Big Hollywood » crank: high voltage

‘Wolverine’ claws to $34.75M Friday & Could Scratch Out $86.8M Opening! All-Time 4th-Best Performer for First-Weekend-of-May Summer Kickoff!

by Steve Mason

In my Final Weekend Tracking column posted on Wednesday, I predicted that X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) would reach $92M on opening weekend, despite soft reviews (now only 38% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). My first fearless forecast of the 2009 summer blockbuster season appears to be close to dead-on (missed by only 5%).

Star-turned-producer Hugh Jackman has scored his second-biggest opening ever and, easily, his biggest as a solo star. Wolverine has mauled the competition with a massive $34.75M opening day (including $5M or so in Thursday midnight sales). That could translate to a 3-day of $86.8M, getting Hollywood’s most lucrative season off to a spectacular start.

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Tags: "Fast & Furious", 17 again, 2-d, 3-d, academy award nominee
Posted May 2nd 2009 at 5:29 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 1244022 Comments2009-05-02+12%3A29%3A38Steve+Mason

The Summer Blockbuster Season is Set to Start Huge! Spin-Off ‘Wolverine’ could Claw to $92M Opening Weekend!

by Steve Mason

The great thing about a sequel is that it has a built-in audience. The problem with sequels is that, as the numbers after the title go up, so does the production budget. Very hard to know for sure, but sources have told me that the production budget for X-Men was in the $75M range. X-2: X-Men United may have had a budget of about $110M, while the cost of X-Men: The Last Stand was, in all likelihood, as much as $210M. Why doesn’t it make sense to just churn out X-Men 4?

Look at these numbers.

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Tags: 17 again, 2-d, 3-d, academy award nominee, academy award winner
Posted Apr 29th 2009 at 10:10 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 121806One Comment2009-04-30+05%3A10%3A03Steve+Mason

America Loves a Girl-on-Girl Smackdown! Beyonce’s ‘Obsessed’ is the Biggest Last-Weekend-of-April Opener Ever with $11M Friday & a Possible $27.5M 3-Day!

by Steve Mason

Recording superstar Beyonce Knowles is building a bankable resume for herself as an actress with Sony Screen Gems’ Obsessed as the latest title burnishing her resume. Co-starring the excellent Idris Elba (The Wire), this low budget, PG-13 genre pic has scored a far-above-expectations $11M on Friday, and it will likely reach $27.5M for the weekend. That is the best opening yet for the former Destiny’s Child lead vocalist as an above-the-title star, topping 2003’s The Fighting Temptations and Cadillac Records from late 2008.

Beyonce does battle with the sexy Ali Larter (HEROES) in OBSESSED

OPENINGS FOR BEYONCE MOVIES
1. Austin Powers: Goldmember – $70.3M opening
2. Obsessed – $27.5M opening (projected)
3. Pink Panther (2006) – $20.2M opening
4. Dreamgirls – $14.1M wide break (after a platform start)
5. The Fighting Temptations – $11.7M opening
6. Cadillac Records – $3.4M opening

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Tags: "Fast & Furious", 17 again, 2-d, 3-d, academy award nominee
Posted Apr 24th 2009 at 11:11 pm in Entertainment, Political Humor, Steve Mason's Box Office | 116742No Comments2009-04-25+06%3A11%3A11Steve+Mason

Hollywood’s Worst Release Date: Beyonce’s ‘Obsessed’ Could Edge Disney’s Baby Polar Bears in ‘Earth!’

by Steve Mason

The final weekend of April has never been Hollywood’s favorite release date. In fact, it is generally considered to be among the worst release dates on the calendar. Whatever opens on the final weekend of April gets absolutely crushed by the official start of the summer blockbuster season on the first weekend of May.

: Beyonce’s OBSESSED could win the final weekend before WOLVERINE

The 4 new wide releases and 1 major specialty release set to debut this weekend will face an onslaught of mega-hits over the next month. How can Obsessed (Sony), Earth (Disney), The Soloist, (Dreamworks/Paramount), Fighting (Rogue) and The Informers (Senator) possibly find an audience with X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) arriving next weekend followed by, in successive weeks, Star Trek (Paramount), Angels & Demons (Sony), the combo of Night at the Museum 2 (Fox) and Terminator: Salvation (Fox) and Disney/Pixar’s Up?

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Tags: "Fast & Furious", 17 again, 2-d, 3-d, academy award nominee
Posted Apr 23rd 2009 at 5:47 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 1145145 Comments2009-04-24+00%3A47%3A04Steve+Mason

Posts Tagged ‘crank: high voltage’

‘Wolverine’ claws to $34.75M Friday & Could Scratch Out $86.8M Opening! All-Time 4th-Best Performer for First-Weekend-of-May Summer Kickoff!

The Summer Blockbuster Season is Set to Start Huge! Spin-Off ‘Wolverine’ could Claw to $92M Opening Weekend!

America Loves a Girl-on-Girl Smackdown! Beyonce’s ‘Obsessed’ is the Biggest Last-Weekend-of-April Opener Ever with $11M Friday & a Possible $27.5M 3-Day!

Hollywood’s Worst Release Date: Beyonce’s ‘Obsessed’ Could Edge Disney’s Baby Polar Bears in ‘Earth!’

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