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SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM: Mamma Mia! Talk about a spicy meatball: now that’s one fair weather 3-D toon! By comparison, all the big Hollywood stars of the moment flopped in their 2-D films despite allowances for middling releases. Although you wouldn’t know that by the spin every studio has given me this morning. Do they think I just fell off the turnip truck? So let’s get down to the numbers.
1. The beloved children’s book turned Sony Pictures Animation’s movie Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs scored an easy No. 1 by attracting not just kids but also tweens, teens, and twentysomethings as well as parents to North American screenings at a record 1,828 3-D sites (which did $18 million), including 127 Imax locations (which did $2.45 million). That’s why four-quadrant family films like this are such a favorite of Hollywood. All day and night, Sony kept upping its box office predictions as the money just kept rolling in. By Sunday, the studio was looking at a total $30.1M opening for the weekend – $8.1 million for Friday’s in 3,119 theaters, and $13M Saturday. The Saturday matinee family bump really kicked in (+65%)! Cloudy scored a CinemaScore of “A-”, and “A” for the under-24 set. Plus, the marketing campaign for it was sassy (not stupid like too many other family films). Overseas, where Meatball opened in just a few territories, it debuted #1 in all the markets, including the UK, Mexico, Chile and Ecuador.
2. Warner Bros’ R-rated caper comedy The Informant! featuring Matt Damon in a tour de force performance playing against type (bumbling vs Bourne), and directed by Steven Soderbergh (who can’t, or more likely doesn’t care to, direct a cash cow anymore) was a distant No. 2. But with a CinemaScore of only “C-”, it opened to $3.6M Friday and $4.5M Saturday in 2,505 runs for a paltry $10.5M weekend. The lack of box office will hurt any Oscar chances. Good thing the pic was cheap to make: the budget was only $22M in a 25/25 split with two partners, Groundswell and Participant. Problem is no film these days is cheap to market.
3. Tyler Perry’s holdover I Can Do Bad By Myself for Lionsgate placed 4th with a $3.1M Friday (-65% from a week ago) and $4.6M Saturday for a $10M (a -57% drop from its No. 1 position last Sunday) and new cume of $38M.
4. Relativity’s and Universal’s 50/50 mawkish romance Love Happens (even the execs expressed embarrassment by the lame storyline) showcasing Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart placed 3rd with a weak debut of $3M Friday and $3.2M Saturday in 1,898 venues. With a CinemaScore of “B”, it opened to just a $8.5M weekend. In her last 3 wide release films, Aniston has helped open pics to $26M, $36M, and $39M. But Universal points out those were comedies, not dramas dealing with loss. And all were more costly. Half this production is covered by Universal partner Relativity Media. Even with audiences staying away, because of this pic’s financial structure, “anything over $7.5M puts Universal in a position to make a tidy return on its investment,” an exec spins. “This is because the studio has limited exposure on this film. The negative cost was covered via foreign pre-sales. Not a financial flop by any means.”
5. And not even Megan Fox’s body could tempt moviegoers into Twentieth’s R-rated feminist horror flick Jennifer’s Body, DOA with $2.8M Friday and $2.6M Saturday from 2,707 dates and a CinemaScore of “C-”. It did a pathetic $6.8M weekend for No. 5. As a 20th exec emailed me, “Jennifer’s Body only cost $16M and is the last of the Fox Atomic films.” Thank gawd. Worse, it shows that screenwriter Diablo Cody may be filmdom’s one-hit wonder.
The rest of the Top 10 this weekend were holdovers.
6. 9 (Focus) Week 2 [2,060] Wkd $5.5M, Cume $22.7M
7. Inglourious Basterds (Wein/Uni) Wkd $3.6M, Cume $109.9M
8. All About Steve (Fox) Week 3 [2,159] Wkd $3.4M, Cume $26.6M
9. Sorority Row (Summit) Week 2 [2,591] Wkd $2.4M, Cume $8.8M
10. The Final Destination (Warner) Week 3 [1,805] Wkd $2.3M, Cume $62.3M
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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The Informant! was only cost $22-million to make, so The Informant! will be a moneymaker for Warner Bros.
$22m split with Participant plus the $30m (+) on p&a. It’ll top out at $20m domestically, of which Warners will see about $10m. It’s a terrible video title. No way they get anywhere near the $70m(+) of worldwide revenues they need to break even.
Anonymous,
That’s ridiculous. They were never expecting it to make more than $10 to $14 million this weekend. They also projected it would finish second.
They were right on both counts.
Since you want to get all technical, what about the cable/TV sales? The DVD can sell 1 to 2 million easily worldwide (it’ll probably be released around the time Matt Damon wins the Golden Globe for his role here, hardly a “bad title”) — and as you said, Warner is only in for $11 million (dividing the cost with Participant). If it’s sharing the profits 50-50 then it’s sharing the P&A as well. Meaning Warner’s entire exposure is $26 million. $26 million.
Twenty-six. Million. Where do you get this $70 million crap?
It’s going make exactly what was expected in the first weekend (it’ll do far more than $20 million in total for its run, what’s wrong with you?) and we don’t even know what it will do abroad, where these kind of comedies work better and Damon is a big star (at least in Europe).
Trust me, no one is about ready to kill themselves at Warner over this film. You, however, have to learn how things work before you start predicting that a film will/is failing.
I have to agree. Nikki, did you expect a pseudo-experimental Soderbergh film to do $20 mil opening weekend simply because Matt Damon is in it?
I’ve seen The Informant!, and it’s a weird little film. $11 million en route to $35 million or so is more than acceptable for an amusing, original product that Warner Bros. should be proud to put their name on.
And as for CinemaScore, that’s not a barometer of quality, it’s a barometer of playability. $11 mil is a big enough weekend to carry this film to profitability, with foreign territories adding a little on Damon’s name alone.
Bottom line: after a flop like “Whiteout,” WBros is probably happy that a roughly $20 million investment in a pet project will keep Soderbergh around when he finally decides to do a commercial franchise and Matt Damon continually signing on to do Eastwood’s latest WB project.
It seems unfair to tag Cody as a one-hit wonder given that she’s already at two hits – Juno and her series for Showtime, United States of Tara.
I agree with you Philip. Surely it’s premature to call her a one-hit wonder, Nikki, regardless of whether or not Jennifer’s Body tanks..surely she will have other films in her future.. As for Tara, she had some help there on the episodic writing of course but it is a very compelling show and she created it (with a little help from Spielberg):-)
Warner Bros co-financed the relatively inexpensive The Informant with two other entities, if I remember correctly, and I’m told that Love Happens cost under $20m to make as well.
All in all both films can be claimed as ‘wins’ for their respective studios, especially The Informant. It may have Damon in the lead but there is no way it’s a broad, mainstream comedy. It really just depends if it has legs or not.
But I do know of those who are already claiming that Jennifer’s Body delivers a lethal judo chop to the neck of both Megan Fox and Diablo Cody’s respective careers.
I’m assuming that Ms Cody will be fine in the long run (script Doctoring ahoy!), but I’m not so sure the same can be said of Megan Fox’s potential as a leading lady.
There must be a mistake with Jennifer’s Body. The film has been promoted all over the place. It may be backlash.
It’s not about Juno’s dialogue. It’s not about a woman having success, even if the feminist message sort of gets lost in, Hey, girls, want to be discovered? The best way is by taking your clothes off even though your socioeconomics don’t compel you to. (And yes, I know that stripping, in and of itself, has nothing to do with feminism.)
It’s that people were sick of the woman, charming and intelligent as she may sometimes be, coming at them through their television 24/7. There’s promoting the movie, then there’s promoting it as if you’re an actor. It’s non-stop, Diablo. Yes, you changed your name, it partially helped sell Juno/catapulted you to an Oscar, but you have this terrible habit of being way too self-satisfied, regardless of how much self-deprecating humor you may employ. A lot of people did not like you from the start, and a lot more are tired of your relentless self-promotion. We get it. You wrote a movie in two months, it made you and the people who love you quite wealthy. When you keep appearing in every news outlet, it becomes gloating after awhile. America doesn’t like that. The industry doesn’t like that. It’s not jealousy, it’s conducting yourself with a degree of restraint. I love you to pieces, but I’m beginning to feel like I’m the only one left.
Cool it.
Love happens cost only 18M so it will be profitable. If not on theaters probabbly on DVD. If these numbers are close, this one actually did better than Jennifer’s body and The informant because it was on less theaters (1800+).
I want to see The informant, probably next week but definitely NOT Jennifer’s body, not even a rental for me.
Nikki..you are hysterical to act like Informant has been a poorly reviewed film “C-!”
this film has gotten great reviews across the board…and ‘pathetic opening’ to a film that was so cheap to make..
And it’s not supposed to be a “cash cow”. Why go after these guys for trying to do something unique? They could easily make a big dumb super successful action movie if they wanted, but then you’d probably write something about how they’re out of new ideas.
Why attack Soderbergh and Damon for trying to do something unique? They could easily make another “cash-cow” if they wanted to, but instead they cut their fees to make a challenging movie that cost less than quarter as much as the cartoon you’re applauding, and you call it a flop.
thanks so much for adding the cinemascores — no one ever does that and cinemascore no longer makes that public knowledge, so thanks!
Well, Cody still has the Showtime series “The United States of Tara” as job security. I guess the marketing for next June’s “Jonah Hex” will play down Megan Fox’s role and emphasize Josh Brolin’s.
I saw “the Informant” at an advanced preview screening last week and found it underwhelming. Nikki, you are right about Steven Soderbergh. I worked at one of the few theaters that showed his dismal “Girlfriend Experience” and heard many complaints about that one.
And finally, I’m glad Jennifer’s Body is a big ol flop with a terrible CinemaScore rating. Diablo Cody is a one trick pony and loathe everything about her.
I think meatballs is expected to be number 1. It’s a kid movie, and obviously parents and the whole family will see it..aside from the fact it is shown in 3,119 theaters. We saw Love Happens last night, and we love the storyline. It’s more about grieving, but it made made me laugh and cry. The actor/actresses played their roles well, specially Aaron & Jennifer. I would recommend to see this, specially to those family that lost a loved one. In my opinion, if they open this to more than 1,898 theaters..it will probably be in number 2.
Nikki,
Do you maybe wonder if Soderbergh really cares about directing blockbusters anymore? Say what you will about his multi-platform release projects he did with Mark Cuban, at least Soderbergh isn’t willing to coast in big studio schlock anymore. He spent next to nothing filming the Informant and only took a month to shoot it. What’s the problem again?
As for Diablo Cody, the United States of Tara shows that she has some writing chops. Funny when Charlie Kaufman films bomb, no one declares *him* to be a one-hit wonder or flash in the pan. Double standards?
“Funny when Charlie Kaufman films bomb, no one declares *him* to be a one-hit wonder or flash in the pan. Double standards?”
Funny, but Charlie doesn’t write shitty horror movies in the first place. Moronic comparison?
When Charlie Kaufman set out to make a horror film it became Synechode New York.
Jennifer’s Body was “feminist”? They sure didn’t promote it that way. They should’ve have. Seemed like dumb soft porn exploitation. It probably started out more like “I Spit On Your Grave” and the studio turned it into soft porn. Even the title was misleading. They probably told poor Diablo Cody to throw in a fem kiss and trite garbage like that. The whole promo campaign was about that one dumb scene like it’s the 90s. Such horror films starring women aren’t made for women – they’re exploitative so the loser dude demo advertisers curiously prize will show up. People can sense a turkey before it opens. Maybe loser dudes have finally had their fill of exploitation.
Feminism my ass. This just makes women look stupid, not smart, strong and independent.
What are we guessing the budget on Jennifer’s Body is?
Hopefully this will shut Megan Fox’s big mouth. She – and her ego – needed to be taken down a peg or two. This bomb of hers should do the trick. She’ll be crawling back to Michael Bay in no time.
Man, did the Jennifer’s Body marketing campaign suck. It’s a comedy, not a horror movie. Still, it cost 15 mill. It’ll creep into profit but what a missed opportunity. I saw it in Toronto and thought it was quite good.
I’ve never understood the strategy of trying to turn Aaron Eckhart into a romantic leading man. Hid best performance ever remains as the total dick in “In the Company of Men.” He’s reinvented himself over the years and it’s been one bomb after another because nobody buys him in those roles. He needs to go back to being an actor and not a leading man.
Meanwhile I can assure you that every writer around town is doing a silent cheer over the flop of “Jennifer’s Body.” Nice to have “Diablo Cody” taken down a few notches.
“I’ve never understood the strategy of trying to turn Aaron Eckhart into a romantic leading man. Hid best performance ever remains as the total dick in “In the Company of Men.” He’s reinvented himself over the years and it’s been one bomb after another because nobody buys him in those roles. ”
One bomb after another ? Ever heard of The dark knight ?
These “stars” need bigger stars in their movies to make hits. Aniston box office movies ALWAYS have a big male lead… she doesnt to as well when she’s the biggest name in the movie. Fox needs robots and Shia.
I am about to win a bet with a friend from two years ago when I told him that Diablo Cody was a no-talent PR invention. And speaking of no-talents, Tyler Perry’s drop will be closer to 70% when all is said and done. Finally, the public seems to be rejecting his bufoonish crap. Pride before the fall, tranny.
Your name is “No Country for Black Man”? Really? In today’s day and age, you really want to go there?
And It sounds like you have envy problems my friend. Jealous of Tyler Perry’s success, are we? You wish you could have a fraction of his career? The public is rejecting his “buffoonish crap”? Wait until his next movie comes out, which will also be #1.
Instead of hating, you may want to use that energy to improve yourself. Karma is a bitch my friend and she is kicking you to the curb.
And speaking of “Curb”, let’s not forget that the new season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” begins on Sunday on HBO.
NCFBM, you’re an ignorant ass.
I’ll second that.
Dude, grow up. I’m anotehr black (well, mixed0) man that doesn’t really care for Perry’s work very much, but watching his movies you really do see that his heart is in the right place.
And who cares if it dropped 70%? You hardly have to market his movies and this one only cost $13million to make. Done deal.
I disagree. I think the messages of his films are often confused. He’s big on the independent woman angle…but all of his female characters are ultimately weak and in need of a man. All of them except for Madea…who IS a man.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it over and over again. MADEA IS FUNNY.
The movies storylines may be lacking, but that character is hilarious.
I wish Perry would just drop the heart-wrenching drama portions and make a flat out comedy that revolves around Madea from start to finish.
Or do a stand-up concert movie with the character.
when you make a billion dollars, you can pass judgment on Tyler Perry’s talent
No talent ? Kiddo, Cody is an Oscar winner, what’s your greatest accomplishment ? Burping the letters in your name.
Winning an Oscar is more about political style campaigning, not talent recognition. Akiva Goldsman won an Oscar too, and he’s got no talent. This chick won hers as a flavour of the month, nothing more.
The Informant! is doing as well as the studio had expected. It was projected to make $10 million to $14 million, according to estimates, and finish at number two. It looks like it’ll do exactly that. The film didn’t cost that much to make and it appears the studio has recouped half of its investment in the FIRST WEEKEND.
“Love Happens” is actually overperforming. It cost less than $20 million and the costs were split between Universal and Relativity. It was projected to make $8 million this weekend and it looks like it’ll do that and much more.
The only true bomb of the weekend is “Jennifer’s Body” which was supposed to be competitive for number 2 with “The Informant!” It appears that “Jennifer’s Body” will do HALF of initial projections. Also, I think the budget for JB was a lot higher than both “The Informant!” and “Love Happens.”
Who actually wants to see Jennifer’s Body?
The trailer came off way too lesbian for a mainstream audience. It looks like the nerdy girl wants to go down on Megan Fox. It’s not helped when Jennifer says to Needy that she “goes both ways” or how they used to sleep in the same bed together. It almost looks like a relationship between a lesbian and a bisexual chick who is seeing guys on the side. Straight girls would prefer to see a guy-girl relationship. Guys are ok with lesbians as long as they’re porn lesbians rather than the real thing.
If the film had a strong male lead that was stolen by Jennifer from the nerdy girl (IMDB lists as “Needy Lesnicky”), it would have sold more tickets. And the nerdy girl has to be pretty hot, but wear glasses Clark Kent style. So every female watching can see the nerdy (but really hot) girl and imagine they too would be really hot with a makeover.
You can’t sell sex directly to an audience anymore. They would just watch porn in the privacy of their own home. Even the women, although it’s more likely to be a steamy novel or a soft core pay tv movie. Instead sex flavors the product. Take the movie “Wanted” for instance. The trailer shows that it is an intense action film, but also suggests that you’ll be able to see Angelina Jolie’s bottom if you go to the movie. It’s like a sundae were the action is the ice cream and Jolie’s bum is the cherry on top. Jennifer’s Body is all cherry. And people can get cherry at home over the Internet. It doesn’t look particularly funny or scary.
I guess the glut in horror films right now doesn’t help it either.
Feminism has never helped a film’s revenue, sexism has never hurt it.
I’m not in the industry so take what I’m saying with a grain of salt.
i think steven soderbergh is one of the most talented directors working. he chooses materials that doesn’t scream moneymaker, but if he wanted to, he could continue to be a cash cow.
also, diablo cody may not be a one-hit wonder, but she is exceptionally overrated. i realize that will cause a bit of ire from potential posters, but “juno” is about a sarcastic girl. a few witty quips and you win the oscar? i almost went into cardiac arrest when tony gilroy was passed over.
diablo cody is talented, no doubt, but to market the film as “from the mind of diablo cody” makes all the failure fall on her lap.
I saw “The Informant!”; it looked really cheap. It had subtly funny moments, but overall felt insignificant, and I regret watching it.
I’m shocked The Informant! really received a CinemaScore of a C-. It was a great film and it seemed like the entire (sold out) screening I attended was filled with people loving the film as well.