Sunday, April 15, 2007

Box Office Report: 4-15-07 (Tax Day... kinda)

Dude here again, taxes filed, and ready for yet another weekend to pass me by. A weekend filled with numbers and movies I don't really care that much for. (Except for one I thought was gonna be BOSSOME, but turns out is just plain bad). But in the end, it doesn't matter. Not when MONSTER TRUCK JAM championships are on the tube!

This weekend, six more movies opened up, and one finally achieved the oft coveted number one place, thus knocking funny Will Ferrell down a peg. Literally. Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates, the actuals will be available on Monday. Just to prove me wrong).

1. Disturbia (Par/DW) - $23.0, 2925 screens, week 1, $23.0 total

2. Blades of Glory (Par/DW) - $14.065, 3467 screens, week 3, $90.195 total

3. Meet The Robinsons (BV) - $12.1, 3238 screens, week 3, $72.0 total

4. Perfect Stranger (Sony) - $11.5, 2661 screens, week 1, $11.5 total

5. Are We Done Yet? (Sony) - $9.2, 2877 screens, week 2, $33.0 total

6. Pathfinder (Fox) - $4.8, 1720 screens, week 1, $4.8 total

7. Wild Hogs (BV)- $4.6, 2429 screens, week 7, $152.2 total

8. The Reaping (WB) - $4.565, 2603 screens, week 2, $19.76 total

9. 300 (WB) - $4.3, 2140 screens, week 6, $200.8 total

10. Grindhouse (WeinCo/Dim) - $4.2, 2629 screens, week 2, $19.7 total

Ok, those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means the teen thriller is never a dead genre, as long as there's some space between. Disturbia took in $23 million, well above what most people had predicted. (Not for nothing, but I heard there are some casinos in Vegas that actually bet on how much a movie will make. That's disturbing to me). Perfect Strangers, on the other hand, fought some pretty awful reviews and came in fourth. It will quickly die. And Pathfinder, which I've heard HORRIBLE things about (which makes me cry a little) barely even registered. And those were the lucky releases this weekend.

Below the top ten, "Redline", a movie nobody really heard about, that was made outside the studio system, and which had a publicity stunt go horribly wrong which destroyed a Ferrari Enzo, took in $4 million on 1607 screens. Not bad, given a grassroots and myspace fueled advertising campaign. Ditto on Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters (which I love writing out). It took in $3 million and ended up in 13th place. Not bad at all. In fact, it almost made more than the combined grosses of other cult TV shows turned movies Brain Candy and the MST3K Movie. (Both films are genius, it should be noted). And a movie called Slow Burn opened up this weekend. This is of interest because the film was apparently completed 2-3 years ago, depending on where you hear it from. It took in $800,000.

And it is with great sadness that I report the failure of Grindhouse. falling down to tenth place. There was talk of splitting the two movies up and rereleasing them separately, but I think that's a big mistake at this point. Half the charm is the double feature combo, the recurring characters and small jokes, not to mention the audience participation level. They honestly shouldn't have opened so big, and made it an arthouse event. Build up slowly like the Pulp Fiction days. Keep it below 1000 screens and make people seek it out, instead of over saturation. It also wouldn't have hurt to cut out 15-20 minutes tops, but that's neither here nor there. It's still a great time at the movies, and I urge anyone out there who hasn't seen it to go see it in a theater when you still can. The more obnoxious the theater, the better.

And in the "Because It's There" series: The Namesake (with Kal Penn) took in $1,310,000 on 331 screens, bringing it's grand total to $8,726,000 in 6 weeks.

There you have my break down. Next week, Hot Fuzz comes to town to show us all what a movie is supposed to be, and in the process, possibly come to redefine the term BOSSOME. You better go out and see it.

Until next weekend....

(I get to see them tonight!)

No comments: