North American box office: ‘Twilight’ doesn’t suckThe holiday weekend started early this year. These are the kinds of numbers we usually see over a long weekend, when kids are off from school and adults are off from work and everyone’s in a mood to see a movie, not a regular ol’ weekend, and particularly one over which, you might think, people are busy preparing for the upcoming holiday. But not only did the top movie do extraordinarily well, so did the next three below it: 1. Twilight: $69.6 million (NEW) actual numbers, not estimates It remains to be seen whether Twilight can hold onto such big numbers next week. The film had one of the all-time biggest Friday-to-Saturday drops -- almost 41 percent -- and it’s by far the biggest such drop among blockbuster-size openings. That suggests that fans rushed to see the flick on Friday. It doesn’t mean they won’t rush back to see the film again after their turkey dinner (you know no idea how much restraint it takes not to call Twilight a turkey -- oops, I just did it). Twlight doesn’t have any real competition among this weekend’s new films, so it will likely stick to the top of the box office. But by how wide a margin? I’m thinking, not much of one at all. Even with a 60 percent drop this weekend, Quantum of Solace broke $100 million without breaking a sweat. At a cost of $200 million, however (which seems like an awful lot for a non sci-fi movie), it’s going to have a tough time earning that back domestically. Worldwide, no problem -- it’s already surpassed $400 million across the planet. So no one will cry too much if it only reaches $150 million in the U.S. Indies are going strong and will continue to do so over the holiday weekend with still few options for grownups at the multiplexes. Per-screen, even Twilight couldn’t beat out the little pitbull that is Slumdog Millionaire. The top per-screen averages for the weekend: • Slumdog Millionaire: $29,619 on each of 32 screens The true indies will start getting a run for their money this weekend, as the studios start platforming their prestige releases throughout December in order to garner the attention of awards voters and pique the interest of mainstream audiences. The next three weeks, I predict, will be dominated, at least among the limited releases, by three movies drive by historical personalities: Milk, Che, and Frost/Nixon. Oscar time is upon us. [numbers via Box Office Mojo] support
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Tue Nov 25 08, 5:10PM categories: movie buzz permalink 4 pre-Disqus comments Disqus comments tip jarshare
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Bolt
box office Che Frost Nixon Lake City Madagascar Escape 2 Africa Milk Quantum of Solace Role Models Slumdog Millionaire Twilight related· DVDs and screeners received: ‘Body of Lies,’ ‘Lullaby,’ ‘Lake City,’ more · my week at the movies: ‘Frost/Nixon,’ ‘Quantum of Solace,’ and a lot of despair · giveaway: ‘Frost/Nixon’ prize pack · trailer break: ‘Frost/Nixon’ · North American box office: ‘Four Christmases’ holds strong over a weak weekend · North American box office: the Earth doesn’t stand still for ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ · North American box office: ‘Quantum of Solace’ nothing to grieve over · North American box office: ‘Marley & Me’ sits and stays at the top · my week at the movies: ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ ‘Role Models,’ ‘Milk,’ ‘Soul Men’ · North American box office: ‘Four Christmases’ kicks off the holiday season bloggyprevious post: trailer break: ‘Gran Torino’ next post: more site strangeness |
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pre-Disqus comments
posted by Left_Wing_Fox (Tue Nov 25 08, 9:51PM)
Still need to go see Bolt myself. I've been too busy obsessing over Wall-E on Blu-Ray to go see it though. ;)
posted by MaSch (Wed Nov 26 08, 6:01AM)
Hmm, I've got a question regarding my understanding of the English language:
For QoS earning back its cost domestically, wouldn't that mean that the movie would have to make $200 million in the UK (where you would have to calculate the amount of pounds, of course)?
Or is "domestically" always "domestically from the writer's point of view"?
posted by Barb (Wed Nov 26 08, 8:44AM)
I don't get it. If QoS has already made $400MM exUS, why the issue with earning back the cost of making the film. Wouldn't it already be considered having made up that cost?
As for Twilight, I still have no plans to see it. QoS was the only other movie I would have went to this year (if not for Harry Potter being moved to next year) but I'll wait until the Blu-Ray release.
posted by MaryAnn (Wed Nov 26 08, 1:39PM)
In my case, since I'm writing from, you know, my own point of view, I'm speaking from my own perspective. But also from that of the Hollywood studio that produced it. And yes, I know it's a joint U.S./U.K. production, but Hollywood tends not to think that way.
You're looking for logic and reason from Hollywood? Ha!
All I can imagine is that there's some sort of perceived premium, in the minds of studio execs, in a movie's performance in North American. Otherwise Hollywood would not make the distinction between "domestic" (ie, the U.S. and Canada) and "worldwide" (ie, all the rest of the planet) -- it would all just be "box office performance," period, with no distinctions between where the money was made.
It's crazy, I know. You'd think, especially when it comes to matters of money -- which is really all Hollywood cares about -- that they'd take the dough wherever they could get it and be happy. But this isn't how it is.
I don't endorse this schizophrenia, by the way. I'm just pointing it out.