Tracking President's Day Holiday

So far, I've made over $100,000 on Taken (right now, I get to keep 14% based upon getting three screens from two distributors) and $90,000 on one weekend of He's Just Not That Into You (right now, I keep 10%). Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Twilight and Marley and Me (the latter two being deep-run films) are also doing well for me.

Meanwhile, my only two flops have been Pink Panther 2 (two prints, I've dumped them into my smaller auditoriums already) and Rachel Getting Married (I signed for three weeks and the contract has been rather unfavorable due to the minimum but I get to keep 40% of the gross so it's not all bad).

I see that two people have joined the game. Hopefully that will start to get the studios to strike more prints.

Meanwhile, one of the studios is being a real bitch about his print of The International. I've e-mailed him probably seven times for it and he won't even answer. It's Sunday and he's still got the damn thing!

As for filling your screens, message Ryan Gilmer at Film10. He should set you up with what he's got.

BOM Weekend Estimates

1. Friday the 13th $42.2m
2. HJNTIY $19.6m
3. Taken $19.2m
4. Shopaholic $15.4
5. Coraline $15.3m

PTA
1. Gomorrah
2. Friday the 13th
3. Under the Sea 3D
4. Coraline
5. The Class

EDIT: Ack! this was already posted in the thread, I don't know how I missed that. Anyways, the place pairs of 2 & 3, and 4 & 5 are so close that actuals could change which place they are in.

I no longer think that HJNTIY will hit $100 million, but Taken looks like $120 million at least. Friday the 13th having an opening just above Cloverfield won't help it get to $100 million. And BOG pointed out that this weekend was bigger than last year's Thanksgiving and Memorial Day weekend.

Buscemi wrote:

johnErle wrote:I'm still kicking myself for choosing The Uninvited instead of Taken, but having the top two movies from Friday makes me feel better. Having avoided Flopaholic and The International helps too.

Friday The 13th did awesome business yesterday, no surprise there, but I wonder if those 4-day estimates will hold. I expect that He's Just Not Into You will have a big bump on Valentine's Day, and I don't really see that reflected in the 4-Day estimates. I read somewhere that 80% of last weekend's audience for HJNIY was female, so I expect a lot of couples will be seeing it for the first time today.

You're already calling Confessions Of A Shopaholic a flop? Though it had a fourth place finish on opening day, it should get a boost for today and it will benefit from a lack of competition for the next three weeks. Two chick flicks released together can co-exist. It's happened before.

The only way that the film could be a flop is if Jerry Bruckheimer spent $75-80 million on it. After all, he needed that much to make Barfly meets Dirty Dancing. (Coyote Ugly. Even with a nearly unknown cast and a first-time director, it still cost $80 million to make.)

It was mostly a joke, but it's hardly a blockbuster in the making.

Out of the the top 10 films on Saturday, it received the second-worst bump, with F13 being the only film to drop from Friday to Saturday. If people aren't flocking to see this supposed Rom-Com on Valentine's Day, that doesn't bode well. The film may rebound and have a long shelf life, but I seriously doubt it. Most of the press coverage and reviews have been negative, and the word of mouth doesn't seem to be helping any.

If the studio spent very little money making it, they may not consider it a total flop when all is said and done, but if I'd spent more than $10 on it in our little world, I'd be worried.

I really think the boyfriend factor is what is hurting Shopaholic. My girlfriend really wants to see it, but it makes me want to gag. I don't hate all chick flicks and usually don't mind watching them with her. This one makes me sick just based on the subject matter. No relateability at all. If forced to pick between the two chick flicks on the market right now, I'd absolutely go with HJNTIY. It doesn't look nearly as miserable. That's why I feel it is doing much better business, and is going to beat Confessions opening weekend in its second weekend.

I love how Paul Blart: Mall Cop made more money in its FIFTH 3-day) weekend than ReelSource was tracking for it's OPENING 3-day weekend.

And I think TDK is the last movie to make over $10 million for 5 weekends in a row.

J.I. wrote:And I think TDK is the last movie to make over $10 million for 5 weekends in a row.

And I guess with the way Taken is performing, it could equal that performance. $19m in its 3rd weekend with only a 7.5% drop!

Yeah, over the weekend, at the theatre by my house every evening showing of Taken had a long, and I mean LONG line. Longer than any of the openers.

Taken is really surprising me at how well its holding. Still havent seen it yet but i have heard nothing but good things so i might have to go check it out.

Its going to have about a 24 or 25 multiple in January box office leagues. Last time I saw that was the Strangers. Must have to be successful in either format.

Buscemi wrote:So far, I've made over $100,000 on Taken (right now, I get to keep 14% based upon getting three screens from two distributors) and $90,000 on one weekend of He's Just Not That Into You (right now, I keep 10%). Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Twilight and Marley and Me (the latter two being deep-run films) are also doing well for me.

Meanwhile, my only two flops have been Pink Panther 2 (two prints, I've dumped them into my smaller auditoriums already) and Rachel Getting Married (I signed for three weeks and the contract has been rather unfavorable due to the minimum but I get to keep 40% of the gross so it's not all bad).

What!? There's a game that's the exact same thing that people do in real life for a living? That seems so weird to me, that's like a game where you're an accoutant for a mid-size bank.

And, yes I want to play also.

So boxofficemojo.com is still not updated...but I now see that Coraline has taken over the 4th spot from Confessions on imdb.com...if I could kick myself in the nuts for picking Confessions up in my super league i would...damn you Steve Mason! Damn you!

Can't always rely on Mason. Sometimes you have to go with what your gut tells you. And my gut has always told me that when you ignore half of the film-going population, and make a film about buying 700 dollar shoes, well its not going to do so hot, especially in a declining economy.

I believe that the film's promotion hurt it. First, the poster is a paper bag with Isla Fisher and her stupid expression on it with the tagline "All she wanted was a little credit". Is that the best you could come up with? The expression is fine but the rest tells you nothing about the film. A better poster would have been to put Isla Fisher between two large shelves in a ritzy New York boutique full of expensive clothing items, particularly shoes. That would not only tell you what the film is about but also set in New York's world of haute couture. Second, the film was rated PG. As it has been shown lately, PG-rated romantic comedies don't do well. It would have made better sense to try to up the rating to a PG-13 so that the audience knows it is for older teens and adults. Last, they opened the film on Friday the 13th. Friday the 13th is not the best day to open purely chick flicks. Instead Disney should have moved the film back to either March 6th or April 3rd, two dates with only one other (guy) film opening in those days (Watchmen and Fast and Furious).

Or heck, even back one week, where virtually the only competition is Madea Goes to Jail.

Well Marley and Me was a PG-rated romantic comedy and it did well.

But that was a family film.

Well Confessions of a Shopaholic was a Disney film, and had trailers in front of other PG movies (Marley and Me being one, but that could have just been my theater.)