View Full Version : America chooses comedy over tragedy at the box office.


Brian Damage
04-30-2006, 10:52 PM
1 RV ---$16,400,000
2 United 93---$11,605,000
3 Stick It--- $11,255,000

James"Thunder"Early
04-30-2006, 11:06 PM
Alot of people just aren't ready to see a movie about the attacks yet. I figured it wouldn't be number 1

Brian Damage
04-30-2006, 11:08 PM
I guess I am a little surprised. After all the main stream publicity, I figured it would at least make more money than it did on its opening weekend.

retrochick9
04-30-2006, 11:56 PM
I'll take a comedy over a tragedy EVERY TIME!!!!!!

Mr. Television
05-01-2006, 12:16 AM
A lot of people just aren't ready to relive it.

comedyfreak
05-01-2006, 05:09 AM
Here's the totals:

Audiences hit the road with Robin Williams as his family-vacation romp "RV" opened at No. 1 with $16.4 million, while the acclaimed Sept. 11 drama "United 93" debuted with $11.6 million.

Studio estimates Sunday had Universal Pictures' "United 93" in second place, just ahead of Disney's sports comedy "Stick It," which premiered with $11.3 million. Those rankings could change once final numbers are released Monday.

The weekend's other new wide release, Lionsgate's spelling-bee drama "Akeelah and the Bee," was No. 8 with $6.25 million

The 20th Century Fox release "RV" was expected to debut on top, but "United 93" had been an unknown quantity, with Hollywood analysts wondering whether movie-goers were ready to relive the horrors of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"It's not about the positioning of the film. It's about the fact that the American public spoke out," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal Pictures. "This is a wonderful result. What they said was that it wasn't too soon for a film about Sept. 11."

Married couples accounted for just over half the "United 93" audience, and 71 percent of viewers were 30 and older, according to Universal.

With painstaking authenticity, "United 93" recounts the horrific end of passengers who fought back against their hijackers aboard one of the commandeered planes, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

Families of those killed aboard Flight 93 cooperated with director Paul Greengrass ("The Bourne Supremacy," "Bloody Sunday"), who re-creates the experiences of passengers and air-traffic controllers in a documentary-style drama. "United 93" earned widespread praise from critics.

Shot on a modest budget of $15 million, "United 93" should easily turn a profit once theatrical, television and DVD revenues are tallied. Universal said it will donate 10 percent of the first weekend's grosses to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.

Playing in 1,795 theaters, about half as many as "RV," "United 93" averaged a solid $6,462 a cinema, the best results among the top-10 movies.

"We can now kind of put to bed any idea that people are not ready to see this type of movie. The numbers speak for themselves," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Coming this August is Hollywood's second Sept. 11 dramatization, Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center," starring Nicolas Cage in the story of two Port Authority policemen trapped in the rubble of the twin towers.

"RV," starring Williams as a dad taking his family on a slapstick-filled vacation, debuted in 3,639 theaters and averaged $4,507. The gymnastics tale "Stick It," starring Missy Peregrym and Jeff Bridges, averaged $5,523 in 2,038 theaters.

Overall business rose for the sixth-straight weekend, with the top-12 movies taking in $90.7 million, up 12 percent from the same weekend last year. After a big slump in 2005, attendance is running 4 percent ahead of last year's, with Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible III" opening Friday and kicking off what is expected to be a huge summer at the movies.

Weekend Box Office Estimates (U.S.)
This Wk Last Wk Title Dist. Weekend Gross Cumulative
Gross Rlse
Wks # of
Theaters
1 - RV Sony Pictures Releasing $16,400,000 $16,400,000 1 3639
2 - United 93 N/A $11,605,000 $11,605,000 1 1795
3 - Stick It Buena Vista Pictures Distribution $11,255,000 $11,255,000 1 2038
4 1 Silent Hill TriStar Pictures $9,300,000 $34,231,000 2 2932
5 2 Scary Movie 4 The Weinstein Company , Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Dimension Films $7,808,000 $78,171,000 3 3418
6 3 The Sentinel 20th Century Fox Distribution $7,600,000 $25,541,000 2 2851
7 4 Ice Age: The Meltdown 20th Century Fox $7,050,000 $177,708,000 5 3122
8 - Akeelah and the Bee Lions Gate Releasing $6,250,000 $6,250,000 1 2195
9 5 The Wild Walt Disney Pictures $4,719,000 $28,430,000 3 2605
10 6 The Benchwarmers Sony Pictures Releasing $4,400,000 $52,782,000 4 2695
11 10 Friends With Money Sony Pictures Classics $2,173,000 $8,177,000 4 1010
12 8 Inside Man Universal Pictures Distribution $2,051,000 $84,435,000 6 1294

Janice
05-03-2006, 01:55 PM
I thought it would open better myself; however, it's playing in only half the theaters as RV.

I think United 93 will slowly attract viewers. Some have their minds made up to never see it, while others are still deciding. Then there's people like me, who plan on seeing it, but are trying to muster the courage to get to the theater.

The critics love it. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/united_93/

While they hate RV. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1156340-rv/

If word of mouth counts for anything, I think United 93 will do fine when all is said and done. Drudge has it on his site today as doing better than RV. Not in total numbers, but daily.

It will probably go through the roof in DVD sales too, when the time comes.