Monday Morning Quarterback Part Two
By BOP Staff
June 15, 2006
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Kim Hollis: There were other openings this week (for once). The latest remake, Fox's The Omen, earned $15.5 million over the weekend and $35.7 million in six days. Was opening the film on Tuesday, aka 6-6-6, a smart marketing decision?
Tim Briody: It was freaking brilliant, since I thought it would be completely DOA.
David Mumpower: Given that it made $12.6 million of its $35.7 million on day one, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was rather clever. Like inventing the telephone clever.
Kim Hollis: Yup, otherwise we'd be looking at a $20 million opener with typical horror film drop next weekend, in my opinion. If you're gonna have a gimmick, this is a great one.
David Mumpower: There legitimately might be a decade go by before we see another movie whose biggest day is on a Tuesday. The only concern I have about the project is that its reported budget is $60 million. That seems...ostentatious.
Tim Briody: I was highly amused by the "BIGGEST TUESDAY OPENING EVER!" press release. That has to be a short list.
David Mumpower: That's a hysterical point, Tim. That's like being the most successful movie to start with the letter Z.
Tim Briody: Zoolander!
Suspense, laughter, violence. Hope, heart, nudity, sex. Happy endings. Mainly happy endings.
Kim Hollis: Robert Altman's latest, A Prairie Home Companion, opened to $4.7 million at 760 venues. For an Altman film, this is pretty strong, isn't it?
Tim Briody: I can't name the last film of his that hit the top ten, so sure!
Kim Hollis: Given the small-scale release and the fact that it appeals to a fairly erudite audience, I think the opening is exemplary.
David Mumpower: I agree that it's a strong opening relative to Altman and particularly given it's a new distributor, Picturehouse. The one caveat here is that this has the largest innate awareness of any project he has done since MASH save arguably The Gingerbread Man, a John Grisham work.
Kim Hollis: Or Popeye, I would say.
David Mumpower: You're right, of course. I always forget that disaster was Altman.
Kim Hollis: Hey, I love that disaster.
BOP coins a new phrase: Anti-Rom-Com. Patent pending.
Kim Hollis: The Break-Up didn't hold up as well as had been hoped. The movie earned another $20.5 million, a 48% decline from last weekend. Why is this heavily female-skewing romantic comedy not behaving like other movies in the genre?
Tim Briody: Opening weekend was a such a huge breakout that we throw the rule book out on this one. If it were in the $20-30 million range, it would have behaved more like Failure to Launch. It's still a huge success, though.
David Mumpower: Tim makes a great point. Its second weekend total is what most analysts were predicting its first weekend would be. Even so, I am a bit surprised by this behavior. It's clear that word-of-mouth is not this movie's friend.
Kim Hollis: Also, it's not really a typical rom-com. The Break-Up is really more of an anti-rom-com and you have to presume that people had started to hear about it.
Tim Briody: Seriously. Would you really want to bring a first date to a movie called "The Break-Up?"
Kim Hollis: *movie ends* Yeah, like, see you later and stuff.
David Mumpower: What I like about the premise is that it natural spawns twin sequels, The Rebound (Her) and The Rebound (Him).