'Snakes' all buzz, no bite
'Snakes' slithers to top of b.o. with $15.2 mil bow
Aug 22, 2006
Fans might have laughed at the title, cheered the casting of Samuel L. Jackson and even created homages to it on the Internet, but they didn't show up to theaters in significant numbers during the weekend. The much buzzed-about "Snakes on a Plane," from New Line Cinema, performed well below its extremely hyped expectations, earning $15.2 million for its three-day opener.
It managed to eke out the top spot at the North American boxoffice over Sony Pictures' "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" but only because it included in its weekend total $1.4 million from its 10 p.m. Thursday showings.
Other newcomers were equally unimpressive, with Universal Pictures' "Accepted" grossing $10.0 million to place fifth, and MGM's Hilary Duff starrer "Material Girls" generating $4.6 million for a ninth-place finish.
The top 12 films at the weekend boxoffice were down a significant 7.6% compared with last year at this time, which resulted in the first down frame in four weeks. "Snakes," directed by David R. Ellis, couldn't compete with last year's surprise hit, the Steve Carell starrer "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," which opened to $21.4 million, or DreamWorks' thriller "Red Eye," which grossed $16.1 million.
Meanwhile, Buena Vista Pictures' "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," in eighth place, took in $5.2 million, crossing the $400 million mark to become the seventh film in boxoffice history to reach that formidable domestic milestone. Sony's "Talladega" surpassed $100 million with an estimated cume of $114.3 million after three weekends in release.
In addition, such indie films as Fox Searchlight's "Little Miss Sunshine," the Yari Film Group's "The Illusionist" and ThinkFilm's "Half Nelson" all performed solidly in limited release.
Because of the buzz surrounding "Snakes," New Line and the media harbored expectations that the film would solidly outperform the industry's tracking numbers.
"For the first time all summer, the tracking on the movie was spot on," New Line distribution president David Tuckerman said. "We thought we'd overperform on the tracking so are a little disappointed right now."
The company said it will make money on the film, budgeted in the low-$30 million range. It might be that the R-rated "Snakes" suffers from the same problem as the 1990 Buena Vista film "Arachnophobia," which unperformed at the boxoffice because no one wanted to see a film about spiders. Snakes might sound great on paper, but in the theater they could be a bit too scary for even the most hardened horror fan.
More likely, the film performed exactly like a mid-level horror film usually would, and if it weren't for the mighty blogosphere, the awareness for the film never would have reached such a fevered pitch.
"Accepted," the teen comedy directed by Steve Pink and starring Justin Long, earned just $10.0 million, but the PG-13 comedy shows potential with strong exit polls and an A- grade from CinemaScore. Made for $23 million, the film lured in under-25 audiences and might hold on throughout August.
"We are hoping it will be the little engine that could," Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said. "I'm very pleased with the exit polls, and we'll certainly recoup (our costs) just in the domestic release. Comedies work very well in the ancillary markets, and I think this will have legs."
"Material Girls," which MGM distributed in a service deal, earned an opening gross typical of previous Duff films, though it was playing on fewer screens. Her last movie, "A Perfect Man," co-starring Heather Locklear, opened last year to $5.3 million in more than 3,000 theaters, while 2004's "Raise Your Voice" bowed to $4 million at 2,500 theaters. "Girls," which bowed in 1,509 theaters, achieved a per-theater average of $3,062, better than either of Duff's previous openers.
Said MGM marketing president Perry Stahman: "This is a win-win for MGM. We're happy with the performance considering the competition in the marketplace. We think this film will have a successful run in the ancillary markets."
The Will Ferrell starrer "Talladega" continues to fuel the boxoffice, falling a scant 38% in its third week in release. Paramount Pictures' "World Trade Center" also held on nicely in third place, dropping a respectable 42% to $10.9 million; according to Paramount, no other adult-oriented film this summer has had as strong a hold. "WTC," directed by Oliver Stone, has earned $45.1 million after 12 days at the boxoffice.
Buena Vista's "Step Up," which took the fifth spot for the weekend, had a steeper fall in its sophomore session. But despite competition from "Accepted" and "Girls," the teenage dance film dropped an average 51%. Its 10-day cume stands at $39.7 million.
Searchlight's expansion of "Sunshine" seems to be working. The indie hit, starring Carell, Alan Arkin, Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear, earned an additional $5.6 million at the boxoffice, putting it into the top 10 for the first time after four weekends in release. With the addition of 538 screens, the Sundance Film Festival acquisition now has grossed $12.7 million. With an $8,120 per-theater average and strong performances nationwide, "Sunshine" is riding high and will expand to 1,400-1,500 runs this weekend before reaching 1,800 on Labor Day weekend.
Searchlight didn't have nearly as successful a debut with the Toronto fest acquisition "Trust the Man." From writer-director Bart Freundlich, the dramedy bowed on 38 screens for a gross of $176,007, a per-screen average of $4,632. The film, starring David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Billy Crudup, will expand to 125-150 runs this weekend. The indie hopes to reach 200-250 runs by Labor Day.
The Yari Film Group opened the well-reviewed "Illusionist" on 51 theaters throughout North America, boasting an $18,135 per-screen average in 12 markets across the U.S and parts of Canada; according to the distributor, its U.S. screen average topped $20,000. With strong exit polls, the period drama starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel will reach 100 screens this weekend before opening wide over the Labor Day holiday.
ThinkFilm added another New York screen for its second weekend of the Ryan Gosling starrer "Half Nelson," reaping an additional $57,200. The R-rated drama has now grossed $148,180. The distributor plans to expand to Los Angeles, Washington, San Francisco and select metro markets this weekend with 20-25 runs.
The cumulative boxoffice gross for the week ending Aug. 17 is $197.7 million, up 8% for the same week in 2005. The year-to-date gross is $6.1 billion, up more than 7% from $5.68 billion a year ago.
The top 12 films grossed $91.3 million compared with last year's $99 million.
It managed to eke out the top spot at the North American boxoffice over Sony Pictures' "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" but only because it included in its weekend total $1.4 million from its 10 p.m. Thursday showings.
Other newcomers were equally unimpressive, with Universal Pictures' "Accepted" grossing $10.0 million to place fifth, and MGM's Hilary Duff starrer "Material Girls" generating $4.6 million for a ninth-place finish.
The top 12 films at the weekend boxoffice were down a significant 7.6% compared with last year at this time, which resulted in the first down frame in four weeks. "Snakes," directed by David R. Ellis, couldn't compete with last year's surprise hit, the Steve Carell starrer "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," which opened to $21.4 million, or DreamWorks' thriller "Red Eye," which grossed $16.1 million.
Meanwhile, Buena Vista Pictures' "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," in eighth place, took in $5.2 million, crossing the $400 million mark to become the seventh film in boxoffice history to reach that formidable domestic milestone. Sony's "Talladega" surpassed $100 million with an estimated cume of $114.3 million after three weekends in release.
In addition, such indie films as Fox Searchlight's "Little Miss Sunshine," the Yari Film Group's "The Illusionist" and ThinkFilm's "Half Nelson" all performed solidly in limited release.
Because of the buzz surrounding "Snakes," New Line and the media harbored expectations that the film would solidly outperform the industry's tracking numbers.
"For the first time all summer, the tracking on the movie was spot on," New Line distribution president David Tuckerman said. "We thought we'd overperform on the tracking so are a little disappointed right now."
The company said it will make money on the film, budgeted in the low-$30 million range. It might be that the R-rated "Snakes" suffers from the same problem as the 1990 Buena Vista film "Arachnophobia," which unperformed at the boxoffice because no one wanted to see a film about spiders. Snakes might sound great on paper, but in the theater they could be a bit too scary for even the most hardened horror fan.
More likely, the film performed exactly like a mid-level horror film usually would, and if it weren't for the mighty blogosphere, the awareness for the film never would have reached such a fevered pitch.
"Accepted," the teen comedy directed by Steve Pink and starring Justin Long, earned just $10.0 million, but the PG-13 comedy shows potential with strong exit polls and an A- grade from CinemaScore. Made for $23 million, the film lured in under-25 audiences and might hold on throughout August.
"We are hoping it will be the little engine that could," Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said. "I'm very pleased with the exit polls, and we'll certainly recoup (our costs) just in the domestic release. Comedies work very well in the ancillary markets, and I think this will have legs."
"Material Girls," which MGM distributed in a service deal, earned an opening gross typical of previous Duff films, though it was playing on fewer screens. Her last movie, "A Perfect Man," co-starring Heather Locklear, opened last year to $5.3 million in more than 3,000 theaters, while 2004's "Raise Your Voice" bowed to $4 million at 2,500 theaters. "Girls," which bowed in 1,509 theaters, achieved a per-theater average of $3,062, better than either of Duff's previous openers.
Said MGM marketing president Perry Stahman: "This is a win-win for MGM. We're happy with the performance considering the competition in the marketplace. We think this film will have a successful run in the ancillary markets."
The Will Ferrell starrer "Talladega" continues to fuel the boxoffice, falling a scant 38% in its third week in release. Paramount Pictures' "World Trade Center" also held on nicely in third place, dropping a respectable 42% to $10.9 million; according to Paramount, no other adult-oriented film this summer has had as strong a hold. "WTC," directed by Oliver Stone, has earned $45.1 million after 12 days at the boxoffice.
Buena Vista's "Step Up," which took the fifth spot for the weekend, had a steeper fall in its sophomore session. But despite competition from "Accepted" and "Girls," the teenage dance film dropped an average 51%. Its 10-day cume stands at $39.7 million.
Searchlight's expansion of "Sunshine" seems to be working. The indie hit, starring Carell, Alan Arkin, Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear, earned an additional $5.6 million at the boxoffice, putting it into the top 10 for the first time after four weekends in release. With the addition of 538 screens, the Sundance Film Festival acquisition now has grossed $12.7 million. With an $8,120 per-theater average and strong performances nationwide, "Sunshine" is riding high and will expand to 1,400-1,500 runs this weekend before reaching 1,800 on Labor Day weekend.
Searchlight didn't have nearly as successful a debut with the Toronto fest acquisition "Trust the Man." From writer-director Bart Freundlich, the dramedy bowed on 38 screens for a gross of $176,007, a per-screen average of $4,632. The film, starring David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Billy Crudup, will expand to 125-150 runs this weekend. The indie hopes to reach 200-250 runs by Labor Day.
The Yari Film Group opened the well-reviewed "Illusionist" on 51 theaters throughout North America, boasting an $18,135 per-screen average in 12 markets across the U.S and parts of Canada; according to the distributor, its U.S. screen average topped $20,000. With strong exit polls, the period drama starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel will reach 100 screens this weekend before opening wide over the Labor Day holiday.
ThinkFilm added another New York screen for its second weekend of the Ryan Gosling starrer "Half Nelson," reaping an additional $57,200. The R-rated drama has now grossed $148,180. The distributor plans to expand to Los Angeles, Washington, San Francisco and select metro markets this weekend with 20-25 runs.
The cumulative boxoffice gross for the week ending Aug. 17 is $197.7 million, up 8% for the same week in 2005. The year-to-date gross is $6.1 billion, up more than 7% from $5.68 billion a year ago.
The top 12 films grossed $91.3 million compared with last year's $99 million.
Share on LinkedIn
