Stuck on You Crowd Report

It was either the 9:50 pm show of Stuck on You or the 10:30 show of Something?s Gotta Give on Friday night, and since I didn?t feel like waiting around for the latter and since I dig the Farrelly brothers, I went for their flick.

Driving by the Westwood Festival theater (500 - 550 seats) in LA at 9:00, there was nobody outside the theater for Stuck on You, and even when the doors were opened at 9:25, there were only around ten to fifteen people waiting outside (but not in a line). I had seen the 7:00 show let out, and there may have only been 75 - 100 people there, with a decent showing of young teenagers.

Take note that Westwood is a college town, as UCLA is around the corner from this single screen theater; and since the Farrelly brothers? audience branches from college to 30-some year olds, the crowd situation at 9:30 definitely wasn?t promising. As the clock was ticking closer to 9:50, I pretty much knew there was no way this movie was going to hit $20 million for the weekend, as Westwood is usually a very good box office indicator.

The fact that the theater chain had booked Stuck on You in this venue was a questionable factor going into the weekend, as the Farrelly?s other movies had gone to one of the major single screen theaters (680 seats) in the area where Something?s Gotta Give is currently booked. The Festival theater often times handles movies coming off their runs from the bigger Westwood venues.

By the time the lights dimmed, the theater contained maybe 150 - 200 people, with the demographics going from early 20?s to early 30?s, and the gender ratio was fairly split down the middle; the film seemed to get the date crowd in there. The crowd didn?t give any special reactions to the trailers, but the lineup was as followed: Garfield, Miracle, Paycheck, Club Dread, and The Big Bounce.

As Stuck on You got into gear, I pretty well knew this movie wasn?t destined to be in the same box office league as Shallow Hal and Me, Myself & Irene. The usual Farrelly spark wasn?t quite there in the beginning as in their other films and the movie seemed fairly toned down. Immediately I was somewhat reminded of when I saw The Hot Chick and knew from the beginning of that movie that I was on hard crack with the insane weekend prediction I had going for it.

In terms of Stuck on You, judging off the crowd I?d predict roughly $4 million for opening day, with $5 million being the peak figure. I had seen Identity ($5.8 million - $2,126 per-screen) at this theater on opening night at 9:45, with the show being close to sold out. The Bourne Identity ($8.7 million - $3,285 per-screen) had also played here, and though I didn?t see it on opening night, I saw the crowd status for the night performances here and it looked like a madhouse.

Though the crowd did laugh throughout the movie and obviously enjoyed it, I can?t really see Stuck on You surviving too long. The film lacks the gross-out moments that the filmmakers are known for (which get audiences talking), as the movie has more of a sweet side to it and I can?t imagine everyone appreciating the sense of humor involved.

I also didn?t think Stuck on You had the usual attitude that the Farrelly?s are known for, despite that I did find the movie entertaining and fairly funny, and did find it more intelligent than the trailer suggests. Take note that I liked Kingpin (a little-known Farrelly comedy), There?s Something About Mary, and Me, Myself & Irene quite a bit, with Dumb & Dumber being solid stupid fun, and found Shallow Hal reasonably well done but nothing special.

Not everyone is going to be a fan of the humor involved in the filmmakers? movies, but they?ve never really let me down; but in terms of their box office future, it looks like the Farrelly?s better pull some strings and rebound after this.