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SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM: If there’s a Christmas-themed movie opening in November, then it’s the official start of the holiday box office. (Hey, no studio waits for Thanksgiving anymore…)
1. Disney’s A Christmas Carol. You know it as Charles Dickens’ novel, but Disney had a problem with title rights, so now it’s their pic. Hollywood predicted the 3-D family film to make at least $35M and possibly $40M this weekend because of its wide release into 3,683 theaters domestically, including 2,035 3-D locations and 181 IMAX screens). But the Jim Carrey starrer (he plays lotsa roles, including all 3 ghosts) directed by Robert Zemeckis (who used the same motion capture technology as Polar Express and Beowulf) made only $31M after opening with an underperforming $8.9 million Friday and a Saturday kiddie bump of $12.9M (+43%) despite the higher ticket prices. Nearly three fourths of the gross came from 3-D, while IMAX made 14.5% of the cume, or $4.5M. It was Bob Zemeckis’ biggest opening 3-day weekend ever. Exit polling showed the audience makeup was 51%/49% under/over age 25, 15% teens, and 47% male/53% female. “Poor reviews coupled with the ‘too dark for kids’ attitude may really be hurting the opening,” a rival studio exec told me Friday night. “Throw that in with the possibility that they just might be a bit too early with the Christmas theme, and you have the possibility of a really lackluster debut for an expensive movie. Mr. Iger will not be happy.”
Overseas, A Christmas Carol opened day-and-date in 18 territories and mostly in 3-D, including UK, Germany, Australia, Mexico, Brazil. Disney is reporting $12 million from the 2,750 international screens. 3D was 62% of the business from 37% of screens. It was No. 1 over the second weekend of Michael Jackson’s This Is It narrowly in the UK and Mexico. Next weekend the film opens in Spain, Japan and Colombia. Disney is comparing the overseas biz to 50% better than Polar Express but that only did $124M internationally total.
2. Michael Jackson’s This Is It has picked up considerable steam worldwide since it’s opening 12 days ago. Sony announced the concert rehearsal footage passed the $100 million mark overseas after just 9 days of screen time. The pic did another $29M overseas gross this weekend for an international cume of $128.6. Domestically, the film has taken in an additional $57.8 million for a worldwide total of $186.4 million after this weekend. Between the Jackson estate, concert promoter AEG, movie theaters, and Sony, that cume has to be split at least 4 ways. On Friday, the pic moved up to 2nd place with $4.1M Friday and $5.7M Saturday (+42%) from 3,481 plays for a domestic weekend of $14M (a better than expected drop of -40% from a week ago).
3. Disagree with me all you want, but I found the trailers for The Men Who Stare At Goats so godawful that they repelled me from seeing the movie which looked like one big inside joke for stars George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, and Jeff Bridges. And it was since it’s directed by Clooney’s producing partner Grant and produced by Clooney and Heslov’s Smokehous (along with BBC Films and Winchester Capital Partners). Lucky for them, it was acquired by Overture for just $5M because the R-rated pic made just $4.6M Friday and $5.4M Saturday (+16%) from 2,443 plays despite the well-known cast. (It might also be a case of bad timing given the Texas military massacre. This isn’t the best weekend to make fun of that institution.) Still, a weekend of $13.3M is disappointing in terms of ticket sales and Clooney’s popularity but looks like gravy on this goat. This is the first of two more holiday movies featuring Clooney: Fantastic Mr. Fox & Up In The Air.
4. Maybe there was an unsatiated appetite for Halloween horror after last weekend’s gazillion movies in the genre. But The Fourth Kind other-worldly thriller, produced by Gold Circle Films and acquired by Universal for distribution in the U.S., came in with $5M Friday from 2,529 runs and $4.8M Saturday (-4M%) for a $12.5M weekend. No one in the box office predicting biz thought much of this first-person verite experience. Like Paranormal Activity from Paramount pic, Uni also waged a big viral marketing campaign on the Internet.
But it performed better than expected, with exit polls showing the audience was 55% male/45% female and 61% under age 25/39% over 25.
5. Even going into its 7th week of release, Paramount’s low budget phenom Paranormal Activity keeps scaring up moviegoers. It made $2.8M Friday and $3.6M Saturday from a wider 2,558 theaters for an $8.6M weekend and a new cume of $97.4M.
6. Why Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, and Frank Langella would waste their star power on this stillborn mess The Box from Media Rights Capital and distributed by Warner Bros is anybody’s guess. Maybe its pedigree from cult favorite Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly? But how embarrassing for them that the horror pic opened to only $3M Friday and $3.2M Saturday from 2,635 dates for just a $7.8M weekend. Ouch!
The rest of the Top 10 were holdovers:
7. Couples Retreat (Universal) Wkd $6.4M [2,857 runs] Cume $95.9M
8. Law Abiding Citizen (Overture) Wkd $6.1 [2,474] Cume $60.8M
9. Where The Wild Things Are (WB) Wkd $4.2M [2,756] Cume $69.2M
10. Astro Boy (Imagi/Summit) Wkd $2.5M [1,918] Cume $15M
Also opening Friday was the Oscar-buzzed Precious: Based On The Novel “Push” By Sapphire. Platforming in 18 theaters in 4 markets — NY, LA, Atlanta, and Chicago — consisting of arthouses and primarily African-American neighborhood venues. I’m told the debut numbers are outstanding because of all the advance publicity — $585K for Friday and $699K Saturday, with a per screen average of $32,500 Friday that was $100,000 after Sunday, for a $1.8M weekend. Starting with its attention-grabbing debut at the Sundance Film Festival last January, this powerful film adapted by Geoffrey Fletcher from a novel about an illiterate black Harlem teen whose father has raped and impregnated her twice was embraced by no less than Tyler Perry, which is why it landed with Lionsgate for distribution, and Oprah Winfrey. Both came on as executive producers, unusual because they had no hand in the actual production of Precious and will be donating all their proceeds to charity, because of their personal experiences with family abuse and dysfunction. The result is they personally brought the film to the Toronto Film Festival and its official premiere at AFI Fest 2009 last Sunday. Also pumping up the film’s profile are the presence of Mo’Nique, Sidibe, and Mariah Carey in the cast. And, covering all its political bases, Lionsgate arranged for George H.W. Bush and wife Barbara to host a Houston screening last Wednesday. Now comes an aggressive campaign for outspoken Lee Daniels’ Best Picture Oscar with Precious expanding to 5 markets next week and wider on November 20th.
Other openers on the specialty side include Hal Holbrook starrer That Evening Sun, which Freestyle opened in one theater in New York, La Danse: Le Ballet de L’Opera de Paris also debuting in a lone venue by Zipporah Films, and the South African thriller Endgame opened by Monterey Media in one New York venue. And Splinterheads opened to a $12,000 per screen average at the Regal Union Square theater in New York. The film will expand on November 13th to Austin and Portland.
For more estimates listed by title, see box office results here...Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Except for the “too dark for kids” stuff, didn’t we get this same kind of “it will FLOP” naysaying about THE POLAR EXPRESS years back?
I was going to say the same thing. At this point, I think both films “suffer” from the same problem:
It’s too early for Christmas movies! Polar Express picked up as the holidays got closer, and I predict this film will too.
That said, I’ll take the look of a Pixar flick over one of Zemeckis’ creepy face movies any day.
Just what I was thinking. Christmas movies stick around for quite a while. Polar Express opened with a weak 23M and made more than 150M by the end.
Goats sucked. I was hoping for something in the vein of O Brother. Instead I got an anti-war, hippie movie that never made me laugh. Well, Stephen Root made me laugh. All the other funny parts were in the trailer. Bridges, Spacey, McGregor, all stunk.
But how did the goat do?
Much better than any of the human actors.
Sorry Nikki but many of us are turned off by George Clooney and Kevin Spacey these days. It hasn’t always been the case, but their very public political positions have a number of us boycotting any project with their names attached. We are just simply outraged by what transpired over the last few years and it is payback time. We are expressing ourselves with our wallets—an especially effective tool during a recession. There are plenty of other entertainment choices for our shrinking discretionary incomes.
There exists a minority of people who are so vehemently conservative they will “boycott” anyone who doesn’t believe the way they do. However, I don’t think Goats is bombing due to Clooney and Spacey’s political positions. Had it been a good movie (it’s being ripped apart by all critics– both liberal and conservative) people who don’t care about one’s politics as long as they make a good movie would have turned out.
I personally could care less what Clooney and the other Hollywood loons vote for or support privatley. But once they stick their ignorant asses into the fray then they are fair game for boycotts, criticism, and economic hardship as their activities inflict upon others.
And I personally could care less what the conservatives who brought us a pointless war, economic calamity and the greatest redistribution of wealth to the top 1% since the gilded age have to say, but once they start posting on industry boards they’re fair game for being called out for being utter hypocrites.
Where to begin with this inanity. Conservatives starting wars, and wrecking our economy, just so they can redistribute the wealth of the ubber rich? Get a clue.
But this is not a political site, it’s a movie business site, and we’re talking about box office here, not merely our personal, political beliefs. He has a right to speak out just like you have a right to not like it, but my point is people, like yourself, can not claim a victory on being the reason this movie didn’t do well. The average person is not so politically invested that they would boycott anything due to the star’s views IF that star is in a good movie. Even Clooney’s hardcore fans are not turning out to see this.
I think you’re both being overly analytical. The fact is – the movie bombed because George Clooney can’t open or susteain a movie. Period. It has nothing to do with conservatives boycotting Clooney due to his politics or the movie being bad. It’s simply Clooney’s inability to put butts in seats. Plenty of bad movies make a ton of money. If Michael Clayton, which was a critics darling and Oscar-touted, couldn’t crack the $50 million mark at the box office then no Clooney movie can. Clooney’s PR people have a problem – America simply does not want to see his movies. It’s been that way his whole movie career. I keep saying it, but I really am stunned he still gets financing for his flims – especially for self-indulgent tripe like Men Who Stare At Goats and Leathernecks. Beats the hell out of me what the studios are thinking.
I think you’re over simplifying why George Clooney’s films tend to not be big moneymakers. He typically makes adult-themed, artier films that are harder and harder to attract flocks of viewers regardless of who’s in them. Especially when those films (Leatherheads) are not well reviewed. Yes, people will turn out for a bad movie with dumb comedy or explosions or sexual intrigue or whatever the hook may be, but an adult drama, not so much. As far as why studios give his projects funding, every few years he headlines a big moneymaker like Ocean’s 11, and other respected actors and directors want to work with him, which also lends itself to greenlights.
You do have a point on Michael Clayton. It was great and should have done better. I agree that he’s not a huge draw like someone like Will Smith, but I think there are hardly any actors who can open a movie just on their name alone anymore.
I don’t think “vehemently conservative” is exactly the case. It’s that some loud mouth actor that has no more knowledge of the subject than anyone else yet has easy access to the media and uses it to talk down to and lecture the masses about what they think they know. That’s fine, just as long as they don’t cry or bitch when those who don’t have access to the megaphone then speak out another way. With their wallets. Plus with actors like Clooney, it’s not simple a case of not liking their views but the way they go about it.
I think celebrities can get annoying when it comes to politics, too. But here’s the thing you don’t realize: Clooney DOES know more about some subjects than you. I mean, he’s actually been to Darfur. A few times. The annoying celebrities, for me, are the ones who don’t walk the walk.
By the way…why is everybody considering Men Who Stare at Goats’ performance bad? It’s better than the opening of Leatherheads and Michael Clayton. And it’s set in Iraq. I’m personally surprised it made more than 10 mil.
You are such an asshole. This “loud mouth actor with no knowledge” who in 2008 was named the “messenger of peace” by the United Nations. Who do you think is doing more good for this world. Assholes like you…or George Clooney.
Keep living your life “boycotting” – must be fun living such a miserable life.
Too bad the options you idiots choose (Paul Blart,Transformers,GI Joe) suck. I make decisions on whether a movie is good or not instead of what the person is in real life.
Must suck to be you.
I hope you’ve seen ‘Good Night and Good Luck’. Clooney co-wrote it and directed it, and it’s a very good film. Nominated for 6 Oscars.
I’m with Aaron here. Sort of. Imagine if O’Reilly could act. It would take a great movie to make me want to put aside the nausea provoked by the person behind the character to see it. Likewise any other blowhard like Olbermann. And likewise for Clooney and Spacey.
“O Brother, Where Art Thou” was very good, and Clooney was very good in it. Reviews for “Goats”, however, are tepid enough to make it easy to skip.
That just means we have to keep making more movies with those liberal agendas because you keep staying home to watch the same LEFT BEHIND movies over and over and over.
It wouldn’t be so bad if you weren’t hoping for them to come true every time you watch it.
Michael Jordan summed up his political position with this quote: “Republicans wear sneakers too”. Does anyone know whether Michael Jordan is conservative or liberal? Exactly.
I know it’s cynical because as a big star he could have made his voice heard and influenced people. But would he still be making 30 million plus in endorsements every year? Look at Tiger Woods. Once again, anyone know his political beliefs? Exactly. Biggest sports star in the world. It’s a cynical world. Unless you are a politician shut yer big yap!
Thankfully I wasn’t born in a country where someone must “shut their trap” for any reason other than their own decision to. The USSR was dissolved on December 31, 1991, thank you very much. If you don’t want to listen to a particular person’s political views, whether that person is a celebrity, sports hero, business person or on a park bench next to you then don’t. And if you happen to hear it anyway and don’t like it, then act upon it. But for fuck’s sake, don’t tell someone to shut up because their expressing an opinion. If there’s a cost associated with making their views known, assume they’ve done that analysis.
Tiger Woods publicly endorsed Obama.
When I read the script for Men Who Stare At Goats, I thought it was the worst piece of pointless s**t ever put to paper. As it screamed out “look at how goofy and wacky I am!” I shook my head and wondered why the hell anybody wanted to make this.
the book is amazing.
I realize some critics loved it and this is just one person’s opinion, but The Christmas Carol had no appeal for me. it needed to have some charm, some warmth, or some humor– it appeared to have none. I was sick of the trailer before it was even halloween time. furthermore, that animation style is too creepy; I’d rather go rent one of the live action made for TV movies.
Those numbers are actually pretty good. They’ll get a bump during Thanksgiving, and if they last, another bump during Christmas.
Glad to hear that “Precious” had a solid opening.
It’s way to early to call DCC opening soft. These holiday films tend to have insignificant drops from week to week and have huge 5 day Thanksgiving holiday grosses.
This makes no less than $150M domestic by xmas.
Yes, but didnt it cost like 150 million? Looks like a bomb to me.
A Christmas Carol was never going to fly with the kiddies, I saw a clip from it on Conan O’Brien, and the dialogue is word for word from Dickens’ novel, which most of today’s audience (young AND not so young) won’t understand.
I’m not sure how much “pedigree” Richard Kelly actually has. Yes, Darko is a cult favorite, but the problem is it’s a CULT favorite, and even among fans, the movie’s still confusing. Southland Tales bombed big time, I was surprised Kelly was able to get The Box up and running so quickly after that dud, until I saw The Box was already shooting by the time Southland hit theatres.
Bad P&A marketing decisions have left a big stench on this weekends box office.
CAROL is being released to soon. It is a Christmas movie, not for the week after Halloween.
GOATS trailers were horrible and there were not enough of them.
THE BOX – Did this film have any P&A? Or any promotion from it’s cast?
Lytton, “The Box” definitely has been promoted heavily on Time Warners’ cable stations TBS, Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim and TNT. I do think with the small production budget ($25M), it’ll likely make its money back if word-of-mouth is decent.
So WB gave it some internal promotion and is really hoping their bargain Cameron Diaz film eeks out a profit?
Just sad really.
Maybe they could get Kelly and Diaz to do a MOW for Lifetime next.
A Christmas Carol pretty much had to come out when it did, in advance of Christmas, because of Avatar. Because of the limited amount of 3D screens, only one release plays in 3D. On December 18, A Christmas Carol will be taken off 3D screens and replaced by Avatar. (Disney will also need to throw their promotional weight behind The Princess and the Frog next month.) And the first weekend in November has been the launching date for several successful Christmas films in recent years, notably The Santa Clause 3 (11/3/06), Elf (11/7/03), and Fred Claus (11/9/07).
when will hollywood stop richard kelly from getting behind the camera. has to be the worst filmmaker of all time.also, cameron diaz is over and looks ugly. why would any idiot make or fund this movie?
the box was one of the worst films i have ever seen. truly MST3K-worthy.
That was all MRC. Modi and Asif are gonna leave this town battered and bruised just like the rest who come in thinking they’re better and smarter than everyone.
“Why Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, and Frank Langella would waste their star power on this stillborn mess The Box from Warner Bros is anybody’s guess.”
the mortgage on the castle ain’t cheap, baby.
Of course the Carrey movie opened soft, it’s yet another piece of Jim Carrey’s overdone ham acting.
Hasn’t anyone figured out that guy needs to told what to do & not the other way around?
Plus it opened at least two weeks too soon.
As for the Clooney film.
What a stupendously stupid title!
Didn’t anyone stop & think that the title is meaningless to 99.99999999% of the population?
And to AaronSch: Clooney’s political views have nothing to do with this film going down the toilet at express speed, it’s a stupid movie, the trailers I’ve seen make no sense whatsoever!
People will go & see good movies whatever the actor’s politics are.
I, for example will still watch Jon Voight, even though both he & his politics are obviously insane.
Because he’s still a good actor.
Clooney is also a good actor, but his movie sucks!
Where’s the evidence that Clooney is a good actor? Even my wife, who was George Clooney superfan back in the E.R. days, has given up on this guy. He is one of those actors who really needs his career directed by someone other than himself because his instincts are terrible. Maybe that glum Christmas pic he is doing will fare better.
I would say he is a competent actor but that’s it. The rest is just superficial charm that only works when he is playing himself in a very well written romantic comedy. Otherwise all his movies are missable.
I think the first Goats trailer was okay but then I checked out the second one and it pretty much unconvinced me to see this. Sounds like I was not alone. (And Ewan McGregor? He probably eats with his hands. Appealing but dumb as a rock.)
A Christmas Carol was never going to fly with the kiddies, I saw a clip from it on Conan O’Brien, and the dialogue is word for word from Dickens’ novel, which most of today’s audience (young AND not so young) won’t understand.
Yes, Enrique, because it was polished by Shakespeare.
Jackass.
animated movies that look like A Christmas Carol and Polar Express will never appeal to the kids. They just look too real.
I would rather sit through two consecutive screenings of The Box over enduring Jim Carrey in Christmas Carol. Uh, maybe I should think about this…change that to one screening of The Box and then Goats. Is that enough torture?
Precious is one of the rare movies these days that gives me the wish to sit in a theater.
I am a long-time reader, but first time poster. Anyway, here is my take:
First, the new films: While XMAS CAROL had a disappointing debut, I don’t think it will be quick fading like BEOWULF, but have fairly small drops and great gains during Thanksgiving weekend and Xmas break and end up profitable. However, I do not see it breaking the $200M threshold anymore.
I am VERY glad THE FOURTH KIND did well. I found the story telling style to be inventive and I am sick of all the PARANORMAL comparisons. IT IS NO WAY A HANDHELD pic. I think it did well for a film opening the weekend after Halloween and Nikki, I think you are wrong about it being very front-loaded with fanboys since this is not based off of anything. I think it might open closer to $15M.
MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS I found very enjoyable, but nothing fantastic. I think $12M would be called a success for it because it was never expected to do great at the box office and $12M is above most predictions. However, I am curious what it’s legs will be like. I think it would have been more beneficial to open it in fewer theaters (closer to 2000) and expanded a bit if it was successful. I think it will have a big drop next week due to some theaters not doing well with it and then even out.
Not screened for press, I paid to see THE BOX last night and was beyond disappointed. I knew it had to be bad considering the big name cast not doing any promotion and no press screenings, but it was worse than I even thought. My local theater is always busy with 24 screens and IMAX and plays many independent films too when they first come out due to the diverse, highly populated area. XMAS Carol in IMAX and FOURTH KIND and AN EDUCATION were sold out last night according to the billboard. THE BOX was on two screens and was expecting a big-turn out. It was in one of the bigger theaters but there was LESS THAN 30 people in there! I peeped into the other theater after my show ended and that one was emptier. The whole audience seemed to dislike this movie, walking out in silence, and actually laughing quite a bit. I realized Kelly is a hack. DARKO showed Kelly’s “potential” and wasn’t perfect but good for a first-timer. SOUTHLAND I gave him the benefit of the doubt with the budget problems, but here he has no excuse. He had a terrific premise but had to pour on mystery after mystery and barely solved one. I think this film is the front-loaded one and will be out of most theaters in two weeks.
I saw PRECIOUS at the Philly film fest and was unbelievably moved. I am so happy how well it did and that number is FANTASTIC. I think the next few weeks the numbers will be VERY strong, but the true test will be when it expands past 100 theaters. $30M would be a victory for this in my eyes but I hope it is much more and after this gross I hope the sky is the limit.
For older films: I am surprised how will THIS IS IT is doing. I was expecting a large drop, but the film was great and word of mouth should carry it. I am curious though how it will do next week, because Sony hasn’t advertised that they are extending it past two weeks so the drop might be very big.
PARANORMAL had a good hold and showed there is still an audience wanting to see it. Kudos to Paramount and should enjoy light drops in the weeks ahead for a horror film unless 2012 takes away its theaters.
For other films this weekend, Couples Retreat barely dropped at all with a $2M Friday and proably a weekend with $5.2M. I can’t believe how low of a drop this shitty movie has. Is no word-of-mouth spreading?
LAW ABIDING CITIZEN is still going strong with $1.9M friday and a possible $4.9-5.1M weekend. Good film until the ending but I would reccomend it. OVerture finally made a hit film!
WILD THINGS and ASTRO BOY suffered more bad news with $1.2M and $600K fridays respectively. I can’t imagine how worse the drop can be for them if XMAS CAROL opened with $50M.
THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS is a 95 minute New Yorker magazine cartoon. You stare at it and know it must be humorous but you can’t figure out why you’re missing the point.
Even though this was clearly NOT the time for Disney to release A Christmas Carol, I still wasn’t expecting anything less than $15 million for its Friday gross. Family-friendly + Jim Carrey should equal box-office gold. Add in the extra money that people probably spent on 3D or 3D/IMAX, you should have a $40+ million opening weekend. Guess not… but it’ll probably stay in the top five through Thanksgiving. If it doesn’t it should be able to climb back up into the top five for Thanksgiving.
Really surprised about The Box opening below This is It.
With all that being said, I’m glad to see that Precious is doing so well. Looks like I’ll be getting to see it sooner than I expected
Disney might get more people to see A Christmas Carol if they would advertise that there is a new Alice in Wonderland trailer attached.
I’m not at all surprised at the opening for Precious, but I still think it will die a quick death once it goes wide. There’s definitely a top end for movie about twice incest raped inner city girls raising an AID’s baby in the 1980′s. No matter how much Oscar buzz it gets.
I saw Precious today at an 11:00 am screening at Loews 68th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan – a totally white neighborhood. They screened it in the biggest theater and there wasn’t an empty seat in the house. I have never seen that before at that time of day in that gigantic theater.I would say the audience was half white, half African American woman.
In the scene where Monique’s character is talking to the Mariah Carey character about what her husband did to her child, you could have heard a pin drop.
@Victoria
Why are you surprised about the make-up of the audience. That is the audience. White film festival former hippies and Tyler Perry middle aged African American female army. Both audiences are faithful and both audiences are front runners.
Lionsgate’s hope is that this will get them huge per screen averages (which it will) and the that the buzz will get the mainstream audiences out before they realize that the film is essentially an overcooked afterschool special. Once that happens it’s straight to DVD because that horse will be out of the barn.
PS – As I was coming out of Precious, where I saw many audience goers wiping away tears, I happened to overhear a bunch of guys coming out of the George Clooney Goat movie. One said “Worst piece of crap I’ve ever seen” and the other guys agreed.
It sucks to pay for a film, and then leave feeling like you got ripped off.
Disney released CHRISTMAS CAROL early so it wouldn’t interfere with their own PRINCESS AND THE FROG. True, POLAR EXPRESS opened the same weekend and did end up becoming a money maker. But with other new films vying for 3D screens like PLANET 51, CHRISTMAS CAROL won’t stay on the premium screens very long. Disney should have released this Thanksgiving weekend, but instead, they now have a disappointment on their hands. And not undeserved… the movie, frankly, just isn’t very good.