Box Office Guru : Indiana Jones Rules Slow Holiday Frame

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND Harrison Ford scored his first number one opening in eight years with the much-hyped adventure sequel Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which dominated moviegoing over the Memorial Day holiday weekend grossing more than all other films in the marketplace combined. But despite the explosive start for the long-awaited return of Indy, the rest of the box office slumped with few strong performances from supporting players. Overall it was the slowest Memorial Day weekend in five years.

19 years after the last installment, the Indiana Jones franchise proved that it was still relevant in today's entertainment world as Crystal Skull opened to a stunning $126.9M over the four-day Friday-to-Monday holiday period, according to final studio figures. The Friday-to-Sunday portion accounted for $100.1M and since the Paramount release's Thursday launch the cume has soared to $152M in five days. Playing in 4,260 locations, the PG-13 pic averaged a sensational $23,507 over three days and $29,793 over four days.

The Friday-to-Sunday figure ranks as the tenth highest debut in box office history while the cume is the sixth best five-day start ever. The only other films to gross more in their first five days of release were Star Wars Episode III ($172.8M, Thu-Mon), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($169.5M, Fri-Tue), Spider-Man 3 ($169.4M, Fri-Tue), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ($153M, Thu previews-Mon), and Spider-Man 2 ($152.4M, Wed-Sun). Not bad company. The $185M-budgeted Kingdom also enjoyed the second largest Memorial Day weekend opening ever after last year's At World's End which looted $139.8M over its official Friday-to-Monday period.

Crystal Skull marked the reunion of Ford with director Steven Spielberg and executive producer George Lucas while newcomers like Shia LaBeouf and Cate Blanchett joined the cast for this fourth escapade. Reviews were mixed but generally positive. The five-day opening began with $25M on Thursday. Friday saw a 22% increase to $30.6M, Saturday jumped another 20% to $36.5M, Sunday dipped by 10% to $33M, and Monday declined 19% to $26.8M.

The new Indiana Jones adventure also attacked multiplexes around the world and grossed a stellar $160M internationally since its first launches on Wednesday. Indy ranked number one in all 61 territories it opened in and brought its global cume to $311M in less than one week of play.

Last week's top film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian tumbled in its second weekend of release to $29.8M over four days as the Friday-to-Sunday portion collapsed by a horrific 58%. It was the worst gross in nine years for the second place film over Memorial Day weekend. In 1999, Notting Hill claimed that spot with $27.7M over four days behind chart-topper Star Wars Episode I. However, that amount would be about $38M at today's prices so the new Narnia still sold fewer tickets.

Caspian boosted its 11-day total to $97.9M and looks as if it will top out at $140-150M from North America or about half of the $291.7M that The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe grossed. This is a major stumble for Disney which has been developing Narnia as a long-term franchise meant to keep revenue flowing in for several years to come.

The year's top-grossing smash Iron Man finished its fourth weekend in third with a strong $26.1M over four days and watched its cume skyrocket to $258.3M. The three-day portion dropped by just 37%. Paramount and Marvel continued to benefit from solid word-of-mouth as the super hero flick raced up to number 40 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters surpassing I Am Legend's $256.4M. With both Iron Man and Indiana Jones rocking the holiday box office, Paramount dominated the multiplexes accounting for a whopping 72% of the entire top ten. The Robert Downey Jr. sensation is a virtual lock to join the $300M club now.

Moviegoers looking for a comedy over the long weekend found it in the Cameron Diaz-Ashton Kutcher pic What Happens in Vegas which took in $11.4M over four days. Meanwhile Speed Racer continued to crash and burn falling to $5.3M. Each film was in its third weekend. Totals stand at a robust $56.6M for the Fox hit and a miserable $37.5M for the pricey Warner Bros. entry.

Both Speed Racer and Prince Caspian were expected to add muscular numbers to the May box office but moviegoers have not been too impressed. The weaker-than-expected openings and the steep declines have led to a lack of depth in the marketplace as the Memorial Day frame usually sees strong contributions from a number of different films.

Laughing up $4.2M was the romantic comedy Made of Honor raising Sony's cume to $39.9M. Universal's pregnancy comedy Baby Mama held up well again grossing $4.2M in four days boosting the overall take to $53M.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall was still remembered by audiences in its sixth frame taking in $2.3M for a $58.8M total for Universal. New Line's Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay followed with $1.2M in its fifth outing for a $36.2M sum. Rounding out the top ten was the indie hit The Visitor with $940,037 lifting the cume to $4.6M.

Great Summer 2008 Start from Iron Man

When first time I see trailer Iron Man in rotentomatoes.com, I thought it just like Fantastic Four Movie, just showing a bunch of CGI affect nothing else... ( Sorry ^_^). But this is diffrent.. Iron Man is cool.. I Like this movie...Maybe just Like Batman Begin.. but Iron Man more fun ( but still I like Batman Begin more.. hehe ) . the story is great.. the cast is all good, ad CGI affect too, not much but all great... but the standing applause is for Mr.Robert Downey Jr as the Iron Man.. he like stole the whole scene for the Movie, his trully Iron Man... and in the Boxoffice chart Iron Man doing very good.. 100M$ just in 4 days..i think the sequel is on the way.. and I Hope it better than this one.. ^_^

It is Great Summer 2008 start from Iron Man... now we just wait for the rest...
- I watch Iron Man with my Wife in Studio 2 Cinema XXI Kelapa Gading 5 May 2008 at 12.30 PM -

Box Office Guru : Iron Man Soars to Eye-Popping $104M Debut

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND Paramount Pictures and its baby mama Marvel Studios were the proud parents of an explosive new movie franchise as the super hero film Iron Man blasted off to jaw-dropping ticket sales around the world officially kicking off the summer blockbuster season. The comic book actioner led the overall box office to its biggest weekend of the year and accounted for two-thirds of all business in the top ten. Opening in second with commendable numbers was the wedding-themed romantic comedy Made of Honor which gave women not interested in flying metal men something to see. Following a dismal spring season, the summer got started with a bang.

Iron Man crushed its competitors this weekend with a stunning estimate of $100.8M in ticket sales over the Friday-to-Sunday period delivering the tenth largest opening of all-time and the second highest ever for a non-sequel after the $114.8M of 2002's Marvel Comics sibling Spider-Man. The Robert Downey Jr. flick began its run on Thursday at 8pm with advance showtimes grossing $3.5M in the four-hour period ending at midnight, the official start of Friday. That amounted to a gargantuan $104.3M in just over three days easily outdistancing industry expectations which were in the $70-90M range. Co-starring Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, and Gwenyth Paltrow, the Jon Favreau-directed blockbuster averaged a stellar $24,543 from a saturation release in 4,105 theaters.

Overseas, Iron Man invaded 57 territories and made off with a terrific $96.8M putting the global launch at a humongous $201M since the first international openings on Wednesday.

In North America, Friday took off with a massive $35.1M in grosses (including shows beginning at midnight on Thursday night). Sales inched up 7% on Saturday to $37.5M which was impressive since many super hero films see their numbers decline on Saturday. The studio is estimating a Sunday drop of only 25% to $28.1M. Audience research showed that an understandable 65% were male while 55% were over 25. Reports on Iron Man's production cost have varied from $140M to $180M, but the negative cost should be easily recouped given the tremendous response worldwide.

In the Marvel stable, only its crown jewel Spider-Man has seen a better franchise debut with the first film's opening amounting to roughly $140M at today's ticket prices. Adjusting for 2008 prices, opening weekends for other first installments from the comic giant would be approximately $71M for 2000's X-Men, $73M for 2003's The Hulk, and $62M for 2005's Fantastic Four. Iron Man's opening zoomed a good $30-40M higher.

Most were not expecting a nine-digit debut from the Tony Stark pic since the Iron Man character is not as well-known as other super heroes like Spider-Man, Batman, or even The Hulk. But a massive marketing push, overwhelmingly positive reviews, and a release on the first weekend of May when no other event films were out helped it to dominate the attention of movie fans everywhere. For Paramount it was the second largest debut in company history trailing only the $121.6M of last May's animated sequel Shrek the Third that it released for DreamWorks. The studio's previous high for a live-action film was with last July's Transformers (another DreamWorks winner) which opened to a Friday-to-Sunday score of $70.5M after a mid-week bow.

Iron Man's success also comes as good news to Marvel since this is its first fully financed and produced picture as part of its new arrangement where it will retain more of the risks and rewards for its future super hero flicks. It would be shocking not to see at least two sequels come out of this franchise so the profits will flow for years to come.

Most multiplexes played Iron Man on multiple screens in order to fulfill intense demand, however Paramount did not report the total number of prints in the marketplace. Looking at recent May behemoths, Spider-Man 3 and 2005's Star Wars Episode III opened with 10,000 and 9,400 prints respectively. It would not be surprising if Iron Man seized control of more than 9,000 total screens as well this weekend.

Despite absorbing so much demand upfront, Iron Man boasts indicators that it could have decent legs. Critics have poured on the praise leading to a staggering 94% score on RottenTomatoes.com which is the best of any wide release this year and tops among all super hero flicks ever. Plus exit polls taken this weekend by CinemaScore have delivered a fantastic A grade making the metal guy one of those rare action movies to be a winner with both critics and ticket buyers alike. Last year Spider-Man 3 met with lukewarm word-of-mouth after its record bow which accounted for a whopping 45% of its eventual final domestic haul of $336.5M. Opening weekend percentages for other high profile openers from the start of May include 28% for Spider-Man, 34% for 2001's The Mummy Returns, and 40% for X2: X-Men United. Given Iron Man's strong buzz and the calendar ahead, a final domestic tally of $250M is certainly within reach.

Thanks to Iron Man, eight of the top ten opening weekends of all-time have come from the lucrative month of May. The explosive launch of the Stark pic will be good for the entire industry since millions of moviegoers this weekend got to see trailers for upcoming summer films and may be getting back into the habit of visiting their local multiplexes.