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SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM, 2ND UPDATE: Here is Friday and Saturday and weekend and cume North American box office grosses and the weekend forecasts. This was supposed to be Hollywood’s comeback weekend after a product-driven underwhelming start to the New Year. But Friday through Sunday is expected to reach only $135 million, which pales in comparison (-31%) to last year’s first weekend in March when just Alice In Wonderland 3D alone did $116M and the overall movie total was $196M. The result is that the movie execs are giving up on accurately predicting box office not just because of how depressed the overall marketplace has been but also because they no longer can rely on tracking to be accurate. They don’t like the year-to-date stats, either: $1.6B vs $2.1B, with revenue down 20% and attendance down 21%.
1. Rango (Paramount) NEW [3,917 Theaters]
Friday $9.7M, Saturday $16.8M, Weekend $38M, International $16.5M, Global $54.5
Remember back to the Super Bowl and that Rango ad? Well, according to a USA Today poll, it ranked higher that all the other movie ads including Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 and Transformers 3 screened during the big game. Now, after weeks of tracking strongly despite its dark and weird vibe, the reteaming of Pirates Of The Caribbean duo Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp lived up to its promise — though not the $50M opening weekend which Paramount had initially hoped. ”No question people responded to the concept of Johnny Depp in an animated film,” a Paramount exec told me. “Johnny has a track record in family movies and therefore attracts a broad family audience.” That’s a feat considering it’s a non-summer 2D toon and the kids weren’t even out of school Friday. When they were, the pic had a big Saturday matinee bump of +73% even though the film wasn’t aimed at young children but rather ages 6 to 12 and parents (who nevertheless gave Rango only a “C+” CinemaScore despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews). True, the pic might have added 15%-20% to its grosses had it been 3D. But that lizard and company played like a four-quadrant hit pic. It also helped that Paramount paired the trailer with True Grit and Little Fockers and could rely on other Viacom companies like Nickelodeon and Comedy Central and MTV for promotion.
Rival studios claim the movie cost $180M though Paramount pegs the budget at $130M. And the uber-marketing cost a pretty penny. What happened was that when Universal didn’t go ahead with his Bioshock pic, Verbinski went from just producing and prepping Rango to also directing Josh Logan’s script. One of the reasons Rango snagged Depp and impressed the critics was Verbinski’s idea to have the actors actually perform their roles, instead of the traditional approach of standing in a booth and just voicing, to create chemistry between the cast and deliver better performances. Verbinski decided to use ILM, which had done the CGI for Pirates Of The Caribbean but wasn’t in the toon biz, for the complete character animation film. Now Paramount expects ILM to keep making toons for it without any startup costs and give DreamWorks Animation a run for Paramount’s toon distribution. (“Have you checked the DreamWorks Animation stock lately? It’s becoming the biggest short in the media business,” a rival studio emailed me…)
Paramount just told me that, overseas in the 33 countries it was opening in day and date (including UK, Mexico, Germany, and Spain), Rango was #1. It opened about half the markets internationally this weekend and generated $16.5 million, led by the UK’s $3 million and Mexico’s $2.3 million.
2. The Adjustment Bureau (MRC/Universal) NEW [2,840 Theaters]
Friday $6.7M, Saturday $9.1M, Weekend $20.9M, International $10.5M, Global $31.4M
The Adjustment Bureau overperformed this weekend for definitely more than the mid-to-high teens Universal was predicting. The studio acquired the “B” CinemaScore pic (with ages up to 34 giving it either an “A-” or “B+” — from MRC for $62 million. Hey, Matt Damon running, and running, and running a la Bourne is a tried and true and derivative formula so the PG-13 actioner should have earned more. Exit polls showed the audience was 73% ages 30 years and older/27 % under 30 years of age and 47% male/53% female. Tracking indicated the film appealed to an older demographic because it’s a romance, a thriller, and a sci-fi’er all in one with known Damon and Emily Blunt starring. That made it hard to comp because it doesn’t fit neatly into any one genre. And also hard to sell since it required some unusual thinking in order to sell well. But it tracked with men and women over age 25, and Universal’s marketing department did a more than decent job. Besides North America, the pic earned $10.5M overseas when it released day and date in 21 territories: Australia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Serbia Montenegro, Singapore, Thailand, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Philippines, Poland, Spain, Turkey, and the UK. Universal stressed that The Adjustment Bureau is Damon’s biggest opening weekend overseas since 2007′s The Bourne Ultimatum.
3. Beastly (CBS Films/Sony) NEW [1,952 Theaters]
Friday $3.5M, Saturday $3.9M, Weekend $10.1M
CBS Films’ Beastly starring Alex Pettyfer in yet another career debut — this time an updated Beauty And The Beast storyline that received a “B” CinemaScore (the highest of all this weekend’s films) and an “A-” CinemaScore from teenage girls — overperformed beyond the $8M predicted this weekend. That’s better than the low expectations considering the narrow release. This pic was all about attracting 12- to 14-year-old girls, but that one quad is always hard to predict. (Comps like Bandslam, Post Grad and I Love You Beth Cooper all tanked.) CBS Films wanted $5M this weekend against the $17M cost. Film was pre-sold internationally.
4. Hall Pass (New Line/Warner Bros) Week 2 [2,950 Theaters]
Friday $2.7M, Saturday $3.8M, Weekend $9M (-33%), Cume $27M
5. Gnomeo & Juliet 3D (Disney) Week 4 [2,984 Theaters]
Friday $1.5M, Saturday $3.4M, Weekend $6.9M, Cume $83.6M
Cumulative international box office in Disney-released territories for Gnomeo & Juliet now stands at $12.5M. Markets distributed by Pathe and its third-party affiliates have grossed $29.1M thus far overseas. So total global box office, inclusive of Pathe territories, now stands at $125.3M.
6. Unknown (Dark Castle/Warner Bros) Week 3 [2,913 Theaters]
Friday $1.8M, Saturday $3M, Weekend $6.6M, Cume $53.1M
7. Just Go With It (Sony) Week 4 [2,920 Theaters]
Friday $1.9M, Saturday $2.9M, Weekend $6.5M, Cume $88.2M
8. The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Co) Week 15 [2,240 Theaters]
Friday $1.6M, Saturday $2.8M, Weekend $6.5M, Cume $123.8M
The Weinstein Company announced on Sunday morning that its Oscar-winner The King’s Speech is now its #1 grossing film, surpassing Inglourious Basterds’ $120.5M.
9. I Am Number 4 (DreamWorks/Touchstone/Disney) Week 3 [2,903 Theaters]
Friday $1.6M, Saturday $2.6M, Weekend $5.7M, Cume $46.4M, International $42.1M, Global $88.5M
10. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 3D (Paramount) Week 4 [2,254 Theaters]
Friday $1.2M, Saturday $1.8M, Weekend $4.3M, Cume $68.8M
11. Take Me Home Tonight (Rogue/Relativity) NEW [2,003 Theaters]
Friday $1.2M, Saturday $1.3M, Weekend $3.5M
Relativity acquired Take Me Home Tonight when it purchased Rogue, which made the film with Imagine for $20M. But Ryan Kavanaugh’s company paid $10M for the pic and spent another $20M to market this movie about twentysomethings set in the 1980s. But why in the world, even when it was shot in 2007, would Topher Grace star in this raunchy party pic? (Because going from the 1970s on TV to a decade later in movies is not progress.) Exit polls indicated the audience was 49% male/51% female, 55% under age 25/45% over 25, and 59% Caucasian/31% Non-Caucasian. Though it garnered decent reviews — Kavanaugh himself calls it his “favorite Rogue movie” even if it did only earn a “C” CinemaScore – its grosses are disappointing for this middling release, which should have at least made $5M and more like $7M. By Sunday, it had fallen out of the Top 10 even though its soundtrack was #7 on iTunes.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Sad, I thought Rango would do $50+ like the LA Times said this morning.
I also thought Take Me Home Tonight was supposed to beat Beastly.
rango will do $50+, that’s what “probably more” meant nikki left herself an out. i do think it will get there. also watch the hold next weekend it will be VERY impressive. long tail on this one
Rango will struggle to get to 50 mil and won’t have great legs. Why? Kids hate it. I watched the film with a bunch of kids two weeks ago and they were squirming before it was half over and finding excuses to leave the theater halfway through.It will have a good run with adults but these films need families to go and see them and once the word is out on this one the families will flee in droves.
The ILM animation is incredible, however. They should do more films like this.
It’s PG-13. Families that have already seen GNOMEO have nothing else right now – it should do just fine.
You must work in Hollywood, cause you’re a real idiot. Families are not some heard that will just go to see anything. Especially if the kids don’t like it. They are the ones who will decide Rango’s fate. And kids do not like this movie. read Michael Phillips review if you don’t believe me.
But hey, we’ll know who’s right by next week. Oh, and it’s already down to 38 in the prediction.
He’s also an idiot because its PG.
so rango will go from 38 to 50 mil because you “think” it will. yah, ok.
rango was terrible. Tasteless, ugly, and very immature and juvenile. That said, one wonders why Nickelodeon and Paramount promoted this HEAVILY as a kids cartoon. It doesn’t seem to be pleasing parents who are dragging their kids out of the theaters, and adults are bored.
I’m glad I didn’t pay to see it, but even still, I was surprised what a terrible cartoon it was.
At one time in cartoon land, novice & unknown “voices” used to be the voices of characters and they earned a good living. Some of them were broadcast graduates or acting majors. So now the studios pay big name actors, like Depp, about $20Mil to voice a cartoon? Is that right. And they spend $150Mil for these cartoons and expect to reap the rewards….some day this will come back to haunt them.
I agree. Billy West could have voiced the iguana as well or better than Depp. Using celebs to sell animated films is pathetic.
Did you even see the movie?? I did.
Depp didn’t use his “normal everyday voice”. He actually used a different voice that suited the character. If they didn’t have Depp’s name plastered all over the movie poster i wouldn’t have known he did the voice of the main character ie. Rango.
But, your point is valid. Why pay Depp that money if he doesn’t even use his real voice.
Probably because they think having his name on the marquee will help to sell tickets???? That’s all i can think of.
Smart comment. I’m warning you……
Just saw Take Me Home Tonight. Really funny movie.
I heard that it was really funny. Now that Relativity has $200 million more from their Hedge Funders they can make a sequel.
“Take Me Home Tomorrow”?
@ Stargazer: That’s a stupid title. Clearly it’s going to be “Take Me Home Tomorrow Night”.
No. it’s going to be “Take Me Home, Too”.
i thought it was bad to the point of giving me a headache. i like the people involved, so it’s too bad they have a flop, but I’m glad a bad movie is not making much money
The trailers make it look like — looks, mind you — like the kind of screwball comedy that’s been sorely lacking. Gotta be better than Just Go With It.
It will need good word of mouth. What crackhead thought Topher Grace was leading man material or a box office draw?
It was shot in 2007, when he was hot shit.
Topher Grace thought he was leading man material, I think.
The only other movie he headlined, In Good Company, did really well.
Good movie
It was a good movie,and with the right material Topher Grace is better than good. But, retro-80s raunch is not it.
Just saw “Take Me Home Tonight” today and totally enjoyed it. Great soundtrack.
Glad to see that Universal has a hit on their hands with THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU. They deserve credit for doing something different, and in this case it will be the first adult romantic thriller that anyone’s seen in a long time.
Agreed! There are great people over at Universal who deserve a success. I feel bad for Take Me Home Tonight but it looks like everyone else is having a solid weekend. Hooray for Hollywood!
I don’t think Unknown did poorly.
It wasn’t all that romantic, but it had a guy and a girl and lots of running around a gray/blue city.
Not saying I won’t see AB. I see everything with Matt Damon in it. That isn’t directed by Clint.
Have you seen it?
If bad word of mouth kills this pic, it will not be a hit. Right now the critics are treating this decently (not great), but, as Nikki pointed out – it’s likely because of the slight resemblance to a BOURNE movie.
That said, this was a silly movie from top to bottom. There was laughter from the audience in serious sections of the film throughout its running time in a theater at the Grove Friday night.
Any more holes in this script and Emily Blunt would have fallen right through. Seriously – half this movie made NO SENSE – does anyone else think this? It seemed like an unfortunate cross between a BOURNE movie and THE DEATHS OF IAN STONE (2007).
Here’s one of first reviews on Rotten Tomatoes: “It’s hard to imagine a more spectacularly silly film making it to theaters this year than The Adjustment Bureau.”
There. Point blank.
This is what happens when you write AND direct your own film. AND your FIRST film. THAT was the downfall of this movie. George Nolfi wrote BOURNE ULTIMATUM and OCEAN’S TWELVE yet this is the film time he’s ever directed anything, and yes, it shows.
Sure, everyone should get their shot at what they’d ultimately love to do – they just shouldn’t test out their first-time f*cking filmmaking skills on a Matt Damon action/suspense film.
So I hope Universal makes its $65M + marketing back (what, $30M anyone?). Because WOM can DEFINITELY kill this. Guys you’re only pulling in the Matt Damon action flick crowd right now, and while it’s not officially on the HATE LIST yet, the last BOURNE rated 93 RT – this one’s at 69 – not good.
And yes, I’m bitter. I wasted 2 hours and $60 on refreshments and tickets for 3 people to go and see a sh*tty movie. All of us were disappointed and it was not memorable.
I will end with this, and it will not give away any real part of the film: If these guys were so powerful, and “magical” as it were, why wouldn’t they just have “zapped” Damon’s memory at the beginning if they didn’t want him to talk or remember? Don’t they already tweak other people’s minds?
There. Easy solve. End the movie an hour earlier.
DEAR STUDIOS: JUST BECAUSE IT HAS MATT DAMON’S NAME WRITTEN ON IT DOESN’T MEAN IT’S ANY GOOD.
If peoples reaction on twitter is any indication, which is debatable, then it should have pretty good WOM. People on there seem to be really enjoying it…I followed it all of yesterday. You need to stop projecting your dislike on the movie to everyone else.
Wow, bitter much. But I know that I would never go to see this film. It seems ridiculous from the get go. Lots of talk about the pull back on special effects to make an “old fashioned” movie. But as much as that concept appeals to me, this story line is just insultingly incredible and, personally, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are not an appealing duo.
too bad for you the critics think this film is good; it’s currently 70% fresh in rottentomatoes
That means 30% of critics think it was a C+ or worse.
it means 7/10 critics thought it was B- or better
Exactly. 70% on RT is not a good score when we’re talking about what is or isn’t a good movie. 30% of critics basically panning the film is not good. People rip on Juno, and that had about 7% of critics not liking it. 90% or higher is what makes a good movie.
“70% on RT is not a good score.”
Sure it is. He said “good” not “great.” Don’t let your personal dislike for the film cloud obvious logic.
I liked it! But, I saw it at a matinee, so…
I also saw it at The Grove last night, and perhaps I was in a different screening from you, but there was not “laughter from the audience in serious sections of the film”. Sorry! There are plenty of critiques that can be made of the film but there’s no need to make stuff up, as I am pretty sure you just did.
I was at the 7:30 showing. There was DEFINITELY laughter in inappropriate parts.
you need a life, dude.
This has nothing to do with a writer-director creating his film film. That logic is way off.
Did you even go to film school?
i actually agree with this. i thought this was going to be a good suspense-thriller or something, and the whole thing felt like a studio pic by trade, but a first year college film by content.
the guy who wrote b. ultimatum and ocean’s twelve wrote this??? is this what the writing actually looks like if it’s not kept in check by the director or studio?
Totally on par with Ocean’s 12. The “she looks just like Julia Roberts” part.
“This is what happens when you write AND direct your own film. AND your FIRST film. THAT was the downfall of this movie.” Right. Cause that’s what happened to Chris Nolan, George Lucas, Woody Allen, PT Anderson, Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino, M. Night Shyamalan, The Coen Brothers, Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin… Geez, I can’t stop and I haven’t even started with the countless European and Asian critically acclaimed and commercially successful writer/directors whose first films were ground-breaking. Get yourself a life and an education you douche.
I hope you realize that The Sixth Sense was Shymalan’s 3rd movie. Following was Nolan’s first film.
And Following was an impressive movie by Nolan. . . so? The logic still applies, but just because M. Night may be off doesn’t mean the point is not valid.
Actually the Sixth Sense was M. Knight’s third film. The mess that was THX was Lucas’s first flick, Kubrick’s first films were anything but ground breaking, same with Woody Allen’s early films. Chaplin’s first films were shorts. PT Anderson’s first film Hard Eight only got a decent release AFTER Boogie Nights came out and most people still don’t remember it. Obviously this idiot doesn’t.
The fact is very few first films are truly great but some show more promise than others. And studios really shouldn’t give big budgets to first time directors. It’s a fool’s game.
You have no clue what you are talking about! I work at a very high end movie theater which caters to adults. We keep selling out “The Adjustment Bureau” sometimes even an hour in advanced. After wards, the audience is raving about it. This will have legs especially with an adult crowd. Looking forward to finally seeing it tomorrow.
Tell it! At the showing I went to, grown men were walking out in tears at the obviously effective romantic story, one guy was so moved he shot himself on the spot. And throughout the movie people were gasping aloud and fainting, rolling in the aisles, and screaming, “THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE I’VE EVER SEEN!” At the end the entire audience gave a standing ovation and kept it up through the whole end credits. I personally bought tickets to each of the next day’s showings because this film DEMANDS repeat viewings. James Cameron’s record is seriously at risk with this one.
Yeah, they learned their lesson from that OTHER long delayed Matt Damon movie that got released a year ago next weekend. The marketing and the reviews were much better.
Are you serious? How is it that anyone at Universal greenlighting their film roster “deserves” a hit film? These are the same people who handed Nancy Myers $80 million dollars for a freaking romcom. They lost millions on the Damon-starrer “The Green Zone” and not only lost millions on “The Wolfman”, but essentially killed any franchise opportunity for more Wolfman films. May I also remind you that they’re now plowing millions into a film version of a damned boardgame, “Battleship”.
Good for ILM, since the main part of their business is tanking. Now Lucas just needs to figure out how to deal with http://www.sfweekly.com/2011-02-02/news/lucasfilm-employee-fired-sex-life-star-wars
Beastly. Another flop for CBS Films. How can they continue like this? Firings coming up real soon. Stand by, y’all.
An opening of $8 isn’t a flop, Take Me Home Tonight is a flop.
Go be an uninformed Troll somewhere else.
Interesting. Adjustment Bureau cost 62 and does 20 and is a hit. Beastly cost 10 and does 10 or more and is a flop. Don’t think so. Cbs is digging itself out of a hole quite nicely.
It didn’t cost $62 million. That was what Universal paid MRC for the film after MRC had financed it.
It says that in the main article quite clearly, by the way.
Not a flop. It took $18 mil to make, and already has made that back in overseas pre-sales, according to reports. Everything else it makes is icing on the cake. Saw it, and really liked it. Vanessa Hudgens is a nice surprise…..looks stunning onscreen, and is very natural, sweet, yet vulnerable. NPH is great, as is Mary-Kate Olsen. It’s obviously a teen vehicle, but there’s a place for movies like this. Great soundtrack and visuals too. Don’t knock it….it has a great message, and I would rather teens watch this kind of stuff than the other crap out there.
Rango was great. i want to see Take Me Home Tonight and Bureau, Beastly looks like a complete crapfest.
Why is Adjustment Bureau doing so well? It’s not adults haven’t had a movie recently since Unknown came out a few weeks ago and was a better movie. Liam Neeson can act circles around Damon.
Is The Adjustment Bureau such a hit? It looks to make about what Unknown did two weeks ago, but cost the studio twice as much. The similarly priced I Am Number Four opened in the $19.5 million vacinity and was deemed a flop. The Adjustment Bureau may gross a million or so more than #4, but it has a stars in it. So is it really doing that well?
Because it’s Matt Damon in an action movie. So far that’s a pretty winning box office formula, no matter how good or bad the movie actually is.
damon’s last few films (minus ‘true grit’ which most people on the street don’t realize he’s in) have faired quite badly. Green Zone anyone? and his rugby film.
20M opening weekend for a star like damon is not impressive. ‘the tourist’ had the same opening numbers and was considered a flop.
The Tourist cost at least $100 million to make (rumours peg it a good bit higher and that’s not counting promotion and all the usual blah blah blah costs), had a December holiday slot and (supposedly) two of the hottest and most appealing ‘STAR’ actors in ‘the world’ paired up onscreen together.
That’s why it was a flop on opening. Although, it’s international take has slightly mitigated the fact it tanked in the US. The Adjustment Bureau was cheaper to make, has less artificially inflated ‘stars’ to PR and so making $20 million is actually a bit better than The Tourist’s start.
The Tourist just opened this weekend in Japan and already has $191M international (and $258M worldwide), so its international take more than “slightly mitigates” its U.S. take, and I’d say it’s the star power that will boost the international box office to over $200M. Don’t know how AB will fare in comparison, but I wish it the best.
My guesses. Rango will be around $35. Everything else lower than that. The Adjustment Bureau should clock at just below $20. Beastly is a misfire proving that Hollywood jumped the gun on Alex Pettyfer. I am Number Four is tanking despite the huge push. Pettyfer isn’t the next Lautner or Tatum. Take Me Home Tonight looks to be one of many sore spots on Relativity’s slate. It’ll be lucky to hit $3 this weekend. March and April are dead months without an Alice in Wonderland type blockbuster.
What part of your research shows number4 as a movie that is tanking? Even from the info from Nikki alone, it is clear it is far from tanking though not the overblown result they wanted and for that they have no one to blame but themselves.
The movie is a reasonable hit.
I do agree that Hollywood definitely jumped the gun with Pettyfer as did Dreamworks making 4 seem like all about Pettyfer. Even if it was, they should have put a lot more of the blonde cheerleader from Glee. If you check the demographics that went to see the movie, you see it was either gleeks or grown straight men wanting a bit of the blondes on the show.
I would say thank the casting for Dianna Agron(thats her name I think) because her Gleeks/fans who wanted to see their gleek on the big screen, saved the day. It would have done worse with just Pettyfer and Palmer whose follow up films as is obvious are both doing woefully.
I can’t watch a more than a few minutes of Glee but everytime my daughter has tortured me, I like the cheerleader and I know thats the only reason my kids went to see it.
BTW, I am sick of 2d and 3d animated movies. Hollywood is mad. Just watch European cinema. Drama and characters are still alive in the movies.
People did not go to see I Am Number Four because of the amazing star power of Dianna Agron.
Hmmm… Taylor Lautner has not proved he can open a movie yet… So fat he is a big nothin, with the charisma of a small potato. As for Tatum Channing he has not exactly set the box-office on fire, his last movie released just recently has tanked.
Oooops, I meant that so far Taylor Lautner is a big nothing with zero charisma.
Lautner has only made one movie outside Twilight, and it hasn’t even opened, but I agree about the lack of charisma. He shares an agent with Pettyfer and is similarly untalented, so I think there’s the same strategy for both of them: tout them as “the next big thing”, sign up to as many projects as possible, drive up the asking price, and put off actually doing/releasing anything until it can’t be avoided.
Pretty sure Taylor was Shark Boy in that Shark Boy and Lava Girl movie by Rodriguez. Could be wrong. But if not, that movie was a 3D movie and didn’t open well or play too well.
Lautner was also in VALENTINE’S DAY and was terrible in it. But it was a smaller role so maybe you meant as a lead.
Channing Tatum is a HUGE draw for women. Studios know that and want him around for their mindless action and romance films. THAT is his appeal.
Only if the studios are ignorant as you. Channing Tatum has exactly two minor hits under his belt and numerous bombs. The two minor hits? A Step-Up flick that could have easily starred any number of other talented young dancers, as the success of Step-Up 2 and Step-Up 3-D (160 million worldwide) have proven, and a Nicholas Sparks movie which any young actor could have starred in. That Nicholas Sparks is the star of Nicholas Sparks flicks is something Hollywood just can’t seem to get their head around despite proof positive in the non-existent BO of both Mandy Moore and Rachel McAdams when they aren’t in one of his movies.
I’m not a fan of this man, however G.I. JOE should also be counted as a minor hit. It made money for the studio and is spawning a sequel. Three minor hits in three years may a mediocre actor make, but apparently these pics are actually drawing someone in.
I did forget about GI Joe. I guess you could call it a minor hit. Although it’s my understanding they’re still negotiating on doing a sequel. Also, I think that’s one more case of a film that could have just as easily starred Chris Pine and done the same numbers. Fighting, The Eagle, that godawful Iraq war flick with Ryan Phillepe – they all tanked.
The thing about real stars is they open films no matter how crappy they are. Bruce Willis can still open a crapfest like Cop Out but these new “stars” have trouble opening decent films. That’s why Bruce Willis is still a star after all these years and folks like Pattinson, Franco, Tatum, Knightley, Stewart, and all the others are not stars. The only kids that have actual BO power are Emma Stone and maybe Amanda Seyfield. The rest of them couldn’t open a door without help.
All Lautner has is a busy agent, coincidentally the same one as Pettyfer.
Lautner signs and dumps films to up his asking price and appear in demand, but he’s only filmed one movie outside Twilight (I don’t count a tiny cameo in Valentine’s Day) and hasn’t released anything. He’ll tank even harder than Pettyfer, because he’s been oversold for a lot longer now.
Pettyfer should be happy he’s not a Tatum. So far, I Am Number Four has a world wide gross that is 3 times bigger than Tatum’s last film, The Eagle. As for Lautner, we all know that he has never opened a movie.
As for Beastly, it’s starting to look like the little movie that could. I don’t expect huge grosses, but The L.A. Times informs me that with Canadian tax breaks and foreign pre-sales it was in almost in profit before it even opened.
Lautner isn’t even the next Lautner–that’s Twilight mojo!
“March and April are dead months without an Alice in Wonderland type blockbuster…”
I wouldn’t necessarily call April a dead month. Easter weekend and Good Friday can do decent business. It’s variable.
Studios dump their not so desirable features in those months. Tyler Perry’s next offering and Scream 4 may play well in April. I can’t think of any others off the top of my head. I do think Alex Pettyfer is a lot cause. He’s known to be difficult and doesn’t have the stuff to back it up. I compared him to Lautner and Tatum who at least have one hit under their belts. I should say he’s also not the next Shia. It looks like my forecasting was pretty accurate. Kids don’t like Rango and not enough adults will pay to see a cartoon.
Ahh, but Sucker Punch is coming. Stay tuned…..
Ridiculous statement: “Hey, Matt Damon running, and running, and running a la Bourne is a tried and true formula.”
Two totally different stories and tone.
The trailers for this movie did attempt to portray it as your typical Bourne actioner. That’s kinda what I got.
I am a huge Matt Damon fan, and Emily Blunt is also good, but even they could not make Adjustment Bureau something special.
They did their best, but I fear it is not enough….and, I doubt it will achieve “Hit” status although it only cost 65 million.
Right on the nose.
Rango was outstanding. Tips hat to Verbinski. Pixar ain’t winning the Oscar this year.
Rango was a surprise. I’ve never seen a kids movie that tripped so hard. Verbinski and Co. did a great job of creating a 4quad movie that doesn’t insult anyone and creates a sense of place and time unique to itself. Impressive stuff from Paramount. Hope it’s a harbinger of things to come.
Trip is right. This film could even become popular with college students…for experimental purposes.
Except it’s not a four quadrant film which will become obvious as soon as next week. Kids hate this film and they will decide it’s fate. Watch for the bottom to fall out of Rango as soon as today when it doesn’t get the expected kiddie matinee bump. It’s an adult film and as such will lose the coveted family market and end up a cult film for college kids much like Where The Wild Thing Are ended up.
Time to blow up CBS Films…again
I know after Mechanic and Beastly both overperformed they are certainly blowin’ up!
Lol. I love how they are now spinning Beastly opening into overperformance. Yes, compared to bottom of the barrell expectations but not compared to CBS`s Our Own Twilight design behind making this utter crap in the first place.
So Pettyfer is a bone fide boxoffice draw now cause Beastly surely overperformed due to his star power carried over from IAN4?
By making a little more than the minuscule opening weekend that was predicted…Beastly is sure “overperforming”
The Mechanic has made less than $29 million on a $40 million budget. How is that overperforming? CBS films has had three consecutive bombs.
Will, CBS Films acquired domestic only on Mechanic for $5 making their $29 gross a huge success. You should read Deadline more, this was well covered on the site.
You’d have to show me a link on that math. But there’s no way CBS got money back with 55% of 29 mil. The publicity budget was well over that.
Didn’t ILM actually sell Pixar to Steve Jobs back when???
Yes. And its shows the deep business acumen of one George Lucas at work again.
An remember, George is a toy guy……a monumentally stupid decision.
Wasn’t Lucas forced to sell by his divorce?
Yes, he needed money due to the divorce.
@mtnz
Yes and I’m sure you were saying that at the time he made the sale in the early 80s, moron–my guess is you weren’t born yet. He sold a small animation division for $10m to cover personal expenses at that time in his life. No one made any stink about it at the time, so it was not–as you say– a “monumentally stupid decision.”
It’s like saying CBS made a “monumentally” bad decision selling the Yankees in the 70′s for only $10 million– at the time, that was the available deal: No one had a crystal ball.
Another example of anti-Lucas hating clouding logic.
I’m still trying to figure out how 1986 is somehow the “early 80′s”. What exactly is the middle of the decade or the “late 80′s” Oh, and it only took another ten years for Pixar to become profitable.
I’m thinking most people on this board wouldn’t mind having George Lucas’ career and money. And the ones who wouldn’t are either liars or delusional.
…wouldn’t “anti-Lucas hating” be Lucas loving?
Lucas sold Pixar in the early 80′s to Steve Jobs for ten million, but Jobs supported his Pixar investment to the tune of some 35 million.
Steve sold Pixar to Disney for over SEVEN BILLION…not a bad investment…but, give Steve credit as he saw the future of computer generated images for storytelling created by Ed Catmull and his team.
This was a match made in heaven….
I’ve also heard that he couldn’t give the division the attention it needed. It isn’t like ILM wasn’t doing anything with computer graphics and Lucas didn’t see a future with digital.
I just saw Take Me Home Tonight and it was hilarious.
The theater was full except the first 2 rows and I can’t believe this movie is going to do so bad.
Bad weekend to bring it out I guess.
me too. i loved this movie. very funny, esp. topher grace’s best friend, plus awesome soundtrack. reminded me of Office Space; no one sees it in theater, but long life on rental shelves.
The whole movie was a love letter to the 80′s.
It is the type of movie that I will watch every time it is on HBO.
I think the problem might have been the trailers. Seemed awful.
Saw The Adjustment Bureau and while I’m glad it’s looking to have a better than predicted opening weekend I’m not sure how it might play over the next few weeks.
I enjoyed it a fair bit as a piece of classier than usual hokum (even if it didn’t go very far with the implications of it’s main idea) but it’s a bit of a mish-mash of genres and tones and plot pieces that aren’t new. If it works at all it’s thanks to the true chemistry between Blunt and Damon though and the love story between them. But with a bit of comedy here, a bit of sci-there, some action put in and some caperism thrown in I couldn’t tell what sort of film it really wanted to be.
I hope it does well when all is said and done, and I might even go and see it again myself but it’s a slightly weird (in a relatively good way) flick to watch.
The Adjustment Bureau cost $60m to make? What did they spend the money on? Buying Matt Damon some charisma?
I think they spent it on the hats.
They *acquired* it. It didn’t *cost* that money. Read carefully next time.
Awesome comment. I like Damon, but he’s a pretty wet noodle in the charisma department.
It may have cost more than 65 million to make. This is roughly the fee Universal paid to pick up this film. And then, you must add at least another 40 million for prints, advertising, marketing, publicity tours, etc….not counting the distribution fees. And this film has little or no merchandising/promotion/licensing potential revenue.
Unless this does really well overseas…it will take much of the complete revenue stream of DVD’s, on demand, cable and television sales and so forth to generate significant profit. The overseas revenue will dictate the success of this film.
Unfortunately, I believe, word of mouth will cause the box office to drop quickly.
The Adjustment Bureau might have been a much better film with more tension, more action, and a more complex storyline illustrating the issues of ‘changing the plan’…and, it’s impact on those attempting to do so.
The Adjustment Bureau addressed this in basic black and white terms…when the reality of most major life decisions (especially at this level) reside in the grey area of life… which most often does not provide such clean cut resolutions to such complex life challenges.
Loved the concept, respect the actors and their performances…but, it was not satisfying or memorable….and, I saw it at a screening. Paying $30 to $50 at a theatre, including drive time, gas to get there, parking and snacks would have been unacceptable.
I actually hope my observations are wrong, but I doubt it.
Matt Damon is aging poorly. He’s looking like a sack of turd.
Nothing to see here – that is until B:LA hits next weekend and shreds 300′s record – lock it up.
I CAN’T FRIGGEN WAIT FOR THIS MOVIE!!!
I want Rango will be around $45millions this weekend…is an amazing movie ,is great,I hope it has a strong weekend,love Johnny and his voice is so charming,this movie has all.And about the others movies..Matt damon’s movie is just like inception with leo dicaprio..but cheaper ,and take me home tonight..is a fool comedy,what else?..Go see Rango!!!!Is AWESOME!!!
Topher grace IS leading man material. He’s a great actor and is hilarious.
no he isn’t
I see Topher’s mom has joined the thread. Nice to have you here Mrs. Grace.
He could be in the right vehicle.
Tell that to how to train a dragon which should have won over toy story 3. Dragon opened around this time
“how to train a dragon which should have won over toy story 3″
should have won what?
Um… Best Animated Feature? Were you even watching?
No it shouldn’t have won over Toy Story 3.
It was good and cute. That was about it.
Rango is amazing and original. I’m sure it’ll get what it deserves at the end. I’m a bit surprised at Bureau’s hit. Everything was so pathetic in it.
Original? It’s like 75% film references! Hardly original.
At the Carmike here in Durham, NC the hottest film we had was “The Adjustment Bureau.” Seriously, the 4:30 showing had a lot of people, and the 7:05 and 9:40 shows were almost sold out. “Rango” was a close second, though
I have a feeling AB will make more than $23M. Will it have legs? Don’t know, but at least things are looking up with Universal and MRC…
Durham, North Carolina. Right. How about from your office in Century City?
Saw “Drive Angry” with the wife last night.
She knew next to nothing about the film, but we were both pleasantly surprised. She described it as “The Best Cheesy 70s drive-in movie you’ve ever seen.”
Which it was, with the fast cars, explosions, insane gun fights, gratuitous nudity, and Satanists. The 3-D technology wasn’t as hard on the eyes as in Avatar, either.
What the film had that made it memorable was some very clever writing, and some bits that made us laugh so hard we were wheezing.
I think the film suffered in the minds of both critics and viewers because we’ve all been burned by sub-par Cage efforts like “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”
True, Cage looked tired and puffy, but considering his character’s back story, that kind of fit. But the stand-out was William Fichtner. He steals the film with a very subtle and underplayed performance. He alone is worth the price of admission.
I think everyone already forgot about Drive Angry.
Take Me Home Tonight was made back in 2007, right after Spider-Man 3, when Topher still might have had a shot at leading-man material.
2007?? Really? I didn’t even remember he was in Spiderman! LOL!