2012 Box Office (1 Viewer)

Damn! It's almost April, and I just realized I don't see a thread floating to the top weekly with our famous Box Office Results recap! (Admins, if it does exist and search just didn't find it, kill this)

Well, Blockuster season is definitely upon us, as Hunger Games will pass $225M this weekend.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/wrath-of-the-titans-opens-to-1m-midnights/

Nope. I think TerryRL has retired, though I think he still visits from time to time as I've seen his name in the members "currently viewing" box. Or maybe he's just found a place where he can actually be paid for his great analysis.

Well, I definitely can't provide his analysis, I hope he's being paid for it somewhere.. anyway, here's the results for this weekend and my feeble thoughts.

1. The Hunger Games (Lionsgate) Week 2 [4,137 Theaters] PG13-Rated Friday $18.8M, Saturday $26.2M, Weekend $63.5M (-59%), Cume $253.5M

2. Wrath Of The Titans 3D (Legendary/Warner) NEW [3,545 Theaters] PG13-Rated Friday $12.4M, Saturday $13M, Weekend $34.6M

3. Mirror Mirror (Relativity) NEW [3,603 Theaters] PG-Rated Friday $5.8M, Saturday $7.9M, Weekend $19.3M

4. 21 Jump Street (Sony) Week 3 [3,148 Theaters] R-rated Friday $4.6M, Saturday $6.2M, Weekend $14.8M, Cume $92.8M

5. Dr Seuss’ The Lorax 3D (Universal) Week 5 [3,264 Theaters] PG-rated Friday $2.0M, Saturday $3.7M, Weekend $8.3M, Cume $189.8M

6. John Carter 3D (Disney) Week 4 [2,397 Theaters] PG13-rated Est Friday $530K, Est Weekend $2.0M, Est Cume $66.2M

7. Salmon Fishing In Yemen (CBS) Week 4 [483 Theaters] PG13-Rated Est Friday $340K, Est Weekend $1.7M, Est Cume $3.6M

8. Act Of Valor 3D (Relativity) Week 6 [1,239 Theaters] R-Rated Est Friday $290K, Est Weekend $1.3M, Est Cume $68M

9. A Thousand Words (Dworks/Par) Week 4 [1,007 Theaters] PG13-rated Est Friday $275K, Est Weekend $1.0M, Est Cume $16.5M

10. Project X (Warner Bros) Week 5 [903 Theaters] R-rated Est Friday $255K, Est Weekend $950K, Est Cume $53.5M

What a difference a year makes. Last year, when people thought Lionsgate they would tell you it was a studio in trouble, with Carl Icah threatening a takeover attempt, offering investors $7 a share. Their largest film to date at that point was Michael Moore's "Sicko", and they hadn't had what you'd call amazing box office success.. a few decent airings, but no blockbusters. But "The Hunger Games" easily solves that; breaking $250M a weekend, the franchise has done wonders for the stock and the studio, which now trades over $14... forget the HSX, smart investors should have bet big on Lionsgate earlier. Better for Lionsgate is that while 59% is a steep drop - and all mass releases tend to face a steep drop in week 2, 59% hold is about everything they could have wished for on a film that cleaned up on it's opening weekend.

Wrath of the Titans, however, was designed to be counter programming of sorts aimed at boys, didn't quite hit home. It's $36M weekend isn't bad, but compared to it's predecessor's $62M opening, it's nowhere near as strong. That may be OK. Clash of the Titans, like quite a few mythos oriented films did a big slice of it's business abroad - more then 60%. That may or may not help against a budget of $155M reportedly, but with very low cinemascores (C) and bad ratings on Rotten Tomatoes (about 25%) this is unlikely to have any sort of staying power.

Mirror, Mirror though has got to be sending studio heads ducking for cover. The Julia Roberts comedy Snow White tale was aimed to appeal to a comedy, and maybe family friendly film getting kids into the theater. The budget isn't big, and it should make it back - but Relativity is in the financial pits, and so having a major release come out at break even numbers is definitely not what they were after. We'll have to see where it goes from there. I have a gut feeling that the studio couldn't figure out how to market this thing, whether it was for kids, adults, camp comedy, or what..

John Carter 3D is at the end of many of it's 3D Showing agreements, and so it may fall completely down the list next week, the Disney actioneer just never caught fire - it will not reach $75M US grosses.

That's OK in comparison to the death spiral that follows Eddie Murphy's career. The little talked about and quickly out of theaters "A Thousand Words" will not break $20M. Just a brief note on that.. it means this film has ZERO shot of catching non-adjusted for inflation "Ghost Dad",

I think the trailers for "Mirror Mirror" were its downfall. When I'd read early articles about the film, as it entered production, I was kind of interested. But after I saw the first trailer, I quickly changed my mind. It looked silly and campy.
The recent trailer I saw for "Snow White & the Huntsman" looks much more interesting and a more interesting version of the fairy tale story, closer to the darker Brothers Grimm original. My only caveat with this film is that it stars Kristen Stewart, the worst actress in the land by my magic mirror.

The Hunger Games is on track to beat most of the Harry Potter movies at the B.O.

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt /t/319701/2012-box-office#post_3912438
The Hunger Games is on track to beat most of the Harry Potter movies at the B.O.

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I think while the Harry Potter franchise has a broader reach, it doesn't really get the date movie.. The Hunger Games is a movie boys age 16-24 will easily attend that will also attract dates. It's that odd combination of action friendly film that gets girls to go that guys will tolerate. (IE: don't sell me Twilight as an action film guys will attend).

The Hunger Games is on the march and today, counting international, crossed $400M. With $269M domestic and $131M International as of Thursday.
But the news gets better for Hunger Games studio Lionsgate.. the film is expected to have a $14M Friday, and a shot at a $50M weekend; if that holds, it would be a shockingly low drop - less then 30%. Of course, nothing is sure, but it's a fantastic start.
In second place for the weekend appears to be American Reunion, the 4th (theatrical) release of the franchise should bring it about $23M for the weekend, putting it a far distant second, but still a decent showing for the low cost film that caps a franchise. It'll definitely do battle for the second slot with Titanic 3D, which is on track for a $20M weekend.. where these two films end up is still up for grabs.

Good stuff!

I remember there was a time when someone like Witherspoon was delivering one amazing performance after another and then she became a "star" and the films got bad and way below her talent.
I haven't seen THGs yet but the lead struck me as someone with a lot of talent and someone who could do some great work but I hope that becoming a "star" doesn't have the same effect on her.

1. "The Hunger Games" .....................$ 33.5 million
2. "American Reunion" .....................$ 21.5 million
3. "Titanic 3D" ...........................$ 17.4 million
4. "Wrath of the Titans" ..................$ 15.0 million
5. "Mirror Mirror" ........................$ 11.0 million
6. "21 Jump Street" .......................$ 10.2 million
7. "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" .................$ 5.0 million
8. "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" ..........$ 1.0 million
9. "John Carter" ..........................$ 0.8 million
10. "Safe House" ...........................$ 0.6 million

Official #s are now out. A pretty good hold for Hunger Games, and it crosses the $300M marker US, which makes it the film to catch this year at the box office; with weeks left before the next big blockbuster, it's guaranteed $350M basically (at $304 after this weekend) but how much farther then that could it go? As it sits, it has already outpaced every one of the Twilight movies, and while we wait for international #s, the international sale through has been exceptional so far.

Lionsgate says that they are over $158M international, putting it's combined total around $460M. Not too shabby. Hunger Games still has some international markets yet to open, but it's steady hold has to make Lionsgate feel pretty good thus far. Meanwhile, Wrath of the Titans didn't catch fire domestically, but it's international #s are doing quite well. I said above these mythos and sword&sandal type films tend to do well internationally, and that's definitely true here.. It's so-so performance stateside is being covered by a great showing international, which is a definite help to the studio for the high cost actioneer.

The 3D re-release gimmick seems to be running out of steam. Every one seems to gross less than the one before. Unless Titanic has similar legs to its original release, it'll end up in the same $40-50 million range as Star Wars and Beauty & the Beast.

Titanic had great legs this weekend dropping only 33% , lowest in the top 10 to about $12 million. It's total stands now at close to $45 million after 2 weeks and it looks like it will finish its domestic run with about $65 to 70 million.

^ People love that movie, for some reason.
Cabin in the Woods had a solid opening weekend, but audiences gave the movie an awful "C" CinemaScore. They were expecting a straightforward horror movie, desiring a straightforward horror movie, and resented that it didn't deliver a straightforward horror movie.
On the other hand, The Three Stooges had an "A" CinemaScore with audiences under 18, probably because they hadn't seen the bits in the original Three Stooges shorts and so the material seemed fresh to them.

I liked Cabin In The Woods a lot. I was hoping it would do better at the boxoffice.
Btw, here is a Titanic boxoffice update from www.boxofficeguru.com:
While it didn't have the legs of its original release in 1997, the 3D update on Titanic did enjoy one of the best holds of any wide release dipping only 33% to an estimated $11.6M putting it in fourth place. After 12 days, the Paramount title has collected $44.4M lifting the lifetime domestic tally to $645.2M. Back when it was first released, Titanic actually surged 24% in its second weekend going from $28.6M to $35.5M.
But the real fireworks for the iceberg romance this weekend came from overseas markets where Titanic claimed the number one spot with a scorching $88.2M from 69 markets boosting the international gross for the 3D version to $146.4M including an eye-popping $58M launch in China fueled by 3,500 screens including 66 IMAX venues. In fact, Titanic 3D could very well be the first Hollywood movie to open bigger in China than in the U.S. and the gap between the two powerful markets is vast. This weekend, which marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the actual ship, the James Cameron hit ranked either first or second in 24 international territories allowing Titanic to smash the $2 billion global lifetime gross mark. A whopping 77% of the $190.8M tallied worldwide by the 3D upgrade has come from outside of North America where Fox, as with the original release, distributes.

That CinemaScore "group" or whoever they are rank among the last people I would trust on anything.
I see THE RAID: REDEMPTION did pretty well this weekend. It's too bad so many people will stay away from movies with subtitles because in terms of action you're really not going to get much better. I just got back from seeing it and it was pretty amazing. Not a masterpiece but action films have certainly had the bar raised.

Michael Elliott said:

That CinemaScore "group" or whoever they are rank among the last people I would trust on anything.

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They're the people who are actually going to the theater seeing the film, so their opinion is relatively important to exhibitors trying to sell tickets. Generally a low score means a big dropoff next week, as the word of mouth will be poor.
I don't know if I'd grade Cabin a "C", but I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone pay theater prices to see it.

When The Three Stooges is getting a A and The Cabin In The Woods is getting a C, I think you need to look at the source of Cinemascore. I think it's a fair look at what the average moviegoer thinks of a movie (and what they'll tell a friend) but it certainly doesn't mean speak to the quality of a movie.

No review or grade speaks to the "quality" of anything, as quality is subjective to everyone since tastes vary greatly. Some of the best reviewed movies are the lowest grossing, and vice versa.
But I will say, having watched both Cabin and Stooges back-to-back as a double feature on Saturday, I tend to agree with the Cinemascore as seemingly did my audiences in both films (lots of grumbling after Cabin, lots of laughs and smiles after Stooges).

Malcolm R said:

...I tend to agree with the Cinemascore as seemingly did my audiences in both films (lots of grumbling after Cabin, lots of laughs and smiles after Stooges).

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In all fairness, I was being bitchy towards The Three Stooges. I haven't seen it (which really means I should shut my pie hole when talking about the quality of it) but it does sound like it's better than the trailer looked and there's nothing wrong with people seeing something that's just designed to give them a laugh. Love or hate The Cabin In The Woods, I'm making an educated guess that it's alot more clever and intelligent movie than The Three Stooges. Of course, that's perfectly fine when making a Three Stooges movie.
And there was alot of people unhappy with The Cabin In The Woods when I saw it too. Usually when I see a movie that the audience doesn't like, it seems like people are quiet or talking amongst themselves as people leave the theater but with Cabin, people were loudly saying how much they hated it as they went for the exits.

1

1

The Hunger Games

LGF

$21,500,000

-35.1%

3,916

-221

$5,490

$337,070,000

$78

4



2

N

The Three Stooges

Fox

$17,100,000

-

3,477

-

$4,918

$17,100,000

$30

1



3

N

The Cabin in the Woods

LGF

$14,850,000

-

2,811

-

$5,283

$14,850,000

-

1



4

3

Titanic 3D

Par.

$11,625,000

-32.7%

2,697

+23

$4,310

$44,419,000

$18

2



5

2

American Reunion

Uni.

$10,700,000

-50.3%

3,203

+11

$3,341

$39,900,000

$50

2



6

5

Mirror Mirror

Rela.

$7,000,000

-36.9%

3,206

-412

$2,183

$49,468,000

$85

3



7

4

Wrath of the Titans

WB

$6,905,000

-53.1%

3,102

-443

$2,226

$71,251,000

$150

3



8

6

21 Jump Street

Sony

$6,800,000

-32.0%

2,735

-274

$2,486

$120,565,000

$42

5



9

N

Lockout

FD

$6,250,000

-

2,308

-

$2,708

$6,250,000

$20

1



10

7

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

Uni.

$3,020,000

-40.0%

2,112

-891

$1,430

$204,483,000

$70

7




Here you go.. your weekend results.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/

Both Titanic and Titanic had great holds this weekend; American Reunion went for a tumble. While Three Stooges and The Cabin in the Woods had solid performances considering their budget and projections.

mattCR said:

...American Reunion went for a tumble.

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How and why did that movie cost $50 million? They must have paid enormous sums to Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan and Seann William Scott to get them to return.