Monster Box Office Numbers, What Gives? 3:11pm, January 17, 2009
UPDATED: Added official weekend estimates
It's no secret that our country is in shambles, and yet the box office numbers continue to grow each and every week. What gives?
Things were incredibly off-whack last weekend when GRAN TURINO took in nearly $30m, BRIDE WARS $20m and THE UNBORN with $19m. These numbers are way up from previous years and it looks like there's no end in sight.
I just received the projected actual estimated numbers for this weekend's box office, which indicate the following:
1 N Paul Blart: Mall Cop Sony $33,800,000 - 3,144 - $10,751 $33,800,000
2 1 Gran Torino WB $22,235,000 -24.6% 2,972 +164 $7,481 $73,232,000
3 N My Bloody Valentine 3-D LGF $21,900,000 - 2,534 - $8,642 $21,900,000
4 N Notorious (2009) FoxS $21,500,000 - 1,638 - $13,126 $21,500,000
5 N Hotel for Dogs P/DW $17,707,000 - 3,271 - $5,413 $17,707,000
6 2 Bride Wars Fox $11,750,000 -44.2% 3,228 +2 $3,640 $37,577,000
7 3 The Unborn (2009) Uni. $9,849,000 -50.3% 2,359 +2 $4,175 $33,088,000
Are you kidding me? MY BLOODY VALENTINE is opening in the number 3 number 5 spot and still racking in a whopping $22m. Can you believe that PAUL BLART, idiot cop, is going to make $40m?
So what's the deal?
October 29, 1929, a date known simply as Black Tuesday (a real horror story), marked the beginning of "The Great Depression", a worldwide economic downturn that ended in the thirties (and even forties for some other countries). While the stock market crashed and million of people lost their jobs, there seemed to be one thing that thrived... the box office.
"People need an escape from their daily troubles in times of economic woe," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers in a report by CNN. Movies, of course, also have to be good and aggressively hyped, added Dergarabedian, but the state of the economy and wars juice sales too.
That's why Depression-era hits like KING KONG and GONE ITH THE WIND (the highest-grossing movie of all time when adjusted for inflation) broke U.S. attendance records in their day.
"When times are bad, our business seems to buck the trend," says Dan Glickman, president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to Time Magazine. "The movies are great therapy. It's a lot cheaper than a psychiatrist."
Even during The Great Depression, Americans managed to scrape together enough nickels to take in escapist fare like Marx Brothers comedies and monster flicks. Box office grosses rose during five of the last seven economic downturns in the U.S. — including the '70s oil crisis and the burst of the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s. It's not just a ticket price bump that accounts for the extra dough, either — the total number of movies people see in a year tends to rise in recessionary periods.
The point of this article? A lot of chatter by friends and colleagues around me revolve around the fact that the economy is bad and how they're shocked at the growing trend at the box office. History speaks for itself, and while everyone in the country are losing their houses and begging for jobs, this big-wig studio execs are diving in a pool of money -- and that's what pisses me off.
I find it incredibly interesting that major studios are continuing to fire their staff and downsize their companies while they're all racking in more dough than a PAUL BLART or BRIDE WARS deserves. Why I continually have to hear representatives bitch and moan about bootlegging, torrenting and the economy is beyond me, especially considering how well everyone seems to be doing. Someone needs to shine a flashlight in their faces and ask what the real deal is. It sounds to me like a lot of companies are using the poor economy as an excuse to downsize and make even more, but who knows the real reason.
Changing tune....
At the end of the day, we still benefit from these massive box office numbers as they are only helping us horror fans get more movies made. It shows the studios that even during hard times, we'll still go to the box office and catch a scary flick, even though comedies will continue to shine above all else. As I said in my box office report last Monday, this is a pretty huge year for horror, which could mean huge things for 2010 if the trend at the box office continues to grow.
So for all of you wondering "what gives?," you've got your answer.
I was shocked to see My Bloody Valentine not make the top 3...I stood in line (that went for atleast 150ft) for 30 minutes and sat in a crammed theater... It was fun though. The movie suffered from bad pacing (especially with the scares), poor acting, and bad plotting, but still managed to make me happy as hell...
Hey, people gotta have an escape from the real world during tough times, cue the entertainment industry. Anyway, the theater was packed last night when I went too, but no one wants to see this thing in 2D, so even if the 3D theaters are packed, it's nothing compared to the much higher number of theaters showing things like Paul Blart and Notorious.
HOWEVER, I expect this movie to to hang around for awhile and slowly make it's mark. It'll just have to do it at less theaters over a longer period.
actually the movie opened at 3 mr disgusting not 5 but still the movie is gonna be a sucess since the production budget was only 20 million bucks.(since 8 multiplied by 3 makes 24 so if those numbers are millions it means this movie will make out its budget no matter what in a weekend thus making it a sucess)
Of course I can believe Paul Blart is raking in that kind of movie. What kind of film gives you a hippo like moustached Kevin James badly playing a role Chris Farley woulda got had his heart not exploded like an old tire? Quality all around. God bless America. Let me turn off the sarcasm button now.
Great to see 2 horror openings going so well back to back. Even though I nearly had an annuerysm from The Unborn and it's unabashed stupidity, MBV delivered stupidity intentionally and tacked on pointless nudity, gore and glorious 3-D. I approve.
okay, a) i LOVED the My Bloody Valentine remake, it was waaaay better than i thought it was gonna be, and b) i just saw Paul Blart today and it was pretty damn funny lol yes My Bloody Valentine was better but they are both good movies, to me anyway so atleast one of them is at #1 and their both in the top 5 so i'd say its a win
WOW
"Three new releases rounded out the top five, all with strong numbers: the horror film "My Bloody Valentine: 3D" at No. 3 with $21.9 million; "Notorious," a biopic about slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. at No. 4 with $21.5 million, and the kids comedy "Hotel for Dogs" at No. 5 with $17.7 million."
http://uk.reuters.com/article/autoNews/idUKTRE50H20C20090118
Warner Bros just laid off another 5000 people... fuck tards. they know they'll thrive in a recession so they are adding to it.
Bloody, got to hand it to you, i not only agree with you on this one, but it's a realization for me.
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