..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Weekend Finals
It's Very Good To Be The King
There were two very strong responses to weekend movie going from those who track the business. The most obvious goes something like this: "Wow! Just look at the business The Return of the King is doing. Isn't it sumptin'."
The appropriate response is "Yes." The final installment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy arrived in theaters Wednesday, grossed about $51 million in its first two days and added an estimated $73.5 million weekend for a five-day cume of approximately $125 million. The film set too many records to enumerate internationally and domestically and accounted for approximately 54% of all tickets sold in North America this past weekend.
The Return of the King opened 18% better than last year's The Two Towers and New Line's $300 million gamble on the three movies will undoubtedly reap rewards more than 10 fold its risk. The entirety of the achievement both artistically and financially is unparalleled and no amount of adjectival initiative quite does justice to that simple fact.
Which brings us to response number two that follows after a slight gasped pause. Imagine a spectator looking across the charred remains of a battlefield; the aftermath of a near apocalyptic encounter that one might have seen in the Rings movies. Slowly he turns away and says with gravitas, "Oh, my god, there's nothing else out there."
While the assessment is a tad hyperbolic, the grim truth is that virtually all other films in the marketplace - new and continuing, limited or expanding - are performing at less than optimum levels. The few exceptions cited to the current landscape include Bad Santa and Elf and a ruminative silence.
There was indeed a collective gasp when Saturday numbers trickled in on Mona Lisa Smile and its gross declined slightly from opening day figures. The period drama headlined by Julia Roberts was, according to its co-producer, the film with the highest scoring preview response in Sony's history. It's estimated $11.3 million weekend ranks it second by less than $1 million to the studio's other adult movie, Something's Gotta Give.
In retrospect, the glib assessment on Mona Lisa Smile is that it had a one-quadrant audience and that older female crowd was largely consumed with higher priority items related to the holiday season. The spin is that the movie will find its audience after December 25. That might indeed happen but obscures several more pertinent questions beginning with Sony's decision to release the film at a time when adult films traditionally do not play well. One can make the case that the movie was alternative programming for all those who wanted to kick the Hobbit. However, that placed the film in direct competition with Something's Gotta Give and hobbled both film's present and likely future business. Next weekend, the Julia Roberts film confronts Cold Mountain and the results could be chilling for either or both movies.
Overall business of close to $140 million not unexpectedly ballooned by 58% from the prior weekend but despite the Tolkien of respect was 4% softer than in 2002. Last year, The Two Towers bowed with $62 million, followed by a $14.3 million debut of Two Weeks Notice and the fourth place $9.5 million opening of Gangs of New York. The year's current $8.8 billion tally trails 2002 by about 1% in gross and 4% in actual admissions.
Debuting limited releases performed respectably but without true dynamism. The admittedly tough to sell Calendar Girls opened in 24 theaters and rang up about $140,000. The film definitely gets a boost from word-of-mouth response but at this very competitive time of year the trick is getting butts in seats. And despite critical hosannas, DreamWorks' The House of Sand and Fog had a soft $39,000 debut from two engagements. The considerably less grim Big Fish playing on six screens in its second weekend had a 25% higher theater average.
Comparatively speaking Sony Classics' profile of former Secretary of State Robert McNamara in The Fog of War was more buoyant with a $38,000 gross from three encounters.
Continuing fare as noted was sluggish with such varied appeal movies as The Last Samurai, Haunted Mansion and Stuck on You experiencing significant erosion and the onslaught of four Christmas day wide releases unlikely to provide those movies with a reversal of box office fortune.
Weekend Finals - December 19-21, 2003
Title Distrib Lord of the Rings: Return of the King New Line 72,629,713 3703 124,100,534 Mona Lisa Smile Sony 11,528,498 2677 11,528,498 Something's Gotta Give Sony 11,416,793 -29% 2677 33,429,833 The Last Samurai WB 7,769,301 -45% 2938 59,487,166 Elf New Line 5,502,635 -9% 2451 154,812,967 Stuck on You Fox 5,284,023 -44% 3007 16,983,906 Bad Santa Miramax 5,102,135 -15% 2225 42,910,876 The Haunted Mansion BV 3,928,641 -36% 2414 58,802,462 Love Don't Cost a Thing WB 3,750,265 -41% 1844 11,192,300 Honey Uni 2,708,610 -44% 1824 23,596,315 The Cat in the Hat Uni 2,311,890 -45% 2121 93,924,705 Master and Commander Fox 1,500,514 -37% 1050 78,522,124 Gothika WB 1,230,085 -55% 1055 56,099,360 Love Actually Uni 1,145,395 -46% 902 54,184,810 In America Fox Searchlight 505,989 84% 146 1,422,980 Brother Bear BV 451,406 -31% 724 81,110,628 The Missing Sony 415,502 -73% 605 25,547,057 Mystic River WB 305,385 -23% 302 52,989,083 The Cooler Lions Gate 284,871 527% 70 678,555 Santa vs. the Snowman Imax 277,744 14% 45 1,942,265 Matrix Revolutions WB 271,473 -62% 272 137,440,747 Lost in Translation Focus 263,089 19% 130 30,032,449 21 Grams Focus 259,484 -19% 71 3,308,691 The School of Rock Par 238,557 180% 375 79,268,941 Radio Sony 176,389 16% 308 51,808,647 Big Fish Sony 164,641 -21% 6 562,525 The Station Agent Miramax/Alliance 153,755 -27% 177 4,335,027 Calendar Girls BV 151,393 24 151,393 Timeline Par 135,474 -84% 620 18,886,362 Nez rouge Cristal 116,397 -23% 69 1,043,939 Looney Toons: Back in Action WB 107,577 -53% 253 19,903,764 Kal Ho Naa Ho Yash Raj 94,543 -41% 37 1,787,378 Freaky Friday BV 94,462 -37% 173 109,888,964 Runaway Jury Fox 86,872 -30% 168 48,767,852 Blizzard Alliance 83,279 -43% 136 267,501 The Barbarian Invasions Alliance/Miramax 76,255 102% 44 5,522,820 Girl with a Pearl Earring Lions Gate 71,051 -20% 8 205,640 Space Station Imax 59,591 28% 16 45,738,765 The Triplets of Belleville Sony Classics 59,121 32% 14 385,192 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre New Line 54,403 -26% 113 80,148,261 Annie Brocoli dans les fonds marin TVA 48,174 55 48,174 House of Sand and Fog DreamWorks 45,572 2 45,572 Pieces of April MGM 43,978 -38% 70 2,313,443 Kill Bill Vol. 1 Miramax 43,141 -46% 64 69,508,791 The Fog of War Sony Classics 41,449 3 41,449 The Human Stain Miramax 41,232 -51% 68 5,311,526 Pirates of the Caribbean BV 40,528 -52% 124 305,343,252 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over Miramax 39,183 -40% 128 111,547,510 Alexander's Project Alliance 37,078 10 37,078 Scary Movie 3 Miramax 35,328 -58% 121 109,065,331 Shattered Glass Lions Gate 34,236 -61% 62 1,998,855 The Gospel of John Thinkfilm 29,729 -57% 43 3,044,854 Intolerable Cruelty Uni 26,759 -46% 59 35,215,699 Bubba Ho-Tep Vitagraph 25,325 -13% 18 1,144,668 Elephant New Line 23,718 -38% 33 1,189,207 Gloomy Sunday Menemsha 22,259 -12% 16 348,937 The Statement Sony Class/Think 21,980 -36% 7 72,263 Under the Tuscan Sun BV 20,027 -43% 60 42,976,432 The Hebrew Hammer Strand 19,539 8 19,539 Once Upon a Time in Mexico Sony 19,096 -47% 56 56,330,657 Secondhand Lions New Line 18,062 -51% 57 42,023,715
Weekend Estimates - December 19-21, 2003
Title Lord of the Rings: Return of King - 3703 124.9 Mona Lisa Smile - 2677 11.3 Something's Gotta Give -34% 2677 32.7 The Last Samurai -49% 2938 58.8 Elf -15% 2451 154.6 Stuck on You -46% 3007 16.8 Bad Santa -27% 2225 43.5 Haunted Mansion -37% 2414 58.7 Love Don't Cost a Thing -42% 1844 11 Honey -49% 1824 23.4 The Cat in the Hat -45% 2121 93.9 Master and Commander -45% 1050 78.3 Gothika -56% 1055 56.1 Love Actually -49% 905 54.1 Brother Bear -25% 724 81.1 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - % Change (Last Year) - % Change (Last Week) - Also Debuting/Expanding In America 64% 146 1.4 Big Fish -29% 6 0.55 Calendar Girls - 24 0.14 Girl with a Pearl Earring -32% 8 0.19 House of Sand and Fog - 2 0.04 The Fog of War - 3 0.04
Top Limited Releases - January 1- December 18, 2003
Title Whale Rider 20,779,666 Space Station * 15,749,653 Ghosts of the Abyss 15,204,926 The Quiet American * 12,645,055 The Lion King * (Large Format) 11,777,577 Swimming Pool