When is $71.25 million not worth shaking a big, green stick at? When the fourth Shrek installment makes more than $50 million less than the previous installment, that's when. Studio expectations were already very conservative, expecting SHREK FOREVER AFTER to pull in approximately $100 million, $20 million less than the record SHREK THE THIRD holds for the highest animated opening weekend in history. I'm certain that this last Shrek tale will earn back its budget globally but it seems that Dreamworks is getting out of the Shrek business just in time. The green has been made.
Still, it could be worse ... much worse. You could be MACGRUBER. This "SNL" skit inspired film inspired very, very little interest at the box office this week. It's a shame really as it was pretty funny but people assume the worst when it comes to these kinds of films. With a per screen average of $1.6K, MACGRUBER may go on to make back its relatively small $10 million budget. At least things didn't go the route of IT'S PAT! That "SNL" film pulled in $60K in its entire run.
Sneaking into the Top 10 at number 10 is the multilingual film, KITES, in which a mortally wounded man left for dead in the desert keeps himself alive by focusing on winning back the love of his life. Filmmaker, Brett Rattner, threw his name behind the film to get more people to see it and they did, with a decent per screen average of just under $5K.
NEXT WEEK: There will be no box office review next week as I will be in Montreal for the weekend but there will still be movies coming out. Opening to early previews on Wednesday and officially on Thursday is the hotly anticipated SEX AND THE CITY 2. I am very curious to see if the girls can pull it off a second time on 3400 screens. I am also very curious to see for how much of PRINCE OF PERSIA: SANDS OF TIME Jake Gyllenhaal is shirtless. The video game inspired film opens on 3500 screens on Friday. Art house films include MICMACS from the director of AMELIE, festival hit, AGORA, with Rachel Weisz and a re-issue of one of my favorite films, Jean-Luc Godard's A BOUT DE SOUFFLE (BREATHLESS).
Source: Box Office Mojo
The Shrek number doesn't suprise me considering how bad the third film was. I guess the Macgruber number doesn't suprise me either. The green band trailer was completly devoid of laughs, the 18a rating doesn't help with finding it teenage audience and SNL has been at it's worst for the better part of the last decade. Still, the red band trailer had some really funny moments so I think I'll be checking it out anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm really curious to see is how Prince of Persia performs because, honestly, I haven't seen one preview of ad for it anywhere. Not in theaters, not on the TV (although I watch very little), not on the side of buses. What gives, shouldn't a big summer movie from the director of a Harry Potter movie be getting huge advertising? It makes me concerned for the quality of the finished product.
Hey Mike. The Shrek numbers definitely make sense. People are done with this franchise. I was done with it from the beginning almost but they should have stopped at three and at least the fourth won't bankrupt them.
ReplyDeleteI can't say I agree with SNL being at its worse for the last little while but I think you are also right about why this did not connect with anyone. They needed a teenage audience. I thought it was really funny and at least the rest of the critics that I watched it with laughed too. That doesn't happen often y'know. Those things are so quiet some times. I almost always feel bad laughing.
I've seen TV spots for Prince of Persia and assume it will do decent business. Sex and the City could actually hurt it because girls will be fighting with their boys over what to see and girls tend to win I feel. Plus I feel the women will sooner see Carrie et al before seeing Jake half-naked. It definitely will be interesting. I'm almost sad I won't be covering it.