David,
Don't you think it's a bizarre world we live in when we can say
that a movie like FANTASTIC FOUR which pulled in $287,035,878 in four weeks
"tanked"?
And maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see any indication in these
figures to support the commonly-held notion that non-American audiences are
somehow more discerning than we are:
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS only made 20% of its money outside the USA.
WAR OF THE WORLDS made 60% of its money outside the USA.
THE ISLAND did far better outside the USA, pulling in almost 66% of its
take overseas(!)
In fact, it looks like the "arty films" do better in the USA than they do
elsewhere -- which surprises the heck out of me, but that seems to be what the
figures indicate.
-- JR
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2005
14:24
Subject: [MOPO] Flashes and flops
I always find it interesting to track box office figures, esp.
for films
which remain in release but are past their "sell by" date.
The following
comes from VARIETY, with films ranked by USA box office
gross. The second
figure represents cumulative world-wide totals
including the USA. Note some
films which are flops here are successes
overseas (Ridley Scott's "Kingdom
of Heaven," ranked 19th here, but doing
OK overseas).
Looking at these latest numbers for cumulative totals
ending August 18, you
see the two biggest disasters relative to production
cost are "Cinderella
Man" (which got good reviews, with talk of a
re-release this winter) and
"The Island" (no hope for a re-release).
What's heartening is to see a
documentary like "March of the Penguins,"
which has an "A+" exit rating,
doing well enough (at #21) to make its money
back many times over its
original cost. Some films like Tim Burton's
remake of "Willy Wonka" are
doing far better than expected because of
support from family audiences,
while others like "Fantastic Four" have
tanked.
Deeper in the list (not shown) are some mildly surprising
disappointments -
like the remake of "The Bad News Bears" (#26 with $31
million) and bigger
ones ("Stealth," #27 with $30 million). By
looking at this list you can
draw your own conclusions about mass audience
taste, USA vs. world - and how
so-called art films, still make more money
relative to cost, such as
"Crash," a critically praised work with stars who
worked for near nothing.
1. STAR WARS: EP.III-REVENGE
SITH
$378,650,106 $829,350,106
2. WAR OF THE
WORLDS
$229,557,485 $563,742,485
3. BATMAN
BEGINS
$201,653,269 $363,637,870
4.
MADAGASCAR
$190,001,070 $444,884,222
5. CHARLIE AND THE
CHOCOLATE...
$188,203,635 $279,704,004
6. MR. AND MRS.
SMITH
$182,928,911 $383,928,911
7. WEDDING
CRASHERS
$169,639,990 $200,778,668
8. THE LONGEST
YARD
$157,100,023 $173,014,256
9. FANTASTIC
FOUR
$149,635,878 $287,035,878
10.
ROBOTS
$128,179,627 $255,979,627
11.
MONSTER-IN-LAW
$82,761,757 $130,430,424
12. HERBIE:
FULLY LOADED
$64,148,239 $105,211,239
13. THE DUKES OF
HAZZARD
$63,092,236 $63,092,236
14.
BEWITCHED
$62,027,998 $71,054,827
15. SPACE STATION
3-D
$61,257,095 $88,933,772
16. CINDERELLA
MAN
$61,201,835 $61,201,835
17.
CRASH
$52,846,372 $57,989,193
18. T-REX: BACK TO THE
CRETACEOUS
$50,040,202 $89,644,156
19. KINGDOM OF
HEAVEN
$47,383,539 $210,383,539
20. SKY
HIGH
$46,827,637 $46,995,637
21. MARCH OF THE
PENGUINS
$41,956,522 $53,912,328
22. THE ADVENTURES OF
SHARKBOY...
$38,826,841 $47,220,006
23. SISTERHOOD OF
THE TRAVELING...
$38,711,605 $40,222,637
24. MUST LOVE
DOGS
$36,787,080 $36,787,080
25. THE
ISLAND
$34,853,346
$98,016,669
-koose.
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