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MONDAY AM: Saturday's Fourth Of July box office was even lower across the board than the studios expected. But the 5-day domestic holiday weekend blasted off with something for everyone: families, fanboys, and adults fed up there's been almost nothing for them in movie theaters. Fox's Ice Age 3-D: Dawn of the Dinosaurs opened very promisingly with $13.8 million Wednesday, $11.2M Thursday, $17.1M Friday, and $11.3M Saturday, and $13.1 Sunday from 4,099 venues for a $41.6M 3-day weekend -- in a photo finish with Transformers 2. The battle was decided by Monday's actuals. Rival studios claimed Ice Age 3-D wasn't tracking well with young boys, and that's why 20th sneaked it at 330 theaters recently. But Fox said it "added an additional marketing layer prior to the onslaught of TF2". And the studio was right to pursue that strategy. With the public clearly not tiring of 3-D toons, the threequel should come out on top with a $67.5M 5-day holiday even though Saturday grosses were weak.
Internationally, Ice Age 3-D opened with a humongous $148M from 101 markets. Of a total of 11,652 screens, 3D represented 18% or 2,126 screens, contributing an estimated $51M, or 34% of the total opening. This made for the highest grossing animated film opening weekend ever, the highest grossing 3-D film ever, and the 6th highest grossing opening weekend of all time. The threequel still has not opened in China, Japan, Korea and Italy. With the estimated domestic cume of $67.5M, the global opening weekend gross is an estimated $215M.
The toon stayed neck and neck all weekend with the $42.5M July Fourth weekend and $65M five-day holiday for Paramount's Tranformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen. The robot sequel took in $10.9 million Wednesday from its still gigantic release into 4,234 dates (-82% from its record-smashing opening day a week ago), and took back the No. 1 title with $11.5M Thursday and $17.9M Friday, only to lose it Saturday with $10.6M but gain it back Sunday with $13.6. So even though the pic has been panned, 
it's clearly got strong legs. The actioner's domestic cume is now a huge $300.5M for 12 days and just passed Up and Star Trek to become the highest-grossing pic of 2009. This weekend it scored $55M overseas so that's over $300.5M from international, and a new worldwide total of a staggering $593.9M.
Despite strong tracking and positive reviews, Universal had been nervous about the debut of Public Enemies because so many adult-oriented pics have failed in recent weeks. (So were exhibitors. According to a report slipped to me by a rival studio, they were disappointed with the story, felt it lacked the promised action, and squirmed when it was too long.) But the well marketed combination of Michael Mann and Johnny Depp is luring adult filmgoers hungry for another original and artistic crime saga which is a rarity in this summer of remakes, reboots and reheated sequels. The expensive gangster pic opened to $8 million Wednesday, $6.7M Thursday, $10.1M Friday, and $6.8M Saturday from 3,334 runs. That's $26.1M for the July Fourth weekend and $41M for the 5-day holiday (a little more than Uni had projected in order to lower expectations). But you won't hear audible sighs coming from Black Tower unless Public Enemies shows legs and passes $100M domestic.
Disney's The Proposal came in #4 with $12.7M this weekend from 3,099 plays and a new cume of $94.2M. In 5th place, Warner Bros' The Hangover just keeps going on and on and for a $10.4 weekend from 3,070 venues for a new cume of $204.1M. Close for #6, Pixar/Disney's Up made $6.5M this weekend from 2,656 theaters for a new cume of $264.8M. New Line/Warner Bros' My Sisters Keeper came in No. 7 and took in $5.2M this weekend from 2,606 runs for a new cume of $25.9M.
Sony's The Taking Of Pelham 123 was 8th with $2.5M this weekend from 1,908 theaters and cume of $58.4M. Sony's bomb Year One came in #9 with $2.1M this weekend from 2,240 dates for a $38M cume. And, rounding out the Top 10, Fox's Night at the Museum 2: Battle Of The Smithsonian earned $2.1M this weekend from 1,419 runs for new cume of $167.7M.
In Week 2 of its llimited release, Summit Entertainment's well received The Hurt Locker earned received $126,000 this weekend from 9 theaters including NY & LA. It's cume to date is $365K. The pic expands into 17 more markets on July 10th.
This weekend, total box office looks like $162M, slightly up 1.4% from last year and close to the 2004 record. But, again, the July Fourth drop-off experienced Saturday can't be exaggerated.
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wtf? According to imdb, ICA AGE 3 sports 2 directors but no writers. At all. Not anywhere. Did they melt away or did the dinos have them for breakfast?
Don’t worry Transformers, you’re still destine to get one of those ten Best Picture Oscar slots.
Fingers crossed for Public Enemies, otherwise there won’t be anything remotely intelligent in the summers to come.
Ice Age 3 is definitely the best of the 3 films. I absolutely loved it, it was hilarious from start to finish. And the 3D was phenomenal too. I’m glad to see it’s doing so well!
The industry really needs to reassess how they measure success. While many adult oriented stories fair poorly these days at the BO, it’s at the secondary revenue stream they rock; DVD, download, rental etc…
If initial DVD and download offerings were factored in, then these movies would be doing more than paying for themselves, they would be considered highly profitable.
C’mon Johnny, you can do it!!!!!!Spray down those robots!
Dear Nikki:
Can I please borrow “Toldja!” for a minute? Thanks.
Regards,
Joe Leydon
Hey: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a monster hit, just like I predicted in my Variety review. Toldja!
There just isn’t enough in Public Enemies to power it to $100 million. The technical execution is solid. No one can criticize it on the basis of the technical merits of lighting, photography, editing, directing, acting, etc.
The problem is there are events occuring in the film, but it has no energy or interest. At my screening, the only times that the audience perked up was when they recognized a trailer moment and sort of congratulated themselves for doing so.
Public Enemies is an ancient gangster story and we already know how it ends. I don’t think it’s really the poster boy for “intelligent” movies. Unless by “intelligent” you mean “there are no talking animals.”
Public Enemies was somewhat of a dreary bore. Not even the shootouts could muster any real excitement. It’s fitting that Michael Mann would drain all of the vitality out of a John Dillinger biopic since he managed to do the same with Muhammed Ali. This guy has got to be the most overrated filmmaker working today. Everybody talks about him like he’s a masterful genius, but he’s got almost a half dozen lousy films under his belt, and there’s always a huge disconnect between the inflated production budgets he somehow commands and what you see on the screen. Also, he hasn’t done himself any favors by switching to ugly low-rent digital video for his last three films; this was especially problematic for PE, where it’s hard to appreciate the detail that went into recreating the period because the cinematography is so lifeless and grainy.
Really rooting for Public. Delightfully surprised at how good it was. Ice Age was solid too.
ICE ICE BABY…
The History Channel did a special on Dillinger that was more appealing than Public Enemies was…way, way TOO long…Johnny Depp was good and the film is nice to look at, but the movie itself just boring.
@Cat
“Unless by “intelligent” you mean “there are no talking animals.””
Actually, by now, “intelligent” means anything with an actual story as opposed to trashing robots for 2+ hours, thank you.
Why Ice Age? Why? We already had bad jokes and lame topical humor with Night at the Museum 2. Why do we need Ice Age? Why?
Apparently, the 3-D version is a completely different film — @ Morgan
None of the many kids giggled “throughout”. None. The laughter stopped once the animals entered JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH territory and the screen turned kind of ochre.
At least the film held their interest. Parents get a chance to catch up on sleep, especially if they’ve already seen JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.
Interesting to see how Public Enemies holds up.
I liked the movie b/c I’m a Depp/Mann whore – but have to admit although I liked the movie I nodded when reading the negative reviews (saw the movie before it opened).
The most frustrating thing was that it could have been a great movie if Mann had tightened it up a bit and added a clearer trajectory.
.but *shrugs* still liked it.
I disagree with the stuff i’ve read that it was released too early – i don’t think it was good enough to be released in, say, late November – i think by then the reviews would have been significantly more unforgiving of the pic.
OMG Public Enemies is bad. Looks like an HD ep of ‘Cops’ without the ‘Hey that’s real’ factor. Visually confusing and thematically incoherent. Awful awful awful. Michael Mann continues his inevitable slide into irrelevance.
Public Enemies has gotten mixed reviews, but I’ll definitely see it this weekend as I’m a huge Mann/Depp fan. (I loved Collateral).
For those who want a smart film amid the summer drivel, go and see The Hurt Locker. It’s doing bang-up biz here in NYC. Saw it last night at the Sunshine Cinemas on Houston St. to a mid-week packed house. It’s an odd mix of the conventional (macho war film, bomb-ticking tension) with the unconventional (no discernible 3-act structure, an almost painterly affection for long, languorous takes at times).
Ten years from now, no one will remember Transformers…but The Hurt Locker will be around to remind us of what we lived through.
It’s feels really nice to have a real movie in the mix to analyze. I’m not saying Mann hit gold but the guy is incapable of making bad movies.
Public Enemies needed:
-better scripting all around.
-better set-pieces and less generic scenes
-less close-ups and more landscape and atmosphere (which Mann perfected in his underrated Miami Vice)
-smelling salts to wake Christian Bale outta his coma. (Granted, the script ripped him off but the next movie I wanna see a Bale-sized ‘rant’ that only he can deliver. Attack it Bale, you bitch.)
-more Mann (urban) angst, his trademark.
Depp did a fine job, especially in the jail scene opposite Bale. Many parts of the film are boring but Mann crafted a hauntingly beautiful final scene (that didn’t even involve Depp), and was one of the purest, most stark portrayals of cinematic slpendor I’ve ever seen. The most important part of any movie is the last five minutes and Mann slayed it folks.
Several nominations coming in the Fall.
@JF – “Actually, by now, “intelligent” means anything with an actual story as opposed to trashing robots for 2+ hours, thank you.”
—————————————
FWIW, a movie about fighting robots sounds just as boring to me as the rehash of an ancient gangster story. I’d rather read a book than see either one of them.
I a fan, that sees every Michael Mann movie on opening day. In the past, I’ve even seen Michael Mann at the Fox Village on opening day (”Heat”). Checking out the picture and sound levels, I guess.
Public Enemies looks awful. Its really bad when compared to the Milius movie “Dillinger”. John Milius’ film just “looks” so much better and it was made in 1973! The digital picture is especially wrong for a period film. What was Michael Mann thinking?
Saw PE yesterday. I wanted this movie to soar, but in the end it just left me cold. There were some moments of energy, but for the most part it just seemed flat. Michael Mann…what happened? His use of HD really bothered the shit out of me. Some scenes just looked like it was shot with an over the counter Sony camcorder. Depp was good, but he can’t save it. Mann fucked up, he got in the way. Damn, what a dissapointment.
Mann’s still the man -
What a great post – wonderful movie just needed a better script, better director, better second lead, better set pieces – geez – yeah other than the acting, the technicals, the script, the pacing and the direction I found it awesome as well.
Terrible movie. Almost to level of being amateurish. Considering Mann shot some of the dreadfully lit, badly shot Little Bohemia set piece it was amateurish. I don’t think the guy could get hired on Cops using that footage as a reel.
Whoa!?! Whats up with the negative reviews. I loved “Public Enemies” and thought it was a great movie. This site must be invaded by “Transformers 2″ apologists.
If only Mann would abandon this digital bulllshit. It worked for Collateral and that’s really about it. PE was a fine movie but, like VICE, looked like it was shot on an iPhone.
I am rooting for Public Enemies to perform well, I absolutely loved it. Although I felt like the film was choppy between the initial break out and the introduction of Marion Cotiallard, I loved it. In this world where movies like Paul Blart and Transformers are the ones that people flock to, I highly respect directors like Michael Mann are able to keep their artistic integrity.
On an unrelated note, I want to talk about James Russo who was the actor who died at the start of Public Enemies. I am not a publicist or anything, but I have followed James for thirty years and I feel that he has not gotten the respect that he has worked for. Give this man some work where it doesn’t involve him dying in the first five minutes.
PUBLIC ENEMIES is a solid film. Not great, but good to very good. I like Mann’s work for the most part (except for MIAMI VICE) but it is amazing what a critic’s darling he can be. Dargis and bloggers like Poland and Wells have all drunk the Kool-Aid. If Mann shot an episode of HOW I MET MY MOTHER, it would be right up there with CITIZEN KANE for those three.
They’re lucky to have Depp as Dillinger. Is there a more popular actor out there right now? Besides Will Smith, I mean. Bale and Cotillard are both fine.
And there’s plenty of good action sequences. People bitching about this seem to be waiting for Optimus Prime to show up.
But yeah, Mike, enough with the digital. It works OK most of the time, but there are those scenes that look like they were shot with my grandfather’s 8mm back in the 60s. Sheesh.
If you think Public Enemies was a bore, you forgot to check your brain at the door. C’mon it’s a summer movie. It’s a gangster movie, what did you expect Oscar material? Public Enemies kickdass LOLRTF. FUPTUDU to all you PE Haterz. PE Rulez the summa.
Wow at Transformers 2 what a great hold $18.1M the estimates are up on showbizdata.com! Its looking for a repeat #1 weekend around $50M for a total of $300M in only 11 days! Looks like word of mouth for this one is nowhere near as bad as some people thought it would be, at this rate $400M is becoming more and more likely!
Saw “Hurt Locker” yesterday and – having seen “Transformers 2″ AND “Public Enemies” – have to say, “HL” is better than both of them put together. Nice to see a tense, intimate, fucked up war film that never once gave us its Hollywood-ized, soap boxing opinion on Iraq itself (unlike “Stop-Loss,” “Valley of Elah,” “Home of the Brave,” etc. – even that snooze of an HBO show, “Generation Kill”), but just laid out a bad-ass, Oscar-worthy thriller. Jeremy Renner = Best Actor, 2009.
I’m glad to see others who don’t like Mann’s use of HD cams. I noticed it right away when I saw the first trailer and thought it looked horrible. What’s he tying to prove by making movies this way?
Oh yeah theres no question Alec that TF2 is on its
way to 400 mil. TF2 is not only performing on the
weekend but its also performing throughout the course
of the week.,14mil mon.,13mil tues.,11mil on wedns. and thursday as well. With TF2 looking strong here
in its second weekend it looks to take a second #1
weekend and if you want to look ahead for that matter
maybe a third weekend considering the lack of
upcoming competition. At this point i dont think 400mil is in question but rather how much over 400 mil
can TF2 make. Good to see a summer movie that was made
to entertain fun for all hasnt been affected by all the
negativity.
Saw Ice Age 3 IT SUCKED. Worse than Monsters v Aliens.
Now that 3D is here we are perverting it for a buck. No story no heart no movie. Only PIXAR keeps it real. From now on all animation must be supported by reviews or word of mouth for me to go.
I agree with “witchfinder” Hurt Locker is great and Renner should not be overlooked. Maybe the first Iraq movie that’s really about war and not some asshole’s personal agenda.
Seeing PE Tomorrow. Don’t let me down Mike!
“Moon” nuff said
PE sucked. So did Ice Age, Terminator Salvation, and most of the big Summer films. UP, Star Trek and Hangover are the only bright spots (of big studio releases).
Public Enemies SUCKED.
Marion C. and Depp had the chemistry of a Idaho potato and a head of lettuce.
So… how does Transformers going from a 201 Million first five days to the 65 Million it this 5 days mean that it has legs. That’s nearly a 70% slide.
And more and more people I talk to still want their money back.
“Moon” was good, but not great. A bit over-hyped. Really liked the first hour, but thought it just kind of ran out of steam. A great “Twilight Zone” episode that would’ve been better at an hour in length.
“The Cove” is another great one, but hard to recommend as it’s so hard to watch.
Marion’s acting is nothing special.
Why is Public Enemies even on the summer schedule? This is not a summer film.
C’mon you dumb-asses at Universal. I know somebody over there has some brains.
I have never been into the Ice Age franchise, but my kids liked the first two – but the third one got a big fat “Meh” from the kids. That’s the only review that matters to me.
Just a side note: two trailers before Ice Age 3 (G-Force and Alvin and the Chipmunks) feature “Sexy” female animals strutting their shapely stuff, as does Ice Age’s (annoying) b-story. I have to ask… Have the furries taken over Hollywood? What’s with the critter porn?
@jnw: what a nonsense. It’s quite obvious that there is a drop, the majority of people already watched Transformers in theaters. If everyone was so disgusted by it as you claim the movie wouldn’t be keep getting so high numbers. Do you work for FOX or WarnerBros, perhaps? Don’t spread lies, please. Only The Dark Knight was faster at reaching $250million in the US, Transformers2 is currently 2nd for that record.
TO:jnw
jnw_get_a_ grip_._._./
i agree that T2 is no indie-comfort-flick nor academy award material, but it is/was alot of fun, and this from someone who saw TDK 3X, Star Trek 2X and PE 1X (AND ENJOYED ALL OF THEM).
how about the big picture in T2 run so far: $591MIL in 10 days. ???
I repeat: $591MIL in 10 days. most movies take 1 to 2 months to even get near that figure.
BTW: Does this really bother you that much to see it do so well?
Why start seeing red cause of a flick? isnt life too short?
cheers and enjoy the summer
Your right JNW perhaps ‘legs’ was a poor choice of
words maybe i should have said ’sprinting like a cheetah’ straight out the gate like a ‘bat out of hell’
. What difference does it make? Strong legs, weak legs,
legs that buckle under the pressure, its all about the
bottom line. The bottom line for TF2 is 293mil in 12
days. 593mil worldwide. After tomorrow the 6th it will
undoubtedly have 300mil in the bank. Do your friends
really want there money back because these are damn
outstanding numbers? Lets not forget also that the 4th
falling on a saturday hurt all three of these movies
so im sure the numbers would have been better if it
werent for the holiday.
Something kinda of interesting for the TF2 and TDK
movements out there. I was checking all-time box office
numbers..worldwide too and i was noticing that TDK
had only acume 533mil which just so happens to be its
domestic acume also. Correct me if im wrong but that
would mean TDK made ‘zero’ money internationally. Why
is that? Ummmm…if there is anyone out there that
can explain that to me im all ears. Did TDK not open
internationally? That brings me to my next point. If
TDK made only 533mil worldwide as well as domestic and
TF2 has already acume 593mil worldwide.,technically
speaking wouldnt that make TF2 the bigger box office
champ.
Saw Public enemies.
Mike let me down.
Jerky camera, film look popping in and out. It was like a bad reality show on a roller coaster.
NO CHEMISTRY between Depp and the French chick and the story well, I’m still waiting for it. either Dillinger was just a douchebag or they left the story out.
Really Witchfinder?
“Moon” was one of my favorite movies this year. I thought that it actually picked up steam as it progressed. Unlike most movies, I really couldn’t pinpoint where it was going (I went in with close to zero knowledge of the plot) and I thought it kept getting more intriguing, more interesting and more entertaining as it went on. The ending was a little abrupt though.
I love all the Transformers crying and bitching. Its just a movie. These are all JUST movies. The world will not end, If you don’t like it, Don’t see it. It’s not gonna change, The general audience likes it, they keep going back, over and over again to see it. I have seen it 4 times and EACH showing is packed and people LOVED it. There will be a 3rd and who knows, a 4th and if so…So what? We will have the dramatic boring “speak to me” dramas and we will have the dick and fart comedy’s and we will have the shitty Horror and the good horror and YES we will have the mindless over blown garbage, thats the way it has ALWAYS been, I think most people these days think themselves to be smarter than they are and forgot how silly Blockbusters have always been in the past! I’m 32 years old and I friggin LOVED Transformers 2…but you know what, I also Love movies like Heavenly Creatures and The Outsiders..All over the board. Just movies folks, just movies.
It’s a good thing Ice Age 3 hit big on its opening weekend. Fourty three million dollar opening weekend vs the sixty eight million dollar weekend for Ice 2 is a clear signal this one’s gonna die off fast.
Don’t get the plaudits for Public Enemies. I found it a boring rehash of gangster cliches. I saw it about two months ago and I can’t remember one interesting scene from it. Unless I am dramatically outside the bell shaped curve, I see it tumbling fast and being forgotten by Oscar time.
Whats the big mystery! The movie was released on 4th of July weekend! People don’t go to the movies on the 4th, so naturally the box office will be down.
The Hangover is benefiting from very strong word of mouth among older demographics. My wife came home from a birthday party for one of our son’s friends and said the moms were talking about how funny it was. She wants to go see it in the theatre now.
Aptom565 good point, good point indeed. Couldnt have said that better myself. Yeah..of course there will be a drop second weekend.What…did you think it would repeat with 150 mil with second week JNW lol? Everybody
and their moms and grandmas went to see it the first
week it was out. @JNW, if you going tell the facts
painter a clearer picture like after TF2’s opening
weekend it did 14mil mon., 13mil tues., 11mil wedns.,
and 11mil thurs. What shall we make of those numbers?
Why are the studio exec’s surprised at the low turn out.
Again, people want to be outside doing other things besides watching a film, not inside watching a movie on the 4th!
Something kinda of interesting for the TF2 and TDK
movements out there. I was checking all-time box office
numbers..worldwide too and i was noticing that TDK
had only acume 533mil which just so happens to be its
domestic acume also. Correct me if im wrong but that
would mean TDK made ‘zero’ money internationally. Why
is that? Ummmm…if there is anyone out there that
can explain that to me im all ears. Did TDK not open
internationally? That brings me to my next point. If
TDK made only 533mil worldwide as well as domestic and
TF2 has already acume 593mil worldwide.,technically
speaking wouldnt that make TF2 the bigger box office
champ.
Comment by Adix — July 5, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
–
Technically speaking, you’re an idiot. TDK grossed 533 domestic + 468 foreign. TF2 still has a long way to go.
PUBLIC ENEMIES is no HEAT. It’s nice to look at but in the end I felt that watching > 2 hours of the “Michael Mann touch” on a mediocre and uninvolving story wasn’t all that. During one long shootout I thought – man, the shootouts in HEAT were much more exciting and engaging. Is ENEMIES supposed to be anti-violence and anti-war? Is that the point? (I’m looking for a point, you see.) Is PUBLIC ENEMIES Mann’s answer to Haneke’s FUNNY GAMES?
I viewed PELHAM 123 and PUBLIC ENEMIES both on Monday. Perhaps we have to rethink the approach to start a film with action. Where do you go from there? PELHAM then slows down with lots of talk to introduce Denzel’s character and his motivation, as if he was the interesting one. Yeah, right. PUBLIC ENEMIES shows us tons of interesting shots and nice fashion as if that was all we cared about. Yeah, right.
Public enemies was solid!
Taking of Pelham 123 was such a waste of my freebie tickets.
IceAge 3D – I’m leery of seeing because Shrek 3 was a nightmare of vomiting donkeydino’s.
Every 3rd movie in a series of animation is always about babies being born to the couple formed in the 2nd movie.
Will the 4th have Dennis Leary’s character Diego mating with a small version that is domesticated and that’s how we now have kittens?
Ugh.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, could have done better if it has been played a bit differently, marketing wise. Still, It will be an all time high for director Michael Bay in just a few days.