SPEARE'S TIPS - The Films of 3/26

[Buscemi]

Just finished my Regulars lineups. I'm probably the only person who sees Please Give doing well at the arthouses (the director's last film grossed $13 million and managed to go wide).

[numbersix]

That's a very good point Boosch, and if Sony Classics plan the same kind of release schedule Please Give could be quite a surprise

[thswrestler160]

well there are actually quite a few theaters that only have one 3d enabled screen busc. fyi all kerasotes theaters have at MAX 1 3d enabled screen and they are the 7th largest chain in the nation(till may 15). And the cost to the theater to convert each screen and projector ends up being close to 100k after you add in the silver screen and labor costs and thats not even considering the amount of time that theater has to be shut down in order to do all of those upgrades. profits are small on a movies opening weekend anyway and if you have to replace a movie in your 1 3d screen after a week or two it will end up taking a very long time to pay those massive bills off. If you do see a theater with multiple 3d enabled screens chances are they are a large chain like Regal or AMC or the majority of that companies theaters were built from the ground up with all digital screens as a company wide decision like Rave theaters.

the sad part in all this is that because theaters are seeing super high grosses from the 3d movies they are doing what ever they can to get 3d in their theaters even if that means using technicolor's horrible idea of 3d on film. its super cheap compared to the digital conversion which just means that it will end up slowing down the digital expansion which should be going full stride by now.

the next few weeks are going to be giving theaters a glance at what the holiday season is going to be like and force them to add more digital screens. If they dont then come late October when there is a new 3d movie coming out every week for the next 3 months they are going to start loosing revenue. normally the theaters that get converted to 3d are the biggest in the building. I would guess that most theaters arent going to start converting more screens until late august rolls around. no one is going to want to shut down their biggest theater durring the busiest months of the year so they will wait to start durring late august early september when school comes back in session and business slows down.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

Yeah, my theater is getting 3 more digital screens this month. They're trying to get them in before the summer.

$100k? I heard either 15k or 50k, but either way, it's really expensive.

What would be a good solution is have some of the studios help cover the costs since they're profiting a lot more than theaters with 3D movies. Hell, even with half the $4-$8 million it took to convert Clash to 3D, WB could pay for a lot of digital screens across the country.

[Geezer]

100k was the number I heard too.

[thswrestler160]

that would require the film studios to just kind of hand out money which none of them in america would do. I read an article a while ago about how the UK is getting a massive digital overhaul not at the expense of the theaters or film companies but coming straight from the tax payers pockets. I really wouldn't mind paying a little extra in taxes every year if that meant that our industry as a whole would be taking a large step forward.

[Buscemi]

Also, it's more profitable than giving Jennifer Lopez a new movie.

[undeadmonkey]

Actually I read last summer that the studios were helping to cover some of the costs

[Buscemi]

Looks like How To Train Your Dragon might not be affected after all by Clash Of The Titans. DreamWorks is opening the film in 4,055 theatres.

[undeadmonkey]

I never thought it would be affected by clash of the titans. all of the hulabaloo about not having enough 3d screens is horseshit. i can't believe people have such a short attention span, a movie can make money without it being in 3d. So what if it doesnt get as many 3D screens as avatar or alice, if it's good people will watch it in 2d and maybe later when they arent sold out they'll watch it again in 3D.

[Buscemi]

Also, it might bring in really young children who probably weren't old enough for Alice (I haven't seen Alice yet but I imagine that some of it was probably too mature for young American children).

[Shrykespeare]

Friday estimates:

1. How to Train Your Dragon, $12.2M
2. Hot Tub Time Machine, $4.85M
3. Alice in Wonderland, $4.7M
4. The Bounty Hunter, $4.1M
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, $2.9M

[Buscemi]

I am in a way disappointed with Hot Tub Time Machine's opening numbers but I can understand why it performed below expectations. It's really more of a cult-appeal movie and probably wouldn't translate well enough to some audiences (especially people who won't get a lot of the humor due to knowing very little of the era).

Also, keep in mind the director's other film (Accepted) is becoming a cult hit through television airings so maybe it was meant to be.

And I just remembered some trivia with the director's movie:

In Accepted, one of S.H.I.T.'s courses is The Fall and Decline of Chevy Chase. In Hot Tub Time Machine, Chevy Chase is one of the film's stars.

[Shrykespeare]

Sunday Estimates

Top 5:

5 points - How to Train Your Dragon, $43.3M
4 points - Alice in Wonderland, $17.3M ($293M total)
3 points - Hot Tub Time Machine, $13.65M
2 points - The Bounty Hunter, $12.4M
1 point - Diary of a Wimpy Kid, $10.0M


PTA

Really not sure, since the only limited release in our game that made the preliminary list is Chloe, which made $1M, but in 350 locations for a PTA of only $2,863. No word on The Eclipse, Dancing Across Borders, Ca$h, or Terkel in Trouble.

How to Train Your Dragon - $10,678
Alice in Wonderland - $5,112


User Ratings

Dancing - 8.2
Dragon - 8.1
Hot Tub - 7.2
Chloe - 7.2
Eclipse - 7.2
Terkel - 7.1
Ca$h - 6.3

[Shrykespeare]

Sunday Actuals

Top 5:

5 points - How to Train Your Dragon, $43.7M
4 points - Alice in Wonderland, $17.7M ($293M total)
3 points - Hot Tub Time Machine, $14.0M
2 points - The Bounty Hunter, $12.0M
1 point - Diary of a Wimpy Kid, $10.1M

PTA:

5 points - How to Train Your Dragon, $10,785
4 points - Greenberg, $5,642
3 points - Alice in Wonderland, $5,233
2 points - Dancing Across Borders, $5,204
1 point - Hot Tub Time Machine, $5,091

Chloe - $2,573 in 350 theaters
The Eclipse - $2,201 in 6 theaters
Ca$h - $610 in 27 theaters
Terkel in Trouble - no f--king sign of it