Slow Hands

I remember that movie it was a TV movie that came on Disney channel when I was little. I can't remember exactly what it was about though.

matome

TW	LW			%change	THEATERS		AVG.	TOTAL
1	N	Boogeyman	$19,020,655	-	3,052	-	$6,232	$19,020,655
2	N	The Wedding Date	$11,129,580	-	1,694	-	$6,570	$11,129,580
3	2	Are We There Yet?	$10,614,455	-35.1%	2,790	+80	$3,804	$51,272,367
4	1	Hide and Seek	$8,906,932	-59.4%	3,005	-	$2,964	$35,714,609
5	3	Million Dollar Baby	$8,708,118	-29.0%	2,025	+15	$4,300	$34,436,002
6	6	The Aviator	$5,427,739	-28.1%	2,530	+27	$2,145	$75,895,720
7	4	Meet the Fockers	$4,807,635	-40.1%	2,504	-502	$1,919	$265,163,545
8	8	Sideways	$4,657,390	-26.6%	1,786	+92	$2,607	$46,665,695
9	7	Racing Stripes	$4,282,291	-34.5%	3,003	-182	$1,426	$40,370,403
10	5	Coach Carter	$4,233,812	-47.2%	2,574	-	$1,644	$59,338,414

fallfan

Lets not forget:
#17 "Alone In The Dark" $780,000 ($4.5 million) - 72.5%

DRG

I loved Million Dollar Baby, but I mainly went because of the critical acclaim. Honestly, I didn't think the trailers were all that great for this, but I had faith in Clint and the buzz surrounding the movie. But there are a lot of people who see movies strictly based on trailers/tv ads, or on the synopsis. They don't follow movie news/critical acclaim/internet hype. I have friends that won't see MDB because they "don't like boxing movies" or are "not into female boxing". I actually heard one person say it looked too much like The Next Karate Kid. It's sad, and it's their loss, but what can you do?

Geofferson

Expected more from MDB in its first wide week considering all its critical praise.

scott shelton

Force them into a theater at gunpoint?

Seriously, what you've written here is so true, it stings my eyes. To preserve the latter aspects of the story, WB has their hands tied on what angle they can market the film as. Sadly, this angle (underdog boxer, grizzled trainer) isn't whipping potential audiences into a frenzy.

If you liked BABY, scream it from the top of every hill. Millions of moviegoers do not understand what they're missing.

scott shelton

Indeed.

matome

I also agree with this. My initial impressions from the trailer was "eh, Girlfight with higher calibre talent." While I did like all who were involved with MDB production, the boxing premise didn't really appeal to me, much less the female aspect of it. I just put it down as "probably wait for the DVD". Only after hearing good buzz and seeing it win some awards, did I decide to give it a shot when it opened wide last week (even though I was semi-spoiled with one of the plot points). I'm so glad I did, as it immediatley made it's way into my all-time top-ten list. I think it's just impossible for this film to be marketed correctly and that could definitely hurt it, as well as those who blabber the plot away over some perceived moral dilemna.

jaeufraser

I'm not sure how one would sell Million Dollar Baby that would garner much more audience support. Really their best marketing angle for a film like that is based on its star appeal and critical reviews. Truth of the matter is, adult drama does not equal mega box office bucks. It just isn't the type of film to open big and rake in gazillions of dollars based on a cool trailer. Word of mouth and awards are seriously the best type of bait for a film like this.

If MDB ends up around what Mystic River or even higher lke Unforgiven, then that's fantastic. But let's be real, this isn't the type of movie that's going to make hundreds of millions of dollars.

scott shelton

More heart/warmth. The angle now is frosty, as discussed earlier.



Nobody said it would. A simple 100 mil is the plateau this film is aiming for, and due to the reluctance of the public to embrace what they think is a boxing movie plain and simple, it doesn't look like BABY will hit that, even with Oscars.


That's common knowledge. "Dramas don't open big." Um, yeah. You forget though that when an "adult drama" cooks with audiences, it starts a fire. My dream is for BABY to set the world ablaze, but I'm thinking less and less that's going to happen now.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

jaeufraser

Well, I wonder if that really would sell more though. Heart and warmth, in my experience, hasn't always been the ticket to bigger sales, at least not with adult dramas. The film Finding Neverland was sold primarily on its heart felt story and hasn't really seemed to meet success with it. On the other hand, the rather cold hearted Mystic River (which isn't a film really about heart, but nonetheless bears similiarities due to Clint) performedd at 90 million despite that.

Nonetheless, the outlook for Million Dollar Baby is hard to call. MDB spent more time in limited release initially then Mystic River, but otherwise in its two weeks of release is running almost on par with that release. Granted, that one garnered much of its critical acclaim later in its release which kept it alive, whereas MDB is right now backing in the critical attention, so its hard to really say where it'll end.

Perhaps another marketing campaign might've helped, but I'm not sure it really would've. But I wouldn't shut the book on the movie yet...Whether it'll get to a hundred million is hard to call, I think it's still got a very positive run ahead of it for the next couple of months. Mystic River saw a strong upsurge in sales in the weeks leading up to the Academy awards, I imagine MDB will hold on quite strong in the coming month.

scott shelton

NEVERLAND was hosed by Miramax, who waiting too long to capitalize on the good reviews they were very surprised to get - odd, considering they press screened the film back in July. They let it sit and dwindle in November and December while waiting for the Oscar noms. Once the noms came in, it was a bitch to find theaters again to capitalize. The film never left limited release they way people were expecting, which astounds me. They had gold in them thar hills, and they blew it. Very un-Miramax like.

STATING OBVIOUS: Oscar nominations help box office.

But in NEVERLAND's case, the New York Mouse House took too long with the film. I've read countless times that people wanted to see it, but couldn't find it. By now all the good reviews are a memory, and the initial audiences have moved on to other flicks. I don't think it has to do with the marketing, which was a solid B, IMO.

While I understand the obvious comparisons between BABY and MYSTIC, I disagree with you they will follow a similar box office path. MYSTIC was the WB's golden child - a film they were very excited about and knew had Oscar gold on it. BABY is their redheaded stepchild, and a film they are just starting to comprehend people might want to see. I'm sure you've read the stories too about the bizarre post-production life the movie has had. As you’ve said, the film is only now coming to life. I really, really want to be wrong about it not meeting expectations. I want this film to be a hit for Clint, for Swank, and for audiences who endlessly bitch about the lack of content on screens today.

As for MYSTIC's marketing, I invite you to watch the trailers again. While not hugs and kisses (which doesn't immediately equal warmth to me), the angle was humanistic, and drenched in tragedy and regret – strong sympathetic themes. BABY's campaign, as of this moment, does not equal that firepower.

jaeufraser

I can't say my memory of Mystic's previews are that clear...I guess I'm basing that more on the film itself.

But, I seem to recall Million Dollar Baby getting bumped from a 2005 release, moving it up because of the positive word of mouth it had? I could've sworn that WB knew quite well they had a awards contender with this film and made moves to capitilize on it.

Nonetheless, it'll be interesting to see how MDB performs. I think it is noteworthy that the first two weeks of Mystic in wide release are fairly on par with MDB. Though, given their different release dates, it'll be impossible to say if MDB will have the rally Mystic did during the month of february. If you look a Mystic's numbers, you will notice the film did decently, but really took off once the award season kicked into gear...nearly 2 months after its initial release. Of course, by that point it was around 45 million dollars at the box office, but it totally came back to life late January. This makes me think MDB, while it won't mirror Mystic's box office history, will stay quite strong through the next month therefore seeing very strong grosses, and very possibly getting into the high 80s. Granted, a wait and see approach is best, but I think it's too early to say that won't happen.

No argument with Neverland though...I do remember it had some serious release issues that didn't match up with its advertising push. Fox Searchlight is doing a much better job with their release of Sideways and taking advantage of the award nods.