Okay, I'm eating my words about the goddam Break-Up tracking (i.e., what I wrote about it being toast) during the Cannes Film Festival. I was wrong and intemperate and rash, and I made an effing mistake, and I hope I've learned a lesson from all this. It'll sink big-time next weekend, of course (50% or 60%), but from today's perspective this is a very impressive, based-on-an-almost-total-bullshit-ad-campaign opening (the Tonya Harding joke notwithstanding)....

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 3, 2006 at 12:23 PM

comment #1

FabbyFab says ...

Yeah man, thx a LOT. Lost more than 2m of HSX$ this weekend ... because of your post the other day.

Posted by FabbyFab at June 3, 2006 1:29 PM

comment #2

Webster says ...

You seemed to have it in for this movie for some time now. Haven't seen it myself, but hell, I laughed at the trailer, and I have semi-discriminating tastes. Good for director Peyton Reed--a nice guy in a town with not enough nice guys.

Posted by Webster at June 3, 2006 1:49 PM

comment #3

delbomber says ...

On a dreary Philadelphia day (aren't they all?) I saw it this afternoon with my girlfriend...

I have to say I was entertained, and there was a definite positive buzz from the audience...Wells' hope that this thing will fall of the table next weekend as some sort of ablution for his initial projections might be strike two. Seems like Jeff is a double-or-nothing type guy....I can respect that...

A group of three college guys sitting next to me (although I asked myself why would three GUYS go see this together unless they duped into expecting another 'Wedding Crashers') left saying "not what I thought but pleasantly surprising".

The problem I had is that Vaughn is a total jackass with no redeeming qualities. An independent character like Aniston's should have no problem dumping this schmuck. Leaving her underdeveloped and blame-free made it hard to invest much in their relationship.

Yeah, the laughs die the last 40 minutes save for one CLASSIC Favreau-Vaughn scene, but in a much less boring and damaging way than in 'Wedding Crashers,' which Wells loved. I would recommend it with a prologue of what to expect.

Posted by delbomber at June 3, 2006 4:13 PM

comment #4

Steven R. Silver says ...

Usually, studio marketers take a piece of crap and try to make it into something it isn't so that gullible audiences will throw away their money on it.

For once, a studio has a quality project that, if presented honestly, would have drawn zilch at the the box office. No one on the first weekend in June wants to see a serious drama about a couple falling apart, no matter who stars in it. So, they play a bit fast and loose with the critics and with their trailers. The end result is that a few million people are exposed to some quality film making rather than blow their money watching the Golden Gate Bridge get trashed this weekend. Good for Universal.

Posted by Steven R. Silver at June 4, 2006 3:05 AM

comment #5

Roy "Griff" Griffis says ...

"Con" or "incompetent"? I'm wondering if Universal and their marketing department just didn't know how to sell this kind of movie. How many films have the HE readers been able to catch on DVD that they thought "This is a hell of a lot better than I'd heard, and much more interesting than the idiot marketing made it look," yet the film was a box office failure? (please note, asking this question does not in any way imply that the Studios and their minions are anything less than instruments of the devil, however)

Posted by Roy "Griff" Griffis at June 4, 2006 6:56 AM

comment #6

shandana says ...

i was off my a couple of mill (i thought it would take $40 million) but i knew it would work with the vaughniston fans. there are A LOT of them out there and i am happy to see aniston finally have a hit.

Posted by shandana at June 5, 2006 6:32 AM

comment #7

Dave Polands Gut says ...

Oh yeah Jeffrey. What summer movie doesnt sink by 50% in week 2? Way to eat those words there, bossman.

Posted by Dave Polands Gut at June 5, 2006 7:03 AM

comment #8

Chris Molanphy says ...

The $37m first-weekend take is indeed great news for Vaughniston, but...Brangelina still wins: 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' opened virtually the same weekend one year ago to $50m. Damn you, Angelina! [shakes fist]

Posted by Chris Molanphy at June 5, 2006 10:56 AM

comment #9