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Leonard Klady

By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com

Posted Sunday, June 8th, 2008 - Comments Off on Pandering to the Masses…
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Pandering to the Masses…

A pair of unusual martial arts movies kicked up interest in movie going by double digits. The animated adventure Kung Fu Panda led the frame with an estimated $59.8 million debut session followed by Adam Sandler’s political comedy spinDon’t Mess with the Zohan that grossed $40.3 million in its opening weekend.

The session was also rife with niche and limited releases including the Bollywood circuit Sarkar Raj that rang up one of the best openings of the year of $550,000. Also potent was foreign-language Oscar nominee the historic epic Mongol that scored a $25,360 average from five theaters. Brit import When Did You Last See Your Father grossed $37,200 in eight engagements, Italian horror maestro Dario Argento’s Mother of Tears bowed with $29,800 from seven screens and American indie The Promotion left six offices with $26,500.

Expectations were close to target for the two freshmen entries though Thursday advance ticketing for Panda via movietickets.com were running close to seven times stronger. The animated fable’s opening day $20.3 million box office anticipated a $60 million plus result but Saturday business spiked just 11% indicating summer movie going arcs had commenced now that more than 50% of schools have let out for the year. It was also unusual to see that Friday exit polls showed that 51% of the audience was older than 25 and 55% was female.

Sandler’s Zohan had virtually identical age and gender demographics (women represented 51%) but his splits were more typical of past performances for both comedies and his movies. The yarn of an Israeli agent turned Manhattan hairdresser was largely met with critical incredulity or damned with grudging praise.

Overall business climbed to roughly $177 million that translated into a 5% boost from the prior weekend. It had a more demonstrable 33% uptick from 2007 when Ocean’s Thirteen opening led the frame with $36.1 million and the bow of animated penguins in Surf’s Up ranked fourth with $17.6 million.

Last weekend’s top choice Sex and the City experienced a steeper than expected 63% decline. With the summer session barely started, industry mavens are at a loss to explain faster fades for comedies and family fare such as Prince Caspian.The film industry traditionally gets the yips whenever there’s a blip in traditional movie going patterns and prays to the box office gods that such occurrences are anomalies that require no explanation.

Changes in movie going habits have been shifting at a glacial pace for more than two decades; mostly at some expense to the exhibition community. Response to the slow erosion for the theatrical experience has been equally sluggish as the industry, as ever, responds best to catastrophe.

– Leonard Klady

Weekend Finals – June 6-8, 2008

Title Distrib Weekend % Change Theaters Cume Wks
1 New Kung Fu Panda Par 60,239,130 4114 60,239,130 1
2 New You Don’t Mess with the Zohan Sony 38,531,374 3462 38,531,374 1
3 2 Indiana Jones & Kingdom of Crystal Sk Par 22,793,630 -49% 4190 253,014,750 3
4 1 Sex and the City WB 21,218,305 -63% 3325 99,177,283 2
5 3 The Strangers Uni/Alliance 8,941,970 -57% 2477 37,298,770 2
6 4 Iron Man Par 7,477,439 -45% 2931 288,847,640 6
7 5 Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian BV 5,658,836 -55% 3065 125,977,010 4
8 6 What Happens in Vegas Fox 3,437,801 -48% 2366 72,267,894 5
9 8 Baby Mama Uni 806,750 -63% 922 57,931,215 7
10 9 Made of Honor Sony 804,055 -58% 740 44,689,497 6
11 New Sarkar Raj Eros 642,523 70 642,523 1
12 10 Forgetting Sarah Marshall Uni 481,780 -54% 442 61,551,440 8
13 11 The Visitor Overture 477,091 -14% 260 6,002,382 9
14 7 Speed Racers WB 427,547 -81% 855 42,075,228 5
15 13 Horton Hears a Who Fox 254,418 -31% 347 153,018,574 13
16 14 The Fall Roadside Attract. 249,967 -28% 111 1,068,587 5
17 19 21 Sony 213,403 4% 250 82,357,668 11
18 17 Nim’s Island Fox 192,400 -17% 289 46,417,751 10
19 16 Then She Found Me Thinkfilm/TVA 181,341 -26% 129 3,111,146 7
20 21 Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure nWave 180,873 -5% 48 13,899,766 36
21 12 Harold & Kumar Escape Guantanamo WB 178,402 -63% 240 37,401,751 7
22 23 Prom Night Sony/Alliance 174,904 28% 303 44,218,792 9
23 18 Young@Heart Fox Searchlight 150,679 -32% 147 3,111,146 9
24 New Mongel Picturehouse 135,326 5 135,326 1
25 22 Son of Rambow Par Vantage 119,065 -28% 155 1,370,446 6
26 20 College Road Trip BV 118,037 -40% 188 44,735,882 14
27 25 Dolphins and Whales 3-D 3D Entertainment 100,157 -13% 15 2,222,804 16
28 26 Roman de Gare IDP 95,492 -8% 36 784,725 7
29 15 Forbidden Kingdom Lions Gate 87,482 -65% 160 51,924,040 8
30 79 Meet the Browns Lions Gate 71,430 432% 134 42,227,540 12
31 40 The Children of Huang Shi Sony Classice 67,362 48% 30 197,360 3
32 24 Drillbit Taylor Par 64,307 -47% 90 32,802,516 12
33 27 U2 3D nWave 58,229 -34% 10 8,320,845 20
34 39 Reprise Miramax 52,018 3% 15 326,397 4
35 29 The Counterfeiters Sony Classics 52,002 -35% 66 5,246,694 16
36 41 Priceless IDP 51,316 14% 31 1,433,040 11
37 53 Bigger, Stronger, Faster Magnolia 50,966 61% 19 96,418 2
38 47 The Foot Fist Way Par Vantage 49,328 35% 17 99,392 2
39 67 War Inc. First Look 47,503 138% 23 130,258 3
40 28 Superhero Movie MGM 45,001 -46% 90 25,726,090 11
41 56 The Spiderwick Chronicles Par 43,256 54% 36 71,709,209 17
42 73 Deception Fox 40,509 234% 39 4,575,019 7
43 New When Did You Last See Your Father Sony Classics 39,210 8 39,210 1
44 32 Before the Rains Roadside Attract. 38,947 -40% 31 512,082 5
45 36 Leatherheads Uni 38,155 -36% 81 31,268,330 10
46 70 Under the Same Moon Weinstein Co. 37,233 100% 90 12,507,834 12
47 30 10,000 B.C. WB 36,290 -48% 76 94,720,062 14
48 48 The Stone Angel Alliance 36,089 0% 15 336,551 5
49 68 In Bruges Focus 34,454 75% 30 7,716,240 18
50 50 Deep Sea 3-D WB 33,211 5% 10 35,465,777 119
51 37 Edge of Heaven Metropole 33,165 -41% 9 260,694 6
52 New 99 Francs Equinoxe 30,960 8 30,960 1
53 New The Promotion Weinstein Co. 30,493 6 30,493 1
54 31 Street Kings Fox Searchlight 29,718 -54% 54 26,301,813 9
55 33 88 Minutes Sony 29,099 -54% 50 17,254,043 8
56 60 Magnificent Desolation Imax 26,921 5% 6 24,040,646 141
57 55 The Bucket List WB 25,096 -15% 43 93,491,598 24
58 38 The Bank Job Lions Gate 23,106 -56% 19 30,083,766 14
59 66 Savage Grace IFC 22,891 3% 7 55,856 2
60 34 The Ruins Par 22,788 -64% 61 17,402,425 10
61 35 Space Station 3-D Imax 22,583 -64% 5 75,319,180 320
62 88 Stuck Thinkfilm 22,552 155% 16 35,998 2
63 64 Roving Mars BV 22,526 -8% 8 8,851,808 124
64 46 Shine a Light Par Vantage 22,378 -39% 22 5,315,423 10
65 61 Surfwise Magnolia 21,495 -12% 12 118,989 5
66 RE Stop-Loss Par Vantage 21,452 83 10,891,554 11
67 62 Fool’s Gold WB 20,041 -18% 37 70,311,547 18
68 72 Jumper Fox 20,002 20% 17 79,883,800 17
69 57 Emma Smith: My Story Candlelight 19,947 -28% 7 611,479 7
70 New Mother of Tears Weinstein Co. 19,418 7 19,418 1

Estimates – June 6-8, 2008

Title Distributor Gross (averag % change Theaters Cume
Kung Fu Panda Par 59.8 (14,540) – 4114 59.8
Don’t Mess with the Zohan Sony 40.3 (11,630) – 3462 40.3
Indian Jones & Kingdom of Crystal Sku Par 22.9 (5,460) -49% 4190 253.1
Sex and the City WB 21.3 (6,410) -63% 3325 99.2
The Strangers Uni/Alliance 9.2 (3,740) -56% 2466 37.6
Iron Man Par 7.4 (2,520) -45% 2931 288.8
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian BV 5.5 (1,780) -57% 3065 125.8
What Happens in Vegas Fox 3.4 (1,420) -50% 2366 72.2
Baby Mama Uni .81 (880) -63% 922 57.9
Made of Honor Sony .73 (990) -62% 740 44.6
Sarkar Raj Eros .55 (7,860) 70 0.55
The Visitor Overture .51 (1,960) -8% 260 6
Forgetting Sarah Marshall Uni .47 (1,060) -56% 442 61.5
Speed Racer WB .36 (420) -84% 855 42
Horton Hears a Who Fox .26 (1,020) -29% 255 153
The Fall Roadside Attra .22 (2,240) -36% 98 1.04
Harold & Kumar Escape Guantanamo WB .21 (870) -62% 240 37.4
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) – $172.40 – – –
% Change (Last Year) – 33% – – –
% Change (Last Week) – 5% – – –
Also debuting/expanding
Mongol Picturehouse .13 (25,360) – 5 0.13
Whin Did You Last See Your Father Sony Classics 37,200 (4,650) – 8 0.04
99 Francs Equinoxe 31,900 (3,990) – 1 0.03
Mother of Tears Myriad 29,800 (4,260) – 7 0.03
The Promotion Weinstein Co. 26,500 (4,410) – 6 0.03
Take Out Cavu 9,900 (9,900) – 1 0.01
Grocer’s Son * Film Movement 9,500 (9,500) – 1 0.54
The Go-Getter Peace Arch 8,800 (2,200) – 4 0.01

Domestic Market Share – To June 5, 2008

Distributor (releases) Gross Market Share
Paramount (10) 752.9 19.90%
Fox (12) 578.5 15.30%
Warner Bros. (15) 541.5 14.30%
Buena Vista (9) 394.2 10.40%
Sony (14) 381.3 10.10%
Universal (9) 304.1 8.00%
Lions Gate (8) 202.8 5.40%
Fox Searchlight (5) 149.8 4.00%
Par Vantage (8) 71.1 1.90%
New Line (4) 61.8 1.60%
Focus (4) 59.9 1.60%
Miramax (5) 47.8 1.30%
MGM (9) 46.3 1.20%
Summit (2) 34.9 0.90%
Overture (3) 26.3 0.70%
Other * (150) 130.1 3.40%
* none greater than 0.5% 3783.3 100.00%

Top Limited Grossers – To June 5, 2008

Title Distributor Gross
Under the Same Moon Weinstein Co. 12,470,601
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Focus 12,413,165
U2 3D nWave 8,262,616
Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure nWave 8,026,640
In Bruges Focus 7,681,408
The Orphanage Picture/Christa 6,894,612
The Visitor Overture 5,525,291
Shine a Light Par Vantage 5,293,045
The Counterfeiters Sony Classics 5,194,692
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Mrmx 5,064,793
The Savages Fox Searchligh 4,795,616
Persepolis Sony Classics 4,266,064
Jodhaa Akbar UTV 3,440,718
The Band’s Visit Sony Classics 3,017,907
Young@Heart Fox Searchligh 2,960,467
Then She Found Me Thinkfilm 2,619,388
Dolphins and Whales 3D 3D Entertainm 2,122,647
Space Station Imax 2,042,138
Magnificent Desolation Imax 1,941,595
Dans un galaxie pres de chez nous 2 TVA 1,722,069
* none greater than 703 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