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Weekend 18th - 21st December 2003
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Opening without much spectacle in the top position was the expensive Australian filmed Peter Pan. Directed by Aussie
P.J. Hogan and filmed in Queensland, the film is the first live action adaptation of Barrie's original works. Starring
Jeremy Sumpter in the title role of the boy who would never grow up, Rachel Hurd-Wood as Wendy, the girl who must and
Jason Isaacs as Captain Hook, Peter Pan's weekend take was $1.50 million. Launching on a medium-wide 269 screens,
Peter Pan's average amounted to a rather soft $5,604, which reflects what really are some disappointing opening
weekend figures.
As Australia was the first market for Peter Pan to be released, its distributors UIP/Universal would surely have
been hoping for some better results, regardless of the spin its P.R. department puts on them. With a budget running well
over $US100 million, and three production studios covering costs it appears that vying for profit from the picture may
prove to be difficult if ancillaries are anything less than huge. There hasn't really been any fierce family competition to
speak of since Finding Nemo left the charts, Elf has performed with stamina but has been lacking sizeable
power and its the same story with Looney Tunes. If any film was going to perform well against Return of the
King in the family only market it was going to be Peter Pan this year. Holding power may prove to be good, but
its opening weekend can be summed up in one word as disappointing.
Back in March of 1992 Hook opened with a very similar $1.57 million. The film went on to have some good holding
power thanks to some very identifiable star-power and an Easter holiday release slate. Ending up with $11.8 million,
Hook's final total will be something those behind Peter Pan will be eagerly hoping the film passes. With the
January holidays now in swing, Peter Pan has a good shot at doing that. Compared to my opening weekend forecast,
Peter Pan was no where near my $4 million prediction.
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The top 20 films collected $9.08 million over the weekend which was down 9.1% from last year when Mr. Bronson again
held top spot with a $2.63 million second weekend for Die Another Day, ahead of the $2.19 million second place
bow from Reese Witherspoon's Sweet Home Alabama. But the weekend was up 9.4% on this weekend from two years ago
when Harry Potter lead in its fourth weekend with $2.27 million, ahead of Tom Cruise's Vanilla Sky which
launched with $2.09 million in second.
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Weekend Coming 26th - 28th December 2003
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Its a three day weekend this week thanks to Boxing Day falling on a Friday and Christmas Day trading restrictions forcing
exhibitors to close on the normal Thursday starting day. Despite the reduction in the number of days films will be showing
this weekend, the amount of people wanting to the films released will still be huge. Boxing Day is the country's favourite
day to visit the theatre, as evidenced over the last few years with box office takings setting records for not only
individual films but for the weekend as a whole. So with one day less this year, will we see new records set?
One thing that The Lord of the Rings franchise has taught us is that any record is up for grabs when it comes to
this property in Australia. We love these movies, from Fellowships many records set in 2001, to The Two
Towers' setting new benchmarks. Many of those records have since stood the test of time, but will it again take a
Rings film to conquer Rings' own records? Opening-day and opening-weekend records still belong to
The Two Towers at $5.25 and $14.11 million a piece.
When Fellowship launched in 2001, opening on a Wednesday, Boxing Day, it collected a mammoth $4.1 million, a figure
unheard of for a single day of ticket sales. Worthy of the phrase 'smashing records', Fellowship's entrance
razed them all and also took the opening weekend record with $9.75 million, a figure that was no doubt handicaped by $4.16
million worth of tickets bought the day before the official frame. The Two Towers was equally as remarkable.
Despite 2002 seeing three other films outdo what Fellowship had scored through its opening weekend, Towers
was able to rout them all. Also opening in Boxing Day, 2002 was prime territory for record setting with the holiday falling
on a Thursday and no occurrence of a handicap. With a new $5.25 million opening day record and a $14.11 million weekend,
both records were unbeaten through 2003.
So comes Boxing Day 2003. There's no Wednesday handicap to take eager fans out of the opening weekend equasion, however,
its not a true weekend such as Towers enjoyed. As something of a rarity in Australia, The Lord of the Rings: The
Return of the King will be following The Matrix Reloaded's lead and open through a three day frame. Holding the
record for a three day opening, the highly anticipated middle chapter of the sci-fi saga opened with a $4.1 million first
day and an $11.09 million opening weekend, each figure the third best on the charts. The Return of the King carries
with it much more anticipation than did the Reeves flick, and with the Boxing Day falling on a Friday, a naturally busy
day for cinema, opening-day records are guaranteed.
What of opening weekends? The Return of the King should easily be able to pass the $11 million of Reloaded,
and as such passing the $11.96 million of Attack of the Clones should be something achievable. Granted that was a
four day opener, but it wasn't a Rings film and didn't have Boxing Day, are those two ingredients enough to convince
King to take its crown? If The Return of the King collects $5 million on Friday and $4 million on each of
Saturday and Sunday, then quite conservatively the film is looking at a $13 million weekend. Add half a million more to
each day and it could collect $14.5 million during that three day frame. Every cinema in the country would need to have
more sold-out sessions than not to achieve it, but can The Return of the King do in three days what it took
The Two Towers to do in four?
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Also opening this weekend is the Richard Curtis flick Love Actually. Having played for quite a few weeks in the
U.S. and The U.K., the all-star British romantic-comedy finally un-spools in Australia. Featuring the likes of Hugh Grant,
Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightingly, Laura Linney, Alan Rickman, Rowan Atkinson and a whole heap
more, Love Actually's list of the British film industry also finds them telling the story of 8 married couples
and their crisscrossing adventures leading up to Christmas.
Love Actually looks to be the title to do it too. Very-British films have been finding a good of success in the
U.S. recently, thanks in large part to Notting Hill and Julia Robert re-introducing the variety to a wide audience.
Bridget Jones and others such as Bend it Like Beckham have re-enforced a good word. A soft opening of $6.88
million was overcome by very solid holding power, allowing the film to have collected $US55 million up to Christmas. A
late November release in its native U.K. saw an $US11.3 million opening with a four-week number-one stint generating a huge
$US46.8 million through the same period.
The film is employing the same release tactics that helped the Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant flick Two Weeks Notice
achieved a good deal of success last year. While that film wasn't delayed all that much, its eventual success is an
explanation as to why Love Actually was kept until this time. Although it was released a week later on New Years
Day, the film collected $3.84 million on opening and $15.87 all up, indicating that while playing against a Lord of the
Rings film, a romantic comedy can clean up. Love Actually will be a strong counter-program to King this
weekend and will add over another $3 million to its $1.91 million of previews taken thus far.
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* Based on a US index of 10/1 with currency, ticket prices, population and cinema visits per head.
^ Based on a UK index of 2.1/1 with currency, ticket prices, population and cinema visits per head. |
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