SPEARE'S TIPS - The Films of 11/2

[Shrykespeare]

Weekend Actuals


Top 11:
5 points - Wreck-It Ralph, $49.0M
4 points - Flight - $24.9M
3 points - Argo, $10.2M
2 points - The Man With the Iron Fists, $7.9M
1 point - Taken 2, $5.9M
Cloud Atlas, $5.4M
Hotel Transylvania, $4.4M
Paranormal Activity 4, $4.3M
Here Comes the Boom, $3.5M
Silent Hill: Revelation, $3.3M
Pitch Perfect, $3.1M

PTA (Sep/Oct):
5 points - Flight, $13,217
4 points - Wreck-It Ralph, $13,070
3 points - A Late Quartet, $8,364
2 points - The Sessions, $6,787
1 point - The Man With the Iron Fists, $4,235

PTA (Nov):
5 points - Flight, $13,217
4 points - Wreck-It Ralph, $13,070
3 points - A Late Quartet, $8,364
2 points - The Man With the Iron Fists, $4,235
1 point - This Must Be the Place, $3,877

Jack and Diane came in nearly dead-last in PTA, earning $294 in two theaters. No word yet on High Ground.

[W]

This Must Be The Place makes me sick... One of the worst picks I've made in a while.

[Buscemi]

It's strange that while Jack and Diane had a $294 PTA, it's Vamps and its $500 PTA that's been getting headlines. Though of course, Vamps had its New York opening delayed due to the hurricane (which probably made that one more newsworthy).

[Geezer]

This Must Be The Place makes me sick... One of the worst picks I've made in a while.

Right there with ya brother

[Buscemi]

It was only worth anything in Bankrupts. The movie was on the shelf for some time (going through two distributors before Weinstein took it) and its business in Europe wasn't much to write about.

[Shrykespeare]

Plus Vamps was available on VOD. No film that comes out on TV before or at the same time as in theaters ever gets PTA points... which is why I'm glad that we didn't include it in the game.

[Buscemi]

Unless it's Arbitrage.

[Shrykespeare]

Oh yeah. Well, one exception to every rule.

[numbersix]

Actually, I think simultaneous VOD and theatre releases are displaying interesting trends. As Boosch said, Arbitrage made more in VOD but still did well in the box office. Same goes for MArgin Call.

There is certainly a future for such a strategy. I think the problem is that either poor-quality films are dumped with this strategy and given no marketing, or else the VOD date is actually way before the theatrical release, giving pirates plenty of time to circulate (that's probably why This Must Be The Place mustered up such a poor PTA in just 2 theatres).

[Buscemi]

In the Huffington Post article on Vamps, it was said that the lack of marketing (with a major distributor, you would have had trailers with nearly all of the Fall horror and comedy titles and TV spots all over the networks, especially since one of the film's stars leads a show on ABC) and the decision to announce the DVD release before the film even opened hurt its box office (reviews were rather mixed but female-aimed movies are rarely successful with today's critics). However, some of the commenters expect it to become a cult film that was victimized by a poor release platform (it does seem like a film for the Huffington Post/AV Club crowd).

On the other hand, the failure of Jack and Diane should have been expected. Reviews were very bad and the attempts to sell Riley Keough (Lisa Marie Presley's daughter) as a film star will fail the same way the attempts to sell her as a music star did.

[Chienfantome]

I expected nothing of "This must be the place", but still, that's some bad PTA. I'm glad I stayed far away from it.