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Weekend 30th October - 2nd November 2003
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Intolerable Cruelty again led the field in its second week with the help of some surprisingly strong numbers.
Although the film has done less then poorly in the U.S., its international campaign has been more promising, with
Australia's results now ranking as some of the best, as least as far as holding power goes. Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones
and George Clooney, the film was down only 23% from its moderately ok debut last weekend. Collecting $1.48 million,
Intolerable Cruelty has seen its total rise to a respectable $4.70 million, including previews, and also boasted
the healthiest average in the top ten, not bad for a film in its second weekend.
Intolerable Cruelty has obvious star power, although that seems to have meant little to audiences in the U.S.
However the reasons behind its acceptable performance in Australia may have something more to do with the lack of
competition in the marketplace the moment, as opposed to any title toppling strength of the film. As motioned last week,
this has been Clooney's best performing film since Ocean's Eleven, with Intolerable Cruelty performing more
like Zeta-Jones' America's Sweethearts. Although Sweethearts did well both here and in the U.S., its star
power was also top notch, with results initially expected to be higher than what was eventually generated. Perhaps it could
be a Zeta-Jones romantic comedy curse, but Intolerable Cruelty is now tracking a better 17.7% behind, up from an
opening, including previews, that was 32.2% behind.
In perspective, Sweethearts collected $1 million more in previews than Cruelty managed, and it was down a
higher 46% in its second weekend. America's Sweethearts chalked up a god $8 million by the end of its run, so if
Intolerable Cruelty can better that film's less than rosy holding power, it has a good chance of surpassing that.
However, its holding power has a lot to do with the way Matrix Revolutions shakes things up, back in May when
Reloaded unleashed its record breaking 3 day frame, the only romantic comedy in play, How To Lose A Guy In 10
Days, was down only 21%. Admittedly 10 Days may have been a stronger film in its own right than Intolerable
Cruelty, but that still bodes well for this film.
Compared to the U.S. pace, Intolerable Cruelty is now tracking a hot 107.0% better* in Australia. This is up from
an opening weekend that was 53.0% better*. The second weekend take of Intolerable Cruelty was down a hefty 48%, but
although there were two new openers through the frame, neither of them were directly targeting the same market. This,
combined with the realisation that there were no other romantic comedies still going strong in the marketplace is
suggestive of a weakness that rests solely on the film itself.
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Kill Bill: Volume 1 jumped back up to second place in its third weekend, after falling to third in its second frame
last weekend, all from an initial number one opening. The Uma Thurman starring and Quinton Tarantino directed revenge tale
was off a mild 30%, a welcome improvement from its ok, but nonetheless steep 43% dip last weekend. Collecting $0.90
million, Kill Bill has seen its total climb to $5.90 million, or just under half of the $12.30 million his most
successful film to date, Pulp Fiction, collected back in 1994.
Last weekend Kill Bill: Volume 1 was very close, although down a slight 6.2% on the pace of last years prequel
Red Dragon. Although both Bill's opening and second weekend efforts were slightly better, Dragon had
the advantage of $0.51 million of previews. However, Red Dragon was down 37% through its third frame, allowing
Kill Bill: Volume 1 to now stand just 1.7% behind. The third weekend take for Kill Bill was itself 15.3%
better.
Compared to the U.S. pace, Kill Bill: Volume 1 is now tracking 9.2% better in Australia. This lead is up from the
smaller 2.3% lead* from last weekend. The third weekend in the U.S. was down by a sharper 49%, due largely to the onset
of the unlikely monster opening from Scary Movie 3. The third weekend of Kill Bill: Volume 1 in Australia was
42.8% better* than what it gathered in the U.S.
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Of the three releases to go wide over the weekend, it was only Runaway Jury that managed a top ten placing. Although
figures were not great, the John Cusack, Gene Hackman and Rachel Weisz starring thriller managed a third place finish
with $0.89 million. Directed by Gary Fleder and based on the John Grisham novel, Runaway Jury follows a juror who
along with his girlfriend attempts to extort money from a lawyer by manipulating the verdict of the jury. The film opened
on a wide 196 screens, although this netted the film a fairly poor per theatre average of $4,579 per courtroom.
The opening of Runaway Jury is very to 1999's $0.85 million launch of the John Travolta thriller A Civil
Action. The film went on to earn a soft $2.47 million on the back of some below par holding power. Of interest A
Civil Action opened during the fourth weekend of the original Matrix flick back in 1999, and its probably a
certainly that Runaway Jury will see some steep declines because of Revolutions.
Compared to the U.S. pace, the opening frame of Runaway Jury comes in 24.1% weaker*. This is indicative of most
political and law thrillers, for instance the previously referenced A Civil Action opened 43.4% weaker* in
Australia than it did in the U.S. while Don't Say A Word opened 21.4% weaker*. Compared to my forecast, Runaway
Jury opened close to, although just a bit weaker than my $1 million prediction.
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Slipping two places to fourth was the horror team-up Freddy Vs Jason. The Ronny Yu directed film that pits the pet
creations of Wes Craven and Victor Miller against each other conjured up $0.68 million in its second frame, down a large
48%, although that’s not as large as it could have been. The children of Elm Street have all forgotten about Freddy in
Freddy Vs Jason thanks to some carefully administered drugs, so Freddy uses Jason to hack up some scares which
should give Freddy back his power. This leads to Freddy getting angry that Jason is nabbing his kills, and Jason is angry
that he has been used. Freddy Vs Jason's total now stands an ok $2.31 million.
Last weekend Freddy Vs Jason opened along the lines of 2001's horror re-release The Exorcist, down just 4%
on opening. But although Freddy Vs Jason saw some slightly better holding power than The Exorcist's large
57% second weekend dip, the Robert Englund starrer made up little ground, now standing 3.5% behind. Freddy Vs Jason
should still be able to make it that same $3.2 million final.
Compared to the U.S. pace, Freddy Vs Jason is now tracking a huge 62.2% behind* in Australia, and although its
a slight improvement over the 63.8% weaker* opening performance from last weekend, its barely registered. The fact that
the negative margin didn't increase was mainly due to the film falling a harder 64% in its second weekend in the U.S.
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Fifth position was reserved for the star performer Calendar Girls. The British flick about a group of women who made
a nude calendar in order to raise funds for research into Leukemia after one of the groups husbands died from the disease
collected $0.52 million through its fourth frame. The Helen Mirren starring flick has now amassed a great $4.75 million,
mainly on the back of great holding power, such as the small 22% dip it scored this weekend.
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The top 20 films collected $7.06 million over the weekend, down 14% from last weekend and down 10.1% on this weekend
last year when the top 20 was lead by My Big Fat Greek Wedding's second official weekend with $2.91 million, off
just 13% and Red Dragon followed with $1.25 million, also in its second frame. However, the weekend was up by
1.4% on this weekend two years ago when The Man Who Bored God was off only 12% in its second weekend with $1.34
million and Zoolander scored a second place opening with $1.27 million.
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Weekend Coming 6th - 9th November 2003
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Arriving with guns blazing, media hyping and 6 months after Reloaded is the final entry in the Wachowski brothers
trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions. There's no doubt that as the final chapter in the series, people will be out in
huge numbers to witness for themselves how the brothers choose to end their saga. One more thing that is certain is that
the buzz for Revolutions is nowhere near as feverish as it was for Reloaded.
Public reception to the first sequel wasn't as glowing as its pre-release anticipation would have suggested, which in
effect has decreased the anticipation level of Revolutions. Reaction to Reloaded was sometimes critical,
with many offering suggestions on how it could have been improved, although the public consensus wasn't universally
negative and inhospitable. The sky high expectations of perfection that were there for Reloaded have since
translated into safer expectations of hope for Revolutions, hope that the creators can fix the mistakes of the
previous film and let the series end with the same taste that was enjoyed back in 1999.
Opening around the world at the same time in 65 countries, The Matrix Revolutions hopes to not only beat piracy out
of the gate, but to break opening weekend records around the world. Reloaded managed to score the second highest
3 day opening weekend in the U.S. after Spider-Man with $US91.7 million, done despite its R rating and has since
gone on to become the highest grossing R rated film in the U.S. In Australia, Reloaded took the unusual step of
opening on a Friday, but even with that one day handicap on the usual Thursday-Sunday opening frame it managed an $11.09
million opening, good enough for the third biggest launch of all time. Reloaded also scored the fourth highest
opening ever in the U.K. with $US19.89 million and a hot $US18.85 million launch in Germany.
What that tells us is that there's a massive market for the franchise ready to leap back to life for Revolutions,
and despite only having 6 months since the last helping, its Reloaded's worldwide total of $US735.6 million, the
12th best of all time, is suggestive that people are keen for more. Things may not be as strong for Revolutions as
they were for Reloaded both upon opening and when all is said, but it wouldn't be a fool who says, that no matter
what Revolutions does, its not going to disappointment financially. The Matrix Revolutions will make its
own impact on the all time charts in Australia this weekend. With non-existent competition, Neo and pals could capture
a Thursday-Sunday frame of $12 million this weekend.
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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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