Hammond On Cannes: Suspense Builds To Sunday’s Palme … 
Record-Breaking Memorial Weekend 2013! ‘Fast & … 
Cannes: Un Certain Regard Winners Include ‘The … 
SAG-AFTRA Sued For Witholding Foreign Residuals And … 
Harvey Weinstein Closes Prolific Cannes With Deals For … 
Cannes: Competition Movies Divide Critics; How Much Do … 
Zach Braff Ends $3+M Kickstarter Campaign 
Fox Unscripted TV Czar Mike Darnell To Exit 
NBC Sets Oklahoma Tornado Benefit Concert For May 29 
Cannes: Directors’ Fortnight Honors ‘Les … 
SHOCKER: Tom Cruise Exits ‘Man From … 
A+E Rebuild: BBC’s Jana Bennett To Run Bio And LMN … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Hannibal’ Hits Low, … 
‘Katie’ Shakeup: Rachel Miskowiec Replaces … 
Hammond On Cannes: French Hero Jerry Lewis On His Return To … 
Cannes: Another Jewelry Heist? $2.6M Necklace Missing After … 
Hammond On Cannes: Leo DiCaprio’s Moon Trip Tops … 
Specialty B.O. Preview: ‘Before Midnight’, … 
2012-2013 Season Network Rankings: CBS Sweeps In Final … 
Full 2012-2013 TV Season Series Rankings 
TOLDJA! Paramount Pocketing $190M From Disney For Marvel … 
MONDAY PM/TUESDAY AM UPDATE: Here are unofficial numbers from my sources for Monday’s box office as the holidays continue. Christmas weekend actuals are here:
1. The Little Fockers (Universal) [3,536 Theaters]
Monday $8.3M, Cume $53.4M
2. True Grit (Paramount) [3,047 Theaters]
Monday $7.1M, Cume $43.2M
3. Tron: Legacy 3D (Disney) [3,451 Theaters]
Monday $6.3M, Cume $93.7M
4. Yogi Bear 3D (Warner Bros) [3,515 Theaters]
Monday $3.5M, Cume $39.4M
5. Chronicles Of Narnia 3D (Fox) [3,350 Theaters]
Monday $3.5M, Cume $66M
6. Tangled 3D (Disney) [2,582 Theaters]
Monday $3.2M, Cume $146.9M
7. Gulliver’s Travels 3D (Fox) [2,546 Theaters]
Monday $2.6M, Cume $8.9M
8. The Fighter (Relativity/Paramount) [2,511 Theaters]
Monday $2.4M, Cume $29.1M
9. Black Swan ( Fox Searchlight) [1,466 Theaters]
Monday $2.4M, Cume $31.1M
10. The Tourist (GK Films/Sony) [2,756 Theaters]
Monday $1.8M, Cume $42.6M
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Is Black Swan staying in 1466 or is it expanding to more at some point? I imagine if it were to expand to more screens, it’d do a lot better. I can’t believe it’s doing the same as The Fighter where that it’s playing in over 1’000 screens more.
I don’t know, but I’d guess that because it’s been out for going on 4 weeks, The Black Swan has probably maxxed out on its screen total. (Though the film might be screening in a lot of locations right up to the Oscars.) But as The Kings Speech and other notable indie films get more coverage, from now on I think that The Black Swan will have a lot more direct competition than it has had so far.
But based on how successful The Black Swan folks have been with the promotion so far, it would probably be a mistake to assume they don’t have some (or several) other surprises ready and waiting for the right moment.
The Fighter has made its money back. Originally cost $11Mil, add in the promo costs and it is a boxo hit.
Sally do you get paid to flak for Paramount? If the Fighter is a box office “hit” then call me Mr. Magoo (for the record I got more hair atop my head than a llama!) A hit is a movie that costs $30 million to make and makes $100 million. That would be another boxing movie called Million Dollar Baby. Look up the figures. That is what a successful boxing drama looks like.
Will The Fighter make a profit? Probably. Yup. But let’s not get carried away. This movie will be lucky to get to $55 million, max. Critically speaking it has no shot at Best Director. No shot at Best Screenplay. No shot at Best Actor. No Shot at Best Actress. Christian Bale is the BEST SHOT for this movie to win anything, as Best Supporting Actor. And, yes, he richly deserves it. As a whole, The Fighter can’t hold a candle to other indies this year such as The King’s Speech or Black Swan. Those two movies are the real deal.
The Fighter is a pretender wanting to be a contender.
“Tron” lovers and anonymous Disney execs posting on here, please explain how Disney’s widely touted new “strategy” of releasing only one film every few months, but putting real marketing muscle behind these films, and workign with “pre-recognized” properties that audiences already had affnity for … how did that strategy work out this year? “Tron: Legacy” has been a horrible, horrible blunder that should make EVERY studio seriously re-examine the major investments in Comic-Con. Comic-Con is NOT a petrie dish to see what grows and how it can be introduced into the real world. Comic-Con is NOT a place to take the pulse of thousands of movie goers. You’re getting geeks, you’re getting YOUR AUDIENCE at Comic-Con. If they love you there, the love doesn’t die. If they hate you there, you’ll figure out another way to get their love. But their love does NOT TRANSLATE INTO MAINSTREAM LOVE.
Did “Superman Returns” not prove this? Did “Watchmen” not prove it? Did “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” not prove this? Did the relatively muted reaction to “Avatar” at Comic-Con not prove this (when the word was, if Cameron couldn’t get it to work there, it wouldn’t work anywhere). Comic-Con is like the reverse Beta — if it does well there, assume it will have a whole set of OTHER challenges; if it doesn’t do well there, that means you have to find another marketing positioning.
The investment by studios in courting Comic-Con (WonderCon, Wizard World, etc.) is now seen for what it is: A waste of money. You will whip fanboys into a greater frenzy, and if you have a film that can exist on $65 million at the box office, then you’re in. But that’s not what happens. Comic-Con is now this bizarre Hollywood South conflagration in which deals are made and discussed based on such subjective observations as, “Did you hear that screaming? Did you hear they were waiting for TWO HOURS to get in here? We could up the budget by another $45 million because these guys are going to drive this movie through the roof!”
Fanboys are a FINITE audience. You can measure their size and their effectiveness. Stop focusing on these fans. Start making REAL movies with REAL stories. Pay $20,000 to buy some hack screenwriter’s amazing idea and then hire a DGA director for $150,000 to direct it at a $40 million budget … and then market the crap out of it, whatever it is. But start with a great idea. An original idea. Something new, not a retread. Your fanboys will drive you do $60-$65 million … and that’s ALL. Knowing that, do you not see a need to change this horrendously broken business?
k
i dont agree with EVERYTHING you say, but you’re pretty right on the money. I’m a fanboy. I’m a geek. But I sure as hell know that TRON was a cult classic, but overall not a film that had a huuuuge following outside of Tron Guy and a select group of others. It looks nice, but ultimately not sure how the numbers were supposed to add up. SCOTT PILGRIM? There was NO WAY that THOSE numbers would add up. I see ads for CAPES on NBC, I see ORDINARY FAMILY on ABC . . . i see all this fanboy momentum, but to what end? I dont need to see Zack Snyder’s SUPERMAN. I actually don’t need to see another BATMAN, and inasmuch as I’m excited to see GREEN LANTERN, I’m also horrified by the prospect.
Comic Con is out of control. It’s no longer fun. Let’s start making those small fun movies again. New voices, new ideas. Hollywood continues to think its big, bigger, biggest (just ask Warners, they ONLY want tentpoles). There needs to be a financier/distributor who stands up and say, “nah, we like the old way, and we feel we can market our low-to-mid range films to the right audience, make a solid return and be happy that we put something great out into the marketplace.”
Will that happen? Will someone stand up? Not likely. But we can hope.
Dude, Take a chill pill. They do the same thing at Cannes, Toronto film fest, and all the other festivals. What about blasting the studios for the doing the same thing there. Comic Con attracts far greater mainstream audience interest nowadays then those festivals. Comic Con is just one form of marketing, not the ONLY way. Besides, you forgot to mention some of the BIG films that were first previewed at the Con and generated BIG buzz, such as 300, Twilight, Borat, Iron Man, RED, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Spider-Man, and much, much more. Not to mention TV shows such as Lost and Heroes. Genre films have ALWAYS been successful. There are tons of good smaller films that will continue to come out. BUT, you take away the big blockbusters, then the studios won’t have enough money to take a chance on these types of films. It’s the BIG blockbusters that fund these smaller, sometimes daring films, not the other way around.
I wouldn’t call myself a “Tron lover,” and I’m definitely no exec, but I did like it overall.
I can see your point. Disney pumped a ton of flow and energy into this movie. But come on, a movie that will end up making at least $130 domestic, and around the same in the foreign market is not a ‘niche’ audience like Scott Pilgrim. And if it is just the Comic-Con audience going to see it, then they’re a large audience.
Overall, I agree that Comic-Con reactions shouldn’t be the measure for green-lighting a highly priced flick. But, I’m glad they did it. To label it a major bomb is flat out wrong, so what we have instead is a pretty interesting production story. Tron was mostly ignored in the 80′s, but always kept a small passionate fan base. To use this relic, and pump it with Comic-Con, a band like Daft Punk, writers from Lost, IMAX 3D, and all the marketing gusto it could muster, is pretty damn cool as an idea by itself- whatever the box office results. Sure, the movie could have been better and would make more money if it was a truly excellent movie. Story matters and you should have that first (even though things like Transformers 2 show us that sometimes it REALLY doesn’t matter). Since the box office results aren’t abysmal, but could actually turn a soft profit in the end, I’m really glad they took the risk and ‘used Comic-Con as a petrie dish.’ It’s good and important that passionate film lovers have a voice, regardless of the setting or result.
The production of Legacy is interesting for its influences from old and new regime Disney. From what I understand, former chairman Dick Cook put it in production (where the money counts), so it’s got a massive Pirates-like budget and trust in a mostly untested director. But then it also has Sean Bailey as producer and the real driving force behind the movie. He is now the head of studio production, just under current chairman Rich Ross.
And you’re about to see the game change for Disney. They’re still going to be doing reboots and sequels, but that’s just the way of the world right now, ain’t it.
Right out the gate you have Prom, one of those low budgeted, ‘real movies’ you reference. The director and writer aren’t anything to gawk at, but it’s refreshingly cast with a bunch of non-Disney Channel young actors. It’s attempting a John Hughes feel… we’ll see, but I’m glad their head is there.
I think their agenda these days is seeking out BIG talent to direct their films. The past regime had a lot of flicks directed by Jon Tureltaub and the like, who are workmanlike at best. Sometimes the studio was working with big time directors. For instance, Gore Verbinski was a great choice for the Pirates series and I’m glad they’re keeping working with him again for Lone Ranger. But in Ross and Bailey’s Disney it currently has Sam Raimi, Guillermo Del Toro, David Fincher, Jon Favreau, and others making their movies. That’s some pedigree right there. Plus Jason Segel and the director of Flight of the Concords for the new Muppet flick.
Let’s see how these movies are marketed, and if they’re actually any good. But I think they have their head in a good place and I’m excited for more “event” Disney films. The company loves synergy more than anyone, and they need these big movies to be able to spread their micro-brands amongst the macro-brand.
I do see where you’re coming from, and agree with some of it, but this is how I see it.
And I would say that in the end, Tron: Legacy will serve as a cautionary tale to other studios thinking about diving head first into the Comic-Con pool.
I think you just missed the entire point of the post.
LOL, whoever posted this obviously works at Disney. Glad you felt the need to defend yourself. But next time you shouldn’t be so obvious.
How bitter are you? Write another spec and get over it. and please not a period drama.
Tron the original was a terribly boring movie. It took almost 25 years to make the sequel; why? Obviously, so they could tie-in a video game and merchandise to the movie. I betcha Jeff Bridges is rolling in dough from his merchandise tie-in.
This is a very astute post. Hadn’t thought about it before, but you’re right – enthusiasm at ComicCon translates into NOTHING.
That’s not true. You talk as if NO conversion took place. I can guarantee there was a return on investment here. Do you actually mean, “there should have been a LARGER ROI”?
what kind of rant was that?
The studios are interested in the reaction of the comiccon audience,a portion of the target audience to see if they are on the right track.
93 million is no blunder,
studio investment in the comiccons are not a waste of money,I have been going to sdcc for ten years,its great to see what is happening a year from now with upcoming projects.
I guess the fanboys didnt help ironman,the dark knight and indiana jones 4 get healthy boxoffice did they?
Prerecognized…you bet! and we tron fans cant wait for tron 3,dark knight sequel,ironman 3,thor,green lantern,new bond,black hole remake and every other prerecognized property!
With
Agree – Agree – AGREEEEEEEEE!
God bless this person for taking the time to write it all out eloquently and succinctly! But when a tree falls in the forest and no one is present, will it be heard?
Well I heard you, sir, and again, thanx for telling it like it is… No one else has teh courage to do so.
Pay that writer and director a better wage and your post is 100% correct my good sir
Im guessing you are that guy who got stabbed in the eye with a pen at Comic-Con last year…
Your comment completely falls apart as soon as you mentioned Avatar.
Wow, that’s a long rant. If you actually look at Disney’s year, it looks like that strategy worked out well. They had 2 billion dollar properties that are based on other pre-existing properties. Tron, based on lesser known source material will be at worst the biggest movie of the holiday (at least the biggest opening) and at best profitable for the company as a whole. You have to understand that Disney is playing a different game than the rest of the studios and has a greater chance of profit than a studio like Paramount which just rents itself out.
Excuse me? Your impression is that all Paramount does is distribute other studios’ properties? You must work for Lionsgate. Jealous much?
It is clear that Sean Bailey already has one foot out to the door because he is telling people that even if it doesn’t work out for him as head of development at Disney, the contacts he will have made and the profile he has raised for himself has made the job more than worth it. If that doesn’t sound like he is already justifying his hasty and imminent departure, then I don’t know what is.
It’s called “thinking out loud”, and yes, he should have kept that to himself, to avoid hasty-to-conclusions posters such as yourself.
Right you are RGM… the REAL story is that “Black Swan” has “The Fighter”, overly hyped and overwrought, on the ropes, despite showing in significantly fewer theaters.
“The Fighter” diehards will spin this as the lil boxing movie that could, but another boxing movie, “Million Dollar Baby”, tapped the zeitgeist with awesome performances and a solid, non-cliche story line to the tune of more than $100 million. Even though “The Fighter” has a similar budget/cost to make as “Million Dollar Baby” it will not get the gargantuan Box Office in spite of all of the relentless hype, all of the ads, all of the marketing ploys masked as journalism. I don’t think the issue is so much that Mr. Mark Wahlberg was average in this movie as it was that the script was a cluster f*ck that jarred the overall tone (the actors really elevated/saved the written material) as well as this — an increasingly diverse America grows weary of another underdog white guy saves the world story. It gets hackneyed and played out after awhile. This story is “Eight Mile” in a boxing ring; a featherweight “Rocky”; “Invincible” moved from Philly to Boston and switched from the gridiron to pugilism.
I am happy (and stunned) to see a difficult “sell” like “Black Swan” — c’mon a ballet movie? really? — soar and succeed and see Mr. Darren Aronofsky and Ms. Natalie Portman get showered with deserved kudos. Both deserve it for this edgy, unexpected piece of work that is as unpredictable as it is original.
And, yes, True Grit is the season’s best. I hope Paramount realizes this movie is the winner — and not The Fighter — and puts its muscle behind the ever productive Coen Bros.
So. Incredibly. Right.
Inception was shown at Comic-Con and that turned out to be a real disaster, didn’t it Kiltman? RIGHT? Try not to be so idiotic.
Hollywood’s current obsession with ComicCon is a fear and insecurity based thing. Hollywood should just go back to telling the GEEKS what to like, not vice versa. Lack of geek support did not kill Catwoman or Batman and Robin or whatever movie Hollywood cites as the example of needing to work within fanboy taste (the movies were awful). Make them a great movie and then dazzle their dork asses. Because a good movie will dazzle them and everyone else, and that is the goal. INSECURE FOOLS!
“Comic-Con is like the reverse Beta — if it does well there, assume it will have a whole set of OTHER challenges; if it doesn’t do well there, that means you have to find another marketing positioning.”
Well, there you go! Using that mindset, that would make it worth it to go!
While I agree that Comic Con isn’t the best place to judge mainstream success, I don’t think your opposite beta theory holds up. Twilight, Iron Man, and others had very strong reactions as SDCC, and went on to be huge successes. Also, I was there when Avatar was unvieled. Huge reaction in Hall H. The rest of the Con didn’t know how to react because they had seen so little. Which if you remember, that how everyone was when the first teaser hit. Know one knew how to react, because they had never seen anything like it before.
As for Tron, you can hardly call $94mil in 10 days a blunder, esp. with everything being slow. It’s going to do constant business, and at the end, I feel, will prove it was worth the effort for Disney.
And this is coming from a guy who was dissatisfied with the end result of the film.
^Makes you wonder how Disney’s going to sell that Muppet movie. A few online geeks are still into Muppets, maybe little kids who still watch Sesame Street…but who else? Plus, grownup Muppet fans are apparently pretty idiotic. Disney posted a Youtube video over Christmas that has the popular “Sonny With A Chance” star Tiffany Thornton singing with Kermit the Frog, and the so-called “adult” Muppet fans have ripped into it, claiming Tiff isn’t good enough to sing with their sacred puppet. I’m serious. Just read the comments there. Most of them are vicious, even scary. How do you market to THAT?
Killguy, you could not be more right. Absolutely 100% true. Great post!
Nice to see Little Fockers doing good numbers still. Enjoyed it with the family and its definitely better than most critics have you believe. Black Swan should hopefully open in more theaters. I really want to see it.
BINGO! You hit the nail on the head. I hope Harry Knowles will read this.
Either You’re a troll or you have no life other than bashing on tron. Advice: get a life, get a girl that’s actually willing to have sex with you (pay because you seem like the loser type), or just die because bashing on movies seems to be you schtick–that is a waste of life.
Do something better than post dumb, nerdy virgin-esque, wasteful things like that. Didn’t bother on reading it, already know what its content is from the first sentence.
Glad to see THE FIGHTER doing well. It’s a much better film than Black Swan which is basically a werewolf film (Darren Aronofsky’s words not mine). It’s a well-filmed B-movie which sledge-hammers every point to death.
Well said, kiltguy…
ORIGINAL Ideas are an Endangered Species in Hollywood…
It feels so good knowing that somewhere, right now, in Hollywood, the sumg look of entitlement and indignation is slowly being wiped from Rob Letterman’s face.
Black Swan unpredictable? Edgy? Mighty as well retire those words if that describes Black Swan. Arguably the most predictable film I’ve seen this year.
True Grit was FANTASTIC! I’m hoping studio heads will realize you don’t need a futuristic fantastic comic book, vampire, zombie, etc. to make a good movie. What you do need is a well crafted STORY. The setting and time period of the story is not as important as the way it is written. STORY WILL WIN EVERY TIME!! (Reposted)
Tron’s a good movie. It’s steadily making money domestic and overseas. Maybe it’s not in the classic blockbuster mode the way Disney unsubtley marketed it, but it’s holding steady during the week and should play for a while yet. Clear 300 mil World(?) Definitely making new fans of a whole new generation. Video game good. Merch good. Facebook good. BR & DVD will probably be strong just on the hardcore fanboy base alone, new generation is the gravy on top.
As one of the Fans I’m quite happy. It’s like the perfect amount of success for my baby. Think there’s going to be sequel, but hopefully with new, more experienced director, new screenwriters, new producers, on a smaller budget, which is the right way to do it.
The Fighter is R rated. Million Dollar Baby was PG-13. Makes a big difference with box office. The Fighter will make a decent profit, win major awards and help the careers of everyone involved. Sounds like a success to me.
Tron is a nice visual experience. It offers new sensations even though it is far from being the masterpiece it could have been with a real script. Let’s compare it to Avatar, James Cameron’s film was flawed as well with boring Pocahontas-like screenplay. Nothing new except 3D. I’m not a geek, but at least Tron Legacy offered me a visual symphony I was not prepared to see !
It will probably finish its career around 150 million dollars. It will do likewise abroad. DVD and bluray sales will be lavish. That’s enough to justify such a project with a new cast and a new director. Beyond the visual effects, Tron saw new blood, new flesh. It was the attempt of something new in a boring wheel of blockbusters always bringing the same king of rubbish (the biggest being that stupid Gulliver).
We have a winner. Free of bitterness, jealousy or Hollywood rivalry. Great post, Thornwright.
Fighter is a solid double and will make a profit. Most in the Biz are calling it a hit. Darn why don’t you compare true grit to dances with wolves or Gone with the wind. Black Swan is doing better but for it’s budget Fighter is doing fine. Though the best thing about it is Christian Bale.