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Polly
Wolly Doodle All Weekend
Along Came
Polly and the rest followed. The Ben Stiller-Jennifer Aniston
romantic comedy arrived in theaters Friday to reviews that ranged
from tepid to vitriolic and the public flocked to get a dose of
low brow humor. The film was a clear winner with an estimated
$32.8 million for the four-day Martin Luther King holiday frame.
The debut
was the biggest for a January arrival and that, sadly, tells a
lot about the sort of films that traditionally open at the start
of a new year. It also once again underlines the old saw about
movie going being product driven and how a popular title will
perform regardless of its position on the calendar.
However, despite
its heady bow and in light of two other disappointing national
arrivals, overall business declined by roughly 9% from 2003 when
Just Married led the field with a $17.5 million weekend. The
holiday span should generate about $137 million and that's roughly
9% better than last weekend's ticket sales.
Second spot
was a much closer tussle between The Lord of the Rings: The
Return of the Kings and Big Fish with early estimates
favoring the former by a whisker and at $12.6 million. Actuals
could well tell a different tale Tuesday.
Torque
was neither fast nor furious as it entered the marketplace lapped
by the competition with an estimated $11.8 million weekend. It
was uninspired programmer fare with dim hopes of recreating the
commercial potency of films that inspired its production. Still
it functioned on a couple of pistons which is a demonstrably better
fate than was accorded Disney's animated Teacher's Pet
that sputtered into an unlucky 13th place finish with $3.2 million.
It was a grim fate for the family imprimatur that has experienced
lower than anticipated response to its most recent in-house productions.
The period
also saw a trio of films - Something's Gotta Give, The Last
Samurai, The Cat in the Hat - climb past $100 million. But
only the Keaton-Nicholson romantic comedy has the utz of a commercial
success. A recent piece on Samurai outlined how the film would
make back its money and quoted Warner Bros.' pictures co-president
Alan Horn as characterizing its domestic theatrical performance
as "disappointing." Cat also came with the sort of hefty
price tag that makes its box office not quite enough and ancillary
revenues all important.
The weekend
also provided a couple of niche newcomers in limited openings.
The Japanese anime Tokyo Godfathers grossed about $36,000
from eight engagements while Crimson Gold from Iran rendered $17,500
from two screens. Both results were respectable if undistinguished.
Continuing
limited release titles appeared to be biding time until the announcement
of Oscar nominees on January 27. Films including In America,
House of Sand and Fog and 21 Grams are all in that
precarious state of a virtual death sentence should they be excluded
from the party and no guarantee of a second wind at the box office
even if they corral nominations in key categories. However, if
audience interest is any sort of bellwether, the makers of Monster
and Girl with a Pearl Earring have the best reason to be
optimistic about the future.
A
Few Notes About Foreign Gross
Unlike the
domestic marketplace, tracking the rest of the world's film business
is less precise. The reasons are not simply acquiring accurate
figures for such problematic territories as India, Russia and
China though it's a significant factor in calculations.
Tracking North
American box office has evolved in the past decade from being
able to profile 95% of activity to a near perfect 99% handle on
business. There's no question that identifying revenues from international
markets has also improved demonstrably but the survey from which
current assessments are made likely represents between 88% and
90% of overseas box office. As a result, comparisons are based
on comparable annual samplings and whereas 2003 domestic revenues
increased less than 1%, foreign box office improved by better
than 5%.
International
business is still only slightly better than in the U.S. and Canada
and there's little indication that the gap between the two will
grow more than a couple of percent on an annual basis. The Hollywood
majors dominate worldwide with only Japan, India, South Korea
and France demonstrating competitive and on-going strength at
home. International sales companies including Intermedia, Lakeshore
and Summit continue to live and die based on annual slates that
continue to erode as a result of studios increasingly partnering
with other studios.
It should
also be noted that figures for both Buena Vista and Warner Bros.
International tend to blur because of activity by their respective
sisters Miramax and New Line. Both parents distribute films from
their affiliates in key territories but for purposes of divvying
up market share, the chart generally credits revenues on the basis
of which company serves as the sales agent. It is admittedly imperfect
and other methods could result in individual market shares varying
by as much as +/- 2%.
- by Leonard
Klady
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