Miniglut, Week 3

The Far Side, by Gary Larsen.

For the third week in a row, a new CG-animated feature opens wide. Omation Studio's (backed by Paramount) Barnyard: The Original Party Animals is coming out closely on the heels of Monster House and The Ant Bully. The reviews are far less kind than they were for the previous two movies, and expectations are even lower. . . Monster House is still doing so-so (it just crossed $50 million), and having seen it in 3D at Boston I'm more confused than ever as to why it wasn't released in October. It's a pretty good movie and could have been a huge hit then. Ant bully, as expected, is not exactly setting the world on fire, despite generally good reviews and positive feedback from those who actually saw the film. Cars is still a presence ($236 million so far), and Over the Hedge and even Ice Age 2 are still in some theaters, making a total of six fully animated CG features playing somewhere in America. Our expectation is that, after this opening weekend is past for Barnyard, we will read a spate of news articles that could have been completely predicted nine months ago or even a couple of years ago -- articles trumpeting the shocking news that it's possible to make CG flops, that maybe the bubble has burst, gloom and doom, panic and disaster, etc., etc., with all the requisite comparisons to the hand-drawn feature boom and bust. Then, months from now, there will be some high-profile hits, and the panic will subside, though the landscape will be seen as far more hostile to mid-sized animation companies. As always, updates over the weekend will follow. UPDATE 1: Barnyard opened in second place with five and a half million on Friday -- much better than expected, though still far from exceptional (by way of comparison, Monster House made $7.3 it's opening Friday). I'll go out on a limb and suggest that, when all is said and done (I'm talking DVD sales here), the Omation film may eventually find its way into the black. The big winner, Talladega Nights, can already safely be called a surprise hit, with a whopping $18 million opening day (between this film and Cars, NASCAR-movie fans have never had it so good). Both MH and Ant Bully had approximately 50% drops from their previous Friday grosses, and are in seventh and eighth places, respectively. POTC2 slipped to fourth. UPDATE 2: Early returns indicate that Barnyard (and Talladega Nights) didn't get the usual Friday-to-Saturday increase (pulling $5.7 and $16.1, respectively, on Saturday) but both continue to confound predictions. The earliest weekend estimates are calling for TN to make $47 million (Will Ferrell's biggest opening ever), and Barnyard $16 million (about double most predictions). Monster House is estimated to be in a dead heat for 6th with $6 million ($57 million cume), and Ant Bully in 8th with $3.9 million ($18.2 total). Cars slips to 19th with a cool million (a 59% drop from last weekend) and a tidy $237.5 mill.