Friday Estimates by Hungry Klady III
Ah… nothing much to report on The Hunger Games‘ success (now running well ahead of the biggest Twilight film, looking at $350 as a minimum in the US and $700m worldwide), aside from the JournoWhore War between Gary Ross’ people and SummitGate.
American Reunion won’t open to the number of either of the two sequels to the leggy hit of 1999. But considering that the actors in the films have establish stable, but not skyrocketing careers, this is hardly a bad number. Easter/Passoevr weekend seems an odd time for this material, though one can forgive the thinking that they were out of Hunger Games way three weekends out. (BZZT! Didn’t work out that way.)
Titanic 3D is also… okay. The numbers are better than Beauty & The Beast 3D and not as good as The Lion King 3D. Honestly, I expected a bit better than this. But 3D is not always your friend. Personally, I think they could have done this number or better with just the beautiful 4k print. Thing is, they too are getting hit with THG fever. And unlike American Pie, the big chunk of the audience for Titanic is EXACTLY the audience for The Hunger Games.
Still, the big story for Titanic 3D will be international. There are major markets that never got the film in its first release and the 3D market overseas is much healthier at this point than here at home. We could surely see a $70m gross here and hundreds of millions overseas for this title.
Also Notable: 21 Jump St cracked $100m yesterday. The Lorax will crack $200m this weekend.
It’s interesting that as the death of stars continues to be discussed, all three films at the top of this weekend’s chart will be actor/star driven (J-La now qualifies) and even Jump St has a star of a sort. I think, perhaps, the problem the media has with this is… these are not their stars.
So American Reunion’s opening Friday is about 25% lower than American Wedding’s. So an opening weekend of about $25 million for AR (compared to $33 million for AW). Universal had to be hoping for quite a bit more than that. Looks like a good hold for Mirror Mirror. Families liking it?
Houseful 2 is Bollywood, right? If it makes the top 10 for the weekend, would that be a first?
Well, MM’s the only true family film out there now except for THE LORAX, which most families have likely seen at least once by now.
@Rob: It wouldn’t be the first. When a Bollywood title hits the US top 10 it’s usually during a slow weekend.
I think I would disagree Dave with J/La meeting the criteria of the star driving the b/o numbers of THG. Granted, she certainly did not hurt it.
Just looking at Twilight for an easy comparison, their non Twilight numbers have been spotty at best, and the only way to test your opinion is when J/La appears in a non THG, and non X-Men film with her name above the title and then we’ll see.
She did headline a film that won the grand jury prize at sundance, was profitable, and led to her being nominated for an Oscar… Doesn’t count to you?
“I think, perhaps, the problem the media has with this is… these are not their stars.”
This is kinda funny. I mean, what does David hate more: Hunger Games or old media? LOL.
I just want to point out the hell that came my way for doubting the power of Titanic in 3D. That’s not a horrible weekend for a re-release, but the ladies have moved on. They have entire film series geared towards them now. Also, they foolishly showed Titanic on HBO for most of the beginning of the year. That couldn’t have helped things.
Maybe it’s all for the best, JSP. If Titanic 3D had done gangbusters business, how long would it have been before Gone With the Wind and other classics would’ve gotten digitally reworked?
At least one other Bollywood film has made the Top 10. “Kites” opened in May two years ago, and placed #10 in its opening weekend. Given that few films open in May (just one or two each weekend), that’s not a big surprise. Actually, this March has behaved like most Mays with only one or two wide releases on most weekends, so it’s not a shock to see movies with sub-$1 million weekend grosses to make the Top 10.
““I think, perhaps, the problem the media has with this is… these are not their stars.””
“This is kinda funny. I mean, what does David hate more: Hunger Games or old media? LOL.”
My take on it wasn’t “old media” as much as “old stars”. I’m guessing that when most people hear the term “movie star” they think of someone who’s at least 35…and they haven’t been opening that many blockbusters recently.
Yeah, JLaw is not in any way a draw/star outside of Hunger Games. Sure, she got nominated for Winter’s Bone but that doesn’t matter to the viewing public and the movie didn’t make any money even with her nomination as promotional help.