Dave McNary and Pamela McClintock Variety:
With just two weekends left to go, the summer 2008 domestic box office is all but assured of finishing on par with last year’s record-breaking take of $4.16 billion --an unexpected victory for Hollywood and theater owners.
Many see the summer’s strength, led by "The Dark Knight" juggernaut, as a sign that the film biz is benefiting from the lousy economy and high gas prices. Going to the movies is still a cheaper outing than other forms of entertainment, such as sports, theme parks and travel.
Foremost, however, box office observers credit a slate of films that successfully appealed to a cross-section of the moviegoing aud. This weekend should match or do better than the same frame a year ago, with new releases "Death Race" and "The House Bunny" expected to do solid business.
Through Tuesday, the summer B.O. was running dead even with the same period last year at roughly $3.8 billion, even without the franchise titans that paced last year’s haul, "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Shrek" and "Spider-Man."
Summer admissions are down by 3.8%. The cost of an average ticket price is $7.16 vs. $6.88 last year.
Warner Bros.’ "Dark Knight" is unquestionably the reason this summer has performed so well. With a cume of over $477 million, Christopher Nolan’s Batman sequel is the second highest grossing title of all time domestically after "Titanic." Batpic could hit $500 million by the time the Labor Day weekend is over.
On the downside, the summer frame has also had several high-profile misses, including "Speed Racer," "Meet Dave" and "The Love Guru."
Whether summer B.O. revs can exceed $4.16 billion and best 2007 depends upon how well the Labor Day slate performs. (Last year, "Halloween" opened over the long weekend to a hearty $26.4 million.)
Here and now
Universal’s male-skewing actioner "Death Race," toplining Jason Statham, opens in 2,531 runs.
Statham has become something of a late-summer fixture, with the 2006 "Crank" and 2007’s "Transporter 2" opening to $10.4 million and $16.5 million, respectively, over Labor Day weekend (figures don’t include grosses from the Monday holiday).
R-rated "Death Race" is expected to open in the same range. Statham’s "War" opened to $9.8 million in the same weekend last year.
Sony is going after girls and young females with Anna Faris comedy "House Bunny," bowing with 2,714 runs. It could draw men as well, as Faris plays a Playboy bunny who becomes a house mother at a sorority.
Female-driven pics have done good business this summer. "House Bunny" should draw the same crowd that turned out for Warner Bros.’ "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2," which posted a five-day opening cume of $18.9 million when bowing earlier this month on a Wednesday. Weekend take was $10.7 million.
MGM and Dimension Films open Ice Cube-Keke Palmer comedy "The Longshots," about a girl who becomes the first female quarterback for a Pop Warner football team. Family laffer bows with 2,089 runs.
There’s two new offbeat comedies in theaters this weekend: specialty pic "Hamlet 2," from Focus Features, and 20th Twentieth Century Fox’s R-rated "The Rocker," starring Rainn Wilson.
Looking to build word of mouth, Focus is opening "Hamlet" in roughly 103 theaters in 58 markets this weekend before going wide next week.
"Rocker" is looking like another disappointment for Fox, which has had a rough summer. Pic didn’t get many laughs as it opened on Wednesday, grossing $577,343 from 2,627 theaters and placing only No. 10 for the day. Project was put together by Fox Atomic when it was a standalone unit.
With R-rated comedies like "Tropic Thunder" still in the market and "Death Race" grabbing male attention, "Rocker" could face a tough road this weekend.
DreamWorks and Paramount’s “Tropic Thunder” heads into its second sesh with a domestic cume of $46.7 million.
In terms of summer market share, Warner holds a narrow lead over Paramount, with $961.8 million in total grosses through Tuesday, according to Rentrak. Par’s summer B.O. revs total $923.8 million.
Universal also has enjoyed a strong summer, ranking No. 3 in terms of market share, with total grosses of $665.3 million through Tuesday. Sony’s up next at $534.3 million. Disney’s summer B.O. revs come to $374.9 million, and Fox’s are $240.3 million.
Market share isn’t the best barometer, however, because it doesn’t reflect profitability.
International biz has racked up a solid summer for the Hollywood studios — though not quite in the same range as last summer, when the third “Pirates of the Caribbean” and the fifth “Harry Potter” both topped $640 million overseas.
Studios held back releases during June due to the Euro Cup tourney, so overall foreign cume for the majors is still lagging the record-setting 2007 pace by a few percentage points.
This weekend, “Dark Knight” should again top the foreign box office as it expands into Germany — its final major market — amid strong holds. Closest competition’s likely to come from U’s “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” which should hit the $200 million foreign mark today.
Of the domestic openers, only “Death Race” is seeing a foreign launch, with U taking the actioner into the fast-burn Asian markets of Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Studio’s also taking “Mamma Mia!” into Argentina and Taiwan with over two dozen markets left...
Joshua Rich of EW:
The dog days are here, but Jason Statham should have the muscle to leave box office rivals eating dust
Summer '08 is REALLY going out soft, given the choices for the next couple of weeks
Summer '08 box office ends with Don Cheadle as a Traitor, Vin Diesel fights through Babylon AD, and the aptly titled Disaster Movie spoofs the blockbusters...
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