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SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM UPDATE: If everybody like me is getting on or off a plane, then who’s at the movies this weekend? This is why, between shopping and partying and travelling, the last full weekend before Christmas is traditionally a lousy time for North American grosses. “They’re not rushing out to see movies. What you tend to forget, going into this weekend, is that the pool of people who are available, and don’t have a lot of commitments on their time in terms of parties and presents and vacations, is small,” a studio mogul explains to me. Meanwhile, Paul Dergarabedian is reporting that 2010 year-to-date revenues crossed the $10 billion mark this weekend, only the 2nd time in Hollywood history that this mark has been surpassed in domestic revenue. With only 12 days left in the box office year, he says it’s possible for record revenues beating last year’s $10.6 billion. But it’s because of higher ticket prices: attendance is likely 4% down from 2009’s full year total.
Here’s the Top 10:
1. Tron: Legacy 3D (Disney) NEW [3,451 Theaters]
Friday $18M, Saturday $14.9M, Weekend $43.6M, Intl $23M, Global $66.6M
Sequels 28 years after the original rarely happen in Hollywood. Yet this was exactly the sort of movie to benefit during the pre-Christmas rush because of the obvious fanboy interest, helped by the fact that every young male is out of school and can indulge his cultural need to see films like this first. So Hollywood and even Disney had been expecting a weekend of at least $50M. “Depends how good it is,” one rival studio exec snarked. The movie’s domestic grosses fell short. Remember that Friday’s number included $3.6M from midnight screenings, so Saturday’s take didn’t increase — not a good sign. With a budget estimated as $150M, and a global marketing push estimated at another $120M, Tron: Legacy 3D had a ton of pre-sales domestically but will have to depend on international overperforming. Globally, Tron 2 opened in 26 international markets (Australia, Brazil, Japan, Scandinavia, Spain, UK, etc.) representing about 50% of the marketplace. Overseas, Tron took in $23M for a worldwide total now of $66.6M.
Disney had arranged for “Tron Night” at 520 theaters in 40 countries, with premiere events in Tokyo, London, Los Angeles and Berlin (in January 2011). Not only did Tron 2 open the Tokyo International Film Festival, but key buildings in Osaka, Nagoya, and Yokohama were covered in blue Tron lights, while in Toronto the CN Tower was similarly lit up. Disney’s consumer products division came onboard. The studio even used its newly purchased Marvel to push the pic: a 2-issue comic book limited series, “Tron: Betrayal” grqaphic novel was sold under the Tron name. Meanwhile, the film’s soundtrack from Walt Disney Records produced by the Grammy Award-winning French duo Daft Punk hit #1 on Amazon, became iTunes single of the week, and debuted at #10 on the Billboard Top 200 — the first score soundtrack to debut in the Top 10 in five years.Nice, but that didn’t put moviegoers in seats…
2. Yogi Bear 3D (Warner Bros) NEW [3,515 Theaters]
Friday $4.7M, Saturday $7.1M, Weekend $16.7M
Not much good to say when Hollywood thought the bear could muster domestic grosses between $20M and $25M. Nope. The kiddie matinee bump for Yogi Bear was +52% on Saturday. Let’s see how it does over the holiday. But I pity the poor parent who has to sit through this Jellystone Park mind-dumber, even with the nostalgia factor. Especially considering the higher 3D ticket prices.
3. Narnia/Dawn Treader 3D (Walden/Fox) Week 2 [3,555 Theaters]
Friday $3.5M, Saturday $5.1M, Weekend $12.4M (-48%), Cume $42.7M
4. The Fighter (Relativity/Paramount) Week 2 [2,503 Theaters]
Friday $3.9M, Saturday $4.8M, Weekend $12.2M, Cume $12.6M
Paramount gushed what a “great start” this expansion is for their blue collar Oscar contender. “We should have great word of mouth and play to a great multiple,” an exec tells me because of The Fighter‘s high 88% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and “A-” CinemaScore and mere $25M budget. The studio’s adult-targeted Christmas release last year, Up In The Air, did $11.3M in wider release and went on to gross $83M domestically. Exit polls shows The Fighter played to a very balanced audience, 47% male, 53% female, with its R rating obviously playing older, 87% were over age 25. “Adult movies in the window play to very high multiples, 6 to 8 times this weekend,” a Paramount exec tells me. “With these exits and reviews, it’s on a great path. Just in case you haven’t heard it already, here’s the backstory: Paramount had been developing this film with producers David Hoberman and Mark Wahlberg for several years. The moment he learned nearly 5 years ago that he’d be starring in the movie — alongside Matt Damon for then anointed director Darren Aronofsky — Wahlberg built a boxing ring his backyard, hired two trainers on his own dime, and trained hours each day to hone his skills. Wahlberg never stopped training, not when Damon dropped out and Brad Pitt came in, not when Aronofsky dropped out, Pitt left, and the project was nearly knocked out. Then Relativity Media came in and agreed to finance and produce the film. Director David O Russell was brought in and deals were restuctured to get the budget down to $25 million. Paramount retained the option to keep domestic rights, which the studio elected to do once it screened the final film.
5. The Tourist (GK Films/Sony) Week 2 [2,756 Theaters]
Friday $2.5M, Saturday $3.5M, Weekend $8.7M (-47%), Cume $30.7M
6. Tangled 3D (Disney) Week 4 [3,201 Theaters]
Friday $2.5M, Saturday $3.8M, Weekend $8.6M, Cume $129.7M
Not only does Disney’s Tangled look to overtake DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind ($142M) before the end of the year, but the Rapunzel retelling has now made $97.8M abroad for a worldwide cume of $225.6M.
7. Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Week 3 [959 Theaters]
Friday $2.5M, Saturday $3.2M, Weekend $8.3M, Cume $15.7M
Terrific gross for the first wide expansion on this Oscar-touted film pre-holiday time. Black Swan will expand again on December 22 to approximately 500 additional theatres.
8. How Do You Know (Sony) NEW [2,483 Theaters]
Friday $2.5M, Saturday $2.9M, Weekend $7.6M
Sony Pictures all week had been warning me about how little Jim Brooks’ movies make. The problem is that none of his films have been this expensive. Brooks’ highest grossing opening as a director was $12.6 million for As Good As It Gets, in part because Jack Nicholson was the lead. At first Sony hoped to come close to that for a solid multiple since this is a season where these films leg out. Not this expensive flop. Today, even Sony admitted this was a “disappointing start”. Tracking stayed awful right up until the movie opened Friday well behind Black Swan which was expanding into almost 1,000 screens this weekend and scoring twice How Do You Know‘s first-choice numbers for women. As for mutiples, they’re dependent on good word of mouth which this bomb never had. Without that, anything less than $15M this weekend was a giant headache for Sony given what I’m told is How Do You Know‘s $120 million budget — no kidding, and for a comedy — while a weekend under $10M represents a $50 million writeoff for Sony. That’s because Brooks kept to his usual long, long schedule, shooting a ton of footage, all while Jack Nicholson and Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd and Reese Witherspoon were getting paid full freight. Brooks wrote this pic for and around Witherspoon, then he indulged in uber-expensive reshoots as the studio and the writer/director tried to make Reese’s unlikeable character more appealing. But Black Swan, in the words of one studio rival, was “a better alternative” at the box office for women. Ouch! Opening weekend exits showed the audience was 60% female and 55% over 30 years old. Sony has had another great year at the domestic box office, but it’ll try to sever its longtime connection with Jim Brooks after this.
9. Harry Potter/Deathly Hallows, Pt 1 (Warner Bros) Week 5 [2,860 Theaters]
Friday $1.5M, Saturday $2M, Weekend $4.8M, Cume $265.5M
10. Unstoppable (Fox) Week 6 [1,876 Theaters]
Friday $550K, Saturday $810K, Weekend $1.8M, Cume $77.3M
—
Specialty Films:
The King’s Speech (Weinstein Co) Week 4 [43 Theaters] Weekend $1M, Cume $2.9M
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Week 7 [307 theaters] Weekend $520K, Cume $9.2M
The Tempest (Miramax/Touchstone) Week 2 [21 Theaters] Weekend $53K, Cume $117K
Rabbit Hole (Lionsgate) NEW [5 Theaters] Weekend $55K
FRIDAY AM: Disney now says Tron Legacy 3D opened to $3.6 million from midnight screenings. It also did over $1 million from 228 IMAX theaters. I’m told that’s by far the biggest percentage — 25+% — done of any movie’s midnight box office, and more than the percentage of midnight take by IMAX for Iron Man 2, Inception, Avatar. But note that’s not the highest IMAX gross.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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I feel like Tron had the largest and most aggressive marketing campaign in motion picture history.
Yep, marketing makes all the difference. Disney can do it when they exert themselves. But sadly, not for Tangled or Prince Caspian, which were much better movies than this one.
Sure, they screwed up Caspian’s marketing. But Tangled is a huge hit.
Should be bigger. Tangled deserves to gross over 200 million, but this is looking less likely now. Disney put all its money into Tron.
Tangled is a phenomenal movie – much fresher and more original than Toy Story 3 (which I also enjoyed). Granted I had lower expectations going in for Tangled, but I thought it was among the best princess movies ever made – great from start to finish.
Dawn Treader is a Fox property now. Disney washed their hands after the second pic.
It is a now win situation. The Christian groups don’t think the Christ Imagry is played up enough, while the non Evangelical-Christian viewers think the Christ thing is played up too much.
The First 2 weren’t great, but they were helped by Disney’s relentless marketing.
Actually Disney’s marketing for Narnia was lousy. They dropped the ball on Narnia 2 with some frankly boneheaded decisions — like switching the opening to May and putting it up against Indiana Jones, while at the same time doing an ad campaign so skimpy even some of the fans didn’t know when the movie was coming out. Disney then blamed the movie instead of themselves, and abandoned the franchise.
But they were just distributing Narnia. Tangled is their own in-house project. Wouldn’t you think they’d back their own product??
“It is a now (sic) win situation. The Christian groups don’t think the Christ Imagry is played up enough, while the non Evangelical-Christian viewers think the Christ thing is played up too much.”
I work with a lot of Christian groups, and have never talked to a single one that is echoing what you’re saying.
A more realistic dichotomy is the fact that the movies are too intense to take young children too, and yet viewed as movies ‘for kids’ by most adults. And as the other replier said, the marketing was not good. Most people I’ve talked to who have watched the movies have actually really liked them, Evangelical Christian or not.
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Ummm…all of that is fascinating Alcie but if you’re too stupid to remember the name of the movie on which you’re commenting, you really shouldn’t just type in gibberish…it gives people the impression that you’re a pathetic moron who believes everybody else using the site is a pathetic moron who will immediately visit the site (whose name you’ve mangled horrendously, you worthless cretin) in order to find “r’ich singles..”.
Furthermore, if you don’t know what an ellipsis is nor its intended purpose, just don’t use it. Or are you the sort of idiot who doesn’t know that a chainsaw ISN’T intended to trim fingernails but merely sees that it’s an effective cutting tool?
In future Alcie, please peddle your pointless spam elsewhere
You know you’re talking to a spambot, right?
I will cut your tron is way harder then any of those movies on less your like 6 with no intelligence lol
LA Times reported it had a marketing budget of $150 mill. That’s crazy. That would make the production and marketing budget roughly $320 million ($170 mill for production). Disney really needs this to have legs and perform well overseas for this to make money. With a weakish story and CinemaScore showing that women are being hesitant to go see this movie, I’m doubting it will.
Crazy as it sounds, that LA Times number is low. This movie needs to make upwards of $500M. Rich Ross and Sean Bailey bet the farm on this one. And it’s god awful.
Most aggressive promotion in history? Yeah, right. I watch television all the time, and didn’t see a commercial until a few nights ago. Also, I still have no idea what this stupid movie is about.
obviously you watch the weather channel!
Ask anyone who’s seen it and they’ll tell you it blows…
But great soundtrack!
Soundtrack is awesome. Movie was laughably terrible but mainly because it was just so boring. My wife wanted to leave. When the credits rolled, the audience couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Reminds me of “Red Planet.” A big sci-fi movie handed to a first-timer out of commercials who obviously didn’t know how to make the leap and turned in a snoozer.
I’ve seen it and I loved it so do not speak for everyone.
You are literally the first person I’ve seen who “loved” it. Glad somebody did!
I thought Tron was great and so did my fiancee. My buddy who typically hates anything I like (Pirates 1) even liked it. In my showing roughly half the audience waited form the end credits to finish to see if there was anything after.
Oscar winner? no. Good action flick? you bet.
I’d say moderate promotion – definitely not most aggressive. Avatar jumps out to me as 100x more aggressive marketing.
Avatar got insane amounts of legit press because everyone was fascinated in seeing if it became a train wreck. But Tron has been everywhere for at least a year and it’s all been paid for. I believe it was not one, but two Comi-Cons ago they announced it and showed some footage. There’s been a billboard for it in Century City up since 2009. They got Gawker to blog about it constantly. Anything music related got flooded with Tron/Daft Punk pub. Every few months for the past year a screenshot, a new teaser, or a clip would be all the rage on the web.
They bet the farm on this one.
well, if you spend 130million in promotion that seems like agressive to me!
To young for the Shakesphere In Love campaign
You sure about Tron’s marketing effort being the biggest?
I happened to be traveling from LA to DC and back a couple of weeks ago.
The Tourist was plastered all over everything, and I mean everything.
Giant posters were even on the supporting columns at the arrival area of LAX; everywhere in DC; on every bus; constantly on TV on both coasts.
The Tourist still bombed, even with Depp and Jolie.
Wow, that’s more than I thought it would do so far.
The clips I’ve seen look extremely disappointing, considering the build-up. Amateurish acting, terrible script from what I’ve seen – and a visual look that doesn’t even seem as eye-catching as the original “Tron” – just actors in light-suits in a real environment as opposed to the environment itself being part of the game – that was a real let-down.
My guess is that it will do really well the first weekend, and then start to go downhill.
Of course, I’m saying this not having seen the entire film yet, admittedly.
Ummm what movie are you watching? Yes, the script and acting are lacking, but your comment about the visuals is completely wrong. In no way does the environment look ‘REAL’ at all. If by ‘real’ you mean the objects look 3D, instead of all flat grey with no other values like the original, I guess you are right but that is just stupid.
An angry nerd, how surprising!
Roger Ebert seems to agree with your thought. From his review:
“I expect “Tron: Legacy” to be a phenomenon at the box office for a week or so. It may not have legs, because its appeal is too one-dimensional for an audience much beyond immediate responders”.
“a visual look not as eye-catching as the original TRON”??????
Dude, there are TEST PATTERNS that have better SFX than the original TRON!
YOUR MOM has better SFX than the original Tron, Seth.
Seth’s mom’s SFX’s were actually not that great… I prefer a test pattern and MILF porn.
Saw it last night at Imax 3d. Your analysis is incorect. Awesome. Watched tron 1 nite before.
What’s unforgivable about the new TRON is that its creators made _exactly_ the same mistakes the previous ones did–and with a better premise, to boot. There was nowhere to go but up with this version, but, noooooooo…
This movie was the worst movie that I have seen for a long time. The movie is certainly receiving an unfair amount of interest despite everything is so mediocre as it could be.There is nothing good in the movie in terms of music, costume design,story, casting, lots of overacting, the music is so boring,the story is celebration of mediocracy and the scenes are so much dark with terrible colors within a dark feeling. The film does not create any big emotion any artistic sensation,and does not create a warm feeling.it is absolutely like a stupid and boring video game for high school students that is totally a waste of time. To own a DVD of TRON is number one on the list of top ten things to own that will reduce your property value
It’s clear that all the hardcore Tron nuts turned out for the midnight showings. I’m expecting the weekend gross to be VERY underwhelming.
An utterly amazing experience in IMAX. The best 3D spectacle I’ve ever seen. Me along with the packed house were going nuts! Yeah the story is a little clunky at times, but don’t believe the naysayers, see it for yourself. This is good stuff.
3.5 million? Damn! Its gonna do gangbusters by the end of the weekend.
I believe the film can open to almost 60 million, Clash of the titans did it with bad reviews.
3D combined with something that people know(COTT)can get people in the theater.
I was underwhelmed. I wanted to like this so much. 3D looked good but in the end the best effect are the neon lights and that gets old after a while. The action is severely lacking as is character and story.
Just my opinion so no need to be upset please, thank you
I actually went in thinking this was going to be a huge or just a simple leap over AVATAR, believe me it isn’t. So in the end not even the eye candy was mind blowing, except for Beau Garrett, what a fox
I saw it and it was awesome! The 3D visuals are outstanding and it is just a fun ride. Going to see it a few times.
As I recall, “Clash of the Titans” did about $4 million opening at 8 p.m. the night before official opening day. So, “Tron” can’t even beat “Clash of the Titans” after all the breathless hype and marketing muscle?
Didn’t “Paranormal Activity 2″ do $6 million on midnight openings?
“Tron: Legacy” can’t do better than “Paranormal Activity 2″?
It could still surprise. But with 49% at Rotten Tomatoes and $3.6 million on opening INCLUDING the surcharges for IMAX and 3-D, that’s awfully anemic.
I’ll still try to give it the benefit of the doubt, but maybe this will finally prove to good ol’ Hollywood that just because you have fanboy hype does NOT mean you have a hit. Not by a longshot.
I knew this film would be a big box officer getter.
Since the local cinema operator lacks 3d tech Tron Legacy didn’t open in Vicksburg ms at all. As usual the local cinema added two extra 2d films which some will go see but others want. One mistake Wilcox has made in its movie planning is the fact that it’s Anti-Disney. Believe that? Coupled by the fact that it doesn’t have 3d tech the local market is going to go Jackson metro area to see Tron. Wilcox has been missing the blockbusters lately as well.
i’ve been predicting a 70M weekend… only real competition is Yogi, but the overlap there isn’t too big.
The feel i’ve been getting for this 3D pic is the biggest I’ve sensed since Avatar. This definitely won’t have the legs Avatar had, but it should be strong flare. 70 opening – 200 total domestic.
I think 12 year old boys are going to LOVE this movie and they’ll want to see it more than once.
If only it had some of the wonder and awe of the first one.
The current prediction is $47 million.
who cares what you have been predicting?
i do
I thought this the right headline to mention:
If you want really honest movie reviews, and I mean honest, I think Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal is the best we have right now. As a fan of Ebert, over the years he’s begun to pander to filmmakers and give good reviews when the films were awful. I have noticed that Joe continues to stand out and give honest reviews.
Happy Holidays.
Recently, Joe has become my favorite critic. Quality reviews!
Which reviewer are you reading? Give me three examples of his reviews where he’s pandered to anyone? The guy won the Pulitzer in ’75 for film criticism, was one half of the only team that could make a television film criticism show entertaining and is the only person *still* on this planet that could convince me that my opinion on a movie is wrong.
Joe Morgenstern is hardly an insightful and honest critic. If he’s going to be honest he should admit to that huge chip on his shoulder when it comes to certain filmmakers. Over the years he has become either sickeningly fawning or mean-spirited and harsh. I’d rather read a random sampling of reviews off the internet than to listen to his pomposity.
Kermode is King!
Damn, in these 6 comments alone I’ve read about as many negative comments for TRON that i would usually read about for TRANSFORMERS or something. What is it about movies that are visually far superior to the likes of those such as DARK KNIGHT and INCEPTION that people feel the need to shower down hate?? I don’t know and i don’t care. This is the type of movie that one must see for himself and not be influenced by the words of others before making a critique. If you fashion yourself a real movie connoisseur and you don’t experience this,…plain and simple,.your an idiot. Me and the wife have tickets for Sunday in IMAX 3D and i can’t wait.
Take heart. DARK KNIGHT and INCEPTION are two of the most overrated movies I’ve ever seen. They write terrible scripts.
That is one of the funniest comments ever. Calling these scripts ( dark knight, inception) awful just shows that you have no idea whatsoever about movies, life, beauty,rhythm, dialogue, themes…..well, just about everything.
Try writing a screenplay. See if you can get beyond page 2.
Opinions are cheap, and obviously some people’s opinions are more worthwhile than other’s. I admit that I am not talented enough to put together a movie script or garner Pulitzer prizes or a reviewers salary, but I think I AM qualified to offer an opinion as to whether or not I thought a particular movie was worth the price of admission, and so are most of us who buy the tickets.
KJ obviously can’t handle conceptually sophisticated scripts. Inception was break through. A film I’m glad I paid to go see at the theater and worth the price of admission.
TRANSFORMERS may be one of the worst films of all time. I can’t even watch it for 5 minutes and the sequel is the worst film of all time. Dark knight was incredible, but Inception was almost as bad as transformers. You should just watch commecials since you hate drama acting and storyline so much.
I saw Inception for the first time about a week ago. I love to get lost in a good movie, but that one just didn’t do it. It was, well, stupid.
“What is it about movies that are visually far superior to the likes of those such as DARK KNIGHT and INCEPTION that people feel the need to shower down hate??”
Well, first of all, you’re reading blog comments, six of them, written by people who are mostly not in Tron’s demographic. So there’s that. Relax.
But secondly, visuals don’t make a movie, dude. If the story is lacking, the movie disappoints. Period. A movie with great CG and a bad story (Transformers 2) loses to a movie with a great story and unexciting visuals (The Dark Knight) every time. (I’m talking overall quality, not box office, although TDK won that too.)
I haven’t seen Tron yet, though, and I hope it’s great. But when you say that a movie connoisseur who doesn’t go to see it is an idiot (and by the way, learn to use ellipses correctly), you embarrass yourself. Real movie connoisseurs see more than just the blockbusters with the massive marketing campaigns. I don’t see you posting similar diatribes on posts about “Biutiful.”
Transformers still sucked!
What’s the point of a HORRIBLE STORY looking great. Who cares I’m still bored.
I wasn’t bored at Dark Knight, but Inception also sucked, but not nearly as bad a Transformers 2, the worst film of all time.
I might remind you that you are also posting on this blog genius
“This is the type of movie that one must see for himself and not be influenced by the words of others before making a critique.”
So I shouldn’t listen to you then.
Geek movies are saved…?
I thought the articles on other sites, stating Tron Legacy is tracking a $30-$35mil opening weekend, were insane. Tron will be huge this weekend, and into next.
that tracking was 2 weeks ago, before the last 2 weeks promo&premieres; and big difference, wstimation was 35mil 2 weeks ago&it made 47mil after the heavy promo over past 2 weeks; in the end of the day, it’s gonna make about 45-47mil, while sh*tty movies like Jackass 3D made 50million opening weekend! And Jackass was rated R, not PG-13 like Tron;
Saw it today in 3D. Deserves every cent of its huge marketing push. Story is stronger than reviews gave it credit for, and it looks… effing… amazing.
The film was terrible. The second weekend drop-off will be nightmarish.
2nd week drop off? Are you not familiar with holiday vacation legs?
This is hardly a scientific indicator, but my family ALWAYS goes to movies on the day after Christmas and it’s been, “TronTronTron” from my nephew and my sister and everybody else. Now, apparently, we’re seeing “True Grit” as said nephew’s (he’s 12) friends said they were bored. Hey, I’m still going to see it, but that’s twelve tickets sales gone.
This film is a must see theater experience, if for no other reason than it is completely immersive — and you’ll never replicate it at home, no matter how big your TV is. The visuals are incredible and Daft Punk’s soundtrack is off the chart. Avatar looks quaint compared to this.
I have worked with Rich Ross and I hope this one is a huge hit for him. It will give him some slack to really get going and prove himself. Which he will.
That’s great considering he had nothing to do with greenlighting the project and is so distanced from the marketing folks they meet with him about once every two months. The guy might as well live in Tangled’s tower.
Can’t wait for Disney “Prom”, though! That should be like High School Musical 3, just minus the music that made it so popular.
Word of mouth will kill this one in a New York minute. Possibly worse than Troy. If the laughter in the audience to Garrett Hedlund’s lines doesn’t bury his career then his lack of ability and substance will. Who could have possibly thought that an amateur like Garrett Hedlund could carry a major motion picture? Pathetic.
LOL sorry but probably you´ll be eating your words in upcoming months. He’s got high profile roles coming next and will be going huge whether you want it or not. Don’t be jealous if women like him yeah? Garrett did wonderfully with a totally uninteresting character and cheesy lines he had to work with. Olivia was the weakest point acting wise. And please, envy is utterly pathetic yes. Tron is already a huge success.
Based on its budget and marketing costs, no Tron is not already a success.
if Olivia was the weakest link, then why did she get better reviews than Hedlund? Many reviewers liked Olivia, but everybody hated Hedlund; cause when critics said he reminds them of Hayden Christensen, trust me, it’s not a compliment! Puh-lease little fangirl, he’s got high profile roles? His next part is in Country Strong which comes out also in a few days&every1 sees how BAD he is; I’m pretty sure Walter Salles is already banging his head in the walls ; and no, with 45-7 mil in the BO, Tron far from being a success!
What are you smoking? Wilde is getting the best reviews out of everyone in the movie and that includes Bridges. Heart and soul of the movie, the only redeeming thing outside Saft Punk score,etc.
Your audition didn’t go well, eh Larry?
Garrett Hedlund was just terrible. I went with a group of a dozen people, kids, and adults. The only things we all agreed on were that he was bad, and the movie was just way too boring.
it has about 20 minutes of action, in 2+ hours. What were they thinking? SOOOOO much talking. I thought it would be mindless action — which i was kinda excited for.
It’s just mindless boring.
Great music, great costumes, such a boring film.
Doing a sequel to TRON was a terrible idea, executed poorly. really boring script.
I knew How Do You Know would bomb
Too bad. I like Witherspoon and Rudd a lot. Tron should clock in at about $200 domestically. Little Fockers should clean up nicely next weekend.
Tangled shouldn’t have dropped that much. Disney reportedly gave its 3D screens to Tron. Way to go, Disney. Sabotaging your own product, now that’s smart.
Narnia 3′s second weekend hold is actually better than either the first or second movie’s. Imagine how it could have done with some actual marketing.
If Harry Potter keeps sliding like this it could be out of the top 10 by next weekend, Christmas holiday notwithstanding. Whoa.
I think the real story is the immense, scary magnitude of the marketing push behind Jeff Bridges and the new True Grit.
But, anyhow, my 8-year-old and an 11-year-old friend were telling each other that Narnia is terrible, the Harry Potter movie is good for big kids but not yet younger kids, and they’d like to see Tangled again. They were also watching the Despicable Me video and competing to see who could explain what was coming next better, so, I think the real real story is that Despicable Me is going to have decades of legs.
Little Fockers?
Terrible trailers, tired premise already – that movie has bomb written all over it
You know where they go wrong? If you’ve got a movie called ‘Little Fockers,’ show kids being actual ‘little fockers,’ because we all know they can be…instead we get Stiller’s bewildered mug, and shots of the seniors (legends though they may be) DeNiro, Streisand and Hoffman. Show the kids biting their ankles, cursing a blue streak, running wild. You know, tie the plot of the movie, in with the title. That’s where these trailers go wrong – they FAIL almost every time out, in telling us just what the story is.
Uhhh yeah “where they go wrong” – aka the most successful comedy franchise in movie history. This thing will make $500 million all in.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. Little Fockers will kill. Beloved franchise. Stars in roles that people want to see. Family fun over Christmas.
This is why feature films are at a low ebb in Hollywood. Morons like you that probably think the world actually wants Lena Dunham films. If it wasn’t for about ten people in Hollywood, Burton, Cameron, Stiller, Will Smith, Lucas and Spielberg, Lassester and the crew at Pixar the whole place would be bankrupt.
And it’s supposed to gross 220 million dollars in the US. Bomb!
Tron Legacy is visually impressive and should be seen on the big screen. Unfortunately the script, dialogue, storyline, and acting all need work. I don’t think Kosinski is a director who knows how to work with actors, the performances are either uneven like Hedlund’s, in some scenes he is flatly reading the lines and in others he is fantastic or wildly over the top approaching camp like Sheen. Bridges is allowed to slip into the Dude. And Wilde was interesting but with an extra push the character could’ve been much more. The movie loses momentum after the first act and never gets it back. And it violates the age old storytellingg dictum, show, don’t tell.
Do you mind if I steal your review of TRON:LEGACY? It was downright spot-on?
By steal, I mean post somewhere else, but give you credit as the person from Deadline.
People keep saying he acts like The Dude. I actually watched the first Tron a year or two ago. I don’t think you realize that in Tron he was “The Dude” and his Tron character probably inspired The Big Lebowski character.
$18 million on a Friday for a massively hyped movie is GOOD? If you say so. Seems pretty lackluster to me, especially given the surcharges. Here comes another $140 million underperformer. How will Disney spin this one?!
Even if you are right about it’s final U.S. gross, I think this is the type of movie that will do three times it’s U.S. business overseas. At least twice it’s U.S. gross is a given, but because visuals is a big part of the experience, overseas audiences should eat it up.
Olivia Wilde is going to be a huge movie star. She’s a beautiful, great actress. Shes also starring in Cowboys and Aliens which looks like it will be a classic movie.
ROTLMAO!!
What are you? Agent? Relative?
Just an honest person making an honest observation.
Um…Disney promoted the hell out of Tron Legacy for 2.5 years. A massive marketing spend on multiple fronts yields a less than $50m opening? Folks, that’s not a good number for this movie, especially since the story is very weak and it probably won’t play overseas.
If this ends up doing less $400m worldwide, it will be a big disappointment for the studio. Actually, anything less than $600m is pretty weak.
Anything less than $600 million will be pretty weak?
Wow. Hate really clouds logic here on these boards.
Logic?
Okay. Even if we accept Disney’s budget # that Tron Legacy cost $170m, add in $150m for P&A. That’s $320m.
Let’s say the film does $600m ww. Distributors will take half of that. $300m back to Disney. Have you noticed how this number is less than what Disney gets back? Even if you count Disney double-dipping by taking their 15% distrib fee off the top of profits back to the studio, $600m would still be a significant disappointment for them.
People saying Disney will make their money on toys, etc. may well be right but the movie is a key-driver of the franchise. With a story as weak as Tron Legacy, no one will be buying much ancillary product.
With a combined production/marketing cost of 270+ million, it has to gross around $500 million worldwide to break even, and then take profits from DVD and TV sales.
Anything less than $400 million worldwide and you are unlikely to see a sequel or a ride at Disneyland because the film will just barely break even from all revenue streams.
Anything over 500 global, and there will be a sequel and a ride (which is where Disney makes most of its profits anyway, ticket sales to theme parks, hotels, etc).
These films are really designed to advertise Disney’s theme park business. That’s where the real money is.
I guess Disney no longer makes money off of DVDs and/or TV rights.
Everytime a movie comes out you people come out of the woodwork giving us lessons about movie financing and you’re almost ALWAYS wrong. Aren’t you guys tired of looking stupid after wrongly predicting AVATAR was bombing three weeks after its release last year? This represents the third highest grossing weekend for any movie released in December. Get a grip.
First, films like this don’t earn the studio 50%, that’s just stupid. This isn’t some arthouse film boy. This isn’t some independent studio, this is DISNEY!
Of that $50 million, Disney probably took home $45 million in its first weekend. One-sixth of its entire budget covered in the opening weekend alone.
Second, It has to make $600 million WORLDWIDE from its ENTIRE RUN to break even, not its opening weekend in ONE MARKET. Then there are DVD sales, rentals; then there are sales to cable/TV. These latter platforms represent, generally, 40% of all film revenues.
Don’t quit your day job bro. One week ago studios were getting all snarky because the film was “tracking” to do $35 million, it’s up to $50 million projected now and might do $50+ million when all is said and done. Then you have a holiday week and Christmas weekend, followed by another holiday week and New Years weekend.
Three solid weeks.
$600 million = $300 million in the studio’s pocket. They spent nearly $300 million on production and marketing in the U.S. Add in the international marketing costs and the film would be in the red, probably breaking even after home ent., pay tv, etc.
The only upside would be consumer products sales.
This is assuming it did $600 million, which it won’t. It will make half of that.
Exactly. Remember how much “Watchmen” was considered a huge disappointment after its opening day–Well that R Rated, non 3D flick opened to $24 and a $55 mil 3 day total. So explain how this opening is a success?!
exactly man, Watchmen is the best example!
One could just as easily speculate that a weak story is intentional in order to help Tron’s sales with audiences whose first language is not english. George Of The Jungle, I noticed, did very well overseas in part because the plot was not hard to figure out.
You have to be pulling that right out of your butt, because that makes absolutely no sense.
Please>>>>>>
are you an idiot? i like how you make that $200 million leap like oh no big deal.
The marketing campaign was massive (they’ve been billboarding it in LA for a solid year) and you’re right that it’s going to take a fairly massive recoup to make this a winner. But Tron, like all special effects movies, is going to play huge overseas. Will it be enough? Don’t know. Personally I’m pretty disappointed in the movie. Could have been good. But it’s not good.