TheChez.net

by ssjrem

Well, it’s finally here, the much anticipated and overly hyped motion picture from renowned film maker James Cameron. After months of speculation and keeping information under wraps, Avatar has finally hit theatres. Predictions for the most part were rather outlandish, with the average for the Box Office Derby at about 93 million. Then again, this is a film made by the guy who did Titanic, so anything was really possible. But would it really be able to deliver on promises as lofy as changing the very way movies are made? A very tall order for any film, so were American audiences enable to embrace Avatar?

Avatar

Avatar didn’t exactly set the record books on fire, but it does get off to a very solid start. It opened to a very respectable 73 million. I predicted 70 million even, so I was pretty much spot on. I didn’t see anyway that this could possibly get into the nineties. It’s just a bit too “out there” to open to that much. Furthermore, all the biggest openings in box office history belong to either sequels or movies based on incredibly popular source material. For Avatar, a completely original story with no major stars to open to that much is actually quite remarkable. One certainly cannot be displeased with this result. Also factor in it probably could’ve made two or three million more without the snowstorm in the Northeast. Anyway, 73 million is good enough for the second biggest December debut ever, behind only I Am Legend’s 77 million. It’s remarkable that IAL made that much purely on Will Smith’s incredible star power. He is without a doubt the most bankable star in Hollywood. And that just makes Avatar’s feat all the more impressive. It just edged out Return of the King’s opening weekend total of 72 million. Considering a lot of the skepticism and caution about this film, I’m pretty impressed it manage to open to this much.

I find the parallels between Avatar and Titanic kind of uncanny. First of all, you’ve got James Cameron. Secondly, both were originally planned for summer releases before being pushed back to December. Third, both feature astronomical budgets and overpowering doubts about the films’ abilities to achieve profitibility. Fourth, in its time, Titanic had the second highest December opening weekend ever, a title Avatar now claims. It’s interesting, is it not? Oh and one more thing. Avatar’s rocking an 83% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, which is identical to Titanic’s. I’m not saying that Avatar is going to pull a Titanic. The chances of that happening are slim and none. But I’m just saying it seems like Titanic all over again, given some of these facts. If word of mouth really does take off in the weeks to come, we could see Avatar reaching truly incredible totals. 300 or even 400 million are certainly possible, but Titanic’s 600 million is not going to be touched. I just don’t see that falling, even with all the similarities going on here with Avatar. Then again, Titanic had a much more universal story and a lot of people just won’t be able to get into all the CGI and 3-D of Avatar. And I don’t really blame them. It’s way too early to tell where Avatar will end up. I’ll need to see what kind of dip it has next weekend. As it always has been, the sky’s the limit for Avatar, so I’m excited. Unfortunately, I have yet to see it, otherwise I’d offer my views. One of my friends was out of town on Friday, so we’re waiting until tonight to see it. Hopefully, I’ll have a review up shortly thereafter. Anyway, I’ll move on now, but just so know, nothing else about this weekend is all that interesting.

EDIT: Well, the actuals came in today and I gotta say, things look even better for Avatar now. The actual gross was about four million higher than projected, coming in it at an even 77 million, just 200,000 shy of beating I Am Legend. And if we look at how Avatar performed over the weekend, it’s pretty remarkable. It opened to 26.8 million on Friday, a solid gross. Usually big blockbusters will see a fair drop to Saturday. Avatar slipped just 5% down to 25.5 million. If you take into account that the fact that 3.5 million of its Friday gross came from midnight showings, then it actually increased to Saturday. And then perhaps most remarkably, it dropped just three percent to Sunday. That’s just incredible. Every other film dropped at least 10 percent. The Sunday hold was probably a bit better than usual because of the snowstorm on Saturday which caused many in the Northeast to have to wait until Sunday. Even factoring that in, it’s still fantastic. You can tell a lot about how a movie might perform by looking at its performance over its first three days. Avatar made only two million less on Sunday than Friday. That bodes extremely well for the future. It seems to say that word of mouth is already spreading like wildfire over just the film’s first weekend. I really wouldn’t be surprised at all to see it drop less than 20% next weekend. I’m very excited now. I have a lot of confidence in this movie to do great things, so I just hope that it doesn’t disappoint.

The Princess and The Frog

Well, this pretty much puts the nail in the coffin for traditional animation. The Princess and the Frog fell an extremely troubling 50% this weekend. That’s bad for a kiddy flick, no matter what. They generally fall under 40%. Secondly, it’s even worse because we’re in the holiday season when films, especially ones aimed at Children, are supposed to hold better. I really would’ve expected this to fall more about 30%. Getting chopped in half is just not good. Disney was willing to give traditional animation one last shot, but it may unfortunately have met its end now. Well, in America anyway. Anime’s still going strong. But anyway, TPATF grossed 12.2 million for a total 44.8 million. That’s pretty damn weak. This is going to need a miracle to hit 100 million at this point. Rest in peace, old fashioned animation. I shall miss you.

The Blind Side continues its remarkable run, dipping just 33% to a little over 10 million. The total’s up to 165 million and I still think it’s going to hit 200 million. As a feel-good movie out during this time of the year, it’s going to see very good business over Christmas week and beyond. People still wary of the effects-driven Avatar might make their way over to this good old fashioned flick. It’s a shame Sandra Bullock had the complete flop All About Steve between The Proposal and The Blind Side. Could’ve been a perfect year for her. Nonetheless, I’m sure that she’s not complaining.

Yes, thank you, America! I love seeing movies like actually get allowed to fail every now and then. Did You Hear About the Morgans? grossed a weak 7 million. And with a 10% at RT, the road ahead doesn’t exactly look very good. Good riddance.

Well, New Moon is still holding on for dear life, trying desperately to still be around to benefit from the holiday. It fell 45%, but for this movie, that’s actually outstanding. Anyway, with 4.4 million this weekend, the total’s up to about 275 million, so it still hasn’t even managed to double its opening weekend gross. It’s just sad. Yes, it will benefit a tad from Christmas, but not very much. It might reach 290 million by the end.

Yikes, Invictus is no Gran Torino. After an underwhelming start, it falls a rather unsettling 52% to 4.2 million. The total gross is only at a little less than 16 million. Eh, everyone has a flop every now and then.

Despite it being closer to Christmas than ever, A Christmas Carol has one of its biggest drops to date as it falls 50% 3.4 million. Despite Christmas bearing down upon us, pretty much all of ACC’s 3-D theatres have been taken away by Avatar, so it’s suffering accordingly. It does have a decent total 131 million, but it’s just nowhere near that outrageous 200 million budget.

Up in the Air, George Clooney’s 16th movie in this past two months does extremely well this weekend in limited release. In just 175 theatres (no other movie in the top ten is in less than 2000) it grossed 3.1 million. Its per theatre average of $17,114 was second only to Avatar’s $21,147. Very impressive. With an exceptional 90% at RT, the road ahead for this looks very, very good.

Brothers continues to struggle. Apparently, dukemich and I were the only ones who couldn’t take this seriously, as many other people I’ve talked said it looked good or wanted to see it. Am I the weird one in this situation? Well, popular doesn’t always mean right. Anyway, Brothers fell 48% to 2.6 million. The total’s at 22 million, but the budget is only 26 million, so that’s not half bad.

Rounding out the top ten is Old Dogs, a movie I’m overjoyed to see fail. Down 48%, it pulled in 2.3 million this weekend. Though, the 43.6 million total actually isn’t half bad, especially with a budget of 35 million. It’s no Wild Hogs, but then again, it’s not a complete bomb. Oh well.

So, there you go. Avatar opens to a very respectable total and nothing else interesting happens. Despite the fact that New Moon made in a single day almost as much as Avatar’s entire weekend, I still the latter has a fantastic shot at beating New Moon. But I still can’t make any long term predictions until I can see how it holds next weekend. It’s currently number 25 on IMDB’s top 250, though I really don’t know if there’s a shred of credibility left in that list. Hopefully, I’ll see it tonight and be able to offer my views to all six of the people out there who will read it. So, what’s on the horizon for next weekend?

It’s Complicated: This is a movie that fits right in the category “I would not see this if you paid for my ticket and then paid me an addtional 20 dollars to sit through it.” It just looks dumb. An Alec Baldwin/Meryl Streep romance where he divorces her, gets married and then cheats on his new wife with Meryl Streep. What kind of plot is that? It’s not funny. It’s fucked up.

Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: Well, I don’t know what there is to say. I hope with every fiber of my being that this movie fails as miserably as possibly, but I it won’t. It will probably knock Avatar out of the top spot and end up with like 300 million dollars. Why? Just why?

Sherlock Holmes: By a ridiculously large margin, the number one choice for next weekend. I find incredibly likely that Alvin will not only beat it on opening weekend, but in total gross as well. Then again, humans are retarded. Oh well. I’ve come to terms with it. I’ll definitely see this next weekend, but I think I’ll let dukemich field the review. So, anyway, I’m done. Those are my thoughts. Until we meet again.