The Antipodean

Here's the Friday box office #s estimates from www.boxofficemojo.com. Surprised to see "National Treasure" still #1, although I suspect "Incredibles" might inch out for the holiday weekend. Alexander stuck way down at #6!


1 NATIONAL TREASURE $13,160,000 / $68,526,000 total

2 THE INCREDIBLES $10,060,000 / $200,886,000

3 CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS $9,065,000 / $18,490,000

4 THE POLAR EXPRESS $7,730,000 / $70,065,000

5 THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE $7,640,000 / $49,021,000

6 ALEXANDER $5,690,000 / $13,840,000

7 BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON $2,460,000 / $28,293,000

8 FINDING NEVERLAND $1,790,000 / $4,854,000

9 RAY $1,560,000 / $62,770,000

10 AFTER THE SUNSET $1,240,000 / $22,522,000

Matthew Chmiel

Last Friday, National Treasure made $11 million.
Last Friday, The Incredibles made $6 million.
Last Friday, The Polar Express made $4 million.
All other "hold overs" are continuing to drop.

No surprise that Christmas With The Kranks is making quite a bit of money. While it is probably one of the worst reviewed films of the year, the film appeals to people of all ages, especially with that PG rating.



No surprise that Alexander isn't doing so hot. Maybe it's the fact the film is getting poor reviews. Maybe it's the fact that Oliver Stone is an assclown who hasn't made a solid film in over a decade. Either way, Alexander tanking doesn't concern anyone in Hollywood. Especially since Hollywood didn't finance it.

RyoHazuki

November 11th:

The Antipodean

I do think it's remarkable that Alexander did QUITE that bad, with the assloads of publicity it's been getting - magazine covers, interviews, etc. Not that there haven't been movies that have flopped before that got a lot of publicity, of course. For a while there Alexander was being bantered about as a serious Oscar contender, too (in fact the new "Premiere" I got yesterday still had it as an Oscar Best Picture possibility -- obviously they hadn't seen it yet).

PopcornTreeCt

Not really all that suprised on Alexander. When it comes to period pieces most people will stick to reviews before forking over their dough.

wm lopez

No star power.
Just like Jude Law movies bomb.
A pretty boy just doesn't sell a movie.
Didn't TROY also bomb this year?

fumanstan

Troy could be considered a bomb here in the United States, but did superb overseas.

Glad to see National Treasure continuing to make people dumber across the country

scott shelton

No.

TROY was a worldwide hit. Good business almost everywhere. Case closed.

Stop reading Entertainment Weekly.

jaeufraser

Yeah. At worst Troy was a disapointment in the US, and a blockbuster overseas. I don't think anyone can truly call 130 million in US BO a "bomb."

These are the same people that are calling the Polar Express a "bomb," even though it isn't and will probably clear 100 mil in the next coupel weeks. Granted, that's no massive hit, but it's not the grim picture some people like to paint.

ivelostr2

but didn't it cost like 150+ million to make. I know it will clear that most likely, but if it doesn't wouldn't it be considered a failure? That is, until it is released on DVD and makes another 150 million...

Brent L

I've always been one to believe that a bomb is a film that loses a ton of money, not just one that doesn't break 100 million (or whatever number you want to toss out there). To me, a film can still bring in 100 million+, but if it cost 200 million +, isn't it actually a bomb when you get down to it? The Polor Express for example, it's in the hole 94 million bucks.

Just food for thought, it's just how I look at things.

PopcornTreeCt

Troy made $133 million domestically
and another $364 million worldwide.

Not a bomb.

chowchris13

Gigli was a BOMB!

ivelostr2

sorry, I was talking about the polar express, not troy, I should have been more specific.

jaeufraser

Yeah, if you want to look at it that way. But shouldn't we include all of their revenue instead of just calling it a bomb based on the US BO gross of three weeks? Let's see, probably a domestic total of 120 million US BO, a certain amount foreign box office (probably not that much, since it's a Christmas movie). So let's estimate 200 million in theatrical revenue. Not great, still in the red. But more than likely my numbers are somewhat conservative, as I think this film will have decent legs through the holiday season. Throw in DVD sales, which will proabbly be rather robust for this type of film, and this'll turn a profit in the next year or so. Let's not forget that Polar Express is also the biggest opening for an IMAX film ever, and it will be generating revenue from that well into the next year. In fact, some showings have been booked and sold out well in to january. Polar Express isn't going to lose WB any money after a year or so has passed.

Van Helsing is another good one to point at. It cost like 160 million plus advertising, and only grossed like 120 million in the US. Bomb? Not really, international brought that to around 220 million total, and when you add DVD sales it's not a loss. (2.5 million DVDs sold on the first day I believe). Now don't get me wrong, both of these films were major disapointments for the studios. They were hoping for blockbusters. But they weren't bombs either.

Now take the Alamo...total gross is like what 20 million? DVD sales more than likely aren't very good considering interest in it, so overall the film won't even gross what it cost, which is like 120 million, not counting advertising. Since they're only taking half of the revenue stated, they're in the hole like 80 million dollars. Now THAT's a bomb.

Matthew Chmiel

I honestly would not call The Polar Express a failure; while it cost around $270 million to produce and market (worldwide); I believe it'll break even. The film is picking up more steam as the holiday season continues... but when Christmas ends, the film will die quick. It'll stay on IMAX screens for a little while, but it'll be completely gone off them once Robots rolls in.

Jay G.

Well, shouldn't we also take into consideration that the studios don't get 100% of the gross? The theaters get a significant percentage of that gross as well. The rule of thumb is that the studios typically get back half of the total theatrical gross of a film, so if Polar Express grosses $200 mil, the studio only makes $100 mil. So still in the red, or hole. BTW, the term for being profitable is "in the black."

Jericho

I have no idea what this means, but you seem to be contradicting yourself within your own post. You certainly don't need star power to be successful. I can list, oh about 1000 films to illustrate this. However, you'd have to admit Alexander has plenty of star power for whatever its worth.

A pretty boy doesn't sell? Not sure of your definition of pretty boy, but I'll just leave it at two words, Tom Cruise. Besides, Jude Law and Colin Farrell have never shown to be great box office draws in the past.

Joe Molotov

I didn't expect Alexander to tank that bad! Even after reading the reviews, I still expected it to put up decent numbers, but an opening weekend on Thanksgiving of only $13 Million and a #6 finish out of a $215 Million investment? Wow. It may be a while before Oliver Stone gets another chance to do a big budget historical epic, and "by a while", I mean "never".

Artman

Put Alexander in Troy's release slot (without Troy) and I think it'd be a different story. Coming six months after a similar sword n' sandles epic was probably too soon. Of course Ridley Scott's Crusades epic is only six months away, but that should fare much better...

jaeufraser

Um, that's what I said. "Still in the red" is what I meant. Again, it's the ancillaries that will make up the loss on this movie. All I'm saying is within a year or 2 this movie will not have lost money. Unlike, say, The Alamo or Pluto Nash which I'm pretty sure never recouped its budget. It's the type of film that sells well on DVD, and I'm also (I believe) lowballing my numbers in terms of theatrical gross.

Again, it's just an example of Hollywood blowing things out of proportion. Granted, these films are all disapointments. Similar to Waterworld, which many liked to call the biggest bomb ever, so on and so forth. Granted, it grossed 250 million worldwide and probably in the long run recouped its 175 million plus investment. I'm just pointing out these aren't bombs, nor hits, but somewhere in the middle.

moocher

Its all about the expectations. If a film doesn't meet the "expected" gross then most consider it at the very least a disappointment - at worst a bomb depending on how far below expectations it was.

That is why a lot of people are calling The Polar Express a bomb. It opened far below expectations. However, the film is proving to have some legs and not as many are referring to it that way anymore.

Same for The Terminal earlier this year. I think it made about 77 mil which actually isn't bad for that type of film but since it had Tom Hanks and Steven Spielbergs names attached, the expectations were much higher and therefore a lot of people still call it a bomb.

Matthew Chmiel

Tom Cruise had a little film called Risky Business.
Jude Law has had SHIT.

matome

This weekend's 3-Day totals from Box Office Mojo:

<table border="0 cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><<Last Weekend <Last YearView Index 

TW	LW	Title (Click to view daily chart)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count/Change		Average	Total Gross	Cost*	Week #
1	1	National Treasure	BV	$33,064,000	-5.9%	3,243	+226	$10,195	$87,900,000	- / -	2
2	3	The Incredibles	BV	$24,080,000	-9.2%	3,453	-230	$6,973	$214,709,000	$92 / -	4
3	N	Christmas with the Kranks	SonR	$22,700,000	-	3,393	+2,493	$6,690	$32,000,000	$60 / -	1
4	4	The Polar Express	WB	$20,050,000	28%	3,650	-	$5,493	$82,170,000	$165 / -	3
5	2	The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie	Par.	$17,800,000	-44.4%	3,307	+95	$5,382	$58,636,000	$30 / -	2
6	N	Alexander	WB	$13,450,000	-	2,445	-	$5,501	$21,630,000	$155 / $60	1
7	5	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Uni.	$6,763,000	-32.7%	2,473	+23	$2,734	$32,495,000	$40 / -	3
8	13	Finding Neverland	Mira.	$4,705,000	462.3%	513	+456	$9,171	$7,803,000	$25 / -	3
9	7	Ray	Uni.	$3,874,000	-15.1%	1,499	-528	$2,584	$64,977,000	$40 / -	5
10	6	After the Sunset	NL	$3,325,000	-34.5%	2,309	-510	$1,440	$24,586,000	$60 / -	3
11	12	Sideways	FoxS	$2,775,000	51.7%	497	+218	$5,583	$9,829,000	$12 / -	6
12	8	The Grudge	Sony	$2,100,000	-44.9%	1,486	-626	$1,413	$107,818,000	$10 / -	6
13	10	Saw	Lions	$1,675,000	-41.9%	1,043	-636	$1,605	$53,366,000	$1.2 / -	5
14	11	Shall We Dance	Mira.	$1,508,000	-35.5%	1,054	-481	$1,430	$54,729,000	$50 / -	7
15	9	Seed of Chucky	Focus	$1,392,000	-57.1%	1,047	-1,015	$1,329	$15,788,000	$12 / -	3
16	16	Kinsey	FoxS	$1,210,000	109.4%	188	+152	$6,436	$2,483,000	$11 / -	3
17	15	The Motorcycle Diaries	Focus	$731,000	17.6%	239	+6	$3,058	$13,751,000	- / -	10
-	22	Being Julia	SPC	$330,000	-15.6%	206	-27	$1,601	$2,720,000	- / -	7
-	23	I Heart Huckabees	FoxS	$235,000	-20.8%	106	-57	$2,216	$12,071,000	$20 / -	9
-	14	Alfie	Par.	$230,000	-68.4%	279	-1,007	$824	$13,207,000	$60 / -	4
-	27	Napoleon Dynamite	FoxS	$215,000	28%	193	+23	$1,113	$43,445,000	$0.4 / $10	25
-	30	Bad Education	SPC	$147,000	-0.3%	3	-	$49,000	$388,000	- / -	2
-	N	A Very Long Engagement	WIP	$106,000	-	4	-	$26,500	$106,000	$56.6 / -	1
-	25	Team America: World Police	Par.	$105,000	-51.1%	108	-156	$972	$32,406,000	$32 / -	7
-	31	Vera Drake	FL	$103,000	-25.6%	45	-19	$2,288	$1,849,000	- / -	7
-	35	Cellular	NL	$68,000	-21.6%	108	-59	$629	$31,926,000	$25 / $20	12
-	41	Hero	Mira.	$48,000	-15.8%	144	-	$333	$53,684,000	$31 / -	14
-	N	Paper Clips	Slow	$25,500	-	5	-	$5,100	$32,500	- / -	1
-	38	Birth	NL	$24,000	-62.1%	28	-47	$857	$4,661,000	$20 / -	5
-	49	Shaun of the Dead	Focus	$23,700	-36.2%	52	-32	$455	$13,467,000	- / -	10

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Jericho

okay