Steve Mason is an accomplished and versatile writer and broadcaster with extensive experience on both television and radio. He is a frequent contributor to ESPN, Reelz Channel, E! Entertainment Television, Fox News Channel, and TV Guide Channel among others, offering his expertise on sports and the entertainment industry.
He has interviewed hundreds of athletes, Hollywood executives and stars and newsmakers over the years including Kobe Bryant, Tom Hanks, President George W. Bush, Tiger Woods, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Moonvies, Catherine Zeta Jones, Peyton Manning, Senator John McCain, Spike Lee, Lynda Obst, Annika Sorenstam, Brandon Tartikoff, Pete Carroll, President Jimmy Carter, and Sir Ben Kingsley, to name just a few. He has been front and center at major sporting events like the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the NBA Finals, and on the red carpet reporting from the Academy Awards, the ESPY Awards, and major movie premieres. He has been part of Olympics broadcast coverage at every Olympiad since 1998, hosted the nationally syndicated “Late, Late Radio Show with Tom Snyder & Steve Mason,” and he is currently the co-host of the #1-rated midday sports talk radio show in Los Angeles on 710 ESPN Radio. Steve covers the Hollywood box office beat and is generally regarded as the film industry’s top box office expert. He is the lead box office analyst for Reelz Channel and is the weekly television host of “Reelz in the Round.” He has served as lead box office analyst for HollywoodWiretap.com, Hollywood.com, and FantasyMoguls.com.
He has a real working knowledge of the film industry as a theater owner. He is the President and CEO of Flagship Theatre Corporation, which owns and operates The University Village 3 Theatres in Los Angeles and Cinemas Palme d'Or, a 10-screen high-end commercial/arthouse, in Palm Desert, California.
Steve Mason
FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH producer already talking sequel, while prepping NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET reboot!
by Steve MasonAfter I posted my original Early Estimates column on Big Hollywood last night, I received a Facebook message from Platinum Dunes partner and Friday the Thirteenth producer Rob Fuller saying “I hope you’re right.” My Friday estimate last night was for a robust $20M, and Variety is reporting $19.3M this morning. “We were hoping to do $10M-$11M yesterday,” he told me this morning. “In our wildest dreams we couldn’t have imagined that.”
I originally projected $51.25M for the 4-day weekend on Friday night, amd some analysts have the new Jason Voorhies saga sailing higher basec on early rerturns (I am now projecting $47M for 4 days). The combination of Valentine’s Day and a school holiday Monday for President’s Day make predicting the movie’s long weekend haul a tricky call, but regardless, this is great news for Warner Bros, which has the domestic distribution rights, Paramount, handling international distribution, and Platinum Dunes.
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What Recession? Biggest President’s Day Weekend in Hollywood History as FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH scares up $19.3M Friday and has a stab at $47M for 4 Days!
by Steve MasonAlthough America is suffering through its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, there is no recession in the movie business. Led by the Warner Bros reboot of Friday the Thirteenth and a couple of surprisingly strong chick flicks, Hollywood’s top twelve grossing movies may grab a combined $201.5M over the long President’s Day weekend holiday, which marks an all-time best for the annual 4-day movie-going bonanza.
TOP GROSSING PRESIDENT’S WEEKENDS FOR HOLLYWOOD
- combined gross of top 12 films -
1. 2009 – $201.5M (estimated)
2. 2007 – $167.8M
3. 2008 – $141.1M
4. 2003 – $141M
5. 2005 – $137.1M
Director Marcus Nispel (2003’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) and the Platinum Dunes production company have gotten the all-new Friday the Thirteenth off to a spectacular $19.3M opening day. That could translate to a well-above-expectations $47M by Tuesday morning. The new Jason restart quickly follows the Platinum Dunes success of The Unborn, released on January 9 to a $19.8M 3-day take. That David D. Goyer written and directed genre pic was made for just $16M, and The Unborn has generated an estimated $42M in the US.
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Rebooted Jason makes Crystal Lake a popular weekend destination: FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH set to win the President’s Day weekend box office battle!
by Steve MasonSometimes pre-release industry tracking points to a very clear box office winner, and that’s the case for the upcoming Valentine’s Day/President’s Day 4-day weekend. The reboot of Friday the Thirteenth (Warner Bros) appears to be headed for a resounding win with a possible $34.1M by Tuesday morning.
There is a fine distinction between a sequel, a remake and a reboot. Let’s deal with pictures in the horror genre. The Saw 2 through Saw 5 are sequels. The narratives clearly build on each other. Gus Van Sant’s 1998 version of a Psycho ($10M opening – $21.5M cume) was a remake (virtually shot for shot). Then there’s Rob Zombie’s 2007 Halloween ($26.3M opening – $58.2M cume), which is a reboot. Zombie abandoned all of the previous narrative from the eight prior Michael Myers slasher pics, and started brand new.
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SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is the toast of the UK, winning 7 BAFTA Awards including Best Picture!
by Steve MasonThere was not a great deal of drama surrounding this year’s British Academy of Film & Television Arts Awards, commonly known as the BAFTA Awards. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) is a movie with deep roots in the UK. Director Danny Boyle was born in Manchester, England, lead actor Dev Patel is the star of the popular British television series Skins, and the movie is a gigantic hit in the British Isles with an impressive $20.6M (US dollars) in box office for Pathe, since its release there on January 6.
BAFTA Winner Mickey Rourke
The two major uncertainties entering Sunday’s ceremony were whether Kate Winslet, twice-nominated for Best Actress, would split her own vote and miss out on her second BAFTA Award and who would prevail in the Sean Penn-Mickey Rourke battle for Best Actor. Aside from that, it seemed like a Slumdog sweep, and that’s exactly how it played out.
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2009 Oscars doomed? – FROST/NIXON, THE READER and MILK are among the 6 weakest grossing Best Picture nominees of the last decade!
by Steve MasonThere is a phenomenon known as “the Oscar bounce.” When a movie receives Academy Award nominations, especially one of the five coveted Best Picture slots, ticket-buyers generally follow. The Oscar seal of approval used to mean something to the rank-and-file moviegoer, but that seems to have changed.
Only one of this year’s Best Picture nominees has inspired any real passion from the broad public. The almost-certain Best Picture winner is Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), and its devotees, including critics and members of the Academy (not to mention yours truly), have made it a word-of-mouth smash hit. The Danny Boyle-directed feel-good Bollywood fusion movie made for a meager $14M added another $2.05M or so on Friday and is charting a 3-day course for about $7.4M. That will give the Slumdog a $77.4M take, and it could reach $90M-$95M before it’s through in American theatres.
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Does Jen sell more tickets than Brad? – HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU easily wins the weekend with $27.4M 3-day!
by Steve MasonThe Drew Barrymore-produced romantic comedy He’s Just Not That Into You has made the jump from catch-phrase to self-help book to movie hit. With an all-star cast this classic ‘chick flick” appears to be winning the weekend after posting a spectacular $10.5M in opening day ticket sales. That should mean a 3-day start of $27.4M or so, easily out-pacing holdover Taken (Fox) and three other new wide releases. With this kind of opening, Not That Into You could reach almost $60M by the end of next weekend (a 4-day Presidents/Valentine’s combo), which would forecast a potential $90M in US ticket sales.
The new movie developed by New Line and now released by Warner Bros is based on the book of the same name co-written by former Sex & the City scribes Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo. The line itself has come to be a reassuring fallback for women in the dating scene (and I’m guessing single guys have adopted the mentality as well in the rough-and-tumble world of dating).
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America appears “into” HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU with PINK PANTHER 2 a likely second; Not much pull for PUSH!
by Steve MasonAfter a spectacular $1 billion dollar-grossing January for the movie industry, Hollywood trots out four new titles for the first weekend of February. The first month of ’09 was nothing short of spectacular, featuring nine releases with 3-day openings of $17M or better led by Paul Blart: Mall Cop ($31.8M) and the wide break of Gran Torino ($29.5M).
According to industry tracking, it looks like the new Warner Bros romantic comedy He’s Just Not That Into You will win the coming weekend. The early reviews are coming in a bit lukewarm (42% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), but it doesn’t matter especially. Awareness is high and Definite Interest and First Choice numbers are exceedingly solid, especially among women.
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STEELERS WIN 6TH LOMBARDI TROPHY: Owner Dan Rooney thanks President Obama!
by Steve MasonI have had the privilege of being in Tampa all week to cover Super Bowl 43, and one of the lesser reported stories of the week is the relationship between Steelers chairman and owner Dan Rooney and President Barack Obama. I wrote a quick post on the subject Friday here on Big Hollywood.
Then-Senator Obama with former Steelers star Jerome Bettis, Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey Jr. and Hall of Fame Steelers running back Franco Harris
Earlier this week, President Obama told reporters that he is a Steelers fan. The truth is that the legendary Rooney, a lifelong Republican, was enraptured by Obama on the night of the Iowa Caucuses after the junior Senator from Chicago defeated heavily favored Hillary Clinton. An endorsement from the powerful Pennsylvanian was quick to follow. It’s no wonder that Obama gave his full-throated support to the legendary franchise in today’s big game.
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Biggest US opening ever for Luc Besson – TAKEN grabs up 24% Saturday and finishes with $24.6M for Super Bowl weekend; PAUL BLART: MALL COP strong at #2 while THE UNINVITED appears headed for 3rd with a possible $10.5M; Zellweger’s NEW IN TOWN may reach $6.75M opening; Not much of an “Oscar bounce” for THE READER and MILK!
by Steve MasonLiam Neeson is officially a full-fledged action star. The Irish-born actor has often played heroes, whether it was Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece Schindler’s List, the wise Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace or determined sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in 2005’s biopic Kinsey, Neeson has always had a knack for playing the earnest-but-flawed good guy. In his new movie Taken (Fox), writer/producer Luc Besson and director Pierre Morel have turned him into a Dad with the “mad skills” of a super-spy – think Mike Brady crossed with Jason Bourne.
The result is a well-reviewed (56% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) action film that will help to satisfy blockbuster-hungry audiences waiting for Warner Bros’ Watchmen (due March 6). Taken has scored big on its opening weekend. After grabbing an estimated $9.4M, the movie surged on Saturday to $11.62M (up almost 24% from opening day) and, despite today’s Super Bowl, the film could reach $24.62M according to studio estimates. That will be more than enough to win the Super Bowl 3-day, and positive word-of-mouth could get this one into the $70M-$75M range domestic.
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SUPER BOWL POLITICS: Rooney “falls for” Obama & the President is rooting for the Steelers!
by Steve MasonIn 1990, when Republican incumbent Senator Jesse Helms was locked in a tight reelection race against Democrat Harvey Gantt, the African American Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, basketball legend Michael Jordan was approached about stumping for Gantt. Jordan was a star for the North Carolina Tar Heels and was at the peak of his NBA career and his fame. Jordan decided not to get involved, famously saying, “Republicans buy sneakers too.”
Steelers chairman and owner Dan Rooney with then-Senator Barack Obama
Pittsburgh Steelers chairman and owner Dan Rooney is a lifelong Republican, and spent most of his life as decidedly apolitical. His son Jim made an unsuccessful run for the Senate as a Republican in Pennsylvania in 2001 and son Tom was elected to Representative Mark Foley’s old seat in Florida in November, but patriarch Dan’s politics were mostly well-guarded. At the age of 76, and known only as a staunch, Pro-Life Catholic, the senior Rooney was unlikely to become a political firebrand, and it was a high-risk maneuver. After all, there are certainly plenty of card-carrying members of the GOP who are also Steelers fans.
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FINAL WEEKEND TRACKING: Besson & Morel set to score with TAKEN which could top $20M; PAUL BLART: MALL COP set to pass $80M domestic while THE UNINVITED seems headed for $12.5M; Zellweger’s NEW IN TOWN may open softly!
by Steve MasonIn 2006, Magnolia released the French sci-fi action thriller District B13, written and produced by Luc Besson and directed by his longtime collaborator Pierre Morel. The US domestic engagements grossed an estimated $1.2M, but previously, the movie delivered a solid $6.9M in France as Banlieue 13 in 2004.
The movie features some truly unique action sequences, and failed to connect with American audiences because it is a classic “tweener” – too arty for mainstream theatres while being too action-driven for the arthouse crowd. (Put this one in your Netflix cue.) District B13 is the kind of movie that makes you say, “What are those guys going to do next?”
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PAUL BLART: MALL COP comes-from-behind for a weekend win with $21.5M; Sony finishes 1-2 with UNDERWORLD at $20.7M; GRAN TORINO adds $16M and will become Eastwood’s #1 grossing movie on Wednesday; No love for INKHEART!
by Steve MasonThe chubby guy on the Segway rallied for a come-from-behind win over the Beckinsale-less Underworld sequel, but regardless, it was a 1-2 finish for Sony. When I originally predicted that Paul Blart: Mall Cop as the likely weekend winner over the MLK 4-day, some online sites questioned my pick. Even I didn’t expect an opening close to $40M, and now the Kevin James vehicle has surprised again.
The Adam Sandler-produced comedy has broadened its audience, showing real family appeal. That led to stronger Saturday and Sunday matinees for a stellar $21.5M by Monday morning. That gives the movie a 10-day cume of just shy of $65M, which is impressive considering that it was budgeted at just $26M. After success as a supporting star in movies like Hitch ($179.5M cume) and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry ($120M cume), it appears that James can open a movie without the help of Will Smith and Adam Sandler. Mall Cop dipped only 32% from last Friday-thru-Sunday (and that was part of a 4-day weekend, which can often lead to a sharper drop). (more…)
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Coming out on DVD Tuesday: FIREPROOF, one of the most profitable movies ever made!
by Steve MasonLast fall, a small, unheralded movie called Fireproof (IDP/Samuel Goldwyn) arrived in theatres and became a huge surprise hit and among the most profitable movies ever made (at least according to budget-to-gross ratio). Now that the film will be released on DVD this Tuesday (January 27), I thought it was worth revisiting the mysterious recipe for the movie’s success.
“I’m not impressed with Hollywood in general. They don’t make a lot of movies that lift our standards and morality.” That’s what director Alex Kendrick told me in a telephone interview on the Monday after his new movie Fireproof generated a downright shocking $6.5 million opening weekend. Despite never being on more than 839 screens, the little Christian-themed indie released on September 26 finished its theatrical run with a stunning $33.4M in ticket sales. Los Angeles and New York are filled with talented film professionals, who spend countless hours and millions upon millions of dollars making movies. The cost of development, production, a director, actors and marketing make the craft of filmmaking prohibitive. So how did a little church in Georgia score a legitimate box office hit?
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LOWEST RATED OSCAR TELECAST IN HISTORY?: Snubs of THE DARK KNIGHT, Clint Eastwood and Bruce Springsteen point toward a new ratings nadir for the Oscar show; The five Best Picture nominees have combined to gross only $186M, about what TDK delivered in first 4 days!
by Steve MasonNobody is ever completely satisfied with the Academy Award nominations, but with several key snubs, Oscar voters may have ensured that the 2009 telecast hits an all-time ratings low.
Investor Warren Buffet coined the phrase “skin in the game” to describe a situation where executives use their own money to buy shares in their company. The so-called Oracle of Omaha likes companies where insiders have their own money invested because they work harder, care more and generally are more emotionally invested.
The problem with the Oscars is that voters are nominating films that relatively few people have seen. The five movies nominated for Best Picture this week – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, The Reader and Frost/Nixon – have combined to gross just $186.7M. The Dark Knight passed that box office total early in its fifth day of release. (more…)
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FINAL TRACKING: UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS could reach $24M with MALL COP at #2; Eastwood’s TORINO and INKHEART battle for third; SLUMDOG, THE WRESTLER and REV ROAD set for solid expansions!
by Steve MasonMichael Sheen has two movies in release this weekend. The classically-trained Welsh actor plays Lucien in the wildly commercial Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (Sony), opening on about 3,000 screens, and he plays David Frost in Frost/Nixon (Universal), expanding to about 800 playdates.
He is a classically-trained stage actor, who has starred in heavyweight UK productions of Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Amadeus and The Dresser, was somehow overlooked by both Hollywood Foreign Press and Oscar voters when he starred as Tony Blair in 2006’s The Queen. (He was outshined by Helen Mirren, who won every acting prize imaginable). This year, he is in the shadow of Frank Langella’s towering portrayal of President Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon.
As an aside, The Queen was the second in screenwriter Peter Morgan’s Tony Blair trilogy. The first film was called The Deal for British television and tells the story of the rivalry between Blair and current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. (This is a great title to put in your Netflix or Blockbuster cue.) The final film will be called The Special Relationship, which will focus on the intimate friendship between the British PM and President Bill Clinton between 1997-2000. Sheen has signed on, but there is no word on who will play Clinton. Morgan says the idea for the third film began to germinate when he heard that Blair and Clinton were alone together when Vice President Al Gore conceded the 2000 election.
In the meantime, Sheen will almost certainly have the #1 movie in America this weekend with Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. This is the third Underworld movie, but it is a prequel set in the dark ages with Sheen as Lucien, a young werewolf, who leads a war against Bill Nighy as Viktor, the leader of the vampire race. (more…)
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OSCAR NOMINATION PREDIX: DARK KNIGHT seems certain to challenge SLUMDOG and BENJAMIN BUTTON in Best Picture race; Eastwood could crack Best Actor field; Darren Aronofsky is a dark horse for Best Director nod!
by Steve MasonThursday morning at 5:30a pacific, the Academy Award nominations will be announced. For a movie junkie like me, this is one of the highlights of the year. I have diligently seen every major awards contender and informally surveyed Academy voters in order to divine which five will be nominated in each category, and I’m ready to reveal my predix now.
The Oscars are Hollywood’s biggest night, and it is an event that still moves the pop culture needle. Yes it is a self-congratulatory evening of over-the-top excess with fancy designer dresses, borrowed jewelry, red carpet silliness and self-indulgent speeches, but somehow, this incredibly flawed process, more often than not, honors the right movies and performances. (more…)
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With Dev, Akshay, Piyush and Anoop, will 2009 be the year of the Desi?
by Steve MasonGuys named Dev, Akshay, Piyush and Anoop could become household names in 2009, winning Oscars, generating box office revenue for US studios, preparing for a Presidential run and even becoming the American Idol. The term Desi (pronounced Deshi) refers to someone with South Asian heritage, from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Maldives, and America may be waking up to a new wave of talent.
Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) is the most celebrated indie movie of the year, and it has banked another $7M over the 4-day MLK weekend for a new domestic cume of about $44M. The film has already won four Golden Globe Awards including Best Picture, and come Thursday morning, Slumdog could be nominated for as many as 9 Academy Awards.
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All screenings of NOTORIOUS canceled at Greensboro, NC multiplex after shooting; Actor who plays Biggie Smalls was at theatre
by Steve MasonThe movie Notorious (Fox Searchlight) a biopic about the life of rapper Biggie Smalls, has opened well-above industry expectations with about $9M on Friday and, as I reported Friday night, that could mean about $29M in ticket sales over the 4-day MLK weekend. But there will be no more tickets sold at the Grand 18 at Four Seasons Station theatre complex in Greensboro, NC.
Friday night at approximately 9pm, there were gunshots in the lobby of the multiplex and a 32-year-old man was shot twice in the abdomen. A report from the Greensboro News Record has identified the man as Clive O’Connor, and he was rushed to the hospital where he underwent surgery. There is, however, no report on his condition.
Local police say that they cannot be certain about whether there is a link between the shooting and the movie Notorious, which is playing on three screens at the complex, but let’s be honest. Every theatre that opened this movie had legitimate security concerns given that Christopher Wallace aka Biggie Smalls aka Notorious B.I.G. lived and died violently.
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Biggest MLK Weekend Ever!: PAUL BLART: MALL COP with all-time 2nd-best MLK opening at $39M, GRAN TORINO rallies for strong #2 finish; MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3-D and NOTORIOUS battle for fourth; HOTEL FOR DOGS headed for solid $22.5M 4-day!
by Steve MasonPaul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony), My Bloody Valentine 3-D (Lionsgate) and the Sean Combs’-produced hip hop biopic Notorious (Fox Searchlight) lead a strong-performing quartet of wide releases as Hollywood seems headed for the biggest 4-day Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend in history. I am projecting that the top twelve movies will gross an estimated $199M, 25% better than the previous record best, which was set last year.
DOMESTIC GROSS FOR TOP 12 MOVIES FOR MLK 4-DAY
[followed by #1 movie for the period and 4-day gross]
2008 – $158.9M [Cloverfield - $46.1M]
2007 – $118.8M [Stomp the Yard - $25.8M]
2006 – $125.4M [Glory Road - $16.9M]
2005 – $142.7M [Coach Carter - $29.1M]
2004 – $114.2M [Along Came Polly - $114.2M]
2003 – $120.8M [Kangaroo Jack - $21.8M]
2002 – $129.5M [Black Hawk Down - $33.6M]
2001 – $146.5M [Save the Last Dance - $27.5M]
2000 – $100.5M [Next Friday - $16.9M]
1999 – $101.7M [Varsity Blues - $17.5M]
The 2008 MLK 4-day was led by JJ Abrams’ monster movie Cloverfield ($46.1M opening), but this year there are multiple hits with four new wide releases topping $20M.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony), a big, dumb comedy featuring King of Queens star Kevin James, scored about $9.5M on Friday, and it seems headed for a spectacular $39M by Monday night. James is a likeable enough comedy star, and he has worked this movie very hard doing lots of local radio, chasing the male audience with appearances on ESPN, and he’s coming off the very successful I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry ($34.2M opening – $120M cume) with Adam Sandler in 2007. (more…)
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Brits bestow 11 BAFTA noms on both SLUMDOG and BENJAMIN BUTTON; Snooty UK voters snub DARK KNIGHT for Best Picture; Winslet vs. Winslet for Best Actress; Eastwood grabs Best Director nod for CHANGELING, but overlooked for Best Actor for TORINO!
by Steve MasonTrue to their nature, the British Academy of Film and Television Awards, issued their decidedly stuffy list of nominees today, and Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount) led the way with 11 nominations apiece. No surprise there, The BAFTAs, as they are called in shorthand, generally lean to films with a UK lineage and to movies that are deadly serious about the craft of filmmaking. The Brits also seem turned off by movies that feel too indie or to distinct to the US.
In the past five years, British voters have snubbed American indies hits (Juno, Sideways), distinctly American stories (Michael Clayton, Crash, Ray, Sea Biscuit) and they have positively ignored American icon Clint Eastwood, failing to nominate his directorial efforts Letters From Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River, which were all at least nominated for Oscar Best Picture (Million Dollar Baby was the Academy Award winner).
2008 – Nominated for both Best Picture at both Oscars and BAFTAs
Atonement, No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood
Oscar winner – No Country for Old Men
BAFTA winner – Atonement
Oscar nominees not nominated at BAFTAs – Juno, Michael Clayton
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