My 2008 album begins in Utah and ends in (or near) hell. Whether you think the distance between the starting point and the destination is a lot of territory or not much, we do get to travel pretty far afield. There’s sunny California with the Botticellis, lovely inner-city Baltimore with DoMaJe, Iraq with the estimable Danny Elfman, and someplace sublimely absurd with Flight of the Conchords.
Earlier this month, I noted that no 10th-place-gross movie has ever won the Box Office Power Rankings title. That’s still true. But Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire – which expanded to 589 sites this past weekend and landed in eighth place in overall box office – could have finished in last place and still won this week’s crown.
Roger Ebert, in his December 17 “Answer Man” column, quoted this essay on Magnolia. Also: Ebert’s November 27 “Great Movies” essay on Magnolia.
If you’ve heard of the animated Delgo, it’s most likely for its infamy. Opening this past weekend in 2,160 theaters, it barely grossed $500,000. Its per-theater revenue was $237, meaning that with an average ticket price of $7 and five screenings per day, a little more than two people showed up each time the movie was exhibited. Box Office Mojo notes that Delgo had the worst wide opening since at least 1982. The chart indicates that if you open in 2,000 or or more theaters, $2 million in ticket sales are pretty much guaranteed. So something went horribly wrong with Delgo.
Let’s break this down like a logic puzzle. Iron Man is a better beginning-to-end movie than The Dark Knight or Hancock. The Dark Knight’s best scenes and moments are easily superior to anything in the other two movies. So which did I like best, and find the most affecting? Hancock, of course.
Cadillac Records opened this past weekend with a respectable $5,023 per theater and got good reviews. It came in second place in this week’s Box Office Power Rankings behind only three-time winner Bolt, the unstoppable force that nobody cares about. But because it was only in 686 theaters, it couldn’t make a box-office splash, earning $3.4 million overall and landing in ninth place. And because it was in 686 threaters, it was too big to be one of those only-in-major-cities movies that generate buzz and huge per-theater numbers. (Think Milk.) If you believe (as I do) that perception plays a role in long-term performance, Sony/Columbia has done Cadillac Records a major disservice.
No movie has ever won the Box Office Power Rankings with a 10th-place finish in overall ticket sales. It’s certainly possible, but a film has to be perfect or nearly so in every other category to pull it off. In just 36 venues, Gus Van Sant’s Milk actually was perfect in every other category – tops in per-theater average and in both critical measures. And the bio-pic about gay-rights icon Harvey Milk still lost. Put simply, when you start by losing nine points off the maximum 40 at the outset, you need some help to come out on top, and Milk didn’t get much. —–
POOP:
Box Office Power Rankings: November 28-30, 2008