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SUNDAY AM: Halloween is always a lousy day for box office but especially when it falls on a weekend. So Friday’s grosses were way down compared to the norm. So Disney’s High School Musical 3: Senior Year was shockingly down 90% from its sensational opening a week ago to make $1.7 million Friday from 3,626 plays. (“Why is it high school kids who are always the victims on Halloween?” one rival studio bigwig emailed me.) But then Zac Efron and the gang staged a spectacular comeback (+400%) to grab No. 1 with $8.2 million Saturday for a $15M weekend (including Sunday’s estimate of $5.1 million) for a new cume of $61.8M. Overseas, HSM3 was the #1 film in 26 territories including the U.S. and Canada for an estimated gross its second week of $146.8M at the worldwide boxoffice.
Making $10.6M this weekend was Kevin Smith’s Weinstein Co comedy Zack And Miri Make A Porno starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks. The raunchy comedy opened in 2,735 venues with just $2.2 million Friday and $4.8 million Saturday (+124%) and a Sunday estimate of $3.6 million for No. 2. Because of the pic’s provocative name and content, the same chain of Utah theaters that wouldn’t show Brokeback Mountain also refused to screen Zack And Miri, so Smith enjoyed lots of free publicity. It’s been tracking decently with males under and over age 25 — not exactly a shocker. It was Smith’s second best launch, but he still can’t generate big box office numbers of late especially since this film was costlier than his usual.
Twisted Picture/Lionsgate’s horrific holdover Saw V was the only movie not to scare off audiences on Halloween and sliced through the competition for No. 3 this weekend. Playing in 3,084 theaters, it took in $3.1 million Friday (a staggering drop of 78% over its debut a week ago) and $4.2 million Saturday and $2.7 million Sundy estimate for a $10.1M weekend and new cume of $45.8M.
After a limited run, Universal’s Oscar-touted Changeling directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Angelina Jolie missed opening wider in the top spot and settled for No. 4 with a $9.4M weekend and new $10M cume. After expanding into 1,850 theaters, the adult drama took in $2.3 million Friday and $4.4 million Saturday for a $9.4M weekend, bigger than what the studio expected. Fresh exit polling from this weekend showed the audience was 32%/68% under 30 yrs of age/30 yrs and older, and 39%/61% male/female. Both “excellent” ratings and “definitely” recommend scores were well above average overall. The main reasons given for choosing to see Changeling were the story (65%), followed by Angelina Jolie (53%), director Clint Eastwood (43%), and its true story (42%). During its limited run a week ago, the exit polling showed that the grim but compelling pic nevetheless had strong commercial potential across a wide breadth of audiences. Which is why the studio thinks the film has legs, using Clint’s 2003 Mystic River as a comp; it took in $10.4 million from 1,467 theaters after a limited run and went on to do $90M.
UPDATED: *But this weekend’s big news was overseas: MGM/Sony’s Quantum Of Solace, the 22nd James Bond motion picture, had record-setting launches in the UK, France and Sweden this weekend. Total FSS take was $38.6 million on 2,123 prints, generating more than $18,000 per print. The pic expands into 57 additional markets next weekend. But Bond made box office history on its opening day in the UK, taking a staggering £4.9 million and making it the biggest Friday opening of all time. This shattered the previous record held by Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire, which took £4.0m. The latest 007 installment, which claims to be the longest running franchise in film history (if you don’t count Godzilla or Tarzan), also beat the opening day figure of £2.9m for Casino Royale, the first to star Daniel Craig. Quantum Of Solace did £15.4 million for its UK weekend launch and the biggest standard 3-day opening of all time there, passing Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire‘s £14.934 million. This is 35% bigger than the £11.4 million launch of Casino Royale and a massive 70% of the UK box office this weekend. France’s weekend estimate of €8.2 million beat Casino Royale‘s 5-day €7.0 by 16% for the biggest Bond launch ever there, and in just 3 days. MGM/Sony expect Quantum to have three great days ahead in France, with the All Saint’s holiday school break running through November 5th. And Sweden’s 18.1 million SEK 3-day weekend is that country’s 4th biggest FSS ever, behind only Lord of the Rings 3 (20.4), and 31% more than Casino Royale‘s 13.821 million SEK launch. The 22nd Bond will release in the U.S. on November 14th and its first choice tracking was almost double what it was for Daniel Craig’s debut as Bond in Casino Royale. But this is 007 without the established Bond cliches and stereotypes. Reviewers said the current Bond movie looked more like Bond-as-Bourne since it dropped Moneypenny, dropped Q, dropped the wit, dropped the gadgets, and dropped the line “The name is Bond, James Bond”.*
Finishing in 5th place, The Haunting Of Molly Hartley from Freestyle Releasing took advantage of the spooky holiday for a $1.7 million opening Friday and $2.3 million Saturday from 2,652 venues for just a $5.2M weekend.
As for the rest of the Top 10: No. 6 Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Disney) made $4.7M for a new cume of $84M; No. 7 The Secret Life Of Bees (Fox Searchlight) earned $4M for a new $25.2M cume; No. 8 Max Payne (20th Century Fox) took in $3.7M for a new $35.5M cume; No. 9 Eagle Eye (DreamWorks/Paramount) gained $3.4M for a new $92.5M cume; and No. 10 Pride And Glory (Warner Bros) received $3.2M for a new $11.6M cume.
In the 11th spot, QED International/Lionsgate’s $30M biopic W. took in $2.4M for a new $22.4M cume. Joel Silver’s Dark Castle-produced, Warner Bros-distributed RockNRolla made $1.7 million for the weekend as the Guy Ritchie-written and directed low-budgeter expanded into 826 theaters for a $2.3M cume.
This was the first “down” weekend after 5 “up” weekends in a row. Last year, when Halloween had the decency to fall on a Wednesday, total weekend box office was $133.9M. This weekend’s $85M was down 36.5%.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Armand ….
You should stop reading tabloids.
Do you think Angelina likes being on the tabloid magazines every week? They write lies about her and make up stories
She was not seen in public for FOUR months after her twins were born and the tabloids still would not stop talking about her.
Personal bias aside, Changeling will have legs not only because of the demos, but because it’s a “consider what you heard and decide for yourself” kind of film. It’s the first film I recall in “forever” where I read the early top critic reviews and found truths in all of them, about the good points and the bad points. Every other film I can recall, some reviewers leave me thinking, “I don’t know what film they were watching, but they sure didn’t watch the same film screened for the other critics or the one I saw.”
Not so with “Changeling.” The consistency of well made points left me thinking that whether they loved it or didn’t care for it, they had not only watched the same film but they had really paid attention and thought about it afterwards.
You can hardly say that about all films. Whether you see it now, or wait for DVD, Changeling is seriously a “consider what you have heard, but then see it for yourself and then decide” film (unlike most films, e.g., ‘Rock & Rolla’ where I suspect it’s an “okay, go ahead and see it sometime, but don’t tell us we didn’t warn you when your DVD melts and smells like old garbage” type of experience.
“It should be worth noting that the Zack & Miri team have been almost completely absent from the talk show circuit… The same is true for next week’s Role Models (look at the talk circuit: NOTHING)” – 40yearoldstitzer
It’s 2008 – who seriously still looks to the TV talk shows to be informed about a movie opening?
I work for a large theater chain and I think that beside the fact that Z&M was released on Halloween, they did a fairly large number of free screenings before hand at least in our district. So my thought was that everyone who was dying to see it had already seen it and given the economy, once they did see it they probably wouldn’t want to shell out the cash to see it again.
Charlene, you say “Some of you, just like some critics are so caught up with tabloid nonsense that you can’t separate the lies and reality.”
Thats my entire point!
Wow, this was definitely a shocker to me. I thought there’s no chance in hell that Changeling would be number 1 this weekend.
Looks like Zach and Miri does the typical Kevin Smith business. He just doesn’t seem to be able to get out his niche. But I guess as long as his films are budgeted accordingly, that’s no big deal.
Armand,you have not even seen Changeling and are negative toward it because of the behavior of the tabloids? How can one even read the lies in a tabloid and use those to judge anyone. I just saw Changeling with 3 friends and it was a great movie with a superlative performance by Angelina Jolie. All 3 of us saw a determined woman and mother in pain who made believers out of us, we cried with her and clapped for her. Not one of us saw a tabloid target as you seem to have already predetermined, we saw a great actress. I highly recommend this film and will go back tomorrow to see it with more friends. It is a film that makes one ponder life and good and evil. All the cast was great, Eastwood did a fine job with this terribly sad true story.
Oops. Saw V is number 1. Still surprised that of all the new films, Changeling did the most business.
Suggest you take tissues. I did not expect to be so affected by Changeling but found tears sliding down my cheeks at times. Any movie that makes me and my friends cry is a powerfully acted film, and Changeling is one of those films. Angelina’s eyes spoke volumes, just so many powerful emotions seen in her eyes, completely mesmerizing.
I feel badly for Kevin Smith and the others involved, and it may be a great movie, but any bad news for the Weinsteins is good news to me. And I don’t think they know how to release movies properly these days.
Ritchie’s movies all make their money back in Europe before they open over here, so it doesn’t matter as much if one of them bombs. I thought Revolver was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, but Snatch and Lock, Stock are two of the best action comedies ever. It looks like Rocknrolla is a return to form and if he does nothing else but crank one of these out every 2 years, he’s okay in my book.
Agreed on the HSM3 thinking above, Halloween coming on the second weekend of release guarantees a poor followup, whereas Thanksgiving would have extended the euphoria an extra couple of days. Now everyone will just wait for it on the disney channel in a couple of months. Still, they tripled their money by releasing it in theatres.
Yes, usually Kevin Smith’s films are budgeted accordingly, but Zack and Miri was around $35 million, and that’s before publicity.
This does not bode well for Smith, or the Weinstein’s.
Has there been any movie in history that has seen that kind of friday to saturday jump of 400 percent for HSM3?
Everyone should see Zack and Miri — it’s actually a good romantic comedy but it is raunchy. Seth Rogen was making the talk show rounds with kimmel and leno. Did you see how much weight he’s lost?
Is anyone really watching Kevin Smith’s new movie?
He has overstayed his welcome didn’t he? Just like M-Night Shamalan, the 1st pic was a cult fav. The rest of their productions pales in comparison
All of these comments about Angelina Jolie and Clint are insane. The Changeling is a great movie for ALL AUDIENCES, and not just for the academy. Wasn’t I just hearing complaints at one point that there weren’t enough good dramas out there? That everyone was sick of these half rate remakes and comedies?? And isn’t a true movie star someone that brings in viewers because of their NAME?? Angelina is one of the only females actresses left that can open a movie.
Also, can you actually see Clint Eastwood making a hard R comedy? Please. Clint should stick to what he knows because, hey! guess what?, he is actually good at it and can tell a great story. If you aren’t happy with a movie or a actress – DON’T GO. There are plenty of others who will and won’t listen to all this horribly jaded talk…ugh.
“It should be worth noting that the Zack & Miri team have been almost completely absent from the talk show circuit… The same is true for next week’s Role Models (look at the talk circuit: NOTHING)”
ROLE MODELS cast on talk shows this week:
Seann William Scott on Ellen, Regis, Craig Ferguson, TRL, Today Show, Tyra Banks;
Paul Rudd on Conan, Regis, Jon Stewart, Letterman, TRL, Today Show + hosting SNL;
Christopher Mintz-Plasse on Craig Ferguson;
Bobb’e J. Thompson on Carson Daly;
Elizabeth Banks on Leno, Craig Ferguson;
I’m sure KeviN SMith was happy with a 9.5 million opening. The film polled well and has good word of mouth so it will make it’s money and kill on home video and ondemand. SO BAG on Smith all you want, but he’s here to stay.
Z&M will not do the Sunday Estimate. The theaters were mostly empty this weekend with the exception of the Saturday night crowd.
Those numbers are seriously inflated and it looks to me that Weinstein is trying to puff up his numbers to save some face.
Don’t think for a second that the public perception of #2 at the box office and a 10 million dollar opening doesn’t matter to him/them.
Anyone who thinks it’s going to do 3.6 million worth of business on Sunday is a fool.
A James Bond movie is supposed to be the ultimate in escapism moviegoing. That’s what makes James Bond, James Bond.
Now, they’re just another angstfest trophy hunt. The Bourne films are great, but that’s another approach.
Oh, well. My DVDs of the other 20 James Bond films made correctly still work.
On a different topic, Eagle Eye has done remarkably well for a generic-looking thriller with fair-to-poor reviews (haven’t seen it myself). Love him or hate him, but Shia has proven he can open a movie on his own and has legs to boot.
according to Box Office Mojo , Zack and Miri was no.2 in projection. Wouldn’t doubt if it was actually lower than reported. The brothers W can not afford to have this film finnish 3rd (to investors, talent, theatre owners etc)
Comment by Armand — November 2, 2008 @ 10:40 am:
“Is anyone really watching Kevin Smith’s new movie?
He has overstayed his welcome didn’t he? Just like M-Night Shamalan, the 1st pic was a cult fav. The rest of their productions pales in comparison”
Are you kidding? MNS’s first film was a “cult fav?” One that is still among the top 50 grossing movies of all time after almost a decade of inflation? Since when is almost $300 million U.S. and over $670 million worldwide “cult?” Only if the mainstream is a cult. And those numbers are from eight years ago!
I can only assume the first MNS film to which you were referring was “The Sixth Sense,” because you can’t claim that it “paled in comparison” to the thing he did before it.
MNS behaves like a jackass, and “The Sixth Sense” represented a high water mark of which each of his subsequent films appear to crest progressively lower, but “The Sixth Sense” is not a “cult” film.
Go back to the analogy shop and get something that isn’t on discount.
ZACK & MIRI finds K. Smith in good form. Lots of solid laughs. Every other Smith film works: Clerks – Mallrats, Chasing Amy – Dogma. This one does.
CHANGELING is also very solid if not spectacular. Jolie is first-rate. This period pic couldn’t have been cheap and I wonder if they’ll earn it back. See it.
Too bad about ROCKNROLLA. It’s Ritchie’s best since his first, LOCK, STOCK, etc. Madonna/tabloid bullshit aside, the Guy is talented. I look forward to Sherlock Holmes.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT – Rent It, as they say. Not as good as the last DeNiro/Levinson satire, WAG THE DOG, but not quite a disaster either.
After seeing “Jersey Girl” I was wondering if Kevin Smith would be able to do a good movie without the Jay & Silent Bob gang. Now that I’ve seen “Zack & Miri” I’m certain he can.
My friend and I both laughed out loud at numerous scenes, and both Rogen and Banks were really funny and believable.
The movie does not pretend to be anything more than it is – something fun. And thankfully, something 5000 times better than “Jersey Girl.”
“He has overstayed his welcome didn’t he? Just like M-Night Shamalan, the 1st pic was a cult fav. The rest of their productions pales in comparison…”
Dude if you’re gonna knock Night at least spell his last name correctly.
By the way…
1) “The Sixth Sense” made $600 million worldwide box office. That hardly counts as a “cult fav”.
2) “The Sixth Sense” was Shyamalan’s third film. Not his first.