Weekend Estimates by Magic Len
So Ted is “only” the #6 opening of the summer, though it could move to #4 based on Sunday’s performance. Magic Mike is about $15m behind, though that still delivers the #8 opening (of 19 wide openings). What really distinguishes both of these movies, as well as the newest Madea film aka the #10 opener of the summer, is that they are by far the cheapest films of those 10 top openers (especially MM and Madea). And those are the numbers that really matter.
It’s one of those weird moments of happenstance that three relatively modestly budgeted films open so well after the summer has been so unforgiving to some others… like People Like Us, which didn’t have any muscle to help it find a better place in this weekend’s group of openers.
With a holiday approaching, Ted could be up near $100 million by next Monday. (Or it could be closer to $80… don’t want to be overly enthusiastic and set it to up to be perceived as underperforming in the face of being a big hit.)
Part of what’s interesting about the more modest films delivering this weekend is that it’s not like previous similar efforts this summer failed. Studios hadn’t really had these kinds of films on their schedule. Do you see Johnny Depp and Sacha Baron Cohen films as being in the same category? Mark Wahlberg can open, but not like this. Not on his own.
This weekend is the lesson of the summer so far. Even with MiB3 just under $600m worldwide, the only big killer app this summer so far has been Avengers. Studios have both lost money and left money on the table with tentpole chasing. Disney is the only studio this summer so far with a movie that will be as profitable as either of this weekend’s 2 big openers (aside, perhaps, for Searchlight and Exotic Marigold… not sure of their international investment.)
Saturday morning Ted and Magic Mike were only $1.2 million apart. Now Ted has outgrossed Mike by $14.6 million. WTF? Was Magic Mike frontloaded (no pun intended) or what?
Wow; I’m really surprised at the b.o. strength of “The Intouchables.”
Looks like Harvey bet wisely on that one.
And it’s great to see how well “Bernie” has done despite never having been on more than a couple hundred screens at any given time.
Go “Moonrise,” go!
Sadly, it’s still not playing in my home town: a movie usually needs 1,000 working prints to make it here these days.
Pathetic.
I’ve heard many a mixed thing on MM. Some love it, some detest it. Granted, not stopping my wife seeing it tomorrow night with five girlfriends.
I was very resistant to Ted, but I might have turned the corner and check it out.
Most enjoyable experience I’ve had this summer in a theater has been Moonrise Kingdom, with the Intouchables just behind it.
WB’s sell-the-movie-we-wish-we-had push on “Magic Mike” has to make it one of the most-successfully-marketed movies of the year. And are the naysayers still so sure “Moonrise Kingdom” is being mis-handled?
I don’t want to sound like a Debbie Downer on such a great weekend, but not a great hold for BRAVE. Actually the 2nd-worst 2nd-weekend hold ever for Pixar behind CARS 2. It looks to me like it’ll finish between RATATOUILLE and WALL-E..maybe $215 million? Depends on how ICE AGE 4 and KATY PERRY (a total wildcard) play the next couple weekends…
Not horrible, but given the relative lack of merch compared to CARS, probably their least profitable film ever, especially with ICE AGE and MAD3 crushing the international marketplace.
I’m in Texas and Magic Mike is soid out today at a lot of theaters. Totally possible this thing has a late surge and the estimates are out of wack.
Not a GREAT hold for Brave, but at the same time, because Pixar attracts more adults than other animation, they sometimes get a more frontloaded weekend/first weekend than some other companies (they also have bigger openings than the others, so they manage to outgross most other cartoons regardless).
Brave will likely be around 175 before Ice Age 4 even opens, so I’d say it’s pretty safe and will get its 200+. Isn’t that about normal for Pixar? Yes, Up and Toy Story 3 were two of their biggest hits ever — but Toy Story 3 was the capper to their most successful franchise, and Up was their first 3-D movie so I imagine that gave it a bigger boost in ’09 than you could expect from 3-D movies since. Getting to the Wall-E/Ratatouille range is pretty damn good for something that wasn’t as rapturously received as those two.
Kinda bummed that Ted is doing so well, because it’s such a lazy, hit-or-miss movie that’s inexplicably gotten a pass from a lot of critics (David thinks it’s better than Bridesmaids?! Good lord. Because MacFarlane is such a visual whiz with the camera? Because that cutaway to a spoof/homage to Airplane doing a spoof/homage to Saturday Night Fever was clever and not hall-of-mirrors pointless?!). But happy for Soderbergh and Magic Mike. I wonder if the big Friday has to do with girls-night-out stuff, or if there’s gonna be a big drop next weekend due to it being, you know, surprise! It’s a Soderbergh movie!
So both Whedon and McFarline create multiple shows for Fox and then head off and have monster hits making movies for other studios. Perhaps Fox needs to hold a meeting tomorrow about how better to hold onto their Farm Team talent?
And since this is the second year in a row where an inexpensive comedy is leaving their giant tentpole in the dust Universal should take a hard look at what movies they have a talent at making and marketing.
My son and his buddies went to see Ted last night. The only other movie Geogre has seen this summer so far: The Avengers. If you build it, they will come.
Can someone explain to me the wisdom behind Paramount releasing a Katy Perry 3-D concert flick on “4th of July Week”?
Have I missed the Perry phenom train?
Admittedly, all I really know about Perry is “Firework” (a great, albeit overexposed song) and her brief marriage to Russell Brand.
Unless it’s tweener faves like Miley Cyrus (a few years ago anyway) or Justin Bieber (early last year anyway), aren’t concert movies awfully passe these days?
Does Perry really have the legions of fans out there to make this anything more than a corporate money-bleder (even with, I’m sure, a petite price tag)?
Perry is a strange phenomenon. Did you know she’s only the 2nd person to have five number 1 hits off one album…the other being Michael Jackson?
She’s had 11 top-ten songs in the last four years, which seems inconceivable, because she utterly lacks personality. I could see a Lady Gaga or Adele concert film KILLING but Perry, who knows? It could end up with $25 million or $65 million and I wouldn’t be surprised.
Why is the Katy Perry movie opening on Thursday and not Tuesday or Friday? Why not open it on Wednesday, July 4th? Firework, get it? Opening it the day after the Fourth of July seems weird.
I guess I’m just not in Perry’s demographic.
Like I said, the inescapably infectious “Firework” (and the R. Brand thing) are all I really know about her.
It could end up with $25 million or $65 million and I wouldn’t be surprised.
…or a helluva lot less than $25-million.
Hey, I want everything (well, most everything) to do well, so I wish it the best.
Really glad to see Ted so successful. Its the best comedy of the summer thus far. To open bigger than the long awaited Prometheus and on par with MiB3 is a big deal.
My concern for Ted is it being kneecapped by Spidey come Tuesday which will draw a whole lot of males. Either way, this is already a success story and maybe if not for Spidey, would have done Bridesmaids numbers, but we’ll see.
Speaking of Spidey, it’s limited but outstanding international numbers must have Marvel thinking they can strike lightning twice this summer. If Spidey can generate any of the heat that Avengers did, then they will have enough in the bank before The Bat flies into town.
I was wondering why they didn’t just open this weekend instead of on Tuesday, and still get the benefit of July 4th anyway, but I guess opening this way, they won’t have to worry about the perception of not breaking any box office records, and can still generate huge numbers. The last time July 4th was on a Wednesday was 2007, and Transformers opened on the Tuesday as well, on it’s way to $155m by the time Sunday rolled around, and at the time was the biggest opening week for a non-sequel. It went on to earn $319m, which Spiderman would have been happy with if not for Avengers $600m+ figure. Making $319m now would seem like an underachievement.
Perry’s okay in my book. Unlike Gaga, she can actually sing and doesn’t take herself so seriously. I probably won’t see the movie, but she does seem to have a bit more appeal to folks over 25.
The Spider-Man numbers overseas are good in Asia, but not so (ugh) amazing elsewhere.
Opening an untested Spider-man against a boatload of alternate programming kept it away from this weekend.
Edit: Cadavra, it seems Gaga chooses not show her vocal talents unless she is paired with Tony Bennett.
i think the lesson of 2012 is that the studios need fewer event films. they obviously don’t have the formula down in the wake of a horrific year for those massive budgeted monstrosities.
You can’t throw money at a problem and expect it to be fixed. Along the same lines you can’t spend 200 million and expect to make your money back anymore. Biggest isn’t better. Ideas sell.
Avengers cost money but people liked the idea of a Super hero team up. They werent lining up because it cost a lot. People liked the idea of Ted and the fact that it was funny will only help it. Same with Magic Mike. Marketable hook, good Director + a star on the rise. These are the movies that people hit the theaters for. Magic Mike had 3 straight sold out screenings at the theater in my town today.
By labor day i’ll bet it looks like this
Home Runs
Avengers
Dark Knight Rises
Amazing Spiderman
Ted
Madea’s Witness Protection
Magic Mike
Of those films, the only two ‘original’ movies feature the fastest rising star in show business and a a guy whose animated shows are shown on three networks and they pushed the hell out of the little bastard bear movie.
I would say Channing Tatum and Seth Macfarlane are both known quantities, just as Spiderman, Batman, the Avengers, and Will Smith is. The winners this Summer are all known quantities. The unknown still isn’t reaping big rewards. The rules haven’t changed in the box office, no matter how many entertainment writers tell you otherwise. Put the word ‘known quantity’ in front of your movie and see if it applies.
known quantity – Dark Shadows. Nope.
known quantity – Battleship. Sorry.
known quantity – Taylor Kitsch. Known for the wrong reasons.
And you know, there’s an article waiting to be written about how someone becomes a star using Channing Tatum’s career and putting it against someone like Taylor Kitsch. And it might come down to something as simple as having the right people help pick your projects.
Remember when GI Joe came out and people online were just verbally beating down Tatum? Do you think that had anything to do with his quick death in Retaliation? People saw the trailer and immediately thought that killing him off in the first five minutes was the best thing that could have happened to the franchise. And now a couple of years later they pushed the entire film back so they can rework him into the film more.
Channing Tatum – Biggest Movie Star in America. Who saw that coming?
Like Tofu said, Gaga has a great voice…when she chooses to use it.
@anghus I think it’s too early to rush to that judgment on Tatum. Yes, an amazing confluence of movies, but he added nothing to HAYWIRE and it’s been not that long since THE EAGLE.
Anghus: Hate to sound obsessed a la you-know-who, but DARK SHADOWS is close to $80 million domestic and about $225 million worldwide with some territories still to open. No, not a blockbuster, but far from a flop, and as I’ve repeatedly said, the horrible release date and even worse marketing cost it at least another $30-40 just Stateside. (I just chastised a troll at Deadline who ragged on it for being a spoof before admitting she hadn’t seen it.)
Apropos of nothing: Have I missed something, or does Spielberg’s Lincoln not yet have a firm release date?
Cadavra, as of right now DARK SHADOWS is in the hole. It needs to make 450 worldwide to break even. Sorry to throw some math at you.
im not dogging on the quality of any film. im just proposing that most people dont know what Dark Shadows is. It’s a film whose only known quantities are Depp and Burton. Traditionally those are good known quantities, but they suffered from viewer fatigue and Avengers frenzy.
I think you need to include Mad3 in your home run list Anghus. It will outperform its predecessors domestically and maybe internationally as well. Something that sequels have been having a hard time doing of late, and that includes the latest Madea, which based on it’s budget is a home run, as were the previous Madea flicks, but we’ll see where it ends up, and sight unseen, included a predominantly larger cast of caucasians in the hopes of attracting a wider audience. That appears to have not happened.
August sometimes holds surprises but they have to be modestly budgeted. Biggest gross thus far is Sixth Sense with $293m, and opening weekend is the last Bourne with $69m on its way to $227m. If Recall is budgeted at the now rumored $200m then they will have to break box office records just to break even. Never a good sign…see John Carter. I don’t know what the buzz is on Odd Life of Timothy Green but it’s the closest thing to The Blind Side type of surprise hit to emerge. It could be small, or it could be very huge.
MAGIC MIKE has achieved its esthetic/commercial goals despite some online whines of, “Wait til the ladies find out it it’s a SODERBERGH film!” Too late!
Joe: December 2012 is assured, but no, no exact domestic date for Lincoln. A few foreign territories are pegged on exact dates in January & February.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the production found out there would be another Lincoln film released six months ahead of their own.
And of course I’m sure they’re also worried about confusion with Abraham Lincoln Vs. Zombies.
im sure you could add madagascar 3 to that list. i dont really pay attention to the animated films, though i recognize their significance in the current cinematic financial landscape.
Maybe because animated films are all made pretty much the same way. its the same basic formula every time. the recipe is the same every time and from a business perspective it seems pretty cut and dry. If youre dreamworks, disney, pixar, or blu sky youre going to make a story, cast it with known voice actors, and youre going to find a way to make youre money back.
Every so often one of the other companies will take a nice swing and not a lot comes out of it, like Warner Brothers with Happy Feet or Sony’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs or Monster House. But when you look at animation as a film business, it’s so relegated to such a rigid structure, style, and marketing scheme that i dont find it compelling. There’s so few differences between something like Ice Age and something like Madagascar. To me, they may as well be the same movie. The way the projects are put together, produced, cast, and rolled out to audiences is an assembly line that bores me to tears, both as a creative medium and playing armchair box office prognosticator.
I wouldn’t put it past The Asylum to pull off a re-release in December.
Joe, don’t forget FDR: AMERICAN BADASS! in September…Lincoln is in it. Also SAVING LINCOLN I think is still supposed to come out this year about his bodyguard. Between all this and THE CONSPIRATOR, I’m ready to drop him as my favorite president.
etguild2: I’m old enough to remember The Lincoln Conspiracy — but, trust me, I have tried awfully hard to forget it.
“So both Whedon and McFarline create multiple shows for Fox and then head off and have monster hits making movies for other studios. Perhaps Fox needs to hold a meeting tomorrow about how better to hold onto their Farm Team talent?”
FOX has already given MacFarlane THREE animated shows at the same time. What the hell else do they need to do?
Will Smith and Pixar are ironically in the same boat. The last two big Will Smith movies (Hancock and I Am Legend) performed way above his normal range ($140m-$180m), so now Men In Black 3 is being somewhat written off because it’s only heading toward $180 million domestic. Same with Pixar, which averaged around $220-$260 million up until the twin powerhouses that were Up and Toy Story 3. If Brave gets to $225 million, that will be perfectly within the reasonable Pixar range, just above Ratatouille, about equal to Wall-E, and just below Cars. Even if it tops out at $215 million, it’s still a rock-solid smash considering it’s not nearly as universally-acclaimed as some of their prior films. As for Spider-Man 2.0, anything over $250 million is a domestic win here. The film was supposed to be a cheaper do-over (although the budget ended up being around $215 million… whoops) so Sony was never expecting (or shouldn’t have been expecting) Spider-Man’s $403 million this time around, and the international market has of course exploded since 2002.
As for Dark Shadows, it’s a prime example of overspending. The film doesn’t remotely look like it cost $150 million, and had Burton kept costs at around $80 million it would be a pretty big hit right now. I’m presuming that Katy Perry: Part of Me cost about $20, so it’s basically printing money if it gets anywhere near the Miley Cyrus/Justin Beiber docs (it theoretically could do major damage to Brave…?). Ted and Magic Mike don’t so much prove that ‘audiences are tired of sequels/reboots’ as it proves that audiences will flock to smaller/original properties if they actually look worthwhile. This is where the ‘movie ticket costs the same no matter what’ argument comes into play. As studios are finally practicing some cost control over the last couple years and making a deluge of cheaper, star-driven genre pictures, we’re hopefully seeing an end to the all-tentpoles, all-the-time mentality that has slowly taken shape post LOTR/Harry Potter (especially in the wake of the ‘almost too expense to make a profit’ films like SWATH and MIB3). We’ll see, but this weekend could be a bell-ringer of the future of the industry if they bother to notice (especially if, as I’m predicted, Total Recall absolutely flames out in August).
Sony Pictures Classics laid two eggs, first by using Mr. Quote Whore himself in the ads for “To Rome with Love”, second by the poor response to the Neil Young documentary.
@etguild2: Nobody (and I mean NOBODY) cares about albums. For the last 15 years it’s been all about the hit song.
I don’t know what the buzz is on Odd Life of Timothy Green but it’s the closest thing to The Blind Side type of surprise hit to emerge. It could be small, or it could be very huge.
Totally, Bulldog.
“Timothy Green” is either going to be a “Help”/”Sixth Sense”-y late summer sleeper phenom, or not even frigging open (e.g., this weekend’s “People Like Us” and last weekend’s “Seeking a Friend”).
I don’t see a whole lot of middle ground.
Back in the good old days, it’s precisely the sort of film Disney would have sneak previewed to death prior to its mid-August opening.
August does have Hope Springs (the Meryl Streep effect) and Sparkle (Whitney Houston’s final hurrah). And it’s probably just me, but I like the trailer for Premium Rush. I wouldn’t mind seeing that be a surprise hit.
@Chucky I agree in terms of music sales…but concert tickets and concert films are different. Singers like Katy Perry and Rihanna rack up number 1 hits prolifically but have trouble selling out larger basketball venues. Adele and Bieber’s songs usually don’t chart as high with frequency but they sell out stadiums.
A catchy song can will easily get someone to plunk down a dollar for it on iTunes. You need a catchy persona and wider/more coherent catalog to sell a $10 ticket for a concert/pseudo-biopic about the artist. Case in point: Miley Cyrus when she was Hannah Montana.
I don’t think you can call a summertime Streep comedy (or musical comedy) a “sleeper” if/when it hits anymore, djk.
After “Prada,” “Mia” and “J&J,” she pretty much has the market (for underserved women) to herself these days.
“Hope Springs” should do just swell.
Sony probably doesn’t want to hear it, but “Sparkle” looks like a much safer bet right now than their (considerably costlier) “Total Recall” re-boot.
Yet a safer bet it most definitely is.
“Premium Rush” looks decent enough, but I just don’t see it breaking out.
Looks too much like a late August throwaway/dump.
im a a late summer/fall dump fan. thats when they put out all the weird films that defy traditional release.
Looper, Argo, Cloud Atlas, The Master, The Words, Resident Evil number whatever, Dredd, House at the End of the Street….
These movies represent my tastes better than most months of the year.
Now the January dump, that’s a whole different story…
Speaking of Cloud Atlas, does anybody know anything about this movie? I mean, Wachowski, Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Susan Surandon, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant are all popular names in a $100m sci fi by the guys who gave us The Matrix. How below the radar is that?
Cloud Atlas is kind of reminding me of District 9 which also snuck up on me a bit.
Bulldog, it’s a German production with hopes to become the first of many blockbusters from that country. The rollout starts in October. The screenplay is based on a time-shifting novel by David Mitchell, who writes beautiful prose. Tykwer and the reserved Wachowskis made an appearance at Cannes to convince buyers, moderated by James Schamus, whose Focus Int’l is selling the film worldwide.
Wait, public appearances by Tykwer can’t be THAT rare. I mean, even I got to interview the dude in Toronto years ago. And, hell, I get turned down by obscure character actors.
Sentence duly revised.
Awesome links Ray. Huge Tykwer fan, and this totally flew under my radar.
October shaping up to be exciting for US audiences with both Cloud Atlas and The Master.
Saw Spider-Man on Friday night…absolutely amazing (pun fully intended) and on par (even slightly better) with Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, the previous high water mark. I had a ridiculously good time, fully plan to go see it again.
that disney BULLSHIT with the kid SPROUTING FUCKING LEAVES OFF HIS LEGS has to be one of the most aggressively off-putting trailers in years. Suffered through it TWICE this weekend, attached to Magic Mike and Ted, two films it shares to audience connectivity too. Fucking strange on all fronts.
having seen Odd Life of TG I can say that it is one of the most boring films ever, yet if you have a 10-year old take them to see it and hold hands & pretend the world is one big plant family …. great disney fantasy …. couple who cannot conceive have a baby who’s pre-pube so they don’t have to potty train or stay up all night tending baby
Just came in from TED and honestly can’t remember the lasty time I laughed so much in a movie. Granted, that MacFarlane humor is aimed squarely at me and I got all the references but still, man. What a funny movie.
Also–
I think someone else mentioned it but in my screening some asshole father brought his 4 and 6 year olds. They were in front of us in line (the dad was teasing his 7 year old son about how the daughter and he were going to see TED and the boy was going to see MAGIC MIKE….yay!! Gay jokes for a 7 year old!!) and the ticket dude even said to the dad “you know it’s rated R, right?” Yep….he knew. Fucking moron.
I’d never tell someone what to do with their kids unless it affects me and my kid. As the other person here pointed out, I really don’t think a 7 year old needs to know ANYTHING about fucking a chick with a parsnip. He’s gonna bring that crap to school, etc. People suck.
Thanks Ray. With all the talent involved it definitely got my interest. And as for your take on Odd Life, Berg, that kind of schmaltz sells like ice cream on a hot day. Maybe Disney has another winner on their hands.
yes Disney has a winner …. when TG exists stage left and explains where all his leaf petals have ended up there won’t be a dry eye in the garden
Can’t say I ever get to worked up when I see parents taking kids to see raunchy R-rated movies. On the other hand, I do recall seeing parents taking freakin’ toddlers in to see Friday the 13th movies, and seriously considering placing a call to Children’s Protective Services.
No way is “Timothy Green” a hit. I semi-like the movie — and Disney seems to have faith since it’s already been screened — but it’s exactly the sort of looks-like-it’s-for-kids-but-it’s-really-for-adults movie that pretty much always bombs.
I still cant forget the parents bringing their toddlers to the rerelease of THE EXORCIST at the Egyptian.
Chris, I will put money down Timothy Green makes money. Love Berg’s snarky attack of it though. Hi-larious.
You guys are talking about that Jennifer Garner/Joel Edgerton magic-kid thing, right? Why was there a totally epic trailer for that attached to… THE HELP almost one year ago, if it’s still a ways off? It looked DONE and ready to drop 11 months ago… I seriously thought it was a fall ’11 release. How’d it get pushed back this much, OR why were they showing a trailer for a genial non-tentpole movie a YEAR in advance?
Lex, for some reason Disney decided that this film needed a full years worth of advertising. Why it needed a full year of advertising is only for them to know, but they were still filming Timothy Green in March of 2011. Which means they rushed out a trailer for a film, before they even finished that film. Again, this is very very odd, but maybe they thought the film needed it.
‘powder’, ‘simon birch’, ‘timothy green’….seems that somebody in disney’s development department has an issue (or two)…..
Uh: In what universe have I ever said DARK SHADOWS would be profitable? I said it was far from a flop. Those are two different concepts. There are movies that have grossed more than twice what DS has and remain in the red; MIB2 comes immediately to mind, and we’ve all seen that Warner P&L statement that shows one of the Potter films to be something like $176 million in the hole. DS may never break even, but like HUGO, it was a brave film to make, and years from now no one will remember or care what they cost.
Scott: I agree that it cost too much; I shudder to think what they spent flying in and housing the four original cast members only to have them end up as literal extras. (When it was over, the friends I brought asked where Frid and the others were; they completely–and understandably–missed them.) But as a former boss once told me, if you’re gonna lose money, at least do it for the right reason.
Incidentally, I just came home from the New Beverly, which was showing HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (which I haven’t seen in ages); the theatre was filled with the faithful, who applauded almost every credit, and it was fun to compare and contrast it with the new one while it was still fresh in my mind. During the intermission, there was a lively discussion, which included yet another devoted fan who condemned the Burton version for mocking her beloved franchise. I asked if she’d actually seen it. She retorted, “Hell, no! I saw the trailer and that was enough!” Sigh…
So that trailer for the plant kid, tim green or whatever its called, played in front of Ted. It.got more laughs than the campaign trailer.
Joe Leyden said “Can’t say I ever get to worked up when I see parents taking kids to see raunchy R-rated movies. On the other hand, I do recall seeing parents taking freakin’ toddlers in to see Friday the 13th movies, and seriously considering placing a call to Children’s Protective Services.”
The closest I ever came to wanting to call CPS was when I was when I saw 8MM at the then Cinerama Dome. These parents brought their 2 or 3 year old child to the showing I was in and he cried throughout the movie. I am not one to go up and chastise parents, but I did tell them afterward that they should be ashamed of themselves. That movie disturbed me and I am an adult and can recognize that what I am watching is fiction.
Just before I moved from Los Angeles, the movie theater up at Universal City Walk banned small children from R rated movies, I wonder if that is still in effect.
I saw a family with toddlers at HANNIBAL, and a woman with a (best guess) 7-year-old at FREDDY VS. JASON. I know babysitters cost money, but aren’t parents supposed to be into self-sacrifice just a tad? You know the kids aren’t going to get any entertainment value out of such films and are even likely to be traumatized or, at the very least, agitated. Wait for the rental and watch it after the kids’ bedtime. Sheesh.
It would be nice if theaters weren’t so lenient when it comes to letting parents take small children to R-rated movies. I enjoy going to a local iPic theater, where every evening it is 21 and over starting at 7 pm.
You pretty much cannot go to a horror movie in New York City without seeing toddlers and sometimes outright babies with their parents. I imagine I’d be a pretty permissive parent in terms of what my kids could watch (my parents certainly were) but taking a kid under three to ANY movie apart from kid-friendly stuff is pretty fucking stupid, selfish, and shit parenting. But yeah, go to any horror movie in Manhattan, there are two-year-olds. I once heard a young mom who had a kid in a STROLLER at Drag Me to Hell remark on the way out, in disbelief: “boy, he didn’t fall asleep until the last ten minutes.” Yeah, you think maybe because you took your infant child to a LOUD AS FUCK funhouse horror movie? Maybe that wasn’t the way to lull him the fuck to sleep?
I may have told this story before, but: I was at a 9PMish showing of HANNA (not R, but still about a kid murdering people) in Times Square (yeah, my mistake) and there was a baby CRYING nonstop for the first few minutes. Finally I — rashly, stupidly — yelled out something like TAKE YOUR FUCKING BABY OUT OF THE THEATER. And naturally, the parent yelled back: WHO FUCKING SAID THAT, STAND UP AND SHOW YOURSELF, SUCK MY DICK MOTHERFUCKER I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU, FUCKING COWARD, stuff to that effect.
Admittedly, I was rude to just yell out like an asshole (although the alternative, going to get a theater manager, would’ve resulted in me missing part of the movie and almost certainly nothing else). But most people, confronted with their own rudeness, apparently just dig in and say, no, YOU are being rude by telling ME to do ANYTHING.
“Admittedly, I was rude to just yell out like an asshole (although the alternative, going to get a theater manager, would’ve resulted in me missing part of the movie and almost certainly nothing else).”
Calling the management is the one and only good excuse for pulling out a cellphone in a theater during the movie (y’know, if the theater happens to have an internal line you can reach and doesn’t just go to chain theater voicemail hell).
“But most people, confronted with their own rudeness, apparently just dig in and say, no, YOU are being rude by telling ME to do ANYTHING.”
Given the fact that they’ve stayed in the theater for any number of minutes already, you have to understand that nothing you ever do or say will have the least bit of impact on their hypothetical sense of shame or rudeness. No one is tetering on the brink of good manners and just waiting for that one lone voice in the crowd to give them the strength they need to stand up and take their baby out to the lobby. People do this “any moment now,and she’ll/he’ll be fine” bullshit in church all the time – AND IT’S IN A FRIGGING CHURCH! People who presumably believe in the word of God and haven’t the slightest compunction about drowning most of it out with the primal screams of a newborn.
God I wish there was a projectionist who could pause the movie, bring up the lights, and attempt to embarrass the shit out of those protest-sitter parents.
At the People Like Us screening last week, a woman who came in late pulled out her cell phone and answered a call 2 seconds after sitting down and 5 minutes after the movie started. A security guard immediately told her to get off her phone, turn the sound off & put it away or leave. It was nice.
“No one is tetering on the brink of good manners and just waiting for that one lone voice in the crowd to give them the strength they need to stand up and take their baby out to the lobby.”
Good line.
I’ve had a severe drop in cell phone rudeness ever since the local theaters started playing a “we will ask you to leave” PSA before the movie.
I only go to midnight screenings for big event movies because the crowds are generally well behaved plus no kids.
If I can’t go at midnight I hit the latest possible screening on Tuesday night’s.
Hallick, you’re absolutely right — agreed, great line. My sad, fruitless hope that was shouting out would simply prove rattling or embarrassing for them, or encourage others to speak out; obviously this wasn’t a case where a polite request would do the trick. But yeah, the person who isn’t rushing their kid out of the movie when he or she starts crying isn’t going to listen to reason OR some asshole yelling at them.
Krillian, whereabouts are you and what chains (or indies) do you frequent? I ask because, as some friends and I were saying just the other day, the “please silent your cell phones” ads before the movies have become really lax at the big chains. They’re either sponsored by phone companies, so it’s basically a cell phone commercial with a gentle, passive reminder to silence phones tacked on at the end… or they’re sponsored by an upcoming family-friendly movie, so telling people not to be rude is secondary to selling Madagascar 3 or Ice Age 4. It would be nice to see one that actually says, PEOPLE WHO LET THEIR PHONES RING OR ANSWER THEM ARE JERKS. DO NOT DO THIS OR YOU’LL BE ASKED TO LEAVE. But then, AMC and Regal aren’t in the business of ever asking anyone to leave due to rudeness or anything else.
I like matinees, particularly when school is in session. Here in Canada, particularly Vancouver, the cellphone and kid problems at R rated movies seem to be a lot less rampant than in the US. Most people who have their cellphones out usually put them away once the trailers get going.
As a parent, my kids aged 11,9 and 7 are interested in R rated fare because of the attraction of watching stuff for grown ups, but I would never take them to an R rated film. If I think they can handle something R rated, then we’ll watch it at home, together. Things like the Hangovers and sexually explicit comedies are a no-no. They don’t need to know about chicks with dicks just yet. Also gratuitous violence. Some thrillers are okay, and for some reason they like monster films like Aliens and I let them watch a couple of scenes of Walking Dead, mainly just to make fun of their scared-of-her-shadow mother. Game of Thrones on the other hand is also off limits.
I let them watch I am Legend and they said it was too much and opted to watch something else, and I figure if it was anyone but Will Smith, they might have gotten through it, but because they love him so much, seeing him in danger all the time like that was too much for them.
As a parent who obviously wants to share movies with his kids, I think it’s my responsibility to make decisions on what they are exposed to you, and while everyone might not agree, I’m not going to drag my kid to an R rated flick to possibly ruin the moviegoing experience for everyone else and myself.
One of the best times I had last year was planning a Back to the Future day with my daughters, not R rated I know, but having the box set and going through it one by one and stopping when they had questions, and there were a lot, and especially comparing the end of part 1 and the beginning of part 2, and one of daughters immediately realizing that the girl was different, and just trying to figure out all this time travel stuff was amazing. You cant answer questions in a theater.
Sorry for the long post.
Cadavra, if WB loses a hundred million plus on a project how is it far from a flop? What’s a flop then?
Honestly, I’ve been awaiting the death of the movie theater since the first time I heard a cell phone ring in the theater. I’m the guy who would be pleased as punch to pay 29.99 to watch the movie at my house and avoid the obnoxious, cell phone clutching, mouth breathers who ruin many movies.
The magic of the movies was murdered by cell phones
I’d love to see Brave’s ticket sales broken down by region, because I’m wondering if it took a hit–especially in red states–following the spate of stories suggesting its heroine might be gay.
anghus, that makes me sad. I can’t stand the thought of the obnoxious ones having the run of the place. Or of watching a movie I’m truly excited to see on my 32-inch TV (or even a 56-inch TV, if I had one).
“Uh,” I feel like this is a common misconception. People call things “flops” because lose money, when I’d always thought of it as a term relative to “hit,” which is not to say “did it make a profit?” but “did people go to see it in significant numbers?” They overpsent on Dark Shadows (or any number of movies that grossed a fair amount without breaking even), but that doesn’t really have to do with whether it’s a flop or a hit.
Say there’s a movie that costs $400 million. It grosses $250 million and loses money. Is it really fair to say that the movie isn’t a hit, even though plenty of people saw it?
An extreme example, I know, but illustrates why calling something a “flop” based on budget is sort of altering the definition (or what I thought was the definition).
In any case: will WB lose a hundred million on Dark Shadows?!? Almost certainly not. $300 million worldwide, plus DVD/Blu sales, plus whatever else… maybe it’ll lose a little money, but 100 seems unlikely, doesn’t it?
Also Jesse, Titans, John Carter, and Battleship were arguably international hits while being domestic flops. All with similar grosses but only Titans was left without the stink of being an out and out flop due to production costs.
I don’t know how much money flows back into the studio from international B.O. but my question has always been if these numbers were reversed, would they be viewed as being more successful? My fav example is The Golden Compass, where there were big plans for it to be the next big fantasy series. With $302m overseas it has outperformed some major tentpoles that have gotten sequels, but it’s $70m domestic translates to a flop. If it had made the same $370m total split evenly, would we have a sequel?
A flop is a movie almost nobody goes to. PLUTO NASH is a flop. HEAVEN’S GATE is a flop. CUTTHROAT ISLAND is a flop. DARK SHADOWS is a money-loser, but it’s not a flop. If it had cost $50 million instead of $150 million, would it suddenly become a hit? Of course not, because it’s still below the Depp/Burton average. “Hit” and “flop” are determined by grosses, not budgets.
ETA: Jesse sorta beat me to it.
If the split was even there probably would have been a sequel, but you wouldn’t want to continue a franchise when your biggest market showed dissinterest in the first installment. Plus at the time the studio that released it was slowly disappearing into the fog, morphing into an estrogen based Screen Gems for Warners, not exactly the type of environment that gets risky nine figure sequels together.
And yes Flop gets thrown around way too cavalierly. The last few years I have constantly heard big hits like King Kong and Superman Returns called flops. The amount of money lost doesn’t matter, flop would refer to completely fumbling out of the gates and dropping like a stone i.e. Rock of Ages or Abe Lincoln. This just speaks to the either/or, masterpiece/piece of shit, hit/flop extremes that we tend to speak in on the web. There is a large middle ground, especially with how closely we all look at things around here.
And you wonder whether Box Office analyst seriously consider what they say before they say it. We all know about the Finkster, but read these gems from Box Office Prophets:
“Fifth spot goes Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, which has wilted since Brave showed up. Now in its fourth weekend, Madagascar 3 earned another $11.8 million, but was down hard again this weekend, as it dropped 40%, not far off the 42% it dropped last weekend.”
And this is while saying this about Brave:
“In the end, Brave did okay, earning $34 million and dropping 49%, slightly higher than Pixar’s usual.”
So Pixar did okay dropping 49% in the face of no new direct competition but Madagascar has wilted with 40% drops and 42% drops in the face of direct competition from Brave. Crazy.
And here’s another:
“Men in Black 3 has been soundly rejected by North American audiences.”
While saying this about Snow White:
“In the most recent column, I touched upon the lackluster quality of the overall top ten. I will spend the rest of today’s discussion explaining this. After Prometheus, the only remaining blockbusters in the top 10 are The Avengers, a saturated topic by now, and Snow White and the Huntsman. The Kristen Stewart/Thor movie is toward the end of its run, earning only $905,050 yesterday. With $140,310,220 in domestic revenue, it is an unqualified blockbuster hit.”
Snow White was also expensive to produce, and it won’t make MiB3’s numbers even though it opened slightly bigger, but fell faster. Double crazy.
Granted MiB3 won’t perform like its prequels but no one said audiences soundly rejected Thor, Captain America or Apes last year when they all performed at about the same level that MiB3 will this year, and MiB3 has the best legs to boot, making more than 3 times it’s opening weekend gross.
Where’s the common sense analysis when you need it?
“Where’s the common sense analysis when you need it?”
Maybe that’ll be Aaron Sorkin’s next TV series.
“But most people, confronted with their own rudeness, apparently just dig in and say, no, YOU are being rude by telling ME to do ANYTHING.”
#5. We’re Not Programmed to Seek “Truth,” We’re Programmed to “Win”, from 5 Logical Fallacies That Make You Wrong More Than You Think.
Maybe it’s me, but I enjoy seeing films with a good audience and I rarely ever have any of the common horror stories. Yet in an “art theatre” I did have a woman literally put her foot on the seat next to mine during MOONRISE KINGDOM and then start shaking her foot! I slammed my hand against the chair, turned and said politely, “Do you mind not shaking the seat?” She and her BF were extremely apologetic. But the self-absorption of Americans is staggering…
As annoying as talking/texting can be, I’ve also run into a fair number of people who are problems for the opposite reason – if the theater isn’t cathedral silent they start shhhing IMMEDIATELY (I was shhed as the lights went down for the trailers a couple weeks ago) and yelling at people, sometimes actually physically getting in people’s faces. I had a friend who would start SHHing loudly if people were “too loud” while eating popcorn (I stopped going to movies with her after this happened a couple times in a row).
The art house crowds can be just as bad as any other theater. I mentioned this here before but numerous people were asking why they couldn’t hear characters talking 30 minutes into The Artist, and the guy behind me was bored and played with his phone throughout the movie (he was at least 50).
Smith, that would be a great problem to have. Usually, I find myself wondering why, say, if I can see the light of a cell phone five rows away from me, why someone closer to it isn’t asking the person to put it away/turn it off. Which is to say: I find it far more likely that no one says anything about any bad behavior than people who get too uppity about talking/popcorn/whatever.
Oh yeah – the cell phone/texting/talking problem is way more pervasive. Wasn’t trying to suggest otherwise. However, I think if you ever had to sit with some of the people I’ve been at screenings with you wouldn’t want that problem either. It’s really no fun to feel like you can’t even laugh at a joke for fear of rubbing some self appointed audience cop the wrong way. All of this is just to say that when you go to a movie with an audience, it’s a roll of the dice either way.
Glad to see a strand on this. I consider myself a pretty patient, understanding person. But obnoxious behavior in a movie theater sends me through the roof almost instantly.
Quick Story: Summer 2004. Seeing Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban on a weeknight, since I knew I couldn’t handle a bunch of children on the weekend. Opening Credits roll. Couple directly behind me is talking full volume. The guy says. “Oh the credits are different.” Girl says, “OMG! They So are!” I roll my eyes, turn around and say the words, “Do you mind Shutting the …!”
I stopped, sat back in my chair, hands covering my mouth, and I barely made a sound the rest of the movie.
The couple behind me both had Down Syndrome.
Ray, you should work that into a script. You could be the next Seth Macfarlane
Not to get too hyperbolic about it but….if we can’t even maintain a level of decency in a movie theater, a group of strangers, sitting in the dark…what hope does society have? I mean it. Society is kind of built on a level of trust and respect and the movie theater crisis is pretty indicative of how far we’ve fallen.
I’ve wanted to yell at talkers and cell phone people but I’m actually kind of scared. If you’re rude and self-absorbed enough to do that in a public, quiet place, who’s to say you won’t frigging knife me for asking you to not be rude?? I live in a fairly safe place too and I still feel the threat of seeing a headline that recounts how I got stabbed for asking someone to STFU.
On the flipside (and he’ll be mad at me for saying this) I simply adore seeing films at festivals with James Rocchi. He will call your ass OUT if you’re on the phone and it’s so freeking awesome.
There’s a portly senior usher who is normally at advanced screenings but he works for the cinema chain, and he is awesome.
“EXCUSE SE SIR. NO CELL PHONES. IF YOU DON’T TURN IT OFF RIGHT NOW YOU WILL WATCH THE REST OF THE MOVIE FROM BURRARD STREET.”
I love that guy. He’s my hero.
I actually went to an opinion-maker screening once here in Houston where a badass looking security rep very politely announced: “If you are seen using your cell phone during the movie, one of us will take the phone away from you and destroy it.” Regrettably, I’ve never seen this guy working at any other screenings.
The funny thing about entertainment economics is that no matter how huge Ted is, Fox will still make significantly more money on a couple of years of McFarlane’s work on Family Guy
Scott – Anyone whining about MiB3 based on domestic is a moron. Like Hancock and others, it’s an international first green light. $600m later, Will Smith remains the biggest movie star on earth.
Dark Shadows will lose some money. Worldwide not likely to pass $250m. But not $100m. And WB has cover via distribution fees, so they may skate without a loss or a very small one… not so their partners.
The fun thing about Rocchi calling someone out, Don, is that it goes something like, “Sir, would you please do the plebeians of the world a kind favor and remove your profoundly oversized cranium from your well proportioned anus and turn off that post-fascist-era human isolator so that we may enjoy a pleasurable communal experience?”
MAGIC MIKE is an excellent movie – entertaining, funny, soulful, and different. It’s beautifully edited and filmed, features great performances (Tatum is stellar), and a smart screenplay that knows how to work within formula. One of the year’s best, easily.
Very confused on why people keep saying audiences are going to have trouble once they’re in the theater, since I’m sure they’ve been fine and will continue to be fine, unless they’re somehow allergic to good cinema and film-making and storytelling.
(Probably too late on this one, but I couldn’t help it.)
That’s not too far from the truth, Dave! He’s much more concise but the booming voice really sells it.
Cadavra, you really have to understand that you are almost alone in your admiration and defense of Dark Shadows. I saw it a second time before it left theaters, with a fellow DS fan…and I have to say, upon second viewing, the movie was even worse than I had remembered. It is easily Burton’s worst movie. I was also at the New Beverly screening of House of Dark Shadows, which wasn’t as much a screening as it was a group grief counseling session. Maybe we sat in different parts of the theater, but everyone I talked to, had seen the Burton atrocity and hated it. Someone suggested that perhaps DS might…like the Planet of the Apes series, get a second chance in a few years by someone who understands that the material is not a silly fish out of water comedy about a rakish vampire who owns a fish canning factory.
Well, Cozzalio, for one, is equally passionate:
http://sergioleoneifr.blogspot.com/2012/06/supernatural-perhaps-baloney-perhaps.html
Conversely to you, I loved it even more the second time. With the plot out of the way, I was free to concentrate on the subtext and the physical details. I think it’s an amazing piece of work that is just plain misunderstood in its time, a condition many now-landmark pictures suffered upon first release (Hitchcock once cracked that PSYCHO went directly from atrocity to classic). The critics already had their knives out, no doubt in resentment of the immense–and in their minds unjustifiable–popularity of ALICE, just as 30+ years ago they eviscerated 1941 to punish Spielberg for being so successful so quickly. Time is the ultimate jury, and I hope I live long enough to see my opinion vindicated.
As for HOUSE at the New Beverly, we must have gone on different nights, because the crowd I was with was anything but forlorn.