May 31, 2007
FINAL WEEKEND TRACKING: 'Pirates' Sinking?; 'Knocked Up' should score a strong 2nd-place finish; 'Mr. Brooks' in single digits
by Steve Mason
This week during an appearance on the
Reelz Channel, I was asked if I thought if
Knocked Up (Universal) could knock off
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (Buena Vista). The answer is a resounding no, but it might be closer than anyone expects.
Disney has got the “spin machine” operating at warp speed in an effort to avoid the perception that
P3: AWE is a disappointment. The fact is that Captain Jack is sinking.
Here are the Monday thru Wednesday grosses for
Pirates this week.
Tuesday - $7.78M – down 69%
Wednesday - $6.4M – down 18%
Thursday - $6.36M – down 1%
Compare that to the first 3 normal weekdays for
Spider-Man 3 (Sony) after its meteoric 3-day opening weekend of $151M.
Monday - $10.2M
Tuesday - $8M
Wednesday - $6.7M
Spidey’s 2nd weekend was $58.16M. It’s very possible that At World’s End will come in under $50M.
All along, I’ve felt that
P3 would be the third-best May performer and that it wouldn’t be one of the top 3 grossing movies of the summer. It’s getting tougher with each passing day to imagine Gore Verbinski’s swashbuckler reaching $300M domestic.
Disney seems to be playing fast and loose with their numbers. Last Friday night, I reported that
Pirates did $40M on opening day. By Saturday, Disney had grabbed $3M from the reported $17M Thursday night take and added to Friday to pad that number up to $43M. Now Sony is crying foul in the way Disney is reporting its international grosses. It seems like Disney execs are bailing water out of a sinking ship.
Maybe it’s better for the film to build. Instead of scoring a huge opening weekend then dropping 60%, maybe a solid first weekend will lead to a more
Wedding Crashers-like run. When that 2005 Owen Wilson-Vince Vaughn comedy opened, it performed like this.
July 15-17 - $33.9M
July 22-24 - $25.6M
July 29-31 - $20M
August 5-7 - $16M
August 12-14 - $11.8M
August 19-21 - $8M
August 26-28 - $6M
September 2-4 - $4.7M
September 2-5 - $5.8M
September 9-11 - $3.25M
September 16-18 - $2.5M
September 23-25 - $1.25M
I would argue that the film topped $200M
because it opened a little softer. If
Wedding Crashers had opened with $60M, it wouldn’t have built into the phenomenon that it became.
When all is said and done, I say that
Pirates will score in the $48M-$51M range this weekend and
Knocked Up will be in the $34M-$37M range.
It would be a huge accomplishment for
Shrek the Third to grab $30M+ this weekend, but I suspect that it will dip below $30M and a 3rd-place finish. It’ll be close for 4th between
Spider-Man 3 and new offering
Mr. Brooks from MGM.
Here are my predictions for this weekend, June 1-3:
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (Buena Vista) - $51M
2. Knocked Up (Universal) - $35.7M
3. Shrek the Third (Dreamworks/Paramount) - $27.5M
4. Mr. Brooks (MGM) - $7.9M
5. Spider-Man 3 (Sony) - $6.8M
6. Waitress (Fox Searchlight) - $2.5M
7. 28 Weeks Later (Fox Atomic) - $1.35M
8. Bug (Lionsgate) - $1.3M
9. Gracie (Picturehouse) - $1.1M
10. Disturbia (Dreamworks/Paramount) - $1M
http://news.fantasymoguls.com/originalcontent/2007/05/final_weekend_t_3.html