'Meatballs' Scores Big at the Box, While 'Jennifer's Body' Attracts Few
Matt Damon beats out Fox and Aniston
Steve Mason has published early box-office estimates and while the number one film is no surprise, I must admit I am a bit shocked by one new openers in particular.
Sony's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was expected to finish first for the three-day frame, and after an estimated $7.7 million on Friday it looks to do just that as Mason estimates it will finish with $28.6 million for the weekend, just under $4 million short of Laremy's Thursday prediction. However, that's about as good as Laremy's predictions get in a weekend where the new releases didn't exactly shine.
While Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself looks to be performing on par with tradition, pulling in an estimated $3.1 million on Friday on its way to approximately a $10 million weekend, it's the newcomers that aren't pulling their weight.
Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! enjoyed solid reviews earning a 77% at RottenTomatoes, but it looks like its estimated $3.3 million Friday will translate to just under $10 million for the weekend. And guess what, outside of Meatballs that will make it the weekend's top newcomer as neither Jennifer Aniston or Megan Fox could takedown Matt Damon. I guess we should be happy for that…
The Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart rom-com Love Happens was beaten up by critics to the tune of a 16% RottenTomatoes rating and a $2.8 million Friday, but it should still outlast the Megan Fox comedic-horror Jennifer's Body. As Mason says, "Megan Fox better make amends with Michael Bay because she has considerably less drawing power without giant robots at her side."
Jennifer's Body opened to an estimated $2.82 million on Friday and Mason predicts it won't even crack the $7 million mark by the end of the weekend, which means it will be coming in at over $9 million less than Laremy predicted. Was Laremy that far off on his predictions or did Diablo Cody's follow-up to Juno under-perform that much? While I didn't particularly like Jennifer's Body (my review) I still thought the premise appeared unique enough to interest moviegoers despite its 41% RottenTomatoes rating.
So what was it? Are people staying home this weekend or do you plan on catching one of the new openers on Saturday or Sunday? Is Megan Fox not as much of a draw as people may assume? Does Diablo Cody have no kind of pull after Juno?
Weigh in with your thoughts below, and stay tuned as Laremy will be here on Sunday with a full recap.
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Ok, so I was wrong about "Love Happens". A shame about "The Informant!" but I just got home from watching it and I didn't enjoy it (it wasn't the bait-and-switch that got me, just the lack of enthusiasm I had for the characters…oh and the lack of funny dialogue).
In regards to "Jennifer's Body"… CALLED IT. CALLED IT!
Sorry, had to get that off my chest.
I don't know why Jennifer's Body is a surprise. The word leading up to it's opening was that it wasn't tracking well with women 16-34 which is the core horror flick audience.
Also, the whole Fanboy/Fangirl film festival audience is the most overblown segment of the population with studios continuing to cowtow to them despite the fact that other than going to free screenings and film festivals they have no drawing power at all.
Watch for Whip It and Up In the Air to underperform as well.
One more horror movie fail at the box office. The people want to see other type of movies, beacause 4 weeks ago The Final Destination dominate the weekend, and it was a horror thriller. The Informant! suprises me because is a good movie and have Matt Damon. Still, wasn´t enough to crack the $15M. Cloudy is a respectable winner, because have good reviews and since G-Force doens´t exist nothing for the people who like this type of movies.
I think Jennifer will do poorly, but have low dropoff for a few weekends.
And to Bill, I think Up in the Air might get good enough word of mouth that it could survive. It's awfully funny.
I can't wait to see 'Drag Me to Hell' on DVD. I missed it in theaters. Unlike 'Jennifer's Body', it will remind people how horror is truly done. 'The Informant' looks interesting, though.
Megan Fox is simply entering into her 13th minute in her 15 minutes of fame.
I think the problem with Jennifer's body is that they have over-fetishized Megan Fox to the point that it makes people feel like only someone intersted in oggling her would buy a ticket. With Transformers, oggling her is a bonus… People buying the tickets for it don't look so much like pervs. The heavy focus on Fox is chasing away a horror crowd that would have seen this flick for the story instead. I think it will still do well on video, however, as people are more comfortable picking titles to watch at home without fear of judgment.
Or its cause megan is the worst actress ever
Wow I think this might be the fastest I've ever seen you guys report on the Friday box-office.
I think The Informant might do well overtime. Like, maybe it'll be one of those films that stays at the bottom of the top ten for a while. Love Happens is probably going to disappear of the charts after this week. And I really don't know about Jennifer's Body.
Megan Fox isn't this big Box-office draw that a lot of people thought.
I think that the overmarketing of Megan Fox backfired. Perhaps her Michael Bay as Hitler bit was her Tom Cruise jumping on the couch moment. Or she doesn't have any likability to her, thus too much of her might have turned off the female audience for this movie. Either way, she shouldn't worry. She's still got Transformers 3 to star in, and 2/5 of the crew like her. I think that maybe if they had marketed less Fox and more Diablo it could've gotten somewhere.
I have to agree with those who say that Megan Fox's poor acting is what drags down her draw. I don't think anyone cares about her rants and raves…plenty of pretty girls get away with it but, gosh, folks say, she's so cute. As has been said, she can't carry a movie as the lead. As for Diablo Cody, cover your ears if you're a Juno fan. I never thought she had a particular talent except for getting the right production team along with the perfect cast. I am not a fan of Juno which I find more annoying than entertaining. The music was the best part. But that's not saying Diablo might find her spot once again with a different film. (And note to casting director, try not hire someone who responds to her dialogue with the critique, "WTF?" as Megan says she did.)
The Informant may be mildly entertaining but Matt Damon as a chubby little exec doesn't pull his base nor play to his strengths.
I despair of Love Happens making any box office at all. I guess there's a firm base of people who want mindless little weepy feel good films. That's Jennifer Aniston's niche and she's riding its wave.
No surprise about Meatballs. Popular children's story, well made, and released amidst a big children's film drought. It would have had to really been mishandled to have failed.
Bright Star didn't track because it was released in 16, yes 16, theatres. But my enthusiasm for that film has not decreased. I feel a bit like when I was a kid in a large family with one TV and four brothers. I'd have to fight to get my moment of drama on the TV amidst the war movies and sports shows. Brad in one corner, Patricia in the other. It's on.