Crowd Report: "Anchorman"

What was starting to make me question Anchorman?s box office potential before the weekend was that despite its hard-to-miss ad-campaign over the last several months, there are very few theaters in town that have booked it on more than one screen. And considering that Elf had propelled Will Ferrell up to a big marquee name status (after Old School put him on the map), it seemed like you would sell out a pretty good number of screens with this film?s setup.

When I saw the teaser trailer for Anchorman in front of The Girl Next Door with a packed crowd, half the audience had cheered at the first sight of Ferrell and the preview had barely even begun. This was very similar to how an audience had responded to the first sighting of Jim Carrey during the Bruce Almighty teaser at The Two Towers; the response to Carrey was louder, but Ferrell had nevertheless controlled the room. I also heard that the newer preview for Anchorman was shown in front of many prints of Dodgeball, and that crowds went nuts for it. So when I started noticing the theater booking choices made for Anchorman in LA, it made me wonder.

The theater booking status around here is about in line with American Wedding (and Fred Willard happens to co-star in both comedies), which had pulled a $12.2 million opening day gross, for a $3,855 per-screen average, and a $33.4 million weekend. That comedy series had lost some interest by that point and depending on who you ask, the story was running on empty even with the first sequel (I liked it, but I can understand the complaints). And American Wedding had also ditched most of its female cast from previously, which couldn?t have been a solid move.

At the theater I was going to for Anchorman (AMC Century 14), Dodgeball had only one screen as well when it debuted and that pulled a $11.3 million opening day, for a $4,205 average. Most movies that scored a higher per-screen average than those two movies had an average of two screens per theater in town, which includes S.W.A.T. ($4,242), Anger Management ($4,330), Daredevil ($4,414), and more relevant to my weekend forecast, Scary Movie ($5,164) and Scary Movie 3 ($5,315).

An exception at a local theater (in Santa Monica) with only one screen booked has been The Fast and the Furious, which grossed $15.2 million and a killer $5,790 per-screen average. I remember attending the 2:30 show on opening day there and the 420-seat room was absolutely packed, which is one of the biggest box office surprises I?ve ever had. Bruce Almighty had a per-screen average like that and most theaters in town had more than one screen.

When I got to the multiplex at 9:40 for Anchorman (for the 10:30 show) on Friday night, there was a line to get in but this was not a Bruce Almighty-like line, and it wasn?t even a big line ? the line was similar to American Wedding?s status. And with the view I had of the theater marquee from in line, Anchorman hadn?t even sold out by 10:00, which was starting to make me think that this movie might not actually hit $40 million for the weekend.

This show was eventually sold out, but the 432-seat auditorium wasn?t even completely full until the lights dimmed, which had also been the case at The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ($10.6 million - $3,509 per-screen) on opening night (minus the line). Once Anchorman started, the movie itself was even making me think that a high $3,000 average was looking like a pretty good Friday possibility (I have a belief that you can sometimes get a box office vibe from simply watching a film).

Once the movie got further and further along, though, Anchorman was starting to feel big to me, and despite the crowd details already noted I could actually see a $5,000ish average happening. This may come off a little biased given my Friday prediction before the weekend, but there were many times when the movie?s style and pace, and the rate at which the audience was bursting out laughing that Anchorman felt like a $40+ movie.

Though the audience at American Wedding did laugh during the movie, their laughing rate was nothing like it was here, and Anchorman did not come off as cheap in terms of chugging along on a nothing plot. And at this theater and in Santa Monica for Anchorman, the 7:00 show at each venue had sold out in advance, which didn?t happen with American Wedding. A good question is why my 10:30 didn?t sell out early, given that the 10:00 hour for a movie like this is usually bustling.

The audience age ranged from early 20?s to mid 30?s (but dominantly 20?s), and the gender ratio was about even; this is about the description of every crowd report I do, but the conditions are usually similar.

The first trailer was Mr. 3000, which played to silence.

The new trailer for Collateral was next, which didn?t get much of a reaction either. I don?t know if it?s just me, but this movie looked like a tame version of Phone Booth from the first preview (it still seemed like it could be an okay movie), and now it?s starting to look pretty dumb. I think Tom Cruise is an overrated actor to begin with (my favorite performances of his, in order, are Magnolia, Jerry Maguire, and Eyes Wide Shut, but not much else has wowed me), but him as a killer just doesn?t sell me from these clips.

Wimbledon?s trailer was next, and there were a few snickers when Kirsten Dunst was first shown, but the trailer got a ho-hum response.

Catwoman followed, and many people seemed to know what the trailer was from the start. Someone booed partway through and there was a slight backlash when the ad finished, but it was a pretty tame reaction. Century City isn?t Westwood (like when my Spider-Man 2 crowd booed Catwoman off the stage) in terms of audience reactions, so moviegoers here aren?t as compelled to freely voice their opinions aloud.

The trailer for Taxi was next and there were some laughs at a few spots, but for a Jimmy Fallon comedy I think this audience expected a bit more.

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle followed, and there were a few cheers at the first sight of John Cho, and it didn?t take long before the ad won over the majority of the crowd (it also felt like many people knew what this movie was). There were quite a few laughs throughout the ad, and this was obviously the clear favorite by far from the trailer lineup.

The teaser for The Grudge finished off the lineup, and there were many wisecracks going around about Sarah Michelle Gellar. The general reaction afterwards was pretty much ?who cares??

The audience loved Anchorman, but the big laughs didn?t come right away. There were chuckles during the opening credits and the beginning of the movie, but as the running time progressed the laughter outbursts were getting larger. The first three cameos got light but good reactions (Vince Vaughn retrieved the biggest reaction of those three), but there was a light applause when the whole gang of cameos appear in the third act. The audience didn?t applaud at the end of the movie, but it was clear that most people were fulfilled.

Going into Anchorman I suspected that it might be like Bruce Almighty in that you watch it with an excited opening night crowd and you dig it, but then looking back at it afterwards you realize it wasn?t that great. On opening night I had a really good crowd for Bruce and I thought the movie was funny; I ended up seeing it again two days later because of who I was with that day and neither the audience nor I laughed that much, and my appreciation wasn't as strong.

I didn't think Bruce Almighty was Ace Ventura 2-mediocre, but it could've been the funniest Jim Carrey movie if written right, outdoing Dumb & Dumber and the first Ace Ventura. Bruce Almighty and Anchorman are also similar in that don?t-screw-it-up manner, as each has an ideal story setup for an ideal actor, and the results could sparkle if executed properly. I felt that even with Bruce?s amusing moments, not a whole lot was done with the story, and it was actually more of a formulaic romantic comedy / chick flick in disguise than what was promised.

However, with Anchorman that wasn?t the case at all. This had the danger of a one-joke premise, but I felt Ferrell took full advantage of the joke (considering he co-write, which was another good sign for its potential quality) and made for a pretty funny one-joke movie. He?s not alone in terms of why this movie is funny, as the ensemble of comedians all have their moments, but his ability to be a complete idiot but lovable at the same time carries the movie.

As for an opening day prediction, I think it?s either going to land at roughly $12.0 million or around $15.5 million (which is more or less what the argument was before the weekend). If the former occurs, Spider-Man 2 is going to have a pretty good chance at topping it for the weekend. If Anchorman is as big as it had potential to be, its recent marketing tactic of taking down Spider-Man (with Ferrell in-character even projecting that box office outcome in commercials) will not only be one of the more amusing last-minute tactics, but one of the coolest.