SUNDAY PM UPDATE: This is one of those box office weekends which Hollywood will be talking about for days. Here’s the Friday, Saturday, weekend, and cume grosses for the Top 10:
1. More good news for Pixar and Disney. As expected, Toy Story 3 tops the North American box office for the 2nd straight week, recording the highest second weekend ever for Disney/Pixar. It’s also the second fastest Disney film to pass $200 million domestic box office — 9 days, compared to Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest‘s 8 days. Thanks to higher 3D ticket prices and a wide release into 4,028 theaters, the toon with massive appeal did $18.0M Friday and $22.6M Saturday and an estimated $18.4M for Sunday. It’s vital to Hollywood summer grosses that so many families are having a great experience at the cineplex because of this pic. It logged a $58.9M weekend, only a 47% drop following its monster opening a week ago, and domestic cume of $226.6M. Its international cume is now $100.0M and its worldwide cume is $326.6M. On IMAX, it took in $4.3M domestic from 180 theaters, and $1 million overseas from 47 theaters, for a global cume of $19.5M. “To infinity … and beyond!”
2. Sony Pictures’ Grown Ups scored the third highest grossing 3-day weekend opening of Adam Sandler’s career with $41M. It continues his near-perfect string of 6 films over $40M and 10 films over $34M weekend comedy openings. It finished with a strong 2nd place after opening to $14.5M Friday and $14.8M Saturday from 3,434 locations. ”Adam has been one of the most consistently performing summer box office draws for over a decade,” one Sony exec emailed me. (But only so long as he’s in raunchy pictures featuring fart jokes.) The audience breakdown was 47%/53% male-female with the demo 52%/48% under-over age 25. The film earned an A- Cinemascore for audiences 18 and younger. Tracking had been strong, but even the studio didn’t expect this poorly reviewed frolic to pass Click’s $40M. I credit the marketable ensemble cast including Kevin James but also Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. The cast helped promote the film starting as far back as the Super Bowl to NASCAR events as well as the MTV Movie Awards, the CMT Country Music Awards, and a series of promotions during the recent NBA Finals for ABC and ESPN and this weekend’s sell-out Yankees versus Dodgers series. Additionally, the outdoor marketing campaign used actual photos of the principal cast as 12 years old boys. Sony is claiming a negative cost of only $70M. How much do bathing suits cost anyway?
3. Twentieth Century Fox’s Knight And Day now sits in 3rd place with a slightly better-than-expected $20.5M for the 3-day weekend and $27.7M for its 5-day cume from 3,098 theaters. The pic took in $6.3M Friday and $8M Saturday. So no one inside Building 88 will be horribly embarrassed, which is all the Fox studio execs ensconced there care about. Especially after the pic received a failing grade of only $3.8M when it opened Wednesday in 3,043 venues (when $5+M would have been passable) and -9% for $3.4M Thursday for only a weak $7.2M cume going into today. Yet this is the kind of $117M rom-com ($107M with the Massachusetts tax breaks, split among New Regency, Fox, and Dune) that should have grossed $35+M easy. “It’s an original movie aimed at adults that is really good,” a Fox exec insisted to me. “It takes longer to catch on with audiences. And this movie is doing that.”
Then again, I have rarely seen Hollywood so transfixed on a movie before it opened. But with starry casting, and promotion aplenty, everything about this pic was high-profile – so a spotlight comes with the territory. (Those stunts for junketing journalists in Spain cost a fortune but translated into media value.) Plus, Fox is the studio Hollywood loves to hate, even more so after the insane success of Avatar, because it regularly takes medium-budget mediocre movies and makes big hits out of them because of killer marketing. Knight And Day should have been no exception. But the media keep gunning for Tom Cruise post-Oprah’s couch and wishing him to fail. Cameron Diaz becomes guilty by association because she can’t open a movie. And the weeks of poor tracking on this pic so unnerved the studio that it made a big PR deal of sneaking the film last weekend to counter the bad buzz building up.
The truth is that the film does play. Although once classy James Mangold should find different representation for letting him direct this long-in-development-hell Joe Roth produced drek. The script passed through the hands of 9 writers as well as Mangold who did an uncredited polish. (At one point titled Trouble Man And Wichita, and then just Wichita, it was Fox film boss Tom Rothman who came up with the treacly Knight And Day.) For that matter, I don’t understand why Cruise did the movie either, especially when he had so many better bake-off options back in February 2009. Like The Tourist, now starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. Back then it would have paired Tom Cruise with Charlize Theron and put him again with Valkyrie scribe Chris McQuarrie. But I digress.
I’m told test screenings were troubled, with audiences cruelly complaining that Tom Cruise is “weird” and Cameron Diaz is “old”. And yet Tom Rothman and Emma Watts were buoyed that they got the pair for bargain basement prices, especially since Tom is still a huge star internationally. Knight And Day opened this weekend in 12 mostly small overseas markets – 8 in Asia/Pacific, 2 in Latin America and 2 in Europe. The film earned $12.6M on 2,238 screens and opened #1 in Russia, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Hong Kong. But most openings are in the middle of July after the World Cup.
The public may pile on Cruise for the movie’s domestic underplay, but Hollywood thinks responsibility lies with Tony Sella’s and Pam Levine’s marketing suckfest. The one-sheet graphic didn’t even show the stars’ faces, the trailers ”made the movie look a USA Network TV show”, to quote one rival maven, and the lame line that it’s “Tom Cruise at his Jerry Maguire best” compares apples to oranges. On the other hand, I hear Rothman micromanaged the movie down to approving publicity stills and picking the release date, while Cruise pushed to have the pic sold as Mission Impossible 4. I can’t wait for The Blame Game to be played on Monday morning because there’s plenty to go around.
4. Karate Kid (Sony) Week 3 [3,740 Theaters]
Friday $4.7M, Saturday $6.0M, Weekend $15.4M, Cume $135.6M
5. The A-Team (Fox) Week 3 [3,242 Theaters]
Friday $1.8M, Saturday $2.4M, Weekend $6.1M, Cume $62.9M
6. Get Him To The Greek (Universal) Week 4 [2,188 Theaters]
Friday $975K, Saturday $1.1M, Weekend $3.0M, Cume $54.5M
7. Shrek Forever After (DWA/Par) Week 6 [2,340 Theaters]
Friday $845K, Saturday $1.1M, Weekend $2.8M, Cume $229.3M
8. Prince of Persia (Disney) Week 5 [1,851 Theaters]
Friday $855K, Saturday $1.1M, Weekend $2.8M, Cume $86.2M
9. Killers (Lionsgate) Week 4 [2,271 Theaters]
Friday $660K, Saturday $790K, Weekend $2.0M, Cume $44.0M
10. Jonah Hex (Warner Bros) Week 2 [2,825 Theaters]
Friday $500K, Saturday $615K, Weekend $1.6M, Cume $9.1M
This colossal failure’s seismic drop, -70%, from even last Friday’s tragic opening, is the sort of humilitainment that Hollywood loves. Problem is, this total writeoff’s $100+M losses will eat into the profits that Chris Nolan’s Inception will make for the studio this summer. Warner Bros’ Alan Horn, Jeff Robinov, Greg Silverman, and DC Comics’ Paul Levitz, Gregory Noveck, and Dan DiDio have a lot of explaining to do. I can’t just shove this one under the rug, fellas.
Overall, the weekend looks like a strong $161M, but that’s still -19% from last year when Transformers 2 powered up the box office.
For more estimates listed by title, see box office results here...Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.


Where’s Tom Rothman? Is he too busy with the TV side to oversee the movie marketing? They obviously need some serious help. Time to get worried about Predators.
MARMADUKE + A-TEAM + KNIGHT & DAY = 400 million production / P&A.
Total box office is barely 100 million for all three….wow.
What’s that end-of-the-summer FOX title that will soak up all this red ink?: “VAMPIRES SUCK” Should be “FOX MOVIES SUCK”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You’re right. JIm Gianopulos and Tom Rothman management sucks. Whatever they gained from AVATAR they are going to waste on BS.
FOX MOVIES SUCK but so does the failed management team.
I agree! Fox’s marketing department is poorly managed and it is one of the most toxic places to work!
Jeffrey Godsick is the biggest joke, Pam Levine – who by the way flies to Los Angeles once every 3 months from New York – does not manage her team – and let’s not even discuss Tony Sella! I’m surprised he is still employed.
They dont manage their teams; they operate out of fear.
Saw Knight and Day yesterday and it was just alright. Nothing that I’ve not seen before. Just like the A-Team, which I think is slightly better actually. I actually enjoyed Killers more. This genre just been done to death.
Grown Ups look like shit. But probably even sadder is that I’m not surprise that it’s making a lot of money. I guess I just don’t “get” Sandler movies.
I’m just glad for Toy Story 3, the movie is pure genius. Pixar should be commended for saving summer.
It blows my mind that crap like “Grown Ups,” “Couples Retreat,” & “Wild Hogs” makes money. Then again, Larry Cable makes $30 mil a year.
People like stupid crap. I suppose the movies above have something to do with mid-life crisis too. People like to re-live their glory days, at least at the cinema.
Thank God. Sometimes I think I’m the only person on earth who doesn’t get Adam Sandler’s appeal.
The saddest thing is I heard they did the junket in Austria and spent lot’s of money. What idiot thought of that lame idea? Who cares about journalist going to Austria to interview talent?
Another lame idea from Fox’s marketing dept.
I’m taking my daughter to see GROWN UPS over the weekend. it’ll be her first SANDLER film. I hope she enjoys him as much as I do. ROTTEN TOMATOES is shitting all over it, but I know the theatre will be packed and the audience will eat it up. it’ll be a good time at the movies.
Rotten Tomatoes isn’t shitting on Grown Ups. 92% of North American film critics are shitting on it. Apparently it’s awful and even more lazy that Sandler’s usual junk.
Can someone tell me WHY Sandler is so lazy? The guy plainly has talent, has shown it from his SNL days. Yet time and again he does these half-assed comedies staffed and cast with cronies. He should be accumulating a body of enduring comedy classics, not doing a series of high-grossing but short-lived shit. WHAT GIVES?
I think they are made because they are extremely profitable and his other ‘conceptual’ movies aren’t. Think ‘Jim Carrey.’
saw it. it’s like watching 5 old friends hang out and make lame jokes that they came up with off the cuff. There were probably a dozen references to Chris Rock’s character’s mother-in-law’s bunyon…”Come on, Toe-be Bryant.” Ugh.
It wasn’t focused at all, it was episodic, it underutilized all of the talent, there was a long ridiculous summation speech by Rob Schneider’s girlfriend. If you want your daughter to see a Sandler film, rent Billy Madison. Or Happy Gilmore. Or Big Daddy. Or even Mr. Deeds. You could probably rent all of them for the price of two full-price tickets.
This country is hopeless. We’ll never get good movies if people are willing to pay to see this garbage.
Sir WCJ,
Right on! My friend said he want to go see a movie where he doesn’t have to think. So he’s seeing Grown Ups. I guess not having to think is fun?
Morons keep paying to see the crap. It’s unstoppable.
Thank you for recognizing this.
Thank you.
Seems like the toys have the lead in terms of mass audience appeal as well as overall brand recognition and affection. Job (continued) well done!
It’s kind of weird to conceive of a Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz action-comedy opening in third place. I know it’s not a huge flop or anything, but I did think it would open a bit bigger. Ten years ago I think the numbers would have been very different.
It’s actually pretty good, save for the fact that the action scenes are shot in master shots without enough close-ups and details to make them white knuckle (the motorcycle-between-two-trains shot is woefully undershot and abandoned.) Cameron is still ripely sexy and Cruise does cocky better than anyone in the business. I laughed and had a good time; certainly more than any of the other action films this summer so far.
the first part is really great and funny and if the second part is more generic ,it’s all fun fun fun!
Agreed. Cruise and Diaz have great chemistry. The movie is a lot of fun.
Norma,
Are you serious. “The movie is a lot of fun.” Because if you are, I am going to see it on your recommendation alone. If it is not a lot of fun I will let the world know that Norma Desmond thought it was a lot of fun. What is a lot of fun to you? Seeing the same special f/x over and over? Will I be ready to walk in under 20 minutes? Are you better of looking at a picture of Cameron and Tom in US magazine?
Norma, sweety, I am going to make my Saturday night movie. Instead of seeing the Joan Rivers documentary, I will go see this movie you recommend as “a lot of fun.”
Thank you.
…having said that, I’m extremely happy that “Toy Story” is doing so well. It deserves it. It’s a shame that “Grown Ups” is actually making as much as it is, although I suppose its success was predictable.
I feel bad for Cruise in a weird way. As Les Grossman would say…kids just aren’t dressing up like Scorcher for Halloween anymore. “Knight” was only average, but I’m sure it’s light years better than “Grown Ups.”. That looks like another “Couple’s Retreat.”. How does crap like that make $$?
GREAT for Grown Ups. I saw it tonight and it was alot of fun. The audience loved it! Rotten Tomatoes critics really just need to get off their high horses. This is the perfect summer comedy.
Say what you will, but there’s no way to spin this. Knight and Day is a FLOP. $30m 5 day? The execs at Fox can’t be at all happy about this. My TV was bombarded with ads for this for the past month and that’s the result? Cruise is washed up. This may finish below 80 million.
Very surprised with the Knight and Day numbers especially given the weak weekday numbers. With better marketing and release date this film might have had a chance to be a hit. Fox really dropped the ball on this one with their promotional campaign. Should have moved it later to July or August and gotten rid of that idiotic title. I still don’t know what the hell the title refers to.
Better Marketing? Tom Cruise and Cami Diaz have been on my t.v. from morning to night on every show that will have them for the last month. Not to mention all the “breaking news” reports of EACH step of the filming process and each stunt performed. This movie was over-exposed before it was ever released. Even then, I just didn’t care to see it, I can predict every step of the movie. For such predictable movies, it comes down to how much I like the actors. Don’t care for Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz’s only talent is to laugh and wear bikinis. Not a bad job if you can get it.
There’s a difference between better marketing and more marketing. These Fox executives think if they just keep running more and more trailers and ads and clips then people will eventually come running to see their films. But it doesn’t matter how much you advertise if the way you advertised is flawed to begin with. The entire promotional campaign for this film has been disjointed, confused and erratic from the beginning. They never seemed to identify which audience they were targeting with their ads nor how they wanted to sell this movie. Is it a romantic comedy, an action film, a spy thriller; what type of film are you selling? And what the hell is up with the name of this movie, Knight and Day? What does that even mean?
Just take a look at the abysmal trailer Fox put out for Knight and Day that revealed almost nothing about what the plot of this film is. Outside of the fact that Cruise is a rogue spy and Diaz is supposedly his girlfriend I still don’t have a clue what this movie is about. Who are they running from, why are they running from them, why did Cruise apparently go rogue, why is Diaz’s character even involved. Their whole trailer was basically here is Tom Cruise, here is Cameron Diaz, now go see this film. It’s a lazy and uninspired campaign especially these days where people are drawn less to the big name stars and more to the concept of the film.
I think you’re spot on here. The concept really does seem to be what brings people out these days, and word of mouth about the execution, but it’s like these Fox execs have not gotten that memo and thought the stars attached could sell it on their names and faces alone.
They did the same thing with Body of Lies: “DiCaprio.Crowe.director of many Crowe movies, Scott. Go see it!” Didn’t work and it was a mess anyways although Crowe is really good in this movie.
I’m not saying that I’m going to rush off to see this movie, but I actually appreciate a trailer that doesn’t give everything away. All I really need to know is that it’s Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in an action comedy.
But that’s the point, that DIDN’T work. Once you’ve seen the vastly superior Bourne movies and MI:III, just having Cruise in a movie (without the word “MISSION” in the title)just isn’t going to cut it. And if you’ve got Cameron Diaz in the movie you know it’s bad. No offense to her but, why is she a star exactly? She’s got the worst skin in the world and she’s just not pretty. You know her 15 minutes are up when she talks about being a lesbian and goes whoring around with A-Rod or stars with Tom Cruise in a wannabe Rom Com/Spy flick.
@ Aileen
When it comes to marketing, quantity is not quality. Those two were all over the circuit, yes, but they never gave any good reason why anybody should see their film
Better marketing doesn’t necessarily mean more marketing.
i really liked Grown Ups. Very entertaining.
All empires crumble from within.
The marketing is terrible.
The thing about Sandler and the crew there is, I used to watch their SNL stuff back in their prime and none of their movies ever came close to making me laugh so much as their years on that show. Man, that was great. Come to think of it, Sandler’s Waterboy was the only movie starring him I ever actually went to see in the theaters.
Anyone care to rank ADAM SANDLER movies (in which he’s the star) from best to worst? And not just in terms of box office, but QUALITY?
I’m curious…..
I feel like we need to distinguish between signature Sandler comedies and Sandler branching out. In that case,
Signature Sandler: 1) Happy Gilmore, 2) Big Daddy, 3) Billy Madison, 4) Click, 5) 50 First Dates, 6) Bedtime Stories, 7) Mr. Deeds,
Little Nicky, 9) The Wedding Singer, 10) The Waterboy, 11) Bulletproof, 12) I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, 13) Anger Management, 14) The Longest Yard, 15) You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
Arthouse-ish Sandler: 1) Reign Over Me, 2) Funny People, 3) Punch-Drunk Love, 4) Spanglish
And Vintage Supporting Sandler: 1) Airheads, 2) Mixed Nuts, 3) Shakes the Clown
Looking foward to seeing Grown Ups.
Mixed Nuts-My favorite Xmas movie of all time!!
Terribly underseen and underrated!!
I guess I’ll take a stab at it… these are my personal favorites. Just comedies, none of his dramas.
1. Big Daddy
2. Happy Gilmore
3. The Wedding Singer
4. Billy Madison
5. I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
Im going to see Grown Ups tonight, so maybe that will make the list some day.
1. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
Zohan was one of the most insightful und smart immigration-comedies ever – and far superior to Spanglish, for example. The Zohan story written as a drama would have garnered critical acclaim (it did remind me a tiny bit of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s similarly themed drama ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL. The writer mus
2. Chuck & Larry
3. Anger Management
Clearly, I’m not looking forward to Grown Ups
I hope that Toy Story can surpass the dreck known as Shrek 2 to become the highest grossing animated film of all time.
Honestly, I think Toy Story may be one of the best films to be produced, animated or not, in the past five years.
Well done again Pixar.
I agree, but PIXAR filma have been the best ones in the past 5 years, not only this 2010,,,,
I hope too, TS3 surpasses shrek 2, week day numbers will help ts3 more than weekends, next week it could probably have between 10 to 7 millions per day, avatar and eclipse will affect it a little bit, but it will come back with strong numbers after july 2-4 weekends
Avatar? I think you mean The Last Airbender.
yeap, I mean the last airbender, but I call it avatar, we all know it is its original name from the tvshow
People who willing pay to see Grown Ups and liked it, should not be allowed to breed.
Add people who live in Los Angeles to that non breeding list
The heck? I hope your daughter is a teen at least because Grown Ups is not a kid’s movie. WTF.
Is that true Grown Ups cost 75 mil?
It cost AT LEAST 75 million, depending on who you ask. Sandler’s films get more expensive year after year since he has an entourage of sycophants on the payroll, and it’s not as if his films rake in huge international dollars. Diminshed returns over time mean the budgets for his home movie crapfests should be dropping over time, not increasing.
Didn’t they just say 70M?
Marketing for Knight and Day should have mentioned it was a Mangold film. I wrote it off the first time I saw the trailer, as I’m sure many did who think Cruise and Diaz are washed up (which I don’t necessarily agree with) and that the story looked ridiculous (which I do agree with). It would have lent the movie some credibility to the more serious movie going crowd – and maybe mainstream – if they had mentioned it was by the director of 3:10 to Yuma and Walk The Line. The first time I heard of this was earlier today and definitely piqued my interest, but it was too little too late. Now rather than never watching it, I’m just going to wait for dvd.
Personally, I agree with Elmore Leonard’s opinion of James Mangold. I can tell everyone that this article is filled with appallingly incorrect information about Knight and Day.
mangold probably gave back a point or two not to be mentioned!
embracing cruise might have worked better than trying to hide him from the haters
internationally this will be big….as usual for him
mangold probably gave back a point or two NOT to be mentioned
embracing cruise in the marketing might have proved better in the states vs. hiding (well trying to hide) him
internationally this will be big for cruise…as usual
Knight & Day was certainly not as bad as it’s made out to be. I was entertained. It was a lot better than
the rather awful A-Team.
I thought the A-Team was good, it was a lot better than Charlies Angels.
“The script passed through the hands of 9 writers as well as Mangold who put an uncredited polish on it.”
Big deal! EVERY GODDAMN Hollywood flicks have been polished by tons of script doctors!
“I’m told test screenings were troubled, with audiences cruelly complaining that Tom Cruise is “weird” and Cameron Diaz is “old”.”
Really? Been told on the contrary and I, for one, liked the film. It was a 100% fun summer flick and original. Yup, this is not an adaptation or a sequel so in a long term it has a fair chance of respectable domestic score, I think.
“EVERY GODDAMN Hollywood flicks have been polished by tons of script doctors!”
Except for: Avatar, Dark Knight, Inglourious Basterds, Tropic Thunder, The Matrix, Star Wars, Passion of the Christ, Austin Powers, Lord of the Rings, 300, Bourne Ultimatum, The Sixth Sense, Watchmen, 8 Mile and every Pixar movie.
Don’t forget about Terminator, Terminator 2, Seven, Lethal Weapon, District 9, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek, and Zombieland.
Hmm. What’s the pattern here?
Actually… on that list a number of those scripts DID pass through the hands of script doctors…. including Star Wars (Huyck/Katz — it’s well documented), Tropic Thunder, ALL the Bourne films, Watchmen, 8 Mile, not to mention all the Pixar movies. And let’s be clear on Cameron — while he is a visionary, ALL of his movies have used other writers, credited or not.
It’s a simple truth — and it’s not a knock on any of the writers involved — film is a collaborative medium. And sometimes outside eyes are helpful.
I saw Knight and Day last night. It was really a fun summer movie – very Hitchcock in is the hero a psycho or a hero? I’m thinking it should have opened sooner than it did. The title didn’t do much for the film in marketing or plot. Anyway, I’m sending out the buzz that it’s one to see.
“Day And Knight” should have opened-up on a Friday to maximize its box office!!! This was just a bad strategy. Mid-week openings are not smart, unless you are dealing with a holiday falling midweek.
My suggestion to Tom Cruise, and I hope that he listens. Do a movie co-starring Will Smith, shoot it in 3D…and surround yourselves with a a ensemble cast made-up of people that have sizable Q-Ratings as individuals. As well, enough of the spy yarns, we have seen Tom as a spy before, show us something new! No more spies!!! Diversify a little–give us a musical, a independent film, an animated movie, a sex comedy, a super hero movie, a gangster film (Stallone’s new “John Gotti” movie would be great for Tom; feature Cruise as a street thug in Gotti’s crew), etc. Continue to play against type; Play a side-man in a movie, a homo-sexual, a nerd, etc.
Place Tom in an already successful film franchise where he can benefit from being exposed to a new audience, allowing him to lure in new fans, and new demographic, while earning back others!!! He’d be great doing a role in The Twilight series, for instance. The possibilities are endless.
Next, give us “Top Gun 2″. Here’s my own original outline: We open with Tom as a Top Gun instructor who is surprised when his son, or daughter, makes it to Top Gun Academy, an unconfortable situation where he must train his kid to be a Top Gun pilot. The climax will be as expected, we see the kid and dad placed in harms way in a war action, and they both come through as heroes. It’s a guaranteed hit, so do it already!!!
Tom Cruise would kill to do a movie with Will Smith. In fact, he would kill to do a movie with a lot of big stars in town, and believe me he’s trying. The problem is at this point he needs them a hell of a lot more than they need him. Will Smith can open a movie just with Will Smith – why would he want to share the spotlight with Tom Cruise? Or spend three months doing publicity with him? Not to say something like this won’t happen, but the person who has to be convinced in this hypothetical isn’t Tom Cruise.
Are you serious with that rubbish or was it a big slice of comical irony? Will Smith? Top Gun 2? Twilight? Here’s my original outline? What, more manipulative crap for this astoundingly overrated, out-of-control, arrogant has-been to appear in?
They say the public has a short memory, maybe, but not when you jump up and down on talk-show couches to the horror of the host, actually tick off reporters(on air I might add) thus indicating you’re used to controlling EVERYTHING and mustn’t be challenged and have the sad misfortune to have a recruiting video you starred in for your wacky religion leaked on-line so the whole world can see what a hypocrite you are.
Only a fool would’ve expected Knight & Day to do incredible business.I do agree with you about one thing. He needs to try something new….anything but make another movie.
Finally saw Killers. I liked it much more than I expected, and I began to think about why it flopped. Firstly, I did not pay to see the movie, someone else did. If it were up to me to pay, I never would have gone. Heigl’s public persona as a shrew put me off and made me forget that her movie persona is completely delightful. We may have reached the point where people can’t get over “real” Heigl to appreciate “movie” Heigl. She needs serious PR recovery work. Makeup and lighting did her no favors here. She frequently looked older than Kutcher.
The movie was also a hodgepodge. Action, slapstick comedy, romantic comedy, and relationship drama. Each piece was done well, but it caused the film to be all over the place. The action bits were well choreographed, but never developed tension because they were book ended by zany comedy. The audience’s emotions can’t whip back and forth as quickly as film wanted them to do. The plot was not grounded in any sort of reality and didn’t make much sense emotionally or logically. This is ok in a comedy of the Austin Powers type, but doesn’t work in any sort of action film or romantic comedy. Despite all this, I think when people see the movie for FREE on cable, they’ll find it a generally likable piece of fluff. It’s the fact that they paid for it that is pissing people off.
Another major problem is Ashton Kutcher, but that deserves a post all its own.
Really? You liked Heigl on film? I didn’t realize until I saw the “trust circle” bullshit that while the writing was poor, Heigl made me hate the movie that much more. Even her “I don’t want to see you swat a fucking fly” line wasn’t that good for me.
If you want to pay for a woman-meets-spy story, go see “Knight and Day.” Number 1 – there’s a story. Number 2 – Cruise and Diaz are better than Kutcher and Heigl. Number 3 – rather than showing you a pretty European city than jetting back to Atlanta, GA, “Knight and Day” jumps back and forth from US locales (mostly in Mass) to Salzburg, Austria, and Sevilla, Spain. Overall, it’s much better product.
I don’t think most people in the U.S./World know or even care who the real Katheryn Heigl is. She’s not a nobody, but I don’t she’s the topic of too many water cooler discussions at work.
Kathryn Hegel is a slut who backstabs all who help her, that’s why it bombed.
Excellent analysis on Killers. Action comedies always have a tough time getting the right mix of serious action and comedy. People will accept absurd situations but (except in farces/spoofs) the characters need to act believably and not always do the stupidest thing possible. The Kutcher casting was terrible because no one could picture him as a veteran, retired hitman.
Correction–Heigl’s character wasn’t a shrew–she was a childish ditz even by gruesomely-low rom-com standards. There’s a big difference between being someone who’s inexperienced/afraid, but can rise to the occasion–and being a whiny idiot no one can believe in. And for female viewers, that’s a very big deal because they’re sick of twerpy, twittering women characters.
In a minority as most hated it, but I enjoyed “Killers” too. Kutcher was slightly better than expected. I thought he looked awful in the trailer. He’s not much of an actor, but he wasn’t awful.
I liked “Killers” more than “Knight.” Diaz doesn’t do much for me. The comedy in “Knight” was too silly. “Killers” wasn’t great, but I enjoyed it.
Knight and Day will do much-much better overseas. Tom Cruise is still have a big name out there. It could do a 200-300 millions overseas.
Tom Cruise IS weird. It belongs to a bizarre cult religion, wears lifts in its shoes, and seems terribly insecure about its sexuality (“I LOVE KATIE HOLMES!”). On top of that, it is an incredibly wooden actor.
I’m loving that America has finally woken up to what that thing is really like.
Wow, thank you for showing us the effects of blind jealousy…
Why would anyone be jealous of a talentless midget voluntarily involved in an alien-worshipping cult?
“the smart bet is on Grown-Ups going higher because of the marketable ensemble cast including Kevin James.”
I’d change that sentence to “the smart bet is Grown-Ups going higher despite the un-marketable ensemble cast, excluing Kevin James.” Rock, Spade, and Schneider were marketable in 1997, but are not on par with Sandler or Farley-lite. Poor Schneider didn’t even get to go to the Laker game!
Rob Schneider is one of the funniest comic actor working. Go see Big Stan, his finest moment.
Knight and Day will make plenty of money worldwide. Classic Nikki — rooting for it to fail, predicting it will so, then praising it when it doesn’t and saying she’s been behind it all along.
“Knight & Day” = proof that audiences aren’t lapping this “Killers”-esque movie.
And Tom Rothman needs to quit micromanaging this film slate. No wonder a lot of people complain about little to no creative freedom there.