Craig's MovieBlog

Breaking the Box Office Reality Distortion Field

Here's the piece from the New York Times for more info... 

So That Happened...

This weekend, as Shrek 3 became the 3rd biggest opening ever, and according to Dreamworks/Paramount, the biggest animated film of all time (I'm not so sure about that - did they see the acting in Spider-Man 3?), it also became the 8th film to make over $100 million in its opening weekend.  For what it's worth, I'm sure this list will have 10 films by the end of the summer after Pirates 3 and Harry Potter 5.

Here are the current top box office openings of all time, according to Box Office Mojo:

Spider-Man 3	$151,116,516
Pirates of the Caribbean 2	$135,634,554
Shrek the Third	$122,000,000
Spider-Man	$114,844,116
Star Wars - Episode III	$108,435,841
Shrek 2	$108,037,878
X-Men: The Last Stand	$102,750,665
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	$102,685,961

Looking at these films in a vacuum makes it hard to comprehend how huge they are.  Try and remember that most films don't make this much money if you add up their entire domestic, international, DVD/Video/Cable runs.  Try to remember that Batman changed the world when it had the first ever opening of $40 million way back in 1989.  Spidey 3 made almost 4 times that amount.  Inflation and rising ticket prices do NOT make up the difference.

I can't help but feel as is this is the Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire era of blockbuster movie openings, and I'm already numb to their impact.  I would love for someone with more time and smarter than I am to try and figure out who are the dealers, what is the steroid, who are the owners, and who are the players (all metaphorically, of course).  I'm ready for a Brady Anderson or Luis Gonzales to hit 50 home runs, but in the cinematic world.  Basically, when will a Rob Schneider/Andy Dick film open to $100 million?  Because at that point, I will be done at this restaurant, and I'm asking for my check.

I just have a few rhetorical questions:

• How has it become "boring" for a film to break $100 million on its opening weekend? 
• How in the world has it become commonplace for a film to open on over 4,000 screens? 
• And really, how in the world did X-Men 3 only make $234 million in its entire theatrical run after making $102 million in its first 3 days?!?!?  Fox should be embarrassed.

My one real question is: how did this all come to pass?  Who did the math to figure out the secret formula that would stack the deck completely in the favor of the tentpole films?  How did the stars align so that audiences, filmmakers, theater owners, and studios all arrived on the same page?  I can't even get my kids to follow me in the mall, much less even begin to understand how to align millions of people and organizations so that those gigantic numbers end up on the chart above.

Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man

Not only does Defamer have it, but so does Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, so it must be true.

I know my opinions matter about thismuch in the world, but for what it's worth, I absolutely love this casting.  I think it's brilliant.  Why?  Very simple.

Because Robert Downey Jr. can act the f*ck out of anything.  Go watch Chaplin.  Go watch Natural Born Killers, or even Good Night and Good Luck.  Shoot... go watch Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang - easily one of the best and most overlooked films of last year.  Just awesome stuff.  I won't even pretend to hide my enthusiasm for David Fincher's upcoming Zodiac with Downey, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Mark Ruffalo. 

Look at the superhero films that have had decent actors at their core: Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire, Batman Begins with Christian Bale, and this is a fantastic move. 

I can't speak for what it will do at the box office (relatively minor superhero character - not as well known to mainstream consumers, troubled celebrity with little box office success), but it's going to make Iron Man a better movie.

Now, it is true that Tony Stark (Iron Man's secret identity) happens to be an alcoholic... I'm just sayin'.

Big Box Office Roundup - Memorial Day Weekend 2006

Didn’t any of you stay home this weekend?  Even if you didn’t go to see X-Men: The Last Stand ($122.9 million), you certainly went to see The Da Vinci Code ($42.4 million) or Over the Hedge ($35.3 million).  According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, the top 12 movies this week grossed $187.6 million, the highest EVER for any weekend.  Clearly the big winner this weekend were studio executives and babysitters taking care of your kids while you went out.

Let’s start with the behemoth that is X-Men: The Last Stand.  By taking in $120.1 million for the four-day weekend and $103.1 million for the three-day weekend, it has garnered its fair share of records: The biggest Memorial Day weekend ever (Shrek 2 is now in 2nd with $95.6 million).

5th biggest four-day weekend ever:

	Title	Opening
1	Revenge of the Sith	$158,449,700
2	Spider-Man 2	$130,456,123
3	The Matrix Reloaded	$129,282,716
4	Spider-Man	$125,878,901
5	X-Men: The Last Stand	$120,125,000

4th biggest three-day opening weekend ever:

	Title	Weekend
1	Spider-Man	$114,844,116
2	Revenge of the Sith	$108,435,841
3	Shrek 2	$108,037,878
4	X-Men: The Last Stand	$103,125,000

4th biggest three-day opening ever (not just weekends):

	Title	Opening
1	Revenge of the Sith	$124,237,232
2	Spider-Man	$114,844,116
3	The Matrix Reloaded	$103,227,933
4	X-Men: The Last Stand	$103,125,000

2nd biggest single day and 2nd biggest opening day ever:

	Title	Daily Gross
1	Revenge of the Sith	$50,013,859
2	X-Men: The Last Stand	$45,500,000

Biggest Friday ever:

	Title	Friday Gross
1	X-Men: The Last Stand	$45,500,000
2	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	$40,118,363
3	Spider-Man	$39,406,872

10th biggest Saturday ever at $32.1 million.  Shrek 2 leads with $44.8 million.

8th biggest Sunday ever at $25.5 million.  Shrek 2 leads with $34.9 million.

6th biggest Monday ever at $17.0 million.  Spider-Man 2 leads with $27.7 million.

But besides X-Men, there was other news to report.  First of all, The Da Vinci Code did tremendously here in the States (another $42.4 million, bringing it to $144.9 million and 2nd for 2006) but it did even better overseas, losing very little business this week compared to its opening last week.  It’s about to break the $500 million mark for its worldwide total, and that’s just after being open for only 11 days.  Only 42 films have ever broken that mark in their entire run.

Secondly, Al Gore’s PowerPoint presentation on global warming which became a movie, An Inconvenient Truth, took in the highest average per screen total ever for a documentary, at $70,505 per screen in four theaters for a total of $365,787.  As a comparison, Fahrenheit 9/11 made $23.9 million opening weekend, on 868 screens, for an average of $27,558 per screen.

Finally, I want to get back to the big movies of the weekend for a moment.  Day by day, X-Men dropped and dropped, while Da Vinci and Over the Hedge held relatively steady.  While X-Men definitely won the weekend, and won each day of the weekend, check out this comparative chart that I threw together:

X-Men 3: 2nd Biggest Opening Day EVER

Wow.  I think that Wolverine spin-off has a pretty green light now.

Friday's total of a whopping $44.1 million is the 2nd biggest opening day ever, and the 3rd biggest single day ever.  What's happening to us?  I mean, there won't ever be enough hookers and starlets to satisfy Brett Ratner now.

According to Box Office Mojo, the numbers look like this:

SINGLE DAY GROSSES - OPENING DAY:

1. Star Wars Episode III - $50,013,859
2. X-Men: The Last Stand - $44,100,000
3. Spider Man 2 - $40,442,604
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - $40,118,363
5. Spider Man - $39,406,872

SINGLE DAY GROSSES - OVERALL:

1. Star Wars Episode III - $50,013,859
2. Shrek 2 - $44,797,042
3. X-Men: The Last Stand - $44,100,000
4. Spider Man - $43,622,264
5. Star Wars Episode III - $40,693,760

Comic Book Stand Guys - UNITE! (Spider-Man 3 photo)

The blogosphere exploded in drooling anticipation last night when Sony posted a picture rendered from Spider-Man 3, which revealed the web-slinger in an all black suit.  They also made a specific point on their site that the picture is not black & white, as if to make sure that everyone knew that the costume was really and truly, um, black.

That sent certain, oh shall we say, fanatics into an out-and-out frenzy, frothing about a character named Venom, which was really an alien symbiote from the Secret Wars, blah, blah, blah, I stopped caring minutes ago...  Dork.

I just hope the third movie isn't as cheesey as the first two.  I am shocked at how well they've been received, even from reviewers I respect.  The amount of speeches and endless blabbing by Dunst, Franco, Aunt May, ugh...  I truly believe that people wanted a Spider-Man movie so badly, they overlooked how boring these movies were.