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I attended the 10:00 pm show on opening
night, with the show having been sold out
by around 8:50. For the most part, the
crowd situation looked like it could
possibly translate to around $19 - 22
million for Friday. I had seen Signs here
opening night at 10:30, and the scenario
was relatively similar.
(Update: Though I'm noting this after the
official Friday estimates have been
released, I had forgotten to realize that
in a way, the crowd situation was a bit
like opening night at Anger Management in
Westwood - the line had formed sort of at
the last minute, compared to the rush
factor that larger films tend to get, in
terms of people waiting in line longer
than just 25 - 30 minutes. Along with
that, I had seen Fellowship of the Ring in
my second viewing at the Chinese on
December 26 {2001), of which it grossed
$14.0 million on that date.)
The theater is said to carry somewhere
around 1,200 people (a significant
downgrade from the previously reported
2,200 in other articles on this site), and
with the charisma in the room once the
line around the block was let in, you
could just tell this was going to be one
bustling audience. And for a movie like
this, that's exactly what you want.
The crowd was mostly made up of 20 - 30
year olds, most of which looked as if they
were there for a fun time and nothing
more. The lights dimmed to some cheering
and claps, with the first trailer being
American Wedding. A lot of laughs followed
with a few gags, along with a barrage of "Ooooooh!"
reactions. For those who've seen the ad,
you can presume where this was heard.
Interest was definitely high for this, but
not quite the peak of reactions.
Following in its
path was Bad Boys 2 (the most recent
version), which got a lot of cheering and
clapping with Will Smith and Martin
Lawrence's first appearances. The trailer
ended to additional enthusiasm, but
nothing earth shattering.
Third up was a
skateboarding flick entitled Grind, which
looks close to utterly pointless and got
more or less that response from the crowd.
No real boo-ing, but the reception was
definitely not friendly.
Next was The League
of Extraordinary Gentleman, which withdrew
a short cheer or two at the load-up but
that was it. The preview concluded to
mostly silence.
Tomb Raider 2 was up
next. There was some slight cheers and
claps when Angelina Jolie's voice was
first heard, and a little more when she
was officially shown, but outside of that,
the audience seemed unimpressed with the
trailer. The preview was left to silence
at the end.
Concluding the round
of trailers was SWAT, which received a
handful of cheers and applause once Colin
Farrell appeared, followed by the same
relative reaction when the preview ended.
Though Bad Boys II was really well
responded to, this and it were pretty
close in the enthusiasm level. It seemed
as if the crowd could've gone for any one
of these two movies in a heartbeat.
Though a sold out
show to a big movie like this on opening
night at the Chinese is expected to bring
a responsive audience, the crowd was
indeed sincerely enthusiastic throughout
Charlie's Angels. Claps and cheers
followed when the angels were first seen,
and a full blown applause set off when the
title finally hit the screen.
Though there were
times it was questionable whether
moviegoers were having a good time or not
(especially since unintentional giggles
were being dealt with here and there), the
rate of claps, laughs, and cheers during
the movie pretty much answered that
mystery, let alone the large ovation the
film got when it ended. Just like my
opinion of the film, it looked as if, to
the audience, like it had its share of
problems, but they were looking to look
past those details for the most part. |
