"Kingdom" loses to "Game Plan"

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Universal gave The Kingdom a nationwide sneak a weekend or two ago and vigorously plugged it besides, and yet Dwayne Johnson's The Game Plan will ace it out this weekend. One estimate has the Sunday-night tallies for The Game Plan at $21,458,000 and $18,029,000 for The Kingdom.

More people simply liked the idea of a comedy over a Riyadh shoot-em-up, I guess, but it's also hard to dismiss the implications of yet another Middle-East drama underperforming. I thought The Kingdom was going to be the exception to the rule. It's also time to ask whether Kingdom star Jamie Foxx is an actual movie star who sells tickets. Another factor: The Game Plan snuck last weekend also.

comment #1

Ian Sinclair says ...

I have said from day one that Iraq war movies are box-office poison while the war is still being fought: in such a climate only jingoistic war pictures do well.

comment #2

BurmaShave says ...

You can't get much more jingoistic than THE KINGDOM, as excellent as it was, until the chilling ending that is. By the way, for once, I respectfully call bullshit on these numbers until Sunday night.

comment #3

aatx1228 says ...

I completely agree with the previous poster. All of these Iraq/war related films are not going to be successful in terms of finding large audiences. Hopefully the studios aren't spending too much to produce or acquire these films. Its not worth it. General audiences usually don't like message movies and even more so the Haggis and De Palma style of hammering "subtlety" in their films Elah and Redacted...

comment #4

Mark says ...

isn't Foxx like 6 out of his last 7 in getting $20 million opening weekends? (Stealth, the only film he didn't promote, being the exception.)

He's no Will Smith, but only a handful of dramatic actors can say that.

comment #5

Joe Leydon says ...

Actually, Jeff, I'd go one step further: I suspect most moviegoers right now don't want to see any movie set in the Middle East, unless it features giant robots. Consider the fate of Jarhead, Kingdom of Heaven...

comment #6

AJW says ...

Damn those kids for not being able to see an R-rated action movie!

comment #7

Wrecktum says ...

Game Plan was sneaked too, Wells.

comment #8

GeorgePrager says ...

THE GAME PLAN is good for the prostate.

comment #9

Rothchild says ...

Joe, Jarhead was a subversive art film that was disguised as a mainstream film (by using Kanye in the trailers). Kingdom arrived after America overdosed on epic battle films. Return of the King was the last big one of it's kind. It would be like bringing out a traditional romantic comedy right now. The ceiling is 75, if it's amazing. So, unless you're a fresh take on a genre people are bored with, like Zach Snyder accomplished with 300 or Apatow did with Knocked Up, you're shit out of luck. Oddly enough, if Fox had put out the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven it could have been a big Oscar contender.

But yeah, no one wants to see films in the middle east. Those films just missed the mark for different reasons. The Kingdom, on the other hand, is a major crowd pleaser and will only drop a little each week from now on. It's fucking fantastic.

comment #10

Joe Leydon says ...

I'm plesantly surprised by the resilience of 3:10 to Yuma. Could it possibly hang in there to break the $45 million mark? Maybe even $50 mil?

comment #11

Flynn says ...

Joe-- Yuma will b at 45 already by Tuesday. Mid fifties would be amazing.

comment #12

Larry says ...

Jamie Foxx's big openings tend to be based on things other than Jamie Foxx. Foxx as the big name in a non-franchise action film shouldn't expect to open that much bigger than Stealth--I didn't expect anything over $20 million.

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