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FUNNY Wins Average Weekend

Apatow's latest release wins by default.

By Jarrod Sarafin     August 02, 2009


Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler in Judd Apatow's FUNNY PEOPLE(2009).
© Universal Pictures

 

The August release season has officially kicked off and from this point onward, we’re approaching the summer season twilight as far as box office blockbusters are concerned. Sure, there’s a few major releases coming this month by way of next week’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra as well District 9 and Inglourious Basterds later this month but none of them will be drawing moviegoer’s hard-earned cash as much as the early summer titles. Not when most parents are now thinking about getting their kids back in school for the rapidly approaching fall session.
This weekend witnessed the release of three new widely distributed films and none of them performed spectacular at the box office. Funny People took home the 1st place spot with a very average debut, Aliens in the Attic grabbed the 5th place slot and the final one (The Collector) couldn’t even make it into the top 10.
Universal and Judd Apatow’s Funny People lands in 1st place by taking home $23.4 million in its first three days of release. The Sandler/Rogen team effort premiered on 3,008 theaters so it wound up with an average of $7,793 per showing. While the opening certainly isn’t terrible, not with a budget of only $75 million, insiders were expecting a bit more in its opening weekend. Of Apatow’s three releases, his latest film is sandwiched in between Knocked Up ($30.6 mil) and The 40-Year Old Virgin ($21.4 mil).
Warner Bros. Pictures sixth magical installment of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince may have found itself getting cursed out of 1st place last weekend with the release of Disney’s G-Force but the estimates has it pulling ahead of the CG-gerbil fest this weekend by staying in 2nd place, a mere $700,00 ahead of Bruckheimer’s super furry rodents.
“Prince” pulled in another $17.7 million over the weekend to increase its domestic tally to $255.4 million after three weekends of release. The weekend estimates has the latest release in 5th place in the franchise, just ahead of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban which ended up with $249.5 million in domestic ticket sales. As of right now, the film has also pulled in $404.0 million in international markets which gives Warner Bros. a worldwide gross of $659.4 million. That number still has it far behind the worldwide tallies of the previous Potter films, with “Azkaban” being the second lowest at $795.6 million.
Walt Disney’s G-Force dropped from 1st to 3rd place in its second weekend to take in another $17.0 million. The film is showing on 3,697 theaters so it came in with an average of $4,614 per showing across the nation. The latest numbers has its domestic cume sitting at $66.4 million. No budget has been listed.
Sony Pictures The Ugly Truth dropped a slot to 4th place by grabbing an estimated $13.0 million at the box office this weekend. But with Sony keeping the budget low at $38 million, everything seems to be okay for this Katherine Heigl-Gerard Butler romantic comedy. After the film’s first two weekends, “Truth” has grossed $54.4 million in domestic sales.
20th Century Fox wasn’t so lucky with their family adventure, Aliens in the Attic. Despite the PG-rated film premiering in 3,106 theaters over the weekend, the film managed to find only $7.8 million as a result. This kind of opening has it averaging only $2,511 per showing over the course of its three-day debut. It’s not the end of the world for Fox with the budget being only $45 million but we’re sure someone over there is thinking “What went wrong?”.
Check out the numbers below for the rest of the top 10.
 

Rank
Movie
Weekend
Theaters
Average
Total
Budget
1
Funny People
$23.4 mil
3,008
$7,793
$23.4 mil
$75
2
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
$17.7 mil
4,393
$4,029
$255.4 mil
$250
3
G-Force
$17.0 mil
3,697
$4,614
$66.4 mil
----
4
The Ugly Truth
$13.0 mil
2,882
$4,511
$54.4 mil
$38
5
Aliens in the Attic
$7.8 mil
3,106
$2,511
$7.8 mil
$45
6
Orphan
$7.2 mil
2,750
$2,636
$26.7 mil
----
7
Ice Age 3
$5.3 mil
2,757
$1,922
$181.8 mil
$90
8
The Hangover
$5.0 mil
2,071
$2,453
$255.7 mil
$35
9
The Proposal
$4.8 mil
2,435
$1,991
$148.8 mil
$40
10
Transformers 2
$4.6 mil
2,626
$1,752
$388.1 mil
$200

 
Here’s how the summer releases stack up so far.
 
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Numbers:
Budget: $200 mil
Opening: $108.9 mil

Domestic: $388.1 mil
Foreign: $417.8 mil
Worldwide: $805.9 mil
 
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Numbers:
Budget: $90 mil
Opening: $41.6 mil

Domestic: $181.8 mil
Foreign: $510.4 mil
Worldwide: $692.2 mil
 
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Numbers:
Budget: $250 mil
Opening: $77.8 mil

Domestic: $255.4 mil
Foreign: $404.0 mil
Worldwide: $659.4 mil 
Angels & Demons Numbers:
Budget: $150 mil
Opening: $46.2 mil

Domestic: $133.0 mil
Foreign: $348.5 mil
Worldwide: $481.5 mil
 
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Numbers
Budget: $150 mil
Opening: $54.1 mil

Domestic: $173.9 mil
Foreign: $210.6 mil
Worldwide: $384.5 mil
  
Star Trek Numbers:
Budget: $150 mil
Opening: $75.2 mil

Domestic: $254.6 mil
Foreign: $125.4 mil
Worldwide: $380.1 mil
  
X-Men Origins: Wolverine Numbers:
Budget: $150 mil
Opening: $85.0 mil

Domestic: $179.5 mil
Foreign: $183.4 mil
Worldwide: $362.9 mil
 
Terminator Salvation Numbers:
Budget: $200 mil
Opening: $42.5 mil

Domestic: $124.1 mil
Foreign: $237.6 mil
Worldwide: $361.8 mil
The Hangover Numbers:
Budget: $35 mil
Opening: $44.9 mil

Domestic: $255.7 mil
Foreign: $95.4 mil
Worldwide: $351.1 mil
 
Up Numbers:
Budget: $175 mil
Opening: $68.1 mil

Domestic: $286.0 mil
Foreign: $51.5 mil
Worldwide: $337.5 mil
  
The Proposal Numbers:
Budget: $40 mil
Opening: $33.6 mil

Domestic: $148.8 mil
Foreign: $60.2 mil
Worldwide: $209.1 mil
 
Public Enemies Numbers:
Budget: $100 mil
Opening: $25.2 mil

Domestic: $93.1 mil
Foreign: $34.8 mil
Worldwide: $127.9 mil
 
Bruno Numbers:
Budget: N/A
Opening: $30.6 mil

Domestic: $59.0 mil
Foreign: $59.8 mil
Worldwide: $118.9 mil
  
The Taking of Pelham 123 Numbers:
Budget: $100 mil
Opening: $23.3 mil

Domestic: $63.8 mil
Foreign: $9.2 mil
Worldwide: $73.0 mil
 
G-Force Numbers:
Budget: N/A
Opening: $31.7 mil

Domestic: $66.4 mil
Foreign: $254,690
Worldwide: $66.7 mil
 
Land of the Lost Numbers:
Budget: $100 mil
Opening: $18.8 mil

Domestic: $49.2 mil
Foreign: $8.0 mil
Worldwide: $57.2 mil
 
 
And now it’s time for G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra. While the film has been receiving some online praise from early reviews, I think we all know the inherent dangers with any major titles being released in August. It’s basically the end of the road for fitting in those last tent pole releases and the box office isn’t always kind to those who wait last.
 
It’s time for you box office Maniacs to weigh in. How much box office change do you see “Joe” bringing in for Paramount Pictures? Sound off below.
 
 
 
Friday August 7, 2009 Releases:
 
Wide
 
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (3,500+)
 
Julie & Julia (2,300)
 
A Perfect Getaway (2,000)
 
Limited
 
I Sell the Dead
 
Paper Heart
 
Cold Souls
 

COMMENTS AND RESPONSES

Showing items 1 - 10 of 25
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StarlightGuard 8/2/2009 4:58:20 PM

Zzzz....zzzzz....oh, movies? Yeah, nothing really here worth going on about...

Jarrod sells the dead, huh? Well, Jarrod, what do you sell them? Life insurance?

Oh, wait I get it: "I sell dead people."

Nice. And how incredibly original Jarrod. Now, one must ask: do you deliver?

StarlightGuard 8/2/2009 5:07:27 PM

(Indian accent)

Come on down to Crazy Jarrod's House of Cadaver's! Bring the kids! We're having a special this week on Cullens! Buy your daughter an Edward today!

needaname85 8/2/2009 5:07:36 PM

If I see anything this upcoming weekend it will be The Perfect Getaway. Something tells me that's going to be good.

But with G.I. Joe I'm going to think it will be around 25 or 30 million. It wouldn't surprise me though if it managed to get a little more than that. The early reviews and what I'm sure is the same consensus that will come out this week won't hurt and might even get my 7 bucks depending on the word of Getaway.

CaptAmerica04 8/2/2009 5:23:50 PM

Starlight, did I miss something?  What are you talking about?

G.I. Joe won't break $30 mil.  I don't care how many screens it's on.  I don't know anyone who is hyped to see this inevitable gooey-furball of a movie.

I'm really surprised that Half-Blood Prince hasn't done better.  I thought it was second or third best of the series, personally.  Only the first one was definitively better in my mind, and that's because it was all new.  I have to wonder if perhaps the series as a whole would've made more money if they'd been quicker to film and release each one.  Twilight is being smart in releasing each movie one year after the other.  Harry Potter has been 18 months between the last couple films, and I think that delay is not only aging the cast, it's causing a loss of momentum in the fan-base's enthusiasm.  Anyone else think so, or am I the lone gunman on this one?

StarlightGuard 8/2/2009 5:29:22 PM

it's in the Friday releases, under Limited, a move called "I Sell The Dead"

it's just a few inches above our comments Capt. :)

hanso 8/2/2009 6:00:59 PM

Did anyone see Funny People? How was it? I want to see it cause I'm an Apatow fan but the running time seems a bit long for a comedy. Tell me bitches!

 

Wiseguy 8/2/2009 6:15:10 PM

Thought about paying for only the 2nd time ever to see a Sandler film (Zohan) but after second thought decided against it plus didn't want to look or listen to Rogen for 2 hours. But on a positive note, Rogen kept me laughing all weekend. I'm sure most of you guys so the clip where Megan Fox dissed him on the Kimmel Show. I've watched thaty shit about 10 times and laughed just as hard, the funniest thing I've seen in weeks here's the link if you haven't seen it yet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNO6OUd6iOc

Looking forward to GI JOE. Was never a true fan, so don't care about changes and so on, it just looks like a fun film. And District 9 the following week

The Getaway film already pissed me off cause they're advertising that it has this big twist at the end. Half the fun for me is not knowing that shit so I won't have to watch the film trying to guess it. Hell, if it's decent they may even had return customers to see the clues they missed

The funniest thing about Funny People is that it didn't even make enough money to pay Sandler's fee
 

wessmith1966 8/2/2009 6:36:48 PM

I think G.I. Joe will bow to around $37 million; I know I plan to see it. I've read a few reviews of the movie and they're not as harsh as I thought they would be. I don't expect much from the movie other than a fun summer popcorn movie. I grew up playing with the REAL G.I. Joes (with the carpet hair, beards and the kung fu grip), not the little crappy toys a lot of you children of the 80s had. The kids are really looking forward to his movie because they have all of the toy characters. They were playing with the toys all weekend trying to recreate what they saw on the trailers (I had to build an Eiffel Tower out of Legos for them. Damn thing took me two hours only to have the destroy it in two! ha ha).

I've already been told I'm seeing Julie and Julia this weekend, too, and while I like the trailer and both actresses, I'm not holding out a lot of hope that I won't fall asleep. The movie really doesn't look all that interesting beyond what I'm sure will be excellent performances by the leads. Why did Amy Adams cut her hair? She looks like a boy now! Is she planning on playing peter Pan or something?

I saw Funny People this weekend, and while i enjoyed it, it was long and I felt it dragged just a little at times. I also found I'm getting tired of Seth Rogan's schtick. I love Leslie Mann and her kids; they're so funny. Watching Apatow's movies, I can really see him growing and maturing with his subject matter. I'd like to see him make another flat-out comedy now that he's done the whole introspective thing.

jerichoraine 8/2/2009 7:38:55 PM

Upcoming box office looks dry...G.I. Joe will clear $40 million for it's opening weekend.

silversurfer 8/2/2009 8:09:11 PM

This Summer it seems like everyone was one and done...they picked a movie or two to see and that was enough....I honestly  think that word of mouth killed a lot of these....GI Joe is going to suck.....so I guess we're waiting for Christmas? 

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