I knew that "The GOlden Compass" would underwhelm. It is hard to imagine a holiday movie season with less films to get excited about than this one. Sure I can't wait to see "No Country for Old Men," "Juno," and "Atonement" but when it comes to wide releases, I have taken a pass on everything except for "American Gangster" that has been released since July.
Posts: 3684 | Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA | Registered: July 17, 2002
Originally posted by RichT315: I knew that "The GOlden Compass" would underwhelm. It is hard to imagine a holiday movie season with less films to get excited about than this one. Sure I can't wait to see "No Country for Old Men," "Juno," and "Atonement" but when it comes to wide releases, I have taken a pass on everything except for "American Gangster" that has been released since July.
I have felt similarly. I did see "Enchanted" for Oscar purposes. May do the same with "Compass".
Posts: 16856 | Location: Phoenix, AZ | Registered: February 02, 2003
Juno's numbers rank with the best fall limited openings (No Country, Eastern Promises); Atonement's are decent, above average, but not remotely standout considering the quality of theatres involved.
Theatrically, Juno, likely drawing a younger audience, has something of a built-in advantage.
Atonement opened in a number of other cities to decent grosses; Juno only opened in Toronto, with other US cities opening this week.
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It's no surpise that "Juno" womped "Atonement" at Union Square, given its proximity to NYU and the younger crowd down there. The movie's tone is targeted straight at people who live in (or want to live in) the village.
More surprising that it bested "Atonement" at Lincoln Square...then again, "Atonement"'s an adult movie and we all know what's happening to that audience...
Posts: 2202 | Location: New York, New York | Registered: August 08, 2003
I'm no expert at predicting box office, but I was very suprised by the opening weekend numbers for The Golden Compass. I thought it was going to be a Narnia/LOTR type opening.
Side note from the other day, seanflynn I looked up some of the Coen's films at the box office(not all because they don't have a page at boxofficemojo which is ridiculous) and O Brother, Where Art Thou? is their highest grossing film in the usa with just over $45 million. No Country should be at $30 million before Friday. I agree it looks like it should easily become their highest grossed within a few weeks.
Also the NYFCC wins most definitely help right? However, the film probably needs to come up big at the Globe nominations on Thurs to get out to mainstream crowds right?
Posts: 2912 | Location: USA | Registered: July 27, 2005
I Am Legend looks likely to have the biggest FSS opening ever in December with perhaps $80 million - bigger than Narnia, bigger than King Kong, bigger than LOTR: ROTK. Will Smith is the biggest star at the moment (although we knew that already).
Alive and the Chipmunks is also strong.
For Friday
1) I Am Legend - 29.6 2) Alvin and the Chipmunks - 13.2
Smith has new box office 'Legend' Warner Bros. film posts $29.7 million Friday By ANTHONY D'ALESSANDRO
Warner Bros.' Will Smith topliner "I Am Legend" made history at the box office yesterday, posting a whopping $29.7 million from 3,606 sites - the biggest opening day ever for the thesp. In addition, the sci-fi/actioner registered a few more records in Warner Bros.' B.O. ledgers: not only was it the second highest opening day for the studio this year behind "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (first day take $44.2 million), it was also their top December opener of all-time, besting the $14.7 million generated by 2004's "Ocean's Twelve."
Among post-Labor day releases, "Legend's" first day is the fourth highest of all-time and the third best for a PG-13 release behind 2005's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" ($40 million) and the Wednesday bow of 2003's "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" ($34.5 million).
The top three-day opening for a Will Smith vehicle belongs to "I, Robot" which generated $52.2 million in the summer of 2004. Hands down, "Legend" will beat that figure by Sunday.
The actor's previous opening day high belonged to the Wednesday bow of "Men in Black 2" which generated $18.6 million in 2002.
Fox's live-action/CGI adaptation of the '60s cartoon "Alvin and the Chipmunks" crooned a groovy $13.2 million off 3,475 locales - the biggest opening day ever for a Fox post-summer release, outstripping last year's Ben Stiller hit "Night at the Museum" which racked up $12.1 million. "Museum" posted $30.4 million in its first three days and "Alvin" looks to exceed that haul.
The onslaught of frosh competition sent the Friday grosses for New Line's "The Golden Compass" southward. The fantasy kid pic collected $2.6 million in third place from 3,528 theaters, repping a 70% drop from its opening day. The domestic B.O. for "Compass" currently stands at $34.5 million.
In fourth place, Disney's "Enchanted" warbled $1.6 million in 3,066 theaters, down 43%, with a cume of $87.9 million.
Miramax's "No Country for Old Men" muscled its way into the top five on Friday, grabbing $849,000 from 1,348 locations, a 33% dip, for a total running cume of $31.4 million.
The weekend's only other wide entry, Yari Film Group's yuletide romantic comedy, "The Perfect Holiday" sparked little cheer among moviegoers, ringing up $693,000 from 1,307 engagements. Since its opening Wednesday, the Queen Latifah-Terrence Howard starrer has accumulated $1.3 million.
Focus Features' expansion of "Atonement" to 117 theaters resulted in an extra $527,000 yesterday for the Golden Globe nominated drama. Since last Friday, the Joe Wright-helmed period pic has generated $1.6 million in domestic coin.
Fox Searchlight's "Juno" boasted the largest theater average among specialty fare yesterday: $10,175 from 40 theaters for a daily haul of $407,000. Pic's uptick from seven theaters last weekend pushed the comedy's Friday B.O. up 236%, bringing its total cume to $1.1 million.
The most prolific arthouse opener yesterday, Paramount Classics' big-screen adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel "The Kite Runner" raised $141,000 in 35 theaters for a per theater average of $4,034.
I saw both Juno and Atonement in Lincoln Center theatre and I'd say the Atonement average age theatre goer had to be 50 and this was on a Saturday night while Juno which I saw on Saturday too was having a much younger crowd.
Both theaters were packed but Atonement seemed to be full 25 min before movie even started.
Posts: 1353 | Location: Providence RI USA | Registered: November 29, 2001
1. I Am Legend/Warner Bros $30.2M Fri, $29M Sat (est. cume $77.4M) 2. Alvin And The Chipmunks/Fox $13.3M Fri, $19 Sat ($44.7M) 3. The Golden Compass/New Line $2.6M Fri, $3.7 Sat ($40.5M) 4. Enchanted/Disney $1.6M Fri, $2.4M Sat ($91.7M) 5. No Country For Old Men/Miramax $849K Fri, $1.1M Sat ($33.3M) 6. This Christmas/Sony $755K Fri, $985K Sat ($46M) 7. Fred Claus/Warner Bros $701K Fri, $908K Sat ($68.7M) 8. The Perfect Holiday/Yari $693K Fri, $1M Sat ($2.8M) 9. Atonement/Focus $527K Fri, $772K Sat ($2.9M) 10. August Rush/Warner Bros $602K Fri, $723K Sat ($28M)
this officialy makes me decide not to see The Golden Compass until it comes out on DVD....same goes Beowulf which I already knew I wasn't gonna watch....
The thought that people would much rather watch Alvin and the Chipmunks and not those two....it makes me sick....and it worries me because you know a sequel is on the way already...
I think this just goes to show that the ridiculously disappointing final quarter of the year has moviegoers so hungry for anything that could be a satisfying blockbuster they are willing to see movies like "Alvin and the Chipmunks." Wow.
Posts: 3684 | Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA | Registered: July 17, 2002
I agree it's shocking and depressing, but it has more to do with two things other than audience rejection of the fall product:
1) A place for shopping parents to dump their kids while shopping 2) A sign that Enchanted is not getting the word of mouth and repeat viewing that I had thought was possible. (One old rule for kids films - make them with male characters. Even at a young age, girls will see films with male lead characters, boys refuse to see films with female lead characters).
Enchanted is still a hit, but not close to the high level I thought it might attain.
I was geeked to see 'Golden Compass' last weekend, but I was ill. Now to see that no one else is watching it either, I'll mos def save it for DVD rental, the same with Beowulf.
I am not surprised in the least for the success of the 'Chipmunks'. Perfect timing for a cutesy cartoon with cute chipmunks. Have any of you seen a real live chipmunk? Those little bastards are darling, natural born cartoon critters.
Still very pleased and impressed with 'Legend's performance.
FYC-
Best Actor in a Lead Role: Michael Fassbender, Hunger
No Country will be by far the Coens biggest movie, and also likely Miramax' biggest in the post-Weinstein era (needs to top The Queen, which I think was around $80 million).
No Country will be by far the Coens biggest movie, and also likely Miramax' biggest in the post-Weinstein era (needs to top The Queen, which I think was around $80 million).
Nope, The Queen topped out around $56 million and change, so No Country is already more than halfway there.
Variety on the specialized releases (basically, No Country, Juno and Atonement are doing well or better in that order, Kite Runner is just OK, Youth Without Youth bombed)
Specialty films boost box office 'Juno,' 'No Country,' 'Atonement' make gains By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK The specialty biz came to life at the domestic box office as a trio of films --Focus Features' "Atonement," Fox Searchlight's "Juno" and Miramax's "No Country for Old Men" -- made sizeable gains over the weekend. Even opera did some business.
"Atonement," which picked up the most Golden Globe nominations of any film last week, landed at No. 9 overall as it expanded it its second frame to 117 theaters. Film, directed by Joe Wright, grossed an estimated $1.9 million for a healthy per-screen average of $15,835, according to Rentrak.
"No Country for Old Men" moved up to No. 5, declining just 27% to an estimated $3 million from 1,348 runs; cume is $33.6 million in the film's sixth weekend. That makes the Coen brothers' pic the most successful limited release of the year.
"Juno" moved up to No. 11 and scored the best per-screen average -- $36,018 -- of the weekend for any film. Quirky laffer grossed $1.4 million as it expanded from seven to 40 theaters in its second weekend. Cume is $2.2 million.
The specialty biz may be enjoying a December surge after a fall slump, but auds may continue to shy away from films with political overtones.
Among new titles pics debuting over the weekend, Paramount Vantage-DreamWorks' high-profile "The Kite Runner" posted a per-screen average of $12,886 as it opened on 35 screens, grossing an estimated $451,000.
That's a solid number for that number of screens, but both "No Country" and "Atonement" debuted far stronger. "No Country" opened with an average of $43,898 from 28 locations, while "Atonement" posted an average of $25,014 when it opened in 32 theaters.
Vantage had delayed release of filmmaker Marc Forster's "Kite Runner" from Nov. 2 in order to get three young boys who starred in the film out of Afghanistan out of fear for their safety. They have been relocated to the United Arab Emirates.
Vantage distrib topper Rob Schulze said initial reaction to the film has been strong, and word of mouth should translate into a strong holiday run.
In its debut, Sony Pictures Classics' "Youth Without Youth," directed by Francis Ford Coppola, grossed an estimated $27,815 from six screens for a per-screen average of $4,636.
Focus prexy of distribution Jack Foley said "Atonement" has become a genuine box office contender based on the business it has done this weekend and the fact that it landed on the top 10 list in only its second weekend in limited release.
"People have really found this film," Foley said.
Another limited engagement posting strong grosses was the Metropolitan Opera's live digital high-def simulcast of "Romeo and Juliette" Saturday on 475 screens in North America. Estimated gross is $1.4 million. Initiative, now beginning its second year, is part of a campaign to make opera more accessible and expand the Met's audience.
"There is no question that this is the largest alternative cinema event ever," Met general manager Peter Gelb said. "It's the single greatest audience development tool we could employ."
Exhibs investing in the installation of digital screens say they want alternative content as a means to lure new patrons. Also, they can charge far more for such a ticket.
The Met simulcasts also play on about 100 screens abroad; those grosses weren't available Sunday.
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