Box Office Booty: October 29th, 2007
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If Nikki Finke is whining, it must mean there's a poplar and financially successful horror film in the theaters that involves people hurting other people. I know, it's a shocker that anyone would want to make such a thing, when it's much more "proper" to have humans wiped off the planet by aliens and stuff. Oh well, it makes me happy when people with Puritant tendencies get all offended by fiction, and resent that anyone would actually like something that they don't.
To wit, the Saw franchise has been Lionsgate's most reliable set for the past couple of years, and the latest edition failed to disappoint with a studio estimate of $32 million for Saw IV's weekend already making back its costs, as all the previous sequels have done in their own right. You have to figure that eventually these things will run out of steam, but all that really means is about fix or six more straight-to-DVD flicks. The only other film that opened in more than a couple of hundred theaters was a comedy from Buena Vista (Disney) called Dan in Real Life, which marks the first film in a couple of tries by Steve Carell that haven't gone anywhere just because he was in it. 3rd through 16th place are all taken by other films that have been opening for more than a couple of weeks, which includes last weeks topper 30 Days of Night. Sadly, 30 Days won't be making a profit for Sony in this lifetime, but may perhaps break even once it hits DVD.
Such a thing is the new way of doing business - make whatever movie you want (recklessly) spending money like it's made of paper (hey, wait a minute...) and then see if the home video market will save your ass for making really stupid decisions. These jokers are putting old films back into theaters just so they kick up the DVD sales again, that's how desperate they are for success yet so indicative of how uncreative they are and really, the negotiations with the Writers Guild of America shows how resentful of real creative talent these baboons are.
Don't believe it? Tell me why Tim Burton's weird X-Mas flick The Night Before Christmas (1993) and Hairspray were doing in theaters this year.
- Saw IV ($32.1 million)
- Dan in Real Life ($12m)
- 30 Days of Night ($6.7m)
- The Game Plan ($6.2m)
- Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married ($5.7m)
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