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The first numbers are in!

Posted by norbert_numberguy 12 years, 6 months ago to Movies
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First estimate of Friday take, at BoxOfficeMojo: $692,000. That compares to $674,000 for the first day of Part 1, or a 3% increase over last time around.

It's impossible to tell from just one day and just one number, but if 3% is the general trend, then the total theatrical take for Part II will be $4.76 million (3% over $4.63 million), leaving the $16 million production about $11 million in the whole, with two thirds of the budget unrecovered. I would be surprised if the numbers were that bad, but they just may be, and we have to be ready for that.

The only notable high point of the Part 1 release is that it had a relatively high take per screen ($2254 on the first day), and that was used as an argument for adding more screens to the release. This time around it's much lower, $684 per screen, maybe just enough to get it into the top ten by the skin of its teeth for the first week, but a very weak position to start from.

So it's time to start thinking about what it means if this one does as badly as the last one did, or only 3% better than the first one did. Part 1 earned about a million in DVD/BluRay sales (about $3 million in sales, with an industry rule-of-thumb 30% of MSRP going to the studio) and probably not much more in home rentals. Assuming comparable numbers means Part II also ends up deep in the red.

The first movie was funded out of pocket by John Aglialoro. This time around, Aglialoro and Harmon were unable to raise all the money they wanted for Part II (he wanted to raise $25 million in a private debt sale but could only find $16 million) and if these numbers hold, raising money the same way for Part III gets just much, much harder. That is, Aglialoro was willing to gamble, but when you've had two episodes of a trilogy go down in flames, investing in the third is no longer a gamble but a pretty certain loss.

Of course its possible that the film will start doing better. But the reviews have been cataclysmic (currently 0% at Rotten Tomatoes, something I don't think I've ever seen before) and the opportunities for growth just don't seem to be there.


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  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • -5
    Posted by 12 years, 6 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Oh, I get it.

    Well, sorry to disappoint your fantasy, but no, I am not named Kerry Sanders.

    Just one more thing, apparently, you're wrong about.
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  • Posted by richrobinson 12 years, 6 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Waiting to see if this one has legs. The first one fizzled quickley. Hopefully this one will hang around longer.
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  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • -5
    Posted by 12 years, 6 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Opinions of the novel as a novel vary considerably, to put it mildly.

    As an exposition of a particular political/economic viewpoint, there is also no shortage of those who think she hurts her case rather than helping it. It was after all that novel's rather glaring weaknesses as a form of exposition that made Rand herself decide never to return to fiction again.
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  • -4
    Posted by 12 years, 6 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Actually, it's as straight apples-to-apples comparison as you could ask for, the opening day of Part 1 against the opening day of Part 2.

    On it's opening day (April 15, 2011), Part 1 made $674K. On its opening day (October 12, 2012), Part 2 made an estimated $692K. The latter is 103% of the former.

    There may be an argument to be made that the estimate is wrong and the actuals will come in higher (or lower). But there really isn't a case to be made that the comparison is inapt.
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  • Posted by overmanwarrior 12 years, 6 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It's too soon to take such a number sample. Most films released on their weekday numbers would have similar results. The Saturday numbers will tell the story better.
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  • -5
    Posted by 12 years, 6 months ago in reply to this comment.
    There is of course the possibility that the critics are right. Then we would have to decide whether it was a failed adaptation of a novel, or an adaptation of a failed novel.

    But, by definition, that is a heresy this board must reject.
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  • Posted by WesleyMooch 12 years, 6 months ago
    Much as I may look like Orwell's mule, on this news I'll forgo Taken 2 and see Atlas *six* times rather than three.

    The Producer matters, not the zero (the Ellsworth Tooheys who populate Rotten Tomatoes) .
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