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Crowd Report: "I Heart Huckabees"
By Lee Tistaert Published October 2, 2004
I figure this theater probably made around $10 - 15,000 on Friday with this movie, and if that earning is universal with the 3 other theaters, Huckabees is probably looking at a weekend average north of $30,000.
David O. Russell?s previous limited release film, Flirting with Disaster, debuted to $165,000 in 7 theaters for a $23,494 average, and Rushmore (which featured Jason Schwartzman) raked in $44,000 in 2 theaters for a $22,000 average. I figured Russell?s new entry, I Heart Huckabees, would be in similar territory this weekend (average wise), but when taking a peek into its packed late afternoon showing on Friday, it seemed like this had bigger potential.
The audience at the 4:15 screening also looked like a very demanding crowd (intellectuals), mostly 50+ aged filmgoers, somewhat similar to the crowd I saw heading into the 4:00 show of The Royal Tenenbaums on its opening day. The earlier show for Huckabees in this auditorium (300 seats or so) was about half filled (I also peeked into that one), which was quite an impressive turnout. On Tenenbaums? opening day I saw the 1:00 show let out (that auditorium seats around 375 people) and it was a full house; Huckabees wasn?t looking as impressive, but that?s also comparing to a $55,000 per-screen average.
It?s also interesting to see the difference in demographics at these various showtimes. That 1:00 show for Tenenbaums was dominantly 20 - 30-year olds (presumably loyal Wes Anderson fans), then the 4:00 skewed much older, and the 7:30 show I attended on its Saturday night was mostly 30 - 45. Similarly, Huckabees went from an older crowd in the afternoon, to the 1:00 Tenenbaums type of crowd at the 9:30 show (the screening I attended).
It seemed like a very hip, young crowd, and my guess was that many of these people were big Schwartzman fans. That guess turned out to be fairly accurate considering Schwartzman has the first bit of dialogue in the movie, cussing, and people were already jazzed about him just cussing. I guess his performance in Rushmore really was cherished by a lot of people.
Until the evening, this theater had Huckabees in two 300-ish seat auditoriums, but then bumped one of the prints to the biggest room with 420 seats, for the 7:00 and 9:30 shows. I?m not sure about the 7:00 status, but the 7:45 sold out about ten minutes early, and the 9:30 show was sold out by at least 9:10 (that?s when I noticed).
I figure this theater probably made around $10 - 15,000 on Friday with this movie, and if that earning is universal with the 3 other theaters it?s playing at, Huckabees is probably looking at a weekend average north of $30,000, but I?m not sure by how much. Saturday could see a nice boost and Sunday is traditionally larger than Friday for limited release films (the early/late afternoon shows get more business with people off from work).
In comparison, I saw Napoleon Dynamite on opening night in a 400-seat auditorium at 10:00, and you could still buy tickets twenty minutes beforehand (the show was still packed eventually). There was also a moderate line to get in for that, but the line for the 9:30 Huckabees stretched down the street, which is usually a ?big? sign. Napoleon averaged nearly $7,000 on opening day and I doubt its earlier shows there were as well attended as the 10:00, which is probably to be expected with a core audience of 18 - 30-year olds.
Trailers:
Sideways
- Played silently. Being a fan of Election and About Schmidt, it feels like Alexander Payne isn?t quite himself here. You?ve got one commercially appealing actor (as far as art films go) and nobody else, and a story that could be run-of-the-mill depending on what Payne does with it. The ad also lacks the wit and spark that his two previous movies offered in the advertising; I?d say a low-$10,000 range weekend average could be in gear for this one, with an outside shot of nearly $20,000.
Surviving Christmas
- A few chuckles, but it felt like most people were still waiting for Affleck to do a ?good? movie. The first trailer for this at Collateral received a much better reaction from that audience.
Bridget Jones
- Played best with the women in the room (not surprisingly) ? some laughs, but not a lot. If you ask me this sequel looks like it?s treading the exact same waters as the first (and I even liked the original) ? in other words, is a sequel really needed? But yeah, that?s like being a guy and saying Legally Blonde 2 looks intolerable: the opinion probably doesn?t matter as far as ticket sales go.
Winter Passing
- Will Ferrell picked up a few chuckles and the audience seemed to respond to this ad the most.
There was at least one other trailer, but the title doesn?t come to mind (probably not a good sign).
As for I Heart Huckabees, this is one of the strangest films I?ve seen in recent time. My friend even turned to me right as the end credits rolled and asked what the hell the movie was about, and after a moment of thought I couldn?t even answer it. And yet even with the deep confusion I was engulfed in throughout its running time, I was always there, intrigued, going along with the show, which is exactly what I love about these types of films.
One film Huckabees did remind me of in terms of being very weird and quirky is Being John Malkovich. I liked that film a bit more, but there seemed to be parallel tones and both are really ?out there? stories. However, after a little discussion with my friend afterwards, things were starting to get a little clearer regarding this film, though there are probably things I still don?t get.
The audience seemed to really dig the flick and they ate up every moment of which Mark Wahlberg had screen time (who might be the highlight performance of the movie); one of his moments sparked faint claps from some people, and another drew a light applause.
Afterwards, the film got the exact same reaction as Napoleon Dynamite: there was a solid applause and some people were even cheering. However, I don?t think Huckabees is going to fair as well outside of the limited release markets as Napoleon has, even though I really didn?t see Napoleon?s mainstream success coming either. This one?s a lot weirder, and not everyone likes weird films: I bet there are going to be people who think this film is a confused mess. Similarly, my friend, despite being amused occasionally, didn?t really like the film in general for that very reason: if asked about the story by other people, he wouldn?t even know where to begin.
The audience at the 4:15 screening also looked like a very demanding crowd (intellectuals), mostly 50+ aged filmgoers, somewhat similar to the crowd I saw heading into the 4:00 show of The Royal Tenenbaums on its opening day. The earlier show for Huckabees in this auditorium (300 seats or so) was about half filled (I also peeked into that one), which was quite an impressive turnout. On Tenenbaums? opening day I saw the 1:00 show let out (that auditorium seats around 375 people) and it was a full house; Huckabees wasn?t looking as impressive, but that?s also comparing to a $55,000 per-screen average.
It?s also interesting to see the difference in demographics at these various showtimes. That 1:00 show for Tenenbaums was dominantly 20 - 30-year olds (presumably loyal Wes Anderson fans), then the 4:00 skewed much older, and the 7:30 show I attended on its Saturday night was mostly 30 - 45. Similarly, Huckabees went from an older crowd in the afternoon, to the 1:00 Tenenbaums type of crowd at the 9:30 show (the screening I attended).
It seemed like a very hip, young crowd, and my guess was that many of these people were big Schwartzman fans. That guess turned out to be fairly accurate considering Schwartzman has the first bit of dialogue in the movie, cussing, and people were already jazzed about him just cussing. I guess his performance in Rushmore really was cherished by a lot of people.
Until the evening, this theater had Huckabees in two 300-ish seat auditoriums, but then bumped one of the prints to the biggest room with 420 seats, for the 7:00 and 9:30 shows. I?m not sure about the 7:00 status, but the 7:45 sold out about ten minutes early, and the 9:30 show was sold out by at least 9:10 (that?s when I noticed).
I figure this theater probably made around $10 - 15,000 on Friday with this movie, and if that earning is universal with the 3 other theaters it?s playing at, Huckabees is probably looking at a weekend average north of $30,000, but I?m not sure by how much. Saturday could see a nice boost and Sunday is traditionally larger than Friday for limited release films (the early/late afternoon shows get more business with people off from work).
In comparison, I saw Napoleon Dynamite on opening night in a 400-seat auditorium at 10:00, and you could still buy tickets twenty minutes beforehand (the show was still packed eventually). There was also a moderate line to get in for that, but the line for the 9:30 Huckabees stretched down the street, which is usually a ?big? sign. Napoleon averaged nearly $7,000 on opening day and I doubt its earlier shows there were as well attended as the 10:00, which is probably to be expected with a core audience of 18 - 30-year olds.
Trailers:
Sideways
- Played silently. Being a fan of Election and About Schmidt, it feels like Alexander Payne isn?t quite himself here. You?ve got one commercially appealing actor (as far as art films go) and nobody else, and a story that could be run-of-the-mill depending on what Payne does with it. The ad also lacks the wit and spark that his two previous movies offered in the advertising; I?d say a low-$10,000 range weekend average could be in gear for this one, with an outside shot of nearly $20,000.
Surviving Christmas
- A few chuckles, but it felt like most people were still waiting for Affleck to do a ?good? movie. The first trailer for this at Collateral received a much better reaction from that audience.
Bridget Jones
- Played best with the women in the room (not surprisingly) ? some laughs, but not a lot. If you ask me this sequel looks like it?s treading the exact same waters as the first (and I even liked the original) ? in other words, is a sequel really needed? But yeah, that?s like being a guy and saying Legally Blonde 2 looks intolerable: the opinion probably doesn?t matter as far as ticket sales go.
Winter Passing
- Will Ferrell picked up a few chuckles and the audience seemed to respond to this ad the most.
There was at least one other trailer, but the title doesn?t come to mind (probably not a good sign).
As for I Heart Huckabees, this is one of the strangest films I?ve seen in recent time. My friend even turned to me right as the end credits rolled and asked what the hell the movie was about, and after a moment of thought I couldn?t even answer it. And yet even with the deep confusion I was engulfed in throughout its running time, I was always there, intrigued, going along with the show, which is exactly what I love about these types of films.
One film Huckabees did remind me of in terms of being very weird and quirky is Being John Malkovich. I liked that film a bit more, but there seemed to be parallel tones and both are really ?out there? stories. However, after a little discussion with my friend afterwards, things were starting to get a little clearer regarding this film, though there are probably things I still don?t get.
The audience seemed to really dig the flick and they ate up every moment of which Mark Wahlberg had screen time (who might be the highlight performance of the movie); one of his moments sparked faint claps from some people, and another drew a light applause.
Afterwards, the film got the exact same reaction as Napoleon Dynamite: there was a solid applause and some people were even cheering. However, I don?t think Huckabees is going to fair as well outside of the limited release markets as Napoleon has, even though I really didn?t see Napoleon?s mainstream success coming either. This one?s a lot weirder, and not everyone likes weird films: I bet there are going to be people who think this film is a confused mess. Similarly, my friend, despite being amused occasionally, didn?t really like the film in general for that very reason: if asked about the story by other people, he wouldn?t even know where to begin.
'I Heart Huckabees' Articles
- Lee's I Heart Huckabees DVD review B+
March 7, 2005 These are the kinds of films I tend to like the most: You try and take everything in the first time, but discover different things in each viewing. -- Lee Tistaert
