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Perfect!
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Since the only thing new release is the Devil Inside (and that getting horrid reviews, no suprise there, plus the fact it's rated r), I would say this week will probably be the same as it was last week. Just a holdover week. Next week however Beauty and the Beast in 3D will likely be the victor.Comment
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http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_devil_inside/
The Devil Inside got the year off to a great start with a massive $16.85 million debut on Friday. Add in solid Christmas holdovers and the Top 10 earned an estimated $42.7 million yesterday, which is up an enormous 61 percent from the first Friday of 2011. Perhaps more impressive is that it's about even with the same Friday in 2010, which was when Avatar was still driving unusually high results.
The latest entry in to the always-popular supernatural horror genre had the second-best opening Friday in January history behind Cloverfield ($17.2 million), and the third-best debut for its genre behind the last two Paranormal Activity movies. The audience was 54 percent male and 59 percent under the age of 25, and their opinions were sharply divided. According to distributor Paramount Pictures, 16 percent of viewers gave The Devil Inside an "A" CinemaScore, while 19 percent went the opposite way and slammed it with an "F". It's hard to say specifically how this will affect the movie, but supernatural thrillers tend to be extremely front-loaded regardless. Even if the movie does crash hard, though, it should still wind up with at least $35 million for the weekend, which would rank as one of the highest January debuts ever.
After leading the box office for 16 days in a row, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol had to settle for second place on Friday. The movie dipped 42 percent to an estimated $6.2 million, and is so far the top-grossing December 2011 release with $155.9 million.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows fell 44 percent to an estimated $4.3 million on Friday. That brings the movie's total to $147.6 million, and it will pass $150 million sometime today. Through 22 days in theaters, the second Sherlock Holmes movie trails the first one by just over $25 million, though it has been steadily closing that gap for the past few weeks.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo eased a light 34 percent to $3.5 million, and the thriller has so far earned $69 million. Steven Spielberg's War Horse rounded out the Top Five by falling 45 percent to $2.6 million for a total of $50.8 million.
After four weeks in limited release, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy expanded in to 809 locations on Friday and finished in ninth place with an estimated $1.72 million. The espionage thriller has now grossed $6.4 million, and should be close to $10 million by the end of the weekend.
WTF I can't believe the Devil Inside managed to take the top spot with such a high opening? Reviews were horrid.Comment
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Paramount's micro-budgeted horror film scores the biggest opening of all time for early January, and the third biggest for the month; David Fincher's "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" enjoys strongest hold of any wide release.
In a boost for the domestic box office, Paramount's horror pic The Devil Inside opened to a record-breaking $34.5 million, helping to drive up theatrical revenues by more than 25 percent over last year.
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The R-rated movie--acquired by Paramount for only $1 million--scored the best opening ever for early January, and the third biggest for the month after fellow Paramount title Cloverfield ($40.1 million) and George Lucas' 1997 reissue of Star Wars ($35.9 million). Those two films were released in late January.
The Devil Inside is as polarizing as it is successful. Overall, it received an F CinemaScore on Friday night, although almost as many gave it an A (16 percent) as did an F (19 percent). The majority, or 47 percent, gave it a C and a D. Generally speaking, It's not uncommon for horror titles to get lower CinemaScores.
Underpinning The Devil Inside's strength were younger moviegoers, who have been largely absent from the multiplex. Nearly 60 percent of Friday night's audience were under the age of 25, while 85 percent of the audience was under the age of 34.
Males made up 54 percent of those buying tickets.
Paramount president of domestic marketing and distribution Megan Colligan said the campaign for Devil Inside focused on making the film seem real, evidenced by the sogan "the film the Vatican doesn't want you to see." And on Christmas Eve, the stuido released an online trailer that prompted worldwide chatter.
"The campaign was very scary and it was intended to push the envelope," Colligan said. "The conversation online became very robust."
The Devil Inside took the No. 1 spot away from Paramount title Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, which itself stayed strong.
Ghost Protocol, which had topped the box office chart since opening nationwide on Dec. 20, dipped 30 percent from New Year's weekend to $20.5 million for a hefty domestic cume of $170.2 milion. Overseas, the movie grossed $27.7 million for the weekend for an international cume of $287.9 million and worldwide total of $458.1 million.
The Tom Cruise pic wasn't the only holiday title still enjoying good business in North America.
Warner Bros.' sequel Sherlock Holmes--Game of Shadows also stayed high up on the box office chart, falling 33 percent to $14.1 million for a domestic cume of $157.4 million.
David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo made news for Sony, sporting the best hold of any film in wide release and falling only 24 percent to $11.3 million for a domestic cume of $76.8 million. Dragon Tattoo continued its rollout overseas, grossing $12 million from 33 territories for an international total of $29.3 million and word cume of $106.1 million.
Fox's Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked grossed $9.5 million for a domestic cume of $111.6 million. Internationally, the 3D family film enjoyed its strongest weekend yet, grossing $30.1 million from 62 markets for a foreign total of $128.4 million and world haul of $240 million.
DreamWorks and Disney's War Horse, from Steven Spielberg, grew its domestic cume to $64.4 million, followed by Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo with $56.4 million. War Horse has only opened in four international markets, grossing $7.6 million to date for a world total of $64.4 million. Zoo has earned $2.6 million internationally from 14 markets for a world total of $69.9 million.
Spielberg's second holiday film The Adventures of Tintin, from Paramount and Sony, has jumped the $300 million mark worldwide. It's earned $61.9 million domestically and a hefty $271.8 million overseas for a total $333.7 million.
Making news at the awards box office on Friday was Focus Features and Working Title's arthouse hit Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which came in No. 9 for the weekend as it expanded from 57 theaters to 809 locations, grossing an estimated $5.8 million for a domestic cume of $10.4 million.
Tinker Tailor flourished in surburban markets--a theater in the surburbs north of Oklahama City was No. 5 in the country--as well as continuing to thrive in holdover art house locations.
The Devil Inside, which is being released via Paramount's micro-budgeted Insurge label, was acquired by the studio for a mere $1 million. Insurge was launched after the phenomenal success of another low-budget Paramount horror film, Paranormal Activity.
Heading into the weekend, Paramount indicated that The Devil Inside would open in the $8 million to $10 million range, but that number was revised upward in light of the film's midnight performance Thursday night, followed by strong Friday business. The Devil Inside earned $2 million in its midnight runs.
Directed and co-written by William Brent Bell, the documentary style Devil Inside is about a woman who becomes involved in a series of exorcisms after her own mother was supposedly possessed, killing three people. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Steven Schneider, a producer on the Paranormal Activity franchise, brought the project to Paramount.
The Devil Inside was the only new wide release of the weekend.
Domestic Box Office Jan. 6-Jan. 8
Title/Weeks in Release/Studio/Theater Count/Three Day Weekend Total/Cume
1. The Devil Inside (1) Paramount/2,205, $34.5 million
2. Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol (4), Paramount/3,555, $20.5 million, $170.2 million
3. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (4), Warner Bros./3,603, $14.1 million, $157.4 million
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (3), Sony/2950, $11.4 million, $76.8 million
5. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (4), 20th Century Fox/3,425, $9.5 million, $111.6 million
6. War Horse (3), DreamWorks/Disney/2,783, $8.6 million, $56.8 million
7. We Bought a Zoo (3), Fox/3,170, $8.5million, $56.4 million
8. The Adventures of Tintin (3), Paramount, Sony/3,006, $6.6 million, $61.9 million
9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (5), Focus Features/809, $5.8 million, $10.4 million
10. New Year's Eve (5), Warner Bros./New Line/1,864, $3.3 million, $52 millionComment
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The only new release this week that will likely do well is Beauty in the Beast in 3D. The rest of them could end up being surprises.
Anyway,
1. Beauty in the beast in 3D 20 - 30 million (Do I really need to explain why? Wasn't Lion King enough of an excuse).
2. Contraband (15-20 million) reviews seem to be okay so far, and it has Mark Wahlberg in it. A good enough reason to believe it should have a solid opening weekend.
3. Devil Inside (10-13 million) Man this will likely drop like a rock.
4. MIGP (10-15 million) It should have another solid weekend.
5. Joyful Noise (9-11 million). I'm not counting on this movie to succeed, especially after Just Write did poorly at the box office. Not to mention the fact that it looks kinda pathetic from the latest trailer.Comment
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http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3347&p=.htm
Mark Wahlberg flexed his box office muscles on Friday with his latest thriller Contraband, which easily claimed first place with an estimated $8.7 million. Disney's 3D re-release of Beauty and the Beast was far behind in second, though it should close the gap substantially by the end of the four-day weekend. The final newcomer, Joyful Noise, edged out Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol for third, though positions could reverse over the next few days. Overall, the Top 10 made an estimated $32.6 million yesterday, which is identical to the same Friday last year.
Contraband's $8.7 million start was higher than other Wahlberg thrillers like Max Payne ($7.04 million), Four Brothers ($6.98 million) and Shooter ($4.8 million). It was also an improvement on January 2010's Edge of Darkness ($5.6 million), and was even a bit up from similar movie The Town ($8.3 million). For the four-day weekend, Universal is predicting around $29 million.
Beauty and the Beast 3D debuted to an estimated $5.6 million, which is notably off from The Lion King 3D's $8.9 million last September. A decline was to be expected, though, considering how popular The Lion King is in comparison. Beauty should finish the four-day weekend with over $25 million, which will make it the latest confirmation that 3D re-releases can be a very profitable endeavor.
Joyful Noise earned an estimated $3.3 million yesterday. That's a bit down from Queen Latifah's Last Holiday, which opened to $3.7 million on the same day in 2006. By the end of the holiday weekend, Joyful Noise will likely have made close to $13 million.
Facing its first real competition in Contraband, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol slid 47 percent to $3.3 million. Still, the movie has now grossed $178.3 million, and it should pass the first Mission: Impossible's $181 million total sometime today.
After it opened huge but drew a near-unprecedented level of hatred from its audience, The Devil Inside plummeted 84 percent to $2.7 million on Friday. For comparison, Paranormal Activity 3 and The Last Exorcism both only fell 76 percent, which is still pretty atrocious. One recent movie with a worse drop is the 2009 Friday the 13th remake, which yielded 86 percent on its second Friday ahead of a weekend that was down over 80 percent. The Devil Inside is probably in for a similar fall, though at this point it doesn't really matter—the movie has already scared up $41.1 million, which is more than The Last Exorcism made in its entire run.
Following two successful weeks in limited release, The Iron Lady expanded to 802 locations on Friday and earned $1.57 million. Its $1,958 per-theater average is a tad lower than Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy's from its expansion last Friday. Still, it puts the movie in line for over $5 million for the holiday weekend, which is a very solid start for the Margaret Thatcher biopic.
Kinda surprising.Comment
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http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3348&p=.htm
With one of Mark Wahlberg's best openings ever, Contraband managed to hold off Beauty and the Beast (3D) to claim first place over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. Chart stalwart Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol took third place ahead of newcomer Joyful Noise, while The Devil Inside had one of the worst second weekend drops ever. The Top 12 made around $116 million this weekend, which is about on par with the same frame last year.
Contraband debuted to an estimated $24.1 million for the three-day weekend. That ranks seventh all-time for star Mark Wahlberg. Most of the movies ahead of it are either established brands (Planet of the Apes) or ensemble pieces (The Departed), though, and Contraband wound up ahead of similar movies like Four Brothers ($21.2 million), The Italian Job ($19.5 million), and Shooter ($14.5 million). It also outperformed January action movies Edge of Darkness ($17.2 million) and Smokin' Aces ($14.6 million), and it was even close to matching Taken's $24.7 million. Contraband's audience was 51 percent male and 55 percent 30 years or older, and they awarded the movie a solid "A-" CinemaScore.
After the resounding success of The Lion King's 3D re-release, Disney opted to give Beauty and the Beast the re-release treatment as well. Its $18.5 million debut was less than The Lion King's $30.2 million, though it was more than the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 double feature ($12.5 million) and seems to confirm that there is a decent audience for re-issues of classic movies. The movie's 3D share was 97 percent (up from The Lion King's 92 percent), and the audience gave the movie an "A+" CinemaScore.
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol fell 42 percent to an estimated $11.5 million, which brings its impressive total to $186.7 million. On Saturday, the movie passed the original Mission: Impossible's $181 million to become the second highest-grossing entry in the series, and it will next try to top Mission: Impossible II's $215.4 million.
Joyful Noise opened to an estimated $11.3 million, which is down a bit from Queen Latifah's Last Holiday ($12.8 million), but up from some of her other recent leading roles like Just Wright ($8.3 million) and Mad Money ($7.7 million). It was also an improvement over Country Strong's $7.3 million debut last January, though that movie was playing in just over half as many locations (2,735 vs. 1,424). Not surprisingly, the audience was 73 percent female and 65 percent over the age of 35 (likely indicating that Dolly Parton's presence had a positive effect), and they gave the movie an "A-" CinemaScore.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows held well in its fifth outing. The sequel dipped 39 percent to an estimated $8.4 million, and has so far earned $170 million.
After easily taking first place last weekend, The Devil Inside fell all the way to sixth place this week with an estimated $7.9 million. Its 76.6 percent decline is the 19th-biggest drop on record, and it is the worst one since Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience fell 77.4 percent in early 2009. Still, the movie has now made $46.2 million on a budget of less than $1 million, so it's easy to imagine they aren't too upset about this over at Paramount.
The Iron Lady expanded in to 802 locations this weekend and earned an estimated $5.4 million. Its $6,716 per-theater average is nearly identical to that of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy during its similar nationwide expansion last weekend. Carnage didn't fare quite so well in its expansion—the Roman Polanski-directed theater adaptation netted $786,000 from 494 venues for a poor average of $1,591.Comment
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Okay this is a hard week. While I know that Underworld Awakening is going to top the box office, what comes after that is hard. Red Tails is coming out, but it's getting slammed (good try Cuba, too bad you probably won't have a comeback) and Haywire (which has great reviews, but a bad market campaign). Plus we have movies left over from the previous week.
Anyway here's my top five (note: I don't have much to back this up with)v
1. Underworld Awakening 20- 25 million
2. Contraband 15- 17million
3. Red Tails 14- 15 million
4. Beauty and the Beast 3D 10-13 million
5. Haywire 10 - 12 millionComment
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http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/01/2...-tails-friday/
Thanks to a surge of new releases, a wide expansion, and strong hold from Contraband, the January box office is exhibiting quite a bit of depth. While there won’t be any astronomical grosses this weekend, a number of films are churning out mid-level numbers in the $10 million range, which should lift the cumulative box office to a reasonably healthy level.
On top of the pack on Friday was Underworld Awakening, a 3D fourth installment of the Underworld franchise, which scared up $9.4 million in its first 24 hours. Due to fanboy frontloadedness, the Kate Beckinsale picture may finish the weekend with about $24 million, which would be the second-best debut in the franchise’s history (Underworld: Revolution started with $26.9 million in 2006), although that number seems much less healthy when youfactor in Awakening‘s $70 million budget.
In second place, Red Tails successfully got off the ground with $6 million on Friday. The George Lucas-produced WWII picture may pull off a $17 million debut, which would have seemed impossible a few short weeks ago. Fox should send Tyler Perry a fruit basket!
Last week’s victor, Contraband, which also stars Kate Beckinsale (who is having a very good January!), stuck around in third place with $3.7 million. The Mark Wahlberg action title may shoot up another $12.5 million over the Friday-to-Sunday period.
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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close expanded into 2,630 locations yesterday, but the 9/11 drama is being met with weaker-than-expected results. On Friday, it pulled in $3.2 million, and it may finish the weekend with $9.5 million.
Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire brought in a tepid $2.9 million, good enough for fifth place. The action-fest, which stars former MMA fighter Gina Carano, will have to settle for about $8 million in its debut frame. (Its “D+” CinemaScore grade won’t help matters…)
In sixth place, Beauty and the Beast dropped 63 percent from its opening day last week down to $2.1 million. Belle should finish the weekend right in the same range as Haywire, but I’m still confused by the drop. Are Disney princesses the new Fanboy favorites?
Check back tomorrow for the full box office report!
1. Underworld Awakening – $9.4 million
2. Red Tails – $6.0 million
3. Contraband – $3.7 million
4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – $3.2 million
5. Haywire – $2.9 million
Ha! I love how people ignored critics pleads to go see Haywire, instead of Red Tails. Serves them right. Go Red Tails.Comment
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http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3352
Underworld Awakening sunk its teeth in to the top spot at the box office this weekend, though that didn't stop Red Tails from also putting up strong numbers in its debut. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Haywire were less impressive, though, and The Artist failed to gain much traction in its nationwide expansion. The Top 12 earned an estimated $111.7 million this weekend, which is up a whopping 26 percent from the same period last year.
The latest entry in the Underworld franchise opened to an estimated $25.4 million, which is just a bit behind Kate Beckinsale's last entry, 2006's Underworld: Evolution ($26.9 million). It did at least mark a slight improvement over 2009's Underworld: Rise of the Lycans ($20.8 million), though that was sans-Beckinsale and didn't receive a boost from 3D premiums. The 3D format accounted for 59 percent of Awakening's ticket sales, while IMAX represented 15 percent (most or all of which is included within the 3D figure). Distributor Sony/Screen Gems is reporting that the audience was 55 percent male and 60 percent 25 years of age and older, and they awarded the movie a solid "A-" CinemaScore.
Red Tails cruised in to second place with a very respectable $19.1 million. That's above comparable fighter pilot movies Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ($15.6 million), Stealth ($13.3 million), and Flyboys ($6 million), though it was about even with Sky Captain in estimated attendance. The audience breakdown was 51 percent male and 66 percent 25 years and older. The movie received an "A" CinemaScore, which improved to a fantastic "A+" score for those below 18 and above 50. Also of note: Red Tails marks distributor 20th Century Fox's best opening for a non-franchise title since last April's Rio.
After a strong first place start last weekend, Contraband fell 50 percent to an estimated $12.2 million. With a $46.1 million total so far, the movie has passed Mark Wahlberg's Max Payne ($40.7 million) and will eclipse Shooter ($47 million) by Tuesday.
Following a month in limited release, Sept. 11 drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close expanded to 2,630 locations and earned a disappointing $10.5 million. That's the least-attended nationwide opening in two decades for Tom Hanks, and is the least-attended in the last 15 years for Sandra Bullock. Even with a ubiquitous marketing effort, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close clearly wasn't able to overcome poor reviews and tough subject matter, though there's always a chance it hangs in well in coming weeks.
Haywire debuted in fifth place with an estimated $9 million. That's a bit off from recent similar female-oriented action movies Colombiana ($10.4 million) and Hanna ($12.4 million), though in just one weekend it almost earned as much as Domino did in its entire run ($10.2 million). The audience was 55 percent male and skewed a bit younger (64 percent under the age of 35), and it was 54 percent non-Caucasian. As reported yesterday, the movie received a terrible "D+" CinemaScore.
Beauty and the Beast 3D plummeted 52 percent to $8.56 million. That doesn't compare favorably to The Lion King 3D's 27 percent second weekend decline, and with $33.4 million in the bank so far Beauty has no chance of coming anywhere remotely close to Lion King's $94.2 million.
Following its three Golden Globe wins on Sunday and ahead of what's sure to be a ton of Academy Award nominations on Tuesday, The Artist expanded in to 662 locations this weekend. That wasn't enough to really gain much momentum, though, as the movie wound up in 17th place with a weak $2.37 million (an average of just $3,579). The Artist has now earned $12.1 million, and it's looking more and more like the black-and-white silent movie is not going to be able to attract a significant audience outside of the cinephiles who were already able to track it down in limited release.Comment
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Weekly predictions.
1. The Gray 20-25
2. One for the Money 15-17 million
3. Underworld Awakening 13-15 million
4. Man on a ledge 12-14 million
5. Red Tails 11-12 million.
These predictions are totally random, and for the most part (with the exception of the Gray) are all probably gonna be wrong.
Any guesses?Comment
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The opportunity to see Liam Neeson go head-to-head with a pack of wolves drew solid crowds on Friday, giving Open Road Films its first number one debut with The Grey. One For the Money put up decent numbers as well, and could finish ahead of Underworld Awakening for the three-day weekend. Finally, Sam Worthington's questionable star power wasn't enough to get audiences excited about Man on a Ledge, which disappointed in fifth place.
The Grey opened to an estimated $6.5 million on Friday. That's lower than Taken's $9.4 million and slightly off from Unknown's $6.7 million, though some drop off from those movies was expected given the movie's frigid setting, R rating, and mid-range distributor (Open Road). Based on comparable movies from the past few years, The Grey will wind up in first place this weekend with at least $17 million.
One for the Money scored an estimated $4.1 million yesterday, which was good for second place at the box office. It wound up below recent Katherine Heigl movies Killers ($5.7 million) and Life as We Know It ($5.2 million). Those movies both had male co-leads (Ashton Kutcher and Josh Duhamel, respectively) and a more robust marketing effort, so One for the Money's opening is actually pretty respectable. Its $4.1 million is also nearly identical to the opening day of The Lincoln Lawyer, which was distributor Lionsgate's first attempt at selling discounted tickets on Groupon. For the three-day weekend, One for the Money should end up around $12 million.
As is typical for its genre, Underworld Awakening fell a steep 63 percent to an estimated $3.43 million. Still, that's actually the best hold and best second Friday yet for an Underworld movie, indicating that this one might be receiving slightly better word-of-mouth. Through eight days, the fourth installment in the vampire action series has earned $36.05 million, and it currently trails the second Underworld movie by less than $500,000.
Red Tails also crashed hard, spiraling 53 percent to an estimated $2.8 million. The George Lucas-produced story of the Tuskegee Airmen has now made $26.2 million.
Man on a Ledge opened in fifth place with an estimated $2.5 million. That's a bit lower than Sam Worthington's last movie, The Debt ($2.6 million), and is another unimpressive start for Summit Entertainment. The company is currently forecasting a $7.5 million weekend.
Following its surprise Best Picture nomination, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close eased 37 percent to an estimated $2 million. It has now made just under $16 million. Fellow Oscar nominee The Descendants expanded in to 2,001 locations and grossed $1.74 million, bringing its impressive total to $54 million. The Artist and Hugo were much further down the chart with $867,000 and $488,000, respectively.Comment
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http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3357&p=.htm
With a clear premise and a popular actor operating within his wheelhouse, The Grey delivered upstart distributor Open Road Films their first number one debut this weekend. Meanwhile, One For the Money had an okay opening that exceeded most expectations, while Man on a Ledge was the latest mid-range Summit movie to underperform. The Top 12 grossed an estimated $99.4 million, which is up 7.6 percent from the same time period last year.
The Grey devoured an estimated $20 million this weekend. Among star Liam Neeson's recent action movies, The Grey opened lower than Taken's $24.7 million and also a tad below Unknown ($21.9 million). Those were both PG-13, featured robust marketing from their big-time distributors, and were essentially cousins of the Bourne series. For The Grey to even come close to those movies speaks both to Mr. Neeson's drawing power and the importance of having an interesting, easily conveyable story (in this case, it was "Liam Neeson fights wolves!"). According to distributor Open Road, the audience was 54 percent male, and there is no CinemaScore data available.
Last weekend's winner Underworld Awakening dipped 51 percent to an estimated $12.5 million. That's a stronger hold than any of the previous Underworld movies had, and its $45.1 million total through 10 days is also a franchise best.
One For the Money took third place with an estimated $11.75 million. That's lower than star Katherine Heigl's Killers ($15.8 million) and Life as We Know It ($14.5 million), and also less than Lionsgate's last Groupon-promoted movie The Lincoln Lawyer ($13.2 million). Even though it's a fairly unimpressive debut, it's far from the trainwreck that was being forecasted by many analysts ahead of the weekend. That was odd, though, considering author Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels are extremely popular among older women. Exit polling bears this out—the audience was 79 percent women, and 74 percent over the age of 35 (36 percent were between the ages of 35 and 40). They awarded the movie a poor "B-" CinemaScore, though, so it's unlikely it will hold up as well as The Lincoln Lawyer in the long run.
According to a Lionsgate spokesperson, the initial Groupon e-mail blast reached 20 million people, most of whom were female (85 percent of Groupon's users are women). While official figures aren't available, exit polling indicated that 34 percent of One For the Money's audience had heard about the Groupon promotion, and 11 percent actually bought their tickets through the service. Out of the people who did use the promotion, 93 percent of them indicated that they would not have attended the movie otherwise. Some rough math based on these figures suggests that the "Groupon bump" probably didn't amount to much more than $1 million.
In its second weekend in theaters, Red Tails fell 45 percent to an estimated $10.4 million. Through 10 days, the World War II Tuskegee Airmen flick has earned $33.8 million.
Man on a Ledge rounded out the Top Five with an estimated $8.3 million debut, which is a bit lower than star Sam Worthington's The Debt ($9.9 million). Plenty of factors aside from Worthington contributed to this disappointing debut, though, with the most noteworthy one probably being its muddled marketing effort. Trailers and commercials jumped between Worthington out on the ledge and a corresponding heist in a nearby building, with the vague indication that the whole thing was part of some kind of revenge scheme. A confusing premise like that really can't compete with Liam Neeson fighting wolves, and so Man on a Ledge wound up the loser. It did put up solid exit polling numbers, though—the audience was split evenly between men and women, and was 56 percent under the age of 25. They awarded the movie a respectable "B+" CinemaScore, meaning Man on a Ledge might not be completely dead yet.Comment
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Here's my predictions.
1. Chronicle 18-20 million.
2. The woman in black 14-16 million.
3. The Grey 12-13 million.
4. Big Miracle 12-13 million.
5. Underworld awakening 9-10 million.Comment
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...40344520120204
"Chronicle" and "Woman in Black" are turning what was supposed to be a lackluster weekend at the box office into a battle for first place.
On Friday, the two new movies crushed their pre-release expectations.
Fox's "Chronicle" grossed an estimated $8.65 million while CBS Films' "Woman in Black" took an estimated $8.3 million.
Considering that Fox had expected high single-digits for the entire weekend -- though outside box-office watchers figured about $15 million -- and CBS was projecting $11 million for the whole weekend, opening day is beyond solid.
Both pictures are pretty much neck-in-neck for the No. 1 spot and on track to take in a touch more than $20 million each this weekend. The advantage still goes to "Chronicle" by a few hundred thousand dollars.
While Friday was great and Saturday is expected to remain robust, studios expect a major drop on Sunday, when all eyes will be on the Superbowl.
The other new movie at the box office this weekend is "Big Miracle," from Universal. That picture took in an estimated $2.26 million on Friday and is tracking to gross just short of $8 million for the weekend -- on par with expectations.
Earlier:
This is a weekend of low expectations at the box office.
Super Bowl weekend is about TV – not movies – and is traditionally one of the slowest box-office weekends of the year.
Super Bowl weekend 2011, for example, was the third-worst of the year. That weekend’s entire box office was $87.3 million – about half the opening weekend of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" alone. So studios have some cover if their movies don’t do especially well.
And how low are the expectations for this weekend’s three new releases?
Pretty darn.
Two PG-13 movies, Fox’s “Chronicle” and CBS Films’ “Woman In Black,” will fight it out for the No. 1 spot, while Universal’s “Big Miracle” will be lucky to take fourth place, behind last weekend’s champion, “The Grey.”
The advantage for the top spot belongs to Fox, but the studio is downplaying expectations, projecting that the film, directed by Josh Trank, probably will take in something in the high single-digits.
Less conservative box-office watchers outside Fox anticipate the movie, which cost about $12 million to make, could take in as much as $16 million, though the consensus is closer to $15 million.
The research firm NRG says there’s plenty of awareness about the movie: 52 percent of those polled told NRG they have heard of the movie. That’s an adequate number, but not nearly as good as the 68 percent “total awareness” score “The Woman in Black” received.
But 47 percent of men younger than 25 percent reported “definite” interest in seeing “Chronicle,” and 13 percent said it’s their first choice. Among young women, 40 percent report “definite” interest in “Chronicle.”
The found footage movie stars three mostly unknown actors as high school friends who develop superpowers. But it’s a touch darker than the synopsis might suggest.
The critics like it well enough: Rotten Tomatoes gives it an 87 percent rating, Metacritic gives it a 71 and Movie Review Intelligence gives it a 74.8.
It’s a fairly low-budget project for Fox – “Chronicle” cost about $12 million to make – so it doesn’t need huge numbers to work for the studio.
One thing to count on: The 2,909 locations showing “Chronicle” won’t be terribly crowded during the Super Bowl. Friday and Saturday are that movie’s key days.
While “Chronicle” goes after young men, CBS’s “Woman In Black” is aiming for a young female audience.
The movie stars Daniel Radcliffe, the young actor who brought Harry Potter to life.
And it’s likely to perform perfectly well for CBS Films, which paid $3 million for U.S. distribution rights to the film.
An $8 million weekend will push the picture into the black for CBS, and the studio expects it will take in around $11 million. Outside box-office watchers figure it will gross a few million more than that.
CBS Films has been promoting it on CBS and on the CW network, and Radcliffe has hyped it on “The Tonight Show,” “Ellen” and other television programs.
The movie is about a young lawyer who travels to a remote village where he encounters the ghost of a scornful woman.
It is getting reasonable reviews: Metacritic gives it a 60 percent, Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 69 and Movie Review Intelligence gives it a 68.6.
And its total awareness is the best of any of this week’s new movies: 68 percent of those surveyed by NRG reported that they knew of the movie. Among young women, the number is a remarkable 79 percent.
Additionally, 47 percent of young women report “definite” interest in seeing it and 16 percent say it’s their first choice.
Still, CBS expects a huge drop on Super Bowl Sunday.
The movie debuts at 2,885 locations.
Finally, there’s Universal’s “Big Miracle,” a PG-rated family film that looks like “Dolphin Tales” with whales instead of dolphins.
It’s the only family film of the weekend – “Woman In Black” looks a little scary for the 13-and-under set and “Chronicle” is a touch dark and has high school kids being high school kids.
If parents want to push the kids out of the house for a few hours while they prepare for the Super Bowl, they could well push them to “Big Miracle.”
Universal spent about $40 million to make the film, about a small town in Alaska that saves a family of gray whales from encroaching ice in the Arctic Circle -- quite a departure from last week's "The Grey," about a group of oil drillers in Alaska who try to escape a pack of grey wolves.
Universal targeted mothers and girls, and notes that the movie’s tracking is similar to the films “Ramona and Beezus,” which opened to $7.8 million and to “Soul Surfer,” which opened to $11 million.
NRG’s tracking shows the movie lagging behind both “Chronicle” and “The Woman in Black,” and outside box-office watchers expect the movie to stay in the single-digits.
Its strongest demographic is women, and 60 percent of young women and 64 percent of those older than 25 report awareness of the movie.
Metacritic gives “Big Miracle” a 60 percent rating. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 68 and Movie Review Intelligence gives it a 65.1.
“Big Miracle,” which Ken Kwapis directed, stars John Krasinski. It opens at 2,128 locations.
While this weekend will be extra-slow at the box office, next weekend will be anything but slow.
“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” “Safe House,” “Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace” and “The Vow” all open. And they’ll all open big.
Guess this disproves the theory that Radcliffe can't sell a movie (and Harry Potter doesn't count).Comment
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