Poseidon: Booking Comparisons

I usually do this research every week, but I decided to post it this time considering this movie is driving me nuts. I have been skeptical about the box office prospects for Poseidon from the very beginning, and thought WB's poster art of the ship sinking was a potential foreshadowing of its performance.

WB put together two rather eventful trailers for the film, but Poseidon has little star-power and only director-reputation for Wolfgang Petersen. In Westwood (where theaters are pretty reliable sources) Troy, The Perfect Storm and Titanic had all gotten booked at the biggest single screen theater, The Village (1300 seats). Poseidon is getting the third biggest venue with 700 seats (the Bruin), which is usually reserved for movies coming off of their Village runs.

No blockbuster to my knowledge has ever premiered here, as action movies of this caliber (and especially those from Warner Bros.) are usually booked at the Village. To my knowledge, the biggest grossing movie the Bruin has ever played was My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Below I've included the booking comparisons for this theater. Theater counts are listed beside the titles, followed by the daily grosses and per-screen averages below, and the three-day grosses and three-day averages. Obviously the three kids movies at the bottom have been the only ones that have grossed substantial amounts, though Westwood still didn't play very well with them.

Should this theater pull a miraculous run with Poseidon, I will be fooled, but this booking is one of my biggest pieces of evidence of a potential box office disappointment.

Update (Mon. May 8): The theater chain in Westwood is pulling an unusual booking move for Poseidon, putting it at the Bruin as well as the National for a grand total of 1,800 seats. The only similar move that has occurred in the past was when Prizoner of Azkaban was booked at the Village as well as the Bruin. It's kind of looking like Westwood is desperate to book films.

Early reports indicate that tracking is running poorly for the disaster flick, and even though it has this strange double booking arrangement, the National doesn't exactly have blockbuster status either. I've attached the comparisons for this theater below the previously posted Bruin comparisons.

Bruin

Mystic River 1467
$3.3 $4.4 $2.8 $10.5
$2,237 $3,006 $1,875 $7,118

Elizabethtown 2517
$4.1 $4.3 $2.3 $10.6
$1,609 $1,710 $899 $4,218

The Punisher 2649
$5.2 $5.2 $3.5 $13.8
$1,955 $1,958 $1,309 $5,222

The Sentinel 2819
$4.8 $6.2 $3.4 $14.4
$1,704 $2,198 $1,195 $5,097

The Green Mile 2875
$5.7 $7.6 $4.5 $17.8
$2,000 $2,651 $1,582 $6,233

Swordfish 2678
$5.8 $7.3 $5.1 $18.1
$2,180 $2,734 $1,902 $6,816

Kingdom of Heaven 3216
$7.1 $7.3 $5.2 $19.6
$2,223 $2,258 $1,625 $6,106

Insomnia 2610
$6.0 $7.8 $7.1 $20.9
$2,314 $2,986 $2,720 $8,020

The Stepford Wives 3057
$7.9 $8.1 $5.4 $21.4
$2,576 $2,654 $1,773 $7,003

When a Stranger Calls 2999
$9.0 $9.8 $2.8 $21.6
$3,005 $3,274 $926 $7,205

Shallow Hal 2771
$7.4 $9.3 $6.1 $22.5
$2,678 $3,338 $2,194 $8,210

Me, Myself & Irene 3019
$7.8 $9.2 $7.2 $24.2
$2,588 $3,037 $2,394 $8,019

Failure to Launch 3057
$8.5 $10.3 $5.6 $24.4
$2,785 $3,363 $1,838 $7,986

Dr. Dolittle 2777
$9.7 $11.2 $8.2 $29.0
$3,488 $4,022 $2,969 $10,479

Spy Kids 3 3344
$12.1 $11.8 $9.4 $33.4
$3,632 $3,543 $2,818 $9,993

Ice Age 3316
$13.5 $19.2 $13.6 $46.3
$4,062 $5,802 $4,102 $13,966

National

House of Wax 3111
$4.9 $4.5 $2.7 $12.1
$1,560 $1,456 $866 $3,882

The Core 3017
$4.0 $5.0 $3.1 $12.1
$1,318 $1,662 $1,015 $3,995

Star Trek: Nemesis 2711
$7.7 $6.6 $4.2 $18.5
$2,852 $2,425 $1,551 $6,828

Sin City 3230
$11.8 $10.2 $7.1 $29.1
$3,659 $3,160 $2,196 $9,015

Dukes of Hazzard 3785
$12.6 $10.0 $8.1 $30.7
$3,341 $2,634 $2,129 $8,104

Charlie's Angels 2 3459
$14.6 $13.0 $10.0 $37.6
$4,224 $3,760 $2,896 $10,880

The Longest Yard 3634
$16.2 $17.3 $14.1 $47.6
$4,454 $4,760 $3,886 $13,100