"2004 ANALYSIS - Part 3: Columbia TriStar Distributors"

2004 has now and truly closed and we are already in the heat of the 2005 madness, but which films dominated last year? Which did bigger than expected? Which totally tanked? Here is a guide to 2004's Hits and Misses at the Australian box-office.

2004 was surprisingly quieter than recent years. 21 films crossed the $10m mark while 12 films went past the $15m milestone. That represents a downward spiral from 2003, which netted 23 $10m winners and 14 that achieved past $15m. In 2002, 24 films earned $10m and over with 12 films past $15m. In 2001, 28 films reached $10m, 13 of which also passed $15m. Take into account, these three years also were the years that 'Lord of the Rings' achieved massive feats. All up, in 2004 286 films opened in some capacity in Australian cinemas, down from 293 in 2003 but up from 257 released in 2002.

For the next week, we will present a guide to each Australian distributor's success in 2004 followed by a recap of the Best and the Worst B.O results from the year. This will give everyone a wrap-up at the Australian B.O in 2004. Here is Columbia TriStar.

Columbia TriStar Distributors
Distributors for: Columbia TriStar International. Estimated Total for 2004: $113m


Columbia TriStar had a solid year at the Australian box-office, but they scored most of their home runs with mid-range films that performed mid-range levels. Led by 'Spider Man 2', the distributor released 26 films in the 2004 year to varying degrees of success. Apart from 'Spider Man 2', Sony's bigger hits came from Adam Sandler's latest and films with Julia Roberts, The Rock and Jennifer Garner, but ultimately the distributor only had a few major hits with many films not performing here as strongly as they did in the US.

The Top Dog: The second sequel in the 'Spider Man' series was an expected juggernaut taking $24.2m after a delicious $7.1m opening. The Sam Raimi flick ended up becoming the fourth best of 2004. By comparison, its predecessor ended up with $30m in 2002, but the sequel faced competition from 'Shrek 2' and 'Harry Potter 3', which hurt its performance slightly. 'Spider Man 2' though still managed to become the distributor's second highest film to date of course behind its predecessor.

Winners and Grinners: The latest from Adam Sandler '50 First Dates' performed as strongly as he has become here with $14.7m, the actor's second highest grosser here. They only had two films perform over $10m and there next best was at #34 with consistent performer Julia Roberts' drama 'Mona Lisa Smile' at a cheery $7.8m, a little better than it's US performance. That was followed by two films that the distributor changed titles for - 'Welcome to the Jungle' a.k.a 'The Rundown' ($7.5m) and 'Suddenly 13' a.k.a '13 Going on 30' ($6.5m). Horror pic 'Underworld' ($5.1m) was also a strong hit defying conventional wisdom that films of that genre don't perform as well here as they do in the US. 'Jungle' was handled by Sony internationally from Universal and was surprisingly sturdy here especially with The Rock's limited starpower. '13' too did better than expected thanks to Jennifer Garner's starpower. The success of all three films came as a small surprise too since Sony waited to release the film's months from their US openings allowing pirated copies to become apparent in the market, but it didn't hurt either film's B.O chances.

Although the box-office wasn't too ambitious, the distributor can take credit in helping several films perform better here than expected. Teen comedy 'White Chicks' ($4.9m), Tim Burton's fantasy 'Big Fish' ($4.8m), Halle Berry thriller 'Gothika' ($4.6m) and holiday comedy 'Christmas with the Kranks' ($4.5m) were all solid despite possessing risky potential. Sony's marketing on all four was very strong, although they might have hurt 'Gothika' a little by delaying its release 6 months. Sony also should be credited for finding interest for Billy Bob Thornton's 'Bad Santa', which was delayed 12 months from 2003 and did a solid $3.5m despite a very risky premise and didn't look terribly strong. Also, urban dance flick 'You Got Served' made only $1.3m, but it was far stronger than any pre-release buzz indicated and has been very popular on the DVD markets.



Losers: Where to start? Not a big list, no high-profile misses but Sony also has done itself some favours sending films like 'Gigli' straight to DVD to avoid embarrassment at the B.O. The ploy will also be used for two upcoming turkeys - Brittany Murphy's 'Little Black Book' and surprisingly Ben Stiller's 'Envy'. The problem with Sony this year was slow-performances from genre based fare, some which should have been more potent.

In the barely acceptable category are: Ron Howard's 'The Missing' ($4.2m), Johnny Depp thriller 'Secret Window' ($4.1m) and Julianne Moore's 'The Forgotten' ($3.4m), which evaporated too quickly. The latter was a smash hit in the US, but proved time again that the supernatural is not embraced here too strongly. Still, all three made back decent money. The distributor was unable to get too much response from 'Hellboy' ($3.2m) despite good advertising but again its delay from the US didn't help as fans had already downloaded the movie or purchased bootlegged copies. Genre fare like 'Resident Evil 2' ($2.7m), 'The Punisher' ($2.4m) and 'Anacondas' ($2.3m) couldn't get past strong openings and died too quickly, but they weren't very expensive to begin with.

In the independent categories, although they released several films, none really clicked: Oscar nominee 'The Triplets of Belleville' ($0.49k), doco 'The Fog of War' ($0.46k), 'Bon Voyage' ($0.319k), 'Monseiur Ibraham' ($0.076k), 'Steamboy' ($0.022k) and Michael Caine drama 'The Statement' ($1,855).

Lessons Learnt: By sending their bigger flops straight to DVD, it elevates their image and avoids embarrassments. They survived 'Gigli' by cutting their losses and sending it out of a theatrical opportunity. Sony too knows how to market their movies, but apart from opening weekend, which they are quite good at, they can't keep audiences interested in their movies for too long. Another problem: delaying films for nearly 6 months, which can be a problem in this world of piracy. On the other end of the spectrum, they really tried with films like 'White Chicks', 'Christmas with the Kranks', 'Bad Santa' and 'You Got Served' and got good responses.

On the Horizon in 2005: In 2005, Sony remains a little quieter than usual but they have many strong looking titles. The first biggie is 'Hitch' with Will Smith in March followed by 'XXX2' with Ice Cube in April. Then there's Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman's 'Bewitched' and 'Legend of Zorro' at year's end. Plus, Ashton Kutcher, Jamie Foxx, Tommy Lee Jones and a sequel to 'Jumanji'.

Next Up: Columbia TriStar, Buena Vista, Fox
By Chris Cappola

Please Note that Distributor totals are estimates and not exact data but are rounded off


OTHER DISTRIBUTOR ANALYSIS:
- Analysis of 20th Century Fox
- Analysis of Buena Vista International
- Analysis of Columbia TriStar Distributors
- Analysis of United International Pictures
- Analysis of Village Roadshow Distributors
- Analysis of the Indies! - Icon, Hoyts and more!

- The 2004 Chart

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