2008 at the Box Office - Page 70

Brandon Conway · 08-18-2008, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidJ

I'm not sure about Prince Caspian as a loser. I know that it did not perform as well as was hoped but it is at $358 million worldwide. Even with its huge production budget that seems decent, but I'm not the Prince Caspian expert. Brandon, your thoughts?

LOL.

Disney would be insane to not delay the release of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to December 2010 from the scheduled May 2010 release date. They'll likely reign in the budget a bit, too.

My one hope is that Walden Media is as oblivious to Caspian's barely break-even-theatrically-but-profitable-once-you-add-in-home-video returns and continues with the other books as films. After all, this is the same company that saw Around the World in 80 Days totally bomb ($110M budget, $24M US, $72M total WW) and went right into the $180M budgeted The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe.

DavidJ · 08-19-2008, 01:26 AM

Brandon, it has been a looooong time since I've read 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.' Do you think it could be done well with a significantly smaller budget? 'Prince Caspian' seemed to necessitate a huge budget, but I kind of remember 'Dawn Treader" to be smaller in scale.

Brandon Conway · 08-19-2008, 03:05 AM

Well, not a significantly smaller budget. It certainly has moments that will be effects heavy (fire-breathing dragon, new strange one-footed creatures, etc.), but there's only one real battle sequence, which comes in the first half of the story. It's really a matter of how much they want to embellish the sailing sequences and the look of Aslan's Country at the end. The book describes it in a manner of simplistic beauty, so I hope they keep with that spirit.

DavidJ · 08-19-2008, 09:12 AM

Thanks Brandon and you are right that doesn't sound like it will be easy to make it significantly cheaper. I also had a "duh" moment where I realized: "Hey, this movie involves water. Water tends to be expensive." I was originally thinking they might be able to get it in at $150 mil, but I don't think that is likely given the story, current economics or the production history of the series. Think $175 mil might be possible? It'll probably end up being about the same as 'Caspian.'

Chris Atkins · 08-19-2008, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway

LOL.

Disney would be insane to not delay the release of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to December 2010 from the scheduled May 2010 release date. They'll likely reign in the budget a bit, too.

My one hope is that Walden Media is as oblivious to Caspian's barely break-even-theatrically-but-profitable-once-you-add-in-home-video returns and continues with the other books as films. After all, this is the same company that saw Around the World in 80 Days totally bomb ($110M budget, $24M US, $72M total WW) and went right into the $180M budgeted The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe.

They totally mismanaged Caspian. After the box office success of the first film, Caspian should have had a monster weekend, regardless of quality or word of mouth.

Kevin Grey · 08-19-2008, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Atkins

They totally mismanaged Caspian. After the box office success of the first film, Caspian should have had a monster weekend, regardless of quality or word of mouth.

'

Yeah, $358 million or not, I'd have to say Caspian was a bomb if for no other reason than it would probably be a franchise killer. If Dawn Treader wasn't already greenlit and well into pre-production, I seriously doubt if it would have seen the light of day.

Adam_S · 08-19-2008, 11:11 PM

Terry, I know Vicky Cristina Barcelona (my number two film of the year behind Wall E) did well last weekend, but how have Woody Allen's films performed lately. does he sell well overseas, because he seems to get most of his financing from there?

TerryRL · 08-20-2008, 12:29 AM

Woody Allen's movies aren't usually box office hits. Of the 38 films he's directed, only three of them are considered box office hits. 1977's "Annie Hall" ($38.3 million), 1979's "Manhattan" ($39.9 million), and 1986's "Hannah and Her Sisters" ($40.1 million). Both "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" would've been $100 million-plus earners in today's marketplace, while 'Hannah' would've earned more than $76 million.

Internationally, Allen's biggest hit is "Match Point", which pulled in $62.2 million overseas compared to the $23.2 million it made domestically. Otherwise, Allen's movies have gone virtually ignored in the territories overseas. Other than being a critical darling, Allen's films enjoy a loyal audience on home video.

Thanks to VHS in the '80s, Allen's audience grew as his films became hits in terms of video rentals. While moviegoers don't go to his movies, they seem to like renting them. It's been said that Allen is too much of a "New York guy" to lure in mainstream moviegoers. Thanks to the (usual) glowing reviews his films receive, that seems to be enough to get those same moviegoers who ignored the movie in theaters to rent it.

Another feather in Allen's cap is that his movies are made extremely on the cheap and he always brings them in on budget. As far as I know, 2001's box office flop "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" ($7.5 million domestically/$11.4 million overseas) is the only movie Allen made that had a production budget of more than $30 million ($33 million).

Big name actors love working with Allen because there's a certain prestige that comes along with being in his films (as well as financing them), not to mention the added Oscar attention. Take Scarlett Johansson for example, she didn't get respect as an actress until she became Allen's latest muse (a list that includes Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow). She's so far starred in three of Allen's last four films.

While Allen hasn't really ever set the box office ablaze, he's one of the most respected film-makers in history and studios will always give him money to make his films.

JediFonger · 08-21-2008, 04:28 PM

it's time for woody allen to direct the next action movie

.

PS what's expected to top this weekend? seems like we're simply disappearing into the fall =D. will Babylon AD do anything next weekend?

i can't what movie or what weekend but i coulda sworn that there is at least ONE labor day weekend where there was huge biz. terry?

Pete-D · 08-21-2008, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JediFonger

it's time for woody allen to direct the next action movie

.

PS what's expected to top this weekend? seems like we're simply disappearing into the fall =D. will Babylon AD do anything next weekend?

i can't what movie or what weekend but i coulda sworn that there is at least ONE labor day weekend where there was huge biz. terry?

I could be wrong but I think the Sixth Sense had its biggest weekend over Labor Day weekend.

TerryRL · 08-21-2008, 04:47 PM

Actually, "The Sixth Sense" earned its biggest numbers during its first weekend, though its four-day holiday haul on Labor Day technically does rank as its biggest. Here are the movie's first five weekends in theaters...

#1 $26.7 million
#2 $25.8 million
#3 $23.95 million
#4 $20.1 million
#5 (Labor Day) $22.9 million ($29.3 million 4-day mark)

Jedi, this weekend the battle for #1 is expected to come down between "Death Race" and "Tropic Thunder".