Weekend Report: 'The Lorax' Defeats Disappointing 'John Carter'
by Ray Subers
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March 11, 2012
After months upon months of box office speculation, John Carter finally opened and as expected was a huge disappointment. The mega-budget sci-fi epic wasn't even able to unseat The Lorax, which held first place for the second-straight weekend. The other openers, Silent House and A Thousand Words, also performed poorly on a weekend where the Top 12 earned an estimated $123.35 million (up just five percent from last year).
The Lorax fell 44 percent to an estimated $39.1 million. The movie held about as well as Horton Hears a Who! (45 percent), and a bit worse than Despicable Me (42 percent). On Sunday,
The Lorax is expected to pass The Vow to become 2012's highest-grossing movie at $122 million.
John Carter opened to an estimated $30.6 million from 3,749 locations. That's lower than practically any similar movie, beginning with those that came out around the same time of year. It was obviously way off from 300 ($70.9 million) and Watchmen ($55.2 million)—what's more concerning, though, is that it was even a tad below 10,000 B.C. ($35.9 million) and Battle: Los Angeles ($35.6 million), both of which were modest movies in comparison.
Among past Mouse House franchise attempts, John Carter isn't looking so good either. Back in 2003, Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl debuted to $46.6 million, or the equivalent of over $60 million. Tron Legacy opened to $44 million in December, which is a month with notoriously low openings (the movie ultimately closed with four times as much, a fate that's unlikely for John Carter). One very minor bright spot is that the opening was slightly above that of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ($30.1 million), but with 3D and IMAX surcharges John Carter even lagged behind that dud in initial attendance.
Disney's marketing department has been beat up on pretty good for the lackluster John Carter campaign, and to their credit the movie doesn't really lend itself to an easy sell. Still, making the movie is the responsibility of production, and selling the movie is the responsibility of marketing, and in that regard they clearly failed.
The movie is called John Carter, but aside from the fact that he can jump far and looks good without a shirt on, what else did commercials really convey about the title character? Also, what was John Carter doing in this desert landscape occupied by tall green men, aside from fighting giant furry white creatures? If the characters don't seem interesting, and the stakes are low (or poorly explained), it doesn't really matter how much money the movie cost or how many advertisements are run—audiences are just not going to show up.
For whatever reason, the marketing mainly ignored the movie's central romance, and as a result it paid dearly with women, who represented just 37 percent of the opening weekend audience. Crowds also skewed slightly older (59 percent over the age of 25), and they awarded the movie a solid "B+" CinemaScore. 3D presentations accounted for 64 percent of the gross, and included within that figure was a very high 16 percent from IMAX 3D showings. Project X added an estimated $11.55 million for a 10-day total of $40.1 million. Its 45 percent decline is actually quite good considering it was billed as an "event" movie on its opening weekend, and the found footage comedy could wind up as high as $60 million before the end of its run.
Silent House opened in fourth place with an estimated $7 million from 2,124 theaters. That's half the opening of The Last House on the Left ($14.1 million), and also notably off from the co-director's Open Water ($11.4 million). Exit polls indicated that 80 percent of the audience was under 35, and there is not currently a CinemaScore available from Open Road (though it's been widely reported that it received the dreaded "F" score).
Sometimes it seems like all horror movies are instant hits, but a disappointment like Silent House reinforces the fact that the genre isn't an automatic slam dunk. Supernatural thrillers have a clear antagonist, and it's tough to come up with a more menacing baddie than the devil himself (which is the case in most possession movies, of course). Silent House, on the other hand, had a faceless, undefined threat, and the single-shot gimmick can only do so much to make up for that deficiency.
Act of Valor was only $10,000 behind Silent House and could easily swap positions when actuals are reported on Monday afternoon. The movie fell 48 percent to an estimated $7 million, and has so far earned a very respectable $56.1 million.
The long-delayed Eddie Murphy comedy A Thousand Words finally landed in theaters this weekend. Unfortunately for Murphy, its $6.35 million debut puts it firmly in his growing flop category along with Meet Dave ($5.25 million) and Imagine That ($5.5 million). In all fairness, A Thousand Words did outperform those movies despite being in over 1,000 fewer locations, but it's still a terrible opening for a former comedy superstar (when is he going to realize people would like to occasionally get some Raw Eddie Murphy mixed in with their Doctor Dolittle Eddie Murphy?). The audience skewed older (61 percent were 25 years and up) and female (55 percent), and they awarded the movie a "B-" Cinemascore.
Safe House eased 32 percent to an estimated $5 million. On Sunday, the movie is expected to reach $115.8 million total, which ranks second all-time among Denzel Washington movies ahead of Remember the Titans ($115.7 million) but behind American Gangster ($130.2 million).
In limited release, Friends with Kids opened in 13th place with $2.2 million from 374 locations. The Bridesmaids cast reunion (Kristen Wiig, Jon Hamm, Maya Rudolph and Chris O'Dowd all co-starred) delivered Roadside Attractions second-highest opening ever behind last year's The Conspirator, which earned $3.51 million from twice as many venues.
The weekend's other major limited release was Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which netted a decent $240,000 from 18 locations for a per-theater average of $13,333. Obviously, CBS Films is planning to expand the Ewan McGregor-Emily Blunt romance over the next few weeks, though it's unclear right now if it will receive a nationwide release.
The Lorax fell 44 percent to an estimated $39.1 million. The movie held about as well as Horton Hears a Who! (45 percent), and a bit worse than Despicable Me (42 percent). On Sunday,
The Lorax is expected to pass The Vow to become 2012's highest-grossing movie at $122 million.
John Carter opened to an estimated $30.6 million from 3,749 locations. That's lower than practically any similar movie, beginning with those that came out around the same time of year. It was obviously way off from 300 ($70.9 million) and Watchmen ($55.2 million)—what's more concerning, though, is that it was even a tad below 10,000 B.C. ($35.9 million) and Battle: Los Angeles ($35.6 million), both of which were modest movies in comparison.
Among past Mouse House franchise attempts, John Carter isn't looking so good either. Back in 2003, Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl debuted to $46.6 million, or the equivalent of over $60 million. Tron Legacy opened to $44 million in December, which is a month with notoriously low openings (the movie ultimately closed with four times as much, a fate that's unlikely for John Carter). One very minor bright spot is that the opening was slightly above that of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ($30.1 million), but with 3D and IMAX surcharges John Carter even lagged behind that dud in initial attendance.
Disney's marketing department has been beat up on pretty good for the lackluster John Carter campaign, and to their credit the movie doesn't really lend itself to an easy sell. Still, making the movie is the responsibility of production, and selling the movie is the responsibility of marketing, and in that regard they clearly failed.
The movie is called John Carter, but aside from the fact that he can jump far and looks good without a shirt on, what else did commercials really convey about the title character? Also, what was John Carter doing in this desert landscape occupied by tall green men, aside from fighting giant furry white creatures? If the characters don't seem interesting, and the stakes are low (or poorly explained), it doesn't really matter how much money the movie cost or how many advertisements are run—audiences are just not going to show up.
For whatever reason, the marketing mainly ignored the movie's central romance, and as a result it paid dearly with women, who represented just 37 percent of the opening weekend audience. Crowds also skewed slightly older (59 percent over the age of 25), and they awarded the movie a solid "B+" CinemaScore. 3D presentations accounted for 64 percent of the gross, and included within that figure was a very high 16 percent from IMAX 3D showings. Project X added an estimated $11.55 million for a 10-day total of $40.1 million. Its 45 percent decline is actually quite good considering it was billed as an "event" movie on its opening weekend, and the found footage comedy could wind up as high as $60 million before the end of its run.
Silent House opened in fourth place with an estimated $7 million from 2,124 theaters. That's half the opening of The Last House on the Left ($14.1 million), and also notably off from the co-director's Open Water ($11.4 million). Exit polls indicated that 80 percent of the audience was under 35, and there is not currently a CinemaScore available from Open Road (though it's been widely reported that it received the dreaded "F" score).
Sometimes it seems like all horror movies are instant hits, but a disappointment like Silent House reinforces the fact that the genre isn't an automatic slam dunk. Supernatural thrillers have a clear antagonist, and it's tough to come up with a more menacing baddie than the devil himself (which is the case in most possession movies, of course). Silent House, on the other hand, had a faceless, undefined threat, and the single-shot gimmick can only do so much to make up for that deficiency.
Act of Valor was only $10,000 behind Silent House and could easily swap positions when actuals are reported on Monday afternoon. The movie fell 48 percent to an estimated $7 million, and has so far earned a very respectable $56.1 million.
The long-delayed Eddie Murphy comedy A Thousand Words finally landed in theaters this weekend. Unfortunately for Murphy, its $6.35 million debut puts it firmly in his growing flop category along with Meet Dave ($5.25 million) and Imagine That ($5.5 million). In all fairness, A Thousand Words did outperform those movies despite being in over 1,000 fewer locations, but it's still a terrible opening for a former comedy superstar (when is he going to realize people would like to occasionally get some Raw Eddie Murphy mixed in with their Doctor Dolittle Eddie Murphy?). The audience skewed older (61 percent were 25 years and up) and female (55 percent), and they awarded the movie a "B-" Cinemascore.
Safe House eased 32 percent to an estimated $5 million. On Sunday, the movie is expected to reach $115.8 million total, which ranks second all-time among Denzel Washington movies ahead of Remember the Titans ($115.7 million) but behind American Gangster ($130.2 million).
In limited release, Friends with Kids opened in 13th place with $2.2 million from 374 locations. The Bridesmaids cast reunion (Kristen Wiig, Jon Hamm, Maya Rudolph and Chris O'Dowd all co-starred) delivered Roadside Attractions second-highest opening ever behind last year's The Conspirator, which earned $3.51 million from twice as many venues.
The weekend's other major limited release was Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which netted a decent $240,000 from 18 locations for a per-theater average of $13,333. Obviously, CBS Films is planning to expand the Ewan McGregor-Emily Blunt romance over the next few weeks, though it's unclear right now if it will receive a nationwide release.
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