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SUNDAY AM, 5TH UPDATE: So Summer 2011′s fast start slows: total moviegoing this weekend is $140M, down -7% from last year.
1. Super 8 (Bad Robot/Amblin/Paramount) NEW [3,379 Runs]
Friday $12.2M, Saturday $14M, Weekend $37M, Cume $38M
It’s encouraging to see an original summer movie overperforming at the North American box office, especially after Hollywood has spent the past month relentlessly beating up on not just the secretive marketing campaign but also what it’s been deriding as a throwback to ET meets Close Encounters meets Jurassic Park. After making $12.2M on Friday, the movie did an even better $14M Saturday — +15% uptick reflects great word-of-mouth — for a weekend of $37M. That puts Super 8 right in the range of the U.S. opening of District 9‘s opening of $37.3M, another well-pedigreed original movie deemed a success. “I bet no one outside of Paramount or the filmmakers thought that was possible,” a studio exec emailed me. International opens also started very strong. It opened in 9 markets, including Australia where Super 8 took in $2.7M which was 50% higher than District 9.
Super 8 received an overall ‘B+’ CinemaScore which broke down as follows: 29% of the audience under age 25 gave it ‘A-’, 71% over 25 ‘B’, 56% of males ‘B+’, and 44% of females ‘B+’. Moviegoers spent $12 million Friday on the the Bad Robot/Amblin/Paramount movie Super 8 from JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg for what should be $35M from 3,379 locations. “Sweeeeeeet,” a Paramount exec emailed me tonight. These grosses do not include the $1 million made from Thursday’s sneaks in about 335 theaters but do include Friday’s $500K midnight screenings. Hollywood is very skeptical of Paramount’s claim that the pic cost only $50M, but I’ve confirmed that budget independently. (FYI, Spielberg and Abrams didn’t take their normal front or back end, for one thing.) The studio also claims it spent a below-the-norm $25M on marketing.
Speaking of that, Abrams was trashed behind-the-scenes of Hollywood when he insisted on not exposing the creature in Super 8 all those months leading up to release. Tracking as a result was soft going into the week. Then he let Paramount go to work. The studio did 13 super-secret screenings at 10 PM Wednesday night — that’s right, on Wednesday — in 12 markets, plus a screening for the home office of Twitter. (These webmaster hosted screenings were given a code word.) “We allowed the hosts to push to their networks and drive a viral conversation about the screenings and to share their feelings about the film in an organic impactful way”. Early adopters were invited to more sneaks via Twitter only, a first-of-its-kind marketing technique. Also Thursday, Abrams and Spielberg leaked online what appeared to be an industrial film about the creature and even gave the first glimpse. Part of this reel shows up in Super 8.
To position it as an event movie, “it was critical throughout the campaign to deepen a sense of mystery, slowly peeling back the onion and encouraging fans to constantly be asking questions of the movie and the campaign,” a studio exec told me. Throughout, the pedigree of the filmmakers were emphasized. There were TV spots during the Super Bowl and Academy Awards, as well as ESPN homepage takeovers and American Idol integration. Teasers and trailers were launched with Iron Man 2, Battle: LA, and Red Riding Hood. The studio also had the first-ever trailer launch on Twitter which reported it was one of their most engaging tweets of the year (21+% engagement rate). There was a Super 8 national promotion in 6,000 7-Eleven locations, and movie-themed special Big Gulp cups.
2. X-Men: First Class (Fox) Week 2 [3,692 Runs]
Friday $8M, Saturday $10.1M, Weekend $25M (-55%), Cume $98.8M
Fox’s week-old prequel X-Men: First Class is a strong #2.
3. The Hangover Part II (Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,644 Runs]
Friday $5.7M, Saturday $7.6M, Weekend $18.5M, Cume $216.5M
Never underestimate the film taste of the public for sequels because #3 Warner Bros’ The Hangover Part 2 has now grossed over $200m in its first 16 days of release for bragging rights as the largest grossing film of 2011. It’s heading to $250M domestic. “With Green Lantern, Horrible Bosses, and Harry Potter 7B lined up and ready to go, WB is positioned to regain the industry market share (4th year in a row) by the end of summer,” a Warner Bros exec just emailed me.
4. Kung Fu Panda 2 (DWA/Paramount) Week 3 [3,929 Runs]
Friday $4.6M, Saturday $7M, Weekend $16.6M, Cume $126.9M
5. Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 (Disney) Week 4 [3,433 Runs]
Friday $3.1M, Saturday $4.6M, Weekend $10.8M, Cume $208.8M
Pirates crossed the $200M threshold this weekend ($208.8M) and is getting closer to $900M globally which it should cross this week/next weekend. Film continues to dominate in Japan, remaining #1 there for 4 weekends in a row. Film is now in the top 25 films of all time on a global basis and in the Top 10 internationally.
6. Bridesmaids (Universal) Week 5 [2,922 Runs]
Friday $3.1M, Saturday $4.2M, Weekend $10.1M, Cume $123.9M
7. Judy Moody (Relativity) NEW [2,524]
Friday $2.2M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $6.2M
Here’s another stillborn weekend release for distributor Relativity despite the ‘B+’ CinemaScore for Judy Moody And The NOT Bummer Summer despite a ‘B+’ CinemaScore, with an ‘A-’ grade from moviegoers under age 18. This indicates positive word-of-mouth for the core demographic. actual filmmakers are Smokewood Entertainment producers Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness who fully financed with their own bucks a $20M budget plus P&A. This lame schoolgirl pic is based on the popular Megan McDonald book series. It took the producers a year to secure the rights because of uncertainty over their novice status and then a bidding war with more established players. Anyway, it’s a real departure from their first full producing credit: 2009′s critically acclaimed drama Precious: based On The Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire. They sank $12M into what became a two-time Oscar winner which received support from Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey and made $63.6M at the worldwide box office. Of course, it helps that the married entrepreneurs are also loaded scions: Siegel-Magness’ parents founded Celestial Seasonings teas while Magness’ parents founded cabler Tele-Communications Inc. So it’s already been said that the pair have the luxury of failing this weekend. (“The arrogance of billionaires and Relativity way outside their skill set,” a rival studio exec emailed me.) Relativity said in advance of the release that an opening of $6M would mean modest profitability across distribution channels including theatrical, the Netflix pay deal, home entertainment, tv sales. Relativity already has licensed the cable television premiere rights to Disney Channel for a 2013 debut. Next, Siegel-Magness intends to direct…
8. Midnight In Paris (Sony Classics) Week 4 [944 Theaters]
Friday $1.8M, Saturday $2.6M, Weekend $6.1M, Cume $14.2M
9. Thor (Marvel/Paramount) Week 6 [1,782 Runs]
Friday $695K, Saturday $1M, Cume $2.3M, Cume $173.6M
10. Fast Five (Universal) Week 7 [1,329 Runs]
Friday $550K, Saturday $725K, Cume $1.7M, Cume $205M
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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I know Paramount wanted more on Super 8 but I applaud them for taking a chance on an original film and spending the big money on marketing to try and open it.
Besides the losses on Super 8 will be erased by Transformers in just 3 weeks.
Last I checked, Cloverfield pulled in $6M more in its opening weekend in the middle of January! “Sweeeeeeet” is one of the most pathetic spins I’ve ever seen – $35M is a ridiculously embarrassing opening. Super 8 is a mess of a movie – Elle Fanning is the lone reason to see it – unless you appreciate the EXACT SAME MONSTER from Cloverfield & Star Trek as the centerpiece. Some “genius” that J.J. is – so brilliant he can’t dream up something other than a six-legged alien that’s face splits apart before ripping someone’s head off. And one more note: J.J., the obscenely grotesque overuse of lens flares make you more Michael Bay than Spielberg.
What? Have you even seen the movie? I thought it was fantastic.
OMG! Not everyone thinks like YOU.
Can you believe it?!
What have you been smoking?!!! I never walk out on a film but, I did this one after one hour… noisy rubbish of a film… hence an honest opinion of a films lover…
Is it really taking a chance when the film is by two of the most successful entertainment figures of the last 50 years? A Spielberg/ Abrams sci-fi film for $50 million doesn’t sound like a risk – it sounds like a bargain. I doubt ANY studio would have turned it down.
Original? Its a carbon copy of every 80′s movie like that. There wasn’t a single thing “original” about it.
The marketing wasn’t even original. They ripped that page right out of M. Night Shyamalan’s well-worn playbook.
Pretty much as I thought, the film won’t do terribly with its lower budget, but it will come in well below the expectations Paramount must have had a couple of months ago. It may wind up with a final around what Battle: Los Angeles has, a film you could draw many comparisons with aside from Super 8 having better reviews.
Also, I wonder if the last two weeks might show it is too early to really judge how the market is trending and we should wait till most of the big films are out, because if audiences are really rejecting 3D films, then it doesn’t seem like they are embracing the 2D X-Men: First Class and Super 8. Maybe there is a deeper problem in that the economy is hurting the industry at large no matter what the format (and I do think the prices of tickets, particularly with 3D and Imax surcharges, is a real issue in these economic times), or perhaps it is just four films that audiences weren’t that interesting in, after all X-Men and Pirates are franchises that seemed past their prime and were coming off less then loved previous installments, while family movie sequels and original properties are always hard to accurately predict.
that = loss for Paramount.
Too bad for Super 8. But I’ve got to say that none of my friends in Chicago could say what it was about. Why run all those commercials without explaining the plot?
I’d find brighter friends if I were you.
I really didn’t care for it and, judging from the audience I saw it with, I don’t think they should start counting all that money just yet.
i’m curious to know what Super 8 really cost. Box office mojo says $50…which everyone knows is a joke…Nikki???
Great film. Empty IMAX theatre this afternoon. I was a bit shocked. 150 million dollar plus budgeted underperformer. I ain’t buying that ‘modest 50 mil budget’ crap. That train sequence cost more than all of Battle: LA.
This is something I’ve always been curious about:
Since Paramount is owned by a public company (Viacom), as are most other Hollywood studios, aren’t they required through SEC laws to accurately state what the cost of a movie is? How can they fudge around with important profit-dependent numbers like that?
Hopefully someone with some legit know-how can fill me in.
I’m not expert on all the legal stuff, but I would look at it like this: Does GM or Ford or Chrysler have to report the financial details for each specific model to the IRS? No. So why would a huge company like Viacom have to report the details for each film? Best job to have in Hollywood is as a studio accountant. They’re challenged every day to find new ways to hide profits, plus there’s a bit of job security, since they know where the bodies are buried. But I’m being somewhat cynical.
Hopefully word of mouth will carry Super 8 further.
Not a terrible start, but I am disappointed it couldn’t build on the success of Star Trek. My guess is Paramount was hoping to surpass Cloverfield’s $40 million at least.
Why would Americans rush out to see the latest Captain Jack shit ship and shy away from this? I really don’t get this country’s viewing taste. Are adults now like children that like to hear the same story over and over again? Yikes.
50 million my a$$.
And for the Paramount exec to be exclaiming “Sweeeeet” is just BS. If they had a hit on their hands it would and should have opened at 60 or higher. They HAVE to be disappointed.
This is summertime, people.
super 8 flops.
WB better wait on those totals. Horrible Bosses and Green Lantern will both tank. of those three titles only Harry Potter is a sure thing and even it will have lower totals after the con job they pulled with splitting the last film into two parts. Only the die hard Potter fans will come out for this one.
bill,
Whenever I want to find out what to expect in the coming weeks, I read your comments and know that the opposite will happen.
You have a TERRIBLE misunderstanding of the business.
Well since it’s the eighth movie to be made out of the series, it probably SHOULD be only the die-hard fans left to come out for the final film.
And since they pushed the last few films to around $900+ million apiece WB will probably not be offended by that.
Warners: Kicking asses and taking names. 4 years in a row. Hell yeah.
Good for JJ and Paramount. I haven’t seen Super 8 yet but will this weekend. And why is 50 mil so hard to believe as a budget? There was a time when that was a pretty decent budget. Are there a ton of effects in the movie? It sounds like the “monster/alien” isn’t on screen a ton. Always blown away by how much money gets wasted on some of these bigger productions. Also the 50 mil could be a post-rebate number meaning they actually spent closer to 65 mil shooting it but are only out of pocket 50.
X-Men is finshed, which i shame since i loved First Class.
I am not an expert on BO numbers but nonsense on talk that Xmen is finished. XMen is doing rather well although I would think it isn’t the blockbuster as compared to other past tent pole pics. The film after its second week is already close to 200m worldwide and it should reach the 500m mark by the time it finishes its run. All this without 3d or Imax numbers. Not exactly what one would classify as a flop. Most BO experts were predicting Super 8 at below 40m for the weekend so I suppose it came in on expectations. I liked both so I would like both to do well.
…and you, sir, are no expert. First Class has fallen 55% this weekend with no real competition for its core audience. So, once Green Lantern enters next weekend, expect another 55-60% drop, meaning 10-12 for the weekend. Following that trajectory means it will struggle to get to even 140. International has been soft by all accounts, so this movie might get to $300 total. Not only is that a big loss for a movie costing 170+ (plus another 100 for worldwide marketing) but certainly not what Fox had hoped for its one summer tentpole.
Supper 8 is one of the worst movies ever.
$35 million for Super 8 is not “overperforming.” Signs opened to $60 million, The Village to $50 million and Cloverfield to $40 million (in January). This is also opening less than Rio, Rango, Hop and Battle: Los Angeles.
Super 8 isn’t a small little art film. It’s been advertised heavily all year starting with the Super Bowl. Two of the hottest directors of the day worked on it. It’s the only new major release this weekend. It’s being shown in IMAX. Expectations were in the $45 million range for this one up until just recently when everyone was shocked at how low it had been tracking.
Given the talent behind it and its genre, this should have been able to open bigger rather than being relegated to a struggle to become a word-of-mouth hit. Something went wrong here…the marketing, the title, the trailer…something.
Well put.
Very well put
Nikki – love you – but you are WRONG! There is no way that is “sweeeet”
Pretty sure it cost more than 35 mil to market that bad decision!
So glad to see “Super 8″ have a great opening weekend.
Saw it tonight – PACKED house, and I haven’t seen an audience that engaged with a movie in YEARS. Laughing, tearing up, gasping, jumping – the last time I saw an audience reaction like that was in the era of the films the movie’s paying homage to – but the film isn’t just paying homage – it’s a thrilling story, told superbly well, and with a depth of feeling and character that’s simply been missing from summer movies for decades. “Transformers”, unfortunately, will probably knock it out, simply because of name recognition and because it’s a franchise – but it doesn’t deserve to. Bay’s film is wretched and ugly and spiritless – you feel like you’ve been beaten up after it (I saw it at a preview) – whereas after seeing “Super 8″, you feel excited about the potential of movies to make you feel again, and to experience genuine awe. “Super 8″ may not be the second coming of “E.T.” or anything, but I simply haven’t had that much fun at a movie in years. As one of the audience members leaving the theater and passing us by said, and quite clearly: “Now this reminds me why I go to the movies.”
It smells like planting season around here.
Yeah, you sound like a normal movie-goer just reporting on what you saw.
Question, does anyone on this board believe the lies promulgated by the studio flak in these comments???
This post above is easily one of the stupidest I have ever seen.
Easy way to stop it- Nikki could dump the anonymous posting and require ID to comment. Plenty of ways to do that painlessly. Of course, that would kill a lot of the fun snarking…
Yeah, definitely fuck that.
The person making the comment of “reminds me of why I go to movies” much have just come out of the Hangover 2 film not “Super 8″ based on HO2 223m box office thus far.
I agree 100%, wish I could have stated these sentiments so well. I saw the midnight show Thursday night with the hopes of experiencing that thrill and it was a thrill. Those of us who have been around for awhile (were kids in the 70′s) remember how great it was to anticipate a movie’s release and see it as soon as it came out and then want to see it again. (Recall that Close Encounters had countless scenes devoted to developing emotional elements. It was not all noise and special effects.) In it a great accomplishment that Abrams and everyone involved in Super 8 were able to give us that again. I hope word continues to spread and all the kids get to have this experience this summer.
$50 million budget seems believable. I can’t recall seeing any a-list actors in the movie at all. It was largely young children running around the movie. The special effects weren’t too crazy. Wasn’t district 9′s costs only about $30 million?
Overall probably one of the best films of the year. Especially when compared to some of this years blockbusters. Not sure it meets all the J.J. Abrams hype, but still a great movie to see in the theaters.
Theater i went to seemed a little thin on audience, but I think it will have some longevity and word of mouth.
$50 million budget seems believable. I can’t recall seeing any a-list actors in the movie at all. It was largely young children running around the movie. The special effects weren’t too crazy. Wasn’t district 9′s costs only about $30 million?
Overall probably one of the best films of the year. Especially when compared to some of this years blockbusters. Not sure it meets all the J.J. Abrams hype, but still a great movie to see in the theaters.
Theater i went to seemed a little thin on audience, but I think it will have some longevity and word of mouth.
Super 8 is fantastic, and in support of such a genuinely entertaining film, I’m telling everyone I know to make it a priority this weekend. Congrats J.J. and a remarkably young and shockingly talented cast!
Whoa, Fox is floundering more than expected. How much longer is Sella’s contract? They should pay him off instead of throwing away money on the next sloppy debacle. They used to be so stingy and aggressive, I wonder how they justify this painful string of failures. Ouch.