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"Beverly Hills Chihuahua" barks up a second win!

2008/10/12 at 12:00am

"Beverly Hills Chihuahua" barks up a second win!

10.12.2008 | By Mack Chico |

This is how far movie stars have fallen in their ability to pull audiences into theaters, at least when the story revolves around Iraq and the messiness of the Middle East: A picture about talking dogs, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” trampled Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe at the weekend box office.

“Body of Lies,” a terrorism thriller starring Mr. DiCaprio and Mr. Crowe, sold an anemic $13.1 million in tickets at North American theaters, according to the theater tracking company Box Office Mojo. The movie’s stars are considered two of the biggest draws in the business. And the film was directed by Ridley Scott (“Blade Runner,” “American Gangster”), one of the few filmmakers who are household names.

Warner Brothers, the studio behind this serious, expensive movie, blamed the bad timing of an economic crisis. “The result is directly related to the dire mood of Americans,” Dan Fellman, president for domestic theatrical distribution at Warner Brothers, who flatly rejected the industry belief that the film’s megawatt stars should have garnered higher sales regardless.

Still, Warner Brothers had turned “Body of Lies” into a referendum on star power by choosing to market the film squarely on the backs of Mr. DiCaprio and Mr. Crowe, delivering scant information about the plotline in the process. And the marketing was considerable, beginning in force during the Beijing Olympics and continuing with a major billboard and television campaign. (“Body of Lies” cost an estimated $70 million to produce; the average studio film costs an average of nearly $36 million to market.)

The studio worried that selling “Body of Lies” based on its plot would be difficult. Adapted from the best-selling novel by David Ignatius, the movie centers on a C.I.A. operative who is tracking a terrorist leader, and bounces from Iraq to Turkey to the United States to Jordan. In the past few years movies focusing on the Iraq war and the fallout from 9/11 (“Rendition” and “Lions for Lambs,” for example) have generally performed terribly, even with big-name stars like Tom Cruise and Reese Witherspoon.

Escapism definitely ruled the weekend — something that should ring alarm bells for almost all the Hollywood studios as they prepare to flood the market with somber awards-driven pictures. Films like “Changeling,” starring Angelina Jolie as a mother in search of her kidnapped son, and “The Soloist,” featuring Jamie Foxx as a homeless musician, may have an extra hurdle to cross.

“Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” a Walt Disney Pictures release, sold an estimated $17.5 million in tickets over the weekend, according to Box Office Mojo. That was enough for the No. 1 slot for the second week in a row, bringing its cumulative gross to $52.5 million. Second place went to another escapist entry, this time in the horror genre: “Quarantine,” released by Sony/Screen Gems, sold about $14.2 million in tickets, drawing heavily on younger moviegoers.

“Body of Lies” was third. Fourth place went to “Eagle Eye” with $11 million (for a new total of $70.6 million). And “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” was fifth with $6.5 million ($20.8 million).

‘Lakeview Terrace’ is #1 at the box office

By Mack Chico

2008/09/22 at 12:00am

Movies

‘Lakeview Terrace’ is #1 at the box office

09.22.2008 | By Mack Chico |

“Lakeview Terrace” (Sony/Screen Gems), the new thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson as a policeman terrorizing his new neighbors, Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington, earned $15.6 million, ousting the Coen brothers’ “Burn After Reading” from first place at the box office over the weekend, according to estimates from Media by Numbers, a box office tracking firm. “Burn After Reading” (Focus Features), starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, slipped to second place with earnings of $11.3 million. It has made $36.4 million in two weeks. New releases grabbed third and fourth positions: “My Best Friend’s Girl” (LionsGate), the romantic comedy starring Kate Hudson, Dane Cook and Jason Biggs, earned $8.3 million and the animated comedy “Igor” (MGM) was close behind with $8 million. “Righteous Kill” (Overture Films), the action film starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, took fifth place with $7.7 million for the weekend and $28.8 million in two weeks. Over all the weekend was relatively weak with revenues of $93 million, 4 percent lower than the same weekend last year.

The Box-Office Top Five

#1 “Lakeview Terrace” ($15.6 million)
#2 “Burn After Reading” ($11.3 million)
#3 “My Best Friend’s Girl” ($8.3 million)
#4 “Igor” ($8 million)
#5 “Righteous Kill” ($7.7 million)

"Burn After Reading" burns the competition

By Mack Chico

2008/09/14 at 12:00am

Movies

"Burn After Reading" burns the competition

09.14.2008 | By Mack Chico |

After several straight super-slow weekends, the box office has gotten fired up. Defying many projections, Brad Pitt and George Clooney’s comedy Burn After Reading led a team of four major new releases to generally better-than-expected performances, boosting the cumulative theatrical take by nearly 34 percent over the same frame a year ago.

Blazing the trail was Burn After Reading, which banked an impressive $19.4 mil, according to Sunday’s estimates. That’s the best debut ever, by far, for filmmaking brothers Joel and Ethan Coen: Of their 13 previous movies, only 2004’s The Ladykillers ($12.6 mil debut) and 2003’s Intolerable Cruelty ($12.5 mil bow) even premiered north of $10 mil. The opening sum was also good news for Pitt and Clooney, neither of whom has had such a big, non-Ocean’s opening in several years. To find one, you have to go back to 2005’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith for Pitt and to, gosh, 2000’s The Perfect Storm for Clooney — although, to be fair, both actors tend to make a lot of small-release indie flicks.

For the Coens, it’s a sweet follow-up to their Best Picture winner, No Country for Old Men, which also wound up their top total grosser, with $74.3 mil. Can Burn After Reading do as well? It’ll be a challenge, considering the movie’s merely moderate reviews and a fall box office slate that’s only going to get more crowded. Still, this is a nice start.

Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys (No. 2) was next, with $18 mil. Though down a tick from the consistent $20 mil-plus bows of most of Perry’s movies, The Family That Preys did well considering that it wasn’t based on one of the auteur’s popular stage productions. Also welcome: That solid A CinemaScore review from audiences, who tend to abandon Perry’s films after the first weekend. Perhaps they’ll show this one more love in the long run.

Close behind at No. 3 was Righteous Kill, the Robert De Niro-Al Pacino reunion, which grossed a solid $16.5 mil. That’s the biggest non-franchise premiere for these two actors in ages, as well: De Niro’s Hide and Seek bowed to $22 mil in 2005, and Pacino’s The Recruit premiered with $16.3 mil in 2003.

As expected, the weekend’s other big opener, The Women (No. 4), fared worst, banking just $10.1 mil in nearly 3,000 theaters, though I suppose that sum could have been a lot lower. In actual fact, that’s Meg Ryan‘s best bow in — gasp! — almost a decade. Four-week holdover The House Bunny brought in $4.3 mil to round out the top five. Tropic Thunder (No. 6 with $4.2 mil) jumped the $100 mil mark, as did Step Brothers and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. And in art houses, Alan Ball’s controversial race/sex drama Towelhead enjoyed a nice $13,250 debut average in four locations.

Overall, the increased box office revenues were truly welcome; this was the first ”up” weekend in nearly two months. And that Hollywood was able to achieve some success without the help of Batman, well, hey, that’s even better.

‘Bangkok Dangerous’ bombs at the box office

By Mack Chico

2008/09/08 at 12:00am

Movies

‘Bangkok Dangerous’ bombs at the box office

09.8.2008 | By Mack Chico |

Less than a year after starring in the biggest movie of his volatile career, Nicolas Cage led the North American box office to its worst weekend in five years on Sunday with one of his weakest.

“Bangkok Dangerous,” a thriller in which the 44-year-old actor plays a jaded assassin, opened at No. 1 with estimated three-day earnings of just $7.8 million, distributor Lionsgate said. While no one was expecting it to be a hit, industry observers had predicted it would earn more than $10 million.

The last box office champ to open lower was the David Spade comedy “Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star,” which kicked off with $6.7 million during the weekend of September 5-7, 2003.

Overall ticket sales also fell to their lowest level since then, said tracking firm Media By Numbers. The top 12 films earned $51.6 million, up from $50.5 million that weekend.

Early September is traditionally a quiet time at the box office since the summer blockbuster season is over. The studios spend the early fall quietly dumping their underperforming movies on the market. “Bangkok Dangerous” was the only new wide release this weekend.

Lionsgate, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, said it was happy with the film’s opening and expected it to be profitable. Although the movie reportedly cost $45 million to make, Lionsgate acquired U.S. and Canadian rights for a modest sum from “The Departed” producer Graham King’s Initial Entertainment Group.

The film is a remake of the 1999 Thai film of the same name, with both being directed by Hong Kong-born twin brothers Danny and Oxide Pang. The remake was not screened in advance for critics, which is rarely a good sign.

Cage has actually done a lot worse at the box office: His terrorism thriller “Next” opened to $7.1 million in April 2007 and the family drama “The Weather Man” to $4.2 million in 2005. But he was last in theaters with the biggest movie of his career, “National Treasure: Book of Secrets,” The action sequel opened to $45 million in December on its way to $220 million.

After three weeks at No. 1, DreamWorks/Paramount’s Hollywood satire “Tropic Thunder” slipped to No. 2 with $7.5 million, while Columbia Pictures’ comedy “The House Bunny” rose one to No. 3 with $5.9 million in its third week. Their respective tallies stand at $97 million and $37 million.

‘Tropic Thunder’ reigns for third straight week

By Mack Chico

2008/08/31 at 12:00am

Movies

‘Tropic Thunder’ reigns for third straight week

08.31.2008 | By Mack Chico |

Action film parody “Tropic Thunder” clung to the top spot at the North American box office for a third straight week as the summer moviegoing season sputtered to a lackluster close, Hollywood studios reported on Sunday.

Paramount Pictures’ farcical combat movie within a comedy, starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black, sold an estimated $11.5 million in U.S. and Canadian tickets Friday through Sunday to bring its three-week tally to $83.8 million.

While the final weekend heading into the U.S. Labor Day holiday is typically one of the slowest of the summer, the box office was especially lethargic despite five new films competing for attention in domestic theaters. None of those even managed to even crack the $10 million mark.

“It was an underwhelming end to a phenomenal summer,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of box office tracking service Media By Numbers.

Business also was likely dampened by the approach of Hurricane Gustav along the U.S. Gulf Coast, where many families were too busy boarding up their homes and fleeing to higher ground to go to the movies.

“Tropic Thunder,” about a group of self-absorbed actors who get caught up in a real-life battle with narco-terrorists while filming a war movie in Southeast Asia, was the only film to post ticket sales in the double-digit millions.

Its biggest competition came from a real action flick, the sci-fi thriller “Babylon A.D.” from 20th Century Fox starring Vin Diesel, which grossed an estimated $9.7 million in its first weekend to land at No. 2.

Blockbuster Batman sequel “The Dark Knight” climbed up a notch on the box office chart to No. 3 with weekend receipts of nearly $8.8 million, pushing its cumulative domestic haul to an estimated $502 million after 45 days in release.

“Dark Knight,” a Warner Bros picture, becomes only the second film to cross the $500 million threshold. Two weeks ago, it surpassed “Star Wars” as the second highest grossing movie ever, behind only “Titanic” at $601 million.

Weekend ticket sales as a whole were sluggish, however, down 14 percent from the same period a year ago, as several new films failed to gain traction at the megaplex.

Two comedies opening on Friday, “Disaster Movie” and “College,” plus Don Cheadle’s thriller “Traitor,” which debuted on Wednesday, and “Hamlet 2,” a comedy that expanded nationally on Wednesday, grossed just $17.9 combined this weekend.

Together with “Babylon A.D.” those films together accounted for $27.6 million in ticket sales, only about $1 million more than the top-grossing movie from last year’s same weekend, “Halloween,” managed all by itself.

The Labor Day holiday on Monday marks the official conclusion to the 18-week summer film season, which can account for as much as 40 percent of the movie industry’s total business for the year.

When final studio figures come in later this week, Hollywood is expected to eke out roughly $4 billion in North American box office receipts, perhaps even slightly exceeding last summer’s record $4.18 total.

But with the actual number of admissions down more than 3 percent from a year ago, the gain in revenues is fueled mostly by higher ticket prices.