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June 22-24 Weekend Actuals
1. Brave (Pixar/Disney) 3D NEW [4,164 Theaters] PG
Friday $24.6M, Saturday $23.7M, Sunday $18.0 Weekend $66.3M2. Madagascar 3 3D (DreamWorks Anim/Paramount) Week 3 [3,920 Theaters] PG
Friday $6.2M, Saturday $7.8M, Sunday $5.8M, Weekend $19.7M (-42%), Cume $157.1M3. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter 3D (Fox) NEW [3,108 Theater] R
Friday $6.3M, Saturday $5.7M, Sunday $4.4M Weekend $16.3M4. Prometheus 3D (Fox) Week 3 [2,862 Theaters] R
Friday $2.9M, Saturday $3.9M, Sunday $3M, Weekend $9.9M (-52%), Cume $108.5M5. Snow White & The Huntsman (Universal) Week 4 [2,919 Theaters] PG-13
Friday $2.5M, Saturday $3.3M, Sunday $2.3M, Weekend $8.1M (-39%), Cume $137.1M6. Rock of Ages (New Line/Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,470 Theaters] PG13
Friday $2.5M, Saturday $3.1M, Sunday $2M, Weekend $7.7 (-47%), Cume $28.4M7. That’s My Boy (Columbia/Sony) Week 2 [3,030 Theaters] R
Friday $2.5M, Saturday $2.9M, Sunday $2.3M, Weekend $7.6M (-43%), Cume $27.9M8. Marvel’s The Avengers 3D (Disney) Week 8 [2,230 Theaters] PG13
Friday $2.2M, Saturday $3.0M, Sunday $1.9M, Weekend $7.1M (-19%), Cume $598.4M9. Men In Black 3 3D (Columbia/Sony) Week 5 [2,462 Theaters] PG13
Friday $1.7M, Saturday $2.3M, Sunday #1.6M, Weekend $5.7M (-43%), Cume $163.5M10. Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World (Focus) NEW [1,625 Theaters] R
Friday $1.3M, Saturday $1,5M, Sunday $1M, Weekend $3.8M
SUNDAY AM, 4TH UPDATE: My sources tell me that Pixar’s heroine-in-the-highlands Brave will open to around $66.7M this weekend with $24.5M for Friday and $23.5M for Saturday. 
So it’ll be an easy #1 this weekend – incredibly, Pixar’s 13th straight first place finish which is a tour de force for John Lasseter. That’s better than where DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted opened two weeks ago for distributor Paramount ($60.3M) but the threequel is holding at #2. (Talk about pent-up demand for kid movies!) Looks like concerns that Bravewould only appeal to girls and their mothers were way overplayed. The toon hit all audiences, with 57% under age 25 and 43% over 25. Males were 43%, females 57%. Then again, every Pixar 3D movie has opened to at least $60M. Plus, this is a giant release into 4,164 theaters, 2,790 of which are 3D shows, which is the highest count for a Pixar film thus far and the third highest for any Disney release. Interesting how this is Pixar’s first female lead and Disney’s first anti-princess toon bringing the studio into the 21st Century. Audiences responded with CinemaScores of straight ‘A’s. Disney hosted a global junket in Scotland where Brave is set, plus the red-headed heroine Merida is already doing meet-and-greets in both U.S. Disney parks. Voice Talent included Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson under the direction of Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman (who also did the story) and co-director Steve Purcell. Screenplay credit went to Andrews, Chapman, Steve Purcell, and Irene Mecchi. The producer was Katherine Sarafian, and executive producers were John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Pete Docter.
Internationally Brave will have a slow rollout, with Japan and Latin America opening in July and in most European markets in August (delayed because of the EuroCup and Olympics). It opened day and date in only 10 territories representing about 17% of the foreign market and made $13.5M. So the global cume is now $80.2M. Domestically, this was the 2nd highest June animation opening in industry history (and Disney history, obviously) behind Toy Story 3.
Also just as interesting is the untested mash-up genre. But Twentieth Century Fox’s R-rated Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (in 3,106 theaters) only came in 3rd. My sources keep lowering their opening weekend estimate: now it’s $16.5M after a flat $5.6M Friday and flatter $6M Saturday after audieces gave the pic only a ‘C+’ CinemaScore. That didn’t bode well for word of mouth.. That’s about where tracking was showing and Fox was dreading for the 3D horror thriller. Friday’s number included $701,261 in midnight screenings from 1,168 locations. This Lincoln: Vampire Hunter high-concept/no-stars pic did only slightly better than the openings of Tom Cruise’s PG-13 Rock Of Ages and Adam Sandler’s R-rated That’s My Boy which both flopped last weekend. Remember that Fox bought the mash-up package for $69M with most elements attached like producer Tim Burton and director Timur Bekmambetov who used their own money to buy scripter Seth Grahame-Smith’s bestselling book. (Only Hollywood would defile the reputation of one of America’s greatest Presidents…) Fox’s only reticence was the first dollar gross request which initially was just north of 25%. So the final $deal was rich but “it was bought as one of those packages that we agreed to pay the price and blackens if we greenlighted it and dated it immediately,” a Fox exec explained to me. But the studio, led by production president Emma Watts, thought it had a major tentpole teed up that only cost $75M all in. That’s probably no longer the case.
From the start, the conceit that an axe-throwing Abe Lincoln had an untold story intertwined with vampires was ridiculous – I watched this project unspool with incredulity — and ultimately proved too hard to swallow for mass audiences. But Twentieth won the project after a hard-fought auction that included Sony and Paramount and Universal and Summit. Mashups were seen as Hollywood’s Next Big Thing and every studio was impressed with the whole pitch as well as the prospect of having the next directorial effort by Bekmambetov and a take honed by Burton. In light of the
up-and-down tracking and box office this summer, Fox quickly became realistic about the pic’s prospects. Here’s the problem, however: if original live-action movies like this and others keep not doing well, and especially those movies where the moguls have shown a willingness to take chances, then audiences can’t criticize Hollywood for an unimaginative diet of sequels and prequels and reboots. Because that’s all filmgoers seem to want and obviously to deserve.
Focus Features’ offbeat Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World (in only 1,618 theaters) from writer-director Loraine Scafaria starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley finished 10th today. It posted $1.2M Friday and $1.5M Saturday for a very disappointing $3.8M weekend opening. “It did not experience the anticipated Saturday box office boost and continued to generate modest results. The film’s gross came in under projections for the weekend,” a Focus exec noted to me. It didn’t help that audiences gave it a near-disastrous ‘C+’ CinemaScore which would hurt word-of-mouth. its moviegoers skewed female and older and white and educated – 56% female, 56% over age 35, 76% Caucasian, and 62% college degree. I, for one, am tired of Carell’s shtick. And someone should tell Knightley that acting isn’t all about not brushing one’s hair.
Overall the weekend looks like $165M, which is -6% from last year. Here’s the Top Ten based on weekend estimates:
1. Brave (Pixar/Disney) 3D NEW [4,164 Theaters]
Friday $24.5M, Saturday $23.5M, Weekend $66.7M
2. Madagascar 3 3D (DreamWorks Anim/Paramount) Week 3 [3,920 Theaters]
Friday $6.1M, Saturday $7.7M, Weekend $20.2M, Cume $157.5M
3. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter 3D (Fox) NEW [3,108 Theater]
Friday $6.3M, Saturday $5.6M, Weekend $16.5M
4. Prometheus 3D (Fox) Week 3 [2,862 Theaters]
Friday $2.9M, Saturday $3.9M, Weekend $10.0M, Cume $108.5M
5. Snow White & The Huntsman (Universal) Week 4 [2,919 Theaters]
Friday $2.5M, Saturday $3.3M, Weekend $8.0M, Cume $137.0M
6. Rock of Ages (New Line/Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,470 Theaters]
Friday $2.5M, Saturday $3.1M, Weekend $8.0M (-45%), Cume $28.7M
7. That’s My Boy (Sony) Week 2 [3,030 Theaters]
Friday $2.4M, Saturday $2.8M, Weekend $7.9M (-41%), Cume $28.1M
8. Marvel’s The Avengers 3D (Disney) Week 8 [2,230 Theaters]
Friday $2.0M, Saturday $2.8M, Weekend $7.0M, Cume $598.2M
9. Men In Black 3 3D (Columbia/Sony) Week 5 [2,462 Theaters]
Friday $1.7M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $5.6M, Cume $163.3M
10. Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World (Focus) NEW [1,625 Theaters]
Friday $1.2M, Saturday $1,5M, Weekend $3.8M
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Weird — this looked like Pixar’s first must-miss flick.
There is really no other “genre” out there as consistently successful as big animated event movies. Line them up with any other part of the film business, and there’s no comparison. Pretty impressive.
Very good point. I can’t think of any other area besides event super hero movies, but those are entirely dependent on existing pre-awareness properties. Animation works with brand new properties like Brave, Madagascar, Up, etc.
The younger the demographic, the less discerning. Teenage boys will see almost anything. Young children will see ANYTHING (brightly colored). Thankfully Pixar’s films are genuinely good, but the consistent success of these types of films (and the 80′s cartoon animation/live-action hybrids) doesn’t surprise me.
No – actually plenty of animated films underperform. Many of the Pixar movies turn out to be on end-of-the-year best lists and big box-office hits, not because they’re animated but because they’re – drumroll, please – well written and directed…
Teenage boys will see almost anything, eh?
So why did younger-skewing films like Tron Legacy and Cowboys and Aliens fail so miserably in the last few years?
Your logic, she’s flawed I think, BMG.
Hey NotQuiteRight, bmg said “ALMOST” anything.
I place “Brave” in the less than “genuinely good,” and “well written” category. Lazy storytelling. If that’s the most compelling story of a female heroine they can concoct over there, then I don’t want any of them dating my daughter. To me, it was a film constructed for stockholders.
Amazing that directors of animated features have zero union representation and no collective bargaining power. Their movies rake in billions, yet they are shunned by both the DGA and The Animation Guild.
On the contrary, it’s good to hear of at least a few people with enough self-respect and ambition to tell the greedy, lazy union thugs to go take a hike.
In the meantime, animation isn’t “allowed” to be WGA, which means writers are getting screwed on some of the highest grossing pix ever.
No union representation? That must be why these movies are good.
F UNIONS
WGA has done great for writer, huh?
Unions are old news. They are about protecting the the elite, not the worker
The anti-union people posting here obviously have no idea how hollywood works. The unions are greedy? Try the studios, making unions a necessity.
Agree 100% with cookmeyer1970, the kneejerk anti-union crowd has obviously never worked in Hollywood, and *especially* never worked on a non-union shoot.
I’m not sure Hollywood would even still exist without unions to at least set some floor on salaries and working hours. Even with union protections in place there have been accidents, at least one fatal, from people falling asleep at the wheel while driving home.
All the anti-union rants are the usual Drudgetard suspects, surely.
Unions are a necessity? Sure, if the big skill you bring to the table is knowing how to operate a C stand or drive a car. Then of course you need a union to reduce competition for your job. But there’s a reason that the visual effects people have been quietly laughing at all attempts to unionize them. The field with the smartest and most creative people in it knows that if you bring an actual rare skill and talent to the party, you don’t need a union. You can write your own ticket. Where else in the industry, besides being a writer or director, can a kid two years out of college command a six figure salary and have his choice of projects? These guys know that forming a union would be the death of their industry, and just speed up the outsourcing of their work to China and India.
I’ve worked in the industry for over 20 years, and have made it a point to work in fields not covered by the unions. I prefer to control my own fate, thank you very much.
Yeah you’re right, Animated films are even more consistantly successful than comic book films. However comic book films have a higher ceiling as the Spider-Man films, Iron Man films, The Dark Knight and now The Avengers has shown.
Actually there are plenty of animated films aimed at kids that have not only bombed, but destroyed the dreams of future Walt disneys. how about that Vegi-tales movie? Dugal? You’re thinking of the cream of the crop, but there’s plenty of junk that’s been tossed in the dumpsters.
The commentor was referring to “event” animated films. Audiences are savvy enough to distinguish between a high-quality animated film and a clearly cheap piece of shit like Doogal or Veggie Tales. Even kids can tell the difference. The track record for those event animated movies is pretty consistently strong. Sure, I bet there are misses — but they are far fewer than the odds on other genres/mediums/whatever you want to classify animation as.
Animation is not a genre – it’s a storytelling device – and not all big event animated movies are huge successes. The Lorax did okay – it just barely did more than break even.
Brave is a historical fantasy/princess movie that just happens to be animated.
The Madagascar movies are, essentially, screwball comedies mixed with a bit of Hope & Crosby road movie sensibility.
Despicable Me and MegaMind are superhero/supervillain movies, etc., etc, etc…
The reason they succeed so well is that they are good movies – not because they’re animated.
With $212.6M so far, the Lorax is the first computer animated film to break $200M since 2010.
I can’t speak towards whether it broe even, but I think it qualifies as more than “ok”.
LORAX did over $300M worldwide on a $70M budget, not even factoring in DVD/VOD/EST, toys, TV rights and ancillary sales. It was highly profitable. This poster is talking out of his ass.
THANK YOU FOR POSTING!!! I get annoyed when people consider animation to be a genre.
Well — Sheldon, in general, animated movies happen to BE much better than other kinds of movies. It takes longer to make them and they have more time to work the kinks out. How many “historical fantasy” movies without a branded property open to $70 million? I agree with the comments above — these are the most lucrative types of movies. They play to adults now as much as kids.
The Lorax made $300 Million worldwide on a $70 Million budget. Assuming marketing doubled the cost of the film it stood to make $160 Million before it even hit DVD, BLU RAY and digital media. Do your research before you make bold claims. I suggest visiting http://www.boxofficemojo.com.
You may want to learn a little about the industry yourself before you go around telling people off. The grosses you quote are ticket sales, not film rental returned to the studios. The theaters keep a healthy chunk of the grosses so Univrsal’s return from theatrical is considerably less than $300 million.
Yes, the numbers above are ticket sales, not money returned to the studio, but you are wrong when you say that the theaters keep “a healthy chunk” of grosses. Theaters pay a huge portion of the ticket sales back to the studios during the early runs of films, when they makes the vast majority of their gross. It’s only later in the run, when fewer and fewer people are coming to see a particular film, that the theaters start making money on the film itself. That is why concessions are so high-priced, to make up for what they have to send back to the studios and distributors.
The truth here is animation is neither a genre nor a “storytelling device”. It is a MEDIUM folks, just like film is a medium. A “storytelling device” is a writing term.
Animation is not a “genre.”
As far as the unions go, most successful animation feature writers are not union either. And editors. And directors.
Animated tentpoles continue to be on fire. As consistent as Marvel movies. And enormous globally.
I am excited to see BRAVE and MADAGASCAR.
MORE consistent than Marvel by far. And unlike Marvel, animation isn’t constrained by the superhero genre.
No doubt animation is more consistant right now, however Marvel Studios has only been at it since 2008, give them a few more years and that tide might start to change.
why? it was terrific. is it because there’s a girl in the lead?
No, it was because the movie’s concept was unclear in the commercials.
“Pixar’s first must-miss flick”
That was Cars 2. Brave looks great.
Heh, I’ve seen every Pixar movie BUT CARS 2!
How can you say that when we had Cars 1 and 2?
i hope you don’t work in the entertainment industry… because if you are telling the truth then you have absolutely dreadful instincts
this might have looked like a “must-miss” but David Sameth and his team changed that perception and knocked it out fo the part. Congrats Sameth – you rock!
Cars 2 was their first miss this was just on the level of Dreamworks
No surprises here. Two great marketing campaigns. And as one friend said, will BRAVE 2 feature a boy who prefers pretty things over war/fighting? Probably not.
brave is not about a girl who prefers war or fighting… see the movie… saw it last night… she’s just strong willed… it’s about her wanting her freedom…
What do you mean sad story? Who wants to watch a movie about that subject? With Steve Carell moping around instead of being funny, and Keira Knightley doing her Natalie Portman from Garden State thing? I don’t know why this one got made; there’s a reason they call it “gallows humor,” because it is only funny to the condemned.
I agree. You can see Steve Carell’s schtick coming a mile away and it’s not funny.
Carrell should just change his name to Michael Scott if he continues to make movies that remind us of that character.
Abe Lincoln looks just crazy enough to work. I don’t give a crap about vampires and even I want to see it.
Ditto. I’ve never been a vampire fan. Twilight, Buffy, True Blood, I don’t care – don’t like any of them.
But finally, we have a story where the vampires makes sense for the story. Anyone who thinks this is just riding the coattails of a vampire trend obviously has never read the book on which the movie is based.
“…finally, we have a story where the vampires makes sense for the story.”
This sentence of yours is funny (and sad) for a lot of reasons.
Lincoln certainly battled those who lived off the blood of others…it is the defining issue of his legacy.
But it’s a horrible movie.
No, it isn’t. Its certainly not ‘The Avengers’, but its not a bad film. I saw it today and thought it was decent.
You probably should have waited for Nikki’s revised numbers before you said that.
Tick, Tick, Tick, BOOM…………………….
“Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”
I hate vampire movies, but was intrigued enough to go last night and I loved it. It was a very well done suspense/horror film. Much better than the other sh&^ out there right now….
“Here’s the problem, however: if original live-action movies like this and others keep not doing well, and especially those movies where the moguls have shown a willingness to take chances, then audiences can’t criticize Hollywood for an unimaginative diet of sequels and prequels and reboots. Because that’s all filmgoers seem to want and obviously to deserve.”
biggest lesson of the weekend.
This wasn’t original! It was based on a novel. Mashing up these two ideas seems to be the furthest thing from original. Should Hollywood stop adapting novels now in favor of sequels, prequels and robots like Finke suggests? I have a funny feeling the execs at lionsgate who paid to have hunger games adapted might think otherwise.
Hey Anonymous,
This is not a lesson learned this weekend. It is the ongoing studio/filmmaker SOP. What happens is no one ever knows when the over saturation will happen. And, most importantly, in the studio system CYA (covering your ass) is the number one priority. So, knowing or guessing when the success gravy train will end is almost impossible.
How do you think Disney feels now watching Depp and The Lone Ranger already exceed the original budget of 250 million and counting. If you recall, Disney pulled the plug at 250 million and it was cut down to 215 million.
Yet…it is the Depp/Verbinski/Bruckheimer trio of ‘past’ success for Disney driving the decision making and accountability.
If it fails, who can blame the studio executives?
“Listen…and, learn.”
Disney has no one to blame but themselves for the spiraling out-of-control budget of LONE RANGER. There’s NO reason a LONE RANGER movie should cost $100 million, let alone $250 million. This is due solely to Disney putting the expensive team of Verbinski/Bruckheimer on it and letting them go crazy with the spending. Put a filmmaker who knows how to economize, like Neill Blomkamp, on it and it would only cost $50-60 million tops.
So sad and true
For Christ’s sake. Abe Lincoln Zombie Cliche ain’t Midnight frikkin Cowboy or The Last Picture Show. It’s a ridiculous moronic mess that eagerly trumps the worst nightmares of an acid addled Ed Wood.
To assert that audiences deserve more crap because they refused this crap is frankly absurd, and puerile. It’s like replacing a Big Mac with raw hog entrails and then, accompanied by an orchestra of hurling, complaining that people don’t like fine cuisine nowadays.
And let’s stop with this nonsense about Moguls taking “chances”. Abe Lincoln was from the same scam playbook that’s produced some of the worst cinema of the last fifty years. It ain’t lets make Taxi Driver or Se7en. The studio purchased an established property in a risk mitigation exercise. If that’s what counts as courage nowadays in Hollywood, then the sh*t has well and truly hit the fan.
I don’t think Abe Lincoln failed because it’s a mash-up, I think it failed because it’s a bad movie and audiences don’t like it. I agree with most of the reviews which say it takes itself way too seriously instead of being fun and campy. One hopes this means the demise of Emma Watts after several years of huge flops. Also, how does Peter Kang keep his job? He’s been at Fox over 10 years and only has one hit (Apes) to his name!!!
Peter is great. You’re a jerk. Now go back to your hole and stop trying to take his job.
Yes, yes, yes!
It failed because it was a bad movie. I read the script. It was flawed beyond belief. The main antagonist was dead on page 49. It was episodic, and just plain dull.
The writing itself was average, but the story execution shouldn’t have gotten past any first year dev exec worth a bucket of bat shite.
I really wish the town would quit taking a failure like this as an indication of “what audiences want to see”.
Audiences want to see good movies that tell good stories. This was not a good story, that’s all.
I suspected in the first 10 pages that this project was in big trouble and by page 50 I was certain. Even predicted the opening figure dead on the nose.
Good concept – Bad film – it’s that simple.
Hey the crowd LOVES vampires these days and thats that. It is no longer a campy,goofy premise for the cheap movie theaters. This is a campy vampire movie playing for full price tickets at the local cineplex.Popular culture at its current pinnacle.
Tell that to Dark Shadows, which fizzled.
Also, AL:VH takes an unexpectedly serious approach to its story. Anyone who sees this movie based on its wacky title is going to be disappointed by how unfun it is.
Dark Shadows bombed BECAUSE they went for camp, rather than being true to the original. Yes, the original had some horrible production values, but it succeeded because they took the story seriously. Had Depp, Burton, and company been more serious, the original fans of the show would have stormed the castle to see it.
Ummm, you do know the movie bombed, right?
Actually, I think the vampire genre peaked in 2010 with the release of the Twilight movies, True Blood, and the Vampire Diaries on TV. While those have all been hits for their respective studios and/or TV networks, the vampire genre is showing serious signs of strain and overexposure. That’s partly why zombie movies and TV shows have risen to prominence. It makes me wonder how well World War Z will do at the box office next year, because even with Brad Pitt in the lead the zombie genre could be played out by then. One of the harder jobs by the creative directors of the movie studios is trying to determine in advance what type of film genre will be successful at the box office months or even years before a movie is sent to production and placed into theaters. And even great concepts can be ruined by a sloppy story (see Prometheus) or bad casting.
Yay! GO ABE! I was just hoping for $20M for the weekend at best. Nice to see something quirky and risk taking getting rewarded.
95% of the film is green-screen.
Not a single set was built.
Shitty CGI abound.
Vampires are hot right now.
That’s quirky and risky in your book?
*ahem*
Dark Shadows and Fright Night?
Vampires are not hot themselves right now, they are just a part of something else that is.
Dark Shadows was also from Burton and Grahame-Smith, so I guess that’s what makes it quirky and risky.
I’m talking about content. I don’t much care how the movie was made. And I don’t begrudge them their vampires, since in this case, the vampires actually work as a metaphor.
I think what he means by quirky and risky is that the benefactors put money behind a crazy idea out of left field, which is what this is. It takes a subject that’s only been treated with reverence in the past (Abe Lincoln) and turns it on its head by adding vampires and a lot of action. So in that sense, it is very risky and quirky.
Most people laugh and scoff when they hear about this movie and its premise, so it was risky for investors/studios/etc. to put any money into it.
Unfortunately, they were right.
Umm… not gonna happen. Abe is dropping faster than (insert inappropriate Civil War joke here)….
Hopefully this will kill these awful concepts and the studios will release the money so real movies can be made… (I know – wishful thinking…)
QUOTING NF: “Here’s the problem, however: if original live-action movies like this and others keep not doing well, and especially those movies where the moguls have shown a willingness to take chances, then audiences can’t criticize Hollywood for an unimaginative diet of sequels and prequels and reboots. Because that’s all filmgoers seem to want and obviously to deserve.”
Hey Nikke: I don’t think you should point to the crash-and-burn of AL:VK as a signal that audiences don’t want original live-action movies. You call the concept “ridiculous” – perhaps the audiences saw this as well and decided to spend their money elsewhere…
Nikki’s problem is confusing “original” with absurd.
http://www.deadline.com/2012/06/woody-allen-to-rome-with-love-kirby-dick-box-office/
To everyone who is complaining about how Hollywood is getting the message not to take risks and make original films:
Read the less glamorous box office reports – MOONRISE KINGDOM, BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, BERNIE, FOR GREATER GLORY, every WOODY ALLEN film these days, maybe SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, and THE INTOUCHABLES (if mainly overseas) will all be financial successes.
And you could have funded ALL of these movies with the budget from Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (or almost all).
Not everyone working in the biz is clueless…
This times 1000. Hollywood wants blockbusters, not films that will quietly make money. Abe Lincoln, Vampire Hunter just sounded like part of the vampire craze that seems to be dying out. Maybe if studios took a chance on really new ideas, they might have more hits.
Yes, God forbid that something original succeed. Hollywood should just stick with remakes and sequels. Taking a chance on something new is a bad thing.
It’s an odd world where the second or third or whatever in a series of gimmick books with a hot director in a popular genre is characterized by Nikki and the poster as Hollywood taking risks. This one is as by-the-numbers as they come and failed for the same reasons as any other.
But Pixar doesn’t make films for kids. They make them for families—families that don’t shield their children from life.
Brave deserves to fail. Betrays the Pixar brand. Horribly frightening for small kids. Tears and quaking kids in my theater. Yuck.
Yah! Kids never cried at Lion King!
Whoa. You’re not kidding about the frightening scenes. The opening scene with the bear was LOUD and scary. A couple of people headed out of the theater after that scene. It is a PG flick but I can can understand why parents would carry their kids to a Pixar film. If I had children under 7 or 8 I don’t think I would take them.
please wont anyone think of the children?
I bet kids would have liked to see Abe with his silver-bladed axe fight the plucky red-haired animated girl with her bow and arrow.
Looks like the girl won.
What do you think the Pixar “brand” is? Cars 2 betrayed the Pixar brand because it was shallow, hollow, and a vanity project. Brave is none of those things. They should keep reaching and keep trying new things and if a few sissy-mary kids can’t handle it, so damn what.
Could that possibly be why they gave it a PG rating instead of G?
If I had kids who might be scared by a movie, I guess I would, you know, read at least one review of a movie before taking the kids. Or glance at the rating, which is “PG for some scary action and rude humor.” It’s called parental GUIDANCE.
No no no. Parents aren’t supposed to be the ones to guide their children. It’s supposed to be everyone else. Especially people who don’t have or want children… they’re the ones who should change their activities to be more kid-friendly.
Whatever you do, don’t show them Bambi!! (the little wusses)
ya ya but will it make money? YES. Will people go see it YES. It WILL be a hit no matter what a few people say.
And think of the merchandise this movie is going to push. Can you imagine a Disney Parks ride? With Disney the movies push the product. Cars is a perfect example.
how I wish I was around during the days when animation was not simply kid movies. Because there are some intense scenes, that means that Brave deserves to fail and it betrayed the brand? I’m sorry, but get over yourself. Guess what, life isn’t always so calm and gentle. That type of mentality is what has ruined people’s senses and this country
Your kids didn’t quake during Toy Story’s monster/mangled toys scene, or cry at Toy Story 3′s “let’s all hold hands as we go into the incinerator” scene?
I sure did, and I’m 42.
and as for Lion King — you must not have seen it in a while, S4. His dad DIES a horrible death in that movie, and they REALLY deal with it. It’s a sad movie — at points. Makes the ending work.
all good kids movies have chills and tears. From Bambi and Snow White to Wall-e.
Times like this are when I wish there were a “sarcasm” symbol. lol. I know his Dad dies. I was one of those little kids crying in the theater in ’94.
S4 was clearly being sarcastic, bobbyg.
and as for the “parental GULDANCE” comment from whine much, the sad truth is there are tons of movies that are rated PG that are more than appropriate for younger kids. the ratings process is a mess right now and tells parents nothing. i read every review, and brought my 4-year-old, and was truly surprised by how scary it was. we had to leave early.
The problem isn’t with the PG rating. The problem is with these parents who will take their children to see anything that has the word Disney on it. The Disney name is their rating guide. Disney could release a 90 min cartoon of a character sitting on the toilet and it would still do 5 million opening weekend because of the parents who see anything with the brand name Disney on it.
Oh come on. At 4 and 5 I watched Snow White and Sleeping Beauty and I threw up at each one because the witches scared me so much. Bambi has the real horror of having Bambi’s mother shot by hunters. Night at Bald Mountain from Fantasia is really scary. All of these are considered classics and kids have love them even while being scared. Heck part of the fun of these movies is being scared.
“Focus dropped the ball on that one just like Fox Searchlight did on Sound of My Voice and Lola Versus.”
No ball was dropped on LOLA. Blame the filmmakers on that one. They made a dreadful movie.
I agree about LOLA. Looked great and could have done decent business. They should have just advertised it and given it a wider release. Can’t wait to see it on Blu-ray anyway.
Seeking A Friend looks wonderful. I’ll be seeing it.
Lola Versus was already a terrible movie to begin with.
After Arthur and this movie, I am smelling a Greta Gerwig backlash.
But she is a great actress!
Brave was great, and gorgeous to watch.
…and here I thought Abe was gonna be the next Snakes on a Plane :/
I’m shocked too because the cardinal #1 rule to becoming a cult classic is that you have to flop at the box office first like Office Space or Big Lebowski.
In truth, Pixar hasn’t made a really good film in years. Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles were all brilliant. But nothing else they’ve done is even close. (The first 10 minutes of Up was beautiful, but the rest of the story mundane).
“In truth” = “in my opinion” — RATATOUILLE and WALL-E were both brilliant films. That’s my truth.
Have you even seen “Ratatouille”? I guess you’re one of those people who say, “Rats in the kitchen? Yuck! I’m not watching that!”
“In truth, Pixar hasn’t made a really good film in years.”
The “Toy Story” sequels, “Ratatouille” and “WALL-E” all suggest otherwise.
Still baffled by the almost universal love for The Incredibles.
A boring, by-the-numbers trifle even BEFORE every other movie released was a superhero movie.
No love for The Incredibles, by the sounds of it i take it you don’t care for superhero films. For the record The Incredibles was terrific, but you have your opinion so be it.
LINCOLN was cool, but it has nothing on FDR: AMERICAN BADASS. That movie is going to blow up!
Famous last words.
I’m so excited to See abraham lincoln mainly because of Timor and I really want a WANTED 2 — certainly there can be another female lead (scarlett johannson perhaps).
Who gives a shit if most of ABE was CGI? Or the whole b.s. about digital vs. film. I care about a movie working on me — the audience, the fan — as a movie should. I don’t care about the package unless it destroys the what’s inside. ABE LINC. VAMP KILLER? Trailers got me from day one…director TIMUR’s with SETH’s wide eyed passions and excitement from a fan base level…Tim B. protecting that vision all the way…solid popcorn entertainment. If they’re enough idiots out there who scream for TWILIGHT? Then genre fans should really like ABE LINC. VAMP KILLER.
You make a great argument provided one lacks any taste and likes crap.
HOLLYWOOD TAKE NOTICE!
People don’t enjoy stupid genre mashups. Cowboys & Aliens failed for the same reason. Ridiculous idea teamed with serious intent. The only way something like this works is if it goes all-out comedy. Think Bill&Ted’s. Then you’re getting somewhere.
Yes. I hope this kills the mashup trend. Throwing two completely different genres together isn’t creativity – it’s simply taking weird ideas that should never see the light of day and trying to convince audience that they are “cool.” This dog don’t hunt, boys.
jeez, kids are easily frightened these days
SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD is terrible. Aweful.
so is it terrible or full of awe? these mixed reviews are awful for gathering information.
I agree. It was god awful. Has to be one of the worst movies made this decade. Scarfaria in WAY over her head.
Does anyone ever say that a lousy first film made by a man (of which there are plenty) means the director’s ‘in over his head’? Sounds demeaning, like you’re telling the little lady she’s not smart enough to be directing a manly motion picture.
Stop reading into things. The same thing was said about Andrew Stanton after his first foray into live action with the bomb that was JOHN CARTER. Jeez.
I liked it, thought it was an A-.
Abe Lincoln the book was really fun and as soon as I finished it I thought I can’t wait to see the movie. I thought the concept worked great but people are dumping all over it. People are stupid.
Isn’t it a little revolting to have our greatest President be a character in the exploitative nonsense. What is next, George Washington Space Alien. Kids already do not know much about American history.
Thomas Jefferson: Witch Finder General, Franklin Roosevelt: Master of the Undead.
I can’t get over this being a major studio movie. It would have been bad enough if a mini had put it out. Insult a great President, make a crappy movie in the process, and pinhead fanboys will still watch your pile of crap. The thing is, there just aren’t enough hardcore fanboys to make a movie with a budget like this profitable. If it makes $20 million this weekend it will still lose money for Fox. It won’t have legs and won’t do well internationally. Hopefully the mashup trend will die a quick death.
Kudos to Fox for lowering expectations to the point where a sorry showing like $20 million is being called (by some) a qualified success.
It is not revolting nor insulting — they are not making Lincoln look bad here — he’s still a great president.
The only *reason* it works is that Lincoln was a legend, a larger than life figure.
Believe me, we’ll never see “George H.W. Bush vs The Mummy” or ” Barack Obama: Necromancer.”
It’s weird to see how the ads mix the iconography of Lincoln with supernatural CGI action. But, please, have a little faith. You don’t need a PhD to separate fact from vampires. Do kids who read BEN AND ME grow up to believe a mouse was an actual founding father alongside Benjamin Franklin?
Everyone here feels your pain. We’ve all been where you are. (I really liked THE DEVIL INSIDE.) You just have to tough it out. And, remember, next time you want to laugh at one of those TWILIGHT people, just remember how you feel now, because their films make mega-$$$ and they still get dumped on.
That’s because Twilight films are silly nonsense for teen girls who live and fantasy worlds, and their 30 and 40 year-old counterparts who never left that fantasy.
Poorly writing, worse acting. It works based on premise –the females live out the fantasy of two supposedly awesome guys trying to kill each other over one boring, bland girl.
It’s an endless pleasure for it’s fans but torment for everyone else.
Stuff like Twilight and Bayformers are what’s killing cinema.
“Who live and fantasy worlds” and “Poorly writing”?
Can we start instituting a literacy requirement for posters? PLEASE?????
Yeah but the Twilight films do have a strong rabid fan base. I’m no Twilight fan by no means, but man those films have made grand theft money at the box office. As far as quality goes i hear where you’re coming from, but the cream usually rises to the top in the long run.
No FOX is stupid for being so eager to make this stupid Lincoln the Vampire Hunter. They rolled out a blood-red carpet when Burton and Bekmambetov came to pitch it. They put up huge banners at the studio entrance and lined the stairwells with crosses and other vampire killing paraphenalia. They were so eager to have the project now they are stuck with it. The concept was stupid to start with and the movie is just as dumb.
Spielberg should have told them to kill it because he has the real Lincoln coming out in December. I’m genuinely surprised he didn’t raise hell over this crazy mash-up. He has leverage he could have used he could have told them they are getting Robopocalypse from him and to wait a year for Vampire Hunter. I’m betting they wish they never made this movie. They were dazzled by the book sales.
Does it occur to you that the movie is not as good as the book? The awful trailer made me not want to see it.
I don’t think the quality of the film has anything to do with it since people dismissed the concept out of hand and reviewers were more concerned with looking cool by dumping on it.
It may be a crazy mashup but the story fit together very well with the real biographical details. Not every combination of unlikely genres will work, but this one does.
Apparently moviegoers disagree with you per the poor box office results.
BRAVE is too scary? How about BAMBI (horrific fire, dead parent) or DUMBO (mom declared insane and chained up, vicious bullying) or LADY AND THE TRAMP (one dog gassed, another hit by a vehicle) or . . . Kids like to be scared.
That’s actually what I really like about many of the Disney animated films and Pixar. They aren’t afraid to add a little darkness to their films. And seriously, kids are pansies if they can’t handle those things.
If you’d ever had to comfort a child through the nightmares caused by certain movies, you’d realize just how far off the idea that kids “like” being scared is. This is an idea imposed upon children by adults who forget what it was like to be very young. “Scares” that are thrilling for a twelve-year-old are shattering for a four-year-old.
My father speaks bitterly of Walt Disney as a “sadistic bastard” who always had to ruin otherwise sweet movies with scenes that didn’t just scare, but utterly traumatized children. For the most notorious example, tickets to Bambi ought to come with free PTSD counseling.
Vampires? Again? Somebody needs to have his teeth pulled.
$ 20 million for Abe Lincoln is an utter failure. I just don’t get it. Timur Bekmambetov was a hot director and the book was a major success.
So far SEEKING A FRIEND is in 10th place…. fyi
-RnsW
Any word on End of the World? When I first heard the premise, I thought pretentious dreck, but then I saw a trailer and it actually looked kind of intriguing and sweet. Anyone seen it?
I thought the trailer looked terrible. Was there a single funny moment in it? Who writes this crap, and do they actually get paid for it?
Fascinating — achieving numbers that are roughly equal to DreamWorks Animation is now considered a success for Disney-Pixar. I remember 18 years ago when “The Lion King” shook things up by opening to $41 million in 2,500 theaters at tickets roughly 50% less than today’s, and it cost $45 million to make. Really fascinating.
Rock of Ages is NOT Tom Cruise’s failure! The promos presented him as a supporting character in a HUGE ensemble. How come when ROA bombs it becomes a “Cruise failure”??? The character that gets the most screentime and focus is clearly Julianne Hough.
Was she the focus of the ads?