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7 articles from 2006

11 July 2006 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Wall Street reacted unenthusiastically Monday to reports that Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest had earned $135.6 million, $3.6 million more than earlier estimates, setting a slew of box-office records in the process. Disney stock barely moved, closing 9 cents higher at $29.92. (It rose at additional 7 cents by mid-day trading today). Analysts indicated that the market had already anticipated the successful debut of the movie and that the expectations had been reflected in the stock price. Bernstein Research analyst Michael Nathanson noted that Disney's overall revenue might fall short of his original estimate of $34.7 billion because the strong showing for Pirates would likely be offset by the weaker-than-expected showing for Cars. The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Disney, $135,634,554, (New); 2. Superman Returns, Warner Bros. $21,815,243, 2 Wks. ($141,642,667); 3. The Devil Wears Prada, 20th Century Fox, $15,014,778, 2 Wks. ($63,110,544); 4. Click, Sony, $11,921,513, 3 Wks. ($105,842,811); 5. Cars, Disney, $10,734,082, 5 Wks. ($205,098,484); 6. Nacho Libre, Paramount, $3,339,828, 4 Wks. ($73,814,240); 7. The Lake House, Warner Bros. $2,854,457, 4 Wks. ($45,630,219); 8. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Universal, $2,549,855, 4 Wks. ($57,434,625); 9. Waist Deep, Focus Features, $1,901,151, 3 Wks. ($19,207,640); 10. The Break-Up, Universal, $1,621,345, 6 Wks, ($114,278,860).

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10 July 2006 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Box office records became so much cannon fodder for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest over the weekend as the Disney sequel opened to a stunning $132 million. It broke the previous record for a three-day weekend set by Spider-Man in 2002 with $114.8 million. It was even greater than the record for a four-day weekend, set by X-Men: The Last Stand, which garnered $122.9 million over the Memorial Day holiday. Its $55.5-million gross on Friday represented the biggest single-day take in box-office history. The $100.2 million it took in by the end of Saturday represented the biggest two-day gross. (It also became the fastest film ever to cross the $100-million mark.) Its $31,945 per-theater average was the biggest ever for a wide release, even though it played in 4,133 theaters (about 8,500 screens), the fourth-widest release in history. "A franchise like Pirates elevates the entire company," Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook told the Wall Street Journal.The movie also helped the overall box office set a new record -- a total of some $217 million, according to Nielsen EDI -- well above the $188 million set in June 2004, when Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban led the field. With moviegoers hoping to avoid sold-out theaters, online ticket sellers MovieTickets.com and Fandango.com each set records. (Fandango said that on Friday it was selling an average of nearly 10 Pirates tickets per second and that the movie represents over 90 percent of its weekly ticket sales.) In an interview with today's (Monday) Los Angeles Times, Anthony Valencia, an analyst with money manger TCW, said, "This is great news for [Disney] and for the industry. ... The first thing people are going to say when they see these record numbers is, 'Gee, I don't want to be the only person who hasn't seen that movie.'" As for Disney, Valencia said, "This puts the company back where it was for a long time -- at the forefront of family entertainment." (While Pirates was drawing most of the attention, Disney's Cars was quietly crossing the $200-million mark as it dropped just 29 percent to $10.3 million, to bring its total gross to $205.5 million.) As expected, the big loser was Superman Returns -- but it lost more than analysts had anticipated, dropping a whopping 58 percent in its second weekend to wind up with $21.9 million. (Superman Returns dropped as much as 70 percent in some overseas markets where it competed with Pirates.) The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $132 million; 2. Superman Returns, $21.85 million; 3. The Devil Wears Prada, $15.6 million; 4. Click, $12 million; 5. Cars, $10.3 million; 6. Nacho Libre, $3.3 million; 7. The Lake House, $2.8 million; 8. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, $2.5 million; 9. Waist Deep, $1.9 million; 10. The Break-Up, $1.6 million.

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5 July 2006 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

The devil was certainly in the details of the holiday box office, as The Devil Wears Prada surpassed all expectations by taking in $27 million over the weekend and an estimated $39.6 million over the five-day holiday. No #2 movie opening on a Fourth of July weekend has ever come close to earning that amount. It reportedly cost $35 million to produce. On the other hand, Superman Returns, although taking in nearly twice that amount -- $52 million for the weekend; $74 million for the five days -- was regarded as something of a disappointment, given the fact that its budget came to a reported $204 million plus $40 million to develop. Many of the Marvel-based superhero movies have shown more muscle at the box office, including those based on Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and The Hulk. It also fell behind last year's Fourth of July tentpole, War of the Worlds, which grossed $112.7 million in its first six days. By contrast, Superman Returns has grossed $106 million in its first seven days. Moreover, Superman is expected to be hit by a sizable amount of Kryptonite next weekend loaded aboard a certain chest on Jack Sparrow's pirate ship. Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is expected to earn more in its first three days than Superman Returns did in its first seven. Meanwhile, Daily Variety reported that Superman Returns "opened solidly rather than spectacularly" in Australia and Asia, earning $20 million in 11 countries. Warner Bros. decided to delay opening it elsewhere overseas until after the conclusion of the World Cup. The top ten films for the five-day Fourth of July weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 1. Superman Returns, $74 million; 2. The Devil Wears Prada, $39.6 million; 3. Click, $29 million; 4. Cars, $22.1 million; 5. Nacho Libre, $9.5 million; 6. The Lake House, $6.3 million; 8. Waist Deep, $4.7 million; 9. The Break-Up, $4.6 million; 10. The Da Vinci Code, $3.7 million.

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3 July 2006 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

If Superman Returns hadn't cost about $204 million to make and an additional $40 million to develop over the past 19 years, the $84.2 million that the movie earned since it opened late Tuesday night would be cause for celebration at Warner Bros., the studio that produced it. However, analysts pointed out that the estimated $52.2 million that it earned over the three-day weekend trailed last year's War of the Worlds' $64.9 million over the comparable weekend and Spider-Man 2's $88.2 million in 2004. Moreover, it is expected to be sunk next week by Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and continue to plunge after that. Meanwhile, rival studios are reportedly upset over Warner Bros. decision to include 10:00 p.m. screenings on Tuesday in its total for Wednesday, thereby giving the appearance that the film performed far better at the box office for its Wednesday premiere than it actually did. L.A. Weekly columnist Nikki Finke quoted one rival studio exec as saying, "It's not unfair to note that Fox's X-Men 3 had $130 mil[lion] after five days and is ending up making $235 mil or so. If the same ratio holds and Superman Returns does 1/3 less, than it would not make $200 mil and that would be a disappointment." In fact, the actual bragging rights for the weekend belong to 20th Century Fox, whose The Devil Wears Prada opened with an estimated $27 million. "This was way beyond anybody's expectations," Fox distribution chief Bruce Snyder told today's (Monday) Los Angeles Times. The film helped push the overall box office some 5 percent above last year's for the same weekend. Today's New York Times quoted Bruce Friend, managing director of the research firm OTX Entertainment, as saying, "The good news is the bleeding has stopped from last year. ... But it hasn't rebounded to the levels of two years ago." The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 1. Superman Returns, $52.15 million; 2. The Devil Wears Prada, $27 million; 3. Click, $19.4 million; 4. Cars, $14 million; 5. Nacho Libre, $6.2 million; 6. The Lake House, $4.5 million; 7. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, $4.4 million; 8. Waist Deep, $3.3 million; 9. The Break-Up, $2.8 million; 10. The Da Vinci Code, $2.3 million.

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27 June 2006 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Adam Sandler, a regular one-man Pixar studio whose name on the marquee appears likely to guarantee a movie's success regardless of what the critics say about it, chalked up another big opening over the weekend. Click, Sandler's fifth film to open with $40 million or more, took over the top spot at the box office with $40.01 million, as Disney/Pixar's Cars dropped a moderate 31 percent to second place with $23.3 million. Paramount's Nacho Libre, by comparison, had a 55-percent fall, winding up in third place with $12.7 million. Universal's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift performed better than expected on Sunday, taking in $9.8 million to take fourth place in the weekend standings. It dropped 59 percent from a week earlier. The most surprising performer was Rogue Picture's Waist Deep, which debuted on only 1,004 theaters with $9.4 million. Its $9,367 per-theater average was exceeded only by Click, which averaged $10,673 per theater. Overall, the box office was up 10 percent over the comparable week last year, with admissions up 6 percent. The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. Click, Sony, $40,011,365, (New); 2. Cars, Disney, $23,285,367, 3 Wks. ($156,664,916); 3. Nacho Libre, Paramount, $12,699,864, 2 Wks. ($53,221,306); 4. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Universal, $9,801,835, 2 Wks. ($43,144,240); 5. Waist Deep, Rogue Pictures/Focus Features, $9,404,180, (New); 6. The Lake House, Warner Bros., $8,832,259, 2 Wks. ($29,774,472); 7. The Break-Up, Universal, $6,596,625, 4 Wks. ($104,235,420); 8. Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, 20th Century Fox, $5,209,818, 2 Wks. ($16,483,101); 9. X-Men: The Last Stand, 20th Century Fox, $4,841,950, 5 Wks. ($224,506,162); 10. The Da Vinci Code, Sony, $4,050,844, 6 Wks. ($205,589,742).

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26 June 2006 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Moviegoers paid little attention to movie critics over the weekend as they made the Adam Sandler comedy Click the No. 1 film at the box office with an estimated $40 million in ticket sales. The film, which took a nearly universal drubbing from critics on Friday, attracted a broad audiences, from kids to adults, according to Sony's exit surveys, with 86 percent of the audience rating it "excellent" or "very good." "Adam Sandler has such a great track record; he's money in the bank," Exhibitor Relations chief Paul Dergarabedian told today's (Monday) Los Angeles Daily News. "He's as consistent as any box office star out there." Another newcomer, Focus Features' Waist Deep, aimed at Hispanic and African-American audiences, did far-better-than-expected business, taking in $9.5 million in only about 1,000 theaters to place fourth. Meanwhile, Disney's Cars dropped only 33 percent in its third week as it grossed $22.5 million to come in second. The Jack Black comedy Nacho Libre from Paramount slipped to third place with about $12.1 million, while Universal's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift skidded to fifth with $9.2 million, suffering a 62 percent decline from the previous week. Overall ticket sales reached an estimated $4.4 billion, marking the 13th weekend in the last 14 that revenue has exceeded the comparable week a year ago. Meanwhile, reports indicated that Sony's The Da Vinci Code crossed the $700-million mark in worldwide ticket sales on Sunday. The film has earned $205.5 million in North America and $495.8 million overseas. The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 1. Click, $40 million; 2. Cars, $22.5 million; 3. Nacho Libre, $12.1 million; 4. Waist Deep, $9.5 million; 5. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, $9.2 million; 6. The Lake House, $8.3 million; 7. The Break-Up, $6.1 million; 8. Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, $4.75 million; 9. X-Men: The Last Stand, $4.4 million; 10. The Da Vinci Code, $4 million.

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23 June 2006 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

The Adam Sandler comedy Click is expected to click with audiences this weekend and take in close to $50 million, making it the biggest opening of any Sandler film. It bows just days ahead of Wednesday's premiere of Superman Returns and two weeks ahead of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which are expected to battle one another for the year's box-office championship. Also opening today is the thriller Waist Deep, aimed at black and Hispanic audiences (on only about 1000 screens), but it is expected to wind up behind two holdovers, Disney's Cars and Paramount's Nacho Libre. "This is a healthy mix," Exhibitor Relations chief Paul Dergarabedian told today's Los Angeles Daily News. "You've got a little bit of everything, a marketplace that literally has something for every type of audience."

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7 articles from 2006