The Hot Blog

I'm surprised no one's playing upmarket/prestige this weekend with a drama. For instance, "Breach" is likely to get completely lost next weekend amidst two big openers (deserved or not, "Ghost Rider" and "Daddy's Little Girls" are 25M openers), and might have found some traction this weekend.

Box Office MOjo has posted their predictions late on Friday for a second week in a row, maybe so they can see if movies are selling out on the East Coast. At this point, they may as well post their predictions on Saturday morning.

So very bitter over something so very meaningless.

Oh, that's an original argument. If it's so very meaningless, why even bother responding.

What's the harm in Doug being peeved that a competitor (sort of) is cheating (sort of)

Oh, and Matt. Daddy's Little Girls doesn't have Tyler Perry in it. I have no guage for these movies (none of them have even been released in Australia for starters), but will that effect it?

Also isn't Bridges To Terabithia out next weekend. It is getting a huge push from DIS and looks a lot like Narnia. I suspect it will do very big business.

Tyler Perry has very high awareness in African American communities. The issue for Daddy's Little Girl's will be crossover appeal to white auds without the now familiar Madea character. Liosgate knows what it is doing with Perry, however.

Not bitter or peeved.. just pointing out that for a site that boasts "The most accurate box office predictions since 1998." (which isn't true), they should at least try to post their predictions at the same time as their main competitor (BoxOfficeGuru) who posts his predictions Thursday morning.

For the love of god, let Gong Li have at least one box office hit in America. I really don't want her to disappear until she does a kick-ass Hollywood movie.

I've got no feel for whether the absence of Madea hurts the film's grossing potential (as someone who's neither African-American nor a woman, I'm decidedly not the target audience). The other question for Daddy's Little Girls is whether there's room for two romantic flicks over the long Valentine's-President's Day weekend or if they only hurt each other. The other flicks all have different niches they're going after.

I have this feeling that Daddy's Little Girls is Tyler Perry's attempt at crossing over into the mainstream and I think part of the way to do that is to take off the dress and be taken seriously as a filmmaker. I'm going to be seeing his movie on Weds morning (missing La Vie en Rose harumph).. and I'm going in with an open mind despite LOATHING Diary of a Mad Black Woman. I think taking Madea and Perry's incestuous uncle out of the picture might help.

SBD has Friday stacking up as follows:

Norbit--10.7
Hannibal Rising--4.8
Because I Said So--2.8
Messengers--2.3
Epic Movie--1.2

It seems strange for Disney to be releasing Bridge to Terabithia in February - seems like they're kind of dumping it, or else it's not a movie they have any big hopes for.

But dear lord, that Norbit figure!

Actually, I think Terabithia is a brilliant play at this point for two reasons:

1. It's a compeltely empty marketplace for family flicks right now. The Christmas movies are now played out, and I don't see another kid-targetted movie until "Last Mimzy" on March 23.
2. They've played "hide the ball" very well with the marketing. While they've sold it as a Narnia-esque fantasy adventure, the book is very much NOT that, and early word is that the movie isn't either. It's much darker and heavier than folks may be expecting.

"It's much darker and heavier than folks may be expecting."

Sounds like a recipe for bad word of mouth, not brilliance.

You know, as I went to bed last night, I decided that my comment above was bitchy and unnecessary. I complain about people that do that all the time. So, sorry Ed.

No worries, Eric. I try not to let stuff like that bug me, but I can see how my earlier comment might have come across.

Bridge to Terabithia won't have any problems making money... just see how Eight Below (AKA Snow Dogs 2) did last year with a lot more competition for the family market. If the movie is too dark or isn't good, it'll falter after opening weekend but for the four-day holiday week, it's likely to end up in the Top 5, maybe even the Top 3.

I never saw Snow Dogs, but I did see Eight Below and enjoyed it. It's better than you might think, especially since the dogs don't speak CGI-style. It's kind of a throwback to classic Disney True-Life Adventure type movies.

Terabithia is nothing at all what the advertisements present. I eagerly await to see if audiences embrace the superior storyline to what is being marketed.

Chances are... Slim.

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: