SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM: If there's a Christmas-themed movie opening in November, then it's the official start of the holiday box office. (Hey, no studio waits for Thanksgiving anymore...)
1. Disney's A Christmas Carol. You know it as Charles Dickens' novel, but Disney had a problem with title rights, so now it's their pic. Hollywood predicted the 3-D family film to make at least $35M and possibly $40M this weekend because of its wide release into 3,683 theaters domestically, including 2,035 3-D locations and 181 IMAX screens). But the Jim Carrey starrer (he plays lotsa roles, including all 3 ghosts) directed by Robert Zemeckis (who used the same motion capture technology as Polar Express and Beowulf) made only $31M after opening with an underperforming $8.9 million Friday and a Saturday kiddie bump of $12.9M (+43%) despite the higher ticket prices. "Poor reviews coupled with the 'too dark for kids' attitude may really be hurting the opening," a rival studio exec told me Friday night. "Throw that in with the possibility that they just might be a bit too early with the Christmas theme, and you have the possibility of a really lackluster debut for an expensive movie. Mr. Iger will not be happy." Overseas, A Christmas Carol opened day-and-date in 18 territories and mostly in 3-D, including UK, Germany, Australia, Mexico, Brazil.
2. Michael Jackson's This Is It has picked up considerable steam worldwide since it's opening 10 days ago. Sony announced the concert rehearsal footage passed the $100 million mark overseas on Thursday after just 9 days of screen time. The estimated international gross through November 5th is $100.2 million. Domestically, the film has taken in an additional $43.8 million for a worldwide total of $144 million going into this weekend. Between the Jackson estate, concert promoter AEG, movie theaters, and Sony, that cume has to be split at least 4 ways. On Friday, the pic moved up to 2nd place with $4.1M Friday and $5.7M Saturday (+42%) from 3,481 plays for a domestic weekend of $13.4M (a better than expected drop of -42% from a week ago).
3. Disagree with me all you want, but I found the trailers for The Men Who Star At Goats so godawful that they repelled me from seeing the movie which looked like one big inside joke for stars George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, and Jeff Bridges. And it was since it's directed by Clooney’s producing partner Grant and produced by Clooney and Heslov’s Smokehous (along with BBC Films and Winchester Capital Partners). Lucky for them, it was acquired by Overture for just $5M because the R-rated pic made just $4.6M Friday and $5.4M Saturday (+16%) from 2,443 plays despite the well-known cast. (It might also be a case of bad timing given the Texas military massacre. This isn't the best weekend to make fun of that institution.) Still, a weekend of $13.3M is disappointing but looks like gravy on this goat. Not baaahd...
4. Maybe there was an unsatiated appetite for Halloween horror after last weekend's gazillion movies in the genre. But The Fourth Kind other-worldly thriller, produced by Gold Circle Films and acquired by Universal for distribution in the U.S., came in with $5M Friday from 2,529 runs and $4.8M Saturday (-4M%) for a $12.4M weekend. No one in the box office predicting biz thought much of this first-person verite experience. Like Paranormal Activity from Paramount pic, Uni also waged a big viral marketing campaign on the Internet.
5. Even going into its 7th week of release, Paramount's Paranormal Activity keeps scaring up moviegoers. It made $2.8M Friday and $3.6M Saturday from a wider 2,558 theaters for an $8.4M weekend.
6. Why Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, and Frank Langella would waste their star power on this stillborn mess The Box from Media Rights Capital and distributed by Warner Bros is anybody's guess. Maybe its pedigree from cult favorite Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly? But how embarrassing for them that the horror pic opened to only $3M Friday and $3.2M Saturday from 2,635 dates for just a $7.8M weekend. Ouch!
The rest of the Top 10 were holdovers:
7. Couples Retreat (Universal) Wkd $6.4M [2,857 runs]
8. Law Abiding Citizen (Overture) $1.8M Friday [2,474] Est Wkd $5.8M
9. Where The Wild Things Are (Wb) $1.1M Friday [2,756] Est Wkd $4M
10. Saw VI (Lionsgate) $700K Friday [2,091] Est Wkd $2M
Also opening Friday was the Oscar-buzzed Precious: Based On The Novel "Push" By Sapphire. Platforming in 18 theaters in 4 markets -- NY, LA, Atlanta, and Chicago -- consisting of arthouses and primarily African-American neighborhood venues. I'm told the debut numbers are outstanding because of all the advance publicity -- $585K for Friday, with a per screen average of $32,500, and a predicted $1.7M weekend. Starting with its attention-grabbing debut at the Sundance Film Festival last January, this powerful film adapted by Geoffrey Fletcher from a novel about an illiterate black Harlem teen whose father has raped and impregnated her twice was embraced by no less than Tyler Perry, which is why it landed with Lionsgate's Joe Drake for distribution, and Oprah Winfrey. Both came on as executive producers, unusual because they had no hand in the actual production of Precious and will be donating all their proceeds to charity, because of their personal experiences with family abuse and dysfunction. The result is they personally brought the film to the Toronto Film Festival and its official premiere at AFI Fest 2009 last Sunday. Also pumping up the film's profile are the presence of Mo'Nique, Sidibe, and Mariah Carey in the cast. And, covering all its political bases, Lionsgate arranged for George H.W. Bush and wife Barbara to host a Houston screening last Wednesday. Now comes an aggressive campaign for outspoken Lee Daniels' Best Picture Oscar.
Other openers on the specialty side include Hal Holbrook starrer That Evening Sun, which Freestyle opened in one theater in New York, La Danse: Le Ballet de L'Opera de Paris also debuting in a lone venue by Zipporah Films, and the South African thriller Endgame opened by Monterey Media in one New York venue.
I understand that no one on the SAG board who clashed with the AMPTP's Nick Counter during the long and bitter 2008/2009 round of negotiations before the Unite For Strength/NY/Regional divisions came to power are being allowed to have their say about his passing. But the Screen Actors Guild issued a statement tonight that, "It is with sadness that we mark the passing of Screen Actors Guild’s longtime industry colleague, Nick Counter."
He was 69. He'd been ill for a long time, and was hospitalized several days ago, I'm told. A very controversial figure in Hollywood, Nick Counter served as President of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) for 27 years, from its formation in 1982 until his retirement in March of this year. Prior to being named AMPTP President, he served as outside legal counsel for the antecedent Association of Motion Picture & Television Producers for 10 years. As AMPTP President, Counter's primary responsibility was to lead the 80 industry-wide labor negotiations with entertainment industry guilds and unions on behalf of the studios, the broadcast networks, and certain cable networks. In his 27 years as AMPTP President, Counter negotiated more than 300 major guild and union agreements. Warner Bros chief Barry Meyer, considered the lead mogul behind the AMPTP, tonight called Counter "a brilliant negotiator who guided this industry through historic change and never lost his desire to be fair to all involved. We will miss him very much."
Pixel Magic today announced a new digital media studio at LITE in Lafayette. It could create 40 direct new jobs in 3 years. "Pixel Magic is a great example of the kind of companies we hoped to position Louisiana to secure when we strengthened Louisiana's film production and digital interactive media tax credits during the last legislative session," said Gov. Bobby Jindal. "Pixel Magic's decision to locate in Louisiana will send a signal to Hollywood and to other leading digital media companies that Louisiana is a major player in the digital media industry. This win will help accelerate the development of Lafayette as a hub for digital media and film production, and of course it will help create more good jobs for our children so that they can pursue their dreams right here in Louisiana."
