That, my friends, is a lot of scratch. Does it make you want to Scream too? I mean, Scream 2. Thought so. And it’s a record for a December opening to boot. And under all that screaming, no one will hear the muffled cries of those who made For Richer Or Poorer ($6 million for third) and Home Alone 3 ($5.1 million for fourth), both of which marked new lows for Tim Allen and Home Alone opening weekends. Flubber dropped the expected 40 percent to add a second place winning $6.9 million to the coffers as it bounces towards a likely $75 million total.
Amistad, for which I predicted a big opening, was limited by being on only 322 screens. My bad. But in generating $4.6 million for fifth, it averaged $14,596 per screen which is tremendous. Yet, any regular Hot Button reader will immediately notice the phenomenon of Delayed Unveiling Hubris, or DUH for short. Films that are meant to make over $20 million total cannot — with very rare exceptions — do well with a platformed release. (Those opening in just L.A. and NYC for Oscar consideration only are a different story. More on that on Friday.) No one is going to want to see Amistad more in a few weeks than they do now. And the ongoing controversies surrounding the picture won’t help.
The second five was (he said, patting himself on the back) almost exactly as expected. John Grisham‘s The Rainmaker scored another $ 3.4 million for sixth. Alien: Resurrection continues its 50 percent off per week pace, clawing up $3.3 million for seventh. Anastasia continues to be a kind-hearted impostor with a 40 percent drop to $3.1 million for eighth. The Jackal rips off another $ 2.5 million for ninth. And last, but least, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, itself a victim of DUH, acquires $1.8 million.
Have you noticed any box office patterns like the DUH? Send ’em to me via e-mail.
Posts Tagged ‘Anastasia’
More Than 39.2 Million Big Ones
Monday, December 15th, 1997Tags: Alien Resurrection, Amistad, Anastasia, Flubber, For Richer or Poorer, Home Alone 3, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Scream, Tim Allen
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An Overtly Predictable Weekend
Monday, December 8th, 1997An overtly predictable weekend at the box office with no new meat available. What surprised me was that meat from a week ago was a bit more stale than expected. Flubber took the top spot, dropping a massive 56 percent from the previous three-day total, adding another $11.8 million to its formula. Alien: Resurrection took the acid bath, dropping 62 percent to $8.2 million. The Rainmaker lost 42 percent, leaving an award of $5.2 million for third. Anastasia continued to fade; this week by 61 percent to take $4.6 million for a total of just over $37 million. And in fifth, it’s The Jackal added $4 million to the Swiss bank account.
The bottom five was also pretty much according to Hoyle. Midnight in the Garden ff Good and Evil lost 44 percent of its party friends, leaving $3 million in favors for sixth. Mortal Kombat was annihilated, dropping to $2.5 million. The only surprise on the list is the ongoing staying power of I Know What You Did Last Summer, which took the softest fall — only 29 percent — to add $1.4 million to its push for the $70 million mark. And Bean tied with Starship Troopers for ninth/tenth with $1.3 million each.
We had strong prediction efforts this week from Rob Strong (no pun intended) and Marc Andreyko, though none of us saw the top of the list being smacked around like a weatherman waiting for El Nino. Try it out. E-mail me your Top Ten this week.
Tags: Alien Resurrection, Anastasia, Flubber, Marc Andreyko, Mortal Kombat, The Rainmaker
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Box Office – Nowhere But Down
Friday, December 5th, 1997This weekend the box office is all trussed up like a prize turkey with no place to go but down. There are no new wide releases due this week. Everyone was scared off of the date by Flubber and Alien: Resurrection. Oops! Scream 2 should do stellar numbers next week, but could have had clear sailing for two weeks, pushing the new Alien out of the ship early. Oh, well. Soft word-of-mouth should drop the three-day weekend total for Flubber by 40 percent with $16 million, still enough to take first. Alien: Resurrection should keep the two spot, despite what I’m guessing will be a steep 50 percent drop to take in $8.2 million. As stable as it is slow (though I liked the film), The Rainmaker should drop about 25 percent, still enough to pass Anastasia for third with $8 million. Thus, Anastasia, dropping a reasonable 35 percent, should be in fourth with $7.7 million.
The Jackal is likely to be on the other side of a wide b.o. gap, dropping to fifth with a 40 percent drop to $4.5 million. Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil should skulk about with a 25 percent drop to $4 million for a sixth place finish and no hope of surviving the mid-December onslaught of serious films. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation should hit the skids to the tune of 60 percent, kicking up another $2.7 million for seventh. The bottom four of the Top Ten gets the benefit of Disney’s withdraw of The Little Mermaid. Her disappearance (authorities are questioning Roman Polanski) allows Bean to take eighth with a 50 percent drop to $1.5 million. And Starship Troopers moves up a notch to ninth with another 50 percent drop to $1.4 million.
The Ten Spot will likely offer a three way tie, with I Know What You Did Last Summer (dropping 35 percent), Eve’s Bayou (dropping just 20 percent) and The Wings of The Dove (suffering its first drop with 15 percent) all camping out around the $1.2 million mark.
Will Alien: Resurrection rise from the dead box office week to take top spot? Will Flubber flub its box office break and drown under The Rainmaker? E-mail me what you think.
Tags: Alien Resurrection, Anastasia, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, The Jackal
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DreamWorks Continues to Break Weird Ground With Its New Slate of Films
Tuesday, December 2nd, 1997This Christmas’ Mousehunt seems to be Home Alone with the rodent as McCauley Culkin. Next, it’s Alien Dog, the Terminator-esque story of two aliens chasing each other on earth, only the hero alien misunderstands nature’s hierarchy of earth and disguises himself as a dog instead of a human. Can you see the headlines on the reviews? If so, e-mail me a good one and I’ll print it Thursday.
The cool new gadget in the upcoming James Bond flick, Tomorrow Never Dies, is a mobile phone that blows stuff up, sees around corners, and operates a brand new BMW by remote. Of course, in Los Angeles, cell phones already make a trip to the market feel like a Bond chase scene. Ericsson’s phone is just one of what seems like a million Bond product placement and promotion deals. No “McDonalds Moneypenny Meals” for Bond. Bond has joined Bob Dole as one of the funniest and one of the least appropriate spokesmen for Visa. BMW has a major hit with the Z3 from GoldenEye, so budgets to promote the new Bond Beemer are soaring. And of course, there are the liquor ads. I guess Bond always was a whore. The whole thing leaves me stirred, but not shaken. I’m still looking forward to the film.
Finally, Meg Ryan tells People that she doesn’t see the resemblance between herself and the animated version of her in Anastasia. “Just some of the bad hair days,” she jokes. Kind of like trying to see the resemblance between Anastasia and Disney product. It’s occurred to me that the difference between the great Disney animated hits and the “misses” is the music. Do any of you remember a song from Hunchback? Did anyone love Michael Bolton‘s tepid version of Hercules’ “Go The Distance?” Likewise, I can’t think of a song I’ll remember from Anastasia. Pretty pictures though.
Tags: Alien Dog, Anastasia, Goldeneye, Home Alone, McCauley Culkin, Meg Ryan, Mousehunt
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Thanksgiving Weekend Results
Monday, December 1st, 1997Interesting, somewhat disappointing results at the box office this Thanksgiving weekend. Flubber did pretty much what I expected, though it took first place, not second. An impressive $36.4 million five-day weekend is well short of 101 Dalmatians‘ $45 million take last Thanksgiving ($137 million total). Flubber, with $27 million over the Friday-Sunday period, looks to be more in the range of My Best Friend’s Wedding or Face/Off, hitting the $100 million mark domestically, but not passing $120 million. Alien: Resurrection snagged $27.2 million for second place, actually winning the Wednesday-Thursday battle with $10.1 million over Flubber’s $8.7 million, but losing the war as the weekend wore on. Look for a final tally in the high 60s (comparable to Dante’s Peak or Anaconda), placing it third in the quad-ology’s box office hierarchy.
Anastasia took third place with $16.7 million, but the breakdown shows that even though the film dropped minimally over the three-day weekend ($14.1 million last weekend versus $13.9 this one), its Wed-Thurs performance stunk the place up, averaging only $1.4 million each of those days, the weakest of the Top Five. To me, that says younger kids are going (with mom and dad) and those of Flubber age are passing. Pretty fine line, huh? If Anastasia hits $60-70 million, did they win the war against Disney? I say “yup.” The surprise of the weekend was The Rainmaker’s strong performance in fourth, performing well all week and adding another $14.5 million to Francis’ judgment. And The Jackal held on for fifth, shooting $10.3 million into its Swiss bank account.
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation fell like a stone, about 60 percent in a three-day weekend comparison, kicking up $9.5 million with a truly awful movie. Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil is more the latter than the former, on-screen and at the box office, taking seventh with $7.3 million. Now, y’all say bye-bye to them Oscahs. The Little Mermaid got her fin kicked, adding just $2.7 million to her $25 million three-week total, a little more than her P & A costs. Bean slinks towards the $50 million domestic finish line, adding $4.2 million to its total for ninth. And, “The Troopers Are Going! The Troopers Are Going!” passing $50 million with $4 million for 10th.
Thanks for all of your weekend predictions. You’re all getting better every week. Way to use that e-mail.
Tags: 101 Dalmatians, Alien Resurrection, Anaconda, Anastasia, Flubber, Mortal Kombat, My Best Friend's Wedding
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Thanksgiving Weekend
Wednesday, November 26th, 1997Last Thanksgiving, 101 Dalmations won the five-day weekend with $33.5 million. I expect Alien: Resurrection to blow that number out of the water with over $45 million to win the Turkey Day Parade. Combine that with my predicted $20 million take for Anastasia‘s second weekend (for third place) and you’ll find Fox dancing in a pool of acid saliva. Of course, their steaming cheer won’t worry Disney, who are looking at a $35 million long weekend for Flubber, with Robin Williams bouncing into second place.
The rest of the Top Ten is all repeat business. Remember that these are five-day estimates. Look for Mortal Kombat: Annihilation to be one of the few films to drop in overall gross despite the additional two days ($16 million for fourth). The Rainmaker should do well, with positive, though not overwhelming buzz, acquiting itself to the tune of $13 million and fifth place. The Jackal looks to be another flick eaten by an Alien, losing a million to shoot at a $8 million weekend for sixth. The Little Mermaid should swim to another $7 million in its final weekend of competition, dropping to seventh. Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil may be doing great per-screen, but it won’t be adding screens, so $7 million for eighth is about a much as Clint can make. And look for Bean to take ninth with about $5 million.
And now for those of you who are taking the weekend off from school, a math problem. If Starship Trooper has dropped 50 percent every week since its release, but the five-day weekend should increase box office by about 60 percent, then how much will Starship Troopers gross? Tah dah! Four million dollars for tenth place, rounding out the Top Ten in its final appearance. Enjoy the movies, everyone!
E-mail your predictions to me early so I can have some crow to go with my turkey on Thanksgiving night.
Tags: 101 Dalmatians, Anastasia, Flubber, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Robin Williams
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Anastasia at the Box Office
Monday, November 24th, 1997While Fox was busy worrying about big, bad Disney blowing down their Anastasia, they got kicked in the side of the head by Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, easily the worst film in the Top Ten, but powerful enough to drag in $17.5 million in business to take first place (Brady Rainey was the only reader to have MK:A on top, but he missed most of the rest). Anastasia opened nicely, with $15 million for second, but next week the big guns come out and hell hath no fury like a Flubber scorned. Francis Ford Coppola’s name was probably at least as important as John Grisham’s in opening The Rainmaker to the tune of $11 million for third.
The Jackal held up almost exactly as expected ($9 million for fourth), but was upstaged by the new product, as was The Little Mermaid, who got her tail kicked, dropping 34 percent to $5.8 million to swim into fifth place. Midnight in the Garden of Good And Evil did well considering the small release Warner Bros gave it, averaging over $6,300 on each of its 824 screens for a $5.2 million total and sixth place. Starship Droopers fell 50 percent again, bugging out with just $5 million and a seventh place finish. The Man Who Knew Too Little was a little smarter than expected, dropping just 33 percent in a strongly competitive marketplace, adding $3 million to the pot. Finally, IKWYDLS knows box office, making its last appearance in the Top Ten with $2.8 million for tenth after a glorious $60 million-plus run.
Want to see how my predictions faired?
This week, Box Office Preview will run on Wednesday due to the long weekend. So e-mail your predictions to me early so I can have some crow to go with my turkey on Thanksgiving night.
Tags: Anastasia, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Mortal Kombat, Starship Troopers
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