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Horror
High: The Other American Wedding
You can't
keep two bad men down. New Line's resurrected Freddy vs. Jason
enlivened weekend movie going as it scared up a pleasingly potent
estimated $36.3 million. Its performance was all the more surprising
as competition from new releases was fierce and resulted in generally
disappointing bows for three other freshman movies. NLC's specialty
arm Fine Line also got a shot of good news with a dynamic opening
round for its Sundance prized American Splendor in limited
exclusives.
Overall weekend
business was buoyant despite fears that the aftermath of power
outages in such centers as New York, Toronto, Detroit and Cleveland
would have significant impact on weekend viewing. The frame should
generate about $145 million in ticket sales for a 4% boost from
last weekend and a 37% rise from one year ago. In 2002, the second
weekend of xXx continued in top spot with the launch of
Blue Crush ranking third with $14.2 million.
The anecdotal
data pertaining to attendance in black out areas indicates noticeable
drops on Friday but upturns as the weekend progressed - akin to
the cabin fever syndrome. Toronto and Detroit experienced the
worst of it and, based on flash analysis, national business appears
to have taken a modest 5% hit due to the juice out.
The pairing
of venerable horror heavies from Nightmare on Elm Street
and Friday the 13th began as a gag but its opening clout
left its creators laughing … all the way to the bank. Though
roundly trounced as a cynical, sub-standard fright fest by critics,
it is a gimmick that worked commercially even with likely steep
box office drops in the coming weeks. Monday studio meetings will
be rife with ideas for future pairings that are likely to range
from Jaws vs. Cujo to Spy Kids vs. Cody
Banks and other very scary stuff.
The launch
of Open Range received considerable scrutiny entering the
weekend with pundits wondering chiefly if a western could bolster
actor-director Kevin Costner's career profile. Its near
$14 million third place slotting provides a mixed message. The
figure is low considering the media blitz accorded the picture
but one senses the film could linger in the marketplace long enough
to earn a respectable gross. And the sheer volume of attention
has to be an affirmation of interest in Costner.
The tub-thumping
for the cute comedy Uptown Girls resulted in no better
than fair results of $11.3 million while the teencentric Grind
was on the fast track to its second window video life with $2.6
million.
The $25,000
screen average from six venues for the critically lauded American
Splendor, a true film eccentric that mixes fact and fiction
on Crumb crony Harvey Pekar, bodes well for the
niche pic. However, with the announcement of Warner Independent
Pictures and a paucity of activity at Fine Line (it has Cannes
winner Elephant set for the fall but passed on its first
position option on Dogville) one wonders whether the label will
be allowed to gear up its activities to a competitive level with
other major specialized players.
The frame's
other limited bow, IDP's Passionada, failed to translate
thumbs up response to B.O. appeal. The quirky romantic comedy
grossed about $110,000 from 76 locations. Specialized expansions
of Le Divorce, Dirty Pretty Things, The Secret Lives of Dentists
and the non-fiction Step Into Liquid maintained commercial
stamina but the offbeat teen musical Camp was experiencing
signs of slowing.
Holdover titles
were generally keeping their ground with Disney's Pirates of
the Caribbean advancing to third place among the year's top
box office performers. It will have a considerable challenge to
close the $30 million edge second place Matrix Reloaded
presently enjoys.
When
$100 Million is Not Enough!
Creating an
amazing degree of buzz among distributors and exhibitors are current
and upcoming efforts to push Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
and The Italian Job to domestic tallies of more than
$100 million. Even reps of the studios involved have admitted
(off the record) that the effort to generate $5 million or less
at this late stage of theatrical exploitation is cost inefficient.
However, the
psychological drive to attain that figure is Pavlovian and irresistible
even if it's also bad business. And putting aside questionable
accounting and suspicions of phantom engagements, many efforts
- including the current Daddy Day Care - in reality fall
short of hitting 9-figures despite official studio reporting.
In truth,
films today have to gross between $105 million and $107 million
to reach a vaunted $100 million box office. No, it's not binary
mathematics. Somewhere between 7% and 11% of most domestic releases
gross comes from Canadian engagements but that part of the revenue
is reported at par with U.S. currency rather than converted to
its actual value. Of course, when it comes to profit participation,
Canuck bucks get their true due.
- by Leonard
Klady
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