..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Animating the Box Office
Weekend Estimates
If you got 'em, they will come.
The argument for a product driven marketplace got stronger as potent national debuts for Shark Tale and Ladder 49 spurred a huge boost in ticket sales. There was also a dynamic bow for the limited opening of I Heart Huckabees and other limited and regional freshmen releases including a carefully orchestrated select national release of the Afro centric Woman Thou Are Loosed.
Shark Tale was expected to open well but not quite as well as its estimated $49.3 million first salvo. Following an impressive $13 million opening day gross, the film ballooned 60% on Saturday and is expected to enter the record books as the biggest October debut on record. It's also the biggest fall bow for an animated and the fourth largest cel-ular launch. DreamWorks already has October 2005 mapped out for the stop motion Wallace and Gromit.
Ironically, it was Disney that stepped in to counter program with the incendiary, muscular Ladder 49. The fiery star vehicle commanded $22.2 million and along with the fish tale accounted for more than 60% of weekend business.
Sales for the frame should ring in with a final tally of about $115 million for a mighty 67% boost from seven days earlier. The new entries also fired up an impressive 24% from 2003 when Disney's Brother Bear opened to $19.4 million but was edged out by Scary Movie 3's $20 million second weekend.
Holdover titles, including last weekend's chart topper The Forgotten, generally experienced sharp drops that halved individual grosses. It remains to be seen whether the seasonal norm will be as unforgiving. That would be uncharacteristic and a film going trend that ought to alarm both distribution and exhibition.
Targeted at an African American audience, Woman Thou Are Loosed strategically selected 392 theaters and ranked seventh overall with roughly $2.2 million and a sturdy $5,600 theater average. The drama's commercial vitality will earn it additional playdates but its crossover potential remains narrow.
The first expansion of The Motorcycle Diaries, centering on Che Guevara's formative pre-radical years, was resilient. Boosting its exposure from three to 67 theaters, the film grossed roughly $1 million and averages of $14,600.
Though it split the critics, I Heart Huckabees hit its target audience with a walloping $280,000 and close to a $70,000 average from four engagements. It may have a tougher time expanding on initial heat.
Regionally, Quebec had one of its best bows for a local title with Les Aimants (The Lovers) opening on 43 screens and generating about $320,000. Another film that effectively mined a niche crowd was the religious-themed Therese. It grossed $270,000 from 35 pews. Not nearly as effective was the response from Native Americans for Black Cloud that mustered roughly $60,000 from 38 venues.
A pair of politically charged documentaries had only tepid commercial response. An examination of the Vietnam protest era in Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry set sail in 160 theaters and struggled to $230,000. Gay marriage was the focus of Tying the Knot but the hot button issue only attracted $3,000 averages from its exposure on eight screens.
Weekend Estimates - October 1-3, 2004
Title Shark Tale - 4016 49.3 Ladder 49 - 3260 22.2 The Forgotten -43% 3144 38.4 Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow -50% 2721 30.6 Mr. 3000 -50% 2239 19.1 Shaun of the Dead -32% 645 6.7 Woman Thou Are Loosed - 392 2.2 Resident Evil: Apocalypse -46% 1986 46.9 First Daughter -48% 2280 7.1 Cellular -46% 2020 28.2 Wimbledon -47% 1706 14.9 Napoleon Dynamite -22% 855 37.6 Hero -48% 1140 51.1 Without a Paddle -52% 1439 55.3 The Motorcycle Diaries 512% 67 1.2 Garden State -28% 428 23.7 Collateral -50% 802 99.3 The Bourne Supremecy -51% 607 173.2 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - % Change (Last Year) - % Change (Last Week) Also Debuting/Expanding Les Aimants - 43 0.32 I Heart Huckabees - 4 0.28 Therese - 35 0.27 A Dirty Shame -42% 131 0.92 Going Upriver: Long War of John Kerry - 160 0.23 Black Cloud - 38 0.06 Dig - 2 0.03 Tying the Knot - 8 0.02 Top Domestic Grosses: January 1 - September 30, 2004
Title Gross Shrek 2 439,823,837 Spider-Man 2 371,629,102 The Passion of the Christ 370,274,604 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 249,069,395 The Day After Tomorrow 186,658,429 The Bourne Supremacy 172,624,145 I, Robot 143,436,965 Troy 133,378,256 Lord of the Rings: Return of King * 122,306,127 50 First Dates 120,908,074 Van Helsing 120,177,084 Fahrenheit 9/11 119,013,347 Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story 114,192,700 The Village 113,258,294 Collateral 98,638,556 The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement 93,495,479 Starsky & Hutch 88,237,754 Along Came Polly 88,097,164 Mean Girls 86,050,784 Anchorman: Legend of Ron Burgundy 85,224,248 * does not include 2003 box office Domestic Market Share: January 1 - September 23, 2004
Distributor (releases) Percentage Sony (20) 1054.3 14.90% Warner Bros. (27) 921.9 13.10% Fox (15) 846.1 12.00% DreamWorks (9) 760.7 10.80% Buena Vista (22) 665.6 9.40% Universal (14) 581.4 8.20% Newmarket (5) 406.1 5.80% Paramount (13) 401.1 5.60% New Line (12) 335.9 4.80% Miramax (17) 266.9 3.80% Lions Gate (20) 221.6 3.30% MGM (12) 197.7 2.80% Fox Searchlight (8) 121.1 1.70% Focus (8) 82.8 1.20% Alliance (15) 48.5 0.70% Other (184) 144 2.00% * none greater than .5% 6961.8 100.00%
Home | Movie City News | The Hot Button | Contact Us
Report broken links and other web problems to Webmaster
©2005. Movie City News, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Movie City Geek, Movie City Indie and MCG are trademarks of Movie City News.
.