Crowd Report: "Day After Tomorrow"

I realize that this is the first crowd report I?ve done all month, and I?m not even sure I?ll have one in June (though Spider-Man is possible). I skipped out on Van Helsing (probably wisely so), and did see Troy (which I found boring with the exception of two engaging scenes) on opening night when I was in New York but I was too tired to write one up when I got back that night. Had Shrek debuted on Friday instead of Wednesday I would?ve had one on that, but I figured there wasn?t much of a point since I saw it on its third day (and most of my intent is estimating the opening day gross).

Fully aware that this disaster flick could suck to high heaven, I nevertheless wanted to see what director Roland Emmerich did this time around with his basic remake of Independence Day. I figured there was a chance that Fox was using ?From the director of ID4? in their marketing when ?From the director of Godzilla? might be more accurate, but I was proven wrong?I guess.

Though this is a bad movie in a nutshell, I found Day After Tomorrow to be a fun bad movie, one of which is so cheesy and unbelievable in its layout to the point where it was kind of enjoyable to see what poor scripting would come next. And it might have been the crowd that partly assisted in my enjoyment of this movie, as it was almost like Mystery Science Theater environment.

However, if I had seen this movie without a crowd, I think I still would have tolerated it for some reason. There are intolerable bad movies that make you want to scream in agonizing pain and burn the reel, and then there are bad movies that you get a kick out of watching to the extent that you don?t even give it a bad rating ? The Day After Tomorrow fits that bill like a charm.

Since Harry Potter will be going to the Village theater (1300 seats) in Westwood (LA) next week, Day After tomorrow was booked at the Crest theater (465 seats) in the same area (the Crest was probably in dire need of business anyway). I swung by the theater at 7:30 on Friday night to buy tickets for the 10:00 show, and while I was waiting in the ticket booth line the owner came outside announcing that there were only 11 seats still available for the 7:20 show.

Coming back at 9:20, the line to get in stretched down the street, but not to a significant extent. Eventually, the line was roughly three times the length as the opening night lines for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ($2.6 million - $1,954 per-screen) and Phone Booth ($5.2 million - $2,086 per-screen). I had seen the line status for Signs ($20.9 million - $6,398 per-screen) as well for the 7:00 hour here and it would not surprise me if Day After Tomorrow nears that figure. With that in mind, a Friday gross in the range of $19.5 - 21.0 million is quite possible.

Though this movie didn?t play at the Village, this audience was very much like one of the good crowds you?d have there, as the enthusiasm level was fairly high. The show was sold out and the demographics ranged from early 20?s to mid 30?s, and the gender ratio was fairly even. There wasn?t much of a reaction when the lights dimmed, but some people were cheering on the digital projection display, as well as the Fox logo when the movie was starting.

The only preview we were shown was a newer edition of I, Robot, which played fairly silently but a light applause did spark afterwards. However, this crowd was very vocal in general, and when you see a big movie like Day After Tomorrow in Westwood, the audience is likely to respond to almost anything (and I?m not just saying that because I don?t want to see the movie?).

I think the general consensus amongst the crowd with Day After Tomorrow?s introduction was along the lines of Batman & Robin, but that seemed to improve over time (in terms of just accepting its quality). The crowd obviously thought the movie was cheesy as hell given their periodic eruptions of laughter at serious moments, but most people seemed to just have fun with it. With a slightly older demographic (or at a more typical theater) I?d bet that you?d have people simply sighing (or being humble about their opinions) rather than playing along with its stupidity.

As an example of the crowd?s willingness to have fun, there was an explosion of cheers when Jake Gyllenhaal and Emmy Rossum?s characters attempt to get warm while partly undressed in the library (which led to a barrage of laughter as well). In addition, the crowd roared into applause and cheers at the Mexico border bit. There was also a bombardment of laughter near the end when we see each character smiling in response to Dennis Quaid and Gyllenhaal?s moment.

If the general reaction to Day After Tomorrow is like the one I witnessed at this show, this movie could be in for some very strong turbulence after the big numbers come in this weekend. It comes off like a flick that most people will rush to immediately, and amongst that group a very decent quantity of people will probably not be strong supporters. I?m not sure if the movie?s holdup next week will be as harsh as that of The Hulk, but I think there is that possibility, however slight.