (121) 107.4 3.90%
* none greater than 0.55% 2731.6 100.00%

Limited Grossers – To April 24, 2008

Title Distributor Gross
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Focus 12,080,446
Under the Same Moon Weinstein Co. 11,909,690
U2 3D nWave 7,676,027
In Bruges Focus 7,433,247
The Orphanage Picture/Christal 6,894,612
Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure nWave 6,376,838
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Mrmx 5,064,793
The Savages Fox Searchlight 4,795,616
Shine a Light Par Vantage 4,568,342
The Counterfeiters Sony Classics 4,236,004
Persepolis Sony Classics 4,233,451
Jodhaa Akbar UTV 3,440,718
The Band’s Visit Sony Classics 2,823,233
Magnificent Desolation Imax 1,549,328
Space Station Imax 1,548,053
Married Life Sony Classics 1,385,595
Race UTV 1,367,024
Dolphins and Whales 3D 3D Entertainment 1,315,373
Funny Games WIP 1,294,919
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days IFC/Mongrel 1,281,030
* none greater than 555 playdates
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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