Box Office Report

Will Smith in I AM LEGEND (2007).
© Warner Bros. Pictures

LEGEND Has Record Breaking Debut

By: Jarrod Sarafin, News Editor
Date: Sunday, December 16, 2007

The science fiction & fantasy genres may have been taking a hit these past few months but that is not the case this weekend. The latest genre film to hit the market, I Am Legend, has come in and won big for Warner Bros. The film, based on the novel by Richard Matheson, opened up this weekend with 76.5 million to show for it.

This kind of successful box office debut has it #1 on the All Time December Openings List.

The previous record holder was Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, which pulled in 72.6 mil on 12/17/03.

The Will Smith-led genre film pulled in 30.5 mil on Friday, 28.8 mil on Saturday and the estimates have it at 17.5 mil for today. Warner Bros. released the film on 3,606 theaters, which makes for an average per showing of $21,224. Basically, the genre drought is now over with this film’s record-breaking release.

Fox may not have done as well as I Am Legend but they are clearly winners in their own right with Alvin and the Chipmunks. The theatrical adaptation of the famous toon opened up this weekend in 2^nd place by pulling in 45.0 million. This means the top 2 films for this weekend pulled in a combined 121.5 mil while the other 8 films grossed only 28 million together. Alvin opened up on 3,475 theaters this weekend, which makes for a respectable average of $12,949. When you consider that the budget for this film is listed at only 45 mil, this opening makes for a very successful box office bow for Fox. It’s clear this film will be a major success for the studio.

As I say just a few lines above, the rest of the top 10 didn’t do as well at the box office this weekend. Only the 3^rd and 4^th ranked films grossed more than 5 mil this weekend and nobody else touched the 10 mil mark.

The Golden Compass continued failing at the domestic box office for New Line, pulling in only 9.0 mil in 3^rd place this weekend. This makes for a 65.5% drop in its second week of release and has its domestic total at only 40.9 million. Not very good numbers for a film with a budget of 180 million. We’ll see later tonight what it’s done in overseas numbers, the one saving grace for the film itself. Last week, it opened up in foreign territories with 50.9 mil, which means its worldwide gross is now at 91.9 million in 10 days of release. It will likely be around the 130 mark when the latest foreign numbers come in later tonight.

Disney’s Enchanted continued standing steady at the box office by landing in 4^th place in its fourth week of release. The film pulled in another 6.0 mil over the last three days, which makes for a domestic tally of 92.2 mil. We have no budget to list here but the film has pulled in 128.7 worldwide, which most likely has it as a clear success for Disney here. I can’t see the film having that high of a budget…

No Country for Old Men, a clear critical success, landed in 5^th place with 3.0 mil in box office receipts. The film has been doing well for Miramax, despite the studio refusing to show the film in that many theaters. They keep adding new theaters each weekend and yet it’s still only showing in 1,348 theaters in its sixth week of release. So far, the film has tallied 33.5 mil in domestic cash.

The last debuting film for the weekend, Yuri Film Group’s This Perfect Holiday, opened up with 2.5 mil to show for it. The film launched in only 1,307 theaters this weekend, which makes for an average per showing of only $1,952…

Warner Bros. broke the December opening record with I Am Legend but their other holiday release Fred Claus also stayed steady, once again landing in the top 10. The Vince Vaughn-led film finished in 7^th place by pulling in another 2.3 mil in receipts. The studio still has the film showing in 2,750 theaters in its sixth week of release and the film has 68.9 mil in domestic totals. It has another 13.6 in foreign cash, which makes for a worldwide gross of 82.5 mil.

Sony Screen Gems continued tacking on profits with This Christmas by pulling in another 2.3 mil in 8^th place this weekend. The film, which only has a budget of 13 mil, has tallied 46.0 million in domestic cash. As I say, their profit margins continue to rise.

Focus has Atonement showing in only 117 theaters and yet it has landed in the top 10 this weekend. That says something for this film’s appeal, doesn’t it? Or on the opposite side of the coin, it says something about the box office performance of the lower five this weekend. The film was added to 85 more theaters in its second week of release and lands in 9^th place by taking in 1.8 mil in receipts. This kind of tally makes for an average per showing rate of $15,837, a very respectable number for a film in such a limited release.

Warner Bros. has a third film in the top 10 this weekend with their August Rush finishing in 10^th place, taking in 1.7 mil in box office receipts. The film has been out in the market for four weeks now and has 28.0 mil in domestic cash.

Rank	Movie	Weekend $	Theaters	Average	Total $	Week #
1	I Am Legend	76.5 mil	3,606	$21,224	76.5 mil	1
2	Alvin and the Chipmunks	45.0 mil	3,475	$12,949	45.0 mil	1
3	The Golden Compass	9.0 mil	3,528	$2,558	40.9 mil	2
4	Enchanted	6.0 mil	3,066	$1,958	92.2 mil	4
5	No Country for Old Men	3.0 mil	1,348	$2,225	33.5 mil	6
6	The Perfect Holiday	2.5 mil	1,307	$1,952	3.1 mil	1
7	Fred Claus	2.3 mil	2,750	$838	68.9 mil	6
8	This Christmas	2.3 mil	1,921	$1,197	46.0 mil	4
9	Atonement	1.8 mil	117	$15,837	2.9 mil	2
10	August Rush	1.7 mil	2,007	$889	28.0 mil	4

Next weekend should be humorous to watch over, what with the congestion the studios are giving audiences…The obvious pick for the weekend is National Treasure: Book of Secrets because of its wide demographic appeal and more importantly, the film hitting the most theaters out of the list. It may be a safe bet but it also seems to be the obvious winner of the group.

There can be no doubt that this amount of congestion will be taking a toll, box office wise, on some of these films. That could be the reason why Paramount is releasing Sweeney Todd in only 1,000 theaters next weekend. They may be opting to give it a wider release after the holidays are over. It seems clear that the only reason they’re debuting it next week is to get it in theaters before the award nominations are sent in the mail, making it eligible for the various categories.

Of course, that same studio rationale can be said for their decisions to release Charlie Wilson’s War and Walk Hard (for the Musical categories at least).

Friday December 21, 2007 Releases:

Wide Releases

National Treasure: Book of Secrets (3,500+ theaters)

Charlie Wilson’s War (2,500 theaters)

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2,500 theaters)

P.S I Love You (2,200+ theaters)

Sweeney Todd (1,000 theaters)

Limited Releases

Flakes

Steep

Taare Zameen Par

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Comments/Responses

Whiskeymovie • Dec 16, 2007, 05:10pm •

I reall dug I Am Legend.....It was a very tense movie. The scene in the dark building when he was chasing after Sam was really nerve racking.....The Movie wasn't perfect, but was still really good. I just read a review over at Boxofficemojo, and he trashed the movie. One of the most powerful scenes in the movie (what happens with Sam, and what he has to do), the review said that it was just a horrible pointless scene. I disagree. It was one of the most important scenes. Anyway, it was also way effing cool to see TDK trailer. That movie is going to be amazing, and like I have said all along, Heath Ledger is going to own that role as the Joker. He looks and sounds amazing. Bring it on.

gauleyboy420 • Dec 16, 2007, 05:28pm •

Whiskey, you can say that again.
*******Potential Spoilers********
My thoughts on the Movie, and TDK trailer, mirror your own. At the theater my girlfriend and I saw it at, we were given questionaires, some questions about why we came to see it, and some for critique after the movie. I put the scene in the building as one of my fav scenes. And I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with you about Sam. That was so intense and powerful, not to mention what it must've done to Neville on so many levels. I am biased on that scene I could barely stand to watch it, I own, and have owned German Shepherds my whole life. That scene made me tear up.
Great movie, grade A, great TDK trailer, featurette, I posted last week I was looking forward to The Hellboy movie more, I think I'm gonna have to retract that statement after seeing the featurette. I also love that they have shown us a close up of the Joker from the very first photos released waaaaay back when.
BTW- Did anyone else go to a theater where they got surveys about Legend, and Did anyone get a copy of The Gotham Times?

Whiskeymovie • Dec 16, 2007, 05:48pm •

gauley, dd you see it on IMAX or regular? I saw it on a normal screen and we didn't get any survey or anything. I think tomorrow, I may trek into NYC and go scope it on IMAX. I am sure it is the balls on IMAX.

myklspader • Dec 16, 2007, 06:26pm •

Agree with you both half way. For a few minutes I thought Lawerence learned from his gapping Constantine mistakes, but I was wrong. Legend was good for the first half, basically it was cause of the tension on when the dog was going to bite it (some can call that a spoiler, but come on you tell it in the previews regardless) mixed with yes Smith sells it as if he is THE last man. The worst part about the movie was all the open holes in it, like… SPOILER… who set that trap Robert falls into, the fake CGI vampires/zombies/cannibals, and well basically the logic and plot for the rest of the movie after that.

I do think that TDK trailer (which I am still in need of seeing) and the 6 minute intro/trailer (which I saw and it was cool, worth the IMAX price along with the first half of the movie) had something to do with this making 76 million more than the movie itself.

GentlemenDeath • Dec 16, 2007, 06:30pm •

You know...the movie was ok.. I woud gve it a B-.

(SPOILERS)

I really did not like how they seperated the flashbacks...I think that if they would have opened up the movie with that being one continuos shot and even show Smith's character running back to his house and all the anachry that is insuing would have set this movie straight from the beginning. Aso, showing him run up in his house, and up to the bathroom and go to the bathub with the pup and comforting it while all the screams continued outside, would have set much more emotional empact on the film...for me anyway.

Also, the whole God thing was to much for me. The CGI characters is old...I would have like him to use SOME real peole instead of just CGI all the time...That is getting really old.

Other then those things. It was an ok movie. I think it was a little more hyped up then it should have been....

And yes, Sam was the coolest thing about that movie

ElvisGump • Dec 16, 2007, 06:38pm •

When I saw it last night with a theater full of teens and Navy personel from our nearby base the buzz as they filed out was people saying variations of "Well that sucked" and I thought the ending really did because it was basically the only place all these post-apocalyptic stories have to go.

****SPOILER*****

Can you imagine going to live with a bunch of people in a backward compound probably and likely reverting to some fundamentalist Christian end-of-the-world nut enclave? Would it really be better than living in zombie Manhattan? Would there really be anyone up there that would know what to do with that vial of blood?

The preachy "WE DID THIS!" tone was grating. Hell the only thing that's ever prevented something bad like zombie-fying the world like that is the total implausibility of it happening. It's a miracle humans haven't ended the world a dozen times over since the atom was split, so what was the point of that?

Myself I thought the zombies, excuse me, "dark seekers" looked FAKE, FAKE, FAKE. And as for the scary inside the dark hive building where why didn't Neville have a bunch of those hand grenades handy or some flares? Or RPG? There should have been shitloads of that stuff laying around? Hasn't Neville ever seen the guns in a Wil Smith movie? I was surprised he went in with anything less than a noisy cricket.

And suddenly the alpha male zombie got smart enough to do a counter snare? PLEASE! And speaking of the snare thing, didn't that whole creepy mannequins in the music store seem monumentally stupid?

The visuals of lifeless NYC were really stunning and really the only thing that makes it worth the price of admission, but for me the movie began a descent into silliness as soon as Neville went to the record store and made eyes at the mannequin. It never impressed me after that. Not even killing off the dog. Like in 1,001 days before that the dog wouldn't have already run into some building and gotten bit or eaten? It was cheap pap. From there on out is was as silly as the Heston version for me.

At least there was "The Dark Knight" trailer though I don't have any high hopes for that other than it will be pretty to look at in places.

filmnotmovie • Dec 16, 2007, 07:07pm •

Is this really a surprise to anyone? Will has got game. Not very many other actors can
pull action movies, summer blockbusters,
rom-coms, and get Academy Award nominations. WHO'S THE MAN?

hanso • Dec 16, 2007, 07:25pm •

Will is the man. That guy can open any type of movie nowadays and have a blockbuster.
Anyway, the Joker prologue is up on youtube in case anyone wants to watch it. I found the link over at AICN, but I don't know how long it will be up.
That was freaking awesome, the set up a lot of stuff in just 6 mins in my opinion and they do it casually. It was like watching Heat but with JOker :) That guy is a bad ass, he's going to own that film.
"what doesn't kill us makes us.....stranger."

Necronomitron • Dec 16, 2007, 07:28pm •

****SPOILER WARNING*****

My favorite scene of the whole movie was the one where he was talking to that manequinn and kept saying "Please say hello to me." I always thought he was a decent actor, but that was incredible work he did in that movie.

wessmith1966 • Dec 16, 2007, 07:34pm •

I'm a Will Smith fan, and although I thought his performance was very good, I was rather bored by the movie. The climax and big reveal moment was too much like that Kevin Costner Dragonfly movie a few years ago. I thought the creatures looked a little too CG.

The Dark Knight trailer was worth the price of admission alone. Wow, Heath Ledger is going to own that movie. Nolan, if the entire movie holds up as well as the trailer, is a genius.

The Cloverfield trailer played too, and if the whole movie is done in "shaky cam" style, I'm skipping it. After the trailer I thought I was going to need some Dramamine. There's no way I'll sit through two hours of that.

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LEGEND Has Record Breaking Debut

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