RECORD WEEKEND! ‘The Vow’ Beats ‘Safe … 
Saoirse Ronan Bigger Teen Action Queen 
WME Signs Writer-Director Jon Kasdan 
‘Glee’s Jane Lynch Joins Indie Film Comedy 
Universal Revives ‘Dracula Year Zero’ With … 
Jodie Foster Sending Mel Gibson Film ‘The … 
‘Roseanne’ Reunion: John Goodman To Co-Star In … 
UPDATE: Closing Arguments Conclude In Golden Globes Trial; … 
OSCARS Q&A: Brad Pitt On ‘Moneyball’, His … 
Series Adaptation Of ‘Legion’ With … 
Lionsgate Calms Investors With Talk About Charlie Sheen, … 
OSCARS Q&A: Mike Fleming Interviews Fox … 
OSCARS Q&A: ‘The Artist’s Jean Dujardin On … 
Ridley Scott Commits To Next Direct McCarthy’s … 
Benderspink, Arcana Launch Film-Friendly Comics Line 
Marvel Studio’s Tim Connors Defects To Legendary As … 
UPDATE: Warner Bros Lawyers Dig In Garbage Over ‘The … 
Upstart Shingle Radius Acquires Redo Rights To Nic … 
EXCLUSIVE: Summit’s Erik Feig To Be Named President … 
Central Casting Taking Sides In SAG-AFTRA 
Lionsgate Shares Down On Fiscal Q3 Earnings Miss 
SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM: It’s yet another disappointing result for 2010 summer box office following such a weak Memorial Weekend, with this first June weekend’s total domestic grosses looking down -19% compared to last year’s. DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek Forever After distributed by Paramount was #1 for the weekend with the fourquel’s strong hold (thanks to more runs and higher 3D ticket prices than any newcomer). Universal’s R-rated Get Him To The Greek debuted #2 ahead of Lionsgate’s Killers, though both received only “B” Cinemascores. But the buzz on Greek was so much better than Killers, not to mention the star power: Jonah Hill and Russell Brand under mogul Judd Apatow’s production banner seemed a fresher combination than the played-out duo of Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher. As a result, I thought Greek would finish the weekend with more — not less – than the $17.7M grosses from Forgetting Sarah Marshall where Brand’s rock star character first appeared.
Fox’s Marmaduke opened on the most theaters this weekend among newcomers but performed poorly even with the Saturday kiddie matinee bounce. The Vincenzo Natali-directed Splice debuted with a terrible ”D” Cinemascore — and the distinction of being arguably the biggest acquisition to ever emerge from the Sundance Film Festival, based on Dark Castle’s $35 million P&A commitment. But the movie bombed. Still, it overcame cease and desist letters from Fox lawyers worried about the genetically-manufactured creature’s similarity to the Na’vi creatures of Avatar, and then survived nearly being dumped into a SciFi Channel premiere. Warner Bros is quick to point out it’s only distributing this negative pickup by Joel Silver in the U.S. and has zero financial interest. (For background, see Mike Fleming’s The Life of ‘Splice,’ The Unlikeliest Major Studio Summer Release.)
Sex And The City 2 and Prince Of Persia sank -53% and -54% respectively their second weekend out. But Persia grossed another $37.6M overseas, putting its international cume now at $156.4m and its worldwide cume at $215.9M.
Here’s the Top Ten:
1. Shrek Forever After 3D (DWA/Par) Week 3 [4,386 Theaters]
Friday $6.5M, Saturday $10.7M, Weekend $24.3M, Estimated Cume $183M
2. Get Him To The Greek (Universal) NEW [2,697]
Friday $6.3M, Saturday $6.4M, Weekend $17.4M
3. Killers (Lionsgate) NEW [2,859]
Friday $5.6M, Saturday $6.2M, Weekend $16.1M
4. Prince of Persia (Disney) Week 2 [3,646]
Friday $4.2M, Saturday $5.7M, Weekend $13.9M (-54%), Cume $59.5M
5. Sex And The City 2 (NL/Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,445]
Friday $4.4M, Saturday $4.7M, Weekend $12.6M (-53%), Cume $73.4M
6. Marmaduke (Fox) NEW [3,213]
Friday $3.4M, Saturday $4.5M, Weekend $11.3M
7. Iron Man 2 (Marvel/Paramount) Week 5 [3,007]
Friday $2.1M, Saturday $3.4M, Weekend $7.7M, Cume $291.2M
8. Splice (Dark Castle/WB) NEW [2,450]
Friday $2.7M, Saturday $2.7M, Weekend $7.4M
9. Robin Hood (Universal) Week 4 [2,599]
Friday $1.5M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $5.1M, Cume $94.3M
10. Letters To Juliet (Summit) Week 4 [1,962]
Friday $954K, Saturday $1.3M, Weekend $3M, Cume $43.3M
UPDATE: By the way, Rentrak has sent out a note saying grosses were fixed now. “I think it was just a rumor from all the folks who have movies opening that wont do $20M wanting to delay the pain,” another studio exec snarked to me.
6:15 PM: I’m hearing that Rentrak suffered a hardware failure. “They are completely behind in loading data for box office grosses today,” one studio exec informs me. That means we can all go to sleep early.
Loading ...
Thanks for the heads-up! Good night!
Where are all the women that said last week Sex And The City is a huge hit, and Hollywood should make more movies for women because they will go to see them? Your movie had almost a 70% drop and it’s now considered a huge bomb – it won’t make it’s money back since it cost $95. I’m all for films for women but there is a reason why Hollywood makes movies for teen boys and girls – they go to see them more than you do. So until $500 million worth of women go see a movie, things aren’t changing. Here comes Transformers 3.
By the way – the budget on KILLERS is $85 million! Lions Gate are idiots for making that.
What’s with all the lady hate?! When all the ducats are counted worldwide and you add in the home video, SATC2 will obviously be profitable. Sure it’s a disappointment (because of expectations set by SATC1), but far from a bomb. A bomb is something like GREEN ZONE.
There’s no explaining KILLERS.
The problem with this movie is the budget. It was over indulgent and now its gonna byte them in the you know what. I’ve seen very good movies with modest budgets. I blame the writers and the producers for this.
SITC2 will make it’s money back and the drop wasn’t unexpected. As for The Killers, Tim Palen can’t market his way out of a paper bag, unless it’s a black film or a horror film-although DayBreakers did shit and his print campaign homage to Blake Edwards/Peter Bogdanovich backfired big time for the creative executive who fashions himself as the second coming when it comes to print campaigns. Yep, you got a lot of Key Art noms this past year, but not a lot of box office success. It’s time for the powers that be to realize this, but then they’re too busy fighting off Ichan to notice that 2 full clueless production teams and two clueless presidents of marketing aren’t helping them it’s hurting them. And yes the movie sucked and no one gives a shit about Heigel and Kutcher, but it still should have opened better, it’s not like the Tyler Perry Movies are any good. As for Greek using two really good yet somewhat unappealing supporting actors in the leads doesn’t equal box office success-but they’ll blame Marc Schmuger for that.
Danny. Talk what you know boo…
Women see good movies. Period. Whether or not it was made for them. Sex2 was awful. THAT’s why it fell off 66%
And where are all those teen boys and girls for Prince of Persia??? A movie based on a video game??? That fell of 60%.
The point is, you can fool all of the people some of the time… some of the people all of the time. There comes a time when people get tired of seeing SHIT and will not pay to see it. THAT is what’s happening.
Damn straight!
“Women see good movies. Period.”
If that is true please explain the Twilight saga.
The real fact: Men AND Women both see terrible movies.
The reason SATC 2 had such a huge drop-off is because the movie was HORRIBLE. There was a story line with absolutely nothing important at stake, and it felt more like a promo reel for visiting the middle east than a movie about characters we’ve grown to love. If you call a movie Sex and the CITY, don’t leave out the CITY…that’s what made the series and the first movie so much fun. It didn’t bomb because it was made for women, it bombed because it wasn’t well-made.
The movie was NOT HORRIBLE. They miscalculated their opening weekend — it should not have opened on a family holiday, not exactly a weekend for a girls night out — It may not have the emotional pull of the first one but it is worth seeing and is very well written. IT WILL STILL MAKE MONEY BECAUSE OF INTERNATIONAL SALES and how many female driven movies make 73 million in 10 days? the so called above reference of movies being made for young males — prince of persia — which was alright — is not doing as well — so I guess they should stop making movies for that male teenagers now as well — is that how your misguided theory works?
Just saw SATC2 in Paris. The sunday night 7pm show. There was a long line, it was sold out and people cheered and laughed through most of it. I didn’t think it was God awful and certainly didn’t think it deserved all the bashing… but if the crowd was any indication, it will make money overseas. So keep on hatin’, haters.
(Here comes the French bashing… I’m sure at least from the Drudge trolls)
Bring it!
SATC2 may be underperforming from its expectations, but saying “it won’t make its money back” is lunacy. It has essentially already recouped its budget in nine days of theatrical release ($92 million worldwide). You’re proclaiming an international product “a bomb” based on its US sales numbers only. It might make for good controversy, but it has nothing to do with the actual finances of the film business. Evan after marketing costs are covered, the film will make a substantial profit worldwide from its theatrical release alone – and that doesn’t include cable and DVD sales.
Obviously women don’t go to movies meant for teenage boys, but that doesn’t mean we don’t WANT to go to movies. If every movie made in Hollywood were geared toward 40-year-old women, how many teenage boys would go to the movies? None.
People go when there’s product of interest to their demographic.
That said, I didn’t go see Sex and the City because it looked awful. But I would LOVE to go to a good women’s movie. I’ve rented about 15 “women’s films” in the last month. And I would happily go to the theater a couple times a week for something to do with my friends. But there’s absolutely nothing that isn’t based on an action toy.
I’ve heard from the reviewers it wasn’t a great move.
But seldom does one get a Casablanca ( original release July 43) or Dark Knight for the summer.
I’m male and If I had received my usual AMC gift card would have seen the girls first run. I’ll wait until it hits the dollar show, just to see the ” mannequin” shake her ass. She did it so well in the Ghost writer.
I enjoyed the first Sex in the City, and it inspired me even from the dollar show run to buy the first season of Sex and the City for about 10 bucks.
Women films can carry men
-Wanted
-Aliens
-Any thing with Halle Berry
I just think it depends on the release date. Fall Release and Carrie and crew would be Golden.
I think it depends on the marketing, lots of ads in EW not too many on TV. Casablanca didn’t fare too well with a fall release according to wiki.
Marketing drives book sales and everything else. It’s cold and wet in the Midwest so if the women or men want to go out today the sales should pick up.
Was going to see Get em to the Greek, but will wait left my phone.
Oh, saw the previews to Robin Hood they said that sucked too, but if you want to see a film or actor you just endure and say that’s entertainment.
Sex and the City 2 is on track to gross about $100 million just in the United States even though reviews seem to agree that it’s a truly terrible movie.
Magruber is a “guy movie” that has some great people in it and might be fine, but it seems to be on track to earn less than $10 million in the United States.
Robin Hood is a guy movie that cost more than $200 million to make and looks as if it might be pretty good, and it’s doing worse than Sex.
Prince of Persia is a guy movie that cost more than $200 million to make and looks as if it might be pretty good, and it’s doing worse than Sex.
The moral isn’t that it’s a mistake to make movies aimed at women; the moral is that the movie business is a tough business.
Look at Ashton’s face in the poster above. That sums it all up. Most Americans with a brain are kind of annoyed by the guy. Can’t put my finger on why, he’s a nice enough person, but maybe it’s the fact that he’s simply not an actor. Lots of models/pretty people we’ve accepted as actors, but not this guy. I think it’s because he reminds us of the goofy, loudmouth from h.s. who thinks he’s a lot more charming than he is. At the same, he is a good guy, and his movies make money, but the day that stops, like today, the day he needs to retreat behind the camera for good.
Get Him to the Greek is tough, because you have a title that’s just awkward for the average American to wrap their head around, and it’s ethnic and weird and such. You’d be surprised how much of a turnoff that represents. Also, Jonah Hill is awesome, but guys don’t go to a movie with him as the wish fulfillment character. We want to laugh with him, and, unfortunately, at him.
Neither “Get Him To The Greek” or “Killers” is trending on Twitter. I expect weak numbers for both. I’m also curious to see how well “Splice” does.
So does anyone have good ideas about why “Greek” bombed. The script tracked decent buzz — yeah, I find that hard to believe, too — in writing circles; Jonah Hill comes from respected comedic pedigree as Nikki points out (the Apatow posse); and there has been a dearth of successful Hollywood blockbuster comedies in 2010 (Date Night, anyone?)
So what the heck happened to make this a June Gloom train wreck?
Anyone?
I don’t think it bombed considering that it opened as well as ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ did and word-of-mouth seems to indicate that audiences are pleased with it.
Even if it doesn’t make as much at the box office, it’ll clean up on DVD.
I think the marketing campaign could’ve been a bit better though. The commercials made it look like a rip-off of ‘The Hangover’ when it really bears little resemblance.
Truthfully, I blame the title, and I’m surprised no one else has mentioned this as a potential problem. “The Greek” is basically an unknown entity outside of Los Angeles. If I were back home in New England right now, having never moved out here, and someone told me there was a movie called “Get Him To The Greek,” I would have no idea what it was about, and therefore no interest in seeing it.
Totally agree. Terrible title. Even if you know about the Greek, nothing enticing whatsoever.
I think it’s just part of the “new movie economy”. Same movie 5 years ago has a big weekend. These days though it’s about “do I have to see this at the theater”. Even for college kids. 5 kids in a dorm could go spend $60 plus bucks or wait a few months and snag it a RedBox for $1. Same goes for families. 5 years ago people didn’t have 60 inch TV as widespread as they do now. Don’t have kids but got to think people are thinking ” take the family to Marmaduke for $80 or rent the DVD down the road”. I do it myself these days. Instead of looking at theater release dates I look at DVD release dates.
One problem is that females have less reason to see this movie than Hangover (had a wedding added a Baby later in the script), Knocked Up (obvious), 40-Year-Old Virgin (high concept with a little chastidy thrown in), even I Love You Man (sweeter title, another wedding). I’m not saying would see these examples on their own — they just might be curious enough if their guy wanted to see them.
If you’re thinking what about Super Bad and American Pie — high school coming of age stories have their own set of rules.
Get Him to the Greek wasn’t quite any of these things. And it did ok at the B.O. Just not the kind of numbers you’d get in one of those other scenarios.
Just imagine how Two and a Half Men would have tracked with females early on had there been no Half-Man. There would have been no series renewal.
“Greek” looks like another “Hangover” clone. That would be my best guess why it’s numbers aren’t making a splash.
It bombed because the trailer told you everything you need to know about the movie. I haven’t seen it, but I feel as if I know everything that happens in it already.
Weak promotion, bad title.
I have no idea who any of the people top involved in making the movie are or what it’s about. My guess is that I’ll really like the movie once I see it, but the people who distributed it didn’t successfully explain it to the people who might like it.
I also think this is an example of how the Conan debacle has probably hurt Saturday Night Live and SNL-like movies.
If Conan were still on NBC, he probably would have done a good job of hyping this film and Magruber because they were made by friends and family. I might not go to Greek and Magruber, but I’d understand who was in them and what they were about.
But, because Conan is off the air, and I don’t watch any of the talk shows that are still on the air, all I remember seeing were some cryptic newspaper ads. It’s possible that some ads ran on The Daily Show or the Colbert Report, but, if so, the ads didn’t make any impression on me.
But I’ve known that Shrek 4 was coming for about 6 months, and my child is already pushing for us to go the new Toy Story film. The marketing for those films has been terrific.
The star power always seemed weak to me. Yeah, Russell Brand is “fresher” in the sense that MTV is desperately trying to make him a star in the U.S., but he’s not. He has no pull at all.
Also, much less appeal to women than many of Apatow’s other films.
First off, how exactly are Russell Brand and Jonah Hill “much fresher” than Katherine Heigl? I think their all just about played out despite all three being headliners less than 5 years. If they were ever really headliners at all.
But to me the real story is the death of the film festivals as cultural barometers of any kind. SXSW got behind the unlikely duo of Kick Ass and MacGruber this year and one film underperformed as the other came up with straight to DVD numbers. Now Sundance fav Splice debuts with straight to DVD numbers and I believe you’ll have a similar collective yawn for The Kids Are All Right when it comes out later this year. The festivals are no longer on the cutting edge (if they ever were) and represent people so far out of the mainstream it is ridiculous.
Finally, if I’m not mistaken isn’t Dark Castle partially funded by Warners? I love how week after week these flicks bomb and then the production companies, the distributers and the studios all claim they don’t have any money involved. It seems films these days are paid for with gossemer and fairy dust.
“..the real story is the death of the film festivals as cultural barometers of any kind.
Bill – you hit the nail on the head. Nowhere has film elitism been more obnoxious than at festivals. They may have begun with a love for film – but it’s been subsumed by hate for mainstream audiences. Well, now that hate’s being blown back at the box office. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch of elitist jerks.
I don’t think it’s the death of film festivals. SPLICE was marketed as if it were a Hollywood summer blockbuster, when in fact it’s a Canadian art film. The expectations were the problem.
Partially funded is a loose term in Hollywood. Dark Castle has a distribution deal with Warners on some properties (Rocknrolla, Sherlock Holmes) but Dark Castle (from what Fleming said) ponied up all the cash, WB just sent it to theaters for them. He explained how WB really didn’t have a financial stake in it. To be fair, I think they do (with the help of either Legendary Pictures or Village Roadshow) fund a lot of Dark Castle material. But just because someone is on one studio lot or another doesn’t mean everything is a two-way street. Eastwood has been on the WB longer than I’ve been alive but ‘Changeling’ was distributed by Universal.
There is a clear winner between the two comedies.
Get him to the Greek has a budget of 40 million while Killers budget is 75 million. Greek will make a nice profit when all is said and done after home video.
“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” did over 70 million domestic. “Get Him To The Greek” probably wont do as well, but that type of movie should do ok on home video. I saw it and its pretty funny. “Greek” is getting pretty good reviews 75% RT while “killers” is getting trashed by critics 6% RT.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall did under $64 million domestic. Not bad but not great, either. I think, with good word of mouth, Get Him to the Greek can do that or maybe a little better.
I think the big difference is ‘Sarah Marshall’ is more romantic than a straight comedy piece…It was an ensemble cast (albeit with half-known actors) with fantastic location shooting and a story that’s easy to relate to: running into your ex and her new boyfriend, wallowing in self-pity, etc.
That translates (especially to women) better than: getting drunk with a rockstar. Even ‘the hangover’ took a somewhat relatable premise (what happened last night?) and took it to extremes for comedy gold. But Judd’s role was underplayed in the ads, and the third-biggest star (no offense, as he gave a fantastic perf) was P. Diddy.
Hopefully word-of-mouth will bring it up, but it’s just not ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’
Greek should have come out later in the summer. This summer looks like a total drag. Young people on summer vacation would have been desperate for this movie come mid-July.
The Last Airbender and Inception might have a better showing than expected….
as you can see: “Splice” bombed with an expected $7M gross for the weekend
“Splice” is essentially an art-house movie. It’s a psychologically and morally disturbing film and not really a “mass audience” grabber. I have a feeling it’ll be a cult favorite for years, it’s a great film.
I agree, I thought it had some great elements and it kept raising the morality bar incrementally throughout the movie. It was as if the audience was being challenged, along with the characters, when
the line should be drawn. It also had a M.Shymalan feel to it for those who are fans.
Greek and Killers are performing as most analysts expected, but Marmaduke bombed hard.
Actually, for what it cost, Killers is a disaster for LG.
Just saw Get Him To The Greek about 2 hours ago and it was really hilarious. Probably the funniest movie of the year so far. Some of the jokes didn’t catch most audiences, but it was still really funny. I like that the movie had a good amount of character development.
You come off as a shill. I saw “Greek” and found it: unfunny, dull, boring, dated, twisted, and a real snooze inducer. It goes for cheap jokes constantly, and why anyone who’s female would want to see this woman hating film is beyond me.
But its worst sin is that the movie just isn’t engaging.
Welcome back, Nikki!
The stars of Greek are one of the reasons I won’t see it. Diddy’s OK; but I can’t stand Brand or Hill.
Are you kidding?? Yikes, Puff Daddy is the only reason I’m considering NOT seeing this movie. Brand and Hill are hilarious. They’re real actors / comedians. Puff Daddy’s a rapper. When will we stop trying to make rappers into actors?
I’m not a fan of Puffy but he’s really funny in Get Him to the Greek. Overall, there’s 2/3′s funny and then a really bad tagged on last third in which Apatow and friends try to make it seem like doing drugs and partying isn’t a good thing. It’s forced and takes away from the movie. Still, I’d recommend seeing it, at least as a rental.
Chuck Ruthless,
Who the hell said Diddy’s a rapper? He’s a biz mogul who used rap, in part, as a money making venture. And Hollywood will stop making rappers actors when they don’t have an audience the studio thinks will show up to see them in a movie; same as why we see Taylor Swift in movies or Miley Cirus, etc. etc. It’s for cash grab purposes not artistic ones. But Brand and Hill are not thespians of any order either. Hollywood jumped the shark long ago when it came to developing and supporting quality actors.
Puff has some of the most hilarious lines in the film. If your blind hatred of Puff is the only reason you’re not going to see it, you’re missing out on a truly funny movie. *shrug*
Brand and Hill may be real actors/comedians; but they’re also really crappy actors/comedians. Hollywood will stop trying to turn rappers into actors when they stop being more interesting than the actors they upstage.
Same with me. Brand’s anti-President Bush schtick put any film he’s in on my Must Not See list. I think American’s in general are disgusted with Hollywood’s liberal/gay/Obama politics and more and more the poor box office is reflecting this.
Maybe you can make your own line of homophobic, bigotry-friendly films to compete next summer. That’ll show ‘em.
So what you’re saying is if Brand had done an anti-President Obama routine you’d stand up and applaud like any good “American’s” should? Give me a friggin’ break.
Slan,
Hollywood is far from liberal. Do u work in town? The box office reflects a reaction to poor filmmaking, writing and acting. Hollywood films of the 70′s were very political and they did well in their time. It makes me laugh when I hear arguments like yours. Hollywood is so milquetoast these days.
Russell Brand is British, so how is he part of “Hollywood”‘s liberal/gay/Obama politics?
What! You speak for all of America now?????? That’s the problem with you tea drinking, Arizona loving idiots. You forget what America is all about. Everyone and not just you. So, speak for yourself.
so let me get this straight– Americans are not going to the movies because they are tired of liberals (who make up a big chunk of the country and are also Americans, by the way), gay people (who people are increasingly in favor of receiving equal protection under the law, and who are also Americans) and Obama, our president (who the majority of Americans voted for last fall)? Or when you use the term “Americans” is that really code for “ultra-conservatives?”
Just because *you* and your circle of friends feel this way, does not mean the rest of the country has your mentality. The majority of film goers don’t share your world view, they just want to be entertained. The movies so far this season have appeared to be mediocre and not worth the money. The hardcore people who view everything through a political lens do not represent your average filmgoer.
Agreed. I find both Brand and Hill to be hard on the eyes.
Say what you will about his politics, but I don’t go to a movie to espouse an actor’s politics. Brand is hilarious, in ‘Sarah Marshall’ in his live stand-up and in this film. Hill, I can live without. He’s not unfunny, I’ve just seen his shtick so many times.
P. Diddy might be a rapper, and a hip-hop mogul, but he’s something else: hilarious. He had some of the best moments in the film, hands-down. I know rappers acting doesn’t work very often, but this is certainly an exception.
Agreed!
A lot of people had unrealistic expectations about SPLICE, but it didn’t do much worse than most horror movies of that stripe. I mean, it’s a crazy monster movie, made by a great (but pretty uncommercial) director! It’ll live forever as a cult movie and will probably make its money back eventually (just a little slower than everyone hoped). I thought the film was quite good!
There is no way SPLICE even recoups P&A (assuming the $35MM number is in fact correct). Dark Castle needs to just go away. They can’t pick good material, can’t produce good material, and now can’t acquire finished product (where they can even screen it first!) to come even close to recouping. I think maybe one of their movies has recouped the P&A yet alone the production costs.
I liked Splice a lot. A familiar concept done well, plain and simple. Fans of science fiction and/or horror are doing themselves a disservice if they don’t see it. I have to admit, though, that I’m surprised it got such a big marketing push – and such a wide roll-out – in the summer release slate. It’s a little movie that would’ve benefitted from being gradually discovered via a modest, viral release. It instead became encumbered by the weight of major-production expectations. Nevertheless, it’s going to go on to be a huge cult hit, I assure you. It’s going to play just as well on-demand and on blu ray. People who didn’t miss the boat are going to look back and agree that Splice was an unsung highlight of a dreadful summer crop.
So if something has a tail now, it’s infringing on “Avatar”? So is Mr. Cameron preparing to sue the animal kingdom?
If you dig a little deeper you’ll discover that in fact Cameron and his producer sent the SPLICE filmmakers a letter telling them that they had no problem with the creature designs since the movie was so different from AVATAR. It was Fox legal that sent the cease and desist. In fact, the Fox attorney mentions the letter from Cameron in the cease and desist and points out that it doesn’t matter to Fox if Cameron was okay with the design because they are not.
Maybe that’s because nobody uses Twitter anymore?? And you’re curious to see how Splice does…..? Why is it being tweeted about as we speak?
Why is the summer sucking? Simple, weekends like this one could be in March. And there are too many “March like” weekends.
Although perhaps I Should just check Twitter on that? I mean on Friday night at 11:30 you proclaim both will have weak numbers. Wow….brilliant.
I’d love to see Russell Brand, but… one look at the poster (and the trailer) says too much Hill, not enough Brand whose Aldous Snow appears to be a supporting role rather than a lead role, flat gay jokes don’t help, either. Ebert has a childish sense of humor, so his opinions on comedy can’t be trusted and his 75/100 is a red flag rather than a green light. Next!
SPLICE might stand a chance with good WOM – if it can find its intended audience, that is…
Splice was a terrible movie with trully misguided twist. They tried to rip off Species and shock in the end for the sake of shock and it induced giggles in my theater. In fact, quite a few spots produced unintentional laughs. I feel bad for Sarah Polley because it sounds like she thought this was a groundbreaking thing but, sorry, it isn`t. Also, why put Adrien Brody in a creature feature when he looks uglier than any monster? Predators will run screeming when they see this guy.
That said, critcs gave it positives because they suck up to anything Guillermo del Toro touches (he`s the producer).
Uh, no, those were intentional laughs. And defensive ones. It’s a great film – just not a commercially viable one.
Each to its own. I thought it was bad and Hollywood should stop casting that hack brody in anything. He`s a terrible actor.
Wow. Box office is doing soooo bad this summer thus far. Memorial Day weekend was weakest in years, now a slew of new films (including one that was waaaay over hyped – Greek) tanked. Itll be interesting to see what movie(s), if any, save the summer box office. My money’s on “Twilight: Eclipse” and “Salt”. And I think “Machete” will be a surprise hit (though not on tentpole level). Aside from those, I really think all the “big”, super-hyped releases will significantly underperform.
You’d better believe that every ‘Dark Knight’ fanboy will be in line for ‘Inception.’
For some reason a lot of people are overlooking it.
‘Toy Story 3′ will also do well.
Inception will do big #’s too
The box office isn’t making Dark Knight or Avatar money this summer!! Next summer should be better. I have Karate Kid & The last Air Bender for the younger ones on my list. For me, The A Team is about it.Salt doesn’t look interesting. It’s a female spin on Green Zone and the Bourne Series. Matt Damon has them on lock down and I’m still sick of seeing him in these roles! He needs to venture out a bit. It will probably do well the first weekend and fizzel off. The same for Eat Pray Love. I may go to see this film. The book is wonderful,but trailers for this film is just boring. The studio should have done a better job of promoting this film.
Toy Story 3 will do huge numbers.
Machete is doomed to failure. Its repellent to the broad White audience (anti-White race baiting) and English (its not the kind of stuff Mexican moviegoers like — Mexican movies made in Mexico by Mexicans for Mexicans in Spanish).
Grindhouse showed there wasn’t that much of an audience for the sort of stuff film-geek Tarantino loves.
Salt doesn’t look interesting. It is a female version of Green Zone and the Bourne series. Matt needs to change it up a bit too! Sick of seeing him in these roles. The box office is bombing this summer because the movies suck! Not the economy!
Since when is high teens on a reasonably priced movie tanking (re Greek)? You guys are all kind of assholes!
Im sorry but since when did the star power of Jonah hill and Russell brand overpower heigl and kutcher — in what universe is that? ??? Besides killers has the better premise going in. Thanks for the cinemascores.
How does Killers have the better premise? It’s a rip-off of Mr. And Mrs. Smith and True Lies. It’s the exact concept. Kutcher is a terrible actor – he needs to learn that no one cares for him outside of his Hollywood bubble. He may have 5 million twitter followers but i guess none of them went to see his movie this weekend! he is an awful actor, and Katherine Heigl is stretching her 15 minutes of fame. She’s trying to be Julia Roberts so bad but little does she know there’s nothing endearing about her and she’s a terrible actress. Both of these people should go back to television.
Agreed on all accounts.
I thought Greek was funny. However, the title is terrible and the lack of marketing tying it to Forgetting Sarah Marshall has to hurt. Should get pretty good word of mouth from Apatow fans though.
I never said that killers was not new premise i said that it was a premise that was more accessible, more fun to watch — ummm, get him to the greek — is about getting a rock star to a concert — vs a woman who unknowingly marries a spy — hmm, yes, still say that killers has the better premise. Ashton is a great actor and despite heigl’s personality issues, she does have on screen presence. So don’t agree with you.
KILLERS IS KNIGHT AND DAY AND KNIGHT AND DAY IS KILLERS AND well you get the point and they’re both TRUE LIES/MR./MRS. SMITH.
Wow! What’s going on here!? Has the general masses woken up to the crap being dumped on them?
Sucks about Splice though. Haven’t seen it yet, but it certainly looks interesting. Has anyone seen it?
Saw it and thought it was very good. Science fiction morality drama with good special effects we’ve come to expect. The morality questions are ratcheted up to a new level in each sequential scene. Audience must ask themselves what they would do… so, it’s no creature feature shock film and can be appreciated on several levels. Has a Shymalan stylistic vibe to it.
People are freaked out by the economy and looking for less expensive forms of entertainment. A quarter of the population is out of work and a night at the movies is not cheap when you factor in gas and refreshments. The industry needs to address this, maybe come up with a combo like fast food restaurants offer that comes with a ticket, popcorn and a drink for one reasonable price. Or maybe offer some sort of a discount card with built-in rewards for frequent moviegoers. A way to miss the annoying previews would be great too.
The economy was arguably worse last summer and yet is was the highest grossing summer in history. What’s the difference? To paraphrase James Carville, “it’s the movies, stupid!”
Box Office underperforming has NOTHING to do with the economy!!! The economy was far worse last year and the summer releases more than lived up to the (commericial) hype. Why is it not occurring to studios that the movies just suck this year? Yes, there are occasional gems which are genuinely good films but aren’t finding an audience. But really, with the exception of Iron Man 2, has any big blockbuster movie really been good this year? Even renting movies has become a painful experience, because the quality of most movies nowadays don’t even warrant the 3-5 dollars for rental fees. It’s not that people don’t have money to spend…just that they now refuse to spend it on crap
“The economy was far worse last year and the summer releases more than lived up to the (commericial) hype.”
The economy’s about the same, but the problem is the films are, too. And, to add insult to injury, the chains are trying to gouge customers.
Are the films we see in theaters now the ones that were being born around the time of the WGA strike?
Maybe the problem is that these are strike-baby films.
That’s not completely true either. Good movies come out every season. People are just unwilling to look or search for them. I will admit this year is much weaker than years previous, however. Everything seems like a weak sequel, including “Iron Man 2,” or some sort of conceptual rip-off like “Killers.” The “Shrek” series is out of gas. “Get Him to the Greek” was OK, not great. I don’t know anyone interested in seeing “Prince of Persia.” Obviously, “Sex and the City 2″ is unforgivably wretched. I barely know what “Marmaduke” is. “Iron Man 2″ was mediocre though eagerly anticipated. “Splice” sounds like it isn’t quite good enough to be the movie everyone wants it to be. “Robin Hood” was the season’s first grasp at greatness, and it flopped like a felled seal. “Letters to Juliet” sounds like a movie about letters, the least cinematic device in history. There’s nothing in this bunch that kicks you in the ass and says, “Shell out 10 bucks to see me, you jack-offs.” Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” is the only movie I’m pumped about.
Agreed about people being freaked out on the economy and ticket prices. When AMC is charging $12 for a ticket in LA and then you have the parking, and if you dare think of popcorn and drink, you’re looking at another $10. And if it’s 3D, then it’s $15-20 for a ticket.
And you don’t even know if you’ll even like the movie but you’ve already spent $40!
Nope. I’ll rent on Amazon using the download feature. It’s just no longer worth it for me to go to the movies unless the film is really, really, really compelling and the word-of-mouth from my friends is stellar on a film.
Sorry, but this old gal just doesn’t want to throw away any more money on something she may not like.
The price of a night at the movies has gotten to the point of diminishing returns. People have gotten picky as to which movies they would be willing to spend money on.
Correct. The quality of films has just gone down and most films will be at blockbuster in a few months ($4.99 rental for one family with multiple viewings vs $10.00 ticket for one person).
Movie quality down, prices up, time to Netflix or DVD shrinking. Used to be a film didn’t have to be a home run. Especially genre films. With prices at $11+ and people out of work, disappointing movies make people mad.
That’s it in a nutshell… ticket prices are way too high. In NY it costs $40 for a family of four just to get into the theater, double that if you want popcorn and soda, and double it all again if you go to the Imax.
Netflix is god send to cash strapped families, for 9 bucks a month we can sit in the comfort of our liviing room and watch a movie every weekend.
We very, rarely go to the movies anymore and most of our friends feel the same way. The movie has to be something quite special to get us to fork over that much cash.
Shoulda been called “Get Him to the Greek WEDDING”!
How come you’re not mentioning how badly and dissapointing SEX AND THE CITY is? They anticipated this number last weekend. It will crawl to $100 and from what I hear the costs of the film were $120 million plus $50 million to market. While it MIGHT breakeven with international, I would doubt heavily there will be a number 3.
No one overseas went to see Sex And The CIty. It made about $28 million internationally. While Prince of Persia has made close to $150 million internationally.
No one overseas saw Sex and the City 2? Don’t tell them that in the U.K. It went over ganbusters there.
How can you say that nobody went to see SATC2 overseas and then quote numbers dated 5/30 — when the film opened on or after 6/1 in the majority of the markets it’s being released?
SAT 2nd week # 1 movie in Germany after this weekend, sadly (it sucks so bad…). In its 1st week of release, SAT2 bested the 2 weeks of PoP by 1.8 mios already. PoP held #1 position only 1 week there! Just saying… Marc’s prognosis might not be so far off.
Not a surprise on MARMADUKE. And it missed it’s audience. Not for kids, not for adults.
I didn’t see any advertisement for MARMADUKE. I don’t think this would reach out to kids because I’ve only seen MARMADUKE in the newspaper.
Prince of Persia deserved better than it got imo – even though it has its problems (hacky editing among them) but nearly everything else out there right now is pure drek. Shrek 4 was so pervasively unfunny I and the people I was with (fans of the previous) were literally astonished.
I usually am in sync with Nikki but not on her comment that Russell Brand and Jonah Hill have greater starpower than Ashton Kutcher and Kathy Heigl.
The only thing Killers has going for it is the goodlooking pair — Ashton with 5 million twitter followers and Kathy having had a series of moderate romcom hits. In contrast, just look at the Greek poster above. Jonah Hill is a fat schlub with no fanbase and Russell is an obscure figure in America who looks like an irritating simian in the poster. A line in ads saying produced by Judd Apatow lends no starpower.
Mike, you’re wrong. Sorry if you don’t, but plenty of people find Jonah Hill very funny. And as for Russell, he’s playing the same character he played in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” which did extremely well. Check yo’ facts.
I find jonah hill funny, russell brand — the jury is still out, and i still don’t get why he got tapped for the lead for the remake of Arthur
But bigger star power than Heigl and Kutcher — give me a break.
Chuck Ruthless, the comments on Jonah Hill’s own imdb message board reflect how hideous and lacking in personality moviegoers find him. He has no drawing power on top of the premise of a movie he’s in — there’s no value added. I have heard several women say they thought the poster was a turnoff.
As for Russsell Brand, he was not the main selling point for Forgetting Sarah Marshall and it had a mediocre performance at the domestic box office and was a dud internationally. He has no pull with American moviegoers and looks like an ape in the poster.
I’m glad you think Forgetting Sarah Marshall did extremely well, because Miley Cyrus has matched it’s gross in a genre that is a tougher sell. Go Miley! But I think what Mike is saying is that the Killers crew is much better known in mainstream america. Not among film buffs. If you call ten people at random from the phone book, many more will know the Killers stars than the GHTTG stars.
I’m surprised Splice got such a bad audience grade as it seemed to have better than expected critic reviews.
Looking at the top 10 movies just makes me depressed. There is nothing i want to see. I’m mildly interested in Get him to the Greek, but i can’t justify paying $10.
I’m surprised too by the low score. But I think it may have been a matter of expectations. This movie was not made to be a summer blockbuster. It’s an art house film with good, but limited, special effects. It cost $25M to make, and all of that went into creating the creature. There are only 4 locations in the whole film (a farm, the lab, the corporate offices, and the scientists’ apartment). No big chases, no explosions, not what people expect from a summer blockbuster.