- Review: John Wick 3 (C)
Scott Sycamore - Weekend Box Office
May 17 - 19 - Crowd Reports
Avengers: Endgame - Us
Box office comparisons - Review: Justice League (C)
Craig Younkin
Crowd Report: Wedding Crashers / Charlie...
By Lee Tistaert Published July 16, 2005
I haven?t seen this kind of attendance during the day since The Fast and the Furious ($15.2 million) broke out.
I went to a 4:10 showing of Wedding Crashers on Friday in a 420-seat theater and it was nearly sold out. I walked in at 4:15 expecting it to be half-filled at most and it was a struggle to find seats. I haven?t seen this kind of attendance during the day since The Fast and the Furious ($15.2 million - $5,790 per-screen) broke out (which was also in this auditorium and only on one screen).
Wedding Crashers is only on one screen at this theater, which suggested more of an American Wedding ($12.2 million - $3,855 per-screen) reception, but I doubt that movie was this crowded in the middle of the day. Crashers also seemed to sell out the 9:45 show more than an hour in advance if movietickets.com was telling the truth (if it wasn?t a glitch), which could put it in the same league as American Pie 2 in terms of theater average ($16.5 million - $5,380/screen).
Since I saw Be Cool and had been convinced of big numbers (up to $13 Friday) due to the surprise attendance, there is a chance I could be fooled once again. However, Be Cool takes place in Hollywood, and the theater I saw it at is not far from Hollywood, and so it was definitely a biased crowd report point of view (the same thing had happened with Collateral). If this crowd report proves to be universal, Wedding Crashers could near $40 million for the weekend.
The crowd was eating this one up from the start. Laughs were consistent throughout the show, though they faded at about an hour and a half through (when it turns into formulaic romantic comedy #4,052), and they picked up again nearing the end (and especially with the cameo). One gag that must have been at least half way through even induced applause. There were scattered claps when the movie ended, and most people were walking out very happy.
The trailer that won over the audience was The 40-Year Old Virgin. There were laughs when I saw it at Mr. and Mrs. Smith, as well as a few ?Oh my God? comments (mostly from young women reacting to the title), but here the reactions were bigger. When I saw 40-Year Old Virgin I was wondering how in the hell Universal was going to sell the movie given its reliance on raunchy material for laughs, but trailer reactions so far seem hopeful.
When I got out of Wedding Crashers, there was a line for the sold out 7:00 show of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in a 400-seat theater and the 8:00 in a 375 sold out soon thereafter. At first I was getting a Planet of the Apes ($24.6 million - $7,032/screen) per-screen average vibe, but Apes had sold out more in advance around town, and Charlie wasn?t selling out like crazy.
I saw Charlie at 10:00 at the Grauman?s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, which seats 1,150 people, and while there was a decent line (of 300 - 400 people) to get in, the theater didn?t completely fill up until the show started. I was trying to run comparisons through my mind (ranging from Charlie?s Angels 2 to War of the Worlds, which had both filled the theater a lot quicker), and figured out that Closer could be the best comparison (as odd as it sounds).
Charlie had gotten an odd theater booking around UCLA, which made me question its $50+ prospects (no movie other than the first Spider-Man has gotten over $48 million at that theater), but while sitting in Grauman?s I realized that Closer had gotten that same theater around UCLA. Closer had also sold out both evening shows at the theater that Charlie had sold out at. And once the Warner Bros. logo was shown (as the movie began) in a very Harry Potter-esque fashion, I figured $20+ Friday was in the bag. Charlie could be looking at a $22 million Friday (using Closer?s $5,822 average), which could give it slightly over $60 million for the weekend.
For what is the legendary theater of LA, the crowd wasn?t hyper as the lights dimmed or during most of the trailers, but the crowd at War of the Worlds wasn?t hyper either surprisingly. I?ve found this interesting over the last two visits because UCLA crowds in Westwood tend to be rowdy as hell (as they were at Batman Begins) at these movies, and it seems as if it?s slightly toned down in comparison at the Chinese if it?s not Star Wars or Matrix.
The Corpse Bride trailer was the only one to get a solid reaction from the audience, as there were many cheers when Johnny Depp?s name was shown at the beginning, and a light round of applause followed afterwards. However, I think the excitement to see Depp as Wonka about ten minutes later was most of the reason for the enthusiasm.
That theory proved to be fairly true, as while Charlie was getting a Potter-like reception as it played (easy rounds of laughter), the crowd lit up once Depp suddenly appeared. I even missed a few of his first onscreen lines because the crowd was laughing/clapping/cheering. As much excitement as there was in the room, the reaction still didn?t beat his entrance in Pirates. I have never heard so much cheering and applauding when a hero is shown as in that flick. Reactions were strong throughout (the crowd loved the Oompa Loompa?s?or should I say Oompa Loompa?), and the movie got a solid applause (and there was even some cheering) at the end. Cheers and applause afterwards? Yep, sounds like this definitely wasn?t a showing of Planet of the Apes.
Pictures of the Chinese:
http://www.leesmovieinfo.net/images1/Chinese3.jpg
http://www.leesmovieinfo.net/images1/Chinese4.jpg
http://www.leesmovieinfo.net/images1/Chinese5.jpg
http://www.timpetros.com/html/fsp19.html (circulate the room...)
Wedding Crashers is only on one screen at this theater, which suggested more of an American Wedding ($12.2 million - $3,855 per-screen) reception, but I doubt that movie was this crowded in the middle of the day. Crashers also seemed to sell out the 9:45 show more than an hour in advance if movietickets.com was telling the truth (if it wasn?t a glitch), which could put it in the same league as American Pie 2 in terms of theater average ($16.5 million - $5,380/screen).
Since I saw Be Cool and had been convinced of big numbers (up to $13 Friday) due to the surprise attendance, there is a chance I could be fooled once again. However, Be Cool takes place in Hollywood, and the theater I saw it at is not far from Hollywood, and so it was definitely a biased crowd report point of view (the same thing had happened with Collateral). If this crowd report proves to be universal, Wedding Crashers could near $40 million for the weekend.
The crowd was eating this one up from the start. Laughs were consistent throughout the show, though they faded at about an hour and a half through (when it turns into formulaic romantic comedy #4,052), and they picked up again nearing the end (and especially with the cameo). One gag that must have been at least half way through even induced applause. There were scattered claps when the movie ended, and most people were walking out very happy.
The trailer that won over the audience was The 40-Year Old Virgin. There were laughs when I saw it at Mr. and Mrs. Smith, as well as a few ?Oh my God? comments (mostly from young women reacting to the title), but here the reactions were bigger. When I saw 40-Year Old Virgin I was wondering how in the hell Universal was going to sell the movie given its reliance on raunchy material for laughs, but trailer reactions so far seem hopeful.
When I got out of Wedding Crashers, there was a line for the sold out 7:00 show of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in a 400-seat theater and the 8:00 in a 375 sold out soon thereafter. At first I was getting a Planet of the Apes ($24.6 million - $7,032/screen) per-screen average vibe, but Apes had sold out more in advance around town, and Charlie wasn?t selling out like crazy.
I saw Charlie at 10:00 at the Grauman?s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, which seats 1,150 people, and while there was a decent line (of 300 - 400 people) to get in, the theater didn?t completely fill up until the show started. I was trying to run comparisons through my mind (ranging from Charlie?s Angels 2 to War of the Worlds, which had both filled the theater a lot quicker), and figured out that Closer could be the best comparison (as odd as it sounds).
Charlie had gotten an odd theater booking around UCLA, which made me question its $50+ prospects (no movie other than the first Spider-Man has gotten over $48 million at that theater), but while sitting in Grauman?s I realized that Closer had gotten that same theater around UCLA. Closer had also sold out both evening shows at the theater that Charlie had sold out at. And once the Warner Bros. logo was shown (as the movie began) in a very Harry Potter-esque fashion, I figured $20+ Friday was in the bag. Charlie could be looking at a $22 million Friday (using Closer?s $5,822 average), which could give it slightly over $60 million for the weekend.
For what is the legendary theater of LA, the crowd wasn?t hyper as the lights dimmed or during most of the trailers, but the crowd at War of the Worlds wasn?t hyper either surprisingly. I?ve found this interesting over the last two visits because UCLA crowds in Westwood tend to be rowdy as hell (as they were at Batman Begins) at these movies, and it seems as if it?s slightly toned down in comparison at the Chinese if it?s not Star Wars or Matrix.
The Corpse Bride trailer was the only one to get a solid reaction from the audience, as there were many cheers when Johnny Depp?s name was shown at the beginning, and a light round of applause followed afterwards. However, I think the excitement to see Depp as Wonka about ten minutes later was most of the reason for the enthusiasm.
That theory proved to be fairly true, as while Charlie was getting a Potter-like reception as it played (easy rounds of laughter), the crowd lit up once Depp suddenly appeared. I even missed a few of his first onscreen lines because the crowd was laughing/clapping/cheering. As much excitement as there was in the room, the reaction still didn?t beat his entrance in Pirates. I have never heard so much cheering and applauding when a hero is shown as in that flick. Reactions were strong throughout (the crowd loved the Oompa Loompa?s?or should I say Oompa Loompa?), and the movie got a solid applause (and there was even some cheering) at the end. Cheers and applause afterwards? Yep, sounds like this definitely wasn?t a showing of Planet of the Apes.
Pictures of the Chinese:
http://www.leesmovieinfo.net/images1/Chinese3.jpg
http://www.leesmovieinfo.net/images1/Chinese4.jpg
http://www.leesmovieinfo.net/images1/Chinese5.jpg
http://www.timpetros.com/html/fsp19.html (circulate the room...)
'Wedding Crashers' Articles
- Scott's Wedding Crashers review C+
July 21, 2005 I liked the freewheeling energy that both actors brought to the film. Unfortunately, this gets sapped away by the lovey-dovey pap that devours the second and third act. -- Scott Sycamore
