2014 02 07 – The LEGO Movie, The Monuments Men, Vampire Academy

The last weekend was slow and not interesting. This weekend promises more fun: three movies for three different audiences, audiences somewhat alienated this year so far.

This weekend we have three openings.

WEDNESDAY:  My shots per theater!

FRIDAY:  All shots!

MONDAY:  Official numbers!

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EVEN IN A MOVIE LIKE THIS, BATMAN IS WAY COOLER THAN SUPERMAN

This one, The LEGO Movie, is an adventure PG movie, from Warner Bros.

Sorry, this movie looks like a cheap try to get money from kids and parents to moviemakers. There is no tension, no adversary, no interesting lead character. Cameos from Batman and Morgan Freeman as Gandalf the White made me smile, but they can't handle the whole movie.

Unfortunately, for my sense of life balance, this movie can succeed in its mission. $ 10,000 per theater mark is out of the question, but a solid $ 8000+ per theater (Epic, Cloudy 2, Puss in Boots) is reachable.

Shots:

$ 69,05 mln  --  the official weekend number of the movie  (3775 theaters, $ 18,291 per theater)
$ 68 mln  --  Ray Subers, BoxOfficeMojo
$ 62,4 mln  --  Damon Houx, ScreenCrave
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$ 57 mln  --  Gitesh Pandya, BoxOfficeGuru
$ 55 mln  --  Perri Nemiroff, Shockya
$ 53 mln  --  C.S. Strowbridge, The-Numbers
$ 53 mln  --  Box Office team
$ 48,5 mln  --  Mitch Metcalf, ShowBuzzDaily
$ 48 mln  --  Sensei White Lotus, BreitBart
$ 47,5 mln  --  Laremy Legel, RopeOfSilicon
$ 47,5 mln  --  Edward Douglas, ComingSoon
$ 44 mln  --  ThisIsNotMyName, BoxOfficePredictionsOnline
$ 40 mln  --  Andy Burns, BiffBamPop
$ 35 mln  --  SaberToothDragon, BoxOfficeFrontier
$ 32,09 mln  --  Mario Ludwinski, USBOPredictions2014  (3775 theaters, $ 8500 per theater)

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HOW MANY WORDS DID BILL MURRAY TELL IN THE TRAILER?

This one, The Monuments Men, is a drama PG-13 movie, from Sony.

This movie bears the same issues as the one above: there is no sense of danger for characters. Actors displayed on the poster fight Nazis, but in the trailer there is hardly any shot of actual fight with Hitler's soldiers. Explosions, war planes (no bombs, though), landing on a beach (yawn): all war cliches got checked. If only there was a general brimmed with hate towards paintings, because in his youth some Austrian street painter tried to harass buy him an ice cream... This movie could be awesome, but it looks ordinary.

Shots:

$ 22,8 mln  --  Edward Douglas, ComingSoon
$ 22 mln  --  the official weekend number of the movie  (3083 theaters, $ 7137 per theater)
$ 21 mln  --  SaberToothDragon, BoxOfficeFrontier
$ 20,5 mln  --  Box Office team
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$ 19 mln  --  C.S. Strowbridge, The-Numbers
$ 19 mln  --  Mitch Metcalf, ShowBuzzDaily
$ 19 mln  --  Andy Burns, BiffBamPop
$ 18,5 mln  --  Ray Subers, BoxOfficeMojo
$ 18 mln  --  Sensei White Lotus, BreitBart
$ 18 mln  --  Perri Nemiroff, Shockya
$ 16,8 mln  --  Laremy Legel, RopeOfSilicon
$ 16,34 mln  --  Mario Ludwinski, USBOPredictions2014  (3083 theaters, $ 5300 per theater)
$ 16 mln  --  Gitesh Pandya, BoxOfficeGuru
$ 15,5 mln  --  Damon Houx, ScreenCrave
$ 15 mln  --  ThisIsNotMyName, BoxOfficePredictionsOnline

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IF YOU'RE A GIRL WHO GREW UP ON MONSTER HIGH -- THIS IS LEVEL TWO

This one, Vampire Academy, is a drama PG-13 movie, from Weinstein.

The uber-motif of this weekend is: missed chances. All three movies could be really a sweet entertaining, but all of them didn't get to the promised land of cinema fun. This one has the same symptoms -- no adversary -- and on top of that, its genre is totally wrong.

Official statement tells it is a drama movie. The trailer screams: comedy. A sassy heroine who is human joins a school of vampires: not so typical fish-out-of-the-water scenario! Sure, there are some teen disturbing images (woman in bikini, biting on a neck), but I bet it is not worse than reality show about teen moms. Jokes are fast and snappy, fight scenes look cool enough, all heroes are attractive enough.

Last year we got Warm Bodies, a movie that tried to blend horror and comedy. I liked it from the trailer. Here I don't have as warm feelings, but I think the money per theater will be on a similar level.

Shots:

$ 18 mln  --  SaberToothDragon, BoxOfficeFrontier
$ 17,66 mln  --  Mario Ludwinski, USBOPredictions2014  (2676 theaters, $ 6600 per theater)
$ 16 mln  --  Perri Nemiroff, Shockya
$ 10,2 mln  --  Edward Douglas, ComingSoon
$ 9 mln  --  Gitesh Pandya, BoxOfficeGuru
$ 8,8 mln  --  Laremy Legel, RopeOfSilicon
$ 8,5 mln  --  Mitch Metcalf, ShowBuzzDaily
$ 8 mln  --  C.S. Strowbridge, The-Numbers
$ 7,5 mln  --  Damon Houx, ScreenCrave
$ 7,4 mln  --  Sensei White Lotus, BreitBart
$ 6,8 mln  --  Ray Subers, BoxOfficeMojo
$ 6,6 mln  --  Box Office team
$ 6 mln  --  Andy Burns, BiffBamPop
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$ 3,92 mln  --  the official weekend number of the movie  (2676 theaters, $ 1466 per theater)

ThisIsNotMyName, BoxOfficePredictionsOnline, didn't post his shot for this one.

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