SPEARE'S TIPS - The Films of 8/19/11

[Shrykespeare]

Friday Estimates (BOM):

The Help, $5.8M
Planet of the Apes, $4.6M
Spy Kids 4, $3.9M
Conan the Barbarian, $3.7M
Fright Night, $2.6M
Final Destination 5, $2.4M
The Smurfs, $2.2M
30 Minutes or Less, $2.0M
One Day, $1.8M
Crazy Stupid Love, $1.5M


Weekend Projections (BoxOffice.com):

The Help, $21M
Planet of the Apes, $16.5M
Spy Kids 4, $12.3M
Conan the Barbarian, $10M
The Smurfs, $8.5M
Fright Night, $8M
FInal Destination 5, $7.7M
30 Minutes or Less, $6.5M
One Day, $5.3M
Crazy Stupid Love, $5M
Harry Potter, $4.7M

Yikes. Everything new this week bombs. Glad I didn't pick any of it.

[transformers2]

I didn't expect the new releases to do that bad, but I can't say I'm surprised.

[MisterInformative]

I live in a fairly big city, and the ONLY movie in any theater in the city that I haven't yet seen, but want to, is Another Earth. The new movies this weekend just looked like a whole bunch of blah... and clearly the rest of the public thought so too.

[Buscemi]

There were only about 20 people at the showing of Conan I went to (in the theatre's biggest auditorium). Everyone seemed to be at Spy Kids but The Help probably had a big crowd too (there were only four showings due to the length and the first showing had already started when I came in and the second had already started when I left).

[Chienfantome]

Damn those are some terrible numbers !

[Geezer]

I TOLD you this was the worst weekend EVER!

[Buscemi]

Look again. In recent memory, nothing was worse than the week Bangkok Dangerous opened. It didn't even hit $6 million and it still was the top movie.

[Geezer]

Yes, but there was only ONE new wide release that weekend. This weekend had THREE bombs, and in August, not September.

[Buscemi]

Another worse weekend than this one (that wasn't in September): March 3rd, 2000. Five openers, none of them reaching $6 million (in fact, only one of them made over $3,000 per theatre) and a movie in its third week winning the weekend.

[englishozzy]

I have learnt over the years to stay very clear of this weekend, no matter how tempting a film looks. Wish i had The Help on more slates though

[Geezer]

That doesn't count Boush. FM hadn't even been invented yet!

[Shrykespeare]

Sunday Estimates (BOM):

Top 10:
5 points - The Help, $20.5M (only a 21.4% drop)
4 points - Planet of the Apes, $16.3M
3 points - Spy Kids 4, $12.0M
2 points - Conan the Barbarian, $10M
1 point - The Smurfs, $8M
Fright Night, $7.9M
Final Destination 5, $7.7M
30 Minutes or Less, $6.3M
One Day, $5.1M
Crazy Stupid Love, $4.9M

PTA (Jun/Jul):
5 points - The Help
4 points - Mysteries of Lisbon (this is turning out to be a great PTA pick despite its immense length)
3 points - The Guard
2 points - Rise of the Planet of the Apes
1 point - Amigo

PTA (Aug):
5 points - The Help
4 points - Mysteries of Lisbon (this is turning out to be a great PTA pick despite its immense length)
3 points - Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2 points - Amigo
1 point - Sky Kids 4

[Buscemi]

That doesn't count Boush. FM hadn't even been invented yet!

But to call this the worst weekend ever is completely hyperbolic. If it were the worst weekend ever, then there wouldn't have been any movies hitting $10 million.

[Geezer]

But you can't name me another weekend in the FM era with at least 3 new wide releases, all of which both sucked and bombed. And only one PTA point from the limited releases too? C'mon man!

[Buscemi]

I can name any weekend in early September or January but of course, you'd say it doesn't count because it's January or September. Your opinion isn't the only opinion, you know.

Another good one: February 4th. The Roommate won the weekend with just a $15 million weekend, Sanctum was a dud despite James Cameron's name attached and the only limited release that I recall was a dud.