It's no secret that the box office season so far has had a terrible start for the year. Hopes were that the introduction of family-friendly movie "Horton Hears a Who!" would help lead it out of its lackluster performance, and it did just that this weekend, although it wasn't the breakout hit hoped for.
Even so, it easily led the box office weekend with a solid $45.1 million, averaging $11,406 per showing at a huge opening of 3,954 venues.
With a surprisingly number of good reviews, and the trend with many family films of having strong legs, the slower start may not mean that much, and it could go on for weeks performing well.
I say a slow start because tracking for the weekend had it at a possible $55 million opener. Fox (NYSE: NWS-A) must had known something though, as they managed expectations by saying they were hoping for a $35 million opener, making the added $10 million look like it exceeded expectations for them. The slow start to the year has studios closely watching how much they project their films to make, as it can make the movie look like it's drastically underperforming, and potential viewers could stay home thinking it's a poor film.
With not much competition (other than Horton), it wasn't suprising that 10,000 B.C. ended in second place. While the 54 percent drop wasn't surprising, it was surprising that it wasn't more than that, as I thought this stinker would have dropped in the 62 to 65 percent range.
It shows the weak quality of films being put out at this time, in that it was an option for so many. It brought in $16.4 million, to add to last weeks' $35.9 million.
The opener for "Never Back Down," a martial arts type of film, was only able to garner $8.6 million, showing at 2,729 venues. That was in line with what most thought it would bring to Summit Entertainment. This one will plunge next weekend, as there's nothing that it has to hold viewers to it.
Summit Entertainment is the company that produced and distributed "Step Up 2 the Streets," along with Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Buena Vista.
Even with the fairly strong performance of "Horton Hears a Who," the box office was only able to keep pace with the same weekend last year, which brought in somewhere around $105.4 million, almost exactly the same as the box office last year for the top 12 movies, which ended at $105 million.
With the U.S. economy slowing, Hollywood won't be able to do what it did last year, which was to raise the ticker prices - the major factor behind the record-breaking year. Attendance was actually down in 2007. It was the price increase which resulted in the strong season.
This has to be generating a lot of concern for the studios, even though I haven't heard them talk much about it. This year will be more about managing expectation than anything else.
The top ten box office weekend:
| 1 | Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! | $45,100,000 |
| 2 | 10,000 B.C. | $16,415,000 |
| 3 | Never Back Down | $8,610,000 |
| 4 | College Road Trip | $7,893,000 |
| 5 | Vantage Point | $5,400,000 |
| 6 | The Bank Job | $4,910,000 |
| 7 | Doomsday | $4,743,000 |
| 8 | Semi-Pro | $3,000,000 |
| 9 | The Other Boleyn Girl | $2,900,000 |
| 10 | The Spiderwick Chronicles | $2,390,000 |
Other Box Office Sites:
Remember to Sign up for my feed
Comment Preview