DELLAMORTE’S BO WRAP – 6/29/07

Well, as will be noted elsewhere, that’s a pretty low opening for a Pixar film. But, let me make clear one of the few rules of box office:

Often opening weekends are more a reflection of a previous film than the film proper.

So if Ratatouille has a lower opening weekend than Cars, all it means is that it got a hit from the fact that a lot of people weren’t crazy about Cars, while Cars got a bump from The Incredibles, which a lot of people loved, partly because they were so happy with Finding Nemo. So blame Cars. Blame Cars. Here in my car I feel safest of all. With the new regime at Disney, these numbers can’t be super-awesome, but the film should be in for the long haul (depending on how badly Harry Potter dents it), and could conceivably play through August, unless Captivity steals its audience.

With Live Free or Be Easy (Get word to the DJ, tell ’em Staten Island’s in the house, put the record on replay), that it almost got to $50 mil for the five day is one of those moments of lowered expectations successes. If you were looking for some sort of sexual act for the evening, and ended up rubbing up against a another person while you were both going through a doorframe… that counts, right? "Accidentally" touching boob or wiener? Turning down the wingman (or wingwoman) slot? Can you go home and masturbate yourself to sleep with joy in your heart? Here’s where it counts: The film reported budget is $110. Fantastic Four got to $58 it’s opening weekend (and do five days count?) and should crash out at around its budget of 130. DHINO cost less but got to less. Hrm. And then Transformers, which should be huge for its six day, but not OH MY FUCKING GOD, OH FUCK, OH GOD huge, will likely zap that audience right away (funnily enough, I don’t think the R rated would have changed the weekend, but it might have helped it come Monday night, as I think some men might have picked an R rated film over Transformers given the choice, whereas with two PG-13, Trannies awesome robots will win). Will DHINO go extinct pre-making budget? Supposedly it takes three licks to get to the center of a Tootsie pop, so anything is possible. Hey, that international gross is awesome, and we’ve got an unrated DVD on the way, with more fake blood. Awesome! Does the new "Unrated" sound mixer have a Bruce Willis soundboard filled with fucks, and shits, and motherfuckers? (BTW, this last sentence would guarantee me an R rating with the MPAA) If so, that should be put on line, for the fans. They deserve something.

Evan tumbled mightily, all righty, and will be old business come next Sunday, but this was as foretold by God. 1408 is doing good business, but will have to settle for being modestly profitable, vs. being a sleeper hit. Fantastic Four tumbled another 50% plus this weekend, and it’s not going to get any better. Possibly by Potter it could be out of the top ten, but likely it will be at the ten spot.

For the record, Knocked Up only lost 300 screens (to be precise 297) though it’s probably shed all second prints. With Evan looking dire, it’s quite possible when Harry Potter comes around, a lot of theaters will put their prints of Evan with Knocked Up, with Evan in the mornings. But, all things, $150 is not out of the question.

Ocean’s crossed the nine digit mark, and Pirates gets within five million of the $300 tentpole. Which what the film is rumored to cost. I don’t get it. Sicko played well on its 440 screen expansion, but the film is also about the long play. Transformers opens tomorrow at 8pm. The film is tracking huge, but I think the studios are a little worried about word of mouth, and don’t think they can have the super awesome three or five day, so they want the word of mouth help. Seriously.