Monday Morning Quarterback Part I

By BOP Staff

November 22, 2010

Merry Christmas!

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Bruce Hall: No. Not even close. If Tron:Legacy lives up to even half of the hype it will be a smash, but "smash" doesn't even come close to what Harry Potter has done to the box office over his career.

I am not going to try to nail down a figure, but I'll say that I see no reason to believe that this installment of the franchise will not be the most lucrative to date, and by a fair margin.

Brett Beach: I expect HP and the DH to make just about or slightly more than Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone (about $320 million, I am guessing). I think there may be some (but not a lot more) people who will jump on board for just the last one than opted to catch both cinematic parts of the final book. Tangled aside, it has the fantasy epic/"children's film" playing field all to itself until December 10th and should make 85-90 percent of its take by then.

As for challengers: there are really only two. Tron Legacy and Little Fockers. I still have no idea about Tron Legacy's final potential. Even with the generous holds that will occur because of IMAX and 3D and a big opening weekend take brought on by the curious, will this have the legs that are being seriously discussed and that would be amplified by the Christmas moviegoing madness? Better question: can a film with a score by Daft Punk break $150 million? Little Fockers looks more sentimental than Meet the Fockers but still nowhere near as funny than Meet the Parents. Still, once more to the well and over $200 million.




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David Mumpower: I agree with Brett (and Michael Lynderey in his end of 2010 forecast) that the two most likely competitors are Little Fockers and Tron Legacy. As has been mentioned, the Tron sequel remains a huge unknown. This is one of the most gorgeous looking movies ever made. Is it any good, though? The answer to that determines its overall finish and as Bruce astutely pointed out, if Tron winds up at $200 million, that is a magnificent performance yet one that would be the worst Potter performance by a full $50 million. The standards are different.

A question I got asked a lot last year was whether or not Avatar would beat Sherlock Holmes. That was a perfectly legitimate discussion topic at the time since Avatar was being kept hidden from the public until the end and Cameron himself has indicated that they were hoping for $275 million. Sherlock Holmes wound up with $209 million and that's a fantastic result in any scenario whatsoever unless we compare it to a film that makes around $760 million. The wild card was how great Avatar was going to be, an unknown factor prior to release. The same is true of Tron Legacy, which could be a masterpiece thanks to some late touches by BOP's beloved Brad Bird or it could be a shiny trainwreck. We just don't know yet.

The last three Potter films have all earned between $290 and $302 million. The seventh film is pacing about $25 million better thus far. So, we are left deciding whether Little Fockers or Tron Legacy has that type of oomph. If we inflation adjust Meet the Fockers to 2010 ticket pricing, we wind up with a staggering $340 million. Ergo, there is some legitimacy to the train of thought that it could pose a threat, but I'm dubious that such a derivative looking sequel could do that well. Then again, the same could be said of Meet the Fockers.

What I'm saying here is that I vote no. I think Potter takes the holiday box office season. Prove me wrong, Tron Legacy. And don't even think about it, you stupid Fockers.


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