Mr. Cinema

Showbizdata numbers for Friday:

1. MIAMI VICE UNIVERSAL 3,050 8,666,700 2,842 n/a 8,666,700
2. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST BVI 3,834 5,877,000 1,533 -42% 343,731,000
3. JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE 20TH CENTURY FOX 2,560 5,819,000 2,273 n/a 5,819,000
4. MONSTER HOUSE SONY 3,553 3,680,000 1,036 -51% 36,097,000
5. ANT BULLY WARNER BROS. 3,021 3,025,000 1,001 n/a 3,025,000
6. LADY IN THE WATER WARNER BROS. 3,235 2,200,000 680 -68% 27,244,000
7. YOU, ME AND DUPREE UNIVERSAL 2,850 2,190,000 768 -45% 54,198,000
8. LITTLE MAN SONY 2,175 1,496,000 688 -54% 46,527,000
9. DEVIL WEARS PRADA, THE 20TH CENTURY FOX 1,778 1,482,000 834 -31% 103,353,000
10. CLERKS II MGM 2,150 1,260,000 586 -69% 15,795,000

grim_tales

Could be fairly close between Miami Vice and Pirates. Srill, Pirates has made big numbers (in the US at least).

maingon

I cant believe JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE is doing as well, the movie looks like crap,

NitroJMS

I wouldn't be surprised to see Pirates take the weekend again after Saturday and Sunday, when more kids and families are out seeing movies.

After the box office disasters that were Monster House and Ant Bully, I'd imagine the producers of Barnyard are sweating bullets right about now. Is it safe to say now that unless you're Shrek or a Pixar movie, that the computer animation craze is over?

resinrats

Let's hope so. I want to see the return of real cartoons. Nice hand-drawn ones.

onebyone

Usually I am pretty good at picking box office numbers, but John Tucker Must Die is doing much better than I would've guessed, and Ant Bully is doing much worse. Ouch.

I still don't see why Monster House wasn't released in the fall. I loved the movie, but it really isn't a summer type movie.

Doctor Gonzo

This might be start....


Disney gives traditional animation another shot

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Walt Disney Studios has reunited with the directors of its box office disaster "Treasure Planet" as part of a plan to get back into the decidedly unfashionable business of traditional animation.

The new project, "Frog Princess," will put a female spin on the classic fairy tale, according to sources.

It will be overseen by John Musker and Ron Clements, who left the studio shortly after "Treasure Planet" bombed at the end of 2002, grossing just $38 million domestically.

In their heyday at Disney, they demonstrated their ability to spin a popular tale around a female protagonist with 1989's "The Little Mermaid." They also worked on such traditionally animated Disney musicals as "Aladdin" and "Hercules."

But traditional animation no longer draws the crowd, thanks in part the innovative computer-animation purveyed by Pixar Animation Studios, which Disney now owns. Pixar principals Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, who now run Disney's feature animation operations, are interested in exploring Disney's pioneering 2-D tradition.

One of Lasseter's first initiatives following Disney's acquisition of Pixar this year was to woo Musker and Clements back into the fold.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

maingon

Monster House should of been released in october or november. and with ant bully most people probably think Ants or a bugs life so they probably dont want to see it, but these movies always make big bucks on DVD and rentals.

Dash

This may be kinda off topic but, how long till vegas starts taking bets on the weekend boxoffice grosses of movies? Now thats something I would like to gamble on.

Matthew Chmiel

The Ant Bully should've been released around Labor Day.
Monster House should've come out in time for Halloween.

Most big families who go to the movies once a month (give or take) already went this month with Pirates.

Hokeyboy

I gave up on ever seeing the ANT BULLY when, during one of the previews, it showed one of the ants in a Schwartzenegger voice saying "COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!" Yeah, you're in prime Dreamworks territory there.

Joe Molotov

1 N Miami Vice Uni. $25,195,000 - 3,021 - $8,339 $25,195,000 $135 1
2 1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest BV $20,492,000 -41.8% 3,834 -299 $5,344 $358,372,000 $225 4
3 N John Tucker Must Die Fox $14,075,000 - 2,560 - $5,498 $14,075,000 $18 1
4 2 Monster House Sony $11,500,000 -48.2% 3,553 - $3,236 $43,872,000 $75 2
5 N The Ant Bully WB $8,145,000 - 3,050 - $2,670 $8,145,000 - 1
6 4 You, Me and Dupree Uni. $7,036,000 -44.9% 2,820 -317 $2,495 $59,049,000 $54 3
7 3 Lady in the Water WB $7,005,000 -61.2% 3,235 - $2,165 $32,064,000 $55 2
8 5 Little Man SonR $5,100,000 -53.7% 2,175 -362 $2,344 $50,163,000 $64 3
9 9 The Devil Wears Prada Fox $4,775,000 -35.1% 1,778 -470 $2,685 $106,664,000 $35 5
10 6 Clerks II MGM $3,945,000 -60.8% 2,150 - $1,834 $18,473,000 $5 2

sabre

you me and dupree is still chugging along nicely, probably end up with 70-80 mil, not bad considering it was scalded by the critics.

Mr. Cinema

Superman finished #11 and now stands at $185.5 million. I don't think it will reach $200 million now because it's losing alot of screens. It'll probably drop another 500 theaters next weekend and be down to about 1500. It's still ahead of Batman at this same point by $2 million, but I think it'll fall short just a bit. I think we'll still see Supes flying in 2009.

Enterainment Weekly had a few quotes from Bryan Singer at Comic-Con and he basically said WB wants him to do another sequel and that they have had discussions recently. I hope so...

matome

Hell of a hold for Pirates. Lady In The Water on the other hand...

Daytripper

WB should re-release "Superman Returns" in a few weeks. Like Paramount did for "The Italian Job" a few summers ago to get it to reach 100M. Worked for them. I know this would take more money for another ad campaign.

Jackskeleton

I heard rumors that it may get re-released with deleted scenes down the line. Anything to squeeze a few more bucks to make it look nice on paper.

The Bus

So I guess Miami Vice isn't a bonafide hit... Wasn't the budget $150MM?

(I'm sure it will do well internationally).

Jackskeleton

Considering what Mann's films have opened up in the past, this is a new record for him. I don't think that the studio was expecting much given his track records.

DRG

I don't know about that. All of Dreamworks' non-Shrek cartoons of the past few years (Shark Tale, Madagascar, Over the Hedge) have cleared $150 milion. And Ice Age 2 made close to $200 mil. But if you're saying that making a cgi cartoon movie is no longer a guaranteed sale, then yeah. That's been going on for a short while now. Valiant, Doogal, The Wild...

I'm not sure Monster House is a true disaster, but it is a disappointment. It should end up with at least $60 mil domestic on a $75 mil budget. And kid's films do the biggest chunk of their business on video.

Daytripper

Seriously? Personally, I'd love to see this. Would it be before the November DVD release?

milo bloom

I read in the Comic-con threads that Singer wanted the scenes to be seen first on the big screen, but I imagine he was thinking a re-release a few years down the road. If the effects are finished now, it might make a good late summer re-release to give the total take a boost. Not sure if they good get it onto the DVDs in time though, I imagine they could if they tried.

Troy Stiffler

Aweee. I thought Clerks II had a lot of universal appeal, and would be sort of a sleeper hit.

It's still making money. But I thought it was going to end up around 50mil or so.

PixyJunket

With a $5 million budget, hitting almost $20 million in their second week is probably a good thing.

DJLinus

Going into the movie opening night, a friend bet* me that Clerks II would hit $35 million by the time it was released on DVD (originally he said $50 million, but lowered it when he saw my reaction). Boy, did I take that bet. I loved the movie and wish Kevin Smith success, but knew it'd have an extremely hard time reaching that number, based on the theatrical history of KS's other films.

Now, if they figured in all of the people under 17 who bought tickets to other movies and snuck in...

*The stakes of the bet were the price of a movie ticket.