Posted on 12/17/2005 11:10:22 AM PST by dangus
A gross of $11,000 per screen is quite good. If you're an autumn Wide Release, opening on 3500 screens across the country. When a movie opens on only 69 of the nation's largest theaters in a few dozen of the largest cities, with almost all of your target audience within range of those theaters, it's pretty bad.
Brokeback Mountain played in fourteen times more theaters this Friday than last Friday, and made less than four times as much money, only $760,000. It looks like the movie will make considerably less than its $15 million budget before the Academy Awards come out. How many tens of millions of dollars in free promotion, reduced pay and credibility were spent on this film?
King Kong also appears to be a flop. I've seen this movie: Peter Jackson has mastered many movie-making techniques with the Lord of the Rings, and the movie is an amazing spectacle with much positive and true to say about human nature. But Jackson did not learn how to discipline his budgeting or story-telling. His movie is also bloated, over-long, too violent, very horrific and a bit tooo preposterous.
The early part of the movie centers around a movie director too obsessed with his story, prone to overkill, and swindling a movie company out of far more than they would have been willing to spend. Given that actor Jack Black even slightly resembles Peter Jackson, I can't help but to wonder if how consciously auto-biographical the film is. It will make many, many, many times more than Brokeback Mountain, and still become known as a flop. I sincerely hope Peter Jackson learns the right things from the experience; he is very talented, very passionate, and, from the messages of his movies, very decent. King Kong made $14 million last night... It will probably easily pass $100 million, but land short of its $200 million budget. On the other hand, it is precisely the sort of movie that translates well overseas, and does well on DVD. But it will not be the Box Office savior hoped for.
Chronicles of Narnia will apparently need a rebound in the Christmas vacations to be profitable. Except for a literally rushed ending, it's almost perfect, a purely magical delight. But it seems to have very weak legs; it's not surprising since everyone who wanted to see this movie knew they did so a long time ago, and most rushed out to see it immediately. Today's movie markets don't allow for the sort of excellent word of mouth that Narnia is getting.
That word of mouth means probably good DVD sales, and strong anticipation of a sequel, so Narnia's Box Office is by no means a failure... just it'll take some time to become profitable. Narnia sold about $9 million worth of tickets, down over 60% from last Friday.
But there doesn't seem to be any great challenger to Narnia for the Holiday season. The Family Stone opened weak ($4 million), Harry Potter is mostly played out ($1.5 million), as are Walk the Line ($1 million) and Yours Mine and Ours (under $1 million) Syriana also fell hard, too... ($1.6 million).
Don't look for any saviors at the box office next week either... Cheaper by the Dozen 2, Fun with Dick and Jane, The Ringer, and Rumor Has It all open, but none look too strong
$11,000 per theater in strictly midtown locales is no way near being sold out. Some of these theaters can take $40, or $50,000. And "staying the same" as you go from Thursday to Friday is pretty disasterous. If you're going to compare Thursday to Friday to sense "selling out," I suggest you also consider LAST Friday, when the take was four times higher.
Friday's take was far from the highest per screen daily take. Return of the Sith opened up at $13,666 at over fifty times more theaters, including smaller rural and small-town theaters.
>> the notion that 11k/screen is a bad showing is just ludicrous <<
Actually, I said that measure was quite good. But I also said you have to consider where those screens are and what they represent as a portion of the audience... that's where the film's weakness is revealed
No, Aslan is literally supposed to be Christ. If you read all seven books, especially 'The Magician's Nephew' and 'The Last Battle', Lewis makes it abundantly clear.
>> especially the arthouse theaters where a movie like that is likely to play <<
There's the mistake in your logic. This is being shown at most of the largest theaters in the nation. The sort of movies that are shown in "arthouse" theaters in mid-America are shown in flagship theaters in downtowns of major cities.
And it certainly is not a way of keeping any good that may have been gained from devout Christians through the Passion of the Christ.
Trouble with Brokeback mountain is it's the same tired old story. How many times do we need to see a movie about a couple of cowboys who go off to the mountains every once in a while and have gay sex? I for one am tired of it.
When shark die nobody cry . . .
Evidently you don't know the difference between sheep herders and cowboys.
I know it's not Return of the Sith, but right now it is not the bomb you are making it out to be. As of today it's doing very well financially.
Not in your wildest fantasies will your points make your statements true. Good try.
We thought so too. The only other movie we'll be seeing this year is the Chronicles of Narnia. The insects and bats in King Kong were something else.
Brokeback Republican....I like it!
Mel Gibson's dad. Quite the anti-Semite, one gathers: the Holocaust never happened, and so on
Is he one of THE Huttons?
This will be a double Ooffa. Keep the fudge.
What's a funnier name for Brokeback Mountain - Broke Back Mountin', Back Door Mountin', or Raw Hind?
"brown eye for the back door guy,,,,lmao"
Try "Butt-plug Mountain"
Peter Jackson learns the right things from the experience; he is very talented, very passionate, and, from the messages of his movies, very decent.Then you clearly haven't seen all of his movies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.