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By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Posted Monday, September 5th, 2011 - 7 Comments »
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4-Day Labor Day Estimates by Klady

So… The Help is having a remarkable run. I felt, at the time of release, that they were leaving money on the table by going so late in the season. And they may have left a little. But the holds have just been remarkable. Really, the best of the summer for a major studio release. Why? Because it opened strong enough to hold its own and to get a sampling and because of that, hadn’t lost steam by the time older audiences got serious about seeing it. There’s also a bit of January awards expansion to it… so much crap out there, people who want to see a “quality movie” (not trying to start a debate on the issues around the film again), have little choice. See one of the small indies or docs out there in limited theaters with limited opportunities or go see The Help. Whether critics like it or not, the word of mouth is good on this film… perhaps for some of the reasons that had so many writers riled up a few weeks ago.

And one has to hand it to Focus Features for getting The Debt to $14.4m domestic after its first weekend. It’s not quite The American, but it’s surprisingly close considering the lack of a bigger movie opener.

Apollo 18 and Shark Night were chasing the more traditional big grossing genre dollars that have been milked from this release date. The two distributors, by going head-to-head, probably yanked mediocrity from the jaws of great success.

It will be limping when it gets there, but Cowboys & Aliens looks like it could get to $100m domestic, the 17th and last film of Summer 2011 to get there.

And congrats to Paramount, which did an expanded run of Transformers 3 to get it to a nice clean $350m domestic gross… and succeeded.

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7 Comments »

7 Responses to “4-Day Labor Day Estimates by Klady”

  1. Gus says:
    September 5, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    I say job well done to Focus on The Debt but also to TWC for Our Idiot Brother. Prime example of a film that others might have platformed to death without ever cracking $10M, and TWC got the thing out there in a major way for a film budgeted at under $7M. Looks like it’ll push up against $30M domestic and do great on video.

    Other comparisons people made to Cyrus, Cedar Rapids, etc. feel right to me here.

  2. bulldog68 says:
    September 5, 2011 at 2:40 pm

    They’re making a push for Bad Teacher as well Dave. It currently sits just $1.2M short of $100M and made $560K over the 4 day labor weekend. It was sputtering at $100K weekly for the two weekends prior to labor day, so with this expansion, it could get there and that would bring it to 18. It’s a definite maybe. And Fast Five will have a beef you for not saying they were a summer release.

  3. Proman says:
    September 5, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    Cowboys & Aliens will also make it to $100 million.

    Shame about Gainsbourg doing so poorly though. Deserves a lot better.

  4. movieman says:
    September 5, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    ….and yet “Cars 2” will never hit the $200-million (and beyond) domestic mark that many–myself included–felt was its (Pixar) birth right.
    Probably for the same reason “KFP2” underperformed.
    Just too many damn CGI 3-D ‘toons/kidflicks in the marketplace this annum. And ever-dwindling entertainment dollars to spend on a confusing plethora of choices.
    Look for a bloodbath Thanksgiving weekend w/ “Muppets” being the only possible survivor.

  5. yancyskancy says:
    September 5, 2011 at 6:12 pm

    Just caught a very crowded matinee of THE HELP. I liked it, and won’t be remotely shocked if/when it gets a Best Picture nod. The actors branch should love it, and surely a SAG ensemble win is in the cards. Assuming Stone and Davis are put up for lead actress, I’m guessing all the white supporting actresses will cancel each other out, giving Spencer a good shot at the sole nod in the category. A bit of a shame, since Howard and Chastain are also worthy, and even Spacek and Janney might’ve gotten there with an extra scene or two. Funny how the white guys are so interchangeable they should’ve pulled a Peter Sellers/Alec Guinness type of stunt and hired one actor to play them all.

  6. cadavra says:
    September 5, 2011 at 11:39 pm

    Great to see DETECTIVE DEE open well. Tsui Hark is way overdue for a hit here, and hopefully it’ll spur interest in the Judge Dee novels as well.

  7. movielocke says:
    September 6, 2011 at 1:59 am

    The Help would easily sail to a BP nod if the five nominee rule were still in effect. I think it’s a terrific film, the best fiction film I’ve seen this year, but I’d slot it below Cave of Forgotten Dreams and Hot Coffee. I hope it continues to outperform expectations.

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