Weekend Box Office: ‘Up’ Soars
by John Nolte
Steve Mason’s Exclusive Early Box Office Estimates:
1. Up – $20.5M Friday … $67M 3-day … $67M cume
2. Night at the Museum 2 – $7.5M Friday … $27M 3-day … $106.79M cume
3. Drag Me To Hell – $6.25M Friday … $16.5M 3-day … $16.5M cume
4. Terminator Salvation- $5M Friday … $16M 3-day … $90.5M cume
5. Star Trek – $3.7M Friday … $13.5M 3-day … $210.2M cume
6. Angels & Demons – $3.6M Friday … $12M 3-day … $105.56M cume
7. Dance Flick – $1.7M Friday … $5.2M 3-day … $19.54M cume
If these numbers hold, “Up” will open better than “Wall-E” and “Monsters and Aliens.”
Considering ”Up” is fairly low concept and starring a 78 year-old man, this is beyond impressive. Word of mouth, rave reviews and the reservoir of goodwill Pixar’s built up over the years are making this a real audience-driven sensation.
As of Thursday “Terminator Salvation” is tracking almost to the dollar with “Terminator 3.” Figuring for inflation, this is a major disappointment, especially when Schwarzenegger’s last outing was considered an under-performer.
“Angels and Demons” is also tracking poorly, well behind its predecessor: $33M compared to $52M.
“Wolverine” is a hit and “Star Trek” is a smash.
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27 Comments
I'm planning on seeing Up tomorrow after church. Really looking forward to it.
How is Dance Flick doing?
I attribute it to the dog. Everyone I know has commented on the talking dog.
There is a short before the movie that was pretty good.
Ditto. I wonder how many other folks are doing this over the first weekend to minimize the chances of a crowd-crush.
I have not seen a negative comment on this film from anyone whose opinion I trust so far. I know a number of people that are seeing this in the theatre that rarely see anything before it comes out on DVD anymore. I think this will have some real staying power because of how much positive "word of mouth" it is getting.
I know that is what initially drew my attention….
The advertising budget for UP has got to be enormous. They've hired blimps to fly over SoCal and set up balloon chair rides for potential reviewers all over the country. They had big UP ads at the SD Comics Con almost a year ago. Most Pixar films tend to start slow and have long legs, I predict this one will start fast and tail off just as fast. I think they're large up front ad push implies they expect a fast tail off as well.
I kinda disagree…they spent a lot of money because they always do, and since the title "Up," like Ratatouille, doesn't tell too much about the movie (unlike "Toy Story," say), they needed to fix the images in people's minds. A lot of people were turned off Ratatouille I believe as soon as they saw he was a rat. Took a long time to build that audience, whereas the old man and the house topped with balloons is a much more compelling image. Since Ratatouille and Wall*E didn't immediately draw in the kids (but had good staying power with adults, like Nemo, which _did_ pull a huge kiddie audience right away) I think they wanted to snag families early, knowing many adults would happily wait and go after the weekend. (Parents correct me, but I think a large chunk of kids already out for the summer and I bet they're going to "Up" this weekend starting with a lot of Friday matinee showings) I'm actually thrilled that the family stuff is doing so well and the films appear actually decent, showing you can make witty stuff for kids, not just pap. While Terminator is tracking like Watchmen (owtch, McG!) it probably has enough overseas legs to be a not-flop, unlike Watchmen, and Angels and Demons is doing quite well overseas, so while they may both under-perform in the USA (like Troy), they'll be very profitable overseas. As for "Dance Flick…" considering it probably cost a nickel, it'll make at least that back over its run.
I just came home from UP, ..went with my 2 daughters, 5 and 12 and an 11 yr old friend of said daughter. We all hated it. I was so disappointed, and the girls just did not get it. I t was way too scary for a young child as well as ridiculously plotted. The beginning was just really weird, and for a kid's movie a bit bizarre… anyway just my 2 cents worth, but it is not a great movie..my theatre was only about 13 full on a saturday afternoon, and my word of outh will not be good. the previews make it seem like a totally different kind of movie, so buyer bewre
here is a bad word….the movie is horrible
Saw Up today in 3-D. It was okay, but the story itself is kind of dark and depressing. I've generally made a point of seeing the PIXAR films (though I took a pass on Cars) and have liked them a lot (bought most on DVD), but this one left me a bit disappointed. It seems they spent most of their creative time on the cool 3-D shots at the expense of providing lovable characters. The old man is mostly crotchety and pathetic, though he does elicit some "aws" at points. The boy is your typical pesky kid with moments of cuteness. The only character I really liked was the dog. The movie also has some highly emotional aspects and may not really be appropriate for children under 8. I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
You and your daughters are idiots.
Your experience mirrors mine in terms of reaction to the movie, although our theater (the 3-D one) was pretty full. Up will not get good word of mouth from me, and I wasn't hearing raves from the other moviegoers as I left the theater. Fortunately, someone else picked up the tab for our tickets, but I guess money goes in PIXAR's and Disney's pockets all the same.
Another negative: We had to get in line 25 minutes early to be seated (and by the time we got in the theater, most of the good seats were filled or "reserved" by designated seatholders). During that 25 minutes, we saw all kinds of previews for other Disney stuff coming out…okay, so the movie will start on time, good. Wrong. We sat through another 20 minutes of previews (2 or 3 for the same movies that had already been previewed before) and the short, which was okay, but a little eerie/depressing. The lights were out in the theater for at least 25 minutes before the movie started. Talk about captive audience. Took us almost 2.5 hours to watch an hour and a half movie. Just another reminder why I wait for the DVD…
I want to see Drag Me To Hell. Has anybody seen it? I heard it was kind of pointless.
I don't go to kid movies, if I ever do see them it is on DVD. However, I have seen tons of negative comments on the blogs about UP. Huh. I guess it's not everyone's cup of tea. Sounds like it could do really well at first, and then die out. We'll see, I guess.
Doug was awesome! They overdid the dog thing a little (dogs flying planes?), but certain parts were just hysterical (I loved the "Alpha" dog's broken collar). Still, Kevin was the star of the movie. I can't wait to go back and see it again in 3-D to see if it's even better.
I am not interested in this lame cartoon.
It's been a long time since I have truly enjoyed an animated feature for kids. I was so happy when my kids finally outgrew them. However, yesterday my 11-yr old son and I had some time to kill so we went to see "UP" (tragically he didn't want to see Star Trek). I thought it was great. It had some genuine laughs for adults and was a very original story (not just a bunch of animals acting human). The talking dogs was not a draw for me; what animated feature doesn't have talking animals. I thought Kevin, the old man, and the kid were all great characters, though. We saw the 3D version and I was appreciative of the fact that the movie wasn't centered around special 3D effects. There were some to be sure but it was garnish and not the main meal. It was the first time in a long time that I wasn't checking my watch during a kid's movie. No movie is for everyone, but I give UP a thumbs up.
I saw Drag Me to Hell today, and I'm somewhat in agreement with Dirty Harry's disappointment. I don't regret going, but I can't say it's a must see either. I think the decision to make it a PG-13 was ill-advised. Admittedly the plot is very thin, but so were the plots to all three Evil Dead movies. Those movies made up for plot thinniness by crazyness and splatstick. There's some of that here but just not enough and it actually makes for a problem with the overall tone of the movie. Everyone in the movie plays things totally straight but it's pretty clear that a lot of the plot is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. That worked in the Evil Dead movies because the effects were so over-the-top so you knew what to think of the proceedings. Here it's just not clear whether or not you're supposed to laugh at things or take them as serious attempts to frighten. It also doesn't help that the ending is truly downbeat in a way that makes you wonder even more what tone they were trying to set. I will give a big thumbs up to Allison Lohman though. She's the best thing about the movie and she has a spark of Ash in her.
I pity all of you whose sense of joy and wonder is dead.
Up was brilliant in that it's actually a story of a man's loss, grief, and ultimate acceptance of death and the need to move on – all of which is dressed up with talking animals and adventure. He uses his house as a symbol of his wife – thus actually 'dragging' her memory with him.
The movie actually accomplishes in 80-some minutes what Benjamin Button couldn't in nearly 3 hours.
I mean, I just can't get over how brilliantly the whole movie plays out. There's far more intelligent and thoughtful filmmaking at work here than in any of the 'best picture' nominees I can think of.
[...] John Nolte: 1. Up – $20.5M Friday … $67M 3-day … $67M cume 2. Night at the Museum 2 – $7.5M Friday … $27M 3-day … $106.79M cume 3. Drag Me To Hell – $6.25M Friday … $16.5M 3-day … $16.5M cume 4. Terminator Salvation- $5M Friday … $16M 3-day … $90.5M cume 5. Star Trek – $3.7M Friday … $13.5M 3-day … $210.2M cume 6. Angels & Demons – $3.6M Friday … $12M 3-day … $105.56M cume 7. Dance Flick – $1.7M Friday … $5.2M 3-day … $19.54M cume [...]
"Up" was wonderful and much, much better than the attempt at Green guilt/indoctrination that was "WallE" last year. Up was touching, funny, adventurous, and most of all, fun to watch. I plan to see it again in a few weeks and it is most likely one that I'll get on DVD too, unlike WallE.
UP is a good movie…. beautiful to look at, funny at times, and touching at times. it's got a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 163 reviews in so far. that's unprecedented. i cannot see how anyone could come away from the film disappointed unless they thought they were taking their six-year old to a mindless cartoon aimed at six-year olds. this is an animated movie aimed at adults that kids can still enjoy. when the Blue Ray DVD comes out, it's going to sell alot of copies!
Why is steve mason's predictions in john nolte's column?
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