2008 at the Box Office - Page 6

TerryRL · 01-12-2008, 02:46 PM

Friday Estimates

#1 "The Bucket List" $6.4 million ($7.8 million) 7,463% Friday-to-Friday increase
#2 "First Sunday" $6.2 million
#3 "Juno" $4.6 million ($61.9 million) 13% Friday-to-Friday drop
#4 "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" $3.3 million ($179.1 million) 49% Friday-to-Friday drop
#5 "I Am Legend" $2.6 million ($234.7 million) 49% Friday-to-Friday drop
#6 "One Missed Call" $2.2 million ($16.7 million) 59% Friday-to-Friday drop
#7 "Alvin & the Chipmunks" $1.9 million ($180.6 million) 59% Friday-to-Friday drop
#8 "P.S. I Love You" $1.6 million ($43.6 million) 38% Friday-to-Friday drop
#9 "Charlie Wilson's War" $1.4 million ($56.6 million) 47% Friday-to-Friday drop
#10 "Atonement" $1.3 million ($22.2 million) 14% Friday-to-Friday drop

Kevin Grey · 01-12-2008, 03:02 PM

Did Juno add theaters? Because that 13% drop is amazing considering that almost everything else had closer to 50% drops.

Robert Crawford · 01-12-2008, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Grey

Did Juno add theaters? Because that 13% drop is amazing considering that almost everything else had closer to 50% drops.

Yes!

TerryRL · 01-12-2008, 07:23 PM

"Juno" entered 523 more theaters this weekend. It is now playing in 2,448 locations.

TerryRL · 01-13-2008, 04:10 PM

Weekend Estimates

#1 "The Bucket List" $19.5 million ($21.0 million) +5,879%
#2 "First Sunday" $19.0 million
#3 "Juno" $14.0 million ($71.3 million) -12%
#4 "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" $11.5 million ($187.3 million) -43%
#5 "Alvin & the Chipmunks" $9.1 million ($187.7 million) -42%
#6 "I Am Legend" $8.1 million ($240.2 million) -48%
#7 "One Missed Call" $6.1 million ($20.6 million) -51%
#8 "P.S. I Love You" $5.0 million ($47.0 million) -36%
#9 "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" $4.4 million
#10 "Atonement" $4.3 million ($25.2 million) -15%

For only the second time in the history of the month of January, the top ten films earned more than $100 million during the month's sophomore weekend session. Depending on how the rest of the month's offerings perform, January '08 could become the fist time a January frame has topped the century mark in ticket sales during every weekend.

Business was up 12% compared to this frame last year, as well as being 9% stronger than this weekend in '06. The top twelve films pulled in $108.8 million, which is the second best second-weekend mark ever for January following the $117.8 million Martin Luther King holiday mark from '05.

2008's year-to-date gross now stands at $407.5 million, representing an 11% increase over last year ($368.3 million), up a stellar 21% over '06 ($337.8 million), a whopping 36% stronger than '05 ($300.4 million), and a 13% improvement over '04 ($362.1 million).

WB's "The Bucket List", which stars Oscar-winners Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, went into wide release this weekend and topped the charts with nearly $20 million. The buddy-comedy entered 2,895 more locations as it enjoyed a massive 5,879% increase in business. The film's average of $6,712 from its 2,911 locations was the second best of the top ten.

"The Bucket List" also earned director Rob Reiner the biggest opening mark of his career, besting the $15.5 million start of "A Few Good Men" 16 years ago, as well as being his first double-digit debut haul since 1995's "The American President" ($10.0 million). The studio is expecting a leggy run from this one in the coming weeks, on top of a strong showing during next week's holiday frame.

Sony's comedy "First Sunday" got off to a much stronger-than-expected start as it pulled in about $19 million. The potent debut gave star Ice Cube the third best opening mark of his career, trailing the two 'Barbershop' flicks. Sony execs expect this one to have a strong sophomore haul since next weekend is the MLK holiday session. The comedy's per-theater average of $8,585 from its 2,213 locations was easily the best of the top ten.

Fox Searchlight's "Juno" continues to impress at the box office as it took only a 12% dip in business. The film entered 523 more theaters and saw its total domestic haul climb to $71.3 million.

Disney's "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" is sitting on a domestic haul of $187.3 million. Fox's "Alvin & the Chipmunks" is just ahead with $187.7 million. WB's "I Am Legend" continues to pack theaters as it has now tallied $240.2 million. WB's "One Missed Call" has earned $20.6 million, while WB's "P.S. I Love You" continues to show impressive legs as it nears the $50 million mark.

Universal's "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" barely drew interest from moviegoers as it opened with a disappointing $4.4 million, earning a very soft average of $3,305 from its 1,337 locations.

Focus Features' "Atonement" rounds out the top ten as it passed the $25 million mark. This weekend's third new release, "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale", failed to ignite much interest from theater patrons as it pulled in about $3.3 million, giving it a per-theater average of only $2,001 from its 1,631 locations.

Next weekend will see three new films enter the marketplace. Paramount's "Cloverfield", Fox's "27 Dresses", and Overture Films' "Mad Money" will all hit theaters for the four-day Martin Luther King holiday session. The industry is expecting very robust business as both "Cloverfield" and "27 Dresses" will be entering more than 3,000 locations apiece. Next week will see "Michael Clayton" begin its awards season run, while "No Country for Old Men" finally goes into wide release as it enters about 1,500 theaters.

No pun intended, but many believe "Cloverfield" will have a monster showing next weekend, challenging for both the best January opening as well as the best MLK weekend opening marks. Look for both "27 Dresses" and "Mad Money" to earn solid showings as well next week.

Malcolm R · 01-13-2008, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TerryRL

Universal's "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" barely drew interest from moviegoers as it opened with a disappointing $4.4 million, earning a very soft average of $3,305 from its 1,337 locations.

Yep, another of those "wholesome, family films" that people say there are not enough of, but no one will actually go and see when they do appear.

Though choosing a title that admits your subject characters "Don't Do Anything" might not have been a smart move, either.

Greg Layton · 01-13-2008, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malcolm R

Yep, another of those "wholesome, family films" that people say there are not enough of, but no one will actually go and see when they do appear.

Though choosing a title that admits your subject characters "Don't Do Anything" might not have been a smart move, either.

As far as I know, Veggietales reached the height of its popularity four or five years ago. I'm not surprised at all to see that it tanked.

Joel C · 01-14-2008, 11:40 AM

The first Veggietales movie didn't do very well either -- $24 million or so, back when the show was at its height of popularity (such as it was). It wound up bankrupting the company, actually. Not surprised to see the sequel doing poorly, as I never saw advertising for it other than a few billboards. I might try to catch it on DVD, but the last few episodes of the series I watched didn't have the spark of the earlier installments. Or maybe I'm simply no longer 14 (hard to believe I saw the first video in the series 12 years ago).

So Michael Clayton is going back into theaters? I missed it last time!

Tarkin The Ewok · 01-14-2008, 01:58 PM

I think it was a mistake for the second VeggieTales movie to be an "original" story instead of a well-known Bible tale. People who aren't fans have no real reason to go. Plus, having the phrase "Don't Do Anything" in the movie title does not imply a very involving plot.

I'll still see it because I liked the first movie, but I've got a lot of reservations going into it.

Joel C · 01-17-2008, 04:19 PM

Since you're our resident expert, Terry, I wanted your insights on something... I finally got around to watching the third Pirates of the Caribbean film the other day (it was on par with the second, I thought, meaning overlong if somewhat entertaining, but no match for the first one), and I was wondering about the overall assessment of the franchise.

Obviously the films were a huge success, from the surprise legs of the first to the massive performance of the second and the strong hold for the third... The worldwide box office total is $2.5 billion, I believe?

But I also read a lot about rumors that the sequels cost a LOT more than some numbers would have you believe, even well over the reported $250-$300 million budgets for each. How much did Disney really spend getting the latter two films into theaters on a short schedule?

In the end, just how profitable were they? Did they make money on theatrical gross alone? How much have DVD sales brought in total (roughly), which is incidentally a statistic I don't see as often as I'd like.