Weekend Box-Office: ‘John Carter’ Manages $30.6 Million, While ‘Lorax’ Crosses $120 Million
By
Brad Brevet
The big news at the box-office this week isn’t the film at #1, but instead what is going to end up happening with the film at #2. So in an effort not to waste any commentary in my opening let’s get to the movies…
Laremy predicted the #1 movie correctly 2 Weeks In A Row
The third film this year to cross the $100 million mark and it’s already the #1 film of 2012. With a budget of $70 million it is going to need big dollars to turn a profit as I continue to wonder why so much money is spent on these animated films and what it is that actually costs so much?
Weekend: $39.1 million (-44.3% drop) Cummulative Total: $121.9 million RottenTomatoes Score:57% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #1 and his prediction of $49.2 million was $10.1m off for a percentage error of 25.83%.
Well, if there is a bright side to this weekend’s results, John Carter ended up making over $30 million, which is on the high end of industry predictions. Laremy was one to underestimate it, but looking over the reader comments from Thursday many weren’t underestimating as much as they were over-estimating . Predictions as high as $52.5 million were on the board and then they managed to go as low as $11.3 million.
As for the closest prediction, that goes to Jeff Winger with a nearly spot-on $30.2 million prediction. Nice work Jeff.
The question now is just how high will John Carter go? The film collected $101.2 million worldwide. Included in that figure the film had Russia’s highest opening ever. With a $250 million budget this thing is going to need something like $700 million to break even and I just don’t see that happening. You?
Weekend: $30.6 million / Cume: $30.6 million / RottenTomatoes:50% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #2 with $26.3 million, which is $4.3m off for a 14.05% error.
What is there to say about Project X? They’re considering making a sequel after this $12 million film has now more than tripled that number. That’s something, but that’s really all I’ve got.
Weekend: $11.5 million (-45.2% drop) / Cume: $40.1 million / RottenTomatoes:26% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #3 with $11.6 million, which is $0.1m off for a 0.87% error.
I don’t have much to say about the returns for this one either, other than to say Laremy was just under $1 million off and Ian was the closest on the reader prediction board with a number of $6.3 million.
Weekend: $7.01 million / RottenTomatoes:49% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #4 with $8 million, which is $0.99m off for a 14.12% error.
Getting back to film budgets. It takes $70 million to make The Lorax and only $24 million to make Project X and Act of Valor. If I was a film studio I think I would try and figure out how to make more of these kind of movies and fewer of those high priced animated things.
Weekend: $7 million (-48.1% drop) / Cume: $56.1 million / RottenTomatoes:29% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #5 with $7.5 million, which is $0.5m off for a 7.14% error.
I felt this was the best spot to point out the one thing all ten of this weekend’s top ten films have in common… They all have “rotten” scores on RottenTomatoes with Eddie Murphy’s latest having the distinct honor of becoming yet another one of the few films to actually score a 0%. Congrats to all involved.
Weekend: $6.3 million / RottenTomatoes:0% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #6 with $4.5 million, which is $1.8m off for a 28.57% error.
Here’s another $100+ million earner, too bad it has that $85 million budget holding it back.
Weekend: $5 million (-31.5% drop) / Cume: $115.8 million / RottenTomatoes:54% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #9 with $3.1 million, which is $1.9m off for a 38% error.
Oh, and another $100+ million earner with only a $30 million budget. Again, you can now make The Vow, Act of Valor and Project X for less than it cost to make The Lorax. I’m just pointing out the facts here folks.
Weekend: $4 million (-33% drop) / Cume: $117.6 million / RottenTomatoes:28% Laremy’s rank: Not Ranked
This was a big misstep in terms of money spent. This never should have cost $65 million and even though I enjoyed it and would certainly watch it a second time, I can’t deny the fact they should have taken a second look at that budget.
Weekend: $3.7 million (-32.7% drop) / Cume: $46.8 million / RottenTomatoes:26% Laremy’s rank: Not Ranked
Here’s one of the more interesting titles on the board. It has only made $90.7 million on a $79 million budget, which would typically result in a look of scorn, but with $276.3 million at the worldwide market it’s a winner. Movies have definitely become more global and from a diversity perspective this is one of the most diverse titles on the board.
Weekend: $3.6 million (-44.6% drop) / Cume: $90.7 million / RottenTomatoes:42% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #8 with $3.2 million, which is $0.4m off for a 11.11% error.
In other news, Roadside’s Friends with Kids managed $2.1 million from 374 theaters and that’s a film I recommend you give a look if you’re interested in a romantic comedy (although the ending isn’t too good). Salmon Fishing in the Yemen opened in only 18 theaters and brought in $240,000 for a solid $13,333 per theater average. And finally, Sony Classic’s Foreign Language Oscar nominee Footnote was the per theater winner bringing in $48,100 from only two theaters.
Next week’s big release is 21 Jump Street, which I expect will do pretty well at the box-office. Anyone care to post some early predictions?
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