By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
Laff Track
The battle of the clowns proved lopsided as the debut of the big screen Get Smart easily out performed the opening of The Love Guru. Get Smart topped weekend viewing choices with an estimated $38.3 million while the Mike Myers untranscendental amusement ranked fourth with a $14.1 million bow.
The session was light on new limited openers with Kit Kittredge: An American Girl registering a boisterous $232,000 gross from a mere five venues. The British multicultural drama Brick Lane had good returns of $47,700 on seven screens and American independent Expired ticked down to $5,240 in a Manhattan solo. There was also a hearty expansion for Mongol that generated $750,000 from 94 sites.
Overall business remained comparably better than 2007 moviegoing while it ebbed back from the immediate prior frame.
While critics savaged both of the new national debuts, tracking indicated there was still strong interest in the antics of Agent 86, Maxwell Smart. Friday exits showed ticket sales skewing 60% toward plus 25s with a relatively even gender split. The film slightly out-performed industry expectations of $35 million but even with a general paucity of comedies in the marketplace there’s not a lot of hope for on-going sustainability.
If Smart reaction was lukewarm, The Love Guru response verged on the virulent. Industry trepidation had been growing since a teaser preview was shown at ShoWest in March and a lot of ink had been split about the sagacity of two comedies facing off on the same date. Some industry pundits speculated Guru was being blown off in the summer heat rather than repositioned in a possibly more favorable late summer/early fall play slot.
Paramount may have been licking its wounds on The Love Guru but it got a hefty consolation prize as its release schedule accumulated to $1 billion on Sunday. In addition to 2008 bragging rights, it enters the record books as the fastest to that benchmark; lopping off more than a month from Sony’s prior pace setter. Reaction was however tempered in light of last week’s announcement of independent investment in DreamWorks that has stoked reports of the company’s exit from the studio before the end of the year.
Weekend business inched toward $160 million that represented a 22% decline from seven days earlier. However it was 7% improved from 2007 when the debut of another Steve Carell vehicle, Evan Almighty, led box office sales with a $31.2 million debut followed by the unexpectedly potent $20.6 million bow of 1408.
The American Girl industry of books, clothing, et al came to the screen with Kit Kittredge and peeked industry eyebrows with its $46,800 screen average. The film’s limited exposure and planned slow roll out surprised observers in light of the franchise’s built-in appeal and whispering ensued that the approaching October absorption of distributor Picturehouse into big WB may have curtailed close scrutiny on the release. The evaporating company was also active with Mongol that added 89 playdates and maintained close to an $8,000 per engagement average.
Weekend Estimates – June 20-22, 2008
| Title | Distributor | Gross (averag | % change | Theaters | Cume |
| Get Smart | WB | 38.3 (9,790) | – | 3911 | 38.3 |
| The Incredible Hulk | Uni | 21.7 (6,190) | -61% | 3508 | 96.6 |
| Kung Fu Panda | Par | 21.5 (5,300) | -36% | 4053 | 155.4 |
| The Love Guru | Par | 14.1 (4,680) | – | 3012 | 14.1 |
| The Happening | Fox | 10.0 (3,340) | -67% | 2986 | 50.3 |
| Indian Jones & Kingdom of Crystal S | Par | 8.3 (2,620) | -44% | 3171 | 290.7 |
| Don’t Mess with the Zohan | Sony | 7.0 (2,130) | -57% | 3278 | 83.8 |
| Sex and the City | WB | 6.4 (2,630) | -34% | 2442 | 132.3 |
| Iron Man | Par | 4.0 (2,110) | -28% | 1912 | 304.8 |
| The Strangers | Uni/Alliance | 1.9 (1,190) | -53% | 1578 | 49.5 |
| Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | BV | 1.7 (1,140) | -48% | 1462 | 135.4 |
| What Happens in Vegas | Fox | .75 (1,060) | -55% | 708 | 77.5 |
| Mongol | Picturehouse | .75 (7,980) | 570% | 94 | 1.1 |
| The Visitor | Overture | .38 (1,700) | -9% | 224 | 7.2 |
| Baby Mama | Uni | .24 (800) | -45% | 302 | 59.3 |
| Kit Kittredge: An American Girl | Picturehouse | .23 (46,800) | – | 5 | 0.23 |
| Forgetting Sarah Marshall | Uni | .19 (760) | -34% | 253 | 62.4 |
| Forbidden Kingdom | Lions Gate | .14 (930) | 112% | 155 | 52.2 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | – | $136.40 | – | – | – |
| % Change (Last Year) | – | 7% | – | – | – |
| % Change (Last Week) | – | -22% | – | – | – |
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| The Fall | Roadside Attract | .12 (1,880) | -20% | 65 | 1.6 |
| Young People F*cking | Maple Pics | .08 (2,410) | -26% | 34 | 0.27 |
| Brick Lane | Sony Classics | 47,700 (6,810) | – | 7 | 0.05 |
| Expired | IFC | 5,240 (5,240) | – | 1 | 0.01 |
Domestic Market Share – To June 12, 2008
| Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share |
| Paramount (11) | 879.3 | 21.80% |
| Fox (12) | 584.5 | 14.50% |
| Warner Bros. (15) | 574.4 | 14.20% |
| Sony (15) | 435.5 | 10.80% |
| Buena Vista (9) | 402.9 | 10.00% |
| Universal (10) | 317.9 | 7.90% |
| Lions Gate (8) | 203.1 | 5.00% |
| Fox Searchlight (5) | 150.1 | 3.70% |
| Par Vantage (8) | 71.5 | 1.80% |
| New Line (4) | 61.8 | 1.50% |
| Focus (4) | 59.9 | 1.50% |
| Miramax (5) | 47.9 | 1.20% |
| MGM (9) | 46.3 | 1.20% |
| Summit (2) | 34.9 | 0.90% |
| Overture (3) | 27.1 | 0.70% |
| Other * (154) | 135 | 3.30% |
| * none greater than 0.45% | 4032.1 | 100.00% |
Top Global Grossers – To June 19, 2008
| Title | Distributor | Gross |
| Iron Man | Par | 300,785,869 |
| Indiana Jones & Kingdom of the Cry | Par | 282,420,731 |
| Horton Hears a Who | Fox | 153,493,503 |
| Kung Fu Panda | Par | 133,896,159 |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Ca | BV | 133,758,371 |
| Sex and the City | WB | 125,920,375 |
| Juno * | Fox Searchlight | 115,568,583 |
| 10,000 B.C. | WB | 94,784,201 |
| The Bucket List * | WB | 92,781,554 |
| National Treasure: Book of Secrets * | BV | 86,700,433 |
| 21 | Sony | 82,629,719 |
| Cloverfield | Par | 80,048,433 |
| Jumper | Fox | 79,914,335 |
| You Don’t Mess with the Zohan | Sony | 76,855,203 |
| 27 Dresses | Fox | 76,808,654 |
| What Happens in Vegas | Fox | 76,751,534 |
| The Incredible Hulk | Uni | 74,919,370 |
| Vantage Point | Sony | 73,083,080 |
| The Spiderwick Chronicles | Par | 71,748,431 |
| Fool’s Gold | WB | 70,321,498 |
| * does not include 2007 box office | ||
