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SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM UPDATE: These numbers will be refined in the morning. But sources have given me early North American grosses now for the Top 10. Hollywood expected Inception to hold well in the large markets and on both coasts and it did with a $43.5 million second weekend and new domestic cume of $143.6M. But Salt definitely put some pepper into Friday’s and Saturday’s box office with a $36.5 million weekend. Thanks to these big #1 & #2, the overall weekend grosses looks like $160M, or +12% from last year. The other newcomer Ramona and Beezus joined an already crowded family film market and finished with $8 million:
1. Chris Nolan’s Inception for Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures was still the No. 1 movie for its 2nd weekend in release, inciting exactly the intense interest from watercooler talk everyone thought it would. It went into Friday having made $100+M in the U.S. and Canada in just 7 days — only the 5th film and the only original 2D movie to accomplish that this year. Inception made a big $13.2M Friday and $16.6M Saturday from 3,792 locations for a Superglue-like hold of -31% compared to its opening Friday-Saturday-Sunday for a $43.5M weekend and new cume of $143.6M. Ah, what dreamy legs for Nolan and the great cast on this $160M-budget scifi caper. Internationally, Inception had made a World Cup-slowed $16.5M going into Friday. But this weekend, it added 29 markets including Australia, France, Japan and Mexico and rolls out in about 50 territories by August 1st. I’ll have an update Sunday AM. Based on the calendar year, Warner Bros has crossed the $1 billion mark this weekend at the domestic box for an industry record of 10 years in a row.
2. Sony Pictures set a new salary high for Angelina Jolie to star in this weekend’s No. 2 movie Salt opening in 3,612 theaters. Still, the studio was gobsmacked when she set about earning every penny, whether it was long autograph-signing sessions at the pic’s premieres or making a much-hyped panel appearance at Comic-Con. That was just a few of the marketing moves Sony made to sell Salt but there were more by Jeff Blake and Marc Weinstock and their team: concocting a high-octane ad campaign, devising a 9-week episodic online game, junketeering in Washington DC with a reception/tour of the International Spy Museum, even exploiting that recent real-life Russian sleeper spy ring in the news because of its similarities to the movie plot. “The Anna Chapman story resulted in extensive off entertainment page coverage mentioning Salt,” one Sony exec explained to me.
The Philip Noyce-directed pic had been tracking extremely well for weeks by garnering solid unaided awareness overall with total awareness strongest in older females and males, followed by younger males. (Younger females were a bit behind…) Once in theaers, the well reviewed film appealed to an audience that was 53% female, and 59% of the opening weekend audience was older than 25. What other actress plays so well with both women and men, old and young? And she’s also the only high-priced actress who can open a kickass actioner right now — which is why the lead role intended for Tom Cruise underwent a sex change. And open SALT Jolie did — with a $12.6M Friday and $13.4M Saturday for a $36.5M weekend. With a supposed cost of only a little over $100M (Sony claims that’s because of production incentives from shooting back East), the studio is confident it has a hit here and overseas. Salt is opening in a few territories over the next few days (i.e. Colombia, India, Egypt, Jordan, Aruba, Jamaica, etc) while next week it releases in countries like Russia, Korea, Japan and Brazil. The film will continue to roll out all over the world through October.
3. Despicable Me (3D) (Universal) Week 3 [3,600 Theaters]
Friday $7.4M, Saturday $9.4M, Weekend $24.1M, Cume $161.7M
Another great -26% hold for Illumination’s bargain-budget toon. On the international front, pic grossed an estimated $3.2M at 597 dates in 9 territories this weekend for an early overseas cume of $17.4M. More dates abroad will roll out over the next few months.
4. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Disney) Week 2 [3,504 Theaters]
Friday $2.9M, Saturday $4.0M, Weekend $9.6M (-45%), Cume $42.6M
Excellent 2nd week hold of -45% after a very disappointing start for Jerry Bruckheimer’s dark Nic Cage starrer. Overseas, where it needs to make the majority of its money now, it grossed $10.3M in 21 territories. But that represents only 15% of the international market as it xpands into 8 territories next week. With an international cume of $25.3M, its globale take is now $67.9M.
5. Toy Story 3 (3D) Week 6 [2,766 Theaters]
Friday $2.7M, Saturday $4.0M, Weekend $9.0M, Cume $379.5M
Th pic pulled in another $62.0M from 43 territories, representing 80% of the international market. In the UK, its release (including previews) was $30.6M to garner the biggest opening weekend of all-time for an animated title and and the highest ever Disney production opening. With an international cume of $351.0M, its estimated worldwide take is $730.5M – 12th place on the highest grossing domestic films of all time.
6. The Walden Media/Fox joint venture Ramona And Beezus, based on the classic children’s books by Beverly Cleary, is another of those wonderful young girl films championed by femme filmmakers. (For this one — Elizabeth Allen, Denise Di Novi, and Alison Greenspan). Awareness and interest were solid with younger females followed by older females, while young girls had Disney Channel star Selena Gomez. Even with all this going for it, Hollywood expected Ramona to open to a $10M weekend, but the pic fetched less — $8M — after Friday’s $3M and Saturday’s $2.7M from 2,719 venues. Remember, this pic was inexpensive — just $15M.
7. Grown Ups (Sony) Week 5 [2,859 Theaters]
Friday $2.4M, Saturday $3.0M, Weekend $7.6M, Cume $142.4M
8. Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Summit) Week 4 [3,121 Theaters]
Friday $2.3M, Saturday $2.8M, Weekend $7M, Cume $279.6M
Overseas, Eclipse tallied an estimated $20.1 from 6,580 screens in 69 territories over this past weekend with no new openings this week. The estimated international cume-to-date stands at $326.4M.
9. The Last Airbender (3D) (Paramount) Week 4 [2,127 Theaters]
Friday $1.1M, Saturday $1.6M, Weekend $4.1M, Cume $123.2M
10. Predators (Fox) Week 3 [1,846 Theaters]
Friday $850K, Saturday $1.1M, Weekend $2.8M, Cume $46.5M
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Way to go Inception!
STOP THE PRESSES!!!
There’s another Step-Up movie coming out?!
And it’s in 3-D!!!!!!
Where’s my wife-beater and Nike’s?
Angelina= Box Office Queen. Great numbers for both pics!
Don’t be so sure. Salt is going to drop off – it’s getting bad word of mouth.
No it’s not. It’s gotten really positive reaction from what I’ve heard and it’s got no new competition for weeks. If it can open against Inception it can certainly keep the pace to $100m.
Angelina has always had her detractors. People without an axe to grind and her fans are enjoying the movie.
SALT is a fun, fun film!! A total thrill ride for 99 minutes. I don’t know where you think it is getting “bad word of mouth”? Everyone in the house loved it at the showing I attended. BTW: Angelina is great in the role!!!!!!!!! Terrific performance.
don’t waste your money people, I wish somebody has posted
something like this before I spent my money!!!
This movie was superfun. why hate on angelina jolie?
How much of this Bad word of mouth is from people who have seen the movie, as opposed to unhappy Team Jen members?
And how many of these obvious “sore loser” comments, are from Team AJ members who just can’t accept bad reviews graciously? The movie is terrible because it’s terrible.
I’ve been hearing fairly good word of mouth from those who’ve seen it, and it’s gotten good reviews from some places, like Ebert. It’s drop off will probably be normal. Also there’s not much competition from within the genre for the next couple of weeks, that could help it.
Ebert has a huge crush on Angelina. I remember Roeper giving him crap about it after he gave thumbs up to the Tomb Raider sequel.
heh, that’s true enough, but it doesn’t change the fact that Ebert is still giving it “good word of mouth.” Maybe not everybody is taking it seriously but it still counts.
that’s ridiculous. you don’t know what you’re talking about. i’m not even an AJ fan and i thought the movie was great… implausible, but great nonetheless. she was fantastic… all 90lbs of her…
And stepping outside the Hollywood bubble for a second…Ebert does not good word-of-mouth make. Movie goers are not responding to Salt. And if you want numbers, IMDB user rate Salt a 6.7, which is exactly the same as Knight and Day. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 56% against Knight and Day’s 54%.
Knight and Day was considered to have decent word of mouth, though, with a better than expected hold in its second and third weekends. Its main problem was that it tracked poorly before opening and thus had a weak showing first weekend. If Salt’s trajectory is similar, that its opening represents roughly 25% of its final domestic take, those would be fantastic numbers. I don’t know if that’ll happen but since you’re the one suggesting it…
I just saw the movie last night and loved it and I wasn’t the only one. For the first time in ages the audience actually clapped at the very end so I’m not sure where the bad word of mouth is coming from.
(Followed by a plethora of posts about how auds burst into applause at the screenings they saw, etc., etc,. — all plants, in my opinion.)The average moviegoer, for better or worse, does not like this movie, because it fails to offer an idetifiable protagonist for 99 per cent of its length. That might’ve been fine if David Fincher, say, made this movie, but it’s being marketed as another Bourne-like action thriller — the summer’s top-notch popcorn entertainment — and it ain’t. Watch audiences react with frustration and dislike – and they’ll be right.
The showing I went to was pretty quiet throughout with no applause at the closing credits and I was walking out with them thinking they hated it. Then I overheard their conversations and most were raving about it, at least the ones that were talking. Unscientific, obviously, but they’re the only “average moviegoers” I have to go by.
Comic-Con 2010
Sponsored ByClick Here
* Mike (San Diego)
Fri 07/23/10 12:50 PM
To the person who said, “i’m so over angelina jolie.” Has this person seen her speak in person? I was in Hall H yesterday (Thursday, July 22, 2010) and watched many panels with many famous people. After watching so many Actors and how they handled themselves in public, you really get a handle on how prepared they are and how they handle themselves in front of a live audience. Not an easy feat, I’m sure.
However, Angelina Jolie was the best dressed, had the best hair, had the best make-up, had the most sex appeal (I’m gay, This is not the comment of a biased straight guy.) and the actor with the most class–her presence was refreshing.
Before Comic-Con, I liked Angelina as an actor but she wasn’t in my top ten list of favorite actors. However, after seeing her presence on stage and how she handled herself, I’m completely sold on her professionalism and ability as an actor and she’s now on my top ten list of favorite actors.
Several examples, looking good for the camera at all times (This is an important point, that’s her job), talking about her movie with enthusiasm and keeping it interesting, having a genuine interest in being at Comic-Con. (Or at least seeming to, no one knows what anyone is really thinking. But I’m a believer that she liked being there and that she appreciates her fans.) She’s good at speaking well in front of a live audience.
Then during the Q&A session, four different people asked Angelina, basically, the same question. Did Angelina give the people who repeated the question a flippant answer? No, she did not. She gracefully answered the same questions again and gave a slightly different answer each time with new information.
Hands down, Angelina was the best Actor who was able pull off being in front of live audience with sincerity, grace, style and poise.
LOL @ all of the Sony employees astroturfing this blog.
……And, sure, you are not…
an employee of Warner?
Again, to all you idiots who said “Inception” would bomb — you have zero credibility and zero taste. Enjoy “Step Up 3D”.
Yikes. Such a belittling tone.
The sad thing is that movie will probably make 200 million domestic thanks to the 3D.
I was expecting at least $15 million for Inception.. sigh, oh well.
That is a great news for Salt. I hope that it hit 40 mil by the end of this weekend.
Nikki I love you and I love Angelina Jolie. Two powerful role models. God bless you both.
It looked to me like all the young people were at Inception, and most of the older folks were at Salt. I think once all these younger people see Inception, they will switch to Salt, especially with the choices coming up the next couple of weeks.
saw Salt today…it was FANTASTIC. It’s solid action and Jolie is perfect. a little far fetched? sure it is. but so it Inception, and i liked that too. if you go in looking for fun and action, it will not disappoint.
$40M is more than what is expected. I was expecting it to be in the lower $30M.
Jolie indeed delivers.
Why is it that so many set the bar low for Angelina.? The truth is those numbers should have been higher than Inception’s opening weekend. It is an action film. There are also no midnight numbers for Salt. C’mon! You don’t expect everyone to fall for this. Angelina is underperforming at the box office considering the windstorm of marketing & pr the past few weeks.If other female actresses received the same amount of guber-marketing as Jolie they would have about the same numbers. They are just not as fortunate. Even if other female actresses are successful at the box office they are usually not given credit.Sigh!
Personally, I think the numbers would have been much higher had she or the studio not invited the Russian spy to the Moscow premier. That was a turn off. Plus, word of mouth is not good for this film even with die hard fans.
shut up female actress who wishes you were Angelina…
Maybe there are no midnight numbers because there were no midnight showings?
There was a lot wrong with everything else you said too but you seem more intent on spreading disinformation than starting a conversation.
Converse away! I can only vouch for my area which was 12:10am. The rest was just my opinion.From reading your reply I’m not sure what you are misinformed about. I just want to make it clear, even though I am not a Jolie fan,I am open to hearing what you have to say. My beef is the need to put down other actresses in order to praise Angelina. She is often given too much credit. The past few weeks she was marketed as being on the level as her male co-stars. If she is then why is the bar set so low for her and not as high as Will, Johnny or Tom Hanks? These guys can pull in 60 to over 100 million for an opening on their own especially Johnny & Will. If Angelina can not pull in those numbers then the press should not put her in the category. If you believe what the press says about her you would think she could part seas. After all the craziness, She usually pulls in around the same numbers as other actresses.Salt will probably earn around 33 to 37 million this weekend. There are other actresses who have earned that much for an opening weekend action or drama film. So why portray her as the only actress who can sell tickets. It’s not fair to the other actresses. Not accurate either! To me it’s like a car salesman trying to convince a buyer that a quality Honda & Rolls Royce are of the same value. I don’t know if that was a good example.
I’ve already responded in length down below, but I’d like to point out here that rarely does anybody other than Will Smith open at $60+ million “on their own.” That kind of opening usually results from something already well-established, like an adaptation or a sequel. Even Inception was “Nolan + Leo + monster special effects + buzz/hype,” as opposed to a movie whose poster featured one face against a dark background. In Johnny Depp’s case, compare the numbers for the Pirates series, which were based on a Disney property and had other big names(not as big as him, but still big), versus Public Enemies, which relied almost entirely on his appeal alone. In the case of Hanks, compare The Da Vinci Code, an adaptation of a runaway best-selling book, versus Charlie Wilson’s War, also an adaptation but of something far lesser known and thus relying on the actors’ name recognition to push things a bit. Salt has opened better than Public Enemies or Charlie Wilson’s War, so that leads people to feel that Jolie has proven she can hang in there with the big guns in opening a film, at least on occasion.
I think where we differ is that you want to knock Jolie off the list of upper-echelon draws, whereas I would rather we keep her there while adding more people to that list.
To Jacques strappe:I want to tell you something,Public Enemies was a cheap movie and it had to compite with BIG blockbusters like Transformers and Ice age 3 (a 3d movie),iT WAS DIFERENT,you understand it? Salt
roduction Budget:110 Millions,is a modern movie and it just compite with Inception ,ONLY THAT !Other thing:JOHNNY DEPP IS A BIG STAR IN THE WHOLE WORLD,EVEN Better than Brad ,Leo or Rob,fact.AND JOHNNY HAS DELICIOUS APPEAL ALONE GOD BLESS HIM FACT TOO. Every actor need a good script,good director and a very good production too to be successful.
Public Enemies had a “cheap” production budget of $100 million. You’re entitled to your own opinion yessica, but not your own facts. It doesn’t matter what it was competing with, especially since the movies you mentioned have completely different audiences to Public Enemies, whereas Inception is another big budget action flick like Salt.
Put your personal preferences aside. Angelina Jolie is a big star in the whole world too, that’s why Salt just opened in India to better numbers than Inception and all but one English-language film this year. Look at the numbers Wanted pulled in. Look at the fact that Changeling, a medium budget rated R drama, did more than double on the international market what it did in the US. Imagine if Salt has similar splits to either film. It’d dwarf Public Enemies.
None of this was even relevant to the original point anyways which is that Public Enemies and Salt both relied entirely on the name recognition of one actor, and they did similar business. I wasn’t putting down your golden boy Depp in any way, in fact I was trying to compliment him. You understand it?
@Lillith:
Do you really think anyone who spends 1% of their daily brain activity on topics unrelated to Hollywood even knows who went to the premiere? I wasn’t even aware of it.
@Jacques:
There were a decent number of midnight shows… not on-par with Iron Man 2 or even Inception, but probably in-line with Nightmare on Elm Street.
we went to see SALT, we loved it! thought it was really entertaining. I haven’t really seen much bad press on it. AT THE MOVIES both recommended it, and said it was the best action film this year.
Internationally, Inception has made a World Cup-diminished $16.5M going into today
Considering that the world cup was over on July 11, and Inception didn’t open anywhere before July 16, this line shows pitifully bad research. As in, “hey, can you look up something for me in two seconds?” research.
As in, hey, “remember when we actually dealt in fact?” research.
Who is feeding you these lines? Or do facts go out the window the moment you like something personally? And no, I don’t have anything against the movie, I wish it well, I wish that it becomes extremely successful, so that executives finally get their dicks out of their pants and have the balls to greenlight more original concepts without asking their 13-year old emo kids if they liked the viddy game something is based on.
But research is research. Facts are facts.
It’s called journalism.
I was thinking the same thing about that World Cup comment, wtf?
I don’t see how the World Cup has diminished INCEPTION. It ended on July 11.
I’m confused how Inception’s international cume is World Cup-diminished. Didn’t that end almost 2 weeks ago? Is there such a hangover from it that numerous countries can’t operate?
I’d call it a “slow roll out”-diminished cume.
2010 will be remembered as the summer of original films.
Not so much that but the Summer where audiences woke the fuck up and said “I’m not even shelling out $5 at a cheap theater just to watch CGI junk. I want substance.”
Where in the hell in this country do you live that movie tickets are still only $5? I mean, seriously. Point still taken however. CGI garbage isn’t barely worth a Netflix rental for crying out loud. Inception was terrific, practical effects still rule the box office, especially when Nolan is at the helm. Cheers, Drew
That’s ridiculous. A couple of good films and two great ones do not make a “summer of original films.” This summer will still be remembered primarily for the many turds that are still stinking up theaters.
@ Richter
That isn’t how memory works.
No, 2010 will be remembered as the summer Inception came out.
This movie just set the bar higher for movie audiences that actually THINK.
well,don’t exaggerate!!!it is very good
The box office is not doing well this summer. I loved Inception. It was original.Marion Cottilard is amazing.
I wonder how much of a write-off Fox will have to take on THE A-TEAM with only 135 million worldwide and a 115 million dollar production budget. I would guess they spent at least
50 million in marketing costs too.
And Fox is the only studio this whole year including summer without a 100 million dollar movie.
It’s ahead of last summer so far. Not sure where you are getting your facts from.
Seriously? Yeah with…Sex & City 2, Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3, Shrek 4, Twilight 3 and remakes/reboots/adaptions of A-Team, Karate Kid, Predators, and Last Airbender…really original.
Inception was fantastic and unique, but it does not make this a summer of original films.
@ Tom
Well yeah there were a lot of non-original films, but less than half of those movies will break even while in the theaters. Over half of the original films that come out this summer will probably break even. That means that for the first time in awhile it is less risky to make an original film than a re-something or sequel.
Um. I think you mean the “Summer of Re-Makes”.
@ Tom
Ah, but the remakes, adaptations, etc. are all bombing left and right, while with the exceptions of Splice and Knight and Day, every original film that has been released wide this summer has done really well. This is the first time in a long time when it has been less risky to produce an original film than a non-original one.
Very happy for SALT. Great for female action heroes, great for Angelina, and great for people who like action scenes without the dreaded shakycam.
One thing though Nikki, as far as this goes…..
“…she’s also the only actress who can open a kickass actioner right now…”
I beg to differ. Sony has done quite well with female action heroes before, namely Mila Jovovich in the Resident Evil franchise and Kate Beckinsale in the Underworld films. And I’m willing to bet that the next installments of both will outgross all previous entries.
Exactly! Those statements hurt Angelina because it infuriates women like myself because it is not true. There are other female actresses who could pull in the numbers if they had the mega pr machine as Jolie.I wish the press would stop putting other actresses down in order to promote Jolie. Angelina was marketed as being on the same level as her male co-stars all week. The only thing is she consistently does not make the same amount as Leo, Will and Rob at the box office. If she is going to be put in the same level she should make around the same amount at the box office as them. Not even close with her competition within it’s second week and no other competition from new releases. I’m not impressed.
PR machine? Isn’t Jolie the one who doesn’t even have an agent? I remember more hype surrounding Nicole Kidman movies, as well as ones starring Megan Fox, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez…I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple of other hyped names. Jolie is an A-lister and gets promoted as such when her movies are released, just like every other A-lister. I sort of get what you’re saying about how some put down other actresses to say only one can draw, but you’re not helping matters any when you cut down on Jolie’s successes, whether critical(A Mighty Heart, Changeling) or commercial(Wanted, Salt). In fact you’ll end up convincing others that zero actresses can draw, which I assume is not your goal.
For example…Salt is going to do better in one weekend than Leo’s Body of Lies entire run. It’ll also end up way ahead of Blood Diamond. If by “Rob” you mean Robert Downey, Jr., you’re talking about a very short track record. Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes were big hits, of course, but they were also big franchises that preceeded him. Iron Man helped him more than vice versa because before it most thought that he could never open a movie again. Salt’s opening is stronger than Tropic Thunder, although that film didn’t rely as heavily on Downey to sell it as Salt relied on Jolie. The Soloist did less business than Changeling, especially internationally. If somebody has to be as consistently successful as Will Smith to be considered a draw, then we would end up saying that nobody except Will Smith is a draw. That’s not even close to fair. Salt will still end up ahead of Seven Pounds, Smith’s most recent pic, but that might be apples and oranges.
There was a lot more hype around Inception than around Salt, and the former’s budget was 60% higher, so nobody ever thought those two films would have comparable numbers. Salt had a lower budget and less hype than The A Team, Knight and Day, Robin Hood, Prince of Persia, etc. and is doing equal or better to any of them. Maybe you personally saw more about Salt than these other ones–I didn’t, but everybody sees different things. In the end, however, the general rule is that the bigger the production budget, the bigger the promotional budget, so you can’t say that Salt was more hyped than any of these other movies.
Anyways the point is that a ~$35 million opening riding on her name alone is perfectly alright and nothing to put down. Try defending other actresses without cutting down Jolie, it’d make your point much more palatable.
Excellent post
100% agree
Ok, then who is Holly Goline? or how does Jolie set up exclusive deals with People Magazine? I suspect more than Jolie are in charge of their careers.If you think about it they don’t really need publicists.However, I think it is safe to say all movie releases have major pr & marketeting by their studios.But,Mr.Strappe that wasn’t my point at all. My point once again is the need to put other actresses down in order to praise Jolie. My dispute is the Only factor. Other actresses like Sandra Bullock,Kate Beckinsale & Scarlet Johansen could use just a little more respect for the things they do. There is not that much difference between them and Jolie at the box office. Listen, Strappe my posts keep getting deleted even though I am speaking my mind without profanity. You have a right to your opinion. I hope you are able to read my reply atleast before this post is deleted. I would love to converse some more,but what good is a conversation when only you are allowed to speak. Geesh!
I had never heard of Holly Goline but near as I can tell she’s a personal assistant, not related to PR…according to this site Jolie does have a “manager” named Geyer Kosinski who lured her away from an agency and currently represents her. According to another site Jolie doesn’t have a “personal publicist,” which is probably what I was thinking of rather than the agent thing.
I was wondering if that’s what your point was, but your post came across like “Jolie’s only getting props because of an evil PR machine that makes her sound like a star when she’s not!” Judging from the way others here responded I wasn’t the only one who interpreted your comments as more an attack on her than a defense of other actresses. I agree that praise for Jolie shouldn’t be saddled along with putting down other actresses, but at the same time we shouldn’t corner ourselves into praising others only at the expense of Jolie; there’s room to compliment her, too. Let’s also remember that she’s not the one writing these articles or making comments that she’s the only female draw. All she’s doing is promoting her own work and letting others decide how successful they want to declare it.
@Lilith: The p.r. doesn’t make the actress, the actress makes the p.r.
Now that’s just stupid! Marilyn Monroe was created on pr! Pr & Marketing took her a long way from Norma Jean to Marilyn Monroe. Hollywood can do wonders because they know there are a lot of gullable people out there. It’s works and it’s worked for a long time.
1995 called. The time of kick-ass waifs weighing 105 pounds is over. Salt is likely to be all things considered, a slight loss, with DVD factored in. Will it make the rule of thumb, 3X production costs in revenue? Unlikely.
Female action heroes garner little interest outside Hollywood. Guys don’t really care — THEY want to be the heroic figure, not some chick (which leaves little room for the male characters). Women want hunky guys fighting over them.
Compare/Contrast box office revenue from Underworld/Resident Evil to say, the Batman films, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Twilight movies or Sex and the City. Only aging fanboys care about kick-ass waifs, and that’s not a box office success.
Female Action Hero = niche/cult film requiring dirt cheap production values.
Jolie is over-rated. She’s no more a star that puts butts in seats than Kristen Stewart is that kind of draw.
If the early predictions are accurate Salt will have a better opening than Killers, Knight & Day, Date Night, Prince of Persia, A-Team, Wolfman and Green Zone. Hell, its opening weekend might beat that last one’s cume. Are you going to say that none of these movies had stars that put butts in seats? Even if you made that argument, then shouldn’t it stand to reason that a star who can draw an audience will outdo those openings like Salt just did?
It’s set to have a similar opening to Robin Hood despite having half the budget and being an original IP. And since you brought it up, Salt’s first three days could be similar to Sex and the City 2′s.
Put your personal preferences aside. What do you think actually sold Salt? There’s no big names outside of Jolie, in the cast or crew. It’s not a sequel, an adaptation, a remake, or anything else that might have a built-in audience preceeding it. It’s in a genre that’s been wildly hit and miss in recent times. It got mixed reviews from critics. So what’s left that drew a good audience?
Record high temperatures on the East Coast. 100 degrees in NYC yesterday sent us to the movie theaters yesterday and everyone I know had already seen everything, including INCEPTION. Salt was the only new release I saw (some friends opted to see Inception again.)
If the East Coast was the only place in the US and Canada where Salt did well you might have a point. I live in the Midwest where temps were normal and there was a big audience for both Salt and Inception, so I don’t buy it. Amusing theory anyways.
Also, if Nikki’s $100M budget estimate up there is accurate, don’t count out the possibility of revenues reaching 3X production costs, especially if you’re going to count DVD sales and other back end stuff. A ~$35 mil opening suggests it could end up somewhere around $90-100 mil domestic box office. That would mean an additional $10 mil or so boost from the FX deal. Then the international box office, which could be good if the domestic/international splits are similar to Jolie’s last couple flicks. A big if, I know, but it could be a nice number.
Of course, most people go by only domestic totals when determining whether to call something a hit or a flop, but since you mentioned DVD sales already I’m guessing you’re not one of them.
I don’t get this prejudice against international sales when it is a widely accepted fact that one of modern Hollywood’s failings is its propensity to green light too many films solely on their international box office potential. Obviously profit is profit no matter what country it comes from. Indeed the problem today is ONLY fanboy thinks domestic takes are the ONLY thing that matters but the reality is, is if a film has no ‘legs’ potential outside the U.S./Canada it is going to have a struggle getting made. Jolie is an international star and you can take that to the bank regardless of whether she is in a dramatic or action role.
For some reason actresses never get credit for a franchise working–it’s always the franchise itself that gets credit. Even the praise for Jolie is only recent, before now it was always “People wanted to see Tomb Raider, not her!” or something along those lines. But when something fails they get the blame. This is true for some actors too, but it doesn’t seem as blatant or predictable as it is with female action leads.
In the case of Ms. Jolie, no offense to her but people did go see Tomb Raider because of the name, not the actress in the movie. Back then she was just starting to get big (there was Gone in 60 Seconds, her Oscar and Tomb Raider). Sure, the movie was pretty bad but most people agreed that she was good in it.
Tomb Raider did more business than any video game movie ever. Period. Male or female lead. Prince of Persia just moved into second place and it’s still $40 million behind, despite much higher ticket sales today than nine years ago. Tomb Raider is not the most well-known, successful or popular video game series. Its popularity was near its peak when the movie dropped but the same was true of Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Max Payne, Resident Evil, etc. and none of those even approached Tomb Raider’s box office impact. I’m not saying that Jolie was responsible for every dollar, but the numbers clearly indicate there were millions more watching that movie than there were playing any of the Tomb Raider games. My guess is that it was kind of a perfect storm, that her and the Tomb Raider franchise were right for each other at that exact moment and it was to the great benefit of both: Jolie doesn’t open a blockbuster unless it’s Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider doesn’t bring in those kind of bucks unless it’s Jolie. That’s my take on it anyways.
Really?? SALT IS NOT NUMBER ONE THIS WEEKEND and the next it will be number four maybe and all the publicity didn’t help her much too
Rankings don’t matter except for bragging rights. Some movies opened at #1 to worse numbers, some have opened at #3 with better ones. What matters is if it sold itself, not whether if it outsold something else. $36 million opening is solid but not spectacular. Whether it was opening at #1 or #2, those numbers are solid but not spectacular.
he mentioned the world cup since a number of movies that released earlier dint open during the world cup and have pushed their dates back,resulting in lot of the later releases pushing their dates back as well to avoid losing out to competition.
How many times do we have to say this? Nikki is a SHE, not a he. It’s Nikki, as in Nicole, not Nicholas. Jesus, it’s ridiculous how brainless internet posters can be.
I’m not interested in any of these big movies since I’ve already seen Inception a few times. Instead, I watched the first forty-five minutes of The Kids Are All Right before I had to walk out. Easily the most overrated film of the summer… it had its moments, but it was just so grating and synthetic. I recommend you stay away now that it’s beginning its gradual expansion.
I think SALT is doing fine so far. Just think how well the movie would have opened with just regular competition and not the powerhouse that is INCEPTION.
Completely different audience – wouldn’t have made much difference. Partick since INCEPTION had a lot of repeat viewers from last week based on comments.
It’t good to see SALT doing great, besides the fantastic INCEPTION.
Happy for Salt, it was so much fun and entertainment.
Someone asked me if I was kidding when said that SALT was going to be the last hit of the summer. Guess now?
Salt is a hit? are you serious??
If these numbers hold the only film that would be consider a hit right now is Ramona and the beezus because of the low budget. For Salt a 35M for a 100M film is not that great (and nobody is even considering the huge marketing). Wether it is a hit or not will depend on the performace of this film during the upcoming weeks and overseas. It is safe to say that is will be good overseas because of the type of film. Action does very well overseas most of the time. It is easier to sell than comedy. Just look at Tom Cruses dud Kinght and day which will continue bussiness overseas despite of being slow in America.
However in America this film will have to hold pretty good during the week to see if it passes the 100M which was the production budget. I didn’t think a 60+M opening for Inception was a big deal either considering it had a 160M budget, but the film held well during the week. Lets see what happens with Salt.
Saw Salt and was, well, pleasantly surprised. The movie played much better on the Big Screen than the script “read” so I chalk this sanguine turn up to Angelina Jolie’s appeal and the capable direction by Noyce.
What could have been a tired re-thread actually riveted me for the movie’s near two-hour running time.
Not sure if the story arc has legs for a Salt II, which I’m sure as shootin’ is coming… but for a summer night celluloid escape I could have fared far, far worse. Definitely worth the matinee price of admission, at the least.
It is mindless summer fun with a bit more synaptic appeal than I’d anticipated.
Angelina’s appeal? she is too skinny and she has no age for that kind of movies,sorry but is true.She was thinking that she was Kristen Steward in eclipse jumping for everywhere…you are 40 woman!!
I saw Inception for the 2nd time last night. Two reasons – I went with friends who had not seen it, and I wanted to see it again.
I live in a southern (smack dead in the middle of Alabama), small rural community with one theater that serves three counties and the same crowds go the movies week after week. The same crew I watched Inception with last week, were there last night to see it a second time. Wow, that says a lot about a movie! Next weekend, we all move over to Salt. The crowd that came out of Salt last night was males of all ages, and middle-aged women. They all looked happy and I can’t wait to see it.
Great to see both movies do well, I knew Inception would hold. Internationally I think it will surge this weekend, due to the wide release and positive word of mouth in existing territories. It just opened in South Korea, both screens were sold out, and nearly all are already gone for today. Korea is a big international market. On another note Toy Story 3 is opening here on the same day as Step-Up 3d, 5th August, but there seems to be little marketing being done for Toy Story. I still don’t like Rotten Tomatoes.
I can’t wait to watch Salt….seems to be a good movie
Why do people credit Jolie all the time with being the only female to open these films with tough female roles? Do they forget that Jodie Foster has constantly played tough females and opened her films at number 1? Flightplan was a huge hit here and overseas and it was a role originally written for a man. Just because she’s low key and not in the media as much doesn’t mean she can’t open films too. Angelina’s not the only actress who can open a film that’s not a romantic comedy. Give props to others like Foster too.
You do understand the difference between NOW and 5-10 years ago? Flightplan was in 2005. Jodie’s most resent kick-ass movie The Brave One in 2007 made domestic total gross: $36,793,804. So this is kind of silly to compare Jodie Foster to Salt.
Angelina is overhyped. Yeah 40 million is a decent opening. But considering the budget was 100 million, and the film will continue to drop off instead of grow like Inception, it’s not that great in the long run.
Plus, I would like to know what the promotional budget for this film was? It’s got to be through the roof! Can’t go any place or even any website without seeing a Salt ad. The studios were desperate to force this film down our throats. Desperate to make Jolie the #1 female star. With that much money spent on promotion, I doubt 40 million and an inevitable decrease from this point on will amount to much.
i heard that Salt has to do 300 million before Sony breaks even
Yep, I heard Inception has to do much more than $520M to make even.
Fetch enought?
i heard that Salt has to do 600 million before Sony breaks even