The Nature Boy

Can't say it's a huge suprise given Kill Bill's identical demo debut and the generally no plussed word of mouth and poor trailers, but The Punisher has tanked. 14 million at the box office this weekend(projected 3.5 on Sunday) spells doom for the film. Both films were a "hard R", but it didn't slow Kill Bill from making 25 million. The Punisher will do well to break 40 million at this rate and with the current and upcoming competition. Looks like Tom Jane has to wait again for a breakout role.

El-Kabong

Ouch, talk about PAIN! So, what's it up against next weekend? Is there any chance of improvement in the future?

Michael Corvin

Comic movies are already going the way of the horror genre in the 90's. Overkill. Too many of them that are mediocre to bad for people to take a chance on them. When Spiderman and X-men first came out, the genre was pretty fresh out of the box, something new to see, but with movies like Hulk, LXG, Daredevil, Hellboy, and now Punisher, people know that 9 times out of ten, the comic book movie is going to be bad.

Jackskeleton

Next week it's up 13 going on 30 (not a problem) and Man on fire (Yay! another revenage flick!)

so it's screwed.. but do we really need a third weekend box office thread? Then again, didn't it only cost $33 to make? a little less then half it's budget seems fairly alright.

The real bomb of the weekend is Connie and Carla. right?


Not to mention that 72% drop for passions. Guess jesus isn't getting back up from that.

matome

Man on Fire
13 Going on 30

Not sure if either of those can crack $20 mil, though.

The Nature Boy

Actually, it's not as jammed as I thought. Van Helsing doesn't come out until May 7, I thought that was in ten days. I guess there is a chance to rally. And it really was amazing weather across much of the country, so I'm sure that held it back, but I'd bet they'd hoped for at least 20 million with a title like this, especially the way Hell Boy opened. But in this DVD culture, lack of people in week 1 means lack of buzz for week 2, so it probably won't rally much.

The Punisher is just such a great concept, but from the trailers I've seen, they are just too faithful to the comic. I never read it, and it's not Spiderman/Superman/Batman. I saw him kicking the crap out of a guy in a Sailor suit repeatedly and then I heard he was a main villan. I don't care if that is the Punisher's Lex Luthor, he looks like crap and had no business being in a movie. What works in movies won't always work in comic books and vice versa.

The Nature Boy

If they truly made this for 33 million, then I take it all back. I figured it was at least 60. Hell, romantic comedies go for 40-50 million these days, if they got this done on that tight a leash, then they should not only be proud, but it's a great sign for more dark action films with R ratings.

And I was really rooting for this one too, I think Thomas Jane is terrific and I was hoping he'd get a breakout role. Why the hell didn't they move to next week? I think they would have sailed past 20 million next week, up to maybe 25 million. Once they saw Kill Bill settle, they should have moved, you can't compete with that, especially as R movies with action appeal.

jaeufraser

I think many might be overestimating what the punisher was expected to do. It really did only cost 33 million dollars, and this opening is the BIGGEST opening for its distributor ever. (Lions Gate). So, it may not be a mega hit, but it's no mega bomb either.

Ketamine

According to a movie finances Web site, www.the-numbers.com, “Hell Boy” and “The Punisher’s” production budgets were $60 and $33 million respectively.

http://www.uwgb.edu/4e/040804entersuperhero.htm

jekbrown

made back half their cash in the 1st weekend... that isnt bad at all. The Alamo... now THAT is a bomb.

gr8 flick IMO, took me back to the good old days of the 80s when CGI wasnt overboard and stunt men earned their pay. Cant wait for a sequel now that the film version of the character is established. Now all we need is Micro...

j

Jackskeleton

Well Lions gate was already getting the ball rolling for a sequel with Jigsaw as the baddie.

Irwin Fletcher

The Punisher will sell well on DVD if they do a decent job of putting a good one together. I don't think you can expect X-men or Spider man numbers for a movie of this type and budget.

darqleo

This thread should be punished.

Matthew Chmiel

The Punisher was never going to get X-Men or Spider-man numbers. It's a dark, hard-R rated action film. For the fact it made $14 million going against a highly anticipated flick with the same theme (revenge), is a miracle with all itself.

While I believe next week's decline won't be as sharp as most other comic book films' (word of mouth from people I know is fairly positive), it does go against a third revenge film (Man on Fire, which I believe will tank due to little advertising). It also still has to fight off competition from Kill Bill: Volume 2. I can see The Punisher breaking even and if the DVD is put together well and sells millions of copies, a sequel will be put into motion. Lions Gate's best idea would to keep the sequel's budget in the same area ($30 - 40 million) just in case if the sequel backfires (Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle comes to mind).

I could actually see 13 Going On 30 becoming this year's How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days. A decent-to-strong opening and pretty good legs for the next few weeks.

Now with Van Helsing coming out, I predict we will see a $70 million plus opening weekend in two weeks, similar to Somers' last film The Mummy Returns. It has a bankable premise with characters people are familiar with, a bankable leading actor (Jackman), a bankable director, and a huge marketing campaign. From that moment out, the summer movie season begins.

EvilConradBain

I think 13 Going on 30 will have good word of mouth. After all there aren't really that many girly movies out right now. Also, Mean Girls may do well.

Iron_Giant

When the THE PUNISHER is done making money, I'm sure it will more than make up the cost of the movie.

A 72% drop in a movie that has made over $360 million (USA only) and only cost $50 million to make and market, not to bad.

I'm sure every studio had the same problem.

fumanstan

Personally, i think it did about as well as most expected it to. I think the so called oversaturation of comic books is being overstated a bit. The last few "bombs" haven't been particularly popular characters. I think the big franchises, like Spidey, X-Men, and hopefully the new Batman are still going to be blockbusters.

Jackskeleton

exactly, the bombs lately haven't been all that big names and spidey should bring in some big numbers. A little bit of selling the drama when it comes to saying comic book films are dead.

dcprules

Next weekend, I think Man on Fire might slightly edge out 13 Going On 30 and Kill Bill Vol. 2 for the number one spot, but again I don't know. Man on Fire is two and a half hours (restricting showings for the day), but it does have Denzel Washington and is directed by Tony Scott (who had his last opening, Spy Game, which made over $20 mil it's first weekend). In fact, it could stay on top for a few weekends (the weekend of the 30th has Mean Girls and Godsend opening, both probably wont be competing for top spot).

I am surprised about Connie and Carla, I figured people would be more interested to see stuff from here plus Duchovny has been on countless shows promoting it. Hopefully he'll realize people don't want to see him hanging out with drag queens and will get back to hanging out with Scully, Skinner, and some dudes with black oil for blood.

Deftones

Don't forget, though. Denzel's last flick bombed big time at the BO.

Kal-El

I just didn't see how it was any different from any of Steven Segal's movies from the 90s like Hard to Kill aside from having Travolta as the villain. I mean, come on, you can only tell the revenge story so many times and this one didn't seem to offer anything new.

Jackskeleton

It had something new to offer.. it had a guy wearing a White skull logo on his shirt. That makes all the difference. People will flock to see The PUNISHER because he is considered one of those Bad ass comic characters you don't screw around with.

Trigger

I didn't think it would do any better than Dolf's version... Dolf was lukewarm at the time and the comic was probably more popular at the time and it tanked worse. Comic book movies are indeed oversaturated, but only a little more than usual. There have always been B-grade comic movies being churned out on the cheap for no other reason than to tank at the box office... Captain America, The Phantom, um... Meteor Man.

I dunno, I kinda thought Hulk was the best adaptation of a comic book we've ever seen, but that it was ruined by a terrible 3rd act. Style-wise, it was really well done and had a comic book feel. I know alot of people were put off by it, but that's one thing I really dug about it. SpiderMan was a good example of how to make a comic book movie - the success of that film wasn't just based on the popularity of the superhero, but the quality of the film. I doubt a Punisher or a Daredevil could ever put up those numbers, but a good Batman or Superman could.

Before the comic book ride of this generation is over, we'll probably see a Green Lantern, Aquaman, and a Wonder Woman... personally, I'd go see a Wonder Twins movie... I'd cast Chris Kattan and Rachael Dratch from SNL as the twins.

Inverse

I don't think the producers of a $33 million dollar movie are going to be terribly upset about a $14 million opening.

The Punisher's connection to what the public perceives as other "comic book movies"--i.e. superhero movies--is about as big as Road to Perdition's ... which is to say, none at all.

The character has always been an action movie cliche cut out of film and pasted into a superhero universe. Like Kal-El says, cut and paste him back into the movies, and you end up with just another standard issue revenge flick about an ordinary guy with guns. So whether Punisher succeeds or fails has nothing to do with whether the market for superhero flicks is getting saturated or not.

Get Me Coffee

I could see this movie making some dollars during the weekday.