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SUNDAY AM: Talk about a tired premise. It’s difficult to imagine a more overworked plot device than the body swap. But stick a tween dream like Zac Efron in this drivel – and suddenly the domestic box office dollars flow. So the New Line/Warner Bros’ 17 Again opened to $9.4 million Friday and $9.1 million Saturday from 3,255 theaters for No. 1 and a $24M weekend. After a successful Saturday Night Live hosting gig where he poked gentle fun at his fame and fans and sexuality, Zac has now staked a solid claim to a post-High School Musical career. (Disney is continuing the franchise without the original cast.) But the question still remains whether Efron can graduate to pics where he plays anyone older than a teen. But I wouldn’t write him off just yet as not having the eventual range of, say, Leonardo DiCaprio. Then again, no less than Cameron, Spielberg and Scorsese took Leo to the next level. Zac may never get opportunities to work with great directors.
Working Title/Universal’s feature film retool of the crackling BBC TV mini-series State Of Play had the kind of pedigreed cast and production values that screamed this is a cut-above kind of pic. But the studio first had to buck the trend of complex and smart adult drama/thrillers not performing at the box office. (International did only $9.3M. Body of Lies was just $12.9M.) So Universal tried to sell State Of Play not as a political thriller but as a journalistic thriller along the lines of Absence Of Malice or All The Presidents Men. (I hear studio toppers had these oldies in mind when they decided to move forward on the pic in the first place — even though journos are even less popular than pols these days.) On Friday, State Of Play debuted to #2 but with only $4.6 million. It went up 28% for Saturday adding $5.9 million from 2,803 venues. So that’s an underperforming $14.1M weekend. Opening weekend gross outside of North America was $2M from 3 territories. Would original leading man Brad Pitt have made a difference in the film’s box office? Nah. Exit polling showed that the main reason moviegoers saw State Of Play was Russell Crowe (66%), followed by story (52%). With an “A-” Cinema Score, the audience breakdown was 55%/45% female/male, 75%/25% over/under age 35.
Coming in #3 was DreamWorks Animation/ Paramount’s Monsters v Aliens with $3.5 million Friday and $5.5 million Saturday from 3,662 theaters for another $12.9M weekend and new cume of $162.7M. In 4th place, Disney’s Hannah Montana, The Movie dropped a whopping -77% from its Good Friday opening for $4 million and earning $5.6 million Saturday from 3,118 plays and a $12.6M weekend (-60%) and new cume of $56.1M. Universal’s overperforming Fast & Furious with the original cast was No. 5 and earned $3.8 million Friday and $4.5 million Saturday from 3,674 runs for $12.3M weekend and new cume of $136.7M. Internationally, the street racing actioner looks No. 1 again this weekend with another $36M from 59 territories for a big overseas cume to date of $145 million.
That leaves Lionsgate’s latest Jason Statham actioner Crank 2: High Voltage to open a weak #6 with $2.7 million Friday and $2.4 million Saturday from 2,223 dates for just a $6.5M weekend. Meanwhile, in 7th place, Warner Bros’ R-rated mall cop comedy (and I use that term loosely because of the offensive date rape scene) Observe & Report is officially and mercifully dead with only a $4M weekend (-63%) from 2,727 theaters and paltry $18.6M cume.
In 8th place, Summit Entertainment’s Knowing finished the weekend with $3.4M from 2,408 venues for a new cume of $73.6M. DreamWorks/Paramount’s I Love You, Man was #9 with $3.3M from 2,202 dates for a fresh $64.6M cume. And, rounding out the Top 10 is Lionsgate’s The Haunting In Connecticut with $3.1M from 2,255 runs for a new cume of $51.9M.
This looks like another powered-up weekend at the box office with $112M, up 19.7% from last year.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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I think that Zac was really good in Hairspray and in 17 Again. People need to give him a chance. I’m sure that he will prove himself. Geez, he’s only 21. From everything that I read, directors and producers have commented that he has a really good work ethic. He’s a very hard worker and prepares for his roles. I believe that he is going to be a very fine actor.
I agree with this statement by Elis: I find it hard to believe that Zac’s ego is out of control when his behavior clearly demonstrates the opposite.
That’s true. He’s not out partying and drinking and doing drugs and chasing women and getting into all sorts of trouble. He seems very grounded. He knows how lucky he is. He knows what he has and that it can disappear at any time. He certainly is a good role model for the kids. I’d much rather that my kids look up to him than Lohan, Spears, or Winehouse.
oh my God to whoever said “Nothing But the Truth” is good – in fact, it is laughably awful. There’s a reason no single other distributor in Hollywood would pick it up when it was shopped around.
Russell Crowe proves again he is still the best actor in the universe with his film “State of Play”, long hair and extra weight and all. Because of him and the strong supporting cast the film is a top notch political thriller. While I rate the film “excellent” I found the underlying theme of failing newspapers amusing. Gosh, wouldn’t it be wonderful if the newspapers could once again display the superb investigative skills of its reporters, as the film suggests, a skill long gone in the mindless spin of newspaper editors partisan politics.
Crank 2 only had a budget of $12.5 million. It’s a failure, but at least not a big one.
State of Ben Affleck
I skipped the move State of Play because I think Affleck can’t act and usually ruins every movie he is in. Just from the commercials for the movie he was wooden. They should have hidden the fact he was in the movie. Just think how many great actors are in Hollywood and they have to pick AFFLECK.
ps non related TCM’s Private Screenings are worth recording. Seeing Mickey Rooney, Child Stars, Lauren Bacall,Ann Miller and others being interviewed by Robert Osborne is wonderful entertainment.
I have to disagree about State of Play having the same opening if Brad Pitt were in it instead of Russell Crowe. First of all, Russell, much as I like his acting, hasn’t been able to open a movie since Master & Commander – 6 years ago. American Gangster was Denzel’s movie…much as Russell like to think otherwise. I seem to remember that media pundits said The Curious Case of Benjamin Button wouldn’t do well at the box office opening weekend either. Or Burn After Reading. Pitt has been choosing films based more on the story than box office potention for a quite a while now. However, if Pitt had been in State of Play, due to his current status as a tabloid staple and all the free publicity his relationship with Jolie would bring to the movie – I think the box office would have been at least twice what it will be with Crowe in the role.
Also, you have to think about how this movie will perform at foreign box offices. Studios are leaning more heavily on the foreign performance of movies than every before and if there’s one thing that Pitt can deliver it’s international box office numbers. If you look at the numbers for TCCOBB, media experts said it wouldn’t make $100MIL in foreign markes (or domestically). Yet TCCOBB is over $200MIL in foreign markets and because of that Paramount and Warner Brothers will recoup the movie they poured into TCCOBB – even if it didn’t win all the Oscars they hoped it would.
Conversely, if you look at Russell foreign box office for 3:10 to Yuma($16MIL), Cinderella Man ($47MIL), A Good Year ($35MIL) and Body of Lies ($75MIL)…well, let’s just say that Uni gave him a $20MIL payday for nothing. Russell just isn’t worth $20MIL anymore. At least with Brad Pitt in the lead role Universal would have made it’s money back. But instead, because they just HAD to have this movie made their way instead of waiting on the re-writes Pitt wanted, Universal is going to take a bloodbath on this movie. They spent $80MIL to make it and they’ll be lucky if it does $40MIL domestically and $40MIL foreign (after all, at least Russell had Leo as a co-star in Body of Lies and that was good for a higher foreign total…but Ben Affleck? Please…I think I’m being kind by saying $40MIL.) Maybe the movie will eventually turn a profit with DVD sales, tv and cable rights, etc., but I doubt Ron Meyer is holding his breath waiting for that to happen.
Michael Clayton was a drama that cost 20 million to make, and its opening weekend it did over 10 million, it went on to make nearly 100 million worldwide, and got a ton of award nominations.
So yeah, huge failure. Get some perspective, please.
Is the body swap really more of a tired premise than the generic political thriller? The film was entertaining enough but it didn’t come close to the classics that were mentioned. It was more like Ron Howard/Michael Keaton’s “The Paper” with higher stakes. A quality but forgettable movie.
And how were The International and Body of Lies “respected”? They got reviews as mixed as those for 17 Again.
At least 17 Again hit its target. State of Play was neither insightful nor a popcorn film. If Russell Crowe couldn’t get people to see the much better “The Insider”, he wasn’t going to get him to come to see this.
I just read somewhere above that someone thinks Channing Tatum and Robert Pattinson are better actors than Leonardo DiCaprio. . . and I have to wonder if that person is high. You want to talk about overrated? Try looking at those two and their movies. And let’s see, I think Step-Up and Stop-Loss. . . and Twilight. . . compare to Leo’s work as well as an ant to my shoe. Flattened is the outcome of the ant and not even a little speck on my shoe. Leo is by far one of the best actors around.
And as far as what Zach needs to do. . . he needs to stop relying on his looks to get roles and sell them. He’s around 20 now and he has to do something to make a splash and a complete shift of character could be just what he needs. It sort of worked for Ashton Kutcher in Butterfly Effect, let’s see him try something like that. Take a chance and see where it gets him. If all else fails, go back to making the Disney kiddie movies.
High school musical opened in October — during school — it opened to 42 million — ummm, did it pass 100 — which it most certainly could have like it did internationally if they had opened it when kids were out of school.
Don’t you hear it now — but mom I want to watch Hannah montana and 17 again — not until you do your homework or we’ll watch it this weekend. If they played in the summer, it would be okay let’s watch it.
17 again btw is good, got a cinemascore of A- and I would say is an adult comedy that happens to star a teenage star. I liked it and Zac can act, you do need hits to have a career to be able to do the oscar type films. I’m very happy for Efron.
A little clarification on what constitutes “rape.” If the girl says “stop” and you keep going, it’s rape. If the girl says “why are you stopping?” and you keep going, it’s not. Observe and Report did NOT have a rape scene in it, Nikki.
Observe & Report is one of the best films of the first quarter.
And that sex scene Nikki rants about is even the 5th most shocking thing about the movie. Most people will be disturbed by the heroin scene, the police beating & the slow motion chase scene.
No, moviefan, I will not see state of play; I would have with Pitt/Norton but certainly not with Crowe/Affleck. I don’t dislike Crowe per se but I really think that his signing to do this movie while the writers’ strike was going on was wrong on many levels.
How exactly does Zac Efron have an out of control ego? This is a kid who up until last year drove around a beat up Oldsmobile Alero. They had to force him to buy a new car. He keeps his relationship private. And he has a sense of humor about himself. I may not be a fan of the kid, but a big ego is something he does not have.
I just hate it when Russell Crow looks like a big, bloated pig – which he does in this movie.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m a big fan of his and have seen all of his films, it’s just that I cannot stand it when he looks this way. He reminds me of a homeless lush.
It’s like going to see Sean Connery doing an impression of Chris Farley – Yeeeeeecchh! I think I’ll wait for Russell to go back to doing things where his heavy drinking isn’t showing so obviously.
It’s rape if the person is so out of it they have no idea what is going on.
Yeah they put in that line with her coming to and saying, why are you stopping but given in the prior scene she doesn’t even remember throwing up it’s a stretch to call that consensual sex.
The actors of the movie even referred to the scene in interviews as the date rape scene. Farris thought it would be cut.
We should get rid of the term date rape anyway. Either it is or it isn’t. Have the “date” word makes it seem like it’s less serious than some guy jumping out of the bushes.
RE: CRANK 2
Don’t call it DOA when it just opened huge at # 1 in Germany. It brought in more than 3 times the audience the original CRANK did back when it opened.
I disagree re: Jason Statham’s best movie. Clearly THE BANK JOB!
Re: Zach Efron and 17 AGAIN
It’s a sin to be pretty, right? We should watch the currently much overexposed Philip Seymour Hoffman in anything he does – naked butt and all – because he can act? Who would be so shallow and expect actors to be handsome and have IT? Leo was called a “Pretty Boy” forever – after THIS BOY’S LIFE and after GILBERT GRAPE. I’m sure he got over that.
Efron has IT and he doesn’t suck in 17 AGAIN which only suffers from the author’s limited imagination re: what would adult protag in teen protag’s body do. Who’s the audience for that lame sex-ed class joke, for example? Oh, and it suffers from Michelle Trachtenberg’s limited appeal that hasn’t increased one iota since her Gossip Girl role. It’s still Michelle Trachtenberg… Some people don’t need to waste money on acting classes.
RE: OBSERVE AND REPORT …
There is a reason why you can’t sell this movie – based on the rape scene alone, never mind Rogen – to females. And no, we do love black comedies, but they ought to be funny and smart. Misogynistic? Not so much. And for the record: The guy who wants to drag us into OBSERVE AND REPORT or speaks highly of it — big red flag. So yeah, you guys have fun watching your boy Seth Rogen. Without us. (see box office numbers, natch)
RE: Date Rape Scene
I would pay $ 5 to hear arguments in court re: “it’s not date rape – the totally drunk chick consented! Previously passed out, she came to – during the act – and told rapist to go on! There!” Yeah, right. You guys are f%&$§”/ r%$§”!§
>”Date rape situations can occur where one party is too drunk or intoxicated to consent”. This was the first time they did it, right, there was no (sexual) history that could establish that she consented prior to being totally wasted, is there?
Duplicity opening weekend was 13.9 million at 2574 venues. Almost the same for State of Play which opened at 2803 venues. Yet there were stories of Julia Roberts death march. She was old and could no longer open a movie. But now with State of Play, it’s the genre is not performing not that Crowe can’t open a movie. Crowe may be the poison pill but we would not know it from the articles. If he is going to be paid 20 mill than he should be held to a higher standard like you did to Julia. BTW how much money do you think another Robin Hood movie is going to make with a old Crowe playing the part of Robin.
Why is movie studios still financing movie such as The International, Body of Lies ,Syriana, Michael Clayton, Absence Of Malice or All The Presidents Men and this clunker State of Play is beyond my comprehension!
That is naming you the likes of Leonardo, Crowe and Clooney. B.O poison.
And you guys kept saying how Kidman is a B.O poison when its clear the men are the worst of the bunch
Observe and Report stunk. Just not funny. Please no more Jody Hill movies, Hollywood. Please.
Who ever said that Pitt would have doubled the numbers must not be following his career that closely. Other than Mr. & Mrs. Smith, a sure fire popcorn flick, whats’ the last movie Pitt opened big in the US? Also whoever mentioned Norton must be smoking that great homegrown. He’s poison to a movie. How many people has he worked with in the last 10 years who he backstabbed with post-production or just walking through the movie. Hulk, wouldn’t do press. Italian Job wouldn’t do press and slept walked through the movie. The list goes on but I won’t bother. I think he’s making himself unemployed for a long time to come unless he can get his ego and check.
Stacey, I have no desire to get into a pissing match with you about Pitt v. Crowe, but to say Pitt would have doubled (or more) the b.o. of SOP is ludicrous, IMO. Burn After Reading was an ensemble piece and Clooney and the Coens were as responsible for getting folks into the theater as Pitt, not to mention it was a goofy comedy, not an adult drama. Pitt didn’t exactly rake in the b.o. with Jesse James, where he was lead actor. State of Play is a political thriller aimed at adults, its comparisons would be films like Michael Clayton, The International, The Interpreter, Breach, etc.
Anyway, it looks like State of Play is headed for a second place at the b.o. this weekend when most pundits were placing it at 6th. I think Universal will be happy enough with a $14-15m weekend, when considering what recent adult movies have brought in. The movie has very good reviews and from what I’m hearing great WOM, so I’m hoping it has legs. BTW, the budget was $60m, not 80. It will make money as the older audience it is aimed at, while not racing out to see movies in theaters, buys/rents exactly this kind of movie to watch at home on their elaborate entertainment systems.
I’m hoping this film does well because we need more well done adult movies that can lead to intelligent discussion, not more movies that you forget as soon as you walk out of the theater.
Russel Crowe is starting to look like Ron Jeremy. OH YEAH!!
State of Play is a movie that should be shunned by everyone in the industry. While the WGA was picketing there were re-writes aplenty being performed on this script. Brad Pitt spent days re-working the script with scab Kevin Macdonald. Then more work done when Crowe signed on. Scab. Scab. Scab.
Leo DiCaprio has range? He did his best work when he was still a teenager and has been coasting ever since.