Spider-Man 3 dropped a worrying 60% in it’s box office takenings, on the weekend it became the biggest hit of 2007 so far. The movie took in $60 million, $11 million less than the original Spider-Man which recieved far superior buzz and reviews… giving it longer box office legs in it’s second week and beyond.
However, the total dominance of the global wide release, means after only 10 days, the movie has made $621.7 million worldwide, which is over twice it’s inflated budget. Things should really start slowing down now for Spidey though… as next week Shrek the Third is released, then Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End just a week later.
Elsewhere, the biggest new release of the week 28 Weeks Later failed to make any impact. Despite great reviews and the popularity of the original, 28 Weeks Later made only $10 million, just like 28 Days Later did in 2002. Although the amount is about right for a zombie flick, I think they were expecting around $5-7 million more with the fanbase 28 Days Later generated from DVD sales, etc.
Georgia Rule opened at number 3. This is the movie that Lindsay Lohan was blasted by Morgan Creek Productions, when the studio accused her of acting like a “spoiled child” and called her “unprofessional” because of her constant attitude and partying. In the end, the film made $5.8 million and is a flop.
Remember the movie Fast Track, starring Zach Braff, Amanda Peet and Jason Bateman? That movie was meant to come out early in 2007, but was pushed back (we thought) because of a lack of advertising. Then it got a strange name change to The Ex, and was finally released to EVEN LESS buzz, which is so strange.
I didn’t think the movie looked that bad (trailer here), but it’s ended up opening at 12th on it’s opening weekend. What the hell happened with this flick? There is no way by the looks of the trailer… it should have opened at anything less than 5th or 6th.
| 1 | Spider-Man 3 (2007) | $60M | $242M | |
| 2 | 28 Weeks Later (2007) | $10M | $10M | |
| 3 | Georgia Rule (2007) | $5.88M | $5.88M | |
| 4 | Disturbia (2007) | $4.81M | $66.3M | |
| 5 | Delta Farce (2007) | $3.5M | $3.5M | |
| 6 | Fracture (2007) | $2.9M | $31M | |
| 7 | The Invisible (2007) | $2.2M | $15.5M | |
| 8 | Hot Fuzz (2007) | $1.65M | $18.9M | |
| 9 | Next (2007) | $1.6M | $14.6M | |
| 10 | Meet the Robinsons (2007) | $1.6M | $94.1M |
OPENING NEXT WEEK:
Shrek the Third, Fay Grim (limited), The Wendell Baker Story (limited), Once (limited), Even Money (limited), Severance (limited).
source – box office mojo, imdb
6 Comments
Any idea on the budget for the 28 Weeks Later movie? Just wondering just how ‘bad’ the $10m is.
Probably around $7 million. I don’t think it was a big budget at all, but I don’t think the official figure has been released.
It wasn’t really a “bad” opening, but “disapointing” would certainly be fitting. 28 Days Later had the same $10 million opening (which would be more now with inflation) but had extraordinary legs to take it to a $45 million gross.
28 Weeks Later won’t have them legs I don’t think, with such a packed couple of weeks to come.
Also, sequels to popular movies always do better than the original ones… so that has to add to the disappointment that it didn’t come here, which if you put that on top of the great reviews this movie has been getting…
IMO, they were expecting and the movie should have made $15-$17 million not $10.
Like I say, it’s a profit but whether we see a big budget sequel will likely depend on if the film can make north of $25 million… which is going to be a big task.
May, June and July are the heaviest months for summer blockbuster competition. In order for a summer movie to “open” before August there has to be a really aggressive publicity campaign effort equal to the stuff the big studios do. Sadly, 28 Weeks Later didn’t have that. On top of that Spidey 3 and Pirates are sucking all the oxygen out of the room. People have blown their cash on Spidey and are now waiting for Pirates.
I read an AP review of the movie, and they trashed it. Guess it didn’t work for them.
Lindsay Lohan’s acting “career” if it could be called that, is mercifully over -rejoice! Now we can go back to finding the next empty-headed seventeen year-old with no talent.
bottom line: any movie trying to come out before late July is crazy. The competition is too stiff, and the studios are trying to milk the summer vacationers for every day of their vacation. The studios now survive solely off the money the tentpole movies make in the summer, so you’re SOL if you try to be the mouse hoping to compete against the elephants.
I think there is no doubt that 28 Weeks Later is going to perform well in the UK (is there any figures for the opening weekend here?). The marketing for it has been pretty strong, and from the word of mouth I’m picking up everyone seems eager to see it, if they haven’t already.
I think we find about about the U.K. box office tomorrow. I dunno, it never gets much coverage over the net.
Just checked and it made $3,121,276 across 401 screens.