WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Watching the Watchmen

It’s not like I wanted it to fail. It’s not like I knew it wouldn’t succeed. There is a part of me though that is tickled to see that WATCHMEN hasn’t shattered any records upon its highly anticipated release. I am even more amused to see the film’s devout followers defend its sizable but hardly sizzling debut. After all, WATCHMEN is the third highest opening weekend for an R-rated film outside of the summer season. That matters, right?


Realistically speaking, WATCHMEN did do well. It just didn’t do what was expected. Opening in the same frame two years ago, Zack Snyder’s breakthrough film, 300, opened to about $15 million more than WATCHMEN did. Advance buzz seemed just as deafening as it did for 300 and midnight screenings for WATCHMEN doubled the gross of 300’s midnight screenings. Everything seemed on track as reports suggested that most WATCHMEN screenings were sold out all weekend. Yet, it never got to the heights it so clearly felt destined to reach, despite WATCHMEN boasting the widest R-rated release in history. Maybe it was the nearly three-hour run time that set it back. It certainly is a viable theory. The other is that it just didn’t matter that much to anyone outside of the comic-book crowd or, at the very least, as much as Warner banked on.


The rest of the Top 10 held very tightly … well, with the exception of THE JONAS BROTHERS: THE 3D CONCERT EXPERIENCE. After a disappointing debut last week, it plummeted nearly 80%. Maybe there is still time for the brothers to sneak a cameo into the upcoming Hannah Montana movie to redeem themselves. Meanwhile, sleeper hits like TAKEN and PAUL BLART: MALL COP inched up the charts well into their runs. Even CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC managed an upward move and it has already been declared a flop. The 2009 box office continues its record breaking run and this cynical world is watching and wondering when its all going to come to a hault.


No major studio risked opening any wide release opposite WATCHMEN. Platform releases stepped in to take advantage with counterprogramming. The most notable is the three piece homage to Tokyo, aptly named TOKYO! The film opened on just one screen and pulled in a per screen average of over $21K. The Swedish import, EVERLASTING MOMENTS, opened to mild but solid $10K average on five screens. And finally, indie drama, PHOEBE IN WONDERLAND, starring Elle Fanning and Felicity Huffman, opened on a handful of screens but did not report its estimates at press time.

NEXT WEEK: WATCHMEN will race for the top with RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, starring The Rock, who coincidentally hosted SNL this past weekend. Crazy timing. A young stud tries to get some in MISS MARCH after he fell into a coma before he could lose his virginity. Riveting. And THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT will try to creep out audiences who have been inundated with horror flicks all year now. The little ray of sunshine clearing the way is the potential indie darling, SUNSHINE CLEANING, opening on just four screens.

Source: Box Office Mojo

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: In Your Face, Jonas Brothers!

Last year around this time, a certain teen queen unleashed her “Best of Both Worlds” concert to theatres in 3D. Having been billed as an exclusive one-week engagement, little girls everywhere came out in droves to catch Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus do her split personality thing up on screen to the tune of over $30 million. A year has passed and the smart folks at Disney decided to get another teen sensation back on the screen in 3D, only to find that audiences would opt to watch a man in grandma drag go to jail instead.


No, THE JONAS BROTHERS: 3D CONCERT EXPERIENCE could not topple TYLER PERRY’S MADEA GOES TO JAIL at the box office this weekend. This is even after Perry’s most successful film to date suffered a 60% drop over last week. Worse yet, the young Jonas siblings opened on almost twice the screens as Montana/Cyrus did and made less than half the cash. There was no urgency to catch the show opening weekend with some looming empty threat that the film would only be playing for a week, mind you. (It should be noted that as soon as Montana brought in the green last year, the one-week engagement was extended indefinitely.) It was a solid showing but it seems to me that there must have been a lot of little girls who just decided to stay home. Besides, the Jonas Brothers that big and in your face, 3D styles, would be pretty frightening, I think. For a boy band, they’re really not that cute … or profitable apparently.


Last week’s winner of 8 Oscars, including Best Picture, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, saw its already impressive gross improve another 45% this week. Albeit not my pick for Best Picture of the year, this is clearly the people’s favorite. In its 16th week in theatres, it shows no signs of stopping. It is Fox Searchlight’s first Best Picture winner and it is now their widest release to date. The Danny Boyle film has plenty more market internationally to conquer, home video sales still ahead and it will certainly surpass THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON to become the highest grossing Best Picture nominee from this year.


A couple of other big Oscar winners saw serious gains this week too. Both added hundreds of screens to capitalize on their Oscar visibility and both saw promising results well into their domestic runs. Audience favorite, Kate Winslet, took home the Best Actress Oscar for THE READER and the Weinstein Company sleeper hit saw its grosses increase 10% over last week for a grand total of just over $27 million. Not bad for a movie that seemed doomed to fall away into obscurity until it garnered five surprise Oscar nods. Focus Features’ MILK earned Oscars for Best Original Screenplay (Dustin Lance Black) and Best Actor (Sean Penn) did even better, increasing 37% over last week and bringing its cume over $30 million 14 weeks into its domestic run. Both other Best Picture nominees, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON and FROST/NIXON saw its returns dwindle this week as neither garnered any serious screen time during the telecast.


You don’t have to be an Oscar winner to perform well in limited release though. Foreign Language Oscar losers, THE CLASS and WALTZ WITH BASHIR continued to see their grosses grow despite missing out on the crown. And in completely non-Oscar related news, Joaquin Phoenix’s supposedly last film, TWO LOVERS, tacked on about 60 screens and soared over 500% and critical darling, GOMORRA, improved over 140% over last week with an average that would rival any title in the Top 10. You don’t want to mess with the GORMORRA boys.

NEXT WEEK: Everyone will be watching to see if THE WATCHMEN is worth all of this overblown hype as it opens on over 3500 screens. Given that there are no other wide releases expected next weekend, I guess people think it’s going to be big. The question now is how big but my question is rather why anyone cares at all.

Source: Box Office Mojo