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Wkd Box Office 01•01-03•16 - Hate flows through BO as TFA eyes all-time DOM record

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gamz

Member
I still know dudes who can't stand Leo because of Titanic. It's pretty fucking hilarious. Especially considering how you'd think that a lot of those dudes are fans now.

It kinda still shows in Titanic discussions when people get unfair with their criticism. It's not my favorite Cameron flick, but it's a great movie and a testament to film making regardless.

It's almost a miracle of a film that it even works as well as it does. No other director could have made Titanic. I think the structure of the screenplay is damn near brilliant and doesn't get enough credit.
 

Exodust

Banned
I only know Leonardo Dicaprio as the little shit who poured all the booze down the drain in Growing Pains

My earliest memory of him is from What's Eating Gilbert Grape. He was great in it. Titanic didn't bother me so much because I was too young and thought it was probably just a movie girls really liked cause of the romance.

Years down the line and I can still watch it whenever it's on TV. I may like the love story in Terminator but I imagine people were very skeptical of him working on a full on romance movie. Like Bobby said, that's probably part of the reason some idiots were pissed off. Him not making another movie till almost ten years later probably helped amplify that.
 

kswiston

Member
Anymore news on TFA in China?

Looks like the final estimate for Saturday dropped slightly to $31.8M (including midnights).

Sunday presales are mediocre so far (For a OD over $200M RMB). I wouldn't bank on extraordinary legs.

The Chinese pre-sale and very early estimates roller-coaster reminds me of the domestic opening. Even people who make decent projections start buying into hype and excitement. Some of the Chinese posters on BOT who are usually pretty good at extrapolating were calling for OD numbers approaching $40M a few hours ago (which would have been around $65M for the weekend as I posted last night).

The weekend estimate will probably a couple million higher than the $50M I predicted last Sunday. $150M is still the target gross in China.
 

kswiston

Member
It's ok guys. Donnie Yen will save Star Wars in China.

$150M would still be the fourth highest Hollywood film in China of the past year behind Furious 7, Age of Ultron, and Jurassic World unless I am forgetting something. I don't think that signifies a disappointment, since those other films had more franchise history in China than Star Wars. Even if Cheebo was trying to convince us that Star Wars was huge in China a few months ago.

$150M means that the sequels are likely to be over $200M. Maybe significantly over.
 

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
Has there ever been such a significant budget reduction ever any theatrically released sequel? It's kind of amazing that the series survived that.

Not just survived, but utterly thrived. It's a unique set of circumstances as far as I'm aware, in any case. Maybe there's something else out there that we aren't remembering, but... still.


Sounds like business as usual for JJ. He doesn't really do extended cuts for his films in general, right? I own both the nuTreks and it's just deleted scenes, at least.
 
I still know dudes who can't stand Leo because of Titanic. It's pretty fucking hilarious. Especially considering how you'd think that a lot of those dudes are fans now.

It kinda still shows in Titanic discussions when people get unfair with their criticism. It's not my favorite Cameron flick, but it's a great movie and a testament to film making regardless.
I'll fully admit, I really disliked Leo for a long time because of Titanic. Then, I think it was because of Inception I was open to watching some of his other movies and completely changed 180 degrees on the guy.

Probably my favourite actor after McConaughey now (who I also did a complete 180 on but that's because he basically did the same with the roles he was choosing).
 

kswiston

Member
I'm still not convinced a re-expansion in March will do that much. If the film is sitting at CFK's $966M before then, maybe. If we're looking at something closer to $925M by late march, then I doubt it.

Also, Easter seems like a dumb date for a major expansion push, since we have BvS that weekend.
 

Ridley327

Member
Has there ever been such a significant budget reduction ever any theatrically released sequel? It's kind of amazing that the series survived that.

To be fair, the original film was supposed to be budgeted at $15 million. The production on that film was already a disaster before they shot a single frame, and it got even worse from there.
 
I'm still not convinced a re-expansion in March will do that much. If the film is sitting at CFK's $966M before then, maybe. If we're looking at something closer to $925M by late march, then I doubt it.

Also, Easter seems like a dumb date for a major expansion push, since we have BvS that weekend.

Yeah, that's a weird week. But that rumor also said the blu-ray was getting pushed back to June? So maybe they'll do something closer to May and Star Wars' anniversary? But then you're smack in the middle of summer season.

Or maybe the rumor's just bullshit altogether, which is always a high possibility.
 

Shepard

Member
For some reason I never saw Titanic as a romantic movie, it always was a disaster movie for me. I remember when I was younger, I would always watch only the 2nd VHS (it start a little bit after the ship hits the iceberg), so I could see the sinking sequence again and again. As I got older I learned to appreciate the build-up and slower pace of the first half, but I'll always see it as a preparation for the spectacle that is the sinking.
 

3N16MA

Banned
150M would be great for TFA in China. This is coming from a film that was a bit of a mystery in terms of how well it would do. Sets a good foundation for the franchise moving forward.
 
just got back from my 11:40pm showing

Only about 70 or so people there. Seemed to be the latest showing as well. I don't really feel this is a movie chinese people can love. They like more simple and easy to get into and this movie is not that imo

They like to laugh and they forced out 3 or 4 laughs.

I enjoyed the movie though. Will try to hit some pics up some time tomorrow. I enjoyed the movie for the most part other than the overall ideas and story parts. It was a bit chaotic and lost focus here and there for sure but it is a well made movie and I liked it.
 

kswiston

Member
The Force Awakens’ In China With $33M; Market’s Best Saturday Bow Ever; Top All-Time For Disney

"Comparatively Jurassic World opened on a June Wednesday in China last year with $17.24M...JW went on to about $229M locally."

Pretty bad article all around. First, the numbers are based on old estimates. Local report for first day was $31.8m. Second, that isn't the top of all time for Disney since Age of Ultron did just shy of $34m on a Tuesday last May. Third, comparing a Wednesday opening in June to a Saturday opening in January makes little sense. Why not use Terminator Genisys' $26m Sunday opening in late August? At least that's a weekend opener. But then Deadline can't hint at a huge total for TFA since Terminator finished with $115m.
 
Pretty bad article all around. First, the numbers are based on old estimates. Local report for first day was $31.8m. Second, that isn't the top of all time for Disney since Age of Ultron did just shy of $34m on a Tuesday last May. Third, comparing a Wednesday opening in June to a Saturday opening in January makes little sense. Why not use Terminator Genisys' $26m Sunday opening in late August? At least that's a weekend opener. But then Deadline can't hint at a huge total for TFA.

I don't know if june makes a big difference or not. But I think star wars would have did a lot better opening up right around new years here since some places were off and celebrating it.
 

darkinstinct

...lacks reading comprehension.
I'm still not convinced a re-expansion in March will do that much. If the film is sitting at CFK's $966M before then, maybe. If we're looking at something closer to $925M by late march, then I doubt it.

Also, Easter seems like a dumb date for a major expansion push, since we have BvS that weekend.

Re-expansion to what, that's when Batman vs. Superman launches. There will be no screens for a big expansion.
 

kswiston

Member
I don't know if june makes a big difference or not. But I think star wars would have did a lot better opening up right around new years here since some places were off and celebrating it.

Wednesday vs Saturday makes a big difference. Age of Ultron had pretty much the same opening day multiplier as Furious 7 despite AoU having shit all for legs and Furious 7 having great holds.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
Welp. Sitting here at the theater. Had to exchange tickets because the showing of Revenant I wanted to see sold out.
 

firelogic

Member
Pretty bad article all around. First, the numbers are based on old estimates. Local report for first day was $31.8m. Second, that isn't the top of all time for Disney since Age of Ultron did just shy of $34m on a Tuesday last May. Third, comparing a Wednesday opening in June to a Saturday opening in January makes little sense. Why not use Terminator Genisys' $26m Sunday opening in late August? At least that's a weekend opener. But then Deadline can't hint at a huge total for TFA since Terminator finished with $115m.

THR seems to think the same as far as opening day grosses are concerned.

"It's also the biggest opening day in history for the studio, as well as the second-biggest single-day gross of all time behind Furious 7 ($54.4 million), which debuted on a Sunday.

Other top opening-day grosses in China include Avengers: Age of Ultron ($29.2 million), Transformers: Age of Extinction ($27.4 million) and Terminator: Genisys ($26.7 million). Local fantasy adventure film Monster Hunt holds the record for the largest single-day debut by a Chinese film with $27.7 million (172 million Chinese yuan)."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-box-office-star-wars-853574
 

kswiston

Member
It's kind of interesting to look at the difference in (internet) movie reception in the west vs China. Gewara has user ratings. Here are the average ratings for some of the larger Hollywood films over there in the past 2 years vs IMDB ratings as a proxy for internet reception in the west.

Code:
Film					Gewara		IMDB
2014
Captain America: The Winter Soldier	8.4 		7.8
Amazing Spider-man 2			8.0 		6.8
Godzilla				7.4		6.5
X-Men: DOFP				8.2		8.0
Transformers 4				7.8		5.8
Guardians of the Galaxy			8.5		8.1
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes		7.8		7.6
Interstellar				8.9		8.6

2015
Furious 7				9.3		7.3
San Andreas				8.6		6.1
Age of Ultron				8.1		7.6
Jurassic World				8.6		7.1
Terminator Genisys			8.4		6.6
Ant-Man					8.7		7.5
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation	8.7		7.5
Spectre					7.6		7.0
Star Wars: The Force Awakens		8.0		8.5

Clearly the scales don't line up perfectly (it's harder to get very high scores on IMDB) but comparing the films between themselves in the two regions can give you a sense of reception in both regions. China loved both Dwayne Johnson films this year, thought Ant-Man was one of the best recent comic films, gave solid scores to Genisys and Jurassic World, and is giving so-so scores to Star Wars (the only film to have a higher rating on IMDB). Both regions were pretty meh on Godzilla, Spectre. and Age of Ultron to a lesser extent.
 

kswiston

Member
THR seems to think the same as far as opening day grosses are concerned.

"It's also the biggest opening day in history for the studio, as well as the second-biggest single-day gross of all time behind Furious 7 ($54.4 million), which debuted on a Sunday.

Other top opening-day grosses in China include Avengers: Age of Ultron ($29.2 million), Transformers: Age of Extinction ($27.4 million) and Terminator: Genisys ($26.7 million). Local fantasy adventure film Monster Hunt holds the record for the largest single-day debut by a Chinese film with $27.7 million (172 million Chinese yuan)."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-box-office-star-wars-853574

Western press has always been terrible at covering Chinese box office, so the above doesn't mean much. Case in point, Star Wars' (now inaccurate) opening day total includes midnight previews, but they didn't bother to include Age of Ultron's preview numbers in the figure listed. In 2014 the US trades were reporting an opening weekend gross for Transformers that was almost $10M lower than the actual gross. They also had the running total wrong for several weeks in a row due to that.

Ultron's first day was 212M RMB with a stronger exchange rate. The Force Awakens was initially reported as 212 RMB including midnights, and was later revised to 209M RMB. Both Deadline and Hollywood reporter seem to be taking the old midnight number (which was also revised down) and combining it with the first Friday proper estimate.

Regardless, none of this takes into consideration the fact that Ultron opened on a Tuesday, and that it's first Saturday (day 5) was 236M RMB. Weekend (Sat-Sun) openers in China have their debut day as their best day. Weekday openers have their first Saturday as their best day.

That's why these articles are misleading and not very good.
 
Revenant might be huge.

Hell my mom called and asked if it was worth seeing. Outside SW my parents never see movies opening weekend.

I want to see it again at the big rpx theater for the atmos sound. Even the tiny theater I was at Thursday was one of the best sound experiences I've had in some time. Gotta love surround sound nature.
 

Ridley327

Member
Will Hateful Eight be QT's first "flop"?

It's only 44 mil, but it's going to need around 100 mil to be profitable.

Depends on who you want to pin Grindhouse on, though it's pretty clear that was largely due to Rodriguez fucking around (figuratively and literally!) which resulted in Planet Terror being a lot bigger than originally planned.
 

kswiston

Member
I wonder if The Force Awakens' crazy preview business will lead to Warner Bros pushing previews hard for BvS. Friday is a holiday, so if the interest is there, Thursday night could be pretty big. Not $57M big, but perhaps bigger than Age of Ultron's preview gross.

There isn't a ton of comparisons for Easter Weekend (Furious 7 and Clash of the Titans are the only two that opened over $50M), but it looks like Good Friday is inflated and the rest of the weekend behaves in a normal way for spring.
 

Branduil

Member
It's kind of interesting to look at the difference in (internet) movie reception in the west vs China. Gewara has user ratings. Here are the average ratings for some of the larger Hollywood films over there in the past 2 years vs IMDB ratings as a proxy for internet reception in the west.

Code:
Film					Gewara		IMDB
2014
Captain America: The Winter Soldier	8.4 		7.8
Amazing Spider-man 2			8.0 		6.8
Godzilla				7.4		6.5
X-Men: DOFP				8.2		8.0
Transformers 4				7.8		5.8
Guardians of the Galaxy			8.5		8.1
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes		7.8		7.6
Interstellar				8.9		8.6

2015
Furious 7				9.3		7.3
San Andreas				8.6		6.1
Age of Ultron				8.1		7.6
Jurassic World				8.6		7.1
Terminator Genisys			8.4		6.6
Ant-Man					8.7		7.5
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation	8.7		7.5
Spectre					7.6		7.0
Star Wars: The Force Awakens		8.0		8.5

Clearly the scales don't line up perfectly (it's harder to get very high scores on IMDB) but comparing the films between themselves in the two regions can give you a sense of reception in both regions. China loved both Dwayne Johnson films this year, thought Ant-Man was one of the best recent comic films, gave solid scores to Genisys and Jurassic World, and is giving so-so scores to Star Wars (the only film to have a higher rating on IMDB). Both regions were pretty meh on Godzilla, Spectre. and Age of Ultron to a lesser extent.

Most of these ratings I can get, but why the high rating for a shit film like San Andreas? Is it just because America gets destroyed?
 
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