January
19
Weekend Boxoffice: Cloverfield is a HIT
My commercial instincts appear to be intact. The internet buzz was partly based on a sense that Cloverfield would be really good. And so it is. And so it opened HUGE, way beyond expectations. It's a young hip well-made 20-something-targeted movie, which plays for both boys and girls because it combines spectacular FX and thrills with a romantic relationship. And it wasn't too scary for me. Paramount has the J.J. Abrams hit they wanted, and a good start to what should be a robust 2008. Here's my column.
Paramount's monster movie "Cloverfield" smashed January box office records on Friday, chomping up $16.8 million from 3,411 theaters. Not only is that figure the highest opening day of all-time for the month, outstripping the $10.2 million posted by Sony-Screen Gems' "Underworld: Evolution" in 2006, it's also the top Friday for the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Previous Friday champ for the frame belonged to Sony-Revolution's "Black Hawk Down" which charted $9.9 million from its wide expansion in 2002.
Meanwhile Atonement is kicking ass at the b.o.:
Among Golden Globe winning-fare, best drama winner "Atonement" was buoyant at the Friday B.O. despite the lack of a kudocast raking in $1.3 million for a current cume of $28.4 million. The Focus Features period drama played in 1,291 locations, approximately 200 theaters shy of best musical winner "Sweeney Todd" which pulled in $776,000, down 26%, for a total domestic haul of $46.2 million.
I spoke to Focus Features James Schamus, who also wrote and released Ang Lee's strictly art-house performer Lust, Caution, at the In Bruges premiere party. He was fatigued with the awards season process; he was enjoying putting out an entertaining picture like In Bruges on February 6 without having to worry about whether the art directors liked it or not, he admitted.
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