Jan. 28 update: Forget Tuesday’s Oscar nominations announcement: Liam Neeson’s action vehicle The Grey, which will likely be totally ignored when the Oscar 2013 nominations are announced, will easily top the North American box office this weekend. After taking in an estimated (and better than expected) $6.2 million on Friday (as per Deadline.com), the Joe Carnaham-directed The Grey should reach anywhere between $17–$20 million for the weekend. Also in the cast: Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, and Dallas Roberts.
The no. 2 spot will likely belong to the Julie Anne Robinson-directed Katherine Heigl comedy One for the Money, which has been overperforming possibly thanks to discount tickets offered by distributor Lionsgate. One for the Money earned an estimated $4.5 million on Friday, and may reach $12.5 million by Sunday evening. However, because of the discounted prices, Lionsgate will see its percentage of the box office (perhaps radically) reduced. One for the Money also features Jason O’Mara, Daniel Sunjata, John Leguizamo, and veteran Oscar nominee Debbie Reynolds (The Unsinkable Molly Brown, 1964).
Summit Entertainment (just acquired by Lionsgate) will face the same issue with the Sam Worthington-Elizabeth Banks’ thriller Man on a Ledge, which, at no. 5, took in an estimated $2.3 million on Friday for a paltry $6.7 million over the weekend. Discounted tickets were also offered, though clearly fewer people were interested in getting them. Asger Leth directed Man on a Ledge, which also features Ed Harris, Jamie Bell, Edward Burns, Kyra Sedgwick, and Anthony Mackie.
Kate Beckinsale’s Underworld Awakening, last weekend’s no. 1 movie, was down two slots at no. 3, with $3.5 million. The sci-fi/fantasy actioner was followed by the George Lucas-executive-produced Red Tails, with $2.8 million.
Remember, those are early, rough estimates. Official studio figures for Friday will be released Saturday morning. Final weekend figures may change quite a bit before box office actuals are released on Monday.
Debbie Reynolds and Katherine Heigl One for the Money image: Ron Batzdorff | Lionsgate.
Jan. 21
The Artist is a critical favorite and the winner of the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. The all-powerful Harvey Weinstein’s The Weinstein Company is the film’s North American distributor. Unfortunately, the critical awards, the Golden Globes, and the Power of the Weinstein haven’t been enough to convince all that many moviegoers to check out the silent, black-and-white homage to Old Hollywood.
There’s that old saying espoused by some dishonest bullshitter or other at the Motion Picture Association of America: Make good movies and you’ll see the results at the box office. When discussing 3D about a year ago, current MPAA head and former Democratic senator Chris Dodd – of SOPA and PIPA infamy – asserted that technology ain’t that crucial for a film’s success as “a movie is still going to come down to story.”
The “story” that brought tons of asses to warm up movie seats this weekend was the one found in the 3D release Underworld Awakening, the fourth installment in the critically lambasted tech-driven franchise starring Kate Beckinsale as a blow’em-up Spandexed heroine.
Showing that female heroines are box office worthy only when, like their male counterparts, they caress some big, thick, juicy weaponry, Underworld Awakening easily landed at the top of the North American box office on Friday, Jan. 20, collecting $9.4 million at 3,078 locations according to studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo. The actioner’s per-theater average was a solid (though 3D surcharge-enhanced) $3,054. Now, it just remains to be seen whether Underworld Awakening will keep its momentum, or if it’ll begin losing steam on its second day out.
For comparison’s sake: the original Underworld movie opened with $21.75 million (approx. $28.6 million today) on its first weekend out in September 2003. It went on to gross $51.97 million in North America and $95.7 million worldwide. In January 2006, Underworld Evolution collected $26.85 million (approx. $32.5 million today) on opening weekend, cuming at $62.31 million domestically and $111.34 million worldwide. In January 2009, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (with Beckinsale in a small role) opened with $20.82 million (approx. $22 million today), eventually reaching $45.8 million in the U.S. and Canada and $91.35 million worldwide. Note: None of the previous installments in the Underworld franchise had the advantage of 3D surcharges.
Those are hardly what one would call hugely successful films. But since the Underworld movies have been budgeted around $35 million (minus rebates, foreign sales, etc.), the producing companies and North American distributor Screen Gems have been able to make quite a bit of money off of them. Having said that, I should add that those companies will be less lucky this time around, as Underworld Awakening cost a reported $70 million – not factoring in distribution and marketing costs.
Another curiosity about the Underworld movies is that they’re bigger in North America than elsewhere. As a rule of thumb, loud, violent, and braindead movies tend to do quite well at home, of course, but they usually perform much better overseas.
Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein directed the latest Underworld movie, which has a rotten 24 percent approval rating among Rotten Tomatoes’ critics. In addition to Beckinsale, the Underworld Awakening cast includes Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy, Theo James, Sandrine Holt, and India Eisley.
Ah, as for The Artist, which has a 100 percent approval rating among Rotten Tomatoes’ top critics, it earned a disappointing $636,000 at 662 locations, for a quite modest $961 per-theater average. Directed by Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist stars Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, Penelope Ann Miller, John Goodman, Missi Pyle, Malcolm McDowell, James Cromwell, and Uggie the Dog.
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Directed by Anthony Hemingway and executive-produced by Stars Wars’ George Lucas, Red Tails opened at no. 2 with an acceptable $6 million on Friday, Jan. 20, according to studio estimates. Its per-theater average was a good $2,398.
Though certainly not a bad opening for a socially conscious period drama lacking a major star attraction – apart from Lucas’ name, that is – Red Tails’ performance seems considerably less impressive when one factors in that it cost a reported $58 million. And that movies such as Red Tails, dealing with American issues of interest to (some) Americans, don’t travel very well abroad unless they have a star of Leonardo DiCaprio- or Johnny Depp-caliber to make it more attractive to international audiences. Despite all the awards-season buzz, Tate Taylor’s The Help, for instance, has grossed a meager $35.7 million overseas to date – vs. $169.6 million in North America.
In the Red Tails cast: Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding, Jr., David Oyelowo, Ne-Yo, Method Man, and Bryan Cranston.
At no. 3, Mark Wahlberg’s Contraband added $3.7 million, down about 58 percent from a week ago. The crime thriller was followed by Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which expanded to 2,630 sites this weekend. Despite the presence of Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, this psychological family melodrama centering on the September 2011 terrorist attacks drew only $3.17 million, for a mediocre $1,205 average per site. The extremely low awards-season buzz for the film surely didn’t help matters any.
Now, clearly Kate Beckinsale’s Underworld Awakening beat Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire silly. Though moderately well-received by critics (6.9 average at Rotten Tomatoes), Haywire opened with a near-dead-on-arrival $2.9 million at no. 5, averaging a paltry $1,189 at 2,439 locations. The actioner starring Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas, and Bill Paxton will have trouble matching Relativity Media’s already modest $8 million opening-weekend estimate.
As per reports, the film’s low $23 million budget has been covered by foreign sales. But someone somewhere will likely be seeing red once Haywire fails to recover its production, distribution, and marketing costs in the U.S. and Canada – and, possibly, overseas as well.
Rounding out the top twelve at the North American box office were the following:
- Beauty and the Beast 3D with $2.1 million. The Disney rerelease features voices by Robby Benson and Angela Lansbury, among others.
- Joyful Noise with $1.7 million. The “inspirational” musical comedy-drama stars Queen Latifah.
Jan. 14: According to Deadline.com, this four-day Martin Luther King holiday weekend the North American box office could reach $165 million – or up about 4 percent compared to last year. Considering the disappointing returns in late 2011, a modest increase is good news indeed for the jittery Hollywood studios.
Helping things out are the Mark Wahlberg crime thriller Contraband, which earned an estimated $9 million on Friday and may reach $30 million by Monday evening. Box Office Mojo was expecting the film to bring in only $18.5 million. Anyhow, if those early estimates are correct, that’s a solid start for a movie that reportedly cost $25 million (not including marketing/distribution expenses).
A remake of Óskar Jónasson’s 2008 Icelandic hit Reykjavik-Rotterdam, Contraband was directed by Baltasar Kormákur, the original film’s star-producer. In addition to Wahlberg Contraband features Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi, Diego Luna, Ben Foster, Lukas Haas, Caleb Landry Jones, and J.K. Simmons.
Disney’s 3D-ification of the first animated feature to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination, Beauty and the Beast 3D (originally released in standard format back in 1991), was the no. 2 movie on Friday, grossing $5.5 million at 2,625 locations. The four-day weekend total should hover around $25.5 million. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise directed. Robby Benson, Paige O’Hara, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, Jo Anne Worley, and David Ogden Stiers were some of the voice actors.
At no. 3 on Friday, Todd Graff’s Joyful Noise, starring Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, and veteran Kris Kristofferson, collected $3.8 million at 2,863 theaters. Though more than some had been predicting, that’s hardly a great figure. The four-day total should reach close to $15 million, which is about $3 million above Box Office Mojo’s predictions, but will that be enough for Joyful Noise to eventually recover its modest $25 million budget at the domestic box office? Films such as Joyful Noise are strictly American fare. Alcon Entertainment produced the religious-themed musical/dramatic comedy; Warner Bros. is the distributor.
Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is fast approaching the $200 million milestone at the domestic box office. Following an estimated $3.5 million on Friday and $14.5 million by Monday evening, MI4’s total should cume close to $190 million. Cruise’s latest will surely pass the $200 million mark by next weekend.
Last weekend’s no. 1 movie, the horror movie The Devil Inside, plummeted on its second weekend out, collecting $2.6 million on Friday and an expected $8.7 million by Monday evening. Despite the huge drop (over 70 percent), the cheaply made – but heavily marketed – horror flick will have taken in about $47 million after 10 days.
And finally, Meryl Streep’s The Iron Lady should rake in close to $5.5 million by Monday evening at 802 sites. That’s near $7,000 per site over the four-day weekend, a not inconsiderable figure for a movie centering on an divisive (female) political figure, and one that was received a mostly cool reception from critics. Streep, who has earned glowing personal reviews, is a favorite contender for the Best Actress – Drama Golden Globe this Sunday. The Iron Lady rests on her steely shoulders. Phyllida Lloyd, who guided Streep in the musical blockbuster Mamma Mia!, directed.
Remember, those are early, rough estimates. Official Friday estimates will be released Saturday morning. Weekend estimates come out on Sunday. Extended weekend estimates should be out on Monday. And weekend actuals on Tuesday.