WEEKEND BOX OFFICE 3/14: Robots Rule!

From Variety

Jun. 4 - 10, 2004
Title (Distributor) / Weekly / Screens / This Week Cumulative

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (WB) $123,064,649 3,855 $123,064,649
2. Shrek 2 (DREAMWORK) $53,424,911 4,131 $330,016,397
3. The Day After Tomorrow (FOX) $37,997,409 3,444 $138,606,588
4. Raising Helen (BV) $10,064,402 2,721 $27,578,776
5. Troy (WB) $8,874,795 2,750 $122,187,402
6. Mean Girls (PAR) $4,587,346 1,817 $79,817,664
7. Soul Plane (MGM/UA) $3,844,937 1,566 $12,076,006
8. Van Helsing (UNIV) $3,634,245 2,059 $115,795,540
9. Man on Fire (FOX) $1,510,928 683 $75,840,484
10. Super Size Me (IDP) $1,347,465 205 $6,713,226

"Shrek II" has passed "Nemo" as the highest grossing animation film and is unseating "Passion of the Christ" as this years biggest blockbluster. Question: where are the ogre churches?

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/14/leisure.shrek.reut/index.html

I am soooooooo going to see Shrek II again.

It's been reported that the head of the Ogre religion Shrekism has given tickets away for "Shrek II" by the thousands and organized parishioners for group ticket sales.

Hmmm. You know how interchangeable religion and politics are these days. Do you think the DNC will be doing the same thing for Fahrenheit 9/11? (I'll even volunteer to give my free ticket to a Republican sinner in hopes they will be saved.)

Gadzooks -- "Dodgeball" did it! "Chronicles of Riddick" dropped significantly (some reviewers were comparing it to John Travolta's sci-fi flop "Battlefield Earth"). "Troy" hangs onto the tenth spot and Disney's "Around the World in 80 Days" bombs big time. Bet they wish they were distributing "Fahrenheit 9/11" next weekend!

from Variety (Nielsen)

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE ESTIMATE
June 18 - 20, 2004
Title (Studio) / Screens / Estimated Weekend Box Office

1. DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (FOX) 2,694 $30.0
2. The Terminal (DREAMWORK) 2,811 $18.7
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (WB) 3,805 $17.4
4. Shrek 2 (DREAMWORK) 3,306 $13.6
5. Garfield: The Movie (FOX) 3,150 $11.0
6. The Stepford Wives (PAR) 3,057 $9.2
7. The Chronicles of Riddick (UNIV) 2,757 $8.3
8. The Day After Tomorrow (FOX) 2,667 $7.6
9. Around the World in 80 Days (BV) 2,801 $6.8
10. Troy (WB) 1,303 $1.7


from CNN:

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn aimed low and came up on top of the weekend box office in North America, as their raunchy comedy "Dodgeball" knocked down presumptive champions, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.


BALANCE OF ARTICLE

WEEK BOX OFFICE FINAL
Jun. 18 - 24, 2004 Title (Distributor) Reported Weekly
Box Office / Screens / This Week Cumulative
1. DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (FOX) $48,670,726 2,694 $48,670,726
2. The Terminal (DREAMWORK) $27,904,976 2,811 $27,904,976
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (WB) $27,392,349 3,805 $200,290,136
4. Shrek 2 (DREAMWORK) $21,884,770 3,306 $386,566,083
5. Garfield: The Movie (FOX) $17,753,512 3,150 $48,770,278
6. The Stepford Wives (PAR) $13,551,192 3,057 $43,805,440
7. The Chronicles of Riddick (UNIV) $13,536,615 2,757 $46,619,940
8. The Day After Tomorrow (FOX) $11,665,241 2,667 $170,871,408
9. Around the World in 80 Days (BV) $11,220,823 2,801 $14,006,955
10. Troy (WB) $2,696,434 1,303 $129,949,403

"Troy" and "The Day After Tomorrow" are hanging in there but it will take cable and DVD before it will even break even. It's safe to say that "The Chronicle of Riddick" is a near flop. When will the filmmakers learn that a big name doesn't save a film with a bad script and virtually no story (looks like this year's "Battlefield Earth.") The poor box office of "Around the World in 80 Days" has caused Disney to pare down the number of films they will produce next year. Not good news for MIRAMAX. But the irony is that the one film which may have made them a lot of dough they rejected. "Farenheit 9/11" The stockholders should be pissed.

Could the horrible showing in Disney's "Around the World in 80 Days" be a backlash?

from Variety:
TOP STORY
Moore burns docu record
'Fahrenheit's' opening bests non-concert doc cume

By Gabriel Snyder

"Fahrenheit 9/11" shattered all expectations, as well as box office records for documentaries, with an opening-weekend gross of $21.8 million.
"It became part of the national conversation this weekend," said filmmaker Michael Moore in a conference call Sunday morning. "These are mindblowing numbers."

Pic played just 868 theaters, minuscule compared to normal Hollywood release patterns. But the $25,115 average per location reflected sellouts throughout the country, as people flocked to see the movie that has dominated headlines for weeks.

In a strong second-place finish, Revolution/Sony's "White Chicks" brought in $19.6 million for the three-day span from 2,726 theaters.

Since "Chicks" opened Wednesday, its cume stands at $27.1 million.

"We knew we had a really funny movie, and opening on Wednesday gave it a good start by building word of mouth," said Sony distrib prexy Rory Bruer.

Bruer said exit! s showed the aud was evenly split between male and female and 65% of the aud was under age 25. Ethnically, the aud was 35% African-American.

The weekend's other openers include New Line's "The Notebook," which brought in a better-than-expected $13 million from 2,303 theaters. Pic drew an aud that was 75% female. "There really isn't another movie like this in the marketplace," said New Line distrib prexy David Tuckerman.

Universal entered tiger tale "Two Brothers" into the crowded family-film contest this weekend. Playing at 2,175 locations, pic grossed $6.2 million.

Showing strong legs, 20th Century Fox's "DodgeBall" took in $18.5 million from 3,020 locations, an expansion of 326 from its opening weekend. Figure marked a decline of just 38%, especially small considering its genre and the summer trend of stiff sophomore slumps. Cume stands at $67.2 million.

Looking at the pics that have opened since May, Fox exec VP Rick Myerson said, "The average second week has bee! n off by 53%. If you take 'Shrek 2' out of that, it would be over 60%. "

Last week's other opener, DreamWorks' "The Terminal," kept even more of its debut take. Pic declined just 27% to $13.9 million, bringing cume to $41.8 million.

Weekend results are encouraging for the pic, helmed by Steven Spielberg and stars Tom Hanks, after its soft opening. Like past summer pics that aim to snare adults, DreamWorks' needs "Terminal" to play strongly over time.

Faring more poorly was "Around the World in 80 Days," which was financed by Walden Media and distribbed by the Walt Disney Co. Pic dropped 48% in its second week to gross $4.3 million. Pic, produced on a budget of more than $100 million, now has a cume of $18.3 million.

From Variety

TOP STORY
Big Four collect $93 million o'seas
Toon sequel captivates Europe
By Don Groves

It was a weekend of milestones abroad as "Shrek 2," "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "The Day After Tomorrow" set various company and industry benchmarks.
Typifying another generally buoyant frame internationally, those three juggernauts plus "Troy" collectively amassed nearly $93 million.

The "Shrek" sequel captivated France, raking in an estimated $10.8 million from 766 screens; in dollars that's 25% bigger than the bow of "Spider-Man" but 15% below "Finding Nemo."

UIP prez Andrew Cripps believes the ogre would have beaten the fish tale's debut if it weren't for the B.O. dip on Friday, when France was knocked out of the Euro 2004 soccer championships by Greece. He noted Friday's receipts, unusually, were less than Thursday's.

The DreamWorks toon rang up a projected $1.7 million on 109 in Belgium (5% ahead of "Nemo" and 27% better than Spidey), $900,000 on 105 in South Africa (including an! industry-record take Friday), $800,000 on 106 in Switzerland and $650,000 in Venezuela.

Showing terrific playability in its soph sessions, family pic eased by a modest 35% in Australia, pocketing $6.1 million and spurring the market total to $18.1 million; and by 42% in Mexico, where it drummed up $3.3 million to boost its local haul to $17 million.

All told, "Shrek 2" garnered an estimated $29.3 million in UIP's territories, excluding roughly $10.5 million in weekend sneaks in the U.K. ahead of its launch there on Friday. That propelled UIP's cume to $71.3 million, to which can be added about $10 million from the non-UIP markets, South Korea and Hong Kong.

'Prisoner' locks up auds

"Prisoner of Azkaban" minted approximately $40.9 million from more than 9,200 screens in 50 countries, elevating cume to $321.7 million, with Korea and Hong Kong ahead. Alfonso Cuaron-helmed fantasy conjured a socko $17.5 million on 782 in Japan, including $3.8 million from the pr! ior Saturday's previews. Warners hailed that as the third-biggest indu stry opening behind its own "The Matrix Reloaded" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." Distrib said "Azkaban's" Saturday gross of $6.7 million was the second highest locally behind "Secrets."

"Azkaban" retained the top spot in its second sojourn in Spain, notching $3.1 million, despite a 52% plunge that WB blamed on hot weather and folks traveling on holidays; its total hit $12.4 million.

Stellar scores elsewhere include the U.K.'s $72.9 million (where it's still No. 1), France's $39.5 million and Germany's $39.2 million, all through its fourth adventure, and Oz's $16.9 million after its third.

"Day After Tomorrow" hit $300.2 million after capturing an estimated $13.2 million from more than 7,000 screens, down 36% from the prior weekend. Apocalyptic saga has trapped $34.2 million in Japan (slipping just 25% in its fourth stanza), $41 million in Blighty, $27.2 million in Germany and $14.7 million in Spain.

Seventh heaven for 'Troy'

Cruising through ! its seventh weekend internationally, "Troy" dropped only 35%, pulling in an estimated $7.4 million from more than 4,300 screens in 60 countries. Its cume reached $327.3 million, heading for around $350 million.

"Mean Girls" drew reasonable numbers as it bowed in Australia, fetching $1.3 million on 184, but was less appealing in Mexico with $525,000 on 188. Good word of mouth sustained the Lindsay Lohan starrer in the U.K., where it earned $1.9 million in its second weekend (off 30%), tallying a fine $5.6 million.

"The Ladykillers" picked up a projected $1.1 million in Blighty, rated as the second-highest entry for a Coen brothers' pic behind "Intolerable Cruelty." Comedy toplining Tom Hanks has rustled up $20 million so far, including handy contributions from Spain, France and Italy, and with around 50% of international markets ahead has a shot at catching domestic's $39.5 million.

With "Troy" doing well internationally making a tidy profit for the studio even before the release on DVD and cable will the historical drama make a big comeback? Just from experience, I'd say they could do well over 500M. Does that bode well for the upcoming "Alexander the Great?"

I wonder how well F9-11 would do in Europe.

And how well it will do on DVD (remember, not everyone has access to an Indy film house)

'Fahrenheit 9/11' Ignites Box Office Passion
by Brandon Gray (www.boxofficemojo.com)
June 28, 2004



HOLLYWOOD (Box Office Mojo) - Over three million people elected Fahrenheit 9/11 to be the No. 1 movie of America.

Incensing as many as it's entrancing, writer-director Michael Moore's Bush bash celebrated over the weekend with $23.9 million at 868 theaters, beating co-distributor Lions Gate's $21.8 million estimate on Sunday by 9%. Lions Gate released the picture along with IFC Films and Fellowship Adventure Group -- the latter quickly formed by Miramax chiefs Bob and Harvey Weinstein to release the $6 million picture after buying it back from corporate parent Disney. Around $10 million was spent on prints and advertising, less than a third of the average Hollywood release.

The estimate for Fahrenheit 9/11 was trounced thanks to a much stronger than expected Sunday. Breaking the weekend down, the picture attracted nearly $8.6 million on Friday, fell 5% on Saturday to about $8.1 million, but then eased just 12% to around $7.2 million on Sunday. By comparison, the other wide releases in the marketplace experienced Sunday drops ranging from 22% to 35%.

With $24.1 million in the till since its record-breaking debut in New York City on Wednesday, Fahrenheit 9/11 is already the highest grossing documentary of all time -- excluding large format, concert and other non-"apples-to-apples" sub-genres - surpassing Moore's own Bowling for Columbine's $21.6 million lifetime gross.

Fahrenheit is also the first documentary to land in the weekend top five, let alone be No. 1. Its opening topped Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction's $9.3 million as the best ever for a Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner, and it was Tarantino's jury that handed Moore the prize this year.

Fahrenheit's $27,558 per theater average ranks as the second highest all time for a wide release (adjusting for ticket price inflation knocks it down to No. 11) and the best of 2004, ahead of The Passion of the Christ's $27,554 and Shrek 2's $25,951. However, they were super-saturation releases playing at 3,043 and 4,163 theaters respectively -- the lower the theater count, the easier it is to have a high average as the release isn't diluted by less populous locations with lower ticket prices.

Fahrenheit's performance harkens back to the days when big movies wouldn't play in every nook and cranny of the country, but would bow at around 700 or 1,000 theaters to sell out crowds. Perhaps the greatest example of this, Return of the Jedi debuted to $23 million at 1,002 theaters in 1983, which would adjust to $45 million by today's ticket prices. In terms of raw dollars, Fahrenheit is actually the biggest opening ever for a movie playing at less than 1,000 theaters, topping Rocky III's $12.4 million at 939 venues.

Controversy is proving to be bigger business than ever. Prior to this year, it was seen as a way to raise awareness and help bolster a picture to modest returns (Dogma, Last Temptation of Christ). Chatter about its global warming themes didn't hurt The Day After Tomorrow either, which opened beyond expectations and is a solid blockbuster with $175.6 million to date. But it was Moore and Mel Gibson with The Passion of the Christ who have taken it to the next level: Controversy as saturation marketing campaign.

Though The Passion is perceived as the opposite of Fahrenheit in terms of whom it appeals to, both Moore and Gibson enlisted today's mass media to work for them, knowing that everyone from 24-hour news channels to talk radio would eat up the grand hot topic issues of their movies with the littlest of stoking. Gibson took the more strategic approach with his surgical strike appearances and screenings, but he had months to wage his campaign. Fahrenheit didn't have a release date, let alone a distributor, until a few weeks ago, so Moore and company used the shotgun approach, showing up everywhere and heralding every single development of the movie's progress.

F9/11 still setting the bar high, "Around the World in 80 Days" going straight to DVD:

WEEK BOX OFFICE FINAL
Jun. 25 - Jul. 1, 2004
Title (Distributor) Reported Weekly
Box Office Engagements This Week Cumulative
1. Fahrenheit 9/11 (LIONSGATE) $38,933,041 868 $39,091,363
2. White Chicks (SONY) $27,616,871 2,726 $35,120,262
3. DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (FOX) $27,583,698 3,020 $76,254,424
4. The Notebook (NEW LINE) $21,311,

Spiderman final figures have been held back by the studio in the interest of accuracy so box office will be posted likely tomorrow. It looks like about 150M which breaks "Shrek II's" record and obviously, "The Passion of the Christ." Michael Moore's "Fahrenheint 9/11" (the Bradbury controversy never seeming to take off) brought in another 17M bringing it to a unbelievable 56M -- 100M and more not out of the question and unprecedented in film history. Let's see if the opposition's film bashing Michael Moore is a hit or a flop (they're hastily throwing it together as I write).

"Spiderman" does it big at over $180M since Wednesday!


http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/05/news/spiderman.reut/index.htm

"King Arthur," Disney's hopeful for a runaway hit for the summer, opened Wednesday to a barely decent 4.8M in ticket sales. With the unprecedented lay-offs and cutbacks in movie titles for next year, can Eisner battle through. Looks to me like this will be the time for Eisner to be shown the door. The film cost 120M to make, so with the disaster of "Around the World in 80 Days," it looks like it spells a big shakeup at Disney.

WEEK BOX OFFICE FINAL
Jul. 2 - 8, 2004
Title (Distributor) Weekly Box Office / Screens / Week Cumulative

1. Spider-Man 2 (SONY) $147,002,059 4,152 $211,257,583
2. Fahrenheit 9/11 (LIONSGATE) $29,998,741 1,725 $69,090,104
3. DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (FOX) $15,901,358 2,950 $92,155,782
4. White Chicks (SONY) $15,560,982 2,800 $50,681,244
5. The Notebook (NEW LINE) $15,234,045 2,323 $36,545,598
6. The Terminal (DREAMWORK) $13,828,708 2,782 $60,287,947
7. Shrek 2 (DREAMWORK) $11,766,017 2,609 $414,066,842
8. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (WB) $11,564,836 2,725 $228,743,375
9. Garfield: The Movie (FOX) $6,132,188 2,458 $66,084,539
10. Two Brothers (UNIV) $5,443,190 2,181 $14,437,555
Data provided by Nielsen EDI

"King Arthur," Disney's new bid after the dismal failure of "Around the World in 80 Days" had a respectably good opening but how it will fare on the important second weekend is anybody's guess.

World wide, "Shrek II" has not only surpassed "Nemo" but it over the half billion dollar mark. Extraordinary.

Spielberg's "The Terminal" is clipping along with a consistant box office that could hit $100M but I don't have the figures on the cost -- the set, Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones cost them a bundle I'm sure.

TOP STORY from Variety
Sequels surpass originals
'9/11' grosses $2.4 mil in U.K. opening weekend

By Dave McNary

Foreign markets embraced a diverse trio of American successes during the past weekend, with the Spider-Man and Shrek sequels outperforming their predecessors and Michael Moore's "Farenheit 9/11" showing serious heat in its international launch.
Sony's "Spider-Man 2" slung $50.9 million overseas from 6,723 prints in 50 territories over the weekend, lifting its 12-day international cume to $113.9 million - only $305 million from matching the foreign gross of the original even though most key European markets haven't yet opened including the U.K., Spain and France.

DreamWorks' "Shrek 2" was close behind with $49.1 million in 32 markets, lifiting the foreign total to $259.7 million -- $50 million ahead of the final cume of the original "Shrek."

"Fahrenheit 9/11" scored fiery debuts in its first foreign rollouts, with $3.7 million in its first five days in France on 220 prints and $2.4 million in its first thr! ee days at 131 U.K. sites. Other launches also drew impressively with $575,000 at 31 Benelux screens, $280,000 at 35 venues in French Switzerland and $8,000 at seven screens in Israel.

French audiences are sparking to the Bush-bashing docu, which also won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and StudioCanal subsid Mars Distribution plans to expand the run next weekend by 150 venues. Brit distrib Optimum Releasing will add 50 sites during the upcoming frame and another 50 during the following sesh.

In the U.K., Moore's docu finished third for the weekend behind "Shrek 2" with $13.1 million at 512 screens and "Around the World in 80 Days" with $3 million at 389 sites. It easily outgrossed fourth place finisher, the sixth frame of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" with $1.5 million at 437.

As for the blockbuster of the moment, the $50 million-plus weekend for "Spider-Man 2" repped the largest frame ever for a pic released by Columbia TriStar Film Distributors Intl. "I feel! confident that we are going to beat the final gross for the original, " said Mark Zucker, senior exec veep of CTFDI.

"Spider-Man 2" led in its openings Japan, Germany, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Greece, South Africa, Jamaica and Kenya. Its $10 million take in Japan was the distrib's biggest ever; the $250,000 debut in Jamaica was the largest opener ever for that market.

Holdover business for the web-slinger stayed solid, with Argentine receipts off 13%, Brazil biz down 17%, Indonesia off 25%, and New Zealand and Venezuela both down 27%. "Spider-Man 2" has eclipsed the total cume of "Spider-Man" in five territories -- Russia, where it needed six days to top the original; the Philippines with seven days; Turkey with 10 days; Thailand with 11 days; and Malaysia with 12 days.

The opening of "Spider-Man 2" won head-to-head over "Shrek 2" in Germany with $8.7 million at 781 screens compared with $6.9 million at 890 sites for the ogre sequel in its soph sesh.

"Shrek 2" is now the seventh biggest film released by UIP/Universal and the biggest e! ver foreign release for DreamWorks. Its $51.9 million take after two weeks in the U.K. is more than $10 million ahead of the total Blighty take of the original.

Warner's "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" became the distrib's fourth biggest overseas film ever behind the two "Harry Potter" predecessors and "The Matrix: Reloaded" with $21.7 million at 6,700 sites to lift the foreign cume to $405.3 million. The U.K. cume for "Azkaban" has hit $79.4 million after six weeks while France is at $46.3 million over the same period and German takings have hit $44.3 million.

Warner also reported $3.2 million from 2,151 screens for "Troy," lifting its foreign cume to $344.3 million to surpass "The Last Samurai" as the second highest R-rated film overseas after "The Matrix Reloaded." The Brad Pitt epic's also the fifth highest foreign grosses for Warner Bros of all time.

From Variety:

WEEK BOX OFFICE FINAL
Jul. 9 - 15, 2004
Title (Distributor) Week / Box Office / Screens / Week Cumulative

1. Spider-Man 2 (SONY) $66,254,849 4,166 $277,512,432
2. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (DREAMWORK) $43,106,943 3,091 $43,106,943
3. King Arthur (BV) $22,519,350 3,086 $30,949,201
4. Fahrenheit 9/11 (LIONSGATE) $17,718,483 2,004 $86,808,587
5. The Notebook (NEW LINE) $11,683,751 2,288 $48,229,349
6. White Chicks (SONY) $9,352,532 2,201 $60,033,776
7. DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (FOX) $9,196,251 2,444 $101,352,033
8. The Terminal (DREAMWORK) $7,760,696 2,313 $68,048,643
9. Shrek 2 (DREAMWORK) $7,714,018 2,142 $421,780,860
10. Sleepover (MGM/UA) $6,900,004 2,207 $6,900,004

The amazing "Spider-Man" still burning up the box office and "F9/11" still chipping away at reaching 100M. "Anchorman" opened well with mixed reviews but there are a lot of Will Farrel fans. Will the rather poor reviews of "I, Robot" affect it's box-office? I don't know if Will Smith can override a lot of lukewarm reviews.