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First! And it looks like $20 million for "1408" is about spot-on.

"And with 37% to 41% the rest of the way, not too much happy news."

Er, David: Only 25% for Knocked Up.

Did anyone else see Broken English? I sat down and watched it last night after recording it on HDNet and I gotta say it, was absolutely terrible. I mean, really really awful. What makes it worse is that it seemed like it was trying to be more than the typical romance. Zoe Cassavetes tries to mimic Sofia Coppola's vastly superior Lost in Translation but comes across looking like an untalented Sofia. There are plotholes, inconsistencies and idiotic decisions galore. There's a whole subplot about being couriers and another one about Drea De Matteo meeting some shady character in Paris that have absolutely nothing to do with the story. I'm sorry, I didn't even pay for the movie and I want my money back.

Agreed. I wish it was better, but it ain't.

The good(ish) news for "A Mighty Heart" is that in a single day, it's become one of Michael Winterbottom's highest grossing films.... which is a shame because he's made much better films than it.

That opening for 1408 has to be seen as some kind of major win, especially for Cusack, because the marketing otherwise was dreadful. Just like that it'll become the year's highest-grossing horror movie.

Until Saw 4 opens, anyway. Though I suppose Zombie's Halloween has a shot if it's not as awful as it sounds

I doubt it will wind up making more than Disturbia. Can't have much legs with Die Hard and Transformers taking up the next two weeks. I still think it'll end up in the $55 to 60 million range

PPP/JMCM: I have a feeling Halloween has some critical mass behind it. I've been getting a huge amount of traffic to my doc based on Daeg Faerch being in it - even though the kid doesn't even say a word! There's a tremendous fanbase out there that is itching for this film.

That said, I'm glad for Cusack - there was little to no promo for 1408 so this shows his draw is still potent.

David... DISTURBIA!!!!!

I expect 1408 to do a little under 20 bec of the usual horror frontloading. On the other hand, it is more adult-friendly than other horror fare so it should have decent #'s the next few weeks and perhaps hit the 60-70 range. Cusack has been very consistent in the 40-60 range the last 5 years or so, kind of underrated in that area considering his movies are fairly low budget.

I'm not counting Disturbia as a horror movie.

Disturbia is a thriller not a horror film.

I'm not trying to be argumentative -- well, not much -- but I don't understand folks who are complaining that 1408 had a lousy marketing campaign. I mean, when was the last time John Cusack had an opening this big? When was the last time a Stephen King adaptation opened this big? And as David points out -- when was the last time a horror thriller opened this big? Wouldn't all that indicate that the marketing was pretty damn good?

Joe, all I can tell you is that the marketing made _me_ not want to see the movie. The trailers made it look dramatically dopey and over-reliant on CGI ghosts and loud effects, which I associate with bad movies like The Haunting and 13 Ghosts (remakes). I'm only seeing it now because of the critical reception and word of mouth.

jeff, you hardly represent the typical movie-goer. I heard people responding positively to the 1408 marketing over a month ago. They did do a good job marketing this movie, and that's why it has opened well.

Yeah, but that's hearsay. Did you honestly react positively to the advertising?

First ad I saw was on comingsoon.net a few days ago, and it did look good to me, although more of a rental. Cusack, Jackson, and the one-room setting made it look a little artier and smarter than the usual horror/thriller crap we've been seeing. I do think that audiences are getting annoyed with the gore-porn, so I can see why this and Disturbia have done well.

That's too bad because Disturbia was subpar while the best horror movie of the year, 28 Weeks Later, languishes with around $30m (still not bad though).

Oh - more to the point, 'rental' is exactly my thought about the online ads as well, but Bug was one-room too and look at what happened there.

I can only recall seeing one ad for 1408 a number of weeks ago and being intrigued enough to anticipate its opening. I caught the sole matinee today, arriving about 5 minutes before it started, and there were few seats available in the stadium seating. The first couple of rows went unfilled but otherwise the theater was packed. I sat in the handicap seat at the foot of the stairs (I hate sitting next to people if I can avoid it) and everyone who came in after me expressed shock at how full it was.

Can we get a spoiler thread started for the film? I'd be interested in talking about it but don't want to ruin it for those who have yet to see it.

Hoju, just out of curiosity, is 1408 another twist ending (it seemed like it in the ad).

Well, 1408's success and Hostel 2's dismal faliure prove that people WILL go to a horror movie in June...if it's a horror picture they actually want to see. I saw and enjoyed 1408 which has fun perfs from Sam Jackson and John Cusak.

Ian: So you think 1408 has a good advertising campaign? Like, one that doesn't rely on porn-gore iconography?

Yes.

By the way I watched THE GOOD GERMAN today. Well, I watched 20 minutes of it, but it was so inept I gave up on it. What a disappointment; I had been looking forward to it.

If the ads hadn't mentioned Stephen King, I'd've sworn it was yet another remake of a Japanese horror film. They don't make it seem like much more than a lot of things jumping at the camera to make YOU jump, but I'll give it a whirl.

Actually, I have been immersed in classics these past few days, thanks to classes I am teaching this summer. In just the last three days alone: The Great Dictator, 42nd Street and The Public Enemy. Life is good.

Hey look! Another horror/comedy, Another flop!

(I speak of Black Sheep)

Joe, the stronger-than-expected opening of 1408 reflects exactly what I said a couple of weeks ago: that horror will succeed in the summertime if the movie has appeal to a mainstream audience, a la The Others or the remakes of The Haunting or The Omen and. None of those movies played exclusively to teens, who only get interested in horror as summer winds down in August. When Halloween and Saw 4 make tons of money, we'll see how much the audience's taste for these movies will have declined.

PS: So know we're approving of a marketing campaign that does not honestly reflect the content of its movie?

Incidentally I saw 1408 tonight and enjoyed it quite a bit. It's not terribly original but it's a very good old fashioned(well, these days) horror movie. The build-up overshadows the actual centerpiece slightly but not enough for me to feel let down.

As for the advertising being below par, it made me not want to see the film initially, the good reviews did. But the fairly large audience there tonight, which did NOT turn out for Hostel 2(where I was one of two audience members the Saturday of its first weekend) was surprisingly diverse and people actually seemed to enjoy it.

And thankfully no twist ending.

Joe, I keep seeing your name everywhere: I just popped in an old VHS tape with a TV commercial for The Fifth Element on it, and a pull-quote from you about it being the summer's first smash hit.

"Hey look! Another horror/comedy, Another flop!

(I speak of Black Sheep)"

I remember around the time of Toronto, David wrote about this and Severance and was talking about how hard it is to market horror-comedy to audiences. It's a shame because both movies are a lot of fun... much moreso than something like Evan Almighty, which is already tanking after opening day.

"And thankfully no twist ending."

I'd like to thank Robot Chicken for saving me $10.95 and two hours of my life that I would have otherwise spent on The Village..."What a twist!"

Didn't check out Severance or Fido in the theater, but both are on my definite renter list. Took the family to see Hot Fuzz, although it was less gory than Shaun of the Dead (which we saw sans child), my wife covered the 12 year old's eyes at the spire bit.
The horror-coms always play in so few theaters with awkward showtimes it's always so hard to get a sitter and the free time to go with my wife.
Although having a child does make for a good excuse to see stuff like Surf's Up and Ratatouille.

Pete:

1408 question for you.

*** SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN"T SEEN IT ***

How did you interpret the very end of the film? I thought the Cusack at the end was the room, meaning the evil in the room, having now escaped to the outer world. His look at his wife at the end was similar to the wink his computer self gave him.

Also, did you think at the surfing scene that this was all going to be a dream? When that sequence started, I was like -- this sucks, I called it! Good way to manipulate audience expectations.

**** END SPOILERS ******

Go see 1408. Jeff, the marketing didn't look great, but the names Stephen King, John Cusack, and Sam Jackson do mean something, regardless of the content of the trailer.

Actuals are up: "Evan Almighty" #1 as expected but soft, "1408" a strong #2, "Fantastic 4/Silver Surfer" #3 with a 65% 2nd-weekend drop.

"A Mighty Heart" underperforms at #10 for all the hype and Oscar-checking it got. Expect Angelina & Co. to get their ass kicked next week by "Sicko" and "Evening".

As for 1408...

Stephen King rarely, if ever, does twist endings in his stories. It's something he's talked about here and there, but his thing is that the horror often comes when we realize that the terrible situation that has been set-up will follow through to its natural conclusion (the most obvious example of this is Storm Of The Century). As to whether 1408 sticks to the King-rule or sets its own course, I wouldn't dream of revealing.

On another note, I must say that the first act dialogue scene with Jackson and Cusack in Jackson's office is my favorite conversational scene of the year thus far. I was (quietly) laughing the whole time, both at the witty take on the old 'here's why you shouldn't go in there' scene and how much fun the actors were having. This is probably the best single scene that Sam Jackson has had since his first and second appearances in Unbreakable. Just reminds you how much fun great actors delivering great genre dialogue can be. The rest of the film was suitably creepy and worthwhile, but for me the film never lived up to that first-act high.

Scott Mendelson

I have to agree with Jeffmcm about the marketing for 1402. I saw my 1st trailer for it 4-5 weeks ago and totally wrote it off as a lame Hollywood ghost flick (ala The Haunting remake which is still one of my all-time least favorite films).

After hearing good word of mouth and reading a few rave reviews we ended up seeing it over the weekend and enjoyed it quite a bit. I'd guess this one might have some nice legs.

1408 Soilers!!!

I really got into the first 3/4 of the film, but I thought that the 'dream' sequence killed much of the creepiness that the film had been building so successfully throughout. I also thought that Cusak should've died in the hotel fire. A 'sacrifice' was appropriate -- Cusak's character even says something to this effect in his voice over while fetching the bottle of booze -- and would've left the viewer in a good and self-reflective state upon leaving the theatre. To have the character make a selfless act like this, only to have the firefighters run in in the knick of time to save him (and quickly enough so that they don't get sucked into the room's evil) felt a bit too much like Hollywood's version of LA Confidential. After all, his kid is dead, so the audience doesn't need to have him live to raise her. And the wife, well, that story didn't need a happy ending (or the appearance of one, if manwithnonmae's theory is correct) to be deemed effective. Can anyone who has read the original tell me if this is how the short story ended?

p.s.
The Jackson/Cusak scenes are great. So are all of Cusak's character ruminations on hotel rooms, what they are, and what they are intended to be.

Krazy: Once again, I use the sports talk radio cliche -- Check the scoreboard. 1408 made big money. Bigger than expected. Bigger than any opening for John Cusack or Stephen King movie in ages. Maybe a few individuals on this blog turned up their noses at the ads. So what? Many, many more people were impressed. The job of a marketer is to put the maximum number of asses in the maximum number of seats. The marketer for 1408 succeeded. Therefore, the marketing was good. Check the scoreboard.

(Keep in mind: The relative merits of the movie are almost entirely irrelevant to this discussion. If you want to talk about art, OK -- but that's a separate topic. If we're going to focus over b.o. failure or success, well, as David says, it's all about the marketing.)

The first weekend is all about the marketing, particularly on a film like 1408 which doesn't have pre-release "buzz" out from AICN/etc. screenings. What else could you attribute 1408's #'s to other than the ads?

I agree that the marketing for this movie seemingly *did* work. I just thought it was incredibly hokey looking and ineffective for me personally but then again I often find myself at odds with the taste of the average moviegoer. Happy to be wrong in this case.

Joe is right. (Bronze that!)

Opening weekend is 100% marketing. And if anyone in here didn't like the marketing, that's fine. Clearly, you were not the target. And clearly, they are happy that they targetted elsewhere, since they (TWC) got their best response yet (Scary Movie 4 aside).

And another one of my stone solid positions is that you can't open anything to $20 million based on geek reach out. $8 million (which is nothing to sneeze at). That's it.

Look... I HATED the original Fantastic Four campaign... but it worked. I was wrong. They were right. Because even though the movie sucked, the marketing did its job. Not thrilling for me as someone who loves movies, but it's the reality.

Did anyone else have a "Captivity" trailer before their "1408" screening?

I'm curious to see the public's response to that flick. It looked like a complete Saw rip-off, with elaborate torture contraptions, etc. I'm hoping the number for 1408 will show the bandwagon studio types that there's a market for smart, adult horror, as opposed to the Hostel/Saw crap that's been ruining the genre for the last few years.

Opening weekend is 100% marketing.

Well it can't be truly 100% since I went in spite of what I thought looked to be lackluster marketing. Maybe 99.32% is more accurate.

Fair enough

Well, throw in all those John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson completists, and you actually might get it down to, I dunno, maybe 98.27%.

Samuel L Jackson in a hit film! Haven't seen that in a while.

So lost on the love for 1408. The ads actually worked for me, in much the same way the ads/concepts for BUG and VACANCY (how many one-room setpiece hotel thrillers can one summer withstand?) got me to go. But Jesus, I HATED the end of this thing.
- - -SPOILER - - -
The waking-from-the-surfing-accident ending telegraphed it phoniness about 60 seconds into it, so there was a lot of ridiculous treading of water to wait through for the reveal. And then the fire. King ended the novel of THE SHINING in much the same end-it-with-a-bang cliched way. And then the tape recorder! Like there was ever any question that this actually happened to him? What was the point of hearing their daughter's voice? Did I miss some bit of business where she was questioning the validity of his experience? I fully expected the Carpenter's "We've Only Just Begun" to play on that hand-held recorder, and even though it would have been equally as lazy and predictable, it might have been a little more rewarding. Really disappointed in this one (and it's only been made worse by the slew of favorable reviews). Ugh.

Bmcinitire. Amen Brother.

I think it is merely a backlash to the torture horror films that have been hogging all the spotlight that have getting this positive-reviews by not being one of . The bad jump scares and overuse of CGI are atrocious in this...The film is like a watered down, glossed up version of The Shining (the same way sleeper hit Disturbia is a dilute to the point of pathetic version of Rear Window.

I guess Jackson and Cusack are serviceable, in a Gene Hackman in Bat 21 sort of way. I wonder if the same people saw the same version of 1408 as I did.

I remember when The Twilight Zone and Outer Limits were free on the small screen...oi!

Bug was 10 times the film as 1408...Hell I liked Vacancy better than this dreck.

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