MCN Columnists
Leonard Klady

By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com

Weather Report

The Hollywood parody Tropical Thunder took top box office honors with weekend movie goers providing an estimated $25.6 million for its debut. The session also saw a softish $15.3 million bow for the animated Star Wars: The Clone Warsthat ranked third and a more predictable $11.1 million fourth place finish for the thriller Mirrors.

The session also a number of limited wide openers with Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona grossing a respectable $3.7 million from 692 adobes and fair returns of $2 million for the 3D import Fly Me to the Moon. However, the comedy Henry Poole is Here had a moribund $770,000 from 527 sites.

Additionally the freshman crowd in niche and alternative arenas included two new Bollywood entries with the highly anticipated Bachna Ae Haseeno generating a strong $320,000 opening while God Tussi Great Ho fizzled with a $71,000 box office. There was also poor response of $26,100 for Le Cas Roberte on 22 Quebec screens but initial potency of $17,400 from two exclusives for French import A Girl Cut in Two.

With Labor Day looming and summer fast fading, distributors have ramped up release schedules in hopes of generating some coin and quickly burying films they see as commercially fungible. Don’t expect many new openers to stick around long into the fall season.

The late season bow of Tropic Thunder came up short of industry expectations that it would have comparable box office opening strength to last weekend’s Pineapple Express. Critical reviews were upbeat to the anarchic spoof but with production and marketing costs reported at about $150 million the film can ill afford sharp drops in its domestic gross. And the slim edge of profitability will weigh heavy on international response.

Weekend revenues inched toward $127 million for a modest 4% bump from seven days earlier. However, continuing the recent trend, it experienced a slight 3% ebb from 2007 when the debut of Superbad led with its $33.1 million debut. Further erosion could see summer 2008 box office a virtual carbon copy result with last year and eradicate any hope for a boost in admissions.

The Dark Knight advanced to second position among all-time box office grossers this weekend but studio estimates that it will final at about $525 million leave it significantly short of the Titanic record. Coincidently while the non-Jedi Knight passedStar Wars, the latter film’s animated episode sputtered following strong Friday matinees. Exit polls indicated a strong family audience but scant interest from series’ fans.

Following strategic festival screenings, the advance word for Vicky Christina Barcelona was upbeat with predictions of a more commercial run than the typical Woody Allen movie. Opening numbers certainly hold out the promise of a gross rivaling the $23 million domestic tally of Match Point.

Industry eyes were also paying keen attention to the opening of the 3D digital Fly Me to the Moon (it also played in about 20 Imax locations). The Belgium-produced animated film did respectably but with so many in the industry pounding the drums for stereoscopic movies as the answer to the commercial doldrums, this particular entry came up short.

– Leonard Klady


Estimates – August 15-17, 2008

Title
Distributor
Gross (average)
% change *
Theaters
Cume
Tropic Thunder
Par
25.6 (7,710)
3319
36.6
The Dark Knight
WB
16.8 (4,690)
-36%
3590
471.5
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
WB
15.3 (4,440)
3452
15.3
Mirrors
Fox
11.1 (4,180)
2664
11.1
Pinapple Express
Sony
9.9 (3,230)
-57%
3072
62.8
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Empire
Uni
8.4 (2,490)
-49%
3363
86.4
Mamma Mia!
Uni
6.4 (2,320)
-22%
2771
116.3
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
WB
5.9 (2,170)
-45%
2714
32.1
Step Brothers
Sony
4.9 (1,840)
-47%
2648
90.8
Vicky Christina Barcelona
MGM
3.7 (5,300)
692
3.7
Journey to the Center of the Earth
WB
3.4 (2,430)
-30%
1405
88.1
Fly Me to the Moon
Summit
2.0 (4,490)
452
2
Wall-E
BV
1.8 (1,290)
-42%
1403
214.1
Hancock
Sony
1.7 (1,350)
-48%
1277
225
Swing Vote
BV
1.1 (890)
-64%
1281
14.7
Space Chimps
Fox
.83 (1,080)
-53%
768
27.6
Henry Poole is Here
Overture
.77 (1,460)
527
0.77
Brideshead Reisited
Miramax
.75 (1,500)
-29%
501
4.7
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Uni
.55 (1,140)
-56%
484
74.6
Singh is Kinng
Studio 18
.39 (3,610)
-67%
108
1.9
Bottle Shock
FreeStyle
.39 (3,320)
41%
117
0.8
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)
$120.90
% Change (Last Year)
-3%
% Change (Last Week)
4%
Also debuting/expanding
Bachna Ae Haseeno
Yash Raj
.32 (4,320)
75
0.32
Man on Wire
Magnolia
.21 (3,230)
-23%
65
0.79
American Teen
Par Ventage
.10 (930)
-26%
105
0.65
God Tussi Great Ho
Eros
71,000 (1,030)
69
0.07
Le Cas Roberge
Alliance
26,100 (1,190)
22
0.03
A Girl Cut in Two
IFC
17,400 (8,700)
2
0.02

Domestic Market Share – To August 7, 2008

Distributor (releases)
Gross
Market Share
Warner Bros. (19)
1247.5
20.00%
Paramount (12)
1114.9
18.40%
Universal (15)
820.1
13.20%
Sony (18)
793.2
12.70%
Fox (16)
711.3
11.40%
Buena Vista (11)
632.3
10.10%
Lions Gate (9)
204.3
3.20%
Fox Searchlight (5)
150.9
2.40%
Paramount Vantage (10)
72.3
1.10%
New Line (4)
61.8
1.00%
Focus (5)
60.1
1.00%
Miramax (6)
50.4
0.80%
MGM (9)
46.5
0.70%
Picturehouse (6)
35.1
0.50%
Summit (2)
34.9
0.50%
Other * (205)
190.7
3.00%
* none greater than 0.45%
6226.3
100.00%

Top Domestic Releases – To July 31, 2008

Title *
Distributor
Gross
The Dark Knight
WB
351,086,846
Iron Man
Par
315,107,589
Indiana Jones & Kingdom of the Cryst
Par
313,972,312
Hancock
Sony
210,795,466
Kung Fu Panda
Par
209,854,538
Wall-E
BV
199,474,897
Horton Hears a Who
Fox
154,423,552
Sex and the City
WB
151,169,251
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Casp
BV
140,415,913
The Incredible Hulk
Uni
132,805,330
Wanted
Uni
130,080,115
Get Smart
WB
125,506,819
Juno *
Fox Searchlight
115,568,583
You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
Sony
98,440,404
10,000 B.C.
WB
94,819,450
The Bucket List *
WB
92,781,554
National Treasure: Book of Secrets *
BV
86,700,433
21
Sony
82,823,812
Jumper
Fox
80,172,128
Cloverfield
Par
80,048,433
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Klady

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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