Our Players|Coming Soon|Box Office Prophets|Box Office Guru|EW|Box Office . com
The Hangover Part II |94.6|n/a|98.0|92.0|100.0
Kung Fu Panda 2 |82.5|n/a|77.0|81.0|90.0
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides|49.0|n/a|53.0|55.0|42.0
Bridesmaids |17.7|n/a|19.0|15.0|17.0
Thor|10.0|n/a|11.0|10.0|8.2
Posts Tagged ‘Thor’
Box Office Hell — May 27
Thursday, May 26th, 2011Box Office Hell — May 20
Friday, May 20th, 2011Our Players|Coming Soon|Box Office Prophets|Box Office Guru|EW|Box Office . com
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides|91.5|88.0|98.0|93.0|92.0
Thor |18.0|n/a|20.0|17.5|18.0
Bridesmaids|17.0|n/a|17.0|18.0|19.2
Fast Five |11.5|n/a|12.0|12.0|11.5
Priest 3D|6.1|n/a|n/a|6.0|6.0
Ebert Writes About Writing About Thor Some More
Saturday, May 14th, 2011Friday Estimates by Klady (analysis by poland)
Saturday, May 14th, 2011It looks like everything in the Top Five will slightly underperform the guesstimates out there going into the weekend. But nothing shocking. There is still a tiny chance that Bridesmaids will end up beating Thor over the course of the weekend, despite what is now – scarily – a decent hold for a big opener. This puts Thor, again, in position as comparable to Hulk (69.7%), The Incredible Hulk (60.1%), and another Marvel classic, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (65.5%).
It’s a weird feeling when a 60% second weekend drop is no longer seen as a disaster. But that is how things have changed. Frontloading, as designed by the distributors. C. Nikki has been told by her keepers at Paramount that Thor will drop only 51%… oy. 58% is possible, but 59% or 60% seem more likely. I can’t find a movie with numbers that suggest a Friday drop of 65% leading to a weekend drop of 51%. We’ll see when the dust clears.
Back to Bridesmaids… a big Saturday uptick is what may or may not happen. It could surprise, if women can convince their boys that it’s going to be fun and make it a date night event. Thor is still probably a couple million beyond its grasp. But still… a solid start for a small movie in the second weekend of summer dumping ground. It’s interesting to see how the sales pitch of this being a female Hangover has worked for audiences, but irritated some self-hating feminists on principle.
A decent hold for Fast Five. It became the biggest domestic grosser of all the Fast/Furious films yesterday and was already the leader internationally. And it has at least another $50 million worldwide in it after this weekend… perhaps $100m, closing in on the $500 million worldwide mark where the big franchises live. Only the last two Bonds will have grossed more.
Something Jumping The Borrowed Broom has identical Friday-to-Friday drops.
And Priest 3D couldn’t be so bad… except that the birth of this thing was so very long and hard and expensive over time (adding 3D, etc). But Sony is pushing the movie hard overseas and it will be interesting to see if that pays off. It could be a case where it does $35 million here and $80 million overseas and everyone at Sony is pleased.
On the smaller release front, more soft numbers (thanks to VOD?) with Everything Must Go and Hesher doing about $3k a screen. Lionsgate’s Go For It is a complete tank.
Box Office Hell — May 13
Thursday, May 12th, 2011Our Players|Coming Soon|Box Office Prophets|Box Office Guru|EW|Box Office . com
Thor|34.5|n/a|30.0|32.0|33.0
Bridesmaids |25.0|n/a|17.0|38.0|17.5
Priest|18.3|n/a|16.0|15.0|16.5
Fast Five |16.5|n/a|16.0|14.0|17.2
Jumping the Broom|8.1|n/a|n/a|9.0|8.5
Ebert Catches Up With Thor, Suggests Denizens Of Asgard Ought To Have Been Played By Cute Little Piglets
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011The Weekend Report: May 8
Sunday, May 8th, 2011Oh, God! Book XXIV
The god of thunder – Thor – hammered an estimated $65.8 million to handily reign at the top of the weekend box office charts. The session also saw a pair of counter-programmers bow nationally with the sweetly romantic Something Borrowed slotting third with $13.2 million and Jumping the Broom a breath behind at $13 million.
In limited wide was the political drama There Be Dragons with $660,000 from 259 playdates and once again it was a Telegu film from India – 100% Love – that dominated in that niche with an impressive $203,000 at a mere 23 screens.
Among the exclusive bows the focus was unquestionably on the highly acclaimed The Beaver. Audiences however failed to concur with the film grossing roughly $102,000 in its first blush at 22 venues.
In what’s become the kickoff for the summer season of blockbusters, you’d have to say that 2011 came in like a lamb with revenues of just north of $160 million. It was a sliver better than last weekend and an 11% depression from last year when Iron Man 2 debuted to $128.1 million.
Thor wasn’t expected to debut to jaw dropping numbers with pundits predicting opening power between $70 million and $80 million. Exit polls not surprisingly pegged ticket buyers at 63% male but, more surprisingly, it was according to the studio a crowd that was 72% over the age of 25 years.
Add to that a decidedly older crowd for Jumping the Broom. Only Something Borrowed skewed younger and again predictably female.
So, where are the young males that have historically been at the vanguard (and head of the line) of movie going? That’s the industry’s biggest question and so far no one has a definitive answer (it’s unlikely they were buying $30 passes to the recently launched premiere VOD). Though not personally a betting man, I wouldn’t want to take the side _ regardless of long odds _ that the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean would turn the tide back.
The other puzzler of the frame was the limpid debut of The Beaver. The film’s subject matter _ abject depression _ was never likely to be an audience magnet. But its prestige elements should have at least drawn an upscale crowd regardless of such barriers and an opening salvo twice as large as what’s been recorded.
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Weekend Estimates: May 6-8, 2011
Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
Thor | Par Intl | 65.8 (16,640) | NEW | 3955 | 65.8 |
Fast Five | Uni | 32.3 (8,830) | -62% | 3662 | 139.7 |
Something Borrowed | WB | 13.2 (4,540) | NEW | 2904 | 13.2 |
Jumping the Broom | Sony | 13.0 (6,370) | NEW | 2035 | 13 |
Rio | Fox | 8.3 (2,560) | -44% | 3258 | 115 |
Water for Elephants | Fox | 5.6 (2,150) | -40% | 2614 | 41.6 |
Medea’s Big Happy Family | Lions Gate | 3.5 (1,850) | -65% | 1881 | 46.4 |
Prom | BV | 2.4 (880) | -48% | 2730 | 7.8 |
Soul Surfer | Sony | 2.1 (1,170) | -38% | 1781 | 36.7 |
Hoodwinked Too! | Weinstein Co. | 1.9 (770) | -53% | 2505 | 6.8 |
Insidious | Film District | 1.3 (1,340) | -50% | 1001 | 50.3 |
Source Code | Summit | 1.2 (1,300) | -52% | 930 | 50.9 |
Hanna | Focus | 2.2 (1,410) | -58% | 748 | 36.79 |
African Cats | BV | .87 (840) | -64% | 1035 | 12.7 |
Scream 4 | Weinstein Co. | .71 (530) | -67% | 1333 | 36.9 |
The Conspirator | Roadside Attractions | .68 (1,480) | -38% | 460 | 9.8 |
There Be Dragons | IDP | .66 (2,550) | NEW | 259 | 0.66 |
Hop | Uni | .50 (550) | -81% | 902 | 106.4 |
Win Win | Fox Searchlight | .46 (1,730) | -30% | 268 | 8.3 |
The Lincoln Lawyer | Lions Gate | .45 (1,030) | -43% | 440 | 55.5 |
Limitless | Relativity | .43 (1,1300 | -61% | 379 | 76.9 |
Rango | Par | .41 (1,480) | 31% | 277 | 120.4 |
Jane Eyre | Focus | .37 (1,500) | -27% | 248 | 9.4 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $154.80 | ||||
% Change (Last Year) | -11% | ||||
% Change (Last Week) | 1% | ||||
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
100% Love | Blue Sky | .20 (8,840) | 23 | 0.2 | |
The Beaver | Summit | .10 (4,650) | 22 | 0.1 | |
In a Better World | Sony Classics | 82,300 (1,710) | 15% | 48 | 0.52 |
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold | Sony Classics | 65,700 (1,430) | -27% | 46 | 0.34 |
Engeyum Kadhal | Sun | 38,500 (2,960) | 13 | 0.04 | |
Forks Over Knives | Monica Beach | 26,600 (4,430) | 6 | 0.03 | |
Last Night | TriBeCa | 25,300 (2,810) | 9 | 0.03 | |
Battle of the Brides | Variance | 20,200 (4,040) | 5 | 0.02 | |
Octubre | New Yorker | 6,900 (3,450) | 2 | 0.01 | |
Haunted 3D | Big Pictures | 6,100 (550) | 11 | 0.01 | |
Caterpillar | Lorber | 2,100 (2,100) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Passion Play | Image Entertainment | 1,800 (900) | 2 | 0.01 |
Box Office Hell — May 6
Friday, May 6th, 2011Our Players|Coming Soon|Box Office Prophets|Box Office Guru|EW|Box Office . com
Thor|68.5|70.3|81.0|69.0|68.0
Fast Five |38.0|35.0|17.0|38.0|38.0
Something Borrowed|13.5|14.2|13.0|12.5|10.0
Jumping the Broom |10.4|10.8|9.0|12.0|10.5
Rio|9.2|8.7|9.0|9.0|9.0
Critics Roundup — May 6
Friday, May 6th, 2011Thor|Red|Yellow|||
The Beaver|Green||Green||Yellow
The People vs George Lucas|||Green|Green|
Hobo with a Shotgun||||Yellow|
There Be Dragons|||Yellow||
Last Night|Yellow|Yellow|||
Daydream Nation||Yellow|||
Passion Play||Red|||
Kat Dennings On Bringing Her Mighty Hammer Of Quirk To Thor
Friday, May 6th, 2011Thor: The big, the blonde and the arrogant
Thursday, May 5th, 2011Arrogance is bad. Arrogance is particularly bad when you have super-human strength and a hammer that flies around knocking off the heads of evil ice giants at your beckoning. And if you’re a big, flaxen-haired Adonis who loves to fight and is about to inherit the throne of the glorious kingdom of Asgard, arrogance is downright unacceptable. Powerful, good-looking people in charge of wealthy planets (or nation-states, or hit sitcoms, or start-up religions) should never be arrogant. A whole herd of bad examples – from The Donald to Charlie Sheen to Tom Cruise to Barney the Dinosaur – have already taught us that Big, Important Lesson.
But every superhero blockbuster must have its moral, so here’s Thor‘s Anthony Hopkins (as King Odin, Thor’s father) schooling us on the costs of arrogance once again. Hopkins has played the hot-tempered but sage patriarch so many times he really must sigh and roll his eyes whenever he comes to the scene where his character’s thoughtful lessons (“A wise king never seeks out war, but he must always be ready for it!”) are replaced by outraged bellowing. Still, Hopkins gamely retreads old ground, donning funny-looking royal hats and pointing jewel-encrusted royal scepters at his smug blonde son, who looks like he just got back from performing lap dances at a Chippendale’s “Norse God Fantasy”-themed bridal shower.
Sadly, instead of having twenties tucked into his man-panties, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) was just out breaking skulls on Jotunheim, home of the aforementioned blue ice giants. Although his slender, haunted-looking brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) warned him not to pick fights (“You know not what your actions will unleash!”), Thor didn’t listen. Or rather, he listened at first, then one of the blue guys jeered, “Run back home, little princess!” And Thor took offense. Because, fine, maybe he does wear his blonde hair all long and loose and pretty, and maybe he does favor a flowing red velvet cape not unlike those embraced by a number of Disney princesses. But that doesn’t mean he’s a girl, damn it!
As if to emphasize this point, King Odin tells Thor, “You are a vain, greedy, cruel boy!” Instead of naming his son the new king as planned, Odin sends Thor down to our scrappy blue marble, where life will surely be much more humbling for him. After all, who likes cocky blonde men with perfect abs on planet Earth?
Lucky for Thor, he doesn’t land in the middle of the Amazon or a Mumbai ghetto or a World Wide Wrestling Federation ring. Instead, he’s tossed into the hinterlands of New Mexico, where a gorgeous astrophysicist with incredibly long eyelashes immediately finds him. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is out trolling the desert with her older mentor (Stellan Skarsgard) and her snarky female assistant (Kat Dennings), gathering information about some mysterious cloudburst that’s been occurring in the area.
Like most astrophysicists, Jane lives in a stylish, round building surrounded by big windows that lies in the center of an idyllic 4-block-wide New Mexico town, the likes of which might inspire those passing through to exclaim, “My god, this place is just like a movie set!” Although we don’t know a thing about Jane, she does seem pretty damn passionate about… whatever it is that she does, which isn’t entirely clear. She’s also starting to develop a big crush on Thor himself, who has by now yanked off his shirt, and in so doing, rendered Jane, her assistant and even her gray-haired mentor speechless at the sight of his deliriously well-formed body. Even a rowdy IMAX audience in Los Angeles fell silent as Thor’s gigantic man-boobs and superhero six-pack molested our eye sockets in all of their 3D glory. Apparently this reaction isn’t uncommon: A quick Google search on Chris Hemsworth elicits the suggestions “Chris Hemsworth workout,” “Chris Hemsworth married” and “Chris Hemsworth gay,” and countless other exercises in wishful thinking. “You know, for a crazy homeless person, he’s pretty cut,” the wisecracking assistant mutters to Jane, and we all laugh a little too loudly and wipe our sweaty palms on our pants.
“I need sustenance,” growls Thor, by which we can only assume he means pancakes and eggs instead of, say, pig fetuses or handbag dogs. You never know. And really, it might be nice if Thor could do something a little unexpected, like eat the head off a live rat. Because as it stands, we feel like we’re watching a weak imitation of General Zod’s trip to earth from Superman II. (“Is there a renaissance fair tonight?” one federal agent asks another when he spots visitors from Asgard strutting through town in shiny warrior clothing.) But where Superman II featured some interesting characters and a lot of action and just generally kicked ass, Thor is alarmingly plot-free and action-free and outdated and the stakes are hypnotically low from start to finish. In fact, Thor should consider trading in his magic hammer for some Hammer Pants and calling it a day.
And while Chris Hemsworth is certainly pretty enough to recall Brad Pitt‘s turn in his own girl-porn flick, Legends of the Fall (which also starred Anthony Hopkins as a wise/temperamental patriarch), Hemsworth really has far less flair or charm than Pitt. This lack of affect isn’t helped much by a series of scenes on planet earth that look like repurposed fiery sequences from RoboCop 3.
So what does Thor have to offer summertime movie-goers that’s new and fresh and exciting? Well, let’s see. The kingdom of Asgard is quite beautiful at sunset. Hmm. When Portman and Hemsworth kiss, they really seem to mean it – to such an extent that one wonders if Thor might be better reworked as a romantic comedy. What else? There are a handful snappy lines in the script. (When your budget is $150 million, they tend to spring on a few script doctors to punch things up.)
Aside from a few hearty laughs, though, Thor is astonishingly clunky, predictable and lackluster from start to finish, with almost no character development, very little action, not much romance, and basically next to nothing to keep audiences invested. Compared to any of the Batman, Spiderman or Iron Man movies, Thor doesn’t even rate. How this screenplay got made into a huge-budget summer movie is quite a mystery indeed. The lesson, for directors and producers and studio heads everywhere? Arrogance is bad. It might make you rich, but it’s still bad. The rest of us should remember King Odin’s words: A wise summer movie-goer never seeks out a mediocre movie, but he must always be ready for it!
Why $100-Million-And-Counting Thor Opened Outside The U.S. First
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011DP/30 Sneak Peek: Idris Elba on THOR
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011From Sydney, THR First-Reviews Thor
Sunday, April 17th, 2011With Variety Right Behind
Sunday, April 17th, 2011With Variety Right Behind
Plus – McWeeny
“I Am The God Of Thunder And Lightning And Press Conferences!!!”
Thursday, April 14th, 2011There’s a press conference being held for Thor the Sunday before release.
My first reaction… Natalie Portman must be a bit delicate at this point.
No. No Nataloe.
Second reaction… Wait a second… a press conference… for THOR? Someone has lost perspective.
Third reaction… Oh… maybe it just sucks.
Fair? Not fair?