Kristen Stewart in Jake Scott’s Welcome to the Rileys
Kristen Stewart fans have taken me to task for a — admittedly, poorly executed — joke that focused on Welcome to the Rileys and Stewart’s fans on Twitter.
The point of the joke was that I couldn’t figure out how a movie that generated so much buzz on Twitter and other social media has failed to connect with audiences in the three urban centers where it’s playing: Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. (Last summer’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was an even more glaring example.)
Welcome to the Rileys‘ per-theater average on weekend no. 2 was quite low, $1,822, following a steep 56% drop. That means Jake Scott’s drama about a pole dancer/sex worker who is (or is she?) rescued by a bereaved Midwestern married couple will have a hard time getting distributed in many more US cities or internationally.
Now, although it’s true that The Sopranos‘ James Gandolfini and Oscar-nominated actress Melissa Leo are also in Welcome to the Rileys, distributor Samuel Goldwyn clearly emphasized Kristen Stewart’s presence while selling their film. Considering the popularity of The Twilight Saga, which centers on Stewart’s Bella Swan, that’s perfectly understandable.
Something, however — what exactly I don’t know; that’s what’s puzzling — didn’t work out. Even when taking into account the mixed reviews, Welcome to the Rileys should have generated more interest, at least initially. (Some movies open well on the basis of their star attraction, and then fizzle out after they fail to attract nonfans.) I’m sure Goldwyn executives and marketing people must be scratching their heads as well.
And here’s one important clarification for those who (angrily) wrote me saying that Welcome to the Rileys couldn’t have done better business because it’s only playing in three cities:
Limited releases are just that — limited. A few cities, a slow rolling out as word-of-mouth and media interest (one hopes) lead to more awareness about a particular title. That’s the usual strategy for "small" or "independent" or "foreign" or "edgy" or "art" films.
Welcome to the Rileys opened at 10 theaters. Unless we’re discussing box-sized rooms for five people, Scott’s drama — if it were to open wide(r) — should have averaged at least $20k per theater on its debut weekend and about $15k (-25% drop-off rate) or so on its second. That would have meant more cities and more theaters in the near future.
For comparison’s sake: Back in August, Goldwyn’s Mao’s Last Dancer, without any awards-season buzz or major stars, took in $199,657 at 33 theaters, or $6,050 per theater on its official 1st weekend in the United States. (It had opened in May in Canada.) The following weekend, after the addition of 42 locations, Mao’s Last Dancer actually jumped more than 50%. It has gone on to gross $4.55m in North America. Its biggest drop-off rate (after opening in the US) was 30.6% following the loss of 16 theaters.
According to Box Office Mojo, actual averages for Rileys were $4,215 on weekend one and the aforementioned $1,822 on weekend no. 2. All things being equal, the fewer the number of theaters, the higher the per-theater average.
Surely there are many more Kristen Stewart fans (I’m ignoring Gandolfini and Leo for the purposes of this post) in Boston, LA, and NY than those who showed up for Welcome to the Rileys on its first two weekends out. That’s what I find so puzzling. (About 5,300 moviegoers bought tickets on weekend no. 1; 2,300 on weekend no. 2. I’m using Box Office Mojo’s $7.95 ticket-price average for 2010, though in actuality said average should be higher — and thus fewer tickets sold — as we’re talking about a release in three of the costliest markets in the United States.)
Taking into account how dedicated Stewart’s fan base seems to be, why didn’t more people show up? Were they unaware the movie was playing? Were they put off by the negative reviews? Did they find the theme unappealing? Were they too young to go without a parent or "guardian"? Do they want to see Stewart only as Bella Swan or facsimile?
I’d say those are all fair questions. Haven’t Stewart fans themselves considered them as well?
And here’s a confession: I was very disappointed that Welcome to the Rileys opened weakly. Referring to Kristen Stewart, one Rileys reviewer remarked, “An anti-star is born.” He meant it facetiously, but that sums up what I find so appealing about Kristen Stewart’s choice of offbeat roles. And why I very much wanted Welcome to the Rileys to become a major indie hit.
Photo: Samuel Goldwyn Films
>Another point Remember Me needed to make 70 million for Summit to break even not make a profit and it only made 56 million.<
I'm gonna follow your theory for RM.
Production budget: 16
Costs for promotion (40%): 6.4
Total: 22.4
Total Gross: 55.85
Summit is only keeping 55%: 30.72
30.72 – 22.4 = 8.32
After your theory it made profit.
I still find it hilarious reading anything a fan of Kristen Stewart writes. None of it is based on statistics only on their emotions. One says she does roles because she wants to not for the money. Another makes a point at what she makes doing a movie she hates Twilight. First off she only does Indie because nobody else is offering scripts and I doubt that will continue with the last three Indie films (not Twilight) loosing so much money for anyone involved. Yes, she has done well with the Twi movies but don’t forget she only takes somewhere between 30% to 40% of that money home after taxes, agents etc. Another point Remember Me needed to make 70 million for Summit to break even not make a profit and it only made 56 million. It might of made a profit with DVD sales but before you start swearing things make sure the statistics are correct. You have a production budget and then you add 40% at least for promotion. Then when you see a figure posted of the movies sales take only 55% of that figure because that’s what the distributor gets. Then you can tell if a money made a profit. A good example is RED it will have to make over 175 million for Summit to make a profit and the figure is probably closer to 185 million. It’s been out for 5 weeks and has made 120 million it might make it but most likely will need DVD sales as well to make a profit.
OMG Twilight is Kristen Stewart??? then why her other movies always bomb?? Twilight is the BOOKS, also when you say being a “movie star”, who would you consider as a “movie star”. because believe there is no star out there who can totally sell a movie only on his/her name, a movie should be able to sell it-self, the star just generate buzz but if the movie is not good then the box office will not be good either. That’s what happened with RM, there were too much negativity arround this movie for it to do very well and let’s face it, if it wasn’t for Rob, this movie would not even cross 10M. so stop saying who is a movie star and who is not, because all stars have bombs even the so called “movie stars”. Today most of people buy a ticket to go see the movie, not the star(there’s still a few who go for the star)
Actors make all the time good and bad movies. Kristen Stewart is young, true to herself and has the right to do what she wants. I’d love to see her in a beautiful and lovely comedie. I hope one day she will do something with Johnny Depp like Snow White. He would be creative and smart like she is. I love her movies and her movies have always bad distribuition. Runaways was only in Rio and Sao Paulo. I could see it and I loved it. I like Walter Salles very much and thanks to Kristen I decided to read the book On the Road. I loved, too. Sometimes I think Kristen Stewart’s choice is different but somehow very interesting. Twilight is Kristen Stewart. She is in almost all the scenes and she does a great job.
I wish her the best in her career and I hope she continues to work in what kind of movies she is happy. It’s not fair to compair big movies with small one. What is a movie star? Sandra Bullock, best and worst actress in the same year , love Sandra and her movies. That’s what I’m talking about. Who is a movie star now in Hollywood? This is so cliche. Does Kristen want to be one? Does it mean a lot for her? Let’s leave her in peace with her movies. If you don’t like it move on..See the others…There are so many. But please don’t judge without knowing all the facts.
As for paydays…..Kristen earned $2 Million for Twilight, $12 Million + gate for Eclipse, and $25 million + 7.5% = 41 Million (approximately) for both Breaking Dawns. LOL I LOVE this kid! And we wonder why people shovel piles of Cr#% her way on the internet. LOL Seriously though……she is doing these oddball films because she wants to do what she loves, and Twilight finances that.
Let’s see……. We have a critically acclaimed film, with an academy award nominated actress, (Melissa Leo) a multi Emmy winning actor, (James Gandolfini) and a multi-millionaire, mega Teen Heart-throb actress, (Kristen) The producers behind this film could not think of a way to market it with all of that going for it? I should get in to that business. I live in CHICAGO and it is nowhere to be found. Also the producers did not pick Kristen for being a crowd draw, they picked her because she is a wonderful actress. IMO, anybody who doesn’t think Kristen can act is not familiar with her other work, such as The Cake Eaters, Speak, and a long list of other Indie films.
Another thing that could be counted against it, is that it is a straight drama. The average movie-goer wants tons of editing, shaky cameras, a love story backdrop, and a bunch of stuff blowing up. I think of the film, “In the Bedroom” as a gold stndard for dramatic film. I am sure it sold a lot better than this, but would pale in comparison to The Transformers! LOL
I agree 100% with WOW. Kristen Stewart acts where she wants to. That´s her life. A lot of actors make good and bad movies. That´s normal. See Sandra Bullock: best and worst actress in the same year. I just love Sandra, too. She´s simple, talented, sweet and so is Kristen Stewart. Twilight is Kristen Stewart, without her, there´s nothing. She plays an excellent Bella. Her choice for indie movies is her decision. She is 20, young, let´s her try. She has the right. She is not Ashley Greene and she is not Natalie, too. Even Johnny Depp made a pair of bad movies. I just love him including his bad movies because it is a risk. Imagine how could be easy for Kristen to be in a lovely comedie with some handsome actor. She prefers other kind of actings. Sorry for my English. By the way I´m not a teenager and been a mother of 2 kids. I really apreciate Kristen´s steal and I will support her job in anyway I can. Runaways had a horrible distribution in Brazil. Only in Rio and in Sao Paulo ( 2 screens). Remember me, for example, had even outdoors and promotion on TV and the movie was from North to South in the same day in many, many screens. I don´t compair actors just saying. I hope Kristen will work with Julianne Moore, Johnny Depp. I´d love to see her as Snow White. But I respekt her!! I wish her the best! I really wanted to see her with someone creative, smart, simple just like her. Johnny Depp is the best for that, acting is his blood. I really want to see her in a cool movie without twilight. She was good in Adventureland. The best for me.Total free and pretty, no pression …just being herself.
@tam. I find that surprising Kristen filmed it after filming twilight but before twilight was released. If I were james g I would be pissed.
@G
I read rumours that Kristen got the biggest paycheck but that doesn’t make sense. They filmed the movie when she was still an unknown.
@t.n.b. I agree they still have to earn it which goes to my point that just because Twilight is raking in the money the indie’s shouldn’t just automatically give her top billing. It is my belief that once Twilight is over and done with and has died down you will only see Kristen in Indie’s. As for the other two I am not sure where they will end up but now a days when anyone can be an “actor” (reality shows that put just anyone on tv for a ridiculous amount of money) the craft is not what it used to be. Actors like Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep are few and far between. In WTTR, top billing should have went to James and Melissa. Which I guess is a strong statement considering I haven’t seen the movie.
wow, not a lot of people are Artistic enough to understand this movies… this ACTORS… its shameful how one just posts their thoughts, and judge this people… I love R.Pattz movies, Love Kristen S…. specially when RP is not acting like an american.. lol just being him self, with accent and all. Kristen – is a good performer/she doesn’t go for the $$$ she play these roles because its interesting to her.. shes doing what she loves to do, and I love that.. movie star?? who is a movie star? lets say “Sandra bullock” she did movies that failed, love her too… All I’m saying is, Actors/ are artists that performs. some in big movies, some in bad.. OMG dont tell me You guys find Dar knight with Katie Holmes GOOD? lol PLEASE!!! if you dont like the movie, dont talk about it.. come on now..
@G K. Stewart was pretty good in Adventureland. I’ll give you that. Out of the three Twilight kids she has the most acting talent but she need to hone and channel it. I already said none of these kids are movie stars and they should not be treated as such. You have to earn it and they have not.
A movie that brought the budget back and made money for the distributor ISN’T a flop.
I just have one thing to say about all the comments. Just because something was a good book, doesn’t mean it will make a good movie. I am a twilight fan and a Kristen Stewart fan. However, Kristen does not bring Bella across on screen. There is too much of Bella missing. Eclipse was my favorite book and I hated the movie. (and am very doubtful about breaking dawn) I have seen all of Kristen’s movies except Welcome to the Rileys (I live in Canada) and the one I liked the best was Adventureland. Because of Adventureland, I would like to see Welcome to the Rileys however since it is not doing well in “10″ theatres, the chances of it showing where I live in Canada are doubtful. I think it was wrong to market Welcome to the Rileys just on Kristen, James and Melissa are strong actors in their own right and should have been the main target. Just because Twilight is big doesn’t mean that Kristen should always get top billing. What a lot of Kristen fans forget is the when Twilight first came out, Kristen did not talk positive about it, going so far as saying some of the writing was ridiculous. This attitude I believe has continued thru the saga which is why there is so much of Bella missing. Again I like Kristen Stewart but I can see her faults and the fault of these indie film giving her top billing just because of Twilight.
@Zac That should have been your clue. K. Stewart will never be a movie star. All she makes is bombs that no one wants. She ruined any chance she may have had by wasting time on Twilight. I could be proven wrong but in five years I will bet none of these kids will be working. There is a VH1 ‘where are they now’ waiting to be made. You should watch Mia W. Rooney Mara, and Jennifer Lawrence for greatness.
@Tam I can’t compare because one had a big opening and one had a small one. I’m just saying they both flopped badly for what they were and proved Twilight people aren’t supporting the stars in other movies.
T.N.B.,
I was rooting for it, though I wasn’t sure how well it would do considering that two other Kristen Stewart movies (well, “perceived as Kristen Stewart movies”), The Runaways and The Yellow Handkerchief, didn’t do well at all this year.
Did you even read the reviews? The thing they hated the most was the 9/11 end but it still made $19 million. People from other countries didn’t have any problem with that.
You don’t sound like you have read Water for Elephants. It’s a good book and I would watch it even without Rob being in it.
And don’t compare Kristen’s movies with Rob’s movies. The Runaways could only achieve one third of the production budget.
@Tam Remember Me is on the short list for worst movie of 2010. 27% on Rotten Tomatoes
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1211619-remember_me/
Welcome to the Rileys got 54% Not fresh. Water for Elephants could be worse than Remember Me. You haven’t seen it. I say the same to the K.Stewart fans who go on about On the Road. Those movies might suck.
R. Pattinson is 24. K.Stewart is 20. T. Launter is 18. New talent pops up every year. There is a shelf life for them all. Go back and look at big young stars of the 80′s and 90′s. Only about 1% are still able to make movies.
@Zac I’m shocked that you thought Welcome to the Rileys would be an indie hit. It should have been made for cable television. I think even K. Stewart’s fans are tired of seeing her play the depressed character in boring movies all the time. My advice to her is switch it up or retire for good.
Remember Me did well for a indie at the box office. If you know one REAL reason why it was bad then name it. Getting the budget back and making money for Summit is a good thing.
Rob is a young actor and didn’t do a lot of movies before he got famous. That’s how it works. You make a movie which makes you famous. There is nothing wrong in it.
>It still stands that he is not taken seriously and probably won’t ever be.<
He filmed Water For Elephants this summer. It's an amazing book.
@Tam it did well internationally for the same reason all the other Summit Ent. movies do well in those territories. Summit is the envy of Hollywood because of their foreign presale deals. Robert Pattinson is not a movie star either. He has a string of flops on his record. If Harry Potter and Twilight didn’t exist he would not be in movies today. It still stands that he is not taken seriously and probably won’t ever be. Remember Me considered one of the worst movies of 2010. It’s the Mark Hamill thing all over again. Sometimes the role is bigger than the actor. You are doing the same thing you accuse the K-Stewart fans of doing. Your star isn’t as big as you think.
Action movies don’t always hit but Abduction’s budget is forty mil; hardly large. Lionsgate marketing team is on a hot streak. I bet Abduction does at least seventy mil domestically and at least ninety mil worldwide. This does not mean T. Lautner is better at acting than the other two just that his box office will be better. There is no real proof that any of these kids will be able to become real movie stars.
>I hate to break it to you but a movie playing on over 2100 scr. that doesn’t even do twenty mil in it’s whole box office run is not well. It should have done that or close first weekend. There isn’t that much faith in Pattinson as you think or Bel Ami would already be sold in the 3 big markets.<
It doesn't matter if it made over $20 million or not. It was only an indie movie and performed well for its budget.
And if there is no faith in Robert Pattinson then please explain to me why it made over $35 million internationally with zero promotion.
Taylor didn't even sell one movie. You're just expecting his movie to be a hit because it's action. You know expensive action movies are also flopping.
Tam you wrote 2) RM performed well at the box office.
I hate to break it to you but a movie playing on over 2100 scr. that doesn’t even do twenty mil in it’s whole box office run is not well. It should have done that or close first weekend. There isn’t that much faith in Pattinson as you think or Bel Ami would already be sold in the 3 big markets.
I’m a neutral person here not a Twilight fan or a real fan of any of them. I keep up with the entertainment industry. Harry Potter and Twilight are phenomenons. The stars of those series are not movie stars. They are interchangeable. Hollywood doesn’t know if any of these young stars can break out.
I’ll say this about K-Stewart. Once upon a time she was doing good movies. After Into the Wild with Penn I thought she was on herway. Her career has largely been a disappointment. I understand Twilight is badly written, but I don’t know why she signed on in the first place knowing this. She hasn’t grown as an actress and her characters are all the same. I’m including Jett in that analysis because I thought K. Stewart didn’t play it well enough. Welcome to the Rileys is bombing horrifically. I never expected anything less. K. Stewart is not a movie star. Unless she changes she never will be.
T. Lautner has a movie coming out next year. He can easily beat the box office of the other two because it’s not hard to sell an action film. I’ll expect Abduction to do twenty mil or more in the first week. I’m not saying it is a great movie but we all know what sells and movies like Welcome to the Rileys and Remember Me just do not.
Zac,
Fair enough.
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond and elaborate. :)
DrownInIt,
Now … we’ll have to agree to disagree on Goldwyn targeting — or not — Stewart’s fan base.
The promos (photos, clips, text) we received — we got a lot of press materials from them — and that we saw elsewhere almost always focused on Stewart’s character. Whether they did a good job in raising awareness/interest, is a different matter altogether.
I haven’t read an insider’s analysis on the WTTR marketing, yet. That would be interesting.
>>>there’s nothing suggesting Twilight fans will follow the main cast to other projects…
Fully agree with you there.
Once again, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I think Kristen Stewart isn’t a movie star, yet. She’s the main character in a teen saga, in a women fandom. 15 years old girls won’t go to see WTTR, they’re busy swooning collecting Justin Bieber pics. Kisten is an amazing actress, my point is she has to pick their roles carefully now. If she wants to do indies which “nobody” will ever see, besides on DVD that’s fine. But if she wants to do something like The black swan maybe something more commercial has to come first in order to become a real movie star. I mean Natalie Portman did V for Vendetta before the black swan. She needs an adult fanbase.
It’s frustrating to read this article as I have been tracking WTTR for months in hopes of a showing near my home. I among a slew of others from FLA to VA would go see this movie. It dissapoints that so many states and fans are left in the hands of NYC,LA and Boston to generate entertainment that is already desired greatly. Strong topics aren’t foreign in these cities of America so the draw isn’t as big, bold or brave to go view. You gotta give to the unseen…
I’m very dissapointed WTTR not play in my country, I’d really want to see kristen stewart acting in that movie n I always hoping that I can watch on dvd.
I can explain it. I know why a movie with so much buzz has a small audience. The fans of Kristen Stewart are LOUD. If someone discouvers a vote then they’re sending everyone to vote for her multiple times. In every vote she wins. Even in fashion votes where she looked really bad she’ll gonna win because her crazy fans are voting for her.
People could get the idea that they’re a lot of them but we see in these numbers that it’s the opposite. They’re just LOUD.
After all nobody wanted to buy the movie during Sundance. So the fans bombed distributors with emails.
I just don’t understand why the distributors of Kristen’s movies are getting the fault. They’re paying a lot of money for commercials, big billboards and even premieres (The Runaways). Kristen also visits a lot of late night shows to promote her movies. Normal indie movies don’t have this and they still perform better. Why? Because they’re probably better movies.
The last two things.
1) No, her talents aren’t wasted in the saga. She’s the worst thing in it. The acting is unbelievable bad.
2) RM performed well at the box office.
Bringing the rest of my comment over here as it’s more apropos–
I actually don’t think Goldwyn targeted Stewart’s fan base (in fact I could say almost definitively they didn’t) but I don’t think Goldwyn targeted anyone. They honored their theatrical commitment and fit in some TV spots where they could but they didn’t actively market the picture.
The story has become about Stewart because that’s the internet’s primary focus as a larger portion of her advocates (and detractors) are online than anyone else involved with the picture but it’s self-perpetuating and I don’t think it moves out to any real world assessment of how the film was handled.
Goldwyn definitely wasn’t encouraging or even acknowledging the Twitters and FBs devoted to WTTR.
I don’t think the ltd marketing they did emphasizes Stewart either. She’s included on the one sheet and in the trailer, but I don’t think she’s highlighted (aside from being one of three cast members).
And the “Twilight” factor totally distorts Stewart’s box office potential as well. She is an extremely gifted actress (and some would argue her talents are wasted in the saga) but Twilight isn’t popular bc of her. It’s popular and she happens to be a part of it; there’s nothing suggesting Twilight fans will follow the main cast to other projects (as we learned with Robert Pattinson and RM in March which did fine, but not exceptionally well).
People (on the internet) want to call her a movie star and the reality is she’s not (yet). She’s extremely popular in a very specific context, outside of that, it’s a free for all and WTTR always already had a niche audience.
All that said, I don’t think you were *blaming* Stewart or her fans. I just think WTTR had a lot working against it and ultimately, Kristen’s *status* plays little to no role in why it didn’t perform.
FWIW, Mao’s Last Dancer is an adaptation of a popular book.