Now with fresh-baked Add On.
... goes to the horror flicks, not animation (and I turn out to be delusional about Astro Boy's performance ...).
Two animated features are in the Top Ten, but Cloudy is well past its zenith and Astro Boy doesn't pull in many eyeballs.
Where the Wild Thing Are is obviously not getting rapturous word of mouth, and doesn't look to be around for very long...
The October 23-25 field:
1. Paranormal Activity (Par) Week 5 [1,945 Runs] $7.5M Fri, Est Wkd $21M
2. Saw VI (LG) NEW [3,036] $6.9M Fri, Est Wkd $18M
3. Wild Things (WB) Week 2 [3,735] $4.3M Fri (-64%), Est Wkd $13M
4. Law Abiding (Over) Week 2 [2,890] $4.1M Fri (-45%), Est Wkd $12.5M
5. Couples Retreat (Uni) Week 3 [3,074] $3.6M Fri, Est Wkd $11.5M
6. Vampire's Assistant (Relativity/Uni) NEW [2,754] $2.2M Fri, Est Wkd $6.8M
7. The Stepfather (Sony) Week 2 [2,734] $2.2M Fri, Est Wkd $6.2M
8. Astro Boy (Imagi/Summit) NEW [3,014] $1.8M Fri, Est Wkd $7M
9. Cloudy/Meatballs (Sony) Week 6 [2,741] $1.4M Fri, Est Wkd $5.5M
10. Zombieland (Sony) Week 4 [2,447] $1.3M Fri, Est Wkd $4.5M
11. Amelia (Fox Searchlight] NEW [818] $1.3M Fri, Est Wkd $4M
What this does to Imagi's longer term prospects, well, you and I will just have to wait and see ...
Add On: The Derby ends about as one would expect:
Paramount's "Paranormal Activity" expanded from 863 theaters to 1,945 this weekend and sold a studio-estimated $22 million, making it No. 1 ... "Saw VI" opened to a disappointing $14.8 million ...
Sadly, animation's newer entries didn't shine this go-round, either here or abroad:
... "Astro Boy," which animation studio Imagi Entertainment produced at a cost of $65 million, opened to a dismal $7 million ... Overseas, Fox opened "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" in author Roald Dahl's native land of Britain to a disappointing $2.5 million.
Animation has been on a roll for the past few years, but these two low-gross openings reiterate the sometimes neglected wisdom that you have to make a movie that people want to see. Just because it's a hot genre doesn't guarantee success.
Add On Too: Overseas, toonage totals continue to grow.
Walt Disney and Pixar's 3D "Up," playing on 4,500 screens in 24 territories, ranked No. 1 in 10 markets, including the U.K. and Italy. Foreign cume through Oct. 18 was $295.8 million -- quickly catching up the $309 million grossed at the foreign B.O. last year by Disney/Pixar's "Wall-E." ...
Toon's worldwide cume is a boffo $588.6 million.
Disney's rodent toon "G-Force" registered No. 1 starts in German-speaking Europe. Overall, the pic grossed $12.5 million for the frame from 3,255 playdates in 44 markets. Cume through Oct. 18 was $127.9 million for a worldwide total of $246.2 million ...
So how is Astro Boy going to fare?
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2 comments:
Wild Things was a downer and a bore. It deserves to sink. Astro Boy's stumble, however, was kind of jaw-dropping; maybe the character is just too obscure or dated for American audiences? I liked the movie myself, although its political proselytizing was incredibly annoying. It really hurt the film. Oh well. Let's hope the REAL reason isn't a glut of CGI...
Maybe it's the wrong time of the year to release an animated flick. I mean, it's almost halloween!
r.
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