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SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM: Once again, what a cliffhanger to see which pic winds up No. 1 at the domestic box office. Sunday will decide it. Two new films, Kick-Ass and Death At A Funeral, opened with high pre-release expectations, and ultimately post-release disappointment. “So far, not what anybody hoped,” one studio exec tells me. That allowed the oldie but goodie kid’s 3d pic How To Train Your Dragon to slip into No. 1. With only $250,000 between it and Kick-Ass, the order could change when actuals come in Monday. Here’s the Top 10):
1. Train Your Dragon 3D DWA/Par) Week 4 [3,825 Theaters]
Friday $4.3M, Saturday $9.2M, Weekend $20M, Cume $158.6M
At the start of Week 4, this DreamWorks Animation toon distributed by Paramount suddenly and surprisingly came from out of the pack to maybe grab #1. Those higher 3D ticket prices (exorbitantly, $18 at IMAX) may do the trick. Even though its opening was a disappointment, there’s a reason reviewers — and now parents and kids — love it still. Tonight it’s on top but that could change by Sunday’s photo finish.
2. Kick-Ass (Lionsgate) NEW [3,065 Theaters]
Friday $7.5M, Saturday $7.2M, Weekend $19.7M
So far, this potty-mouthed stupor-hero comedy based on the comic book may not even break $20M by Sunday’s end. Whereas Hollywood had been expecting $30+M. Ouch! “Kick-Ass never took hold the way many of us thought it would,” one rival studio exec tells me. Maybe because an R-rated kids in spandex pic confused the marketplace? Now Lionsgate, which paid $25M for this U.S. acquisition, has another disappointment though not financially. Still, from testing the film (and we all know testing is meaningless), Lionsgate hopes it can “play & play & play” and break out of the 2.5X opening weekend formula for its ultimate gross.”
Reviews were very strong — over 76% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Then again, the pic’s outrageous profanity and brutal violence & Hit Girl killing many adults and being struck and injured herself was controversial pre-release. That’s usually “good” for a movie campaign at this stage. Tracking-wise, the pic managed to get an extraordinarily high unaided awareness number and resonated with males under 25 followed by males over 25 in awareness, interest, and first choice. But females under 25 lagged behind in choice. That made the difference. Along with a Cinemascore which I’m told was only a “B”.
3. Date Night (Fox) Week 2 [3,380 Theaters]
Friday $5.4M, Saturday $7.75M, Weekend $17.3M, Cume $50M
The good news story of the weekend with an excellent hold.
4. Death At A Funeral (Screen Gems/Sony) NEW [2,459 Theaters]
Friday $5.6M, Saturday $6.7M, Weekend $17M
Another underperformer after a soft Friday and Saturday. Screen Gems/Sony had hoped for $20M, about what it claimed the pic’s budget was with Neil LaBute at the helm. To say that the strength of Death At A Funeral lies in the African-American community is somewhat of an understatement. But the big question was crossover, even with that strong comedy cast. (Sure, Tracy Morgan is hot, but Chris Rock is not.) As usual, Sony’s strong marketing went on overdrive and promoted the pic beyond the boring talk show circuit. The studio held a nationwide stand up contest in 15 markets, and some winners will open for Tracy’s comedy tour.
5. Clash Of The Titans 3D (Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,753 Theaters]
Friday $4.2M, Saturday $6.7M, Weekend $15.7M, Cume $132.9M
6. The Last Song (Disney) Week 3 [2,767 Theaters]
Friday $1.9M, Weekend $5.7M, Estimated Cume $50M
7. Why Did I Get Married Too (Lionsgate) Week 3 [1,859 Theaters]
Friday $1.2M, Weekend $4.1M, Cume $54.8M
8. Hot Tub Time Machine (UA/MGM) Week 4 [2,308 Theaters]
Friday $1.0M, Estimated Weekend $2.8M, Estimated Cume $41.7M
9. Alice In Wonderland 3D (Disney) Week 7 [2,024 Theaters]
Friday $940K, Estimated Weekend $3.2M, Estimated Cume $323.6M
10. Bounty Hunter (Sony) Week 5 [2,475 Theaters]
Friday $975K, Saturday $1.4M, Weekend $3.2M, Cume $60.3M
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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I saw Kick-Ass at an early screening. I really enjoyed it, but I knew this would be a niche film. Nothing against the movie, but no one outside of graphic novel fans have heard of this series. And you know that the American Public need to recognize familiar aspects to buy into it. Why they didn’t push Cage more (even though he is a pretty small part of the movie)is odd.
I think the movie will still do okay. Word-of-mouth among the fanboys and girls will help keep it going for a couple of weekends, then off to a long afterlife on DVD and Blu-ray.
Um…..I’m not sure if you knew it or not, but I was in school on Friday. I’m sure Kick-ass will kick-ass at the BO on Saturday and Sunday.
This movie will do well over 40mil……..trust me!
I’m happy that Date Night is still doing well. That was a great movie. Yeah, I said it.
Can’t believe these numbers for KickAss. Haven’t had a blast like that since the first Matrix movie. Awesome flick. Definitely going again.
You say Kick Ass did bad this weekend but yet you mention nothing about the fact that Carmike Cinemas is not showing the movie. If they had been showing this movie it would have easily made 30 Million dollars this weekend.
The thing’s already in 3000+ theaters. A few hundred isn’t going to make a difference either way.
3,000 theatres. but how many screens is the real question.
KICK-ASS is a really, really good film! It as already made $12 million worldwide before opening here and the production budget was only $28 million and there wasn’t much marketing $$ spent — so it is well on it’s way to profitability.
Plus word of mouth is often quite effective.
And I’m getting tired of the excuse that it made its money back. So did Dragonball Evoluton, and that’s still considered a flop.
Kick-Ass: a project that every studio passed on, that opens #1 for Lionsgate at $19 – that’s not a failure people. It will have long legs and prove to be more profitable than any Universal pic over the last 2 years. Nothing wrong with these numbers regardless of tracking and expectations.
Sad because KICK-ASS isn’t only a terrific movie, it’s much more entertaining than most all of the other super-hero comic book films we’ve been saddled with over the last few years. Clearly the bad mouthing here is coming from people who haven’t seen it and are reacting to the grosses. It’ll be a cult favorite if nothing else for years to come.
I don’t care what anyone says, Kick Ass was Bad ASSS!!! You should of heard the crowd in the movie theatre. Hit Girl was great and the storyline was good also. Do yourself a favor and watch this film.
Michelle T wants to know why a $20 million opening weekend is bad. Well, Michelle, Lion’s Gate paid $25 million for the movie and spent in the neighborhood of $35 mill on promotion. Lion’s Gate only gets about half of the domestic box office take and even less than that on foreign sales. Opening weekend is key, and it’s just downhill from here. Lower box office means lower income in ancillary markets, and lack of buzz means lower DVD sales. Yeah, Lion’s Gate will make money on this, just not what they hoped or expected. It is not going to be a cash cow or a franchise that can finance their line-up for years to come.
Except that Lionsgate acquired it for a price in the mid teens after a bidding war.
But yes, still spent a fortune in marketing. Still profitable. Which I think is more than most films.
I haven’t seen the new “DAAF”, but really enjoyed the original.
Which is why it’s a shame and a surprise that the audience for a movie with Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Zoe Saldana and Tracy Morgan skews so heavily African-American. Yes, obviously they’re all black, but they all have established crossover appeal in past projects. And this isn’t exactly a Tyler Perry movie, or even a new-Blaxpoitation film like “Soul Plane” or “Next Day Air.”
Can any black comedy succeed in mainstream America without a fat suit?
Probably not. All those actors, when they were in movies that were hits, were ancillary characters, or co-stars, in movies aimed at a broad White audience.
You can’t force White audiences to go to “Black-themed” movies. An all or even mostly Black cast is about as interesting to White audiences as a Jane Austen movie is to the Black audience in the urban core. Which is to say, not much.
You might as well ask why Blacks don’t flock to say, Merchant-Ivory productions. Or did not make up the core audience for “Atonement.” Why not?
Because diversity implies profound differences in taste and preferences. That doesn’t make the film better or worse than something by Larry the Cable Guy, but you’ll get different audiences. Diversity means you get more specialization, more niche films, and generally fewer cross-overs.
Black and White audiences generally agree on action films. That seems universal. Comedies, serious dramas, and the like are different. You won’t see many Blacks watching “Margot at the Wedding.” The NYT had a fascinating Google map showing zip codes by film rentals, i.e. top rentals via Netflix for stuff like “Garden State” vs. say, “Snakes on a Plane.”
Diversity means deep, intrinsic preferences that are different, rather than an obliterating monoculture, so no, I don’t expect Black themed stuff to appeal to Whites any time soon.
So the color of a person’s skin matters? I don’t get it.
I also really enjoyed the original and want to see this new one if only to compare the two.
And I think Peter Dinklage should take his character and this film on the road, so to speak, and create a Spanish version, a Bollywood version, etc…
Death at a Funeral and Date Night made 5.5 million wonder which one will come out at the top for the weekend
I saw Kick-Ass and those numbers are really disappointing. My wife and I loved it. We liked the real world take on “heroes” and thought Chloe pretty much stole every scene she was in. Nic Cage gave a great performance and reminded me why I have liked him in the past as an actor. The movie was funny(not goofy funny), dark and at times emotional. It is one of the best movies I have seen so far this year. Everyone I know who has scene it loved it. We were shocked by the number of people who brought kids to an R-rated film. It was not for kids. I was hoping it would do better.
I guess Universal should be worried about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
Kick-Ass was way better than I expected. It’s on a higher class of film than juvenile crap like Smokin’ Aces/Shoot ‘Em Up/Lucky Number Slevin, etc which is kind of what it looked like from previews…
Honestly, I thought it was a surprising blast. And I wasn’t even sure I was going to see it last week. Best popcorn flick I’ve seen in a while and despite all the graphic violence and silliness, it has more of a pulse on real people than most superhero flicks do. I think some people here are dismissing the film unfairly.
Also – it’s a hard R-rated film made for $30 million. This is not a bad start at all. Hell, look back at Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1 which made $22 million in its opening weekend. Kick-Ass is not some big-budget comic book film, it doesn’t have some broad pre-existing fanbase. The fact that it comes in a little under a Tarantino film in its opening weekend with a similar amount of violence is not bad at all.
I know what you mean, The Shining only took in $600K opening weekend, this movie stomps all over The Shining! Kubrick should hang his head in shame! He’ll never make a movie this successful!
Kickass sucks ass. Not a single decent action sequence or original thought. Also, isn’t it time we retire the mclovin kid? Seriously, he hasn’t done one worthwhile role since.
You have clearly not seen the film. There are 3 of the best action sequences in the past decade of films in this.
Even if for some reason you discount the incredibly well choreographed Hit-Girl scenes due to the fact they’re ‘morally reprehensible,’ the Big Daddy in the lumber shop was just absurdly well done.
And also – speaking to certain people above who have decided to act more juvenile than the “life failures” and “loser freaks” who liked Kick-Ass…grow up. Attacking the taste of people who like _______ (insert movie) is classic internet trolling, the likes of which are all over IMDb’s boards.
For the record, this isn’t even the kind of film I normally go for. I have a strong dislike for Smokin’ Aces/Shoot’Em Up/Lucky Number Slevin/Snakes on a Plane/300, etc etc. My favorite films of the past few years are Enter the Void (#1 this year for me), Mysterious Skin, Where the Wild Things Are, Wendy & Lucy, Hunger, Milk, Assassination of Jesse James, Perfume, No Country for Old Men, and Symbol. Whether you dig these films or not, they’re not exactly fanboy material. So please. Stop making vague generalizations about a film you clearly haven’t seen.
Tracy Morgan is HOT? Based on WHAT???? Cop Out stiffed, and he’s the weak link on 30 Rock (which is still more of a media darling more than anything else); Chris Rock is WAY funnier than him- at least HIS stand-up shows are coherent!
Sorry but Tracy Morgan is hilarious. His whole shtick is being a walking hot-mess and I can’t explain exactly why but it’s hilarious. Especially on 30 Rock (some might say he’s not acting, he is a hot-mess and I just might have to agree). Anyway, he’s probably one of those performers who either annoys you or just the sight of him makes you laugh. And personally, he makes me laugh.
I didn’t say he wasn’t capable of being funny; it’s just that he’s one-dimensional at best and not in someone like Chris Rock’s league…leave it to the industrial hype machine to NOT be able to put things in their proper perspective (like they’re saying Kick-Ass is a “flop” now- didn’t they say the same thing about How to Train Your Dragon a few weeks ago?)- that’s my real beef, as it were…
How to Train Your Dragon is still a flop @ $165 million, not counting P+A. It’s just hanging on better than it could have, because of WOM. But DWA obviously expected it do make a lot more profit than $100 million.
A flop is movie that doesn’t make it budget back. HTTYD is NOT a flop, they probably did expect more, but the movie is at 300 million WW. Another 60 million domestic and say 50/60 WW puts it over 450 million WW- even possible to reach 500. Then you forget about DVD sales, and the amount or merchandising there is. NOT a flop.
I meant to say 60 million more domestic and 100 million more WW, possibly more. I just noticed I couldn’t add…oops.
Kick ass numbers where 7.6 million for Friday
Not good for Lionsgate in its ongoing battle with Icahn.
Kick-Ass may very likely have long term viability.
The movie is brilliant! This is not hokey Snakes on a Plane. This is the best written and tightest story of any movie I’ve seen this year (and I’ve seen a lot) and it gets that balance right between making fun of itself, being fantastical and also being realistic.
And it DOES NOT pull any punches, like most comic books and watered down PG-13 actioners do.
The previews did not even come close to representing this film for what it is. I was very pleasantly surprised and expect word of mouth will spread and this will be a killer on DVD and syndicated TV for years to come.
the budget for Death at a Funeral was 20.8 . . . nothing more, nothing less. It’s Screen Gems people. Come on, it’s irresponsible to even print a “rival studio execs” conjecture at 36. please. screen gems could make two movies for that budget.
Only in insider Hollywood can a $19 million opening weekend for a relatively small film like KICK-ASS be considered a disappointment. Look, creative merits aside, I understand that Hollywood banks a lot on opening weekend box office returns. But it’s absolutely ridiculous that movies now have to be judged on how those returns compare to sometimes arbitrary pre-release hype and projections, which aren’t even necessarily created by the studios but by some guy in his basement who knows how to navigate the Internet.
Kick Ass does indeed kick ass. The problem as I see it was the tv marketing. The trailers/commercials I saw didn’t really do the movie justice. Because of the language and gore the commercials were very simply and focused on some of the goofier elements of the movie and I don’t really think they effectively showcased the movie. The R rating hurt this movie, but it’s a shame that so many people have to be led by the nose to good movies. Bloodshed and language aside the acting is excellent, the story is well-paced, there are laughs, there are even a few tender moments – and Nic Cage doesn’t suck for a change. Hopefully word-of-mouth will kick in and more people will give this movie a chance.
Train Your Dragon 3D 4.4 miilion