We can’t say we’re too surprised. The tracking was poor and the buzz was non-existent, but the soft $3.8 million Wednesday opening for the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz starrer “Knight & Day” is even lower than what most people expected.
So what happened America? Where did the love go? You kind of freaked when Cruise made a surprise appearance at the MTV Movie Awards as Les Grossman. And it’s not like you didn’t show up in theaters for “Valkyrie” or “Mission: Impossible 3” (we’ll just throw “Lion For Lambs” into the category of Iraq movies no one sees anyway). Perhaps you were simply fatigued by the seemingly endless assassin/secret agent/special ops movies so far this summer like “The Losers,” “The A-Team” and “Killers.” And really, those movies were crap and we don’t entirely blame you for wanting to chance another $12 on this one (though on a half-price matinee, you could do far worse).
At the current rate, the film should finish its five-day opening with about $25 million; not great for a film budgeted over $100 million. As we mentioned yesterday, Cruise has been playing better overseas for his last few pictures, and Paramount, who have “Mission: Impossible 4” in development, will be watching those numbers more closely.
But is America really done with Tom Cruise? We don’t think so. Obviously, they are done with him playing “Tom Cruise” — and really, the best parts of “Knight & Day” are when he subverts his persona — but seem to enjoy the self-serious actor letting loose and having fun with turns like Les Grossman. It will be interesting to see how “Knight & Day” affects Cruise’s choices in the near future; we expect more Grossman-type characters and less Ethan Hunt-styled heroes.
Now watch as he slowly begins to phase into the character actor/director phase of his career.
I think it was Gabe Toro who mentioned the difficulty in marketing an action comedy — exacerbated here by the baggage Cruise carries from the past. It may do better abroad where they put greater emphasis on the action. I think Cruise will still strongly push for MI4 but with concessions.
The problem is that it opened on a Wednesday. You DO NOT open on a Wednesday unless there is some kind of pent-up demand for your picture. I know several casual moviegoers who very much want to see this. But they are all more than able to wait until the weekend to check it out. But by splitting a theoretically solid Friday opening day ($7-11 million?) into three lukewarm days, you create the appearance of failure before the weekend even starts.
The previews looked dumb and the jokes were boring in it, so I wouldn't be paying to watch this crap.
Ok, now officially annoyed. Thur totals do not mean anything. I plan to see the film with my FEMALE friends tomorrow…
Enough with the bad opening bs.
It wasn't bad to be honest…a little cheesy at times and the action involved too much green screen / CG bullshit….but it was funny and cool and not what I expected from the man who gave us "Walk The Line"
Julie, the opening probably means no one's gonna make a profit, which is what we're saying here.
Also, the trailer pretty much told you everything you need to know about the movie. Plus, the title sucked. Not a huge surprise.