August 15th-17th: 'Tropic Thunder' $26M, 'Dark Knight' $17M, 'Clone Wars' $15.5M

21 Comments »

1. avg. ticket price, 1997 (year Titanic released)=$4.59; avg. ticket price, 2008=$7.08, chlllax people.

   Comment by roca — August 17, 2008 @ 12:07 am

2. how did mirrors and woody’s new film do?

   Comment by maceodkat — August 17, 2008 @ 9:35 am

3. I’m always amused by how agitated
   people get about the difference
   between 2008 dollars for The
   Dark Knight, 1997 dollars for
   Titanic and 1977 dollars for
   Star Wars.
   Sure, inflation is a significant
   factor. But way more variables
   are at play. Star Wars was re-released
   in 1997 in a revised form that was arguably not
   the same movie as the one released in
   1977, so shouldn’t there be separate
   tallies for Star Wars and Star Wars:
   Episode 4 — A New Hope?
   And neither Titanic nor Star Wars had
   to compete with Internet piracy
   or 50-inch home TV screens, the way TDK
   does.
   It’s all just a shell game, but
   an amusing one.

   Comment by The Dude — August 17, 2008 @ 11:24 am

4. Mirrors = $11,125,000 (2664 theaters)
   Vicki Christina Barcelona = $3, 710,000 (692 theaters)

   I saw VCB and loved it. I did have some issues with the story telling but the dialogue is great, the use of Spain as a character was brilliant and two particular performaces blew me away. Penelope Cruz is an absolute treat and Rebecca Hall is the find of the year. Without her, as the key to the story, it wouldn’t have worked as well. She was like a young female “Woody-style” character. Pent-up, neurotic, conservative yet so so likeable and relatable. A real star.

   Comment by Original Joe — August 17, 2008 @ 11:41 am

5. @roca

   I think that inflation is also offset or even eclipsed by increasing competition. In 1994, tickets may have been a lot cheaper, but there was no (widespread use of) the Internet, Netflix, HDTV home theaters, digital cable, video on demand, 1000 channels, etc, etc.

   Not to mention that anyone with an Internet connection can download and watch TDK for free.

   Makes the Dark Knight all the more impressive.

   Comment by q — August 17, 2008 @ 12:26 pm

6. Yeah how bout the average ticket prices in 1939 (25 cents) for Gone With the Wind? So yeah, in the end, Titanic isn’t any more special. So Titanic die hards out there who are afraid of TDK passing it by, think about that one.

   Mirrors - 11.1m

   Vicky Cristina Barcelona - 3.7m

   Comment by Jim — August 17, 2008 @ 12:30 pm

7. Good point, roca, i didn’t think about it. I have to say that as much as Dark Knight is definitely a very good movie, i can think of many many more deserving films to do that well.

   Comment by Ben — August 17, 2008 @ 12:31 pm

8. average price $7.08? where’s that, my place is $11.50 and it’s just the local AMC.

   Comment by kate — August 17, 2008 @ 12:33 pm

9. I don’t know…I’d really like to see two statistics reported when it comes to opening weekends now.

   The first could be purely how much money did the movie make. The second could be an estimate of how many people went to see the movie.

   Because my suspicion is a lot more people saw Gone With The Wind and Jaws than have seen the sequel to Batman Begins. Or the sequel to Spiderman 2.

   Its just another number worth looking at, because its important to determining which movies are merely this year’s blips versus which movies actually capture the zeitgeist of the public.

   I think both numbers, hence, are worth looking at for comparisons.

   Comment by TadAllagash — August 17, 2008 @ 1:44 pm

10. Kate, you have to remember that people don’t just go to the movies at night, and that the ticket prices are only $11+ in major cities.

    Comment by Sandy — August 17, 2008 @ 3:04 pm

11. I think it is silly to keep comparing unadjusted with adjusted box office. This is because it is 100 biased against new films. On the Adjusted list, the top 30 movies are all $500+ million. There is no way any new film can do that.

    Another thing, Gone with the Wind was released in theaters like 12 times, all before TV was invented.

    So the way we keep track of box office success is fine, sure new movies dont have the attendance of old films, but thats because many, like GWTW, had many re-releases in an era when there was nothing better to do.

    P.S. - Think of it this way, even with increased ticket prices, there are only 2 movies to ever gross more than Star Wars in a span of 30 years. As much of a SW fan I am, you also gotta take into account that SW was released 3 times in theaters, 1977, the 80’s, and the 1997 special edition

    Comment by TheaterFan — August 17, 2008 @ 5:00 pm

12. I’m a big Woody fan, but was a bit disappointed by VICKY (overhyped by the critics?), and felt it only really came alive when Bardem and Cruz were on screen.

    Comment by Dixon Steele — August 17, 2008 @ 5:34 pm

13. Did anyone else think Tropic Thunder’s $26 million weekend gross underachieved expectations?

    Comment by Rob — August 17, 2008 @ 9:16 pm

14. TheaterFan is onto something: frankly, NO movie released before 1983-84 can have its ticket sales fairly compared to those released afterward, because those movies sold tickets over the course of years, even decades, while remaining in theatrical circulation in the pre-cable/home video era. GWTW is a great example of this, as are all those Disney animated features, as is Star Wars (which hung around cinemas for well over a year, even before its several re-releases). Most of these movies’ ticket sales amounts would be VERY different if they had hit the home entertainment market six months after their theatrical releases.

    So if you want to compare TDK’s gross to those of other movies in the “3-6 months until the home video release” era, and adjust for inflation, you get a more reliable measure of actual ticket sales:

    1. Titanic
    2. Jurassic Park
    3. Star Wars Episode I
    4. Forrest Gump
    5. The Lion King
    6. Shrek 2
    7. Spider-Man
    8. Independence Day
    9. Home Alone
    10. Beverly Hills Cop
    11. The Dark Knight

    TDK is poised to rest at the #6 spot before it leaves theaters.

    Comment by dhd — August 17, 2008 @ 10:39 pm

15. Tropic Thunder was awesome! Tom Cruise was not nearly as funny as some might be led to believe. It was funny, but by no means did he steal the show. I was crying with laughter during the Ben Stiller bridge scene at the end (no that’s not a spoiler). I hope the film has alot of word of mouth biz. definitely underperformed but i blame that on the olympics.
    jim

    Comment by jim — August 18, 2008 @ 1:47 am

16. No I think “Tropic Thunder” underperformed because it wasn’t a movie that EVERYONE wanted to see really. A satire about spoiled actors making a War Movie screams “Watch it on TBS on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8!”

    The film looks funny to me. But with comedy, it’s hard to have that one movie that appeals to everyone. I love “Arrested Development” and “30 Rock” but I also know many people who just don’t get it or finds the shows funny.

    May have happened here.

    Comment by B- — August 18, 2008 @ 9:43 am

17. Well I finally got to see TT, and I laughed harder than I did at _Pineapple Express_.. And Tom Cruise was un-frickin-believable, he really needs to stay out of the public eye, stop jumping on Oprah’s couch, and just do stuff like this (and to a lesser extent stuff like _Magnolia_).. And Cruise was definitely _not_ a cameo, there was some pretty important stuff going on with the character..

    And as far as the final third being ‘over the top’ violent? WTF, that’s the whole _point_…

    So in the end, if they ever do a biopic of Bill Cosby, I vote Robert Downey Jr…

    Comment by Dr. Kenneth Noisewater — August 18, 2008 @ 6:17 pm

18. “So in the end, if they ever do a biopic of Bill Cosby, I vote Robert Downey Jr…”

    Well, that just kills it. I won’t be paying to see Tropic Thunder. Your comment just confirmed my worse suspicions about everyone who says Downey is so “bold” for going blackface.

    I’ll have to find another channel to see the movie.

    Comment by Tad — August 19, 2008 @ 12:16 am

19. Tad, yeah, because one joking comment posted anonymously on a website is DEFINITELY the way to judge a movie you haven’t seen. Idiot.

    Comment by milo — August 19, 2008 @ 1:50 pm

20. Saw TT last night, and it did not disappoint. Definitely the best comedy I’ve seen in a while (hard to think of what the last good one was, it has probably been months), and miles better than Pineapple Express, which really disappointed me.

    It’s obvious that most of the comments about being offended are from people who haven’t even seen the movie. The movie doesn’t take shots at retarded kids or black people at all, the satire is all aimed at the pompous movie stars who come off looking like idiots.

    Very entertaining movie, should have much better legs than Pineapple. And I was impressed with the writing and directing job Stiller did, he has only done a couple movies (and nothing really standout so far) but this really showed he has some writing and directing chops.

    Comment by milo — August 20, 2008 @ 11:42 am

21. Robert Downey Jr. cracks me up… he’s got a real knack for not taking himself too seriously

    Comment by movie junkie — August 26, 2008 @ 12:34 pm

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