..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Weekend Finals
Pixar That!
Pixar Perfect, Pixelated and all manner of word and image play … and now on to business. A qualified Wow!
There’s no question that Disney’s bow of Pixar Studio’s Finding Nemo, with an estimated $73.2 million (the studio is offering a conservative $70.6 million), exceeded all expectations. Entering the weekend, industry trackers predicted something in the range of $55-$60 million. However, the public was hungry for fish and that sent the film to a record debut for an animated film (formerly held by Pixar’s Monsters Inc. at $62.6 million) and the best opening day and weekend for a Buena Vista release.
What’s made the difference for Pixar movies is their appeal to more than the now-traditional crowd of youngsters and parents. They play to everyone, a rare feat in any contemporary genre and something that Disney hasn’t been able to replicate since Aladdin, and DreamWorks will not likely be able to do with the forthcoming Sinbad.
Though Finding Nemo took a hefty bite out of the competition (the film accounted for 43% of weekend ticket sales), Paramount had a solid launch of The Italian Job and Universal’s Bruce Almighty had a good second weekend hold.
Overall weekend business should record slightly more than $175 million for an excellent 11% bump from a week earlier (3-day to 3-day comparison). However, placed beside 2002’s comparable frame - when The Sum of All Fears topped the charts with a $31.2 million opening - the increase balloons by a jaw dropping 46%.
With The Matrix Reloaded eroding rapidly, Nemo could well emerge as the top grosser of summer 2003 even keeping in mind several highly anticipated titles that are opening in the next month. And here are two more predictions: Finding Nemo will have, at least for a brief period, the same sort of salient effect at the fish counter that Bambi had on venison. Finally, if there are aquarium futures to be bought, get on the phone pronto.
In all the animated hoopla, even the folks at Universal appeared to have missed the fact that its Bruce Almighty became the fastest grossing $100 million comedy, hitting that mark in its seventh day in theaters. Considering its dynamic opening, a sigh of relief went out that it dropped a mere 45% to rank second with $37.2 million in a weekend where every other national release dropped between 50% to 67%.
And here’s where the qualifier kicks in. The procession of high profile movies are taking a mightier toll on the continuing runs of prior week’s favorite movie flavors this year. The anticipated $250 million domestic box office (based on opening weekend business) of X2 won’t be reached and Matrix 2 will fall short of a $300 million summer. Every film is feeling that pinch to some degree and that trend is unlikely to change as the season marches on to Labor Day.
Among the other national bows, The Italian Job sprang out of the starting gate with $19.3 million for a third place berth. Response to the film has been very good but Paramount has to be a little concerned that the film could be badly bruised by next weekend’s launch of 2 Fast and 2 Furious and won’t be the sort of surprise hit that had been envisioned.
Fox’s horror entry Wrong Turn slipped into theaters for a quick $4.7 million tally and joins the season’s growing causality list that includes Down with Love and The In-Laws.
The specialized arena continues to be buoyant with, among other debuts, a very strong opening of the Sundance documentary winner Capturing the Friedmans which grossed almost $60,000 from 3 screens via Magnolia. Non-fiction fare has had a number of significant entries recently including current releases of Winged Migration and Spellbound. The latter title added several theaters this weekend and maintained a sturdy $170,000 box office.
Also strong was MGM/TVA’s Chinese import Together with roughly $74,000 from eight venues.
French franchise actioner Taxi bowed its third installment at 66 Quebec theaters and did business comparable to The Italian Job in the region. The week’s Bollywood entry, Bhoot, had one of the stronger recent debuts on the Hindi-language circuit with an estimated $150,000 from 23 screens. However, the impact of piracy on the Indian film industry has been palpable and resulted in stronger scrutiny of American pictures. The Motion Picture Association has reason for concern and cannot afford to experience the sort of double-digit erosion experienced in India or, for that matter, the recording industry.
Weekend Estimates - May 30 - June 1, 2003
Title Finding Nemo - 3374 73.2 Bruce Almighty -45% 3492 137.2 The Italian Job - 2633 19.3 The Matrix Reloaded -60% 3453 231.8 Daddy Day Care -50% 3128 82.2 X2: X-Men United -54% 2533 199.1 Wrong Turn - 1615 4.7 The In-Laws -54% 2652 14.2 Down with Love -61% 1300 17.2 Lizzie McGuire -67% 1330 39.3 Holes -58% 1078 61.8 Bend It Like Beckham -46% 491 18.9 Identity -64% 807 50.6 Anger Management -62% 906 132.9 A Mighty Wind -51% 420 15.4 Les Invasions barbares -20% 103 3.1 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - % Change (Last Year) - % Change (Last Week) - Taxi 3 -- 66 0.42 Spellbound -1% 34 0.65 Winged Migration -36% 32 1.1 Bhoot - 23 0.15 Together - 8 0.07 Capturing the Friedmans - 3 0.06 Respiro -31% 7 0.16
Top Foreign Language Films - January 1- May 29, 2003
Title Talk to Her * 7,510,783 - Spirited Away * 4,543,781 ** Nowhere in Africa 4,394,870 - City of God 4,210,215 - Seraphin, un homme et son peche 2,529,713 - Les Invasions barbares 2,506,993 - Russian Ark * 2,260,302 - Pinocchio * 1,422,583 ** The Crime of Padre Amaro * 1,408,324 - L'Auberge Espagnole 1,197,408 - He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not 956,154 - Winged Migration 921,280 - Cowboy Bebop 838,261 ** The Man Without a Past 581,924 - Pokemon Heroes 579,177 ** Help! I'm a Fish 563,911 ** The Man on the Train 503,100 - Comment ma mere accoucha … 353,275 - Dil Ka Rishtaa 352,128 - Intervention Divine 340,725 - - * does not include 2002 box office ** released in English dub
Domestic Market Share - January 1- May 29, 2003
Distributor (releases) Warner Bros. (13) 15.50% Buena Vista (18) 14.00% Sony (14) 13.30% Fox (9) 13.00% Miramax (18) 8.10% New Line (7) 7.90% Paramount (9) 7.30% DreamWorks (6) 7.10% Universal (6) 3.80% MGM (13) 3.60% Focus (4) 1.50% Fox Searchlight (5) 1.20% Lions Gate (11) 0.80% Others * (115) 2.90% - 100.00% * none greater than .5%
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