By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
Slow and Sure
A quartet of new films failed to topple Tropic Thunder from its seat at the top of the heap of weekend movie going. The psycho-comedy edged out freshman entries The House Bunny and Death Race with an estimated $16.1 million. Bunny ranked second with $14.8 million and the bronze went to the road rage action with $12.2 million.
The other newcomers failed to click with the human comedy The Longshots living up to its moniker with a $4.2 million gross and the antic musical comedy The Rocker finishing with a grim $2.6 million. More encouraging was the limited bow of fest fave Hamlet 2 with a $4,400 average and $450,000 box office.
In niche and exclusive play a couple of debuting non-fiction films played well including the debt related I.O.U.S.A. coining $69,200 at 18 sites and the flood relief-themed Trouble the Water grossing $28,100 at three venues. The inspirational The Errand of Angels had a fair $37,300 from 16 regional openings and the Manhattan exclusive of critically acclaimed Momma’s Man had a potent $13,400 bow.
Audiences continued to ebb as the season waned and one has to wonder whether the upcoming Labor Day glut of new movies will end summer with a bang or a whimper.
Most industry trackers were predicting a significantly stronger debut for both The House Bunny and Death Race with the former expected to lead the field with an $18 million to $20 million opening salvo. Reviews of the lark of a Playmate turned sorority den mother were upbeat and the picture, as anticipated, drew largely from a young female crowd … just not as many as had been perceived.
The very loose remake of Death Race was roundly dismissed by critics and response from avids turned out to be tepid. There was similar soft response for The Longshots while The Rocker arrived commercially D.O.A.
Weekend box office barely managed to exceed five figures with an overall three-day pushing close to $102 million. That translated into a 19% dip from last weekend as well as a 6% decline from 2007. Last year the second weekend of Superbad led with an $18 million box office and debuts of Mr. Bean’s Holiday and War ranked fourth and fifth with respective b.o. of $9.9 million and $9.8 million.
The August erosion now has summer 2008 ahead of last year at this point of the season by 0.1%. The next eight days aren’t likely to generate a demonstrably change from last year’s $4.17 billion tally. However, with an increasing number of premium priced large format and 3-D movies in the current season, attendance has experienced a significant drop and one can expect aggressive industry spinning about the May-August commercial record in the coming weeks.
Summer’s other major fatality has been alternative fare and while there have been a number of successes, even the most resilient have been pushed off screen by the vigorous flow of mainstream and niche movies. The few and the sturdy have truly had to earn expansion playdates and maintaining potent per screens has hobbled virtually every picture that’s found itself desperately to build a national audience.
Estimates – August 22-24, 2008
| Title | Distributor | Gross (averag | % chang | Theaters | Cume |
| Tropic Thunder | Par | 16.1 (4,790) | -38% | 3352 | 65.6 |
| The House Bunny | Sony | 14.8 (5,460) | – | 2714 | 14.8 |
| Death Race | Uni | 12.2 (4,830) | – | 2532 | 12.2 |
| The Dark Knight | WB | 10.3 (3,250) | -37% | 3163 | 489.2 |
| Star Wars: The Clone Wars | WB | 5.5 (1,600) | -62% | 3452 | 24.9 |
| Pinapple Express | Sony | 5.2 (1,990) | -47% | 2620 | 73.6 |
| Mirrors | Fox | 4.8 (1,800) | -57% | 2664 | 20 |
| Mamma Mia! | Uni | 4.2 (1,810) | -31% | 2326 | 124.4 |
| The Longshots | MGM | 4.2 (2,010) | – | 2089 | 4.2 |
| The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon E | Uni | 4.0 (1,650) | -51% | 2422 | 93.7 |
| Vicky Christina Barcelona | MGM | 2.8 (4,020) | -26% | 692 | 8.4 |
| Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 | WB | 2.7 (1,250) | -53% | 2170 | 38.2 |
| The Rocker | Fox | 2.6 (930) | – | 2784 | 3.6 |
| Journey to the Center of the Earth | WB | 2.2 (2,080) | -35% | 1051 | 91.9 |
| Step Brothers | Sony | 2.2 (1,370) | -53% | 1639 | 95.6 |
| Fly Me to the Moon | Summit | 1.3 (2,420) | -31% | 540 | 4.1 |
| Wall-E | BV | .89 (1,130) | -52% | 785 | 216.2 |
| Bottle Shock | FreeStyle | .63 (1,940) | 61% | 324 | 1.65 |
| Hancock | Sony | .58 (990) | -66% | 588 | 226.3 |
| Hamlet 2 | Focus | .45 (4,400) | – | 103 | 0.45 |
| Elegy | IDP | .45 (5,440) | 722% | 83 | 0.7 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $97.20 | – | – | ||
| % Change (Last Year) | – | -6% | – | ||
| % Change (Last Week) | – | -19% | – | ||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Brideshead Reisited | Miramax | .42 (950) | -43% | 444 | 5.5 |
| Man on Wire | Magnolia | .16 (2,530) | -24% | 64 | 0.95 |
| I.O.U.S.A. | Roadside At. | 69,200 (3,840) | – | 18 | 0.07 |
| The Errand of Angels | Excel | 37,300 (2,330) | – | 16 | 0.04 |
| Trouble the Water | Zeitgeist | 28,100 (9,370) | – | 3 | 0.03 |
| Mumbai Meri Jaan | UTV | 13,500 (1,690) | – | 8 | 0.01 |
| Momma’s Man | Kino | 13,400 (13,400) | – | 1 | 0.01 |
Domestic Market Share – To August 21, 2008
| Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share |
| Warner Bros. (20) | 1371.5 | 20.70% |
| Paramount (13) | 1167.8 | 17.70% |
| Universal (15) | 884.5 | 13.40% |
| Sony (18) | 872.7 | 13.20% |
| Fox (18) | 734.6 | 11.10% |
| Buena Vista (11) | 647.5 | 9.80% |
| Lions Gate (9) | 204.3 | 3.10% |
| Fox Searchlight (5) | 150.9 | 2.30% |
| Paramount Vantage (10) | 72.7 | 1.10% |
| New Line (4) | 61.8 | 0.90% |
| Focus (5) | 60.1 | 0.90% |
| Miramax (6) | 53.2 | 0.80% |
| MGM (10) | 52.1 | 0.80% |
| Summit (3) | 37.6 | 0.60% |
| Picturehouse (6) | 35.9 | 0.50% |
| Other * (221) | 204.5 | 3.10% |
| * none greater than 0.45% | 6611.7 | 100.00% |
Top Limited Releases – To August 21, 2008
| Title | Distributor | Gross |
| Under the Same Moon | Weinstein Co. | 12,590,147 |
| Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day | Focus | 12,413,165 |
| Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure | nWave | 12,347,255 |
| U2 3D | nWave | 9,339,861 |
| The Visitor | Overture | 9,288,593 |
| In Bruges | Focus | 7,800,824 |
| The Orphanage | Picture/Christal | 6,894,612 |
| Mongol | Picturehouse | 5,644,686 |
| Vicky Christina Barcelona | MGM | 5,566,474 |
| The Counterfeiters | Sony Classics | 5,484,365 |
| Shine a Light | Par Vantage | 5,421,098 |
| The Diving Bell and the Butterfly | Mrmx | 5,064,793 |
| Brideshead Reisited | Mrmx | 5,058,765 |
| The Savages | Fox Searchlight | 4,795,616 |
| Persepolis | Sony Classics | 4,266,064 |
| Dolphins and Whales 3D | 3D Entertainment | 4,227,773 |
| Young@Heart | Fox Searchlight | 3,921,678 |
| Then She Found Me | Thinkfilm | 3,731,212 |
| Jodhaa Akbar | UTV | 3,440,718 |
| Tell No One | Music Box | 3,432,807 |
| Cruising Bar 2 | Alliance | 3,253,833 |
