The Antipodean

Here's the early b.o. #'s from www.deadline.com/hollywood

http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/firs...re/#more-32914

1. Kick-Ass (Lionsgate) NEW [3,065 Theaters]
Friday $7.5M, Estimated Weekend $19M

2. Death At A Funeral (Screen Gems/Sony) NEW [2,459 Theaters]
Friday $5.6M, Estimated Weekend $17.5

3. Date Night (Fox) Week 2 [3,380 Theaters]
Friday $5.4M (-40%), Estimated Weekend $17.5M, Estimated Cume $48.8M

4. Train Your Dragon 3D DreamWorks Animation/Paramount) Week 4 [3,825 Theaters]
Friday $4.3M, Estimated Weekend $15.5M, Estimated Cume $154M

5. Clash Of The Titans 3D (Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,753 Theaters]
Friday $4.2M, Estimated Weekend $14.5M, Estimated Cume $131.5M

6. The Last Song (Disney) Week 3 [2,767 Theaters]
Friday $1.9M, Estimated Weekend $5.4M, Estimated Cume $49.5M

7. Why Did I Get Married Too (Lionsgate) Week 3 [1,859 Theaters]
Friday $1.2M, Estimated Weekend $3.8M, Estimated Cume $54.5M

8. Hot Tub Time Machine (UA/MGM) Week 4 [2,308 Theaters]
Friday $1.0M, Estimated Weekend $2.8M, Estimated Cume $41.7M

9. Bounty Hunter (Sony) Week 5 [2,475 Theaters]
Friday $975K, Estimated Weekend $2.8M, Estimated Cume $60M

10. Alice In Wonderland 3D (Disney) Week 7 [2,024 Theaters]
Friday $940K, Estimated Weekend $3.2M, Estimated Cume $323.6M

The Antipodean

Sorry Kick-Ass isn't doing astounding but having seen it a couple weeks ago it's a hard sell to the non-geek, non-male audience -- I quite liked it but sure wouldn't take my 6-year-old boy to see it for instance! And it's not in 3D which apparently everything has to be in these days. Anyway, with a fairly low budget it's going to make money back easily....

The Bus

$19MM is pretty good for Kick-Ass. Did anyone expect it to make $50MM opening weekend?

Deftones

I think I read Kick Ass was independently financed and only cost about $50 million to make, so if that's true, a near $20 million opening is decent.

Artman

Most studios were estimating close to 30, so 19 is definitely underwhelming. Word of mouth should be decent, so it could make it to 50-60 domestic. Still probably not enough for the sequel fans are wanting...

Solid Snake

And then DVD/BD sales should help them out pretty well.

Hokeyboy

I don't see KICK-ASS doing more than $45 million or so overall. Other than the fanboy/movie dick/ultra violence crowd, there's no interest. Plus IMO it's pretty average with no immediate replay value.

Will it end up being profitable? Probably, but not a hit.

Defiant1

I think Scott Pilgrim should adjust its projections downwards as a result. The two movies are targeted at the exact same audience.

islandclaws

I didn't know they were high to begin with. It looks terrible (which I hate to say bc I'm a Wright fan), Cera's leading films rarely break out, and it's already targeting a niche demographic.

Adam Tyner

I don't know how it'll play with audiences at large, but the response from the early Scott Pilgrim screenings has been astronomically positive. In a bunch of the more negative reviews of Kick Ass that I've read, the writers made it a point to mention how much better suited Edgar Wright would've been as a director there and why they're hoping for Scott Pilgrim to deliver what Kick Ass couldn't.

I can't imagine that Scott Pilgrim will be R-rated either, so that should play in its favor box-office wise too.

islandclaws

Kick-Ass had negative early screening reviews? Almost everything I read was overwhelmingly positive. So much so that I'm lowering my expectations a bit for whenever I catch it since I doubt it's that good. I see Scott Pilgrim opening to around $13-15m.

E. Honda

I saw it tonite and loved it. Mindless, yet fun. It's almost as if Watchmen and Napoleon Dynamite had a love child.

Draven

78% on Rotten Tomatoes and it'll make it's budget back by next weekend. And it will sell like gangbusters on Blu-ray/DVD.

No reason NOT to have a sequel.

Matthew Chmiel

As someone who saw the film over a month ago in a 1,500+ seat theater with no empty seats, the entire crowd ate Kick-Ass up.

A lot of people in the industry were expecting this to have a $30 million opening weekend; but I feel if the film was released a month or two ago when the hype was at its peak, I feel it could've come close to (if not met or surpassed) that expectation.

I really want a sequel, so I'm hoping word-of-mouth spreads. Everyone I know has adored the flick; this includes my film snob friends. The only places I've seen or read negative reviews are from film critics.

Artman

Looks like Dragon took the wknd with 20mill...

Osiris3657

Where are people getting these random budget numbers? It's 30 million, end of discussion.

Patman

Doesn't this sort of feel like the same BO trajectory of "Serenity", lots of rabid fans loved the advanced screenings, and sought them out, but then the release weekend comes, and Joe Q. Public hasn't the foggiest idea what the film's about, and the marketing of the film is undermined by the underaged money shots (Hit Girl's violent action scenes), where the marketing shouldn't be marketing to young girls (since it's rated R), but does the general public really get revved up to go see an underaged girl do the ultraviolence, and watch "non-powered" costumed vigilantes run around like they are in a Benny Hill skit (a la the trailers with the focus of pouring in the music, and showing the characters laughing it up on a night of "patroling the city"). And then the movie pulls in less than expectations, not quite performing as poorly as "Snakes on a Plane", but still, so much "internet" chatter, but the people making the choices to go see films aren't seeing "Kick-Ass" because it was hard to reach that larger segment that doesn't automatically fall in line for "costumed vigilantes without super-powers" movies.

DGibFen

Latest numbers showing that Dragons may have Kicked-Ass:
(All numbers estimates)

1. Train Your Dragon 3D DWA/Par) Week 4 [3,825 Theaters]
Friday $4.3M, Saturday $8.7M, Weekend $20M, Cume $159.1M

2. Kick-Ass (Lionsgate) NEW [3,065 Theaters]
Friday $7.5M, Saturday $7.2M, Weekend $19M

3. Date Night (Fox) Week 2 [3,380 Theaters]
Friday $5.4M, Saturday $7.5M, Weekend $18M, Cume $50M

4. Death At A Funeral (Screen Gems/Sony) NEW [2,459 Theaters]
Friday $5.6M, Saturday $6.7M, Weekend $16.5M

5. Clash Of The Titans 3D (Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,753 Theaters]
Friday $4.2M, Saturday $6.7M, Weekend $16M, Estimated Cume $133.2M

6. The Last Song (Disney) Week 3 [2,767 Theaters]
Friday $1.9M, Estimated Weekend $5.4M, Estimated Cume $49.5M

7. Why Did I Get Married Too (Lionsgate) Week 3 [1,859 Theaters]
Friday $1.2M, Estimated Weekend $3.8M, Estimated Cume $54.5M

8. Bounty Hunter (Sony) Week 5 [2,475 Theaters]
Friday $975K, Saturday $1.4M, Weekend $3.1M, Cume $60.3M

9. Hot Tub Time Machine (UA/MGM) Week 4 [2,308 Theaters]
Friday $1.0M, Estimated Weekend $2.8M, Estimated Cume $41.7M

10. Alice In Wonderland 3D (Disney) Week 7 [2,024 Theaters]
Friday $940K, Estimated Weekend $3.2M, Estimated Cume $323.6M

http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/firs...points-galore/

Josh-da-man

Mark Millar.

Of course, he was probably expecting it would outperform Avatar.

Dr. DVD

I honestly see it doing something akin to the first Austin Powers. Moderate in theaters, then gets a huge following through DVD. It's very much the kind of "have you seen this?" kind of film that friends share with each other. I don't think a sequel needs to come immediately anyway. Give it about three years or so, maybe more to build a following.

Glad to see Dragon regaining some popularity. It's good movie and deserves to do well.

fumanstan

Kick-Ass seems to be about where I would have guessed. It's an ok film, but I don't see many people outside of it's demographic having an interest.

I finally caught How to Train Your Dragon and contributed to that Saturday upswing.

Burnt Thru

Kick ass has already made back its budget worldwide. The director couldn't sell it to the studios as an idea so he had to shop around for independent financing. If he's done that already and looks like making a significant return for his investors then I don't see why there'd be any problem for him doing the same again for a sequel. Of course it's more likely that Lionsgate will want to control that property themselves and will therefore stump up the cash.

Hokeyboy

No it hasn't, for two reasons:

(1) Gross does not equal net. Even though it's grossed $37 million worldwide, half of that (on average) is split between studios and theaters. Probably netted $20 million or so for Lions Gate and the producers.

(2) The budget has been estimated to be at around the $50 million range. Millar himself said that Vaughn raised about $70 million or so for production. It's still got ways to go.

RichC2

Nobody knows the actual budget, though many sources peg it around $30m.

Odds are they made most of it back. Lionsgate bought US distribution rights for $25m, wether they make it back or not is important for future financing, but odds are the movie production itself has been paid off. In their eyes, this is a $25m movie.

Artman

According to Deadline Hollywood, LG spent 40mill on marketing.