Comments on: Box-Office Oracle: May 22 – May 24, 2009

By: junjun

junjun — Sat, 23 May 2009 07:23:21 +0000

So much for all that talk that this years Memorial Weekend will be the biggest ever. Judging by the reported preliminary Friday (5/22) grosses, both Terminator Salvation and Night at the Museum 2 barely managed 15mil apiece. For the traditional Fri-Sun period, both will be around 50mil. I think Night at the Museum 2 will earn more on Memorial Day itself and finish with a 4-day of around 60-65mil. Night at the Museum should've stuck with the Winter Holiday release that the first one had, because Summer holiday weekends are best suited for the "Big Boys" of Franchises, such as Spidey, Pirates, Batman, Potter, and the like. Night at the museum may be a Franchise, but it probably ranks among the 2nd and even 3rd tier of film franchises today.

By: Bustray

Bustray — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:48:01 +0000

1. Terminator- $75.9 million
2. Night At The Museum II- $53.2 million
3. Star Trek- $$36 million
4. Angels & Demons- $22.6 million
5. Dance Flick- $15.5 million
6. X-Men Origins: Wolverine- $9.7 million
7. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past- $5.2 million
8. Obsessed- $3.0 million
9. Monsters Vs. Aliens- $2.7 million
10. 17 Again- $1.9 million

By: Raichu

Raichu — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:30:00 +0000

4 day weekend:

1.NatM: 72mil
2.Terminator Salvation: 58mil (78mil, 5-day)

As for next week:

Up: 65mil
Drag me to Hell: 15mil

By: Rosa

Rosa — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:40:08 +0000

I am going to disagree, I think Night at the Museum will take the number one spot. It has a broader audience and suburban families can't get enough of Ben Stiller. Combine that with the bad reviews that Terminator is getting and the still popular Star Trek and I think that T4 will not make the top spot.

By: ddurden33

ddurden33 — Fri, 22 May 2009 08:53:53 +0000

@Joel: you loved wolverine, and you hated T4???? so i guess after all T4 is an amazing movie, coz wolverine was a real peice of crap. and im not alone who feels that way about wolverine. hell even spiderman 3 was better than that. it should be ranked right up with daredevil when it comes to crappy superhero movies.

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 22 May 2009 04:59:29 +0000

I actually hated T4, so you're pretty much right on the money from my viewpoint, Brad. Boring as hell. I gave it *1/2. It'll make lotsa money, sadly. They should spend it on quality movies (aka Wolverine, which for the record I loved, or Star Trek, the best film of 2009 so far). Nothing in the way of actual numeric predictions though. Hard to say.

By: JM

JM — Fri, 22 May 2009 04:55:36 +0000

I watched T4, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Originally I thought its drops would be horrendous, maybe 65%+, but now I'm going to predict it'll drop no more than 60% in its second weekend. As for "Up" and "Drag Me to Hell," they'll both do well. Early reviews are highly positive for both, so also expect them to have good holds throughout June. "Up" will win the weekend with $60+ million, while "Drag Me to Hell" will get as least $30 million. Though maybe it'll be a repeat of Pixar's last opening weekend, where "Wanted" took over $50 million; maybe "Drag Me to Hell" will do the same. It looks like it's good enough to deserve it.

By: Topy

Topy — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:25:59 +0000

add 3M to each movie in the top 4 then it should be ok.

Star Trek will beat A&D. Star trek will get 25M

By: Gophers Attack!

Gophers Attack! — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:00:00 +0000

All for 4-day weekend…

NATM: $78.7M
Termynator Salvation: $75M ($97M 5-day)
ST: $31.1M
A&D: $24.8M

Dance Flick: $15.8M
What it deserves: $80 dollars

By: Kid

Kid — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:48:47 +0000

I agree with chuck, I think terminator will make a lot despite the weak reviews. Wolverine reviews were just as bad and it still managed nearly 90 on opening weekend, Terminator should be able to come close to that,no way will it just make 60.

By: Chuck Bartowski

Chuck Bartowski — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:39:53 +0000

"no sir, not after brad’s review, or any other review for that matter, turns out, the movie is a legit bomb. but what the hey, ill still put down my 10 bucks, it’ll still be a fun night out with friends."

Exactly. That's gonna be the mindset everyone (including me) will choose to go with this weekend. It honestly doesn't look like it could be as bad as the critics are saying. No one's gonna miss out on this one. I'm guessing 95% of moviegoers who hear the bad reviews will be like "Ah it got bad reviews.. oh wait, it has Christian Bale battling huge robots. Nevermind I'll see it. That's worthy of a shot and my money".

3-DAY PREDICTIONS
1. TERMINATOR: SALVATION – $91.4 million
2. NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN – $77.3 million
3. STAR TREK – $26.0 million
4. ANGELS & DEMONS – $16.8 million
5. DANCE FLICK – $14.2 million

MEMORIAL DAY
1. TERMINATOR SALVATION – $12.5 million
2. NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN – $10.8 million
3. STAR TREK – $5.5 million
4. DANCE FLICK – $5.2 million
5. ANGELS & DEMONS – $3.6 million

4-DAY TOTALS
1. TERMINATOR SALVATION – $103.9 million
2. NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN – $88.1 million
3. STAR TREK – $31.5 million
4. ANGELS & DEMONS – $20.4 million
5. DANCE FLICK – $19.4 million

Memorial Day weekend is the weekend for audiences to either see a BIG action summer blockbuster (Terminator, Star Trek) or something the whole entire family can enjoy (Night at the Museum 2). Or something silly and stupid (Dance Flick). "Angels & Demons" is rather low because I doubt on Monday (and throughout the weekend), mom and dad are gonna pack the kids into the minivan so they can all go see Tom Hanks deciphering spiritual conspiracies and dark matter. "Dance Flick" is the counter-programming to the big action flicks – just something really light and silly. And the reason why it's higher than past spoof movies is because it has a genuine urban-ness to it (we haven't had anything urban since "Next Day Air" and that was R), and it's got the Wayans Brothers name tied to it, so that'll guarantee… welll… I guess "better" spoofing? At least better than that Epic/Date/Disaster Movie crap. Dance Flick is actually focusing on one thing to spoof and isn't just spoofing ANYTHING like those movies were. That's the difference between the Wayans. and the wannabes.

I'll be checking out Terminator: Salvation, Night at the Museum 2, and possibly Star Trek again this weekend.

Have an extraordinary weekend, everybody! :]!

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:34:48 +0000

I have seen a million "Dance Flick" commercials, and what else is geared for African-American viewers on a long holiday weekend?

By: atlroller

atlroller — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:30:52 +0000

I agree with you that Terminator could have been MUCH better, and it should have been! but i dont know about your "D" rating.
Even after reading your review, I entered the theatre with an open mind still. I saw some things you pointed out that definitely were a letdown, but there was still alot of good in the movie. I didnt see Christian Bale's "one dimensional" portrayal of John Conner. I thought he did well. Sam Worthington did an amazing like you said also.
The theatre I went to premiered the movie in 5 rather large theatre and they all sold out. I think the overalll numbers with be aboce your projected $61 million.

By: Brad Brevet

Brad Brevet — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:29:16 +0000

@ddurden33: That's the attitude. I think reviews are helpful, but I also don't think they should ever deter someone from seeing a movie they have been looking forward to seeing. Hope you like it more than I did.

By: ddurden33

ddurden33 — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:03:53 +0000

no sir, not after brad's review, or any other review for that matter, turns out, the movie is a legit bomb. but what the hey, ill still put down my 10 bucks, it'll still be a fun night out with friends.

By: chris_sc77

chris_sc77 — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:58:46 +0000

No way in hell will star Trek make more than $25 million this weekend.
I think it will make closer to $17 million

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:20:14 +0000

I think that Salvation might open a bit lower, $58 million, depends on word of mouth. That Dance Flick should bomb. I don't understand what good-minded person would see a film like that–or any in that "____ Flick, ______ Movie" series.