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Crowd Report: "Mean Girls"
By Lee Tistaert Published May 1, 2004
Well, here it is: the first non-male oriented crowd report I?ve done on this site ? enjoy it while you can (there was a surprising showing of guys, however). I probably wouldn?t have seen this movie if it hadn?t been for the positive reviews; even though I didn?t think 13 Going on 30 was that great (and that was well reviewed), there was a little voice in my head telling me to see this.
I decided to take a break from the multiplex that I usually go to and checked out the 9:50 show of Mean Girls at the Westwood National theater (1100 seats) in LA. This is the second largest theater in Westwood (the Village is the biggest with 1300 seats), but unlike the Village, this venue is not known to attract rowdy audiences (not even Spider-Man drew a really loud crowd).
Given that this is more of a teen-targeted flick and Westwood is the home of UCLA, I was questioning how crowded this show was going to be. When I saw Mr. Deeds here on opening night, the 7:00 show was not that crowded (and it was a teenage audience), and that movie ended up grossing $14.3 million ($4,414 per-screen), proving that it sold very well elsewhere.
When I got to the theater around 9:30, the ticket booth line reminded me of opening night of The Hunted ($4.5 million - $1,779 per-screen). However, quite a few people were showing up at the last second, and this show ended up being surprisingly well attended (for such a big theater). This was far from a sellout, but there might have been 400-some people in there. In comparison, when I saw Identity ($5.8 million - $2,126 per-screen) at the Festival theater (550 seats) down the street on opening night at 10:00, that show was not sold out either, but it was very crowded.
There were quite a few teenagers in the theater, but there were also a fair amount of young college students (and some women). The gender ratio also seemed rather close, even if it was something like 60/40 (female/male), which for something like this is a little eye-catching.
The first trailer up was The Notebook, which played silently amongst the audience.
A Cinderella Story came next, which retrieved laughs with Jennifer Coolidge?s character, but other than that, there were no special reactions.
Spider-Man 2 followed, which played humbly until the title came to the screen, and then a few guys near the front of the theater cheered, but no one followed their enthusiastic attempt.
The next trailer was Dodgeball, which didn?t spark the amount of laughs from Ben Stiller?s presence that occurred at my Girl Next Door screening, but the ad nevertheless received a fairly positive reception (most of the laughs came from the concluding gags).
The teaser to SpongeBob was next, and once it was evident as to what the trailer was, the excitement in the room seemed to climax. There were a lot of gasps in the room at that point, and I don?t know if it was just me, but it felt like people were on the verge of cheering the movie on.
The Stepford Wives finished up the trailer lineup, which played silently.
The crowd was eating up the film every step of the way, and I found it surprisingly entertaining and well written; I thought it was even better than Freaky Friday, which I gave a B- to. However, when ranked up against Girl Next Door (B), I?m not sure which movie would win on my vote.
As for an opening day prediction based on the crowd, it?s looking like $6.0 - 6.5 million is a pretty good possibility. I had seen Old School ($6.2 million - $2,293 per-screen) with a crowd about this size at the multiplex around the corner from this theater, and School of Rock ($6.0 million - $2,288 per-screen) had also played at the National (I didn?t see it here, though).
One other possible comparison is Crossroads ($5.2 million - $2,192 per-screen), which played at the Bruin theater (680 seats) in Westwood; however, I don?t have any solid evidence on that one, as regretful as I am for not having rushed out excitedly on opening night (yes, I am joking).
I decided to take a break from the multiplex that I usually go to and checked out the 9:50 show of Mean Girls at the Westwood National theater (1100 seats) in LA. This is the second largest theater in Westwood (the Village is the biggest with 1300 seats), but unlike the Village, this venue is not known to attract rowdy audiences (not even Spider-Man drew a really loud crowd).
Given that this is more of a teen-targeted flick and Westwood is the home of UCLA, I was questioning how crowded this show was going to be. When I saw Mr. Deeds here on opening night, the 7:00 show was not that crowded (and it was a teenage audience), and that movie ended up grossing $14.3 million ($4,414 per-screen), proving that it sold very well elsewhere.
When I got to the theater around 9:30, the ticket booth line reminded me of opening night of The Hunted ($4.5 million - $1,779 per-screen). However, quite a few people were showing up at the last second, and this show ended up being surprisingly well attended (for such a big theater). This was far from a sellout, but there might have been 400-some people in there. In comparison, when I saw Identity ($5.8 million - $2,126 per-screen) at the Festival theater (550 seats) down the street on opening night at 10:00, that show was not sold out either, but it was very crowded.
There were quite a few teenagers in the theater, but there were also a fair amount of young college students (and some women). The gender ratio also seemed rather close, even if it was something like 60/40 (female/male), which for something like this is a little eye-catching.
The first trailer up was The Notebook, which played silently amongst the audience.
A Cinderella Story came next, which retrieved laughs with Jennifer Coolidge?s character, but other than that, there were no special reactions.
Spider-Man 2 followed, which played humbly until the title came to the screen, and then a few guys near the front of the theater cheered, but no one followed their enthusiastic attempt.
The next trailer was Dodgeball, which didn?t spark the amount of laughs from Ben Stiller?s presence that occurred at my Girl Next Door screening, but the ad nevertheless received a fairly positive reception (most of the laughs came from the concluding gags).
The teaser to SpongeBob was next, and once it was evident as to what the trailer was, the excitement in the room seemed to climax. There were a lot of gasps in the room at that point, and I don?t know if it was just me, but it felt like people were on the verge of cheering the movie on.
The Stepford Wives finished up the trailer lineup, which played silently.
The crowd was eating up the film every step of the way, and I found it surprisingly entertaining and well written; I thought it was even better than Freaky Friday, which I gave a B- to. However, when ranked up against Girl Next Door (B), I?m not sure which movie would win on my vote.
As for an opening day prediction based on the crowd, it?s looking like $6.0 - 6.5 million is a pretty good possibility. I had seen Old School ($6.2 million - $2,293 per-screen) with a crowd about this size at the multiplex around the corner from this theater, and School of Rock ($6.0 million - $2,288 per-screen) had also played at the National (I didn?t see it here, though).
One other possible comparison is Crossroads ($5.2 million - $2,192 per-screen), which played at the Bruin theater (680 seats) in Westwood; however, I don?t have any solid evidence on that one, as regretful as I am for not having rushed out excitedly on opening night (yes, I am joking).
