Was It Worth It - The Films of August

[Shrykespeare]

A lot of mediocrity in August, but a few resounding successes too.


NG

Cheap PTA picks that failed to net a single point:

The Dog ($3U) - 6.2 UR.
Life of Crime ($4U) - 6.1 UR.
The Notebook ($3U) - 6.9 UR.



F

Step Up All In ($7U, $6BO) - 0 T5, 0 PTA, 6.2 UR, $15M. Yawn.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For ($21U, $20BO) - 0 T5, 0 PTA, 7.1 UR, $13M. Epic fail.



D-

The Expendables 3 ($18U, $18BO) - 2 T5, 0 PTA, 6.3 UR, $38M. Guess all those Antonio Banderas fans forgot to show up.



D

When the Game Stands Tall ($12U, $11BO) - 1 T5, 0 PTA, 7.0 UR, $27M. I've already forgotten about this film. It was about football, right?

The November Man ($9U, $9BO) - 1 T5, 0 PTA, 6.7 UR, $22M. Guess Brosnan isn't ready to become the new Neeson.



D+

Get on Up ($14U, $13BO) - 3 T5, 3 PTA (Aug only), 7.2 UR, $31M. Say it loud... I'm dead last and I'm proud.

The Giver ($11U, $11BO) - 1 T5, 0 PTA, 7.1 UR, $41M. Not a horrible BO pick, but dreadful in Ultimate.



C-

As Above/So Below ($9U, $9 BO) - 2 T5, 2 PTA, 6.2 UR, $19M. Found footage films are dead. Guess they didn't get the memo.

The Hundred-Foot Journey ($11U, $12BO) - 2 T5, 1 PTA, 7.5 UR, $49M. Decent in two categories, blah in the other two.



C

Into the Storm ($10U, $10BO) - 3 T5, 0 PTA, 6.3 UR, $46M. Again, not a horrible BO pick, but barely worthy as an Ultimate pick.



B-

What If ($4U) - 3 PTA, 7.3 UR. Meh.



B

The One I Love ($4U) - 3 PTA, 7.3 UR. This was a strange month for PTA, but not a PTA month for strange films.

Frank ($4U) - 4 PTA, 7.4 UR. Not too shabby, but most of us were expecting better.



B+

Let's Be Cops ($14U, $14BO) - 10 T5, 1 PTA (Aug only), 6.8 UR, $73M. This movie hung around for a long time. Not bad.

Calvary ($5U) - 6 PTA, 7.5 UR. Great month for the British Isles.



A-

If I Stay ($9U, $7B) - 8 T5, 3 PTA, 7.1 UR, $45M. This throwaway pick turned into gold for the few that took it.



A

The Trip to Italy ($3U) - 10 PTA, 7.7 UR. I'll admit, even I'm surprised by how well this did.



A+

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($21U, $21BO) - 23 T5, 11 PTA, 6.4 UR, $181M. Any other month, these stats would be enough to make it the best pick of the season. Just not this time. Very few saw this level of success coming.

Love is Strange ($3U) - 13 PTA, 7.0 UR. Okay, there was one "strange" PTA pick that excelled, thanks to a pair of Hollywood vets.



And the best pick of August:

Guardians of the Galaxy ($29U, $29BO) - 31 T5, 16 T5, 8.6 UR, $306M. Sorry, this just has to be in a class by itself. The most T5 since Avatar, and bonzo numbers in the other three categories as well. Plus, it kicked ass.




Here's how my box office predictions fared this month:

HITS
The Hundred-Foot Journey - Predicted $12/$38, Actual $11/$49
Let's Be Cops - Predicted $22/$77, Actual $18/$73
The Giver - Predicted $14/$31, Actual $12/$41
When the Game Stands Tall - Predicted $11/$27, Actual $8/$27
If I Stay - Predicted $16/$47, Actual $16/$45

NEAR MISSES
Into the Storm - Predicted $13/$31, Actual $18/$46

EGREGIOUS MISSES
Guardians of the Galaxy - Predicted $75/$2220, Actual $94/$306
Get On Up - Predicted $24/$75, Actual $14/$31
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Predicted $26/$76, Actual $65/$181 (ouch)
Step Up All In - Predicted $9/$25, Actual $7/$15
The Expendables 3 - Predicted $26/$68, Actual $16/$38
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For - Predicted $18/$51, Actual $6/$13 (double ouch)

[Chienfantome]

End of August / beginning of September is such a slow period that a few films always manage to get unexpected numbers hanging out in the Top 5 longer than you'd expect, likeLet's be Cops and If I Stay did.
But I'll admit I would have been surprised even if the turtles had made half those numbers, so this, this is traumatic for me

[numbersix]

Calvary ($5U) - 6 PTA, 7.5 UR. Great month for the British Isles.

Careful, there, Shryke

[numbersix]

August was a good month for me. Had Guardians on every slate. Despite my initial reservations, I put Turtles on almost every slate. I had either The Trip to Italy or Love is Strange on every slate, and sometimes both. And made a last minute adjust to put If I Stay on every slate too. That seemed like a mistake at first but it eventually delivered for Ultimate and BO. The only dud I picked up was Get on Up.

But yeah, the trick to August is thinking about what films may hold well enough to earn lots of points, as the end of the month delivers some stinkers.

[JohnErle]

BO ROI:



I had two of the top three on my Bankrupts slate, and I was also eliminated from the Super Leagues, so August was a month to forget for me. I had enough sense to know that The Expendables and Sin City were both dead franchises, but that wasn't nearly enough.

[Chienfantome]

August was a good month for me. Had Guardians on every slate. Despite my initial reservations, I put Turtles on almost every slate. I had either The Trip to Italy or Love is Strange on every slate, and sometimes both. And made a last minute adjust to put If I Stay on every slate too. That seemed like a mistake at first but it eventually delivered for Ultimate and BO.

Waouh, congrats, because the only two I had on every single slate were Guardians and Love is Strange. Only had If I Stay on one or two, and I avoided Turtles and Trip to Italy. AND I did put Get on up on almost every slate. My invincibility this year is gonna be put to test because of that August month...

[numbersix]

Well, the only problem is that I was eliminated from Ult FY before August (curse you Dragons) so it didn't help me much

[Chienfantome]

ha ! It won't help indeed !

[Spectre]

Get On Up is the one that really baffles me. 80% on RT, 7.2 IMDb so it's not like it was terrible, it just got stomped by Guardians and then had Uni cut its theaters by over half in week 3. Never saw that coming. Didn't even have a chance at developing legs.

[Buscemi]

Universal should have opened Get on Up on July 30th rather than August 1st. A Wednesday opening would have helped word-of-mouth (much like The Help did) and those two extra days could have potentially doubled the gross in the long run.