Rise of the Silver Surfer BOX OFFICE Discussion

[bubbadoom]

You know Fox is taking note of the b.o. of "Knocked Up" so I guess in FF 3 Sue, Alicia, and Frankie will all be "knocked up."

 

[highguard]

Eragon's domestic box office was mediocre, but its international returns were strong enough that it ended up with a successful ROI overall: $ 249 mil worldwide against a $ 100 mil production budget.

Not bad, I did not know Eragon did that well worldwide. Hmm is a sequel in the works?

 

[TheVileOne]

Nope. There is no sequel of Eragon in the works.

Just like Unviersal never made a Hulk sequel even though it made $245 million worldwide, and cost $137 million.

$100 million budget is not all. The movie has to be marketed, and it has to be distributed. That's not free, and those are two separate extra budgets that never get reported.

 

[Iron Maiden]

I've been going to movies in the US for over 3 decades, and I've never heard clapping, shouting loud enough to drown out most of the movie. Maybe a scene here and there, but most ????? Come on now, alittle exaggeration there.....

Not to go too far off topic but I have been going to movies since the early 1960's and I can remember when there was a lot more audience reaction. Some of the loudest reactions I can recall are:

1. When the shark appears while Sheriff Brody is tossing the chum off the back of the boat. These two women in front of me almost busted my eardrums they screamed so loud and there were screams throughout the theater. That scene probably would not get as strong a reaction since our sensibilities have been dulled over the years.

2. When John Wayne is insulted by Robert Duvall in "True Grit"... He says "I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man" and the Duke answered back "Fill your hand, you son of a ****". There was clapping, whistling and laughing all at once.

This was in packed theaters in the Loop in Chicago.

I think the Transformers experience is mainly geared toward the generation of mostly males who spent hour after hour in front of their video games and like to see these endless loud battles between CGI figures that just bounce up and start the same thing all over again. My generation just never was into that kind of stuff.. we actually went outside once in a while and played using our own imagination.

 

[Hiruu]

Japan is the second biggest market in total, partly owing to how much money their domestic industry makes, but it often doesn't provide the second highest gross for Hollywood films. The UK is generally the second best market for Hollywood's superhero films.

The best foreign markets for FF 1 were:

1. UK/Ireland ($ 22.579 mil)
2. Mexico ($ 22.178 mil)
3. France ($ 16.36 mil)
4. Spain ($ 15.243 mil)
5. Italy ($ 12.373 mil)
6. Australia ($ 9.185 mil)
7. Japan ($ 9.081 mil)

FF2 is close to topping the previous one, and just in time to aviod the steam roller called HP5.

 

[Hiruu]

Nope. There is no sequel of Eragon in the works.

Just like Unviersal never made a Hulk sequel even though it made $245 million worldwide, and cost $137 million.

$100 million budget is not all. The movie has to be marketed, and it has to be distributed. That's not free, and those are two separate extra budgets that never get reported.

Funny you should mention that. There was an article year ago that address this very factor in making movies. Turns out, smaller films like Crash end up costing he Studio MORE upfront money to P&A, since films like FF2 get huge globs of money from sponsors. So in the end, it's one of the reason studios make these film and promote them so hard. So a lot of time, I laugh when people try to use that as a strike against big budget film, from Superman Return to Fantastic Four to whatever...it's usually a non-factor in cost to the studios. Most of the money gambled on SR wasn't even TW-AOL, it was from the investors in Legendary pictures, so it makes it easier to give the greenlight...corporately.

Some interesting eading for any who actually want to learn something:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_budgeting

another good report:

http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=8353

The stuff is out there, but many are too lazy to read and actually learn A LITTLE to speak more informed on the topic.

 

[Carp Man]

In a summer filled with the action of Spider-Man, Pirates, Transformers and Die Hard, the F4 just doesn't cut the mustard. It was a decent night at the movies, but completely lackluster in the action department. When Die Hard 4, which was mostly practical stunts, blows a sci-fi comic extravaganza out of the water, you have a problem.

The problem is in your mind.

 

[Bishop2]

Nope. There is no sequel of Eragon in the works.

Just like Unviersal never made a Hulk sequel even though it made $245 million worldwide, and cost $137 million.

$100 million budget is not all. The movie has to be marketed, and it has to be distributed. That's not free, and those are two separate extra budgets that never get reported.

Yeah, but that's why success is traditionally measured by whether you can reach your production budget in domestic grosses. It's generally assumed that overseas and DVD will take care of marketing costs, and distribution is practically a drop in the lake compared to marketing and production prices.

Hulk wasn't considered a success, nor was Eragon, and it's no surprise that this is because they failed to reach their production budgets in domestic grosses.

On the flip side, it's interesting that Sony considers Ghost Rider to be a success story... but when you consider that it cost $110 million for production and made $115 million domestic, not so surprising.

 

[Carp Man]

You know Fox is taking note of the b.o. of "Knocked Up" so I guess in FF 3 Sue, Alicia, and Frankie will all be "knocked up."

Knocked Up has 8 million more, and been out 2 more weeks. Put the bias aside and get the facts straight, plus it's new and different. Like WC was in 05.

 

[Kelly]

Knocked Up has 8 million more, and been out 2 more weeks. Put the bias aside and get the facts straight, plus it's new and different. Like WC was in 05.

"R" rated comedies are doing pretty well these days......and it was something TOTALLY DIFFERENT than what has been released this summer.......it gave the people with the money $$$$$$$$ something to go see where there would be no kiddos screaming, crying.....and they got a damn good laugh out of it.....

 

[Kelly]

Not to go too far off topic but I have been going to movies since the early 1960's and I can remember when there was a lot more audience reaction. Some of the loudest reactions I can recall are:

1. When the shark appears while Sheriff Brody is tossing the chum off the back of the boat. These two women in front of me almost busted my eardrums they screamed so loud and there were screams throughout the theater. That scene probably would not get as strong a reaction since our sensibilities have been dulled over the years.

2. When John Wayne is insulted by Robert Duvall in "True Grit"... He says "I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man" and the Duke answered back "Fill your hand, you son of a ****". There was clapping, whistling and laughing all at once.

This was in packed theaters in the Loop in Chicago.

I think the Transformers experience is mainly geared toward the generation of mostly males who spent hour after hour in front of their video games and like to see these endless loud battles between CGI figures that just bounce up and start the same thing all over again. My generation just never was into that kind of stuff.. we actually went outside once in a while and played using our own imagination.

Don't forget when the head pops up in the boat towards the beginning....this one and the one you mentioned totally freaked me out.....and I've been swimming in the ocean my entire life.........my family had to do some coaxing to get me back in the water after tha movie....lol.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

I'm expecting FF to slip very hard this weekend. I just saw Transformers and it was impressive. A large percentage of the audience will be swayed methinks. So whatever FF was going to pull in domestically needed to be done within the last 2 weeks. At this point I have a feeling that the Michael Bay film is going to pulverize the BO....leaving little left over for anyone else.

 

[Bishop2]

I'm expecting FF to slip very hard this weekend. I just saw Transformers and it was impressive. A large percentage of the audience will be swayed methinks. So whatever FF was going to pull in domestically needed to be done within the last 2 weeks. At this point I have a feeling that the Michael Bay film is going to pulverize the BO....leaving little left over for anyone else.

As much as I thought Transformers was largely crappy, I think you're probably right... this film is going to dominate, the audience is eating it up.

Shame, because that means more people are going to miss out on the amazingness of Die Hard.

 

[Hiruu]

I'm expecting FF to slip very hard this weekend. I just saw Transformers and it was impressive. A large percentage of the audience will be swayed methinks. So whatever FF was going to pull in domestically needed to be done within the last 2 weeks. At this point I have a feeling that the Michael Bay film is going to pulverize the BO....leaving little left over for anyone else.

So, you think Transformer dominates HP, and tops the summer B.O.?

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

Not to go too far off topic but I have been going to movies since the early 1960's and I can remember when there was a lot more audience reaction. Some of the loudest reactions I can recall are:

1. When the shark appears while Sheriff Brody is tossing the chum off the back of the boat. These two women in front of me almost busted my eardrums they screamed so loud and there were screams throughout the theater. That scene probably would not get as strong a reaction since our sensibilities have been dulled over the years.

2. When John Wayne is insulted by Robert Duvall in "True Grit"... He says "I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man" and the Duke answered back "Fill your hand, you son of a ****". There was clapping, whistling and laughing all at once.

This was in packed theaters in the Loop in Chicago.

I think the Transformers experience is mainly geared toward the generation of mostly males who spent hour after hour in front of their video games and like to see these endless loud battles between CGI figures that just bounce up and start the same thing all over again. My generation just never was into that kind of stuff.. we actually went outside once in a while and played using our own imagination.

Don't forget when the head pops up in the boat towards the beginning....this one and the one you mentioned totally freaked me out.....and I've been swimming in the ocean my entire life.........my family had to do some coaxing to get me back in the water after tha movie....lol.

When you watch the older movies, you see that the pacing was just different and overall the films were less "noisy" and frantic. The intense moments were more intense because the surrounding moments were more subdued (and real).

When you're running along at 8 or 9 and then go to 10, there's not a big difference. When you're running at 1 or 2 and then jump up to 10, it makes an impression on the audience.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

So, you think Transformer dominates HP, and tops the summer B.O.?

It's plausible.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

You know Transofrmers is coming out in Switzerland and in France before FF2.

 

[highguard]

^^ Fear of Sharks in a movie, hahahhahahh, yeah sharks are creepy, they have no taste at all, they will eat anything and anyone.

Sharks, snakes, centipedes, I hate em all.

On the positive side, I have eaten shark before so I can say payback is and was very sweet.

The actual taste however leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I'm expecting FF to slip very hard this weekend. I just saw Transformers and it was impressive. A large percentage of the audience will be swayed methinks. So whatever FF was going to pull in domestically needed to be done within the last 2 weeks. At this point I have a feeling that the Michael Bay film is going to pulverize the BO....leaving little left over for anyone else.

Though i havent seen it yet, all indication point to TF dominating the BO for at least the next month or so.

 

[GL's Light]

TF will be huge this week, but HP 5 will easily take # 1 when it opens. TF's opening will be big enough to boost it to a healthy gross though, even if it falls quite sharply in its second week.

 

[Kelly]

^^ Fear of Sharks in a movie, hahahhahahh, yeah sharks are creepy, they have no taste at all, they will eat anything and anyone.

Sharks, snakes, centipedes, I hate em all.

On the positive side, I have eaten shark before so I can say payback is and was very sweet.

The actual taste however leaves a lot to be desired.

I love sharks.....I'm just not into the 30ft kind....lol

I remember watching a filming of Jaws 3D, and theres a scene where 2 Dolphins are supposed to save the heros....they put the fully built shark in the water with the dolphins and they both went the opposite direction...fast........it was hysterical......they had to take the shark apart and get them use to the shark a piece at a time....lmao.......I've had a shark that I caught myself.....tastes much better that way....

 

[Kelly]

If the presale of the last HP book is any indication in the popularity of this series.....and the fact that most of the showings around here are already sold out for the opening day......I don't think anything is going to beat HP at the BO.......

 

[Tony Stark]

The box office was overloaded this summer, especially compared to last, and that's why I think you're seeing all these large 2nd week drops.

But you look at May and it set a record for box office take in that month alone. That just doesn't happen.

Last year you had X-men, the modest Superman Returns, Cars and the big take of Dead man's chest. That was it really. 2006 was a very weak summer for movies.

 

[Kelly]

The box office was overloaded this summer, especially compared to last, and that's why I think you're seeing all these large 2nd week drops.

But you look at May and it set a record for box office take in that month alone. That just doesn't happen.

Last year you had X-men, the modest Superman Returns, Cars and the big take of Dead man's chest. That was it really. 2006 was a very weak summer for movies.

The industry is saying that 2007 is weaker than 2005......I think the movie industry is in a downturn in all directions, except maybe the Indy movies....which alot of your big stars are turning to.....I think the industry has gotten so full of itself.....its ready to explode......and may just do it after this summer.

 

[Hiruu]

It's plausible.

Well, as GL pointed out, I HIGHLY doubt Transformer holds #1 against HP, and I doubt Transformer doesn't see a standard 50%+ drop next weekend, which is going to make it difficult to dominate SM3, Shrek, and AWE. The opening was okay, but that was pen-up demand, so let's see what yesterday and today delivers, as those will be indications of what Friday-Sunday will result in. If it does $150+, then I see a shot at $250, but otherweise, HP will shred it, and Chuck and Larry will siphon a huge portion of the young hip crowd...so kids then younf adults (older ones too)...I don't see where Transformer gets it's steam from?