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As I revealed last weekend, I was so convinced that R-rated comedy Bridesmaids featuring women burping and farting for our female amusement wouldn’t make over $13M, even $15M tops, that I promised Universal Pictures chairman Adam Fogelson that I would leave Hollywood box office reporting forever if his pic opened to the $20+M weekend he thought it would. Well, we know it did $26.2M domestic and is beating Thor 3D in midweek. So today I asked Adam when I should schedule the moving vans. Here is his wry reply:
For more estimates listed by title, see box office results here...
“In my job, I receive hundreds of emails every day on matters large and small. But never have I received as many emails as I did this past Saturday – most thanking me for singlehandedly driving you out of the box office reporting business. However, gratified as I am by the outpouring, I hereby cancel our pact. To deny others the chance to prove you wrong (which does occasionally happen) seems just plain selfish. And by the way, thank you for publicly admitting your mistake. You lived up to your promise.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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To be fair, you are DEAD ON 9.5 times out of 10. I don’t think anyone could have seen this movie’s success coming.
Seriously? I’m pretty sure EVERYONE saw this one coming. Well, almost everyone…
ditto.
Um…..no.
Anyone with an understanding of what is funny knew this movie would do well.
Nikki–There’s really not an OUNCE of you that liked ANY part of the movie? You truly can’t find anything funny/touching/redeeming/appealing in “Bridesmaids”…at all? It was reviewed well (and seen) by many. I’m surprised that you categorically loathe this film so much.
Adam Fogelson = class act
Both handled this with aplomb, I think. See? Everybody in Hollywood take a note from Nikki Finke and Adam Fogelson on conflict resolution
take him double or nothing on battleship
LMAO
I have to admit I’m surprised Nikki missed this one…all one needs to do is read how she describes it to conclude that it will be an enormous hit. Why would Hollywood put effort into being creative when it can just be crude? It is a business after all, and as Adam Sandler has proven, crudeness is much more profitable.
What a shockingly limited description of this movie.
It had a couple of crude scenes. It was a very, very good character film. It was a look at the kind of women we NEVER SEE IN FILM. It was brave, smart and touching.
To dismiss it the way you have says more about you than the movie.
Yep. It’s pretty obvious that Michael didn’t see the movie — yet he can’t wait to falsely describe and bash it. What else is new?
On the bright side, screw the haters. BRIDESMAIDS is huge and I couldn’t he happier.
you didn’t say you’d leave the box-office reporting business, you said you would leave the business.
and, fanofimprov, Nikki hasn’t seen the movie nor will she. She passed judgement based on one trailer. It’s like when executives only read 10 pages of a script or rely on coverage. Actually going to see the thing that she has already condemned would require an open mind and an ability to admit that she was wrong.
Kudos to you Nikki for having a sense of humor about yourself. And kudos to Fogelson for being a good sport. Look, sometimes you have to exploit the most obvious stuff to sell a movie in a trailer. Uni did an amazing job on a movie that proved to be very special and very good. That said, I believe only Insidious and Bridesmaids to be the only breakout movies of the past year.
I didn’t enjoy so much of the comedy in the movie that much, but I thought it was touching and – dismiss this as much as you want – profound as small dramas like little miss sunshine.
In any case, Adam Fogelson’s response is pretty classy and funny.
Appreciate when journalists admit mistakes. Makes me trust them more.
Seriously though. Have you seen the film? You haven’t really commented on the film itself other than trailers and the occasional reference to the tone of the film. The movie is amazing. You were so mean about the film that it begs the question, did you actually see the movie before you made your prediction or did you trash it based on some ax to grind or some weird pre-conceived notion of what the movie really was about?
Adam Fogelson – class act with a sense of humor.
Nikki, I’m glad you’re still gonna be around.
As a box office junkie since the Batman days I love getting my fix early and Friday afternoon is really early!
Thanks for a great job Nikki and co.
It’s a good movie, Nikki is entitled to her opinion, it was a fun little bet… but honestly, who cares?
Nikki,
As the director of Bridesmaids, I’d just like to also thank you for living up to your end of the pact (that I had no idea had been made but for which I will forever be indebted to Adam). I sincerely appreciate it. Look, comedy is one of the hardest things for people to agree on. And not everybody is going to like our movie. But I would be honored to pay for your ticket to see Bridesmaids (actually, I’ll pay for two so you can bring a friend) just so you can see what we tried to do. I know it seems like the movie is about burping and farting but I swear there’s much more to it than that. That’s really only in one scene, to be honest. But I’d truly like to know what you think of the movie. So, please let me know when you want to go and I’ll pick up the tab (popcorn and drinks included). Email me directly and I’ll make it happen. I would very much like to know what you think of it.
And for the record, I’m very happy that you’re not leaving town. I don’t think I could get through the day without your posts. Although maybe I could do without the Live-Snarking. :0)
Thanks and please let me know when you want to go,
Paul Feig
Director/Executive Producer of Bridesmaids
Cool reply, Mr. Feig. Very cool-n-classy. And congrats on your movie’s success.
Wow Paul, what an unbelievably gracious and thoughtful note, especially after the repeated bashing by Nikki on this trailer and film. Paul, you have a new fan because of this. Your movie was wonderful by the way, and I sincerely hope Nikki takes you up on this offer. Nikki, I’m glad you’re not leaving, I truly enjoy your site and hard work. Plus, how else am I going to find out I’m getting fired a half hour before my boss actually comes down to my office to say “we’re cutting back”. Take him up on his offer. At $26.2, he earned it.
Well done, Paul…and, congrats on a big hit.
Unfortunately, I doubt Nikki will take you up on your offer to see Bridesmaids, nor will she actually see any of the films she covers…and, this is a shame.
That being said, I agree with you that the day would not be as much fun without Nikki and DH…but, it could be even more fun if Nikki would be more open to enhancing her perspective of films before she ‘tanks’ them based on everything but the film itself.
On the other hand, without Nikki’s outspoken ‘snarking’ what fun would remain?
Nikki, you have placed yourself in a difficult position, and satisfying both sides of the equation is probably impossible.
So…stay Snarky…it is your calling.
What is interesting here is that box office projection(s) is not based on your (or Nikki) personal taste. Box office estimates are made by all film executives around the world, based on their understanding of what the audiences will like or not. The challenge is to try to interpret this throught your eyes, likes and dislikes. This is not a personal project such a scrap book with photos of latest holidays.
And frankly, Fogelson at Universal is too much of an easy target at the moment, with all of the sweeping changes that Comcast has made in the Studio operations worlwide. Give the guy a break for a moment. He doesn’t need journalist circling over him.
I really liked Bridesmaids, it was funny and emotional. It was much better than The Hangover and definitely the funniest movie of the year. Fogelson is a nice guy and I’m glad he didn’t go through with it. Heres hoping the movie can sail to at least a $100 million.
It’s held very well in the dailies so far. I think it will hold to 19-21m this weekend and finish to a total well north of 100m.
Both of you (Nikki and Adam) = pure class.
Bridesmaids had huge buzz coming out of sxsw so it’s opening is not a surprise.
Gee, no apology to the “awful” Kristin wig?
Bravo to both of you for owning it.
The movie looks absolutely horrible. I’m surprised that some guys find it funny.
Assuming Paul actually posted, I think that Nikki should take him up on his offer.
Battleship aside, Fogelson has the makings of a great studio head and the banter you both have will definitely work in his favor.
As for you Nikki, what would I do with myself Saturday morning without your “Bomb” or “Tank” headlines
I think what happened here is that Nikki saw the trailer, which was god awful and aimed at the lowest common denominator, and assumed the movie was terrible.
A lot of us did.
But then we actually saw the movie and it was great. Power of word of mouth/good reviews/dumb trailer aimed at ninnies combined to catapult movie to big B.O.
Fogelson’s strategy worked, as he always thought it would.
Very classy on both parts – and I am so happy that you aren’t abondoning the box office reports! Love to see the good sportsmanship at play