1. The Hobbit - $36.7M - $149.85M
2. Jack Reacher - $15.6M - $15.6M
3. This Is Forty - $12M - $12M
4. Rise of the Guardians - $5.9M - $79.6M
5. Lincoln - $5.6M - $116.7M
6. The Guilt Trip - $5.3M - $7.4M
7. Monsters Inc 3D - $5M - $6.5M
8. Skyfall - $4.7M - $279.7M
9. Life of Pi -$3.8M - $76.1M
10. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - $2.6M - $281.6M
Welcome to the first mini box office report. It's been a busy few days,
we've already had two major releases on Wednesday (The Guilt Trip,
Monsters Inc 3D) which were joined by three more on Friday in the guise
of Jack Reacher, This is Forty and Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away. The
well-reviewed Zero Dark Thirty also made its debut at five theatres
while The Impossible opened at fifteen. Being so close to the holidays,
all the new and existing releases had to contend with not only each
other but festive shopping and travelling this weekend, though the
coming week should be lucrative for all.
As expected, our number one film this weekend is The Hobbit. It had
opened well last frame, making $84.6M, but signs of heavy
front-loading and disappointing word of mouth began to surface as early
as its first Saturday. The Peter Jackson directed flick hit $100M on
Tuesday, day five of its release - which was quicker than both
Fellowship and Two Towers, but slower than Return of the King. As of
Thursday night, the prequel had made $113M and remained largely
unaffected by new Wednesday releases The Guilt Trip and Monters Inc 3D.
By day 7, the final Lords movie was sitting on a $150M total, though its
worth noting that that film did open on a Wednesday and not a Friday.
Furthermore, some are saying that The Hobbit should be taken as the
first part in a new trilogy and hence comparisons with the final part in
a well established franchise aren't quite fair (Similar to The Amazing
Spider-Man back in the summer). Taken as a new film, The Hobbit is
performing ahead of Fellowship of the Rings, which had made $94M in its
first seven days (without the aid of 3D ticket prices). On its second
Friday, The Hobbit plunged 73% on its opening day figure, making $10M in
the process. That fall is much higher than the film needed at this
early stage but there was increased competition in the guise of Jack
Reacher and This is Forty, along with the aforementioned (and
inevitable) front-loading effect. Things improved as the weekend began
proper, with a much stronger Saturday figure. From their Wednesday
debuts to the same day the following week, the original trilogy fell
33%, 52%, 78% (though Return of the King's eighth day fell on Christmas
Eve, which partly explains that huge fall). Their actual weekend to
weekend falls were much more acceptable - something that The Hobbit
can't claim as it made $36.7M in total this frame, an overall fall of
56%. After ten days, that brings the film's running total to $149.85M,
leaving it with some work to do over the holiday week if it wants to
push toward $275M domestically. Yet even with that overall fall, The
Hobbit is far from a disappointment - especially considering it had a
global total of more than $250M before the weekend even began. There's
also the holiday period to come, which should see the film make a lot
more money than it would during a conventional week.
Our first new release this weekend is Jack Reacher, the Tom Cruise
thriller based on the Lee Child book, One Shot. Cruise plays the titular
character, an ex-military police officer who now lives off the radar.
When five people are killed by a sniper, the man arrested for the crime
pleads his innocence and requests to talk to Reacher. However, he's
already on his way to investigate, knowing something about the shooting
doesn't add up. Cruise was seen as an odd (and controversial) choice to
play Child's character, given that he is described by the author as
being 6 foot 5 inches tall and weighing between 210-250lbs. The film
marks director Christopher McQuarrie second time behind the camera, his
first being the 2000 action thriller The Way of the Gun. Joining Cruise
would be Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins and famed director Werner
Herzog. Reviews were initially very positive but begin to dip as more
critics weighed in with their opinion (It currently has a Rotten
Tomatoes rating of 61%). On Friday, the picture opened to $5.1M, the
best of the new releases but no doubt affected by the time of the year
and the competition (The Hobbit and This is Forty specifically). By the
end of the weekend it had added a further $10.5M, to give it a three day
total of $15.6M. That's an ok figure but likely on the lower end of
expectations. The $60M budgeted picture needs to build on that start
over the coming holiday week if it is to avoid disappointment,
especially with Django Unchained waiting in the wings for a Christmas
day release.
This is Forty is a spin-off movie featuring characters who appeared in
Knocked Up, Judd Apatow's 2007 comedy hit. Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann
reprise their roles of husband and wife duo, Pete and Debbie, with
Apatow once again in the director's chair - the first time since 2009's
disappointing Funny People. The film catches up with the characters as
they approach forty and decide to make some changes in their lifestyle
and relationship, discovering that it isn't always for the better.
Joining Rudd and Mann are Chris O'Dowd, Megan Fox, Jason Segal (Also
reprising his Knocked Up role), along with Apatow and Mann's real-life
daughters, Maude and Iris. Reviews were cut straight down the middle,
with roughly half of critics enjoying the film. This is Forty didn't
have the comedy market all to itself this weekend as The Guilt Trip
(starring Apatow alumni Seth Rogen) opened on Wednesday, though its
negligible how much competition it actually provided. During its first
day on release, Forty made $3.7M, slotting into third place and putting
it on track to be the director's lowest opener (thought admittedly, this
is his first non-summer release). All told this weekend, the comedy
made a slightly disappointing $12M - less than half of what Knocked Up
made during its first frame. It should find itself boosted over the
Christmas period, which will help cover its $35M production budget, but
may leave it struggling to surpass Funny People's $51M finish.
Rise of the Guardians managed to keep ahead of Monsters Inc. 3D and The
Guilt Trip, but all told, there was less than $200K separating them on
Friday. The Dreamworks animated release has managed to pick up some
festive business (and should continue to now that school is out) but it
will be unlikely to save it from relative failure in North America. This
weekend it managed to make $5.9M, bringing its overall total to $79.6M.
Overseas it is fairing slightly better, having made $120M as of last
Thursday.
Lincoln, now in its seventh weekend on general release, continues to
impress. It managed a $1.4M Friday total on its way to a three day
figure of $5.6M (a 20% fall on its last frame). That gives the Daniel
Day-Lewis picture a cumulative gross of $116.7M and puts it within
grasping distance of Hook, Spielberg's 14th most successful film.
Our second comedy release this week is The Guilt Trip, starring Barbara
Streisand and Seth Rogen. When Inventor Andrew Brewster stops by his
mother's house before embarking on an epic road trip, he finds himself
inviting her along for the ride - and on a mission to not only sell his
new invention but to potentially reunite his mother with her lost love.
Ann Fletcher, who cut her teeth on Step Up, 27 Dresses and The Proposal
directed The Guilt Trip and it marks Streisand's first lead role since
1996's The Mirror Has Two Faces. Hype had been kept fairly low key on
this one, at least initially, while reviews weren't anything to write
home about (36% at Rotten Tomatoes). Opening on Wednesday, the film
barely bested the near-seven week old Lincoln, making $1M. Thursday was
no different and by Friday, with This Is Forty added to the mix, The
Guilt Trip saw just $1.4M. By Sunday night, it had made just $3.9M more,
for a three day total of $5.3M ($7.4M since release). There really
isn't any way to write this up other than as a failure - even with a
modest budget of $40M attached. It may pick up business over the coming
week, but it will also face more comedy competition on Christmas Day
thanks to the Billy Crystal/Better Middler flick, Parental Guidance.
Like The Guilt Trip, Monsters Inc. 3D opened on Wednesday. The Pixar
film, which made $255M during its initial release back in 2001, is the
latest in a line of planned 3D re-releases which has so far included
Finding Nemo and Toy Story 1 & 2. Out to 2,618 locations, the film
struggled on opening day, making $778K (partly due to schools still
being in session). With competition from Rise of the Guardians and
Wreck-It Ralph, the Pixar flick managed only $1.3M on Friday, as it
headed toward a poor weekend total of $5M ($6.5M since Wednesday).
Finding Nemo 3D did fair better back in September but the performance of
Monsters Inc. 3D once again shows a growing public apathy to these kind
of re-releases (which generally serve as an advert for the film's
inevitable 3D debut on Blu-Ray). Add in the 3D ticket surcharge, and the
fact that Monster Inc. has long been available in the home (albeit not
in 3D) and one begins to see why the public favour a new family film
over a re-release, even when said film is something of a modern classic.
Like Rise of the Guardians, Monsters Inc will pick up business in the
coming week, but is unlikely to make more than $25M-30M during its run.
Faced with competition from Jack Reacher, Skyfall dropped down to eighth
place this weekend, making $4.7M in the process. The most successful
James Bond film in history now has a staggering 45 day gross of $279M. A
domestic finish of around $295M looks to be on the cards, with another
$700M+ overseas (Skyfall is yet to open in the increasingly lucrative
Chinese market).
Life of Pi looks to be heading for a $85-90M domestic finish and
continues to play well abroad too, especially in China and India. Made
for around $120M, the Ang Lee adaptation of Yann Martel's novel has a
worldwide figure approaching $220M
Breaking Dawn Part 2 made $2.6M this weekend, bringing its overall
domestic total to $281.6M. That means it has pushed ahead of its 2011
predecessor to become the third most successful film in the series. Only
New Moon ($296M) and Eclipse ($300M) now stand in its way, but it may
ultimately find their totals just out of reach. In terms of worldwide
figures, Breaking Dawn Part 2 has now made $794M.
Failing to crack the top ten is the 3D concert movie, Cirque Du Soleil:
Worlds Away. The picture is made up of sequences from several Cirque Du
Soleil shows, sewn into a plot involving a girl visiting a circus. Out
to 840 theatres, the picture failed to gain much public attention (not
helped by its erratic screening schedule which saw some theatres
exhibiting the film just twice a day), making $802K on Friday as it
headed toward a $2.1M weekend finish.
The award-winning (and controversial) Zero Dark Thirty debuted at 5
locations on Wednesday and has since made a stunning $639K. The film,
chronicling the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, expands wide in early January.
Finally, The Impossible, a true-life drama starring Naomi Watts and Ewan
McGregor set during the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami, made $138K from its
fifteen locations. The film has already seen release in a number of
overseas locations, including Spain, where it set a new opening weekend
record.
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