Box Office returns

I don't see a thread for a continuing discussion of movie box office, so I thought I'd create one (because yes, box office is important).

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/

I won't try and spin the numbers: I think MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL is a decent sized hit (considering how poorly the box office is doing as a whole). I don't like Tom Cruise anymore...haven't liked him since 2005, but I think he's managed to churn out a decent hit and live to die another day. I also think it helped that it had Brad Bird and that, for the most part of the last year, he's been on good behavior and kept his mouth shut (something Matt Damon maybe should considering taking note of). Also the MI brand still carries some value. *HOWEVER*, I'm not so sure that Lee Child fans will be as forgiving in 2013 when the first Jack Reacher film, ONE SHOT, hits theaters (I may sneak in to see it since my wife, Rosamund Pike, is co-starring).

And I think that in this economy, in this gloomy box office outlook, if your film can make $350-400 million in its theatrical run, you've probably done your job and deserve a pat on the back, and I think that's what MI:4 is likely to earn.

Not so good: TIN TIN. It is an absolute bomb at the American box office; coming in behind even GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. I know almost nothing about TIN TIN, but I can say that just by looking at the previews and the trailers, I saw nothing about it that would make me want to go see it. Not a single interesting scene, not even a snippet of dialogue. What's more, it's playing on more screens than 'Girl' and has the advantage of not being an R-rated film about anal rape, incest and murder, and yet TIN TIN is trailing 'Girl' by more than $5 million dollars at this point.

And no, the foreign box office will not help TIN TIN get a sequel; the film is dead on arrival.

'Girl' I kind of wanted to succeed, because its adult, its risky, it's smart, it's faithful to the book...because the studio was willing to put up serious money to make it...to secure a credible director and lead actor and everything on paper says this film should have been a hit...but I'm sorry, I said it months ago and I'll say it again: Christmas was the absolute worst time to release this film. I *get* that they acknowledged that in the previews with "The feel bad movie of Christmas", but it was a counter-programming move that just..........did.................not...............work. It was a move made by people who outsmarted themselves. This movie should have been released in the bleakness of February or nearer to Halloween.

Outside of Bond, Craig has no hit film to call his own. He couldn't open GOLDEN COMPASS, DREAM HOUSE, TIN TIN, DRAGON TATTOO, COWBOYS & ALIENS or DEFIANCE. Dare I suggest that maybe, just maybe, his public relations took a hit with that stunt involving him in a dress, supporting the National Association of Gals and their International Womyns Day back in March, being berated by Judi Dench like a little French school boy?

Memo to Babs Broccoli: with a really weak economy and box office outlook going into 2012, you may want to rethink using Daniel Craig in any more stunt public service announcements. I haven't forgotten the eyeball rape you inflicted upon me back in March, and I won't forget when SKYFALL is released next year and I'm sneaking into the theater to see it without having paid for it.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Dare I suggest that maybe, just maybe, his public relations took a hit with that stunt involving him in a dress, supporting the National Association of Gals and their International Womyns Day back in March, being berated by Judi Dench like a little French school boy?

I don't think enough people took notice of that stunt for it to have had any effect on his Box Office appeal.

Harmsway wrote:

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Dare I suggest that maybe, just maybe, his public relations took a hit with that stunt involving him in a dress, supporting the National Association of Gals and their International Womyns Day back in March, being berated by Judi Dench like a little French school boy?

I don't think enough people took notice of that stunt for it to have had any effect on his Box Office appeal.

That can change, though, with the right Twitter, YouTube and Facebook campaign. We need to send a message to Babs.

Speaking of messages....if I were EON I'd be taking close notice of the box office returns and being make extra special sure that my movie was going to offer the best in top-quality entertainment. Audiences are more reluctant now to shell out big bucks for crap.

MI4 can hit $500m worldwide...it's already on a trajectory to do around $175m domestic USA and well beyond US$263.8m overseas, which is what MI3 earned. Might eclipse $500m or come close.

Babs, take note...MI4 cost $145m to produce compared to your $200m QoS which was also 30 or so minutes LESS than MI4.

MI4 should hit $100m in the USA after this Thursday's receipts are posted on Friday. Add the New Years Weekend, it climbs to about $130-135m.

Sharky's nemesis chimes in; http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111228/COMMENTARY/111229973

No serious film critic cares about box office revenue.

They should be aware of it though, since it shapes the industry and careers far more than they do.

I'm aware of noodles. I just don't really care about them.

Sharky wrote:

No serious film critic cares about box office revenue.

I don't consider myself a serious film critic. I am, however, interested in the future of the Bond series beyond Craig and Hurricane Barbara, and it is in my interest to read the box office trends and guess weather or not there is life in 007 beyond the damage that Babs has (and will continue) inflicted upon this one mighty and proud franchise.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

. I haven't forgotten the eyeball rape you inflicted upon me back in March, and I won't forget when SKYFALL is released next year and I'm sneaking into the theater to see it without having paid for it.

Just remember to pay for something more worthy though, like the latest Lindsay Lohan or Megan Fox film. That's what I did for DaVinci Code. I bought tickets for Herbie Rides Again and then popped into DVC. I hope LiLo appreciates the support.

btw. Are you really married to Rosamund Pike. If so, I quite enjoyed her work in Johnny English Part 2, which I did actually purchase tickets for.

tiffanywint wrote:

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

. I haven't forgotten the eyeball rape you inflicted upon me back in March, and I won't forget when SKYFALL is released next year and I'm sneaking into the theater to see it without having paid for it.

Just remember to pay for something more worthy though, like the latest Lindsay Lohan or Megan Fox film. That's what I did for DaVinci Code. I bought tickets for Herbie Rides Again and then popped into DVC. I hope LiLo appreciates the support.

Oh, you know it! Babs Coltrane Broccoli is going to pay for using James Bond to advance a radical feminist agenda. I'm going to find the worst, crappiest, least successful film playing when SKYFALL comes out and pay to go see it, then I'm going to walk into the theater playing SKYFALL! Until Babs formally issues an apology for foisting that abomination upon an unsuspecting world, and disgracing the memory and good name of Ian Fleming and Cubby Broccoli, she won't be getting another dime from me.

Quote :

btw. Are you really married to Rosamund Pike. If so, I quite enjoyed her work in Johnny English Part 2, which I did actually purchase tickets for.

Yes, it's true. We were married in a quiet ceremony last month (that's why I was gone for over a week). Rosie and I, along with a few select family and friends, were married outside of a cottage on Sea Island, off the coast of Georgia U.S.A. (it's the same cottage John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife were married in). Then we spent a romantic couple of days on our honeymoon in historic Savannah, GA.

Savannah is a beautiful, colonial city that dates back to before the Revolutionary War. If you like New Orleans, you'll love Savannah. Where New Orleans is gold and black and steeped in voodoo and French Cuisine, Savannah is draped in clover green, with a healthy Irish immigrant population and big St. Patrick's Day festivals; one of the two biggest in the countries. Savannah's got games, it's got festivals, it's got fresh seafood, it's got beaches, it's got lots and lots of interesting history.

Anyway, we haven't officially announced it to the press yet. I don't want her to be distracted from her performance in ONE SHOT, her new movie with Tom Cruise, which they are currently film in parts of Georgia. I feel very safe letting my wife be around Tom Cruise. I met him, and had a nice long talk with him about this and that, and I can safely say that I did not detect even the slightest whiff of a sexual inclination from him towards my wife. In fact, he seemed to be totally bored with his own. I heard Katie say something about "Let's go to bed" and I thought I heard him say: "Gross. Get your woman parts and cooties away from me." but I could have misheard him wrong.

Right now just keep this information locked down here at BAB. Don't spread the word yet. It'll be our little secret.....here on the Internet.


For more information on visiting Savannah, please go to:http://www.savannahtours.us

Sharky wrote:

No serious film critic cares about box office revenue.

A lover of the film medium might, seeing as how box office revenue drives the industry.

I'm absolutely staggered by the popularity of FAST FIVE, which Box Office Mojo informs me has taken almost $210 million at the U.S. box office.

Re: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL, I wonder whether the makers of SKYFALL are regretting not going with the IMAX format.

Loomis wrote:

I'm absolutely staggered by the popularity of FAST FIVE, which Box Office Mojo informs me has taken almost $210 million at the U.S. box office.

Re: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL, I wonder whether the makers of SKYFALL are regretting not going with the IMAX format.

Has it been established that Skyfall won't have an IMAX format??

Dunno. Truth be told, I'm simply assuming that SKYFALL isn't being partially shot in IMAX like THE DARK KNIGHT and GHOST PROTOCOL were. Would we not have heard about it by now?

"Shot in IMAX" being the key phrase, BTW - I'm not talking about post-production conversions for IMAX screenings.

Yeah, I daresay we would have heard by now if they were cranking out the 70MM IMAX for Skyfall.

I'd love for them to do it, though.

A James Bond film shot in IMAX by Roger Deakins? I'd jizz my pants if that happened.

Deadline Hollywood's MI4 predictions are a bit above mine, so I'm not alone... :face:

Quote :

1. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (Paramount) Week 3 [3,455 Runs]
Friday $10.7M (+8% from last Fri), Est 3-Day Weekend $28.2M
Est 4-Day Holiday $40M, Est Cume $141M

It's already well over 300m globally...should be around 375m globally when Mojo does the weekend actuals by Tuesday...

Ghost Protocol's box office performance is especially impressive when you consider that insiders were concerned that it would be smushed out of the Christmas pack by Game of Shadows.

Judging by box office trends from last year and 2005 (the last time Christmas Eve fell on a Saturday), MI4 has an outside shot at $200 million domestic. That would not only put it past MI3 in tickets sold, but also in the middle of the pack for the Babs/MGW Bonds. That's certainly setting the bar for Skyfall.

Skyfall better deliver, this was good...

After 24 days of release, MI4 has earned more than QoS did in the USA....170m & counting...with 200m being well within reach.

Not bad for a franchise that many had written off....

Now if MI4 can come back with such a bang, and with such good word of mouth, I'm hopeful that a better-than-average Bond film can do likewise. :suspect:

http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/first-box-office-red-tails-flying-underworld-4-strong-extremely-loud-solid/

Apparently $25 million is the new $100 million dollar opening. How else to explain how Underworld is being perceived as a big hit, or that, with $19 million dollars, RED TAILS is "soaring".....

RED did better than I thought it would, but I doubt it has any staying power. Will probably be a one-and-done film, with a 60-percent drop off next week. George Lucas soils anything he touches, and if Cuba Gooding Jr. is getting top billing in your film.....well, let's just say I'm surprised that this wasn't a straight-to-dvd film.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/first-box-office-red-tails-flying-underworld-4-strong-extremely-loud-solid/

Apparently $25 million is the new $100 million dollar opening. How else to explain how Underworld is being perceived as a big hit, [snip]

It's the 4th installment in the Underworld franchise and it's done better than Rise of The Lycans, which was a prequel and didn't star Kate Beckinsale. As long as movies like Underworld and Resident Evil do 50-60m at the US box-office, they are considered hits because overall, they turn a profit (based on production budgets, domestic+foreign box-office, dvd/blu-ray, other broadcast rights etc). Resident Evil: Retribution is due later this year, the previous movie did about 60m domestically and was enough to greenlight another one.

These openings are considered "strong" for a January release (which tied with September for the worst time to release a movie). Consider that:

-The biggest January opening unadjusted is Colverfield, which made a whopping $40 million on it's opening weekend.
-The biggest opening adjusted is still the Star Wars Special Edition release from 1997 (62 million), as well as selling the most tickets through it's entire run ($239 million)
-The only time that multiple January films grossed numbers that would hold up as hits in the busier months was 2009, where somehow Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Taken made upwards of $140 million.

The best case scenario for January releases is upper $20/lower $30 million dollar opener and a final gross somwhere between $80-$100 million.

In the case of Underworld: Awakening, it may be performing better than Rise of the Lycans. However, it's still not up to par with the openings of the first two and the franchise has gotten slightly more frontloaded per installment. We can expect $60-70 million out of Awakening, which should be enough to make a profit regardless. The second movie (Evolution) only cost $50 million to make and I can't see why Awakening would have a dramatically higher cost.

Awakening's in 3D, plus they had to entice Kate to come back :face: