Box Office Archive for May, 2006
Deconstructing New Mythology
Studios drop big hints if a film is a potential bomb
Updated 5/30/2006 10:11 PM ET
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES
Friday Estimates by Klady
Now…. that’s a muthafuckin’ opening….
Second highest opening day ever. And for all of those who have foolishly pointed to a lack of originality as a problem with theatrical box office… bzzt… WRONG!.
X-Men: The Last Stand reminds us of the central truth of today’s movie market… give audiences something they want and they will come.
Based on the history, the four-day should be at least $120 million for the film. It
That Slippery Summer Slope
Can we make any summer assuptions anymore?
“In spite of all the slump talk, last summer was the first in history to have seven $185 million-plus movies, the previous record being five. A big part of that was the pleasant surprise of Batman Begins and Mr & Mrs Smith joining July 4 targeted War of the Worlds as three films over that figure in June. Until Spider-Man 2 and Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban both did it in 2004, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me was the only June release in history to crack that mark. (EDIT, 1:06p, 5/25/06 – I stand corrected… the first Batman did it in 1989.)
This summer, Cars, Superman Returns and Click all have a shot at the target. Some tough talk about the first two have some people questioning them and Adam Sandler seems to have a glass ceiling at $180 million, so all three could come up short just as easily – though all three are pretty sure bets to come close in even the worst case scenario.”
The \rest of the 20 Weeks of Summer Column
My Footnotes To The Used Guys Story
Good story by Sharon Waxman on the end of Used Guys, a very expensive high-concept comedy that SCREAMS The Cable Guy and Toys..
That is the first of a few things that were left out that probably should have been included.
1. The Cable Guy
Friday Estimates By Klady
Okay… not much more to say about The Da Vinci Code. I
33 Comments »Mea Culpa-ing Now
Well, I should start eating crow now.
The Da Vinci Code is still an awful movie, but it will get well past half way to my 20 Weeks of Summer estimate this weekend alone.
It will be another week or two before we see what kind of legs this one has, but expect a barrage of “critics are out of touch” stories before the ink on Sunday’s papers dries.
WTC: The Trailer
Someone sent a note about it, so I figured you all might want to be part of the discussion…
On today’s box office chart on MCN, the big positive mover was World Trade Center, from $75 million to $140 million. Why?
Because seeing that trailer, I think that Paramount has found he answer to marketing a 9/11 drama/thriller and even, it seems, figured out an answer about how to make it.
Once you get past, “Do I really weant to see that?,” you are dealing with a regular, well-made, drama/thriller… Apollo 13 underground. With Nic Cage there and a decent film, this could well be the first film to get positive box office movement off of the events of 9/11.
Or not. You tell me.
Friday Estimates by Klady
Not an exception hold for Mission:Impossible 3, but not a nightmare either. Is there some backlash by real people against the media showing itself to be worse hos than Mr. Cruise, now making the movie one that has to be seen so it can be talked about?
Poseidon at $18 million – $22 million is not a slot disaster. Nor is it a success. It
20 Weeks Of Summer – Reasonable Expectations
After a well chewed over start with M:I3, I thought it might be a good idea to lay out some landmarks for the season before we see the films or their marketing campaigns.
The column
Just For Debate
Mission: Impossible 3, Day 4
M:I3’s Monday Continues To Match The Opening Weekend’s Relative Pace Vs Previous Summer Openers With A $3.5m Monday… Same Day For Kingdom Of Heaven ($1.7m), Van Helsing ($4m), X2 ($6.5m), & Spider-Man ($11m)
Mission: Semantics
For some reason, this turn of phrase by Anne Thompson this morning in her Risky Blog
“Fact: The weekend numbers for Mission: Impossible: III were not what they should be.”
This is probably a good test of how well you know how I think if you can figure out what word hit me funny…
“should”
We’re going to be reading endless speculation about “what went wrong” for the next few days. And the answer will always be, as it has to be, opinion… gut reactions with some educated guessing. The pre-release tracking suggested women had fallen off the Cruise bandwagon, Paramount reacted with new ads (the ultimate confirmation), and fortunately for my blood pressure and Sony’s Da Vinci push, Mr. Cruise is the whipping boy of the moment (let the media build you up and be prepared to be shredded as soon as you show vulnerability) and the only “slump” spin is coming from the ever-reliable New York Times, where Sharon Waxman, coincidentally, did her first box office story since King Kong was perceived as not opening as it should have.
But,
Weekend Ouch-stimates – May 7
There are all kinds of stats to play with and even an anonymous e-mail on a gossipy website claiming that Scientologists bought hundreds of tickets in bulk at The Arclight here in L.A., suggesting more sold elsewhere as a plot to raise the Mission: Impossible 3 gross. (There actually is a sane explanation, if the sighting is true
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