JamesG
03-16-2009, 07:07 PM
Mountain High; Box Office Low
16 March 2009 2:32 AM, PDT
For once, the box-office prognosticators were right. After often defying predictions by showing a steep rise in revenue and attendance every week this year, ticket sales fell sharply over the weekend, with last week's winner, Watchmen, dropping a whopping 67 percent to $18 million, according to studio estimates.
Replacing it at the top was the Disney family film Race to Witch Mountain with about $25 million, a figure that was at the high end of forecasts.
The collapse of Watchmen, which reportedly cost $150-200 million to make, had been predicted by several analysts, who said that by attempting to remain faithful to the original graphic novel on which the movie was based, the filmmakers had mounted a dark, dense and overlong work that would satisfy few beyond the most ardent fans of the book.
Warner Bros. remained hopeful, however. In an interview with the New York Times, Dan Fellman, the studio's distribution chief, said, "There's been a history of movies that take a big hit in the second weekend and then settle in and do just fine." But analysts pointed out that there has been little history of superhero movies experiencing such a sharp drop-off in their second week. Only two, Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Hulk, experienced steeper falls.
Meanwhile, Universal's horror revival, The Last House on the Left, performed decently over the weekend, opening in third place with $14.7 million.
But the Fox Atomic comedy Miss March, came in like a lamb with just $2.4 million, barely making it into the top ten.
And the floor fell out from under Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience which dropped another 68 percent in its third weekend to just $906,000.
Overall, the box office total fell 16 percent from the comparable week a year ago, when Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who opened with $45 million.
It remains to be seen how the result will affect shares of the major movie exhibitors that many investors had begun to regard as recession-proof. (Shares in Regal Entertainment, the country's largest exhibitor, were up 20 percent last week.)
The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers:
1. Race to Witch Mountain, $25 million
2. Watchmen, $18.1 million
3. The Last House on the Left, $14.7 million
4. Taken, $6.7 million
5. Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail, $5.1 million
6. Slumdog Millionaire, $5 million
7. Paul Blart: Mall Cop, $3.1 million
8. He's Just Not That Into You, $2.9 million
9. Coraline, $3.3 million
10. Miss March, $2.4 million.
-IMDB News
16 March 2009 2:32 AM, PDT
For once, the box-office prognosticators were right. After often defying predictions by showing a steep rise in revenue and attendance every week this year, ticket sales fell sharply over the weekend, with last week's winner, Watchmen, dropping a whopping 67 percent to $18 million, according to studio estimates.
Replacing it at the top was the Disney family film Race to Witch Mountain with about $25 million, a figure that was at the high end of forecasts.
The collapse of Watchmen, which reportedly cost $150-200 million to make, had been predicted by several analysts, who said that by attempting to remain faithful to the original graphic novel on which the movie was based, the filmmakers had mounted a dark, dense and overlong work that would satisfy few beyond the most ardent fans of the book.
Warner Bros. remained hopeful, however. In an interview with the New York Times, Dan Fellman, the studio's distribution chief, said, "There's been a history of movies that take a big hit in the second weekend and then settle in and do just fine." But analysts pointed out that there has been little history of superhero movies experiencing such a sharp drop-off in their second week. Only two, Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Hulk, experienced steeper falls.
Meanwhile, Universal's horror revival, The Last House on the Left, performed decently over the weekend, opening in third place with $14.7 million.
But the Fox Atomic comedy Miss March, came in like a lamb with just $2.4 million, barely making it into the top ten.
And the floor fell out from under Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience which dropped another 68 percent in its third weekend to just $906,000.
Overall, the box office total fell 16 percent from the comparable week a year ago, when Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who opened with $45 million.
It remains to be seen how the result will affect shares of the major movie exhibitors that many investors had begun to regard as recession-proof. (Shares in Regal Entertainment, the country's largest exhibitor, were up 20 percent last week.)
The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers:
1. Race to Witch Mountain, $25 million
2. Watchmen, $18.1 million
3. The Last House on the Left, $14.7 million
4. Taken, $6.7 million
5. Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail, $5.1 million
6. Slumdog Millionaire, $5 million
7. Paul Blart: Mall Cop, $3.1 million
8. He's Just Not That Into You, $2.9 million
9. Coraline, $3.3 million
10. Miss March, $2.4 million.
-IMDB News