Because bad buzz surrounds any studio that doesn’t hit a home run these days, Universal has been getting negative press about an inadequate summer, even though from the outset, they weren’t planning on hitting many home runs in the first place, going under the radar with a number of medium-to-low profile projects. Their summer winner “Public Enemies” will slide in at $200 million worldwide, while “Bruno” remained a major profit earner despite falling off after that first weekend. Most of the skepticism concerned not the immense failure of “Land of the Lost” but the troubling prospects of Judd Apatow’s “Funny People.”
While the movie opened to #1, it’s $23.4 million is significantly lower than “Knocked Up”‘s $30 million opening, and only slightly ahead of “The 40 Year Old Virgin”‘s $21 million. However, Apatow’s films keep costs down, and while this is still a non-Apatowian $75 million budget, his films always had legs, so unless audiences completely and totally reject it, Universal is in the clear. They may rely on international numbers, however, and while Adam Sandler’s global fanbase isn’t as immense as other stars, it should help the film get into the black. Still, kind of a disappointment, since many figured Sandler’s star would get Apatow into the stratosphere of big time directors, when its opening isn’t anywhere in the ballpark of the average Sandler opener.
It was a photo finish for #2 as kidflicks “Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince” and “G Force” battled it out. The boy wizard scored $17.7 million to run its total to $255 million, while “Force” landed with $17.1 and a $66 cume. “The Ugly Truth” took an over-50% tumble to land at #4 with $13 million, while Fox performed yet another dump, shuffling “Aliens In The Attic” to a quick death at #5 with $7.8 million.
With the rest of the list, “Orphan” is on its way towards squeezing out a minor profit, while “Ice Age” runs it’s total to $182 million, with $190 in its sights. “The Hangover” and “The Proposal,” meanwhile, continue to survive like cockroaches during an apocalypse. The Vegas comedy actually lapped the rom-com last week, and it only fell 21% with $5 million, taking its total to $256, while “Proposal” will hit $150 by midweek. Both were able to lap the “Transformers” sequel, which tops out at $388 million this week, and will limp to $400. If only the rest of us could limp like that.
Freestyle Releasing didn’t have the muscle to promote “The Collector” too much, as it ended up debuting at #11 on a little over 1000 screens, while the biggest indie opening of the weekend aside from the horror picture was the unbearable looking Asperger’s romance “Adam,” which scored a $16k per screen average on four screens for a $66k gross. “The Cove” did slightly less, $55k, in four theaters, a nosehair ahead of Park Chan-Wook’s “Thirst” on the same amount of screens. Sony Pictures Classics, meanwhile, released the Dardenne Brothers’ “Lorna’s Silence” to six screens for a $36k gross. None look likely to achieve the indie success of “500 Days Of Summer” or “The Hurt Locker.” “Summer” did $2.7 million on 266 screens, while “Locker” pulled in $1.9 million in 523. In its sixth week, “Locker” has grossed $6.8 million, which isn’t as much as “Aliens In The Attic” did in its first three days. This movie should be having $10 million weekends regularly- what the hell is wrong with you, Summit?
1. Laugh Until You Get Cancer!- $23.4 million
2. Harry Potter And The Something Or Other- $17.7 million/$255 mil.
3. G-Force- $17.1 million/$66 mil.
4. The Ugly Truth- $13 million/$54 mil.
5. Aliens In The Attic- $7.8 million
6. Orphan- $7.3 million/$27 mil.
7. Ice Age III: Annihilation- $5.3 million/$182 mil.
8. Tha Hangova- $5.1 million/$256 mil.
9. Tha Praposa- $4.9 million/$149 mil.
10. Transformas: Revengin’ Da Fallin’- $4.6 million/$388 mil.
im really fucking mad about funny people not doing better. it was bad marketing if you ask me. and the ugly truth making more opening weekend is a huge slap in the face.
I too think the billboards and print ads could have done a whole lot better than, "Hugs: The Movie."
Good points on Universal and Summit. None of Universal's movies was supposed to have Pirates of the Caribbean numbers.
And why the slow roll-out of Hurt Locker? It should be on at least 1000 screens. I've seen some tv commercials, but unless Summit Entertainment plan to fly audiences to a city with more than 1million people I can't see it.
As for Sandler's foreign appeal, Apatow's is even less.
the posters for the movie were piss fucking poor. boring bland. kill me. fuck universal. everything GE owns is bankrupt.
You people need to sign your posts on this blog. 5 days ago, you're extolling the virtues of "Adam" and now you're calling it unbearable-looking. Names, por favor!
I haven't actually seen "Adam," but the other Playlister who did had his name on his post. I'm sure he has his reasons, but for me, that trailer was nails-on-chalkboard. When's Hugh Dancy gonna be in a watchable movie?
I want Apatow to keep making films, but honestly, I think he needs to be reeled in a bit. Funny People could have been and should have been half as long as it was. 40 Year Old Virgin was a tight movie that lost nothing (and was actually better) for being under two hours (the original cut, at least). Maybe the poor opening will show him people don't want to devote an entire afternoon or evening to a comedy.
I couldn't agree more on Hurt Locker. It's one of the best films of the year.
Does anyone know if Hurt Locker is going to get a European release? I really want to see it on the big screen!
funny people…doesn't look funny. the trailers i've seen make it look like a serious drama kinda flick. its turned me off even though the cast sounds entertaining. might catch it next weekend…
Yeah, god forbid a comedy try and be a little serious at times. It wasn't that funny! Uhh, it wasn't supposed to be a comedy through and through?
Summit still needs to promote The Hurt Locker more. The slow roll out is fine as long as they continue to market it.
Ps, with Public Enemies at $127,934,329 worldwide and it probably leaving theaters in a few short weeks, i'm sure $200 million is way overstating the case. It's in over 25 countries too. Though i suppose there's still the UK, Australia and Japan to go. Still seems like a high #.