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Joy In Mudville
At
last, Pirates that the Motion Picture Association can embrace!
Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean sailed into port significantly
ahead of the fleet with an estimated $45.3 million. There was
also significant booty for the weekend’s other newcomer The
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that grossed a better than
anticipated $22.9 million.
The
bad news was that the two freshmen accounted for 55% of the marketplace
(the top 5 repped a staggering 77%), underlining the summer theme
of big openings and unusually rapid declines. In this instance,
despite the overall weekend plunder of roughly $146 million, business
was up a slim 1% from 2002 and a racked up a modest 8% increase
from last weekend. It was the first, albeit modest, boxoffice
upturn in more than a month. However admissions continue to trail
the record levels set one year ago.
Much
has been made in the press of Pirate’s PG-13 rating as
a possible stumbling block for its commercial embrace. There was
simply no evidence that the tag kept anyone away from the period
romp and, based on exit polls, considerable support that the film
was playing young and old but tilted toward the former. That fact
likely benefited the Extraordinary Gents (and Lady) despite
the fact that it, like Pirates, was an adventure yarn set
in a bygone historic era.
“All
our research showed that League appealed to a slightly
older audience,” said Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder.
“The big problem was finding a summer date where the film wouldn’t
get clobbered by the competition. Ultimately we decided that playing
opposite Pirates would be benefit because of certain similarities
the films share.”
Unsurprising
for the season, Terminator 3 and Legally Blonde 2
had respective 55% and 45% second weekend drops. The combination
of siege marketing campaigns and weekly event titles has resulted
in the majority of high profile seasonal releases under-performing
based on recent data and trends. It’s one aspect of the record
book that does not get accorded self-congratulatory trade ads.
Meanwhile,
Sony launched the first wave of Terminator 3 overseas in
secondary territories (apart from Japan) in Asia and South America
and racked up an impressive $20 million weekend that included
an all-time record debut in Thailand. Last week it dominated movie
going in Russia where Schwarzenegger is perhaps the most popular
Hollywood star.
Disney’s
Finding Nemo continued to be the summer movie least effected
by competition including from its own in-house fare. The film
ebbed just 25%, added $8.3 million to its tally and edged toward
$300 million domestically. It should reach that plateau in about
eight days.
In
regional and specialized exploitation, Alliance’s quirky comedy
La Grande Seduction had a wow debut in Quebec with close
to $1 million (Canadian) from 79 theaters. It’s the third successful
local production this summer, a feat that hasn’t occurred for
close to three decades. The first expansion of Focus’s Swimming
Pool was upbeat with a $10,000 plus screen average from 65
locations and Newmarket’s Whale Rider continued apace with
a $1 million weekend and 60 new playdates.
The
frame was also rife with niche premieres with Paramount Classics’
Northfolk most impressive with a roughly $62,000 gross
from five locations. The company will have a more daunting challenge
selling the arty drama as it expands to other centers. IDP’s tony
British acquisition I Capture the Castle and the French
import The Housekeeper via Palm had promising bows with
$48,000 and $43,000 weekends from respectively eight and six engagements.
However, Sony Classics’ launch of the acclaimed Russian fable
The Cuckoo was a disappointment with $16,000 at six theaters.
- by Leonard
Klady
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