SPEARE'S TIPS - The Films of 8/12/11

[Geezer]

Jesse Eisenberg was in Rio? How did I not know this, and still put it on all of my slates! Oh wait... because Jesse Eisenberg had absolutely nothing to do with Rio's success......

[ROBDude]

Eisenberg also sung in Rio. If you buy Rio and go to the very end Geezer (Like after the The End Logo), you'll hear him singing.

[Buscemi]

But celebrity voice actors do add quite a bit to a movie's box office. This is why DreamWorks and Pixar always have a drawing actor in the cast.

Example: Winnie the Pooh. No celebrity voice actors. Grosses just $30 million. Rio. Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg and Jamie Foxx. Over $100 million.

Hell, even Tangled had Zachary Levi and Ron Perlman in the cast.

[W]

The successful animated films nowadays are the ones that are quality, from big studios, and most importantly aim at kids as well as adults. That means getting actors that have decent voices. Whether they're well known or not doesn't normally matter. Big names can add to the gross, but normally very, very little. People weren't seeing Rio for Eisenberg, they saw it because it looked like a good movie with a budget to market it. Did it possibly add a few hundred thousand for casting Eisenberg than another competent voice actor? Maybe. There may be a few thousand Jesse Eisenberg superfans out there that saw the film because he was in it.

If you were arguing that Johnny Depp added $10 M or so to Rango, that would make at least some sense. But seriously? Jesse Eisenberg's star power adding to Rio is like saying Jay Burachel was responsible for the success of How to Train Your Dragon.

And Pooh failed because it's tired and only had a very small part of the market that was interested in it. You really think that a franchise that has voices that are tied to characters and not actors fails because a known actor doesn't play them? People know what Pooh, Tigger, and Piglet sound like. You think a Mickey Mouse film would fail because it had no star actor portraying Goofy?

[Buscemi]

But what about the entire DreamWorks library? Do you think those movies would have done well without star power? The quality of those movies is often low (except maybe with How To Train Your Dragon and the Kung Fu Panda movies) so how do they sell them? Giving actors big paydays. For example, Shark Tale would have been a box office disaster (and rightfully so) had it not starred Will Smith.

With Rio and Jesse Eisenberg, the guy is hard to ignore. Like Seth Rogen and the numerous animated features he's in, there were people bound to see the film just for him. In fact, promoting the movie for the stars probably saved the film (the original teaser, which didn't promote the cast, made it look more like the 2006 disaster The Wild rather than what we've come to expect from Blue Sky).

[ROBDude]

Actually, Shark Tale stayed #1 at the box office for 3 weeks, making it a box office success.

[numbersix]

With the majority of animated movies, attached names do very little. It can have an affect if there's a huge star attached, but do you honestly think Ron Perlman had any impact on Tangled's success? If so then you're as mad as Robdude.

LEt's not forget that plenty of Pixar's films do not have stars voicing the roles (Up, Ratatouille, Wall-E) and they do well. In the case of animation, more often than not it's the film that sells, not the people voicing them.

And as for Rio, you have to realise that the majority of people going to see a film like that are either kids or their parents. Not the kind of people who saw The Social Network or Zombieland.

And Alpha and Omega had plenty of celebs voicing the characters, and you didn't see that doing too well.

[ROBDude]

Many PIXAR Films were successes at the box office (Even Cars 2).

Alpha and Omega was a flop due to The Town's roaring success.

[W]

Finally, we're back on topic with numbers (Friday/Weekend):

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (7.8/26)
2. The Help (7.5/22)
3. Final Destination 5 (7.3/18)
4. 30 Minutes or Less (4.5/13)
5. The Smurfs (3.7/13)
6. Glee Concert (2.8/7)

[Shrykespeare]

BOM Friday Estimates:

Rise of the Planet of the Apes, $8.1M
The Help, $7.6M
Final Destination 5, $7.3M
30 Minutes or Less, $4.8M
The Smurfs, $3.8M
Glee 3D, $2.7M
Cowboys & Aliens, $2.2M
Crazy Stupid Love, $2.1M
Captain America, $2M
The Change-Up, $1.9M

[BanksIsDaFuture]

I can't believe Busc was seriously arguing that Jesse Eisenberg was the reason Rio hit $100M...

Not Anne Hathaway. Not Tracy Morgan. Not Jamie Foxx. Not will.i.am.

But....Jesse Motherf#$kin Eisenberg.

[silversurfer19]

BUT.... He's a Michael Cera wannabe, surely that must count for something, beacause, y'know, Cera once has a $100m hit.....

Good numbers for The Help though, wish I'd taken it on every slate now.

[Buscemi]

I mentioned Eisenberg, Hathaway and Jamie Foxx, Banks. He was part of it but not the sole reason.

So I saw 30 Minutes or Less today. Almost no one was in the theatre (it was the first show of the day) but everyone seemed to like it. But it may be simply too dark for audiences and probably would have fared better as a Fall release (and possibly with Columbia giving it to FilmDistrict to distribute). Also, the post-credits scene is probably one of the best in a while (and doesn't hint a sequel for once!).

[Shrykespeare]

Weekend Estimates

Top 11:
5 points - Rise of the Planet of the Apes, $27.5M
4 points - The Help, $25.5M ($35.4M 5-day)
3 points - Final Destination 5, $18.4M
2 points - The Smurfs, $13.5M
1 point - 30 Minutes or Less, $13M
Cowboys & Aliens, $7.6M
Captain America, $7.1M
Crazy Stupid Love, $6.9M
Harry Potter, $6.9M
The Change-Up, $6.2M
Glee 3D, $5.7M

Wow. So despite its length and being in significantly fewer theaters than FD5 and 30MoL, The Help outshines all the other new films this weekend. And boy, all the people who chose Glee 3D will need an extra-big towel to wipe all the egg off their faces.


PTA (Jun/Jul):
5 points - The Help
4 points - Rise of the Planet of the Apes
3 points - The Guard
2 points - Final Destination 5
1 point - Sarah's Key

PTA (Aug):
5 points - The Help
4 points - Rise of the Planet of the Apes
3 points - Final Destination 5
2 points - 30 Minutes or Less
1 point - Glee 3D

No word yet on Littlerock, nor the second weeks of Bellflower, Mysteries of Lisbon or Magic Trip.

[ROBDude]

Looks like The Help made big money this weekend.