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A Disturbed B.O Report

Disturbia Image
© N/A

The past month has been a rollercoaster of surprises in our various box office reports. From Wild Hogs performing unbelievably well to 300 making us all looks like fools. From TMNT kicking ninja butt to Blades of Glory accepting the gold twice while Grindhouse stunned industry insiders around the world. So what’s going to happen this weekend? We have 6 new wide releases opening up on this Friday the 13^th weekend and now it’s time to find out which ones were successful and which ones are joining Grindhouse in the back of the box office bus? 

Leading the group this weekend is Shia LeBeouf’s thriller Disturbia. Shia has been everywhere as far as movie news is concerned the past few weeks getting selected for the next Indiana Jones. The selection certainly didn’t hurt this film getting more attention. Paramount/Dreamworks distributed Disturbia thrilled audiences grabbing 23 mil in its debut weekend and this time, the number one film worked well off the timing of the release date, Friday the 13^th. It has a running time of 1 hour and 44 minutes so it had quite a few showings per theater in its 2,925 screens across the nation. Its budget is listed at 20 mil so it in 3 days, it’s made its money back for Paramount, Dreamworks & producer Steven Spielberg.  

Coming in right behind the thriller is that other Paramount/Dreamworks comedy Blades of Glory. The comedy starring Will Ferrell has ruled the box office for two weeks but moved down a slot to give Disturbia the champ seat this weekend and I’m sure Paramount nor Dreamworks mind at all. During the month of March, Warner Bros ruled the box office with it’s 300 and TMNT releases. This  month is looking like a P/DW month for all the parties involved. Glory tacked on another 14 mil this weekend bringing its total to 90.1 mil overall domestically.  

Landing in 3^rd place is the Disney animation Meet the Robinsons with a 12.1 mil take at the box office. The animation has pulled in 72 mil now domestically and another 25 mil overseas so it’s already 3 mil shy of that 100 mil mark overall. Not too shabby for the Mickey Mouse company. 

Right behind in 4^th place is the Halle Berry thriller Perfect Stranger. Sony Revolution is taking 4^th and 5^th places this weekend with its Perfect Stranger & Are We Done Yet releases. Stranger pulled in 11.5 mil in 2,661 screens across the nation and averaged $4,321 per screen. The family comedy, also by Sony Revolution, Are We Done Yet is right behind in 5^th place with a 9.2 mil bow in receipts. Ice Cube’s family centered sequel to Are We There Yet has now pulled in 33 mil overall in its 2 weeks of release. Not bad for Cube or for Sony Revolution. 

This is where the box office report goes downhill. 5^th place is 9.2 mil but 6^th-10^th places all come well short of the mark with nothing above 4.8 mil. In its debut weekend, Pathfinder: Legend of the Ghost Warrior pulled in a measly 4.8 mil in it’s wide (yet limited) release of 1,720 screens. The action film distributed by Fox averaged $2,790 per screen. This isn’t exactly a great start to a film, landing in 6^th place in its debut weekend with only 4 mil. Not sure why Fox put it only 1,700 screens in its debut weekend. 

Disney’s Wild Hogs is steadily holding place in 7^th place for the second weekend in a row. It didn’t budge from its spot and took in 4.6 mil over the three day weekend. The film is starting to get pulled out of theaters now but it’s made 152.2 mil domestically and another 18.4 mil overseas. Disney is already thinking about greenlighted the sequel and for good reason, this film has performed very strong with audiences and with box office longevity.  

Time for the Warner Bros section of the Box Office Report. We’ve already had the P/DW duo and the Sony Revolution team. The two films from Warner Bros are both rated R films. One has done outstanding and now rules this years total box office standings. The other hasn’t had quite the success and might break even or it might not. I’m speaking 300 and The Reaping here. Reaping lands in 8^th place with 4.5 million in receipts, just 100 k short of the 7^th placed Hogs. The Hillary Swank horror film has pulled in 19.7 overall in its two weeks. 300, on the other hand, has breached that all important 200.0 watermark. The periodic epic by Snyder and Warner Bros has pulled in 200.8 mil in its 6 weeks of release. It’s also made another 175.6 mil overseas bringing its overall total to 376.4 mil. When you consider its budget is 65 mil, the film is not only the top roller in 2007 but also the most profitable.  

Now, it’s time to talk about the opposite of the equation. Weinstein’s Grindhouse lags behind the pack this weekend in 10^th place with just 4.2 mil in receipts. I guess it’s something that it even finished in the top 10, right? The film’s failure was just compounded this weekend by staying in the charts enough to warrant talking about and has accumulated 19.7 mil overall in its two weeks of release. Its budget is listed at 67 mil.  
 
 

Perhaps there was absolutely no shot that Grindhouse would have performed well given its competition, its very long running time and its extreme violent driven content from the minds of Rodriquez & Tarantino.  

Yes, perhaps it didn’t have a shot. 

That doesn’t take away the fact of it failing to the degree that it has. Nor does it take away the fact that it is Hollywood version of a Greek Tragedy. This is an extremely sad circumstance of events the past week for me personally speaking but I should keep all my thoughts to myself here. After all, this report is supposed to be about the “facts” and not my opinions on the situation. It’s clear to see what kind of cinema wins when pitted against each other all in the mind numbing game of box office analysis.  

Cinematic progress? Strong vs Weak? Economics vs Ratings? Running time? Amount of screens? Timing of release date? 

I think our residential Maniacal Joker Michael X Maelstrom put it best by weighing these factors against each other attached to last week’s column. After all, if you actually look at the numbers and factor in some number crunching hypothesis, you will come up with an eyebrow raising fact that under the weight of these factors, Grindhouse actually did well. 

That’s the glass half full opinion on the matter.  

The fact is that it has underperformed in a lot of industry insider’s minds because of how much money (or lack thereof) it has made so far in its two weeks of release. With all the hype attached to this film from a massive online and internet presence, people expected it to perform much better then it has but everyone with those high expectations seems to have ignored the factors against it doing well. 

The reason it’s failed.  

Nevermind the highly critical praise or audience reactions to the film, if it doesn’t get a certain amount in the first two weeks of its box office release, it’s going to be considered a failure.  

The whole situation has boggled that number crunching brain of mine. 

Here’s what Grindhouse made the past week: 

April 6: 5.0 mil

April 7: 4.0 mil

April 8: 2.5 mil

April 9: 1.2 mil

April 10: $990,327

April 11: $827,910

April 12: $784,740

Total: 15.4 mil 
 
 

Even when I know and list the reasons why it didn’t have a shot last week on Easter weekend against so many family movies, I find myself in utter shock that it has performed as lowly as it has. It’s all very disappointing to me as a horror minded moviegoer and I know I’m not the only one. Kevin Smith in a recent podcast on his Quickstop Entertainment website echoed my thoughts completely in the disbelief that this film has performed so low against all the happy family comedies out today. As I say, we know why it’s failed but it doesn’t stop the disappointment from rearing its head through in the words I type here. It does seem a little sad as a person who loves the horror genre and the cheesy goodness of yesteryear from some of my favorite cult classic directors. It’s sad to see these horror genre specific films fall as they have been pitted against the whole family comedy film genre.  

Perhaps, Grindhouse would have had a better opening this week on Friday the 13^th. Perhaps not. It’s running time contributing to only getting 3 showings a day and its amount of screens across the nation would still have it struggling to make any money as to appear successful in industry circles everywhere. Would it have done as well as Disturbia did this weekend with these kind of factors against it? Who knows?  

The questionable decisions by studio execs continue in my eyes even today as I sit here and write this. Next week, Hot Fuzz is being released on only 700 screens. Yes, that’s right reader. 700 screens. I’m not sure exactly what Rogue’s rationale is here but last time I checked, Shaun of the Dead was a critical success! Hot Fuzz has been advertised and the anticipation is very high for this film so why release it on 700 screens? This kind of decision is as mind boggling as Weinstein releasing Grindhouse on only 2,600 screens against family comedies in 3,400 screens. It’s as mind numbingly strange as Dimension releasing Halloween at the end of August. Yes, the end of August.  

Does any of this studio executive logic make any sense to you? How come we who analyize the industry here seem to have a better grasp then the executive who makes the decision to release their films with these types of handicaps? It really doesn’t make a lot of sense to me and I’m always curious on some of these judgement calls from the individuals whom are supposed to know better. People whom are supposed to be experts. Some of these questionable decisions on their parts continue to baffle the hell out of me.  

Whatever the case, here’s what you Maniacs had to say on Grindhouse under-performing last weekend. 
 
 

Maniac Feedback: 

Michaelxaviermaelstrom: I doubt Hollywood accountants are going to miss the math here, all things equal: Grindhouse is the #1 movie this weekend. 
 
Let's do the math. 
 
(are you sitting comfortably? good then we'll begin - Ed) 
 
Go Away Ed. 
 
Hunh-Hunh-Hem. 
 
*tug down on purple shirt* 
 
Grindhouse (2624 screens)  
 
Blades of Glory's (3410 screens) 
 
Grindhouse opened on 786 -less- screens than Blades of Glory. 
 
so let's add those 786 screens for equitable comparison. 
 
Grindhouse average take ($4417 per screen) times 786 = $3,471762 
 
That brings Grindhouse's boxoffice up to  
 
11.5 million + 3.47 million = 14.97 million. 
 
(had Grindhouse simply opened on the same number of screens as BoG -Ed) 
 
but the accountants aren't done yet.  
 
Being a double-feature with a running time of over 3 hours Grindhouse can only play HALF as many times (ergo sell half as many tickets) as BoG per day. 
 
So let's factor in an equitable comparison there too now: 
 
14.97 million x 2 = *29.94 million. 
 
*if you agree that Grindhouse is only able to play half as many times as BoG per day. 
 
**if instead you estimate that Grindhouse is able to play closer to 2/3rds as many times as BoG, then. 
 
2/3 x 14.97 million = 9.98 million 
 
14.97 + 9.98 = **24.95 million  
 
Now look at the weekend charts: 
 
#1: Blades of Glory 23 million 
 
#2: Meet the Robinson's 17 million. 
 
#3: Are We Done Yet 15 million. 
 
On an even playing field - opening on the -same- number of screens and running the -same- number of times per day as Blades of Glory, (..assuming averages remain constant.. -Ed) 
 
Grindhouse opens with either 29.94 million (high estimate) or 24.95 million (low estimate) and _either way_: 
 
Grindhouse takes 1st place at the Box Office this weekend. 
 
(All things being equal - Ed)” 

Wessmith1966: “Saw Grindhouse and The Reaping over the weekend. Although I enjoyed Hillary's performance, I thought The Reaping was somewhat flat, easy to figure out the big reveal during the climax and actually pretty boring. I was disappointed. The special effects were pretty good.  
 
Grindhouse was just pure fun, and I saw it during a late night showing with the perfect audience. Planet Terror was absolutely fantastic, but I thought Deathproof was fairly uninspired and even a little boring. Kurt Russell was good as Stuntman Mike and I thought Zoe Bell was a kick, but other than that I wasn't impressed. I liked the trailers, although Zombie's was just ok for me. Rose McGowan was smoking in the movies. wow! 
 
I did notice that my theater only had three showings of Grindhouse per day, while other films were being shown five or six times.” 

Merin: “The theater I can go to here in central Wisconsin shows Grindhouse 3 times a day. Other films, like Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons, are 5 times a day. That's two extra shows a day. That makes a huge difference monetarily, even without sell-out crowds. Less options on when to catch it, less likelihood of waiting till the next showing if you missed your time you tried to make. 
 
Being 3+ hours (both IMDB and Wikipedia list it as 191 minutes, and the theater I went to listed it as 3 hours and 15 minutes) also means you lose audience - there are many people who do not like sitting in a theater so long. They'll watch it on DVD, surely, because they can pause or watch it over several viewings. And with such a long running time it's harder to get excited about going to it again. I loved it, but I think I'll wait (anxiously) for the DVD cause that was a long haul in that seat. 
 
I agree with Jarrod. The reports are remarkably short-sighted” 

Snallgaster: “As usual, Jarrod's analysis is spot-on.  
 
I'm part of the Grindhouse target market. I'm a fan of both directors, and I'm an avid movie goer (generally seeing one movie in the theater every week). However, I did not see Grindhouse this weekend, even though I really wanted to. Fact is, my family celebrates Easter with a get-together, so Sunday was completely out of the question for seeing any movie in the theater. Furthermore, even though Easter is a holiday for me, my employer doesn't recognize it by granting a three-day weekend. So unlike say Christmas or Thanksgiving, which also involve family get-togethers, there's no extra day for this holiday weekend. So I wind up having to get all my weekend chores and errands done on Saturday, leaving very little time for a movie.  
 
Which brings me to that daunting running time. There was no way I could fit that three hours into my Saturday schedule this weekend. I could have squeaked in a 90-minute movie, but not a three hour movie. I have a buddy (also squarely in the target audience for Grindhouse and avid theater-goer) who outright told me he will not sit through Grindhouse if it were three hours long.  
 
I believe the Weinsteins really botched the scheduling of the movie. One weekend before or one weekend after, and I would have been there opening weekend. I suspect my situation was experienced by a number of other potential first-weekend viewers. I mean, between the running time and the R-rating, why further handicap the movie by releasing it on Easter weekend?” 

Jppintar326: “I agree that Grindhouse should have opened one weekend or one weekend after Easter. I think there is also a certain polarization when it comes to Quentin Tarantino movies. According to USA Today, Grindhouse did well on both coasts but not in the middle of the country or the South. I know Tarantino has a lot of fans, but I think there are just as many (myself included) who thinks he's an overrated one hit wonder. It looks to me like die hard Tarantino fans came but others stayed away. These die hard Tarantino fans are probably young, urban, and probably liberal when it comes to their taste in violence, which is why you get the disparity in where the movie did well and where it didn't.” 

Jon41380: “I think it speaks volumes about the movie going public when Blades Of Glory beats out a Tarantino film. It's pretty sad. I'm going to check out Grindhouse today. The film is three hours and eleven minutes. Each film is an hour and a half plus the fake trailers in between. I guess expecting the audience to make a three hour commitment is the problem. In an interview with Weinstein, he said that the movie performed well on the east and west coast but didn't in the midwest and south. I live in SF and everyone really like it (except for the SF Chronicle but who cares what they think). I talked to some people in TX (where I'm originally from) and a lot of people didn't even know what it was. It seems like maybe the marketing wasn't done properly. Just my thoughts though. This movie will make it's money. Word of mouth will spread and after going international it shouldn't be a problem. After all, the budget for the whole project was only 53 mil. Despite what you think about Rodriguez, this is how he keeps working. He stays ahead of schedule and under budget.” 

Gamera23: “I've heard that GRINDHOUSE is playing in about 2600 theaters, but multiplexes added it to an extra 1000 screens. However, I'll still agree with Jarrod. With double the running time, the extra screensdon't make up for fewer possible screenings. GRINDHOUSE was still shown fewer times last weekend than REAPING, which cost more to make, and still beat it in raw dollars. With no new family films coming on Friday, and the others aging, GRINDHOUSE should make a bigger dent. Unless PATHFINDER is something remarkable.” 
 
 

All good thoughts everyone! Keep up the great feedback. The knowledge of our box office maniacs is easy to see with every week’s new report. Keep up that amazing feedback. 
 

April 20, 2007 Releases: 

Wide Releases

Fracture (2,400 screens)

Vacancy (2,200 screens)

In the Land of Women (2,000+ screens)

Hot Fuzz (700 screens) 

Limited Releases

Severance

Smiley Face

Stephanie Daley

The Tripper (50 screens)

The Valet (6 screens)

Downtown: A Street Tale 
 

That’s going to do it for this week’s edition of the Mania Box Office Report. Talk to you later, Maniacs.