2007 at the Box Office (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

My review of Charlie Wilson's War was also of that ilk, just a bland production, and considering the talent involved, very surprising so.

I would enjoy seeing Alvin & company take in more money next weekend over I Am Legend. They came within $5 million of matching IAL.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Terry, do you know what the record for worst opening weekend is? Jessica Simpson's new picture grossed a mere $1,296 in eight theaters this weekend for a spectacularly terrible $162 per-theater average. Does it win?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

On another note: Will Disney be running animated shorts in front of all its Disney-branded live action tentpoles? It made National Treasure 2 really feel like something special.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Was that the new Goofy "How To" short? If so, was it good?

 

[TerryRL]

Adam, I have no idea what is the worst opening in history, but I think Jessica Simpson should keep her day job. Although her father insists that she could be the next Julia Roberts.

As for Disney, I know that there is talk about doing an animated short before each and every Disney release from now on (cashing in on a DVD compilation of said shorts at the end of their respective years), but I think right now they're only going to do it for really wide releases (3,000-plus locations).

I'm real old school on stuff like this. I would love to see more animated shorts before movies. I remember a Woody Woodpecker cartoon was shown the first time I saw "Star Wars" back in '77. Good times.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

My dad always used to talk about seeing cartoons before pictures when he was growing up. I'd love to see that ressurected for family films by the time I have children.

 

[Travis_S]

I don't know if it's the worst, but Zyzzyx Road did horribly:


CHUD.com - Cinematic Happenings Under Development

 

[TerryRL]

Early Christmas Day estimates...

#1 "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" $14.75 million ($68.1 million)
#2 "Alien vs. Predator: Requiem" $9.5 million
#3 "I Am Legend" $8.85 million ($149.9 million)
#4 "Alvin & the Chipmunks" $6.7 million ($95.3 million)
#5 "Charlie Wilson's War" $4.2 million ($15.8 million)
#6 "The Great Debaters" $3.5 million
#7 "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" $2.8 million ($13.3 million)
#8 "Juno" $2.3 million ($9.2 million)
#9 "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" $2.25 million
#10 "P.S. I Love You" $1.9 million ($9.1 million)

Final studio estimates will be released later today.

 

[JediFonger]

is this the worse movie for both julia+tom hanks?

 

[TerryRL]

Christmas Day estimates...

#1 "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" $13.65 million ($65.4 million)
#2 "I Am Legend" $9.8 million ($151.0 million)
#3 "Alien vs. Predator: Requiem" $9.5 million
#4 "Alvin & the Chipmunks" $6.0 million ($94.5 million)
#5 "Charlie Wilson's War" $4.3 million ($16.0 million)
#6 "The Great Debaters" $3.6 million
#7 "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" $3.2 million ($13.6 million)
#8 "P.S. I Love You" $2.85 million ($9.3 million)
#9 "Juno" $2.82 million ($9.8 million)
#10 "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" $2.4 million

Jedi, for Hanks this is the worst opening he's had since "That Thing You Do!" in '96. For Roberts, it ranks as her third lowest debut in her last five movies.

Weekend Actuals

(3-day)
#1 "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" $44.8 million
#2 "I Am Legend" $33.5 million ($136.8 million) -57%
#3 "Alvin & the Chipmunks" $28.2 million ($84.0 million) -36%
#4 "Charlie Wilson's War" $9.65 million
#5 "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" $9.3 million
#6 "P.S. I Love You" $6.5 million
#7 "Enchanted" $4.22 million ($98.4 million) -24%
#8 "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" $4.20 million
#9 "The Golden Compass" $4.0 million ($48.4 million) -55$
#10 "Juno" $3.4 million ($6.4 million) +140%

(5-day)
#1 "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" $65.4 million
#2 "I Am Legend" $47.7 million ($151.0 million)
#3 "Alvin & the Chipmunks" $38.6 million ($94.5 million)
#4 "Charlie Wilson's War" $16.0 million
#5 "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" $13.6 million
#6 "Alien vs. Predator: Requiem" $9.5 million
#7 "P.S. I Love You" $9.3 million
#8 "The Golden Compass" $7.0 million ($51.4 million)
#9 "Juno" $6.8 million ($9.8 million)
#10 "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" $6.3 million

 

[Jose Martinez]

I'm thinking "I Love Trouble" for Julia Roberts and "Joe versus the Volcano" or "The Burbs" for Tom Hanks

 

[JediFonger]

adjusted for inflation, those might just beat these new lows =P. even the chipmunks beat them both =P. is this a signal of the changing of the guards or is it just because they picked the wrong movie @the wrong time (war)? i don't think any of the war movies outside of the Kingdom did well as topical as they are. i've seen all o' them. not great films either.

i'm going to catch there'll be bl00d saturday, i doubt there is any box office potential for both daniel day lewis+PT Anderson, yeah?

 

[Pete-D]

Does Jessica Simpson even have a day job? She has zero stage presence outside that now dead and buried reality TV stint on MTV.

I'm really familiar with animated shorts before films. I remember Honey I Shrunk The Kids did it in '89 I think.

I guess it would be cool if it was brought back.

 

[Kyle McKnight]

I must admit that I only read a few of the 70+ pages of this thread (combined with my own searches) and would like to ask, is there a definitive site that has all of the majore motion pictures that were wide-released per year? I figured the IMDB would have it, and if so, I'm stuck.

I fould the "year in" pages on Wikipedia, but they are very short.

I want to compile a list of movies per year that I've seen along with a second list of movies that were released that year that I want to see. I'm not worried about every little movie that gets submitted to a site, but any film that is semi-well known (aka indie that major cities would've heard of) and semi-wide releases. If you have a suggestion, I'd love to check it out.

 

[Chris]

Travis-

The story of Zyzzyx Road is cute, but not really accurate. The film was made and was intended to never be distributed anywhere in the US, it was made with the idea to distribute to the Europe & Asian markets, where, in fact, it faired decently. But, because actors took below scale, as part of the union contract, it had to be released in the US.

Because most of the actors did this under the strict idea that this would never be released in the US (they would not promote it; think like actors who do commercials for Japan under the assurance it will never be seen here) it was released into a Dallas theater for the minimum requirement of one week. It was given one showing a day (noon, M-F) with only 1 Friday to count as it's weekend showing. Over the week, it earned $40, but the director refunded a makeup person & her friend, as they went so she could show her friend her work.

So, yeah, a "terrible" US opening, but considering it was intentionally positioned so no one would ever see it, it's not really saying much.

 

[TerryRL]

The early Friday estimates have "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" easily repeating as the nation's top box office draw. The movie is said to have earned about $12.5 million yesterday, indicating that the movie could be in for a $50 million-plus performance over the five-day holiday frame. Like "I Am Legend", this one could be on its way to a $200 million-plus domestic run.

"Alvin & the Chipmunks" was second with about $10 million, followed closely by "I Am Legend" with earnings in the area of $9.5 million. By the end of the five-day frame, 'Alvin' will have tallied more than $150 million, while "I Am Legend" will have passed the double-century mark. 'Alvin' could also find itself flirting with a final domestic haul of more than $200 mil.

"Charlie Wilson's War" was fourth with close to $4 million, while the AVP sequel's numbers continue to dwindle after its $9.5 million first-day haul (on Tuesday). The sequel pulled in a little over $3 million yesterday. Both "Juno" and "P.S. I Love You" were very close behind with earnings also just over $3 million. 'Sweeney Todd' took in $2.8 million and "Enchanted" rounded out the top ten with about $2.3 million.

"There Will Be Blood", "The Orphanage", "The Bucket List", and "Persepolis" all debuted in very limited play to outstanding results. All four films will have per-theater averages of well over $150K by the end of the five-day frame.

 

[TerryRL]

Friday Estimates

#1 "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" $12.2 million ($100.6 million) 27% Friday-to-Friday drop
#2 "Alvin & the Chipmunks" $10.4 million ($122.8 million) 23% Friday-to-Friday increase
#3 "I Am Legend" $9.2 million ($176.2 million) 16% Friday-to-Friday drop
#4 "Charlie Wilson's War" $3.9 million ($26.6 million) 40% Friday-to-Friday increase
#5 "Alien vs. Predator: Requiem" $3.4 million ($20.2 million)
#6 "Juno" $3.3 million ($18.7 million) 217% Friday-to-Friday increase
#7 "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" $3.2 million ($10.8 million)
#8 "P.S. I Love You" $3.0 million ($17.3 million) 26% Friday-to-Friday increase
#9 "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" $2.6 million ($21.4 million) 31% Friday-to-Friday drop
#10 "Enchanted" $2.3 million ($106.5 million) 88% Friday-to-Friday increase

'National Treasure', "Alvin & the Chipmunks", and "I Am Legend" are all headed for fat grosses over this five-day holiday frame. While 'Legend' will likely pass the double-century mark sometime on Tuesday, both 'National Treasure' and 'Alvin' look poised to also end their respective domestic runs with more than $200 million.

'Charlie Wilson', "Juno", "P.S. I Love You", and "Enchanted" all enjoyed signficant Friday-to-Friday increases (the increase of "Juno" was especially impressive), while 'Sweeney Todd' was off by 31% (a bit troubling).

The AVP sequel continues to lose steam, while 'The Water Horse' should have a decent, but far from spectacular, opening haul.

 

[Adam_S]

Sweeney Todd wasn't very good (singing was akin to mediocre American Idol audtions, not utterly appalling but not adequete by any stretch of the ears), and the cinematography is hideous, there's just nothing there to appeal to an audience other than fanboys or Depp fans.

On the other hand Juno completely deserves all the attention it's getting. Did it expand any theatres this week or is that 217% boost just from word of mouth?

 

[Chris]

The midday showing of "Juno" at the theater right near me was packed full. (not joking, sold out, I got last tickets) so, good to see.

Second time I've seen it, the first time with a bigger crowd. I have to admit, Ellen Page turns in one of the best, most heartwarming performances of the year, and so does Michael Cera. They both have really great, honest moments. And her moment, (the pullover on the highway) is some heartbreaking stuff.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

How did Juno hold up on your second time through? I saw it at a critics' screening in November and loved it. Since it came out several people have asked if I wanted to go see it with them and I held back because I don't generally pay money to watch something I've already seen. But then I heard "All I Want is You" by Barry Louis Polisar somewhere and was reminded just how much I loved the film, and now I'm considering it.