Hurt Scratch...Right?

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Now that Summit Entertainment is looking at weekend New Moon earnings of $145 million or so (based on yesterday's record-breaking $72.7 million haul at 4,024 theaters), maybe they can afford now to make extra DVD screeners of The Hurt Locker and send them out to every Tom, Dick and Harry? You know...blanket the town like Lionsgate did with those Crash screeners in late '05 and early '06? No more excuses -- get 'em out there now.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 21, 2009 at 12:00 PM

comment #1

Emmanuel_Goldstein says ...

My god... broke The Dark Knight's single day record. Un(fucking)believable

Posted by Emmanuel_Goldstein at November 21, 2009 12:36 PM

comment #2

Jonathan Spuij says ...

LOL, Wells is always looking on the bright side of things.

Posted by Jonathan Spuij at November 21, 2009 12:42 PM

comment #3

K. Bowen says ...

DId anyone see that coming. by the way. I haven't been following what it was supposed to do at the box office.

Posted by K. Bowen at November 21, 2009 1:11 PM

comment #4

bfm says ...

I wonder how it will hold up. You'd expect turnout to be heavily front-loaded, but then again those obsessives will probably go back again and again and again.

Posted by bfm at November 21, 2009 1:22 PM

comment #5

corey3rd says ...

here's a way to do it right - have some ex-bomb guys do live demonstrations at Greek Theater of how to deactivate a car bomb.

There will probably be plenty of idiots who will sit front row hoping to collect shrapnel like guitar picks at a Cheap Trick contest.

Posted by corey3rd at November 21, 2009 1:38 PM

comment #6

William Goss says ...

Hell, maybe they could even afford to show The Brothers Bloom some love...

Posted by William Goss at November 21, 2009 1:50 PM

comment #7

poseidon72 says ...

Were does this massive audience come from?

Posted by poseidon72 at November 21, 2009 2:02 PM

comment #8

Glenn Kenny says ...

I think it's kind of adorable that you've got such cockeyed optimism animating things here. As if the movie industry operated according to the old (and largely mythical) business model of publishing, where the trashy best-seller profits were supposedly in part plowed into subsidizing poetry and more "serious," difficult works. Don't count on it. Whatever campaign Summit's going to mount for "Locker," "New Moon" loot won't enter into it.

Posted by Glenn Kenny at November 21, 2009 2:23 PM

comment #9

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

Sounds like the tired old business model that Summit needs to avoid at all costs in order not to end up like every other independent who spent too freely from one hit.

There's also the fact that CRASH did like $54M at the domestic B.O. where as LOCKER has barely gotten $16M. Not bad for one of the year's more overpraised films.

As to that NEW MOON total, wonder if this will finally cause enough bitching about the screwy math that allows screenings from the day before (midnight) to be included with the next day's total.

Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie at November 21, 2009 2:43 PM

comment #10

DarthCorleone says ...

Movie ticket prices have continued to climb in the past year. I think this has at least a little to do with it. I'm always griping about this on record box office discussions, but why do we even keep these monetary "records" that mean absolutely nothing about the number of people that actually went to the movie?

The odd thing is that I think I'd rather see Twilight do well than Transformers. Very odd indeed.

Posted by DarthCorleone at November 21, 2009 3:40 PM

comment #11

Scott Mendelson says ...

As long as said screenings start at 12:01am, then they full-well count as Friday screenings. Besides, the last mega movie not to have midnights was Spider-Man (which made its record run all the more impressive) and possible Shrek 2, so it's not like the last several record-breakers need an asterisk too.

Posted by Scott Mendelson at November 21, 2009 4:34 PM

comment #12

Markj74 says ...

From boxofficemojo:

'Due to fans storming theaters on its opening day, Twilight's first weekend was heavily Friday-loaded, leading to much lower grosses for Saturday ($21.3 million) and Sunday ($12.4 million). The fan fervor was even more intense for New Moon, so the picture will not maintain Friday's pace throughout the weekend. '
'

Posted by Markj74 at November 21, 2009 5:01 PM

comment #13

DeeZee says ...

Emmanuel: So can we expect it to be nominated for BP soon?

Bowen: Well, TDK did have a longer running time, so...

Posted by DeeZee at November 21, 2009 5:17 PM

comment #14

DeeZee says ...

Anyway, looks like some Twi-hards had some free time on their hands...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091121/ap_en_mu/ny_tween_mall_frenzy
Fifteen? That guy barely looks like he's five.

Posted by DeeZee at November 21, 2009 5:21 PM

comment #15

DeeZee says ...

But the real "holy shit" here is that 2012 had a huge second-weekend drop, not even making it to second place. [As predicted.] With a $200 million budget, that's got to hurt, especially, since it's depending on WW sales, just to break even. And Planet 51's gone down in flames even worse than X-mas Carol. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/?sortdate=2009-11-20&p=.htm

Posted by DeeZee at November 21, 2009 5:44 PM

comment #16

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

[As predicted] by whom, exactly?

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at November 21, 2009 5:53 PM

comment #17

DeeZee says ...

Kane: Um, me? http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/11/demolition_derb.php

Posted by DeeZee at November 21, 2009 9:32 PM

comment #18

Gordon27 says ...

Nobody's going to bother to click your link, DZ, because there was nobody in the world predicting that '2012' wouldn't have a huge drop-off.

Posted by Gordon27 at November 22, 2009 12:33 AM

comment #19

Jonathan Spuij says ...

Perhaps they need the money to pay for the totally ruined seats after all those girls started soaking upon the view of the werewolves.

Posted by Jonathan Spuij at November 22, 2009 1:41 AM

comment #20

DeeZee says ...

Gordon: Actually, a lot of people thought 2012 was going to have huge staying power.

Posted by DeeZee at November 22, 2009 2:07 AM

comment #21

Gordon27 says ...

Most of the things you ascribe to "a lot of people" exist only in your head, and I think '2012' not being front-loaded is one of them.

Posted by Gordon27 at November 22, 2009 2:43 AM

comment #22

DeeZee says ...

When that's the highest opening for an Emmerich movie in a long time, there are major expectations that it'll do well for the entire holiday season.

Posted by DeeZee at November 22, 2009 2:31 PM

comment #23

EdHavens says ...

"Movie ticket prices have continued to climb in the past year."

Movie ticket prices have continued to climb every year for the past eighty years. In fact, this year's average ticket price has risen by the smallest percentage than anytime in the past twenty years.

Posted by EdHavens at November 22, 2009 10:23 PM

comment #24