In Contention

Tag: Old Dogs

  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Brothers’ gloom

    Brothers

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    As I already mentioned, the first weekend in December is a veritable dead zone at the multiplex as audiences start shifting more towards Christmas shopping and making vacation plans. Or maybe they are just too busy having sex. (More people are born in August than any other month.)

    Whatever the reason, business slowed enough for Sandra Bullock and “The Blind Side” to take the top spot in its third weekend. A $20.4 million haul is off 49% from last week but that’s actually a great hold for this frame and the running total now stands at $129.3 million. $200 million seems all but certain at this point and that means it’ll pass the $208 million that “Speed” made to become Sandy’s all time top grossing film.

    I don’t think Oscar will come knocking but she’ll probably land on Entertainment Weekly’s list of Entertainers of the Year and that’s just as desirable, right? Side note: How good is “Speed?”

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: New releases ‘Blind’ sided

    The Blind Side*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving? If you are Sandra Bullock or work for Warner Bros. then I think I already know the answer.

    The number one movie for the second weekend in a row is “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” with $42.5 million. This is a good news bad news situation for Summit. The good news is that the film has $230.7 million after 10 days and only eight films have grossed more in that period of time. The bad news is that the figure represents a 70% drop from last weekend and only three films released on at least 3,000 screens have ever dropped more.

    And this is a holiday weekend. Does anybody at Summit care? Probably not, as the drops should level off a bit from here and the film will easily scoot past $300 million and become the second highest grossing title of the year.

    But what is the deal with “The Blind Side?” Seriously. A second consecutive weekend in the runner-up spot and another $40.1 million over the three days gives the drama $100.3 million after just 10 days. For those keeping track at home, that’s an 18% increase over last weekend and there’s a very real possibility that the film will make close to $250 million in the United States.

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: ‘Old Dogs,’ new pics

    (from left) Seth Green, John Travolta and Robin Williams in Old Dogs*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Happy Thanksgiving everyone. If you are like most of America, then you vaguely had an idea that some movies opened on Wednesday, you stuffed your face on Thursday and you will flock to the multiplex today. This five-day period is extremely lucrative for the box office in general but not always new releases, which will most certainly be the case this year as “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” should continue its dominance over the marketplace.

    The one studio who likes this frame more than any other is Walt Disney and it will be unleashing “Old Dogs” on unsuspecting audiences. Seven of the top 10 Thanksgiving weekend openers of all time belong to the Mouse House, including all-time champ “Toy Story 2,” which walked away with $81.1 million over just the three-day weekend in 1999. Most recently, the studio tipped its hat to the past and came away with $35.9 million for the three days in 2007 with “Enchanted.” Early word has “Old Dogs” earning around $3 million on Wednesday, which is surprisingly soft and could put it on course for an $18 million weekend and $25 million for the five days.

    Warner Bros. opens the mandatory action film for Dads in “Ninja Assassin” and early word had it making $3 million on Wednesday as well. The multiplier won’t be as good as it is for “Old Dogs” but it still could translate to $15 million for the three days and $22 million for five. That’s right in line with “Transporter 3” and “Hitman” and all the other terrible action films that have opened during Thanksgiving.

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