'Watchmen' Manages Only $55.6 Million
Full report forthcoming...
Laremy will be here with a full report on the weekend box-office shortly, but I couldn't not comment on the fact Watchmen managed only a meager estimate of $55.6 million this weekend, well below the $70.8 million 300 managed back in 2007, the number I am sure Warner Bros. was hoping Watchmen would topple considering it was made for an at the very least double of 300's $65 million budget.
Watchmen carried the record for the largest number of theaters for an R-rated opening with 3,611 and managed $15,413 per theater. In Laremy's Box-Office Oracle column he used the following logic to predict Watchmen's number for the weekend:
Here's a bit more. Dark Knight made $36k per screen. My number only calls for $24.5 per. Watchmen also will have IMAX dollars rolling in, though 300 did too. Still, I predict the March record falls while the R-rated sticks. And I predict less than stellar word-of-mouth for next weekend. Buyer beware: I could be off by $20 or $30 million. Only time will tell.
Obviously his lofty prediction of $88.5 million didn't come true and I can't wait to read his article because I think his logic isn't all that bad, he just forgot to plug in the "audience interest quotient" which in his case ended up meaning you must subtract by a whopping $33 million.
We obviously don't know where the film will end up. Yesterday Steve Mason predicted the film would end around $145 million domestically, which isn't too bad, but it just seems rather lofty to me.
In the eyes of several fans the film was a success while the majority of top critics seem to be split on the film's ability to entertain. The question here though is what will make it a financial success? Should the film manage $150 million or so I would say theatrically it didn't do that bad, but the profits are being split between several studios, not to mention theater owners, so who knows what will put the film in the black since even an estimated budget hasn't been released.
You could point to DVD, Blu-ray and making-of book sales to help the bottom line, but I have a hard time believing WB wanted to take those numbers into consideration when it came to determining the Watchmen box-office success.
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I hope it makes little enough that Snyder won't be thrown onto the next big franchise…I hate to say it but if this was a success and somehow Nolan decided not to do Batman 3, we'd probably end up getting Snyder…maybe that won't be the case now.
@Scott M: But I don't think Watchmen struggled at the box-office because of Snyder necessarily, but due to a lack of audience interest for whatever reason — unfamiliarity being my #1 guess.
This was too much for one movie. It was an OK film overall, but by the end it was kind of weird for me because there was only one character that I agreed with and could relate to and that was Rorschach.
It's a winning return. You're not mentioning the fact that at it's longer running time, there are less screenings. Clearly, The Watchmen, while polarizing mainstream critics as did the LOTR movies, is finding its audience. Expect repeat viewings and great word-of-mouth from the many who get this adult movie.
@Tony: Those who "get this adult movie"? Please tell me, what is there to get? The movie is simple. It gets so tiring to see people act as if they have this superior intellect when discussing this movie. Sure, the book has many themes, but the movie dumbs it down to basics.
It's probably gonna have to rely on world wide viewings. They tend to be bigger than the domestic grose. But they've once again shot themselves in the foot with the 18 rating it got in most of Europe, yeah Snyder wanted it to be rough and tough, but a 15 rating would have pulled in a nice extra chunk of the audience. If I were Snyder right now, I'd keep my fingers crossed, but try to move onto my next projects.
I knew Watchmen was going to fail. This is not because I take everything Alan Moore says as gospel or because I'm a comic book purist, but rather because of Snyder's general intelligence; there were plenty of things to suggest he could do no more than bombastically direct slow-motion action sequences and replicate the graphic novel's dialogue for the purpose of appearing 'smart'.
There are countless reviews now available which show what is the movie's audience. Here's just two examples:
http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/thegeekfiles/2009/03/movie-review-why-the-mainstrea.html
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/03/watchmen.php
This is a great opening weekend, all things considered. Financially, it's sure to be a success from the movie, DVDs, and other elements. Artistically, it's dividing people. That's inevitable.
@Brad Brevet: I didn't mean that Snyder was the reason, I just meant that Snyder would be on a role if 300 and then Watchmen were big at the box office, and then WB would probably trust him with another big franchise (like Batman). His name is bringing in the crowds, but if Watchmen was a big success, WB would probably put a lot of trust in him in the future.
The problem is that large portions of their significant fanbase or teens, etc. who were just just looking for a weekend activity would've been underage and unable to see it.
I enjoy most comic-derived movies even if I am not familiar with the source, so it's not unfamiliarity that kept me away. I would have loved to have seen it, actually, but the R rating kept me away. I'm not interested in Kill-Bill levels of violence, nor do I want to be subjected to a constant stream of F-words, especially since I like to take my 12-year-old with me to movies. I'm not saying all movies should be reduced down to kiddie fare. There's a place for R-rated movies in the world, but don't expect them to make as much money as PG or PG-13 films. You turn off a lot of potential viewers when you ratchet up the gore, language, nudity, and sex.
@Brad: I must I'm disappointed in your assessment of Watchmen as a "simple" film? While the film was much "simpler" than the book upon which it was based (calling Alan Moore's original work complex would be a gross understatement), this film is much deeper and complex than 95% of the films out there. Of course the plot is more straightfoward than the book, but to exagerate and sum up its plot as merely "simply" is just plain wrong.
Was the movie the book? No. Was the movie a masterpiece or a generation defining moment in motion picture history (ala Star Wars, The Matrix or Lord of the Rings)? Of course not. But it is also a fantastic tribute to Moore's vision and one of the most original and exilerating films of the 21st Century.
Watchmen has continued the trend begun by Sin City in 2005 and 2008's The Dark Knight, Iron Man & Hellboy II. I hope Wolverine can live up to the great heights that comic films continue to achieve.
As for the box office: $55.6 was a great disappointment; however, with a worldwide haul of over $85 million – it is by no means a flop…yet. I believe that decent word of mouth will lead this film to only plumet by around 50% – which means this time next week, Watchmen will be sitting on a global haul of over $140 million. After DVD sales and product tie-ins, Watchmen will be proclaimed a success….just not a precedent setting success. Snyder will go on to direct great comic-to-film translations.