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Weekend 26th - 29th June 2003
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As with its second weekend in the U.S., figures for the Australian opening weekend of The Hulk are certainly making
an impression, however distressing for the films distributors the impression is not a good one. The latest comic book
material turned major motion picture stars Australian Eric Bana in the Ang Lee directed pic. The story follows Bruce
Banner who when born carried a bi-product of his fathers self experimentation. Later triggered by a gamma radiation
experiment, the combination of the two accidents gives Bruce the ability use his rage to trigger a transformation into an
indestructible Hulk. Opening one week after the U.S. launch, The Hulk's opening in Australia was not without fanfare
and the regular expectations that greet any new expected blockbuster, however, the managed to open with a remarkably slow
$3.28 million. Although it was enough for the top position - by less than $70,000 - the opening for The Hulk is
certainly disappointing for its distributor.
Opening on a medium-wide 341 screens, The Hulk's opening weekend average was only $9,634 per lab, less than that of
last weekend's champ Bruce Almighty. The opening, while not woeful, is not far from that mark, especially
considering the calibre of the film that its marketing muscle had supposedly predetermined was a certain blockbuster. Why
then didn't The Hulk meet expectations? Unlike in the U.S., its opening weekend was acceptably large with a second
weekend decline partly justified by a large fan rush through its opening frame. While its going a bit far to say the
general audience boycotted the film in Australia, it seems only fans of the genre were eager to greet The Hulk this
weekend, with the general audience just not convinced they wanted to gamble on the film. Bad reaction to the trailers? Mild
word of mouth from the U.S.? The timing? Too much competition? The bad CGI? Untried director and lead actor? Usually a
director means little in a film like this to the general public, and Bana would only have been a positive for the film in
Australia. Any reason you can come to justify why The Hulk didn't click this weekend will be subjective at best and
will not be the entire reason. The Hulk seemingly had the elements to perform well, but its poor performance in
Australia is nothing short of being a true head-scratcher.
The opening weekend of The Hulk was very similar to this years comic book adaptation Daredevil, which arrived
with much less star-power, at least where Australia is concerned with the exception of the teenage girl market, and far
less marketing buzz. The Ben Affleck starrer went on to collect a mild $7.53 million in Australia as a film that saw quite
steep falls week after week. The Hulk entered the charts this weekend as the school holidays started in VIC in Qld.
Starting next weekend in NSW, SA, ACT and WA, The Hulk should be able to use this three week spread of school
holidays to find better holding power than Daredevil managed, still, given its debut anything is possible. The debut
is also very similar to current charter 2 Fast 2 Furious' original. The Vin Diesel starrer opened in 2001 with $3.3
million and went on to earn $10.24 million, something The Hulk's people will be praying for and an amount it more
likely to match.
Compared to the U.S. performance, The Hulk's opening weekend take in Australia was a hefty 47.1% behind* the pace
the film opened with in the U.S. last week. Considered by many to be only a moderate opening weekend in the U.S., the
film since plummeted a disastrous 69.7% going into its second weekend. Will that correlate over to Australia? A fall like
that can be attributed mainly to bad word of mouth. That negative word seemed to have killed off any chance of a large
opening in Australia, so perhaps a steady hold here next week will even out the score. One thing is for certain, The
Hulk will be one of the years biggest disappointments for UIP/Universal in Australia, perhaps even more so than its
Ned Kelly gamble. Compared to my opening weekend forecast, The Hulk couldn't smash enough beans coming in
a fair distance under my overly enthusiastic $5.5 million prediction.
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Last weekends all conquering pic Bruce Almighty had to settle for second place in its second weekend, although the
margin was by far less than expected for the Jim Carrey flick, almost delivering a second placed bow to the big green
angry man. The film in which Jim Carrey's character is bestowed with the power of God and therefore can theoretically do
whatever he wants, dipped a quite acceptable 37% going into its second frame while conjuring up a healthy $3.21 million.
With $9.76 million in the bank in 11 days, the second weekend of Bruce Almighty counts as the 23rd largest second
weekend in Australia, right on queue with its 23rd largest opening weekend last weekend.
Although the opening was very similar to Carrey's own Liar Liar which finished with $21.1 million, weekly data
isn't available for a running comparison. The opening however was also similar to 2001's What Women Want that
collected $5.11 million through its opening weekend. Dipping by 41% in its second weekend, the Mel Gibson flick about a
guy who could read the minds of women collected $3 million even in its second weekend, although it did have the advantage
of previews. After the close of its second weekend, Bruce Almighty is running 18.3% behind Women and will
need to work just as hard as the film has done in the U.S. to be able to keep pace with it. Liar Liar ended up 6.2%
behind Women, so Bruce also has some work to do if it wants to catch the 1997 Carrey final.
Compared to the U.S., Bruce Almighty's Australian pace is now tracking 28.9% behind* what the film had earned after
two weeks in the U.S. This is up considerably on the 40% negative margin it had last weekend, although there was a public
holiday factored into the U.S. opening weekend take. Bruce Almighty was down a slightly larger 45% in its second
weekend in the U.S., although the Australian second weekend take itself was still 13.7% behind* what it managed in the
U.S>
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Also opening over the weekend Eddie Murphy comedy Daddy Day Care. As a rarity for an Eddie Murphy film, the words
success and top five finish can be used in the same sentence, which casts off the bad taste of recent efforts like
I Spy, Showtime and Pluto Nash. The film follows Charlie Hinton, who after losing his job decides
to open up a day care facility in his home to try and make some extra cash. Scheduled to take advantage of the school
holidays, the flick opened with a good $2.14 million over the weekend, performing as an excellent counter-weight to those
who didn't want to see The Hulk. Opening on a wide 325 screens, Daddy Day Care averaged an ok $6,600 per
centre, which may indicate a little too much ambition from its distributor, although things may pick up for the film in the
next week or two given that the target for the film will primarily be the out of school family audience. With previews
Daddy Day Care's total is $2.5 million
The opening for Daddy Day Care is very similar to Murphy's own 2001 sequel Dr Dolittle 2 which opened through
the same mid-year school holiday period two years ago with $2.01 million. That flick went on to earn a respectable $10.26
million, although that was down on the originals $16.6 million which is aside from Shrek, still his best live action
flick to date in Australia. Depending on how well the school holidays treat Daddy Day Care - they were very kind to
Dr Dolittle 2 - Daddy Day Care may even have a chance at overtaking The Hulk when all dollars are
counted after they finish at theatres if it doesn't hold well this coming weekend.
Compared to the U.S., Daddy Day Care's Australian opening was a reasonable 22.3% behind* the U.S. opening weekend
which itself was surprisingly strong. Factoring in Australian previews the film currently stands just 9.3% behind*.
Holding power for the film was very strong in the U.S., although its position in Australia may be just a strong.
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2 Fast 2 Furious enjoyed its first weekend with a decline under 50%, off 44% through its fourth frame. The Paul
Walker and Tyrese starring car racing and chasing flick collected $0.62 million through the weekend to up its total to
a smart $12.33 million. Last weekend it was standing 19.3% ahead of the Hugh Jackman flick Swordfish which saw a
much better fourth weekend change, off just 24%. So after four weeks, 2 Fast 2 Furious is now standing just 7.6%
ahead, still managing to hold a lead that it paid for in its first weekend with a much higher opening. Last weekend it was
on par with Tomb Raider after three weeks, however it now stands 8.5% behind the Jolie flick and will only continue
to fall behind from here. Swordfish had good holding power from here, and due to the competition through the next
few weeks, 2 Fast 2 Furious will fall short of its $14.4 million total and rake in around $13.5.
Compared to the U.S., 2 Fast 2 Furious' Australian pace now sits 8.1% ahead*, again down from the 10.7% lead* it had
at the close of last weekend. Although the first two weekends were stronger in Australia, the film has since slown in
Australia and its rate of decline in the U.S. has improved. The fourth weekend take was only just 0.8% better* in
Australia.
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The Matrix Reloaded was off 37% in its seventh weekend, still drawing some respect from the crowds. Collecting $0.46
million, the Keanu Reeves super-sequel now has $32.06 million in the bank, down just 1.3% on the $32.49 million Star
Wars: Attack of The Clones had at the same point in time. As with Clones, Matrix faces some stiff
competition through its remaining weeks, and should reach around $33.5 million.
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The top 20 films collected $11.98 million, up 24.3% on last weekend and up 9.2% on this weekend last year when Scooby
-Doo was tops again in its second weekend with $2.67 million still ahead of Minority Report which again settled
for second with $2.26 million. The weekend was 1% up on this weekend from two years ago when Shrek finished on top
in its second official weekend with $3.27 million, of just 8% and Swordfish launched with a very hot $3.08 million
in second place.
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Weekend Coming 3rd - 6th July 2003
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Another of the years heavily hyped pictures hopes to find its place on the top of the charts this weekend in Charlie's
Angels: Full Throttle. Again directed by one word music video guy McG, the picture reunites the successful trio from
2000's Charlie's Angels of Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Lui as the unstoppable crime fighting team. Bill
Murray has been Liu-ed for Bernie Mac in the role of Bosley and Demi Moore marks a comeback to Hollywood as the films
overstated villain, played successfully by Cripsin Glover in the last film who also reappears this time out. Story wise the
Angels investigate a series of murders that arise after the records of a witness protection program are stolen. Madison
Lee, a former angel is their prime suspect. With a hefty increase in the budget after the surprise success of the first
film, Sony have gone all out with their marketing of Full Throttle in the U.S. and its Australian distributor is
matching suit, releasing the picture just one week after the U.S. launch.
Released over the weekend just passed in the U.S., the mega budgeted $US120 million film opened with a quite unspectacular
$US37.6 million, which was actually down on the $US40.12 million opening that the first secured in November of 2000.
Plagued by rumours of infighting and bad buzz from the set, Charlie's Angels appeared set for disaster when it was
released, but the combination of comedy, sex appeal and pumping action was exactly what audiences wanted from the film as
it went on to score $US125.3 million in the U.S. Full Throttle's launch, though down on the first is still good, as
a higher priced sequel it was expected to do better and it faces a far higher degree of competition in the coming weeks
than the original did 2000 when it was only film of its kind on the block.
As far as blockbusters go, 2003 is full of them, but is this huge supply of event films starting to effect how they perform
at the box office. The early comers of 2003 have so far done well, but leading into a very busy three or four weeks, the
pressure may be starting to show. Indeed it has in the U.S. this past weekend with Full Throttle opening below
expectations, but will we the same curse that has effected The Hulk in Australia befall the Charlie's
Angels sequel? Three films are currently duking it out in the top five and Full Throttle will add a fourth to
the mix with each hoping to score over two million this weekend. Back in 2000 Charlie's Angels was just as big a
surprise in its success as in the U.S. opening with a chipper $4 million and going on to earn a super respectable $18.7
million, a hot 49.6% better* than the U.S. final. Given that precedent of Angels superiority in Australia, will
Full Throttle be able to do the same. It's launch in the U.S. was below expectations, but does that necessarily
mean it will be in Australia also? The Hulk's poor performance and the competition says yes, but the originals
final strength over the U.S. pace and the school holidays say no. Australia will be going to the movies for some fun over
the weekend and give Full Throttle a bigger introduction than was seen for Angels. With Hulk out of
the way Full Throttle should open on top with $4.5 million this weekend.
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Also opening wide this weekend, day and date with the U.S. release is the animated offering Sinbad: Legend of The
Seven Seas. The DreamWorks effort which features voice talent from Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta Jones and Michelle
Pfeiffer follows Sinbad, who must go on a quest to retrieve the book of peace after being framed by the goddess of Chaos
for stealing it. This is the fourth major traditionally animated film from DreamWorks, who aside from some success with
their first in The Prince of Egypt have been struggling to find their feet in this area.
The film has been showing over the last couple of weeks through wide release in Tasmania to take advantage of their early
school holidays and with previews in other sates and has so far collected $0.41 million. As an animated film, letting it
out to test the water a couple of weeks before the national holidays start is common practice. This film will see a bump
this weekend with VIC and Qld having started school holidays, and again next weekend when all other states join in.
Advertising for the film has been strong and going on for several weeks. Sinbad should be able to overtake
Piglets Big Movie this weekend and deploy with $1 million or so.
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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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