2008 at the Box Office (1 Viewer)

[Douglas Monce]

Most movie studios today are really just in the stage rental/distribution and sometimes finance business. Very few movies are developed and produced in house anymore. In fact studios don't even employ creative people anymore.

A buddy of mine used to be the head of the art department for Sony Pictures Studios. He was the head because he was the only member of the art department. All he did was coordinate with the production designers that were coming in to use the studio spaces. All that meant was that he got stage plans and electrical specs when they needed them.

These days pretty much the only employees working for studios are lawyers and janitors.

Doug

 

[Douglas Monce]

Well they not only scaled back original productions, they just plain scaled back production. At the hight of the studio system in 1947, studios produced 52 A features a year. One for every week. Of course at the time something like 70% of Americans went to the movies at least 2 times a week. Today studios release something like 12 to 18 features a year.

But Hollywood relied on published works pretty heavy then as well. Think of all the films from what is considered the greatest year in film history, 1939.

Gone With the Wind

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Gunga Din

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Ninotchka

Of Mice and Men

The Wizard of Oz

Wuthering Heights

Young Mr. Lincoln

Stagecoach

All based on other works. In fact only a few of the really big films that year were original...

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington is the only ones I can think of.

Doug

 

[Douglas Monce]

I was at Walmart and Target yesterday and they were both just about sold out of Indy toys. The Speed Racer toys were on an endcap at Walmart discounted 50% off.

Doug

 

[Kevin Grey]

Not this time out- After break even Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford get the vast majority of the money with Paramount getting a relatively tiny fee.

 

[Douglas Monce]

What did you hear about the deal?

I know on Crusade Ford, Lucas and Spielberg took scale pay up front for their respective Acting, Producing and Directing fees and got profit points on the back end. However that is a completely separate issue from the percentage split between Lucasfilm and Paramount.

Doug

 

[Kevin Grey]

 

[BrettB]

Forgive me if I missed it in this thread but I've seen elsewhere that Indy 4 is the first film to ever have 5 25M+ days. Is that correct?

 

[TerryRL]

Yep, that is correct, Indy IV is the first movie to earn more than $25 million in each of its first five days in theaters, while "Spider-Man 2" is currently the only film in history to earn more than $20 million during its first six days in theaters.

 

[JediFonger]

how much is SATC expected to post and what're the deals brokered for that film? i expect it to be #1 this weekend, but by how much is the question.

 

[Malcolm R]

Against Indy Week 2?

Not a chance.

 

[DavidPla]

I might've agreed with you a year ago.. but don't underestimate the female and gay fanbase. I think it has higher pre-sale tickets sold than even Indy did. I'm sure its second weekend drop will be huge but I bet it'll open close to 50 M this weekend.

 

[JediFonger]

i think the 2nd week drop will also be huge. the first week is the indy rabbid fans, i doubt they'll see it again. the casual filmgoers will for 3rd/4th week, which will be irrelevant by that time. plus, it's not like the word of mouth is extremely high anyways. there is a lot more SATC fans than indy, imho.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I'm be surprised if SatC cracked $30 million this long weekend (Thursday-Sunday).

 

[Chuck Mayer]

1) Indy has way more fans than SATC.
2) No way SATC doesn't top $30M this weekend.

 

[Malcolm R]

Bwahahaha! Stop it, you're killing me!

I'm not saying there's not an audience, but I'm expecting "Speed Racer" type numbers here. Maybe $30M if the wind blows the right way, followed by a very steep drop-off. But Indy will still be #1 this weekend, barring a complete sophomore weekend meltdown.

 

[Kevin Grey]

I agree with those who think Sex and the City will be over 30 million so it could be close if Indy does the normal 60% second week blockbuster drop.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Are y'all saying SatC is going to pull in $30 million from Friday-Sunday or Thursday-Sunday?

The show probably didn't pull in more than 6 million weekly viewers when it was airing on HBO.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I thought it opened on Friday. So I was going Fri-Sun.

 

[Patrick Sun]

For some reason, I thought SatC's release date was 5/29/08, but I guess it's mainly midnight showings (Thursday's end of day), and then normal Friday showings.

 

[Kevin Grey]

Finale did 12-13 million viewers though I think you're right that the "typical" ratings for an episode were more like 6-7 million, though considering that's just one airing and HBO shows are re-aired all of the time so the actual viewing audience will be larger. Plus the TBS repeats have been doing a couple of million as well plus the DVDs.

It may be entirely front-loaded but I expect at least the opening weekend will be quite good.