September 9th, 2011, saw sixteen new films open in North America. Of those sixteen, only four were truly considered "wide releases" (which means that the film premiered on at least 600 screens). Taking the top spot, Contagion opened to a better than expected $22,403,596, allowing Warner Brothers to already recoup a third of their budget. Playing on 3,222 screens, the film had an average take of $6,953 from each theater it played in. These are fairly impressive numbers for a release in September, which tends to find itself the dumping ground for sub-par releases.
The second widest released film from this past weekend was the MMA drama Warrior, which grossed $5,242,107 and finished third (behind Disney's powerhouse The Help). This is, by no means, a horrible opening for a movie that was made for $25 million: Lionsgate nabbed $2,805 from each of Warrior's 1,869 screens.
Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions (owned by Sony) claimed third amongst the new releases with Bucky Larson: Born to Be A Star; coming in at fifteenth, it only managed to pull in $1,415,023. I'm a little shocked, to be honest, with the amazing ad campaign Comedy Central has been running for weeks...
On that note, I have to take off on a rant for just a moment. Before I saw the atrocious TV spots for Larson on Comedy Central, I actually wanted to see this film. I mean, Grandma's Boy is hilarious, and it didn't do well in theaters. However, by the end of the first time I saw the bat-shit crazy commercial on Comedy Central, I wanted to run out into the streets and kill everything that drew breath. The inner Gypsy in me wandered what cruel curse has been bestowed upon me. I honestly looked for one of the ads to link in here, but it seems that fear of them making the interwebs violently implode has kept anyone from posting any of them.
...anywho, Larson opened on 1,500 screens and averaged $943 at each theater. Being a theater manager, this is the kind of film that makes me hate movie studios. These films have a taint on them that hurts every other movie playing in the same building!
Sorry. I really am finished ranting about Bucky Larson now. The only other thing I want to point out about it is that, even with such lousy numbers, it managed to make back a full tenth of it's budget. So, to review, we have three new releases that managed to make back 1/3 (#1 Contagion), 1/5 (#3 Warrior), and 1/10 (#15 Bucky Larson) of their budgets. Each od the studios involved are fairly content, knowing that there was no real loss in their investments. Sony has the biggest chance of getting burnt, but for every bad release Happy Madison puts in theaters, they have two or three that have returns in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS.
Finally, we arrive at this past weekends fourth wide release, Creature (Bubble Distribution). Coming in at 29th overall (there are currently 127 films in distribution across North America), Creature grossed $327,000; that's only $217 from each of the 1,507 theaters it played in. When you stack that up against the other three, this film seems like it is deserving of the Godzilla Facepalm. I mean, that can't even be 1/25th of it's budget, can it? CAN IT?!?
IT ISCreature is a micro budget film, meaning that it was made for somewhere in the thousands of dollars. Generally, a studio doesn't have to release how much a film cost to produce if they spent less than $100,000 in it's making. Having said that, Creature did something that none of the other wide releases could ever have hoped to manage on their opening weekends: it grossed back somewhere between three and ELEVEN HUNDRED times it's budget. This is nothing short of phenomenal.
Before I go any further, I just want to make it clear: I have seen none of these movies. I do want to catch each of them, but will most likely wait for each of them to show up on Netflix before doing so...with the sole exception of Creature. I have no doubt, after watching the trailer, that it is probably a film better suited to the confines of SyFy (as I'm sure it will find a permanent home in their line-up in the coming years). Nor do I hold any hope that it is a good film: the point is, some people got together, made a movie, had it released nationally, and are reaping the rewards for their dedication. In doing so, these men and women have earned my money, and I fully intend for them to have it.
Coming full circle back to my review of Brother Tom last week, I do not want to see these types of films vanish. The micro budget film is quickly finding itself in the same boat with short films, and they're both struggling to keep it afloat. Support all forms of film, not only what Hollywood deems worthy of dipping their fingers in. My hat is off to each person involved in the creation of Creature: I hope that by this time next year, I can claim to be a member of your club. I also fully expect you to come see ours, if you get the chance. If we don't support each other, than why would any of us want to give it another go?
Before I go any further, I just want to make it clear: I have seen none of these movies. I do want to catch each of them, but will most likely wait for each of them to show up on Netflix before doing so...with the sole exception of Creature. I have no doubt, after watching the trailer, that it is probably a film better suited to the confines of SyFy (as I'm sure it will find a permanent home in their line-up in the coming years). Nor do I hold any hope that it is a good film: the point is, some people got together, made a movie, had it released nationally, and are reaping the rewards for their dedication. In doing so, these men and women have earned my money, and I fully intend for them to have it.
Coming full circle back to my review of Brother Tom last week, I do not want to see these types of films vanish. The micro budget film is quickly finding itself in the same boat with short films, and they're both struggling to keep it afloat. Support all forms of film, not only what Hollywood deems worthy of dipping their fingers in. My hat is off to each person involved in the creation of Creature: I hope that by this time next year, I can claim to be a member of your club. I also fully expect you to come see ours, if you get the chance. If we don't support each other, than why would any of us want to give it another go?
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