2014 08 01 – Get On Up, Guardians of the Galaxy

A slow summer season of 2014 is slowly coming to an end. Previous years thrilled us with weekends with all openings going over $ 120-130 mln. This year the best we've got was $ 106,52 mln (22 Jump Street, How to Train Your Dragon 2) and $ 105,11 mln (Blended, X-Men: Days of Future Past). That's it. Any of the four weeks ahead won't cross $ 100 mln total sum of all openings. There are just not enough quality movies. In the four weeks we will get Guardians of the Galaxy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Expendables 3, Sin City: A Dame for the Kill. As a single movies, they will do okay (Sin City aside, since it's an R-rated movie). The rest is a filler, though. They dream about high teens on their openings.

Critics may criticize all they want, but are wrong: comic-book movies are of now a driving force for movie business. Theaters's halls would be bleak, unfriendly places without big, colorful, adventureous posters of men and women in costumes. So maybe it is a good thing to acknowledge their value, from time to time? You don't have to save your enthusiasm until the next year's The Avengers: Age of Ultron (yes, it will break all records known to mankind). You can, you know, get hooked on a feeling...

This weekend we have two openings.

FRIDAY: All shots!

MONDAY: Official numbers!

-----------------------------------------------

IT'S LIKE FIFTY SHADES OF GREY FOR 50+ WOMEN

This movie, Get On Up, is a drama PG-13 movie, from Universal.

Biography movies tend to be emotional. In interviews producers tell they want to show fans the persons behind the name, the music, the game, the works. They are the smart ones. The not-so-smart ones bubble about drama, tough choices, sacrifices. My question is: why?

In football/soccer I love team dynamics and creativity born in split seconds. In music I love melodies and rhythms. In movies I love stories and sympathetic characters. Experiences.

I don't really care about people who deliver. I cherish them, because they create. I want them to create more. But looking behind curtain strips experiences of mystery. Looking them struggle in life as much or even more than I am doesn't add value for me. Marketing experts say successful restaurants sell comfortable place and pleasure of being served. Unsuccessful venues bring guests to kitchens to watch how food is actually made.

This movie may work, because it allows to re-experience moments audience lived when they heard music of James Brown. The per theater number can be quite high, though, because this movie opens in 2468 cinemas. It's not much, seats will be crowded. I expect $ 7500 per theater, a summer bump included.

Shots:

$ 19 mln  --  C.S. Strowbridge, The-Numbers

$ 19 mln  --  Box Office team
$ 18,6 mln  --  Edward Douglas, ComingSoon
$ 18,51 mln  --  Mario Ludwinski, USBOPredictions2014  (2468 theaters, $ 7500 per theater)
$ 17,5 mln  --  Mitch Metcalf, ShowBuzzDaily

$ 16,5 mln  --  Laremy Legel, RopeOfSilicon
$ 15,5 mln  --  Ray Subers, BoxOfficeMojo

$ 15 mln  --  Gitesh Pandya, BoxOfficeGuru

-----------------------------------------------
$ 14 mln  --  Sensei White Lotus, BreitBart
$ 14 mln  --  Andy Burns, BiffBamPop
$ 13,59 mln  --  the official weekend number of the movie  (2468 theaters, $ 5505 per theater)
-----------------------------------------------
$ 10 mln  --  ThisIsNotMyName, BoxOfficePredictionsOnline

$ 8 mln  --  SaberToothDragon, BoxOfficeFrontier

-----------------------------------------------

THEY ARE NO AVENGERS, BUT THEY BRING A LOT OF FUN

This movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, is an adventure PG-13 movie, from Disney.

I bought a ticket for the first show on Friday. Yes, I'm a Marvel-doing-Marvel fan. I didn't watch X-Men: Days of Future Past, nor The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

If you read reviews online, they are accurate to a point. The movie start slowly and roughly, because it needs to setup many things. The first Avengers avoided that by introducing characters and locations in separate movies. You will see it was a wise move. But when things start to move (prison), they work smoothly. Fun is here, lost of laughs, Rocket & Groot are great. Thanos is closing in.

Seeing the movie didn't help me with coming up with a number below. Opening in 4080 theaters is higher by 142 venues than opening of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I think it shows owners trust this movie will pack lots of people: young, old, men, women, kids. It is light enough for everybody to enjoy. The only thing can scare people off is a space adventure scenery. Some people just don't like when they can't see a blue sky above. Also, they could hold bad memories with encounters with raccoons.

All in all, I like Guardians very much. Hope and cheer for the best. Taking into account there are lots of kids without fear of raccoons, I go for the biggest opening per theater this year.

Shots:

$ 103,95 mln  --  Mario Ludwinski, USBOPredictions2014  (4080 theaters, $ 25,477 per theater)
-----------------------------------------------
$ 94,32 mln  --  the official weekend number of the movie  (4080 theaters, $ 23,118 per theater)
$ 85 mln  --  Sensei White Lotus, BreitBart
$ 85 mln  --  Andy Burns, BiffBamPop
-----------------------------------------------
$ 82 mln  --  Ray Subers, BoxOfficeMojo
$ 76 mln  --  C.S. Strowbridge, The-Numbers
$ 75 mln  --  Box Office team
$ 72 mln  --  Gitesh Pandya, BoxOfficeGuru
$ 71,2 mln  --  Edward Douglas, ComingSoon
$ 71 mln  --  Mitch Metcalf, ShowBuzzDaily
$ 70 mln  --  SaberToothDragon, BoxOfficeFrontier
$ 65,5 mln  --  Laremy Legel, RopeOfSilicon

$ 55 mln  --  ThisIsNotMyName, BoxOfficePredictionsOnline

-----------------------------------------------