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2008 at the Box Office - Page 10

post #271 of 2629
2/15/08 at 8:05am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidPla
How can people be complaining about the cam look when that was the entire point of the film? It would be like hating Lord of the Rings cause it's fantasy? Without it, it's a run of the mil Godzilla movie which we already got 10 years ago. The point IS that it's all filmed on a camcorder.

The complaints stem from the fact that the style makes the movie literally unwatchable for so many people. The point of the film was to turn off mass portions of the audience?
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post #272 of 2629
2/15/08 at 9:10am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidPla
Without it, it's a run of the mil Godzilla movie which we already got 10 years ago.

I dunno, I wouldn't mind if someone tried to make a traditional giant monster movie that was actually good
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post #273 of 2629
2/15/08 at 9:53am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin Jacobson
The complaints stem from the fact that the style makes the movie literally unwatchable for so many people. The point of the film was to turn off mass portions of the audience?

But the reason people WENT in the first place (40 M worth) was cause of the "originality" of the concept. Giant monster movie filmed on a camcorder. Did it turn people off from seeing Blair Witch in 1999? How could people be turned off by that when it was being advertised as Blair Witch meets Godzilla.. people knew what they were getting when walking into that theatre. The reason it dropped the weekends after is because it was just a limited audience to begin with.
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post #274 of 2629
2/15/08 at 10:24am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

I think they could have presented the same concept to the audience, then shot the film in a more steady manner. There's all sorts of suspension of disbelief when you're watching films. You don't have to go into outer space to make a sci-fi film. If they'd made it clear this was found footage by the plot, does it really have to prove it by technique, making the audience nauseous? If the picture actually didn't move that much, would people be disappointed?
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post #275 of 2629
2/15/08 at 10:45am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

What I saw reminded me of Godzilla. But low rent Godzilla. "It's like the 1998 shitfest, but with even worse production values and no Jean Reno!"

Sweet!
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post #276 of 2629
2/15/08 at 1:05pm
Thread Starter 

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Thursday Estimates

#1 "Jumper" $6.625 million
#2 "Step Up 2 the Streets" $6.600 million
#3 "Fool's Gold" $3.5 million ($28.9 million)
#4 "Definitely, Maybe" $3.1 million
#5 "The Spiderwick Chronicles" $2.3 million
#6 "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" $1.9 million ($20.2 million)
#7 "The Bucket List" $805K ($77.0 million)
#8 "Juno" $790K ($119.5 million)
#9 "The Eye" $750K ($23.1 million)
#10 "27 Dresses" $610K ($66.8 million)
#11 "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" $520K ($55.1 million)
#12 "There Will Be Blood" $370K ($27.9 million)
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post #277 of 2629
2/15/08 at 1:21pm

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Why Step Up 2!!! WHY!?
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post #278 of 2629
2/15/08 at 1:36pm

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Why not. Looks like a fun dancing flick for teenagers. I am never gonna watch it (to the extent that one could affirm such a thing) but I would have been all over that if I was in high school...

You go into something like that for the dance moves, and at least reading imdb reviews, it delivers on that point (if apparently lacking elsewhere).

--
H
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post #279 of 2629
2/15/08 at 1:47pm

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Dance movie fine.. there have been some good dance movies. Hell, I can even understand how the first Step Up did so well. but come on.. it looked absolutely terrible.. I don't even think it had anybody from the original either so I chalk this up as people will see ANYTHING with dancing in it at the moment.. even Meet the Spartans.
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post #280 of 2629
2/16/08 at 2:32am
Thread Starter 

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

The early Friday estimates have "Jumper" holding steady at #1 with a haul in the neighborhood of $8 million. 'Step Up 2' was second with another $6 million-plus tally. "The Spiderwick Chronicles" jumped to third with about $5 million. "Fool's Gold" was fourth with about $4 million, while "Definitely, Maybe" rounded out the top five with close to $3 million.
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post #281 of 2629
2/16/08 at 6:46am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Quote:
But the reason people WENT in the first place (40 M worth) was cause of the "originality" of the concept.

Totally disagree. I think a lot of people didn't know (or care) about the camcorder bit. It was an action film, and the scenes from the trailer had nothing to do with promoting that it was a camcorder; people watched a building blow up and the head of the Statue of Liberty come bouncing down the street as people ran away.

People assumed (rightly) that this was going to be a blow-them-up action kind of film done very differently and they were psyched. That's what I thought, that's what everyone I know thought.

In regards to Blair Witch, people knew what it was, also.. but it was marketted as a "what happens when a low budget documentary goes wrong.. and we find the film afterward". That was the whole concept, and people bought it.

But you can't say the same about a major feature where the prime thing shown in the posters and ads was a torn off Statue of Liberty head and a giant explosion.. that doesn't sell "this is REALLY low budget"... it screams: "this is a special effects monster film".

I think it a lot to the trailer to ID4 showing the White House blow up. People didn't know anything about the film, outside of the fact there would be some scenes where a giant alien ship would blow up the White House and the Empire State Building. Thus it was an effects film.

If someone had told me prior to seeing "Cloverfield" that I would need to leave the theater to vomit because of shaky cam, I probably wouldn't have went.
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post #282 of 2629
2/16/08 at 6:59am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
Totally disagree. I think a lot of people didn't know (or care) about the camcorder bit. It was an action film, and the scenes from the trailer had nothing to do with promoting that it was a camcorder; people watched a building blow up and the head of the Statue of Liberty come bouncing down the street as people ran away.

Right, but with someone holding a shaky camcorder going OH MY GOD! Watch that teaser and trailer again.. it clearly promotes that it's a Blair Witch-esque film just on a much higher budget. IMO, you can't fault the marketing on this one. You paid for what they promoted.. shakiness and all in the ads.
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post #283 of 2629
2/16/08 at 9:54am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidPla
But the reason people WENT in the first place (40 M worth) was cause of the "originality" of the concept. Giant monster movie filmed on a camcorder. Did it turn people off from seeing Blair Witch in 1999? How could people be turned off by that when it was being advertised as Blair Witch meets Godzilla.. people knew what they were getting when walking into that theatre. The reason it dropped the weekends after is because it was just a limited audience to begin with.

No, I disagree. I think terrible WOM killed it for its second weekend, and I think the terrible WOM was due to the nausea-inducing shakycam. Blair Witch didn't inspire the same level of motion sickness in people - I didn't see signs posted on theater doors warning people NOT to enter if they're prone to motion sickness! Cloverfield took shakycam to a new level not even Paul Greengrass could imagine - and it clearly REALLY turned off a lot of people.

And I agree with other sentiments that the "originality" of the concept didn't sell it - the action side did. People just wanted a good monster movie, not something that made them vomit. I fully believe that if Cloverfield had been shot in a more traditional manner, it still would've had a big opening - and it would've not fallen off a cliff in subsequent weekends. Heck, I would've been in line opening weekend if I could've seen it without puking!
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post #284 of 2629
2/16/08 at 10:18am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Quote:
Right, but with someone holding a shaky camcorder going OH MY GOD! Watch that teaser and trailer again.. it clearly promotes that it's a Blair Witch-esque film just on a much higher budget. IMO, you can't fault the marketing on this one. You paid for what they promoted.. shakiness and all in the ads.

I got that was on cam corder, but lots of the side angle views you see in that trailer look traditionally shot. They clearly weren't jumping around/bobbing. I don't mind shaky cam, either.. I love the "Bourne" series. None of them made me vomit.

Seriously, I'm trying hard to think of anything I would recommend less then a theater experience that makes you puke Blair Witch was shaky cam. So were "Bourne" and others.. but they weren't anything like how nauseating this was.. and there is no way, pardoning marketing that clearly states "This film may cause nausea due to constant camera movement" they could have explained that to the public, who hvae clearly spoken.. by avoiding the hell out of the film after opening weekend.
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post #285 of 2629
2/16/08 at 10:40am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

I was looking forward to George Romero's Diary of the Dead but was shocked to see the words "latest shaky-cam movie" in reviews. Noooo! No more!

I wonder, will vomit bags be a permanent fixture in cinemas of the future.

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post #286 of 2629
2/16/08 at 11:02am
Thread Starter 

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Friday Estimates

#1 "Jumper" $8.7 million ($15.3 million)
#2 "Step Up 2 the Streets" $6.3 million ($12.9 million)
#3 "The Spiderwick Chronicles" $4.4 million ($6.7 million)
#4 "Fool's Gold" $3.8 million ($32.8 million) 49% Friday-to-Friday drop
#5 "Definitely, Maybe" $3.0 million ($6.1 million)
#6 "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" $2.3 million ($22.5 million) 54% Friday-to-Friday drop
#7 "Juno" $1.2 million ($120.6 million) 27% Friday-to-Friday drop
#8 "The Bucket List" $1.0 million ($78.0 million) 30% Friday-to-Friday drop
#9 "The Eye" $930K ($24.1 million) 57% Friday-to-Friday drop
#10 "27 Dresses" $900K ($67.7 million) 47% Friday-to-Friday drop
#11 "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" $760K ($55.9 million) 73% Friday-to-Friday drop
#12 "There Will Be Blood" $705K ($28.7 million) 33% Friday-to-Friday drop
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post #287 of 2629
2/16/08 at 11:26am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin Jacobson
Blair Witch didn't inspire the same level of motion sickness in people - I didn't see signs posted on theater doors warning people NOT to enter if they're prone to motion sickness!

And I agree with other sentiments that the "originality" of the concept didn't sell it - the action side did. People just wanted a good monster movie, not something that made them vomit. I fully believe that if Cloverfield had been shot in a more traditional manner, it still would've had a big opening - and it would've not fallen off a cliff in subsequent weekends.

I can remember Blair Witch most definitely having reports of people throwing up in the theatre. I think to an even worse extent.. they were giving out barf bags while you entered the theatre.

And I disagree that if Coverfield was filmed in a more traditional manner it would've had the same opening. I think it probably would have still opened well but not AS well. I think it's following weekends are just evidence of what typical creature features do in this day and age. But I guess we'll never truly know who's right in this respect, just our own theories.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
Seriously, I'm trying hard to think of anything I would recommend less then a theater experience that makes you puke Blair Witch was shaky cam. So were "Bourne" and others.. but they weren't anything like how nauseating this was..

Bourne I agree. But I think people forget how shaky Blair Witch was. Even more so than Cloverfield IMO. But again, it's all subjective in the end.
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post #288 of 2629
2/16/08 at 10:05pm

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidPla
Right, but with someone holding a shaky camcorder going OH MY GOD! Watch that teaser and trailer again.. it clearly promotes that it's a Blair Witch-esque film just on a much higher budget. IMO, you can't fault the marketing on this one. You paid for what they promoted.. shakiness and all in the ads.

I liked it because how it was filmed. We saw exactly what the characters saw.

A traditional "godzilla" movie would not have done it for me.
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post #289 of 2629
2/17/08 at 5:13am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Slightly OT:

Terry - I watched the movie that your signature comes from for the first time last night. That's an intense scene!
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post #290 of 2629
2/17/08 at 3:36pm
Thread Starter 

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Greg, kick ass flick isn't it?
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post #291 of 2629
2/17/08 at 4:59pm
Thread Starter 

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Weekend Estimates
(4-day holiday estimates will be posted tomorrow)

#1 "Jumper" $27.2 million ($33.9 million)
#2 "Step Up 2 the Streets" $19.7 million ($26.3 million)
#3 "The Spiderwick Chronicles" $19.1 million ($21.5 million)
#4 "Fool's Gold" $13.1 million ($42.0 million) -39%
#5 "Definitely, Maybe" $9.7 million ($12.8 million)
#6 "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" $8.9 million ($29.1 million) -45%
#7 "Juno" $4.6 million ($124.1 million) -17%
#8 "The Bucket List" $4.1 million ($81.8 million) -22%
#9 "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" $3.3 million ($58.4 million) -68%
#10 "27 Dresses" $3.17 million ($69.9 million) -41%
#11 "The Eye" $3.16 million ($26.3 million) -52%
#12 "There Will Be Blood" $3.0 million ($31.0 million) -24%

For the sixth time in seven weeks the top twelve films pulled in over $100 million. Minus the holiday tomorrow, the top twelve earned $119.0 million. Regardless of the large haul, business was down 16% compared to last year, but up 7% when compared with '06.

This weekend will become the second best President's Day holiday frame in history, coming in behind 2007's record-shattering performance, thanks in large part to the $45 million debut of "Ghost Rider". This weekend will also mark the first time three films opened with more than $15 million during the Friday-thru-Sunday portion of the weekend.

2008's domestic haul now stands at a towering $1.308 billion, representing a 17% increase over both '07 ($1.122 billion) and '06 ($1.118 billion) at this point, a whopping 22% stronger than '05 ($1.069 billion), and an equally impressive 21% improvement over '04 ($1.083 billion).

Fox's "Jumper" earned the top spot this weekend as it pulled in more than $27 million. Since Thursday, the movie has tallied just under $34 million. Monday's haul will push it close to the $40 million mark. Moviegoers came out in force despite the movie being ripped a new one by most critics. The film's $7,941 per-theater average from its 3,428 locations was the second best of the top twelve.

The big opening is a career best (in a movie not with "Star Wars" anywhere in the title) for star Hayden Christensen and the second best for director Doug Liman following "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" ($50.3 million) and just ahead of "The Bourne Identity" ($27.1 million). While panned by most critics, the $85 million sci-fi/adventure may end up becoming a nice sized hit for Fox.

Disney's "Step Up 2 the Streets" took the second slot as it pulled in close to $20 million, coming in slightly below the $20.7 million debut of the original film. Since Thursday, the sequel has earned more than $26 million. The movie's average of $7,961 from its 2,470 theaters was the best of the top twelve.

After a slow start on Thursday, Paramount's "The Spiderwick Chronicles" rebounded nicely as it earned just over $19 million this weekend. Since opening on Thursday the fantasy flick has pulled in more than $21 million. With no direct competition for the family crowd until the March 14th debut of "Horton Hears a Who", the studio expects their $90 million feature to have solid legs during the next three weeks.

WB's "Fool's Gold" suffered only a moderate drop of 39% this weekend and has so far tallied $42 million. A final haul in the neighborhood of $70-$80 million.

Universal's "Definitely, Maybe" has earned $12.8 million since opening on Thursday. The romantic comedy had a decent average of $4,394 from its 2,204 locations. The studio is hopeful that this one will end up showing solid legs in the coming weeks.

Universal's "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" has so far tallied $29.1 million and looks to top out in the area of $50 million. Fox Searchlight's "Juno" is now sitting on a domestic haul of $124.1 million. WB's "The Bucket List" passed the $80 million plateau. The 'Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus' concert film is nearing the $60 million mark.

Fox's "27 Dresses" is a day away from passing the $70 million plateau. Lionsgate's "The Eye" is currently sitting on a domestic haul of $26.3 million and Paramount Vantage's "There Will Be Blood" has earned close to $31 million.

In other box office news, "Rambo" hit the $40 million mark, and Oscar-favorite "No Country for Old Men" passed the $60 million plateau. 'No Country' ranks as the biggest hit movie ever for the Coen bros.

Next weekend will see four new films go into wide release. Sony's "Vantage Point", Lionsgate's "Witless Protection", MGM's "Charlie Bartlett", and New Line's "Be Kind Rewind". While some don't expect much to change with the current top three movies, next week's newest crop of films should all find an audience.
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post #292 of 2629
2/17/08 at 5:20pm

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Any word on how DIARY OF THE DEAD did or if it will go into more theaters?
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post #293 of 2629
2/17/08 at 6:42pm
Thread Starter 

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

"Diary of the Dead" earned $225K from 42 theaters, giving it an average of $5,357. I have no idea when the Weinsteins are going to expand it to more theaters.
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post #294 of 2629
2/17/08 at 10:00pm

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Layton
Terry - I watched the movie that your signature comes from for the first time last night. That's an intense scene!
Quote:
Originally Posted by TerryRL
Greg, kick ass flick isn't it?
Just out of curiosity, may I ask what the movie is?
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post #295 of 2629
2/17/08 at 10:45pm

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewLouwrens
Just out of curiosity, may I ask what the movie is?

Blade Runner.
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post #296 of 2629
2/18/08 at 12:33am

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Doh! So that's why it sounded familiar. I must have had a dead-brain moment.
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post #297 of 2629
2/18/08 at 1:30pm
Thread Starter 

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

4-Day Holiday Weekend Estimates

#1 "Jumper" $31.7 million ($38.3 million)
#2 "The Spiderwick Chronicles" $24.5 million ($26.8 million)
#3 "Step Up 2 the Streets" $21.5 million ($28.1 million)
#4 "Fool's Gold" $15.0 million ($44.0 million) -30%
#5 "Definitely, Maybe" $11.4 million ($14.5 million)
#6 "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" $10.4 million ($30.7 million) -36%
#7 "Juno" $5.5 million ($125.0 million) -2%
#8 "The Bucket List" $4.6 million ($81.6 million) -12%
#9 "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" $3.9 million ($59.0 million) -62%
#10 "27 Dresses" $3.8 million ($70.6 million) -30%
#11 "There Will Be Blood" $3.7 million ($31.6 million) -7%
#12 "The Eye" $3.6 million ($26.8 million) -45%

The top twelve movies earned $139.6 million, giving this weekend the second best President's Day holiday frame in history behind last year's monstrous haul of $167.8 million (thanks in large part to the record debut of "Ghost Rider").

Overall, "Jumper" earned the fifth best President's Day opening mark in history, as well as posting the 12th best start ever for the month of February.

2008's year-to-date gross now stands at a whopping $1.334 billion, representing a 14% bump over last year ($1.170 billion), up 14% over '06 ($1.172 billion), 20% stronger than '05 ($1.108 billion), and a stellar 22% improvement over '04 ($1.091 billion).

'08 has so far sold about 190 million admissions thus far, which is a big bump over last year at this time when ticket sales stood at nearly 172 million, '06 had sold about 179 million admissions, '05 moved 173 million tickets, and '04 was sitting on sales of nearly 176 million.

All in all, the studios are extremely pleased with how well the year has performed despite this being the second straight weekend business was down compared to last year.
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post #298 of 2629
2/23/08 at 3:28am
Thread Starter 

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

The early numbers show that "Vantage Point" will have a surprisingly potent opening weekend haul. The looks to have earned more than $7 million on Friday, indicating a debut tally of more than $20 million.

"Jumper", "The Spiderwick Chronicles", "Step Up 2 the Streets", and "Fool's Gold" fill out the remainder of the top five. Other than "Vantage Point", the only other new release that had an audience was "Be Kind Rewind", which looks to earn about $3-$4 million this weekend from its modest 808 theaters. Both "Witless Protection" and "Charlie Bartlett" had very lukewarm receptions from patrons yesterday.

Overall, business will be down a third consecutive week, but this is probably the calm before the storm. Next weekend's release of "Semi-Pro" will probably end the early slump. Still, this month is poised to become one of the top two February frames the industry has ever enjoyed (along with February '04 which was headlined by 'The Passion').
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post #299 of 2629
2/23/08 at 12:14pm
Thread Starter 

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Friday Estimates

#1 "Vantage Point" $8.0 million
#2 "Jumper" $3.8 million ($47.4 million) 56% Friday-to-Friday drop
#3 "Step Up 2 the Streets" $3.02 million ($34.7 million) 53% Friday-to-Friday drop
#4 "The Spiderwick Chronicles" $3.00 million ($34.0 million) 32% Friday-to-Friday drop
#5 "Fool's Gold" $2.0 million ($48.1 million) 49% Friday-to-Friday drop
#6 "Definitely, Maybe" $1.6 million ($18.2 million) 46% Friday-to-Friday drop
#7 "Be Kind, Rewind" $1.4 million
#8 "Juno" $1.08 million ($127.4 million) 9% Friday-to-Friday drop
#9 "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" $1.06 million ($32.6 million) 53% Friday-to-Friday drop
#10 "The Bucket List" $695K ($83.3 million) 34% Friday-to-Friday drop
#11 "Witless Protection" $660K
#12 "There Will Be Blood" $650K ($33.1 million) 6% Friday-to-Friday drop
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post #300 of 2629
2/23/08 at 6:34pm

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Quote:
Originally Posted by TerryRL
The early numbers show that "Vantage Point" will have a surprisingly potent opening weekend haul. The looks to have earned more than $7 million on Friday, indicating a debut tally of more than $20 million.
Well, it had a great marketing campaign that will likely lead to a big opening weekend, but reviews indicate the movie is pretty awful.
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