The Zone

by **buster00** on Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:17 pm

It's Oscar Weekend! It's the time of year when we celebrate the vibrant creativity, the meticulous craftsmanship, and the dynamic thought process surrounding the fine art of filmmaking.

Sorry, what's that? Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail is the #1 movie? OK, never mind then.

by **Leckomaniac** on Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:18 pm

The hits just keep on fucking coming.

$40 million for a Tyler Perry film? Jeez.

by **Retardo_Montalban** on Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:19 pm

Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence ruined black comedies forever. The only comedian who seems to realize how demeaning dressing in a studly mammy costume is, is Dave Chappelle.

by **Bloo** on Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:54 am

my 12 y/o sister, who is black, saw a commercial for Madea and said "that is one ugly lady"

isn't HOUSE OF PAYNE (Typer Perry's TBS show) like their highest rated program or something too

by **TheBaxter** on Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:12 pm

tyler perry movies are just one more example of black-on-black violence.

by **burlivesleftnut** on Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:52 am

Bloo wrote:my 12 y/o sister, who is black, saw a commercial for Madea and said "that is one ugly lady"

isn't HOUSE OF PAYNE (Typer Perry's TBS show) like their highest rated program or something too

I think Perry made a deal with the same devil who discovered JK Rowlings and Stephenie Meyer.

by **Bloo** on Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:08 am

burlivesleftnut wrote:
Bloo wrote:my 12 y/o sister, who is black, saw a commercial for Madea and said "that is one ugly lady"

isn't HOUSE OF PAYNE (Typer Perry's TBS show) like their highest rated program or something too

I think Perry made a deal with the same devil who discovered JK Rowlings and Stephenie Meyer.

probably

by **Pacino86845** on Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:27 am

What's a Tyler Perry?

by **TheBaxter** on Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:09 am

even tyler perry is sick of himself

by **havocSchultz** on Sun Mar 01, 2009 8:36 pm

Madea says fuck you Jonas Brothers...!

boxofficeguru wrote:THIS WEEKEND Despite the arrival of rocking teens, Tyler Perry enjoyed a back-to-back stint at number one with the hit comedy Madea Goes to Jail which led a sluggish frame despite suffering a sizable sophomore drop. Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience debuted in second place while many holdovers posted small declines remaining popular with moviegoers once again. Overall the North American box office once again beat year-ago levels by a comfortable margin keeping the momentum going for 2009.

Last weekend's top film Madea Goes to Jail tumbled 60% in its second weekend grossing an estimated $16.5M which was still good enough for the top spot. The drop was slightly more than the 58% fall that Madea's Family Reunion (Tyler Perry's previous best opener) suffered in its sophomore frame during the first weekend of March in 2006. After ten days of release, Jail has amassed a stellar $64.9M and has already become the popular filmmaker's highest grossing movie ever edging out Reunion's $63.3M total gross. Lionsgate could see the final tally reach the neighborhood of $85-90M.

Disney opened its music pic Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience in second place with an estimated $12.7M. Playing in 1,271 3D theaters, the G-rated concert flick averaged a healthy $9,992 and was helped by higher $15 ticket prices that exhibitors were charging. The bow was not even close to the performance of last year's Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus 3D concert film which opened with $31.1M from 683 locations for a scorching $45,561 average. Though launching in nearly half as many theaters, that film was helped by what was then scheduled as a one-week-only run which generated more excitement plus was based on a more popular brand from the Disney Channel arsenal.

Following its sweep of the Academy Awards last Sunday, Slumdog Millionaire enjoyed a 45% surge in business thanks to a wave of press attention and an additional 699 playdates. The Fox Searchlight hit grossed an estimated $12.2M putting it into third place, the highest chart position yet across its 16 weekends in theaters. That translated to a $4,128 average from 2,943 locations. Slumdog boosted its cume to a sensational $115.1M from North America alone.

Fox's sleeper action hit Taken joined the century club over the weekend. The Liam Neeson thriller eased only 12% to an estimated $10M lifting the cume to $107.9M. Date flick He's Just Not That Into You took in an estimated $5.9M for Warner Bros., down just 31%, with the sum thus far reaching an impressive $78.5M.

Sony's runaway hit Paul Blart: Mall Cop took in an estimated $5.6M in its seventh weekend slipping a mere 18% and raising the amazing total to $128.1M. The stop-motion animated hit Coraline followed in fourth with an estimated $5.3M, down 54%, for a $61.1M total to date for Focus.

The videogame-inspired actioner Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li debuted in eighth place with an estimated $4.7M. Fox's PG-13 release averaged a mild $4,093 from 1,136 locations and played to a young male audience.

Falling 33% was the chick flick Confessions of a Shopoholic with an estimated $4.5M giving Buena Vista $33.7M to date. Rounding out the top ten was the male cheerleader flick Fired Up! which collected an estimated $3.8M, down 31%, for a $10.1M total after ten days in multiplexes.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $81M over the weekend which was up 10% from last year when Semi-Pro opened in the top spot with $15.1M; but down 21% from 2007 when Wild Hogs debuted at number one with a stunning $39.7M.

by **havocSchultz** on Sat Mar 07, 2009 2:40 pm

Who watches the the Watchmen...? Well about $24.3 million worth of people apparently did on opening day...

by **Leckomaniac** on Sat Mar 14, 2009 2:47 pm

WATCHMEN is tanking and tanking hard.

Friday numbers of $5.4 million. Expected to bring in $16 million for the weekend. A 70% drop.

#1 was Race to Witch Mountain with $6.7. Followed by Last House On the Left with $5.5

Full Friday estimates here

by **Peven** on Sat Mar 14, 2009 7:04 pm

it was a losing proposition to make the movie from the beginning depending on mass market appeal to cover the budget. from everything i have seen on here over the years from fans, and from the interviews i have read with Moore, the material seems to be the antithesis to accessible for joe-public, especially in movie form where so much info is condensed and edited. it does seem as if a lot of fans of the comic enjoy and like the movie more than they dislike it, so good for them that it got made. i know that some of my favorite books, very very favorite, would not be able to turn a profit if made into a movie even by the best film maker out there simply because the material simply does not have a broad appeal, and i think that is the crux of why Watchman won't be profitable.

by **havocSchultz** on Sun Mar 15, 2009 2:11 pm

Who watches what The Rock is cooking...?

Weekend estimate puts Witch Mountain at around $25 million...and shows Watchmen as having a 67.3% drop...

On a slightly related note...here's a link to the largest 2nd week drops for the last year...

by **Seppuku** on Sun Mar 15, 2009 2:26 pm

havocSchultz wrote:Weekend estimate shows Watchmen as having a 67.3% drop...

Cue the first 15 minutes being made available to stream online in...

by **Peven** on Sun Mar 15, 2009 2:32 pm

Seppuku wrote:
havocSchultz wrote:Weekend estimate shows Watchmen as having a 67.3% drop...

Cue the first 15 minutes being made available to stream online in...

they will try to recoup costs by putting out some "special edition" dvd packaged with some souvenir type stuff that they will overcharge for but fans will pay since this material has such a fervent, though limited, following

by **Al Shut** on Sun Mar 15, 2009 2:51 pm

So how much (or how little) is condidered a good 2nd weeekend drop?

by **burlivesleftnut** on Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:41 pm

Al Shut wrote:So how much (or how little) is condidered a good 2nd weeekend drop?

A good second weekend drop is about 33-37%.

by **Al Shut** on Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:05 am

In that case, ouch.

by **TheBaxter** on Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:52 am

but, for big-budget blockbuster pictures with lots of opening-day hype, the dropoff is usually more like 40-50%... even by that scale, it's still an ouch

by **havocSchultz** on Sat Apr 04, 2009 2:32 pm

A Furious friday leads to a Fast $30 million...

boxofficeguru wrote:Racing into multiplexes on Friday, the street racing sequel Fast & Furious shattered expectations grossing a stunning $30.1M in its first day of release according to estimates from Universal. The PG-13 actioner scored the best opening day ever in April and will also speed past the opening weekend record for the month by a mile. That benchmark has been held for six years by Anger Management which bowed to $42.2M in 2003.

Fast & Furious reunited the original cast of 2001's surprise smash The Fast and the Furious generating excitement among fans that had to settle for actors and directors being swapped out over the last two films in the series. The new Vin Diesel-Paul Walker outing surged to the biggest opening day of the year beating Watchmen's $24.5M and its three-day tally is sure to become tops in 2009 outdistancing the $59.3M of last weekend's Monsters vs. Aliens. Even with an expected dip in ticket sales on Saturday, Fast & Furious could end the frame with a stunning $70-75M, possibly making it the largest debut of any film since The Dark Knight.

Monsters got off to a good start in its second weekend grossing an estimated $8.8M on Friday, off 45%. Paramount should find itself with $33-37M boosting the ten-day cume past $105M.

The weekend's only other new release was Miramax's theme park comedy Adventureland which debuted with an estimated $2.2M in its first day of play. A weekend take of $6-7M seems likely.

Among holdovers, Friday-to-Friday declines were 41% for Knowing, only 31% for I Love You, Man, and 62% for The Haunting in Conncticut.

by **travis-dane** on Sat Apr 04, 2009 2:36 pm

Welcome back Vin.

by **bastard_robo** on Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:02 am

$72 MILLION Jesus god!

Well, Vin is back.. so's Paul.. any bets on how long it takes for them to kill their careers again?

by **jason.cinema** on Sat Apr 11, 2009 6:07 pm

And Disney continues to dominate with their ode to superficiality.

You can forget garlic, stakes, or direct sunlight. This thing's impervious to it all.

But hopefully we're turning the corner and the madness of this pablum will start to wane very soon.

http://boxofficeguru.com/041109.htm

Tween girls seized control of the box office on Friday powering Hannah Montana The Movie to a huge number one opening spending an estimated $17M on the new Miley Cyrus vehicle. Disney has enjoyed a top spot debut with a Miley film for two years in a row now proving how powerful and enduring the brand is. Being the Good Friday holiday, most students had no school making the target audience more available. Films opening on the holiday generally see 40-45% of their weekend business on Friday and Hannah with its intense upfront demand should come in on the high end of that range, if not a bit above. That would give the teen queen about $37-40M this weekend challenging Scary Movie 4's $40.2M for the largest Easter weekend debut ever.

The Seth Rogen comedy Observe and Report bowed to an estimated $4.7M on Friday, its first day of release. That should put Warner Bros. on track to reach $10-13M for the three-day session. Fox released the anime-inspired actioner Dragonball Evolution to the tune of $2M, according to estimates, and should bank roughly $5M over the weekend.

Among holdovers, last weekend's champ Fast & Furious decelerated an understandably steep 65% from its opening day haul to collect an estimated $10.5M on its second Friday. A weekend gross of $27-29M seems likely for a second place finish. DreamWorks enjoyed a nice 4% Good Friday bump over last week for its toon Monsters vs. Aliens raking in an estimated $9M. Look for a $22-25M take over three days for third place.

Overall, the top ten could soar 40% or more higher than last year's Easter holiday frame which fell in mid-March.

Check back on Sunday for the complete weekend box office report.

Last Updated: April 11, 2009 at 11:30AM ET

Written by Gitesh Pandya

by **spock of the walk** on Sun Apr 12, 2009 10:16 pm

meet dave had a better opening weekend than dragonball :lol:

by **buster00** on Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:44 am

spock of the walk wrote::lol: meet dave had a better opening weekend than dragonball

(*checks the figures at BoxOfficeMojo*)

/ :shock:

//

by **TheButcher** on Sat May 09, 2009 1:33 pm

From Variety:

Paramount's reboot of the sci-fi classic franchise "Star Trek" had no problem playing beyond its core Trekkie crowd Friday as the pic raked in an estimated $31 million giving the Melrose lot its second highest opening day ever at the box office for a live-action film.

Reboots have become a blockbuster trend for the major studios looking to rebrand their pic franchises for a new generation of moviegoers. The most notable ones in recent years have been MGM-Sony's gritty take on James Bond with "Casino Royale" (first day $14.7 million) and Warner Bros.' dramatic rendering of Batman in "Batman Begins" (opening day $15.1 million). Among the first installments for these franchise reboots, the first Friday for "Star Trek" is arguably the biggest haul.

Last weekend's top film "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" slotted second with $8.3 million on 4,102, registering a 76% drop and an eight-day cume of $110.9 million.

by **Leckomaniac** on Sun May 10, 2009 2:46 pm

Star Trek opens with an estimated $72.5 million!

Wow. And in the second weekend of May death spot that claimed Speed Racer and Poseidon, no less!

by **TheButcher** on Sun May 10, 2009 2:52 pm

Leckomaniac wrote:Star Trek opens with an estimated $72.5 million!

Wow. And in the second weekend of May death spot that claimed Speed Racer and Poseidon, no less!

From Newsarama: 'Star Trek' Beams Up $76.5M

Estimates are coming in for X-Men Origins: Wolverine at around $27m, which would represent a somewhat worse-case-scenario drop-off of 68% and bring the film's total North America gross to $130m.

by **Leckomaniac** on Sun May 10, 2009 3:18 pm

TheButcher wrote:
Leckomaniac wrote:Star Trek opens with an estimated $72.5 million!

Wow. And in the second weekend of May death spot that claimed Speed Racer and Poseidon, no less!

From Newsarama: 'Star Trek' Beams Up $76.5M
Estimates are coming in for X-Men Origins: Wolverine at around $27m, which would represent a somewhat worse-case-scenario drop-off of 68% and bring the film's total North America gross to $130m.

Ah, so the number is $72.5 for the weekend, whereas the 76.5 number includes the $4 million brought in from early evening Thursday screenings. Makes sense.

by **burlivesleftnut** on Sun May 10, 2009 4:11 pm

I thought it made $7mil on Thursday.

by **Leckomaniac** on Sun May 10, 2009 4:32 pm

burlivesleftnut wrote:I thought it made $7mil on Thursday.

It is a bit confusing but...

That initial quote of $7 million includes early evening Thursday (7pm shows) and the late Thursday/Friday midnight shows. Now, once the weekend numbers come in those late Thursday/Friday midnight shows become part of the FRIDAY haul and the 7pm shows on Thursday become separate. So, that $7 million is split so that $4 million is counted as Thursday and the rest is counted towards the Friday/weekend haul. Hence, a $72.5 million opening weekend, but a $76.5 million 3.5 day total.

by **Pacino86845** on Sun May 10, 2009 9:25 pm

by **Ribbons** on Sun May 10, 2009 9:46 pm

Nemesis would have done better if they'd only went with Patrick Stewart's original script. You see, Picard has the power to make 7 of 9's clothes fall off, and, well, he sees everything...

by **TheButcher** on Mon May 11, 2009 12:01 am

From Variety:

Overseas -- where the sci-fi franchise has never played well --”Star Trek” likewise posted solid numbers, grossing $35.5 million from 5,000 locations in 54 markets for a worldwide bow of $106 million.

From THR.com: 'Star Trek' tops overseas boxoffice - Reboot brought in $35.5 mil from 5,000 screens

The rejuvenated "Star Trek" from director J.J. Abrams blasted off to No. 1 on the international circuit during the weekend, grossing an estimated $35.5 million from more than 5,000 screens in 54 territories.

The film's decent but hardly spectacular foreign opening indicates that the latest feature version of the classic TV series still has a good chance of becoming the biggest "Trek" boxoffice success ever overseas.

"Trek" theatrical titles have usually performed far better domestically than abroad. The foreign weekend boxoffice for the latest edition, for example, is less than half the film's No. 1 opening domestic gross ($76.5 million).

Warm-to-ecstatic reviews for a back-to-basics approach, plus a younger generation of actors in the familiar roles -- notably Chris Pine as Capt. James Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, as well as a spiffy new U.S.S. Enterprise -- may promise atypically large international boxoffice for the franchise's newest edition.

"Trek's" weekend take alone represents 11.5% of the combined total ($312.9 million) grossed offshore by all 10 of its theatrical predecessors, according to distributor Paramount.

by **TheButcher** on Mon May 11, 2009 8:01 pm

From Variety:

Paramount's "Star Trek" grossed roughly $3 million more than estimated on Sunday, putting the film's 3½ day opening at $79.2 million and signaling that families are beginning to turn out for the film.

by **RogueScribner** on Mon May 11, 2009 10:54 pm

Anyone want to wager that the new Star Trek movie will best the adjusted gross for ST:TMP of $235,000,000? I guess we'll see how well it does next week. I wouldn't be surprised if it dropped big like genre pics tend to do. Still, it'll easily outgross any of the TNG films, the highest of which was ST:FC with $149,000,000 adjusted.

by **RogueScribner** on Sun May 17, 2009 1:49 pm

Weekend Estimates

Angels and Demons edges out Star Trek for the top spot with $48 million. Star Trek defies (my) expectations and only drops 43% from last weekend, with a $43 million haul and $147 million total. Wolverine hangs tough at #3 with only a 44% drop (compared to last weekend's 69%) and $14.8 million, bringing its total to $151 million.

by **Peven** on Sun May 17, 2009 4:06 pm

next weekend is going to be a traffic jam of big movies in the theatres with both "Terminator:Salvation" and "Night At the Museum 2" being added to the mix....going to be interesting how the numbers shake out but it should be a massive Memorial Day weekend overall

by **Bloo** on Sun May 17, 2009 5:35 pm

Peven wrote:next weekend is going to be a traffic jam of big movies in the theatres with both "Terminator:Salvation" and "Night At the Museum 2" being added to the mix....going to be interesting how the numbers shake out but it should be a massive Memorial Day weekend overall

I"m going to guess a pretty neck and neck race with Night at the Museum and Terminator, with Star Trek in 2nd and Wolverine in 4th, Angels and Demons I think is going to see a big fall off

by **RogueScribner** on Sun May 17, 2009 5:45 pm

I don't think the Terminator shares much of the same audience with A&D that Wolverine does. Wolverine is going to take a hit. A&D will still be in the top 5.

It'll probably be NATM, TS, A&D, ST, and maybe Wolvy rounding out the top 5, but I wouldn't be surprised if it fell a couple of notches lower.

by **Peven** on Sun May 17, 2009 9:53 pm

Bloo wrote:
Peven wrote:next weekend is going to be a traffic jam of big movies in the theatres with both "Terminator:Salvation" and "Night At the Museum 2" being added to the mix....going to be interesting how the numbers shake out but it should be a massive Memorial Day weekend overall

I"m going to guess a pretty neck and neck race with Night at the Museum and Terminator, with Star Trek in 2nd and Wolverine in 4th, Angels and Demons I think is going to see a big fall off

i agree with you on the Angles and Demons call, i am betting it will see a 60%+ drop off. i do think that "Terminator Salvation" and "Star Trek" will be fighting for the same demographic while, with Terminator edging out Trek for #2 while "Night at the Museum" will get the lion's share of the "family" market and will be the clear #1 earner

by **TheBaxter** on Mon May 18, 2009 12:14 pm

Peven wrote:
Bloo wrote:
Peven wrote:next weekend is going to be a traffic jam of big movies in the theatres with both "Terminator:Salvation" and "Night At the Museum 2" being added to the mix....going to be interesting how the numbers shake out but it should be a massive Memorial Day weekend overall

I"m going to guess a pretty neck and neck race with Night at the Museum and Terminator, with Star Trek in 2nd and Wolverine in 4th, Angels and Demons I think is going to see a big fall off

i agree with you on the Angles and Demons call, i am betting it will see a 60%+ drop off. i do think that "Terminator Salvation" and "Star Trek" will be fighting for the same demographic while, with Terminator edging out Trek for #2 while "Night at the Museum" will get the lion's share of the "family" market and will be the clear #1 earner

i'm going to DISAGREE and say A&D will hold on to it's B.O. for three reasons:
1) skews to the older demographic who don't rush out to see movies the first weekend. all the elderly people will be seeing this next weekend.
2) it had a less than huge opening, so has less room to fall.
3) more people will be going to the movies next weekend since it's a holiday, so all films will have less of a dropoff than they woulld normally

i'll predict a 40-50% dropoff for A&D.

by **Peven** on Mon May 18, 2009 2:07 pm

you could end up being right, IF enough of the middle-aged folks who might be interested in seeing A&D don't have kids to take to see Night at the Museum.......i think A&E did as well as it did this past weekend partly due to some of those people who were interested in seeing it but knew they would be taking their kids to Museum this coming weekend and didn't want to wait till the weekend after......does that make any sense?

i would really would be very surprised if it didn't drop a minimum of 50%, though after looking at the numbers i guess that a 55%-60% drop off is more likely than my initial 60%+ prediction....

by **TheBaxter** on Mon May 18, 2009 3:28 pm

they can always drop off the kiddies at NATM2 and go see A&D by themselves. then again, considering the general movie-going public's poor taste in films, they might actually WANT to see NATM2.

by **RogueScribner** on Sun May 24, 2009 2:20 pm

Weekend estimates are in.

As expected, Night at the Museum ruled the roost this holiday weekend, bringing in $53.5 million. Terminator: Salvation placed second with $43.0 million. Star Trek held strong in third with $29.9 million, bringing its three week total to $183.5 million. Angels and Demons fell to fourth place with $21.4 million, earning $81.5 million in its two weeks. Dance Flick knocked Wolverine out of the top 5, pulling in $11.1 million compared to Wolverine's $7.8 million weekend total. Wolverine has earned $163.0 million in four weeks.

Star Trek is doing gangbusters, a lot better than I ever imagined it would. We'll see if Terminator can keep pace (probably not).

by **DennisMM** on Sun May 24, 2009 6:22 pm

Flashing back, for those who still care: After eleven weeks (March 6-May 21) Watchmen has made $183 million on production costs of approximately $150 million and who knows what promotional costs. Domestic b.o. is $107 million. This compares to $456 million ($211 million domestic) for 300, on a budget less than half that of Watchmen.*

Not gloating, just noting.

* Can anyone explain why 300, an all green-screen film with no-name actors mostly, cost $65 million? Is CGI that expensive? I thought it had become relatively cheap. Sin City, a more complicated project by appearances, only cost $40 million and it featured a few well-known actors (admittedly working for small paychecks).

by **Peven** on Sun May 24, 2009 9:39 pm

RogueScribner wrote:Weekend estimates are in.

As expected, Night at the Museum ruled the roost this holiday weekend, bringing in $53.5 million. Terminator: Salvation placed second with $43.0 million. Star Trek held strong in third with $29.9 million, bringing its three week total to $183.5 million. Angels and Demons fell to fourth place with $21.4 million, earning $81.5 million in its two weeks. Dance Flick knocked Wolverine out of the top 5, pulling in $11.1 million compared to Wolverine's $7.8 million weekend total. Wolverine has earned $163.0 million in four weeks.

Star Trek is doing gangbusters, a lot better than I ever imagined it would. We'll see if Terminator can keep pace (probably not).

A&D first weekend was $48 million.......i predicted a 55%-60% drop.....its second weekend was $21.4 million...which i calculate to be about a 57.1% drop.......wow....even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then, eh

by **RogueScribner** on Sun May 24, 2009 10:12 pm

It was actually 53.7%, but close enough. :wink:

by **Cpt Kirks 2pay** on Mon May 25, 2009 10:13 am

DennisMM wrote:Flashing back, for those who still care: After eleven weeks (March 6-May 21) Watchmen has made $183 million on production costs of approximately $150 million and who knows what promotional costs. Domestic b.o. is $107 million. This compares to $456 million ($211 million domestic) for 300, on a budget less than half that of Watchmen.*

Not gloating, just noting.

* Can anyone explain why 300, an all green-screen film with no-name actors mostly, cost $65 million? Is CGI that expensive? I thought it had become relatively cheap. Sin City, a more complicated project by appearances, only cost $40 million and it featured a few well-known actors (admittedly working for small paychecks).

Bliiish!! - That's the sound of my head exploding there, Dennis. You've totally got my atention there and now you got ME curious. Mesir thinks that the Tapehead/Kaga signal should be put up in the sky or PM their attention to your post here as Zoners like them would know the answer, I'm sure. Ellen's too busy to save us now on this question so TAPHEAD/KAGA-ANYOONEEE - HEEELP UUUSSS!!!!!!!