comment #1

jesse says ...

I think more and more it's hard to attribute Friday-Saturday drops exclusively to word-of-mouth. Especially with something like Clerks 2, where the hardcore fanbase will lead to an artificially promising Friday number. Do you really think the View Askew fans who came out in decent numbers on Friday went home and called all their friends and told them they hated the movie? It's a sequel and it has nerd appeal; that means a heavier Friday percentage than you might otherwise see.

comment #2

guy steele says ...

My take on things: Monster House did well but not great because I think it kept the younger kids and girls home. Doesn't have the wider kid appeal. Pirates of course sailed off with the booty again because it plays tom any age.

Lady in the Water suffered from bad press since day one. Even the kind words have 'buts' in their sentences. To be fair to Mr. M. Night... he needs a producer that can say no and a writer who can 'fix' Night's ideas. Night had one great flick in him and he has squandered decent ideas and very good filmmaking skills ever since plus remember his first film Wide Awake... would you have that he could have coughed up Sixth Sense?
Clerks 2 has a limited audience. And a lot of those who would see it are out at the beach or somewhere on vacation.
I haven't seen My Super Ex-Girlfriend, It had a neat comedic premise and I of course admire Ms. Uma Thurman that said the Ads, Posters ect have been YUCK! This should have a much different marketing plan.
Speaking of Marketing Plans: I have seen the new promo posters for Spidey 3 and they are most excellent especially the Topher Grace one and I really like the new teaser poster and Trailer for Casino Royale, gives one hope that Daniel Craig will pull this off.

comment #3

Walker Defender says ...

If Lady starred Paul Walker it certainley would of grossed in the 30's, Walker is amazing!

comment #4

Compukiller says ...

hymalan's Lady in the Water is a mess, simple as that. I am a Night fan, and I even liked The Village, however for this film he REALLY overloaded the script with so much unneccesary crap. The thing is, the first half of them film worked quite well. I was engaged with Heep's charactr, Story, and even the goofy tenants. The problems come in the 2nd half when he adds all this stuff to what is supposed to be a kid's fairytale (the critic stuff, the scene with Night himself, the exposition filled scenes describing the mysteries, etc.) This stuff is about Night, not a bedtime story. The audience I saw it with were completly with it for the first half. By the end, people were saying that they are done with Night. He's turned audiences against him, and it shows in the grosses. I NEVER thought I would say this, but had he listened to Disney and did more work on the script, focusing more on creating the world in which this fairy tale takes place, this could have been a HUGE success. I would go so far as to say all the film needed was maybe two more drafts, and Night could have written them himself. This is the type of thing he should be able to do in his sleep.

comment #5

Telemachos says ...

A $9 million opening is still decent for CLERKS 2. It cost peanuts to make and should be quite profitable.

comment #6

Anonymous says ...

I guess so! Wasnt the negative cost 5M?

comment #7

Nikki Finke's Rack says ...

Don't forget the millions in advertising and marketing that Clerks 2 used up. Don't kid yourselves. It's a bomb. Hopefully they stop giving Kevin directing gigs now.

comment #8

Anonymous says ...

With P&A, the Clerks budget was at least 25 million -- at least.

comment #9

Arran says ...

It's interesting wandering around the various message boards and seeing the reaction to Clerks 2's box office. Kev lovers are trying to convince themselves it's a big success, haters are trying to say it's a "bomb". Frankly, it looks like neither to me. There's no denying that $10m-odd is slightly disappointing, but being a bit below expectations doesn't automatically make it a flop. If word of mouth is good - and it should be, based on the reviews - a final gross of $25m would be decent. Still, I'll be interested to see if Kevin himself admits it's a disappointment, or if he tries to spin it into a success.

comment #10

Sinda Star says ...

I just don't understand Pirates of the caribbean's appeal.the movie is overlong,dull in many places,a bland leading man(orlando bloom).Sure,it has johnny depp but his role is weidly smaller in this film.what does this movie has to interest the public so much?

Clerks 2 is not a tank.it cost 5 million.enough with the flop news.

comment #11

val says ...

Considering none of Kev's movies have ever broken 30m, where is the big shock? It will make a profit in the end, and thats all it matters. Which does not make it a bomb.

comment #12

Daniel Zelter says ...

I liked the film, but it's probably the lowest attendance it's gotten since the first Clerks. At least when Mallrats flopped, it could be blamed on Universal's awful marketing. And in fact, adjusted for inflation, the second film actually made less money than the first film, in spite of the larger audience.

comment #13

Kevin Smith says ...

Dan Z wrote "And in fact, adjusted for inflation, the second film actually made less money than the first film, in spite of the larger audience."

If you're talking about "Clerks" and "Mallrats", no need to adjust for inflation at all, as one came out a year after the other.

If you're talking about "Clerks" and "Clerks II" and saying "Clerks II" made less than "Clerks" once adjusted for inflation... that's insane, sir. "Clerks" made three million in its entire theatrical run. "Clerks II" made over three times that in its first weekend.

Arran wrote "Still, I'll be interested to see if Kevin himself admits it's a disappointment, or if he tries to spin it into a success."

See for yourself, sir...

http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=265

comment #14

Zac Bertschy says ...

Aside from Comic-con stealing audience, this was a really, really crowded frame to open Clerks 2 in. 4 new movies in wide release and one of the biggest moneymakers of all time still steamrolling the competition completely. They should've held out for maybe September.

Hell, it felt like a fall kind of film. That said I don't think anyone expects it to gross more than $30m and the DVD sales will probably make up the bulk of its revenue anyway.

comment #15

Arran says ...

Thank you sir, pleased to see you're being honest - as usual. I hope you understand I wasn't trying to say that it wasn't a success, because I think $10m is a good result. Rest assured Clerks 2 will get my dollar as soon as they see fit to release it in New Zealand.

comment #16

Kevin Smith says ...

Arran wrote "Thank you sir, pleased to see you're being honest - as usual. I hope you understand I wasn't trying to say that it wasn't a success, because I think $10m is a good result."

No, I got that. And I, too, feel that $10mil is a good result. I wish it'd been more, but I can't complain about how we did.

Still - it would've been so nice to do twelve. *sigh*

comment #17

lesterg says ...

Clerks 2: Good flick. Despite a rocky first 20 minutes, it won me over in the end. A little under 10M isn't bad, but a wide release was just not the way to go here. Live and learn, Weinsteins.

Monster House: Proof again that on-line hype does not reflect the real-world. We'll see what happens next week.

My Super Ex-girlfriend: Too silly for women and too femme for men. I love Uma. But her box-office track record (outside of Tarantino films) has always been fairly dismal. DVD will be solid.

Lady in the Water: To any Legendary or WB employees involved with Poseidon, Superman or Lady in the Water: http://www.monster.com

comment #18

Arran says ...

I appreciate your responses, Kevin. I'm actually a huge fan, I didn't want you to get the vibe that I was otherwise. I'm just being pragmatic about the box-office situation - it's good to see you are too. Kudos, sir.

comment #19

Arran says ...

Not that I hadn't been clocked as a fan in the first place due to my overuse of the word "sir"... ;-)

comment #20

Nick says ...

Clerks 2 will make most of its money on video, its a party movie and I'm sure some people out there will have to buy it for the donkey. I feel that Clerks is impossible to rank on because its still fun. I'd love to have seen Kevin get his Fletch movie off the ground instead of this, maybe he can now that Jason Lee has a TV following now. As long as his writing stays sharp and cynical I'm with him.

Topic for a good article by Jeffrey Wells,,,how long has it been since someone has had a summer like what Warner Bros. has had this year? I don't consider Superman to be that big of a loss, Sure it was expensive as all hell but after the 20 years of development hell it went thru, I'm sure they're looking at the final product as a write off anyway. The one-two punch of Posiedon & Lady In The Water have to hurt.

comment #21

Matthew N. says ...

I saw "Lady In The Water" at a packed house in Seattle on Friday night. The crowd was "with the movie" the whole time; laughing at all the right places, jumping at the scary places, and reacting loudly during Paul's "milk scene". At the end, when Night's name came up; people even applauded! I know this stands in opposition to most of the critics and box office numbers so I found it a very interesting theatrical experience. I can see this film as very flawed in places, but it played with the people and that enhanced my enjoyment.

comment #22

Daniel Zelter says ...

Nick: "Topic for a good article by Jeffrey Wells,,,how long has it been since someone has had a summer like what Warner Bros. has had this year?"

Last year, it was Dreamworks, and the year before, it was Paramount. You could also toss in Universal for the last three(well 2 1/2, really) years, but their sex comedies have saved them from being completely in the red. If it wasn't for the Harry Potter movies and the Willy Wonka remake, Warner Bros. would have probably been in the red since 2001.

comment #23

Amer says ...

WB are fools. If they are going to spend $150 million on POSEIDON can they at least allow 20 more minutes for character development? That would have made a huge difference; as it is now, POSEIDON plays like an extended preview for a summer blockbuster, shaved down to its barest minimum, one action setpiece to another - it's pretty fucking sad.

LADY IN THE WATER - havent seen it, cannot judge but it cost $70 million or so, so they will probably break even with DVD etc.

SUPERMAN RETURNS or should I say SUPERMAN IN LOVE was the other two punch with POSEIDON that really hurt Warner. The marketing was schizophrenic but what did WB have to work with? It's a 2.5 hour wiht much emphasis on angst and love and with a measly 2 action scenes. Where the fuck did the $250 million go? Lex Luthor's train set?! Isnt Australia suppose to offer a cheaper alternative to shooting in the US or Pinewood studios in the YUK or whatever?

comment #24

Rich S. says ...

Speaking of word-of-mouth, it is absolutely destroying POTC:DMC. With word of mouth like it's getting, and all the venom from this site, it won't hit $400 mil. for, what, at least another two weeks? The horror, the horror...

comment #25

Anonymous says ...

Nick: "how long has it been since someone has had a summer like what Warner Bros. has had this year?"

Daniel: "Last year, it was Dreamworks, and the year before, it was Paramount. You could also toss in Universal for the last three"

Don't forget Sony in 2005. The hat trick of Stealth, Bewitched and XXX2 forced out the head of marketing out before the end of summer. I'd expect WB to do the same any day now.

comment #26

Eric says ...

I'm curious to see what Kevin Smith does next. As proven by this opening, the View Askew well is pretty dry. Would love to see him... I don't know, stretch himself just a little bit. Definitely an easy guy to root for.

comment #27

CCA says ...

Okay, so I sucked it up (and by 'it' I mean copious ammounts of medicinal marijuana) and saw Clerks II on Friday. Not good. I was thinking about what appealed to me about the original and part of it was grit. It was a story about two regualar guys in a owlrd filled with basically believable characters. Now? It's like he's writing half comic books and half movies. Take Jay and Bob, in the first movie they were very authentic characters. I'm from the east coast and knew a ton of douchebags like that, so they struck a cord with me. Now they've cartoon characters. In fact, all the characters seem like empty pawns, written to perpetuate jokes. Nothing seemed real, no situation possible, no character believable. Its' sad but I beleive KS has lost the empathy to write characters real people can connect with. i say it's sad because the IDEA is there and he's clearly in the neighborhood but on the wrong street, just like with JERSEY GIRL. Then you have the now trademarked speeches where people explain exactly how they feel and the god awful sappiness of JG. The worst part was I barely laughed. I wonder if this movie turns off even his most ardent fans. It was a well best left alone, IMO. It's like Godfather III to me, never happened.

comment #28

val says ...

if you had to "suck it up" in order to see it, you already had your mind made up you were not going to like it.

Clerks2 is a niche flick. and for the most part, the audience it was intended for, loved it.

comment #29

Anonymous says ...

Poseidon grossed $110 million overseas and $60 million here so it's broken even on it's production cost. WB will make profir of dvd and cable as the film while severly edited plays great on repeat viewing. No doubt there will be interest on directors original vision cut on dvd of a much longer film that would feature the back story.
As for lady in the water a lot of it is good like the characters. Paul Giammati is terrific so is the films musical score and its moving at times. The biggest problem is the creature that's after Bryce howard. it's silly and gets siller as it goes on. Wonder if shalaman was doing LSd when he worte that part. Problem with the critics is people go into the theater with a negative mindset because they went after shalyman hard on this one.

comment #30

lesterg says ...

I'm kind of the opposite. I went to Clerks 2 assuming it was going to suck (a combination of the fact I didn't really like Kevin's last two movies and the typical sequel fears) but I enjoyed the heck out of it.

I just think that a wide, 2000+ screen release was never the way to go. Like you said, Val - it's a niche film.

The other problem is that the trailers/commercials were fucking awful. I think it was fairly unavoidable due to the fact that most of the funny stuff is red-band only...but it's a shame marketing couldn't figure out a way to bring newbies into the theater.

Regardless, I look forward to seeing it again.

comment #31

Todd says ...

So why did Disney fire Nina? For doing her job and making the right business decisions. Hollywood what a crazy town. Jeff help me out what did she do wrong to be fired?

comment #32

Anonymous says ...

What does Kevin Smith do now? Take another whack at the mainstream? He's run the View Askew universe into the ground.

comment #33

Anonymous says ...

Noname: "Poseidon grossed $110 million overseas and $60 million here so it's broken even on it's production cost. WB will make profir of dvd and cable as the film while severly edited plays great on repeat viewing."

Two points:
1) I know that the number attached to Poseidon was 160M, but did that include marketing?
2) Regardless, WB does not get that full 160M. They take about 50-55% of international and about 55-65% of domestic. That means they need about 300-320M to break even. As you said, DVD/cable, etc will eventually get them in the black - but it's still a massive disappointment.

comment #34

lesterg says ...

Oops, that was me above.

comment #35

CCA says ...

"if you had to "suck it up" in order to see it, you already had your mind made up you were not going to like it."

No, I had made up my mind I didn't *think* I was going to like it, and it proved correct. Sometimes i see movies I don't think I'll like and be totally surprised. In other words, I wasn't married to the opinion. Frankly, I wanted to like it which is why I went.

"Clerks2 is a niche flick. and for the most part, the audience it was intended for, loved it."

I love the "niche flick" line because it's what you just accused me of. The people who liked it had already decided to like it when they went in ... for the most part. I'm glad KS's movies have an audience. I'm glad he does well. That doesn't make his work any good. It isn't, IMO, and I've come around to thinking it never will be. Oh, well.

comment #36

val says ...

good when it comes to movies is a matter of opinion, it doesnt work for you, thats great.. but it doesnt lessen the opinion of those who enjoy it.

comment #37

Terry McCarty says ...

Someone was asking about what Kevin Smith should do now.

Actually, I think a biopic about former KROQ jock Jim "Poorman" Trenton (of LOVELINES fame) focusing
on the short-lived Orange County TV show THE LOVE CHANNEL in 1994 would be interesting for Kevin
to try.

Imagine a comedy about the short, frenzied life of a late-night talk show catering to frat boys and including sex tips on a conservative OC TV station. It could be Kevin's PRIVATE PARTS.

My casting suggestions: Scott Caan as Trenton and Lacey Chabert as Danielle "Dr. Danielle" Ardolino, Trenton's strait-laced foil on the series.

comment #38

Anonymous says ...

Yeah, that's a good idea.