Monday, 21 April 2014
Captain America stays strong atop US box office
Sunday, 20 April 2014
Captain America 2 Tops Box Office Home and Abroad
Monday, 14 April 2014
Captain America Still Leading The US Box Office
Captain America beats Rio at US box office
Sunday, 13 April 2014
Weekend Box Office: 'Captain America 2' Tops 'Captain America'
Friday, 11 April 2014
Box Office: 'Rio 2,' 'Captain America: Winter Soldier' Remain in Close Race Friday
Thursday, 10 April 2014
Box
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
Captain America commands China box office
Tue, 08 April 2014, 13:15 PM (HKT)
Box Office News
's made a huge splash in Mainland China over the three-day Ching Ming holiday weekend.
The superhero film, released only on 3-D, opened on Friday and made RMB224 million (US$36 million) from approximately 5.17 million admissions on its first three days. It accounted for approximately 38.5% of all screenings nationwide.
In Nov 2013, made RMB154 million (US$24.8 million) in its first four days on release for a final gross of RMB342 million (US$55 million). In May 2013, opened with RMB400 million (US$64.5 million) on its first five days for a final gross of RMB753 million (US$121 million).
Three years ago, made just RMB34.2 million (US$5.5 million) in its first three days. The Winter Soldier took just two days to surpass the original film's final gross of RMB98.1 million (US$15.8 million).
's , produced by 's , was the top local film over the weekend. The plastic surgery comedy starring and made RMB36.2 million (US$5.82 million) in its first three days. It accounted for approximately 22% of all screenings over the weekend.
In August 2013, - starring Bai and Taiwan's - made RMB65.7 million (US$10.6 million) in its first four days for a final gross of RMB149 million (US$24 million).
With just 8% of all screenings nationwide, local horror film made RMB13 million (US$2.09 million) on its first three days of release. Two years ago, the first opened with RMB10.1 million (US$1.62 million) for a final gross of RMB24.7 million (US$3.98 million).
Despite the "3" in the title, Death is Here 3 is actually the second film in the series by director . Inbetween, Kuan directed another schoolgirl horror, together with the same writing team.
DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc 's was third-placed over the weekend, making an additional RMB31.4 million (US$5.05 million) for a total of RMB95.7 million (US$15.4 million) after ten days on release.
A total of eight films are set to open this weekend in China, including animated sequel , Hong Kong comedy , local espionage film and romance .
In Hong Kong, the Captain America sequel was also the top film. Released in 2-D, 3-D and IMAX 3-D, the Marvel film made HK$21.8 million (US$2.81 million) from 44 locations on its first four days.
Last year, Thor: The Dark World opened with HK$15.8 million (US$2.04 million) for a total of HK$36.7 million (US$4.73 million). Iron Man 3 opened with HK$36.6 million (US$4.72 million) for a total of HK$106 million (US$13.7 million).
Sex comedy , which was released in 2-D and 3-D, was the top local film. From 40 locations, the -produced film made HK$6.13 million (US$790,000) on its first four days on release.
In 2012, 3-D sex comedy opened with HK$5.36 million (US$691,000) for a total of HK$19.2 million (US$2.47 million).
-produced documentary opened at 15 locations and made HK$393,000 (US$50,700) on its first four days. Including early previews, the Taiwan-produced film has made HK$475,000 (US$61,200). From four locations, opened with HK$146,000 (US$18,900) for a total of HK$172,000 (US$22,140), including previews.
's opened with HK$296,000 (US$38,100) from eight locations. The local version of the film was edited by about one minute due to local censorship. However, the uncensored version was screened at the .
After a week-on-week drop of only 18%, Taiwan baseball epic made an additional HK$625,000 (US$80,600) for a total of HK$1.93 million (US$249,000) after 11 days on release. 's made an additional HK$273,000 (US$35,200) for a total of HK$2.36 million (US$304,000) after 11 days.
The Captain America sequel also topped the Taiwan box office, making an additional NT$23.1 million (US$763,000) in its second weekend for a total of NT$78.5 million (US$2.59 million) in Taipei after 11 days on release.
In fourth place, KANO remained the top local film. The -directed film made an additional NT$4.07 million (US$134,000) in its sixth weekend for a total of NT$101 million (US$3.34 million) in the capital.
Local political drama opened on 14 screens in Taipei but made only NT$490,000 (US$16,200) in the capital. The film had its world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival in February.
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Monday, 7 April 2014
Box Office: 'Captain America' Earns $300 Million Worldwide, Sets April Record
Captain America sequel soars above US box office
Captain America: The Winter Soldier earned $96m (£58m) in its opening weekend in the US, claiming the top spot and a new record.
The sequel to the 2011 original film about the Marvel superhero, starring Chris Evans, toppled biblical epic Noah, which stars Russell Crowe.
Its takings exceeded the record set in 2011 by the racing movie Fast Five, which collected $86.2m in ticket sales.
The top three was rounded off by dystopian action thriller Divergent.
The film, starring Shailene Woodley and Kate Winslet has earned a total of $114m (£68.7m) since its release in the US on 21 March.
North American box office Captain America: The Winter Soldier - $96m (£58m) Noah - $17m (£10.2m) Divergent - $13m (£7.8m) God's Not Dead - $7.7m (£4.6m) The Grand Budapest Hotel - $6.3m (£3.8m).
Noah's $17m (£10.2m) over the weekend, add to its current US tally of $72m (£43.4m)
But internationally the film - a big budget CGI-packed take on the story of Noah and the ark - has continued to be a controversial subject, with Malaysia and Indonesia reportedly the latest countries to ban the film.
The UAE, Qatar and Bahrain are among Middle Eastern countries which have also banned the epic as it breaks Islam's taboo of depicting a prophet.
Another film which tackles religious subject matter, the critically panned God's Not Dead, has continued its strong form, taking $7.7m (£4.6m) and rising to number four in the chart from last week's fifth spot,.
Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel, starring Ralph Fiennes, F Murray Abraham and Jude Law rounded out the top five with $6.3m (£3.8m).
Originally released on 7 March to just four cinemas, it has now spread to 1,263 screens.
Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney dies aged 93
Mickey Rooney, the child actor who became the world's top box-office star, has died aged 93, US police say.
Born in Brooklyn, he began his career aged 18 months in his parents' vaudeville act, Yule and Carter, and never really retired.
By 1965, Mickey Rooney's 200 films had earned more than $3bn (£1.8bn) around the world.
Sir Laurence Olivier once referred to him as the greatest film actor America ever produced.
Rooney's death was first reported by US entertainment magazine Variety. The actor is said to have been ill for some time.
Reckless lifestyle
In a film and musical career spanning nine decades, Rooney was nominated for four Academy Awards and received two special Oscars, including one in 1983 for his body of work.
Rooney was married eight times, including to screen beauty Ava Gardner.
Asked once if he would marry all his wives again, Rooney replied: "Absolutely. I loved every one of them."
Initially named Joe Yule Junior, he was barely six years old when he had his first film role as a cigar-smoking midget in Orchids and Ermine.
In 1937, the actor took the part of Andy Hardy in the film A Family Affair. Playing the son of a small-town judge proved a huge box-office draw, and spawned a hit series lasting eight years.
At the same time, a series of barnyard musicals paired him with another celebrated youth star, Judy Garland.
By 1939, Rooney was established as the film industry's top box office draw.
He enjoyed international triumph alongside Elizabeth Taylor in the 1944 movie National Velvet.
But despite his success, Rooney admitted his fame had forced him to grow up too quickly. By the time he was 30, he said he felt 100 years old.
The show business legend was declared bankrupt by the early 1960s, with much of his money going to alimony for his ex-wives and a reckless lifestyle.
However, his career enjoyed a revival with the film Pete's Dragon in 1977, and his hit show Sugar Babies which hit Broadway in the late 1970s.
True to his motto to "never retire but inspire", Rooney continued to work in film, television and theatre well into his 80s.
Captain America sequel sets US box office record
Captain America: The Winter Soldier conquered the North American box office in its debut weekend, becoming the top-earning movie so far this year, industry estimates showed on Sunday.
In the process, it also validated the strategy of the film's distributor, Walt Disney Co, to ramp up its pipeline of films featuring super heroes made famous by bashing bad guys in Marvel Comics.
Box office smash ... George St-Pierre, left, and Chris Evans in a scene from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Photo: AP
The $US170 millionsuperhero saga, starring Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, pulled in a hefty $US96.2 million ($104.49 million), box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said.
The 3D sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger out earned this year's previous box office winner The Lego Movie, which in February grossed $US69 million in its first weekend.
Biblical epic Noah, starring Australian Russell Crowe, meanwhile, was the box office runner up in its second weekend, with $US17 million in ticket sales. The action drama reunites Crowe with Jennifer Connelly, his co-star from 2001's A Beautiful Mind.
Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) joins the fight in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Photo: AP
In third place, with $US13 million, was teen adventure Divergent, the dystopian tale of a young woman in a futuristic society, based on the popular young adult novel of the same name.
Since Disney bought Marvel for $US4 billion in 2009, Marvel characters have starred in some of Hollywood's biggest hits. Iron Man 3 was last year's second-highest grossing film with domestic ticket sales of $409 million, according to the site Box Office Mojo.
In 2012, Marvel's The Avengers was the third-biggest film in Hollywood history, with $US623.4 million in domestic sales and $US1.5 billion worldwide.
Actor Chris Evans is Captain America/Steve Rogers.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is "a safe bet" to pass $250 million, said Box Office Mojo.
It took in another $9.6 million at IMAX screenings, for which moviegoers a premium. That also set a new April record.
"I would certainly expect we can broaden out" beyond the usual Marvel film buyers, said Dave Hollis, Walt Disney Studios' executive vice president of film distribution. Hollis noted that some 90 percent of critics gave positive notices as collated by the Rotten Tomatoes website and audiences rated the film an A.
Religiously themed God's Not Dead, which tells the story of a college freshman who debates his atheist philosophy professor, climbed one spot to fourth place with $US7.7 million.
In fifth was Wes Anderson's quirky The Grand Budapest Hotel, which earned $US6.30 million.
It was closely trailed by Muppets Most Wanted, Kermit and company's latest outing, which raked in $US6.29 million.
The musical comedy caper was ahead of Mr Peabody and Sherman, based on characters from the 1960s television cartoon Rocky and Bullwinkle, which earned $US5.3 million.
Car-chase action movie Need for Speed, which stayed in eighth place for a second consecutive week, taking in $US1.84 million.
Non-Stop, the Liam Neeson action movie set on a long-haul flight, added another $US1.83 million to its earnings to land in ninth.
Rounding out the top 10 with $US1.8 million was action flick Sabotage, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Australian Sam Worthington.
Marvelling at Disney's empire:
Disney takes advantage of each Marvel hit by spinning it through its sprawling network of theme parks, TV studio and consumer products units. The movies sell well on DVD, and Disney will generate hefty revenue from sales of Captain America T-shirts, lunch boxes and action figures.
The company is also making four original live-action TV series for Netflix that will begin streaming next year.
"When you put the name Marvel on a movie, we think that it gives us essentially a head start with the audience," Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger told analysts during a conference call in February.
AFP, with Reuters
Sunday, 6 April 2014
Captain America sets record
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier," the sequel to Marvel's 2011 film about the red, white and blue superhero, smashed its way to $96.2 million in weekend ticket sales, setting a new record for an April release and speeding past last week's winner, "Noah."
In the process, it also validated the strategy of the film's distributor, Walt Disney Co, to ramp up its pipeline of films featuring super heroes made famous by bashing bad guys in Marvel Comics.
"Captain America," which stars Chris Evans as a scrawny World War Two reject given super powers from an experimental serum, easily exceeded the April take for the racing movie "Fast Five," which collected $86.2 million in ticket sales in April 2011.
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Since Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion in 2009, Marvel characters have starred in some of Hollywood's biggest hits. "Iron Man 3" was last year's second-highest grossing film with domestic ticket sales of $409 million, according to the site Box Office Mojo.
In 2012, "Marvel's The Avengers" was the third-biggest film in Hollywood history, with $623.4 million in domestic sales and $1.5 billion worldwide.
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" is "a safe bet" to pass $250 million, said Box Office Mojo.
Read More Who has most at stake in YouTube channels? Not Disney
Disney takes advantage of each hit by spinning it through its sprawling network of theme parks, TV studio and consumer products units. The movies sell well on DVD, and Disney will generate hefty revenue from sales of "Captain America" t-shirts, lunch boxes and action figures.
The company is also making four original live-action TV series for Netflix that will begin streaming next year.
"When you put the name Marvel on a movie, we think that it gives us essentially a head start with the audience," Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger told analysts during a conference call in February.
"Noah," starring Russell Crowe as the biblical figure, was second with $17 million in ticket sales from Friday to Sunday.
Read More Disney beats Wall St expectations, shares rise nearly 2%
The dystopian action film "Divergent" was third with $13 million, for a total of $114 million since its March 21 release in U.S. and Canadian theaters.
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" also scored the biggest opening weekend of 2014, and took in another $9.6 million at IMAX screenings, for which moviegoers a premium. That also set a new April record.
"I would certainly expect we can broaden out" beyond the usual Marvel film buyers, said Dave Hollis, Walt Disney Studios' executive vice president of film distribution. Hollis noted that some 90 percent of critics gave positive notices as collated by the Rotten Tomatoes website and audiences rated the film an A.
Captain America storms box office
Music & Movies 
Captain America: The Winter Soldier debuted at the top of the US box office this weekend.Anthony and Joe Russo directed action star Chris Evans in the blockbuster, which raked in $96.2 million domestically and a total of $303.3 million worldwide.Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Redford also star in the feature, about the superhero as he struggles to come to grips with his place in the modern world.Biblical drama Noah fell from the top spot to second place with $17 million.The Darren Aronofsky film features Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson and Ray Winstone in the story of a man chosen by God to undertake a rescue mission before an apocalyptic flood.Dystopian drama Divergent slipped from two to three with $13 million.The Neil Burger-directed feature follows Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd and Kate Winslet's characters in a plot to kill a group of people who refuse to fit into the world's virtue-based factions. God's Not Dead got a boost, coming in at fourth with more than $7.7 million.The Harold Cronk comedy drama tells the story of a college student, played by Shane Harper, whose faith is questioned by a professor who doesn't share his religious views.The Grand Budapest Hotel jumped from six to five with $6.3 million.West Anderson wrote and directed the drama, which boasts a star-studded cast including Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson and Harvey Keitel, who tell the story of a legendary concierge and a lobby boy who becomes his trusted friend between wars. © Cover Media Group 2014 Back
Monday, 7 April 2014
Captain America: The Winter Soldier raked in $96.2 million in the US at the weekend.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier debuted at the top of the US box office this weekend.Anthony and Joe Russo directed action star Chris Evans in the blockbuster, which raked in $96.2 million domestically and a total of $303.3 million worldwide.Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Redford also star in the feature, about the superhero as he struggles to come to grips with his place in the modern world.Biblical drama Noah fell from the top spot to second place with $17 million.The Darren Aronofsky film features Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson and Ray Winstone in the story of a man chosen by God to undertake a rescue mission before an apocalyptic flood.Dystopian drama Divergent slipped from two to three with $13 million.The Neil Burger-directed feature follows Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd and Kate Winslet's characters in a plot to kill a group of people who refuse to fit into the world's virtue-based factions. God's Not Dead got a boost, coming in at fourth with more than $7.7 million.The Harold Cronk comedy drama tells the story of a college student, played by Shane Harper, whose faith is questioned by a professor who doesn't share his religious views.The Grand Budapest Hotel jumped from six to five with $6.3 million.West Anderson wrote and directed the drama, which boasts a star-studded cast including Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson and Harvey Keitel, who tell the story of a legendary concierge and a lobby boy who becomes his trusted friend between wars. © Cover Media Group 2014 Back
Captain America 2 breaks record at US box office: Top ten in full
Captain America: The Winter Soldier has debuted in the number one spot at the US box office.
The Marvel sequel - which stars Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson - broke April box office records by taking an estimated $96.2 million on its opening weekend.
It surpasses the previous April record set by Fast Five, which collected $86.2 million in ticket sales in April 2011.
Captain America comfortably beat its nearest competition, Russell Crowe's Noah, which took an estimated $17m in second spot.
Dystopian thriller Divergent slipped to number three and took $13m in ticket sales, bringing its total in the US and Canada to $114 million since its release on March 21.
God's Not Dead (4) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (5) each rose one place on the latest countdown. The independently-released Christian movie took $7.7m, while the Ralph Fiennes comedy grossed $6.3m.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Sabotage - which opened poorly last weekend - took $1.9m this time around, slipping to eighth place at the domestic box office.
Muppets Most Wanted, Mr Peabody and Sherman, Need For Speed and Non-Stop also featured in this week's top ten.
The US weekend box office top ten for April 6 (studio estimates, all figures in US dollars) is as follows:
Watch a trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier below:
International Box Office: Romcom 'Spanish …
Spanish Affairs (aka Ocho Apellidos Vascos) is No. 1 for the fourth weekend in a row with an estimated take in the frame of $7.2M at 475 dates. Other openings this weekend included Noah, Need For Speed and Rio 2. The Emilio MartÃnez Lázaro-directed Spanish Affairs scored the biggest original Spanish comedy opening of all time on March 14 and was the biggest debut for all films this year in Spain. It's the story of rigidly Andalusian stud Rafa who falls for a Basque woman and plays the part of a local to win her over. The fish-out-of-water comedy has cultural resonance given the historical strife between the Basque country and the rest of Spain. After decades of violence, the Basque separatist movement, ETA, announced a cessation of its armed activity in 2011, and now it seems enough time has passed for locals to be OK with laughing at a film that uses the cultural divide as a comedic device. What's more, the film comes at a time of an increasing independence movement on the part of Catalonia (made up of the provinces of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona). "It is very, very healthy for all of us that we are laughing at ourselves and especially that people in troubled areas of the country are able to laugh at themselves," Spanish Film Academy president Enrique Gonzalez Macho told local television last week, according to Reuters.
Saturday, 5 April 2014
Social Media Buzz: 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' Faces Box Office Victory
Does digital data offer indicators that can be used to monitor marketing effectiveness and predict box office success even before awareness turns into intent? We analyzed this weekend's new movies across Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Google (the methodology behind the numbers is below) over the seven days leading up to their release, when marketing campaigns should be at their peak.
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" When it comes to box office power and social-media muscle, the movies of the Marvel Universe are the strongest around right now, with "The Avengers" and "Iron Man 3" the highest-grossing films worldwide of 2012 and 2013, respectively, with both nestling among the top five biggest global totals of all time. The second "Captain America" movie will also benefit from the "Avengers" bump and gross far more than the first movie, just as "Iron Man 3" and "Thor: The Dark World" saw grosses far higher than their predecessors following the mega-success of "Avengers."
Marvel's movies may exist in a single universe, but box office wise they are on another planet, so how does "Winter Soldier" compare to Marvel's latest titles? According to the social stats, "Winter Soldier" should beat out "Thor's" second offering but will lag behind "Iron Man 3′s" arc-reactor-powered $174 million opening.
While we can assume that fans will like several Marvel-related Facebook pages, we can use the Facebook Like counts as a barometer for the general popularity of each character before their latest movies came out: "Iron Man" is still way out in front, with "Captain America" coming in second with 10.8 million, followed by "Thor's" 8.2 million. Reflecting Tony Stark's popularity, his total advanced to almost 18 million after the third installment in his series.
It's safe to say "Winter Soldier" won't be approaching "Iron Man" or "Avengers" numbers, but it is stacking up well against "Thor: The Dark World." "Winter Soldier" not only has a larger Facebook audience than "Thor," but more of them are active, with "Thor" engaging 6% of fans before release and "Winter Soldier" engaging 7%. (This may seem like small percentages but those numbers are brought into perspective by the unusually large fan counts the pages have).
"Winter Soldier" has 77.6 million trailer views to "Thor's" 61 million with similar Buzz, and 527,000 searches to "Thor's" 383,000, so Cap should be set for an opening above "Thor's" $86 million, placing him firmly in position as Marvel's second most favorite Avenger after Iron Man - whose last movie incidentally drove more than 1 million searches in release week. "Thor" does have the edge on Twitter with 980,000 tweets, but search volume is a better indicator of interest among a wider audience.
Much of the digital campaign has been similar to that of "The First Avenger," with a new trailer debuting in February during the most American of events - the Super Bowl, where the TV clip teased the full trailer drop on foxsports.com, and clips have also been promoted exclusively with movietickets.com and MTV Movies. As an official partner, Chevrolet released amusing ads featuring the "Winter Soldier" trailer remade starring kids.
Marvel's website has promoted the movie heavily, with Marvel.com carrying lots of Cap material, including clips, spots, backstories and digital comic giveaways to boot. "Winter Soldier" even has its own game app, made available last week. Marvel's social-media presence is, of course, very strong, with 1.27 million followers on Twitter, 765,000 on Pinterest, and action-packed gifs gaining thousands of notes on Tumblr. Marvel has used this leverage to promote "Winter Soldier" heavily across all channels as it seeks to mobilize its fanbase for this weekend's release.
Final Expectations: Social stats suggest "Winter Soldier" will make Captain America Marvel's second biggest box office star.---- Methodology While individually these metrics may not mean a lot, compared to one another and in context of competition and genre benchmarks, they give a good impression of the performance of a movie's marketing campaign and the audience's appetite for the movie. Needless to say, there are limitations to these data points and the causalities they explain, but as Hollywood just enters the era of Big Data, the potential insight offered by these numbers cannot be ignored. Facebook YouTubeTwitterSearch is a solid indicator for intent moving towards release as people actively seek out titles that they are aware of and are thinking about seeing. Search is particularly significant for fan-driven franchises and family titles as parents look for information about films they may take their children to see. We look at the last seven days (Friday through Thursday) of global Wikipedia traffic as a conclusive proxy for Google Search volume. We have to consider that big simultaneous global releases tend to have higher search results compared to domestic releases. is a good real-time indicator of excitement and word of mouth, coming closer to release or following bigger PR stunts. Mainstream, comedy and horror titles all perform particularly strongly on Twitter around release. We count all tweets over the period of the last seven days before release (Friday through Thursday), that include the movie's title plus a number of search words, e.g. "movie" OR a list of movie-specific hashtags. Some titles with common words or phrases like "HER" or "LABOR DAY" are very hard to track in a meaningful way on Twitter. The numbers are global, conducted using a Twitter API partner service. trailer counts are important for measuring early awareness about a movie. We track all English language original video content about the movie on YouTube, down to videos with 100 views, whether they are officially published by a studio or published unofficially by fans. The Buzz ratio looks at the percentage of unique viewers on YouTube that have "liked" a video and given it a "thumbs up". Movies with over 40 million views are usually mainstream and set to dominate the box office, while titles drawing 10 million to 20 million views indicate a more specific audience. If a movie does not have a solid number of trailer views on YouTube four weeks before its release, it is not promising news. But again, it is important to understand whether trailer views have been bought or grew organically. These numbers are global and public facing. fan (or like) numbers are a good indicator for fan awareness for a movie, even months before the release. For mainstream movies with younger target audiences, fan counts are particularly important. However, big fan numbers can be bought and movies with older target audiences typically have lower fan counts. Fan engagement measured by PTAT (People Talking About This) is a more precise but also a fickle indicator, heavily driven by content strategy and media spending. Both numbers are global and public facing numbers from the official Facebook fanpage. Tobias Bauckhage (@tbauckhage) is co-founder and CEO of www.moviepilot.com, a social-media-driven movie community reaching over 15 million Facebook fans and 7 million monthly unique users. Based on community data, Moviepilot helps studios to optimize their social media campaigns, identifying, analyzing and activating the right audiences. The company works with studios like Sony, Twentieth Century Fox and FilmDistrict.
Box Office: 'Captain America' Racing to $100 Million in US Debut
Disney-Marvel's " Captain America: The Winter Soldier " is marching toward a record for the top April opening with a U.S. opening that could reach $100 million this weekend.
Friday forecasts showed an opening day launch in the $36 to $39 million range, including $10.2 million from late Thursday shows - leading to projections of $95 million or more.
Unlike most movies, the Friday number is so elevated that the tentpole is likely to decline on Saturday by about 20% to around $29 million to $32 million. Sunday's number will probably come in around $23 million to $25 million.
Should those projections hold, "Winter Soldier" will wind up topping the previous April record of $86.2 million that Universal's "Fast Five" set on the last weekend of the month three years ago.
"Winter Soldier," starring Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, is arriving at 3,938 U.S. locations following a massive promo campaign for the $170-million movie, which will be shown in 3D at most locations, as well as at 344 Imax sites.
The original "Captain America: The First Avenger" launched three years ago with a $65 million opening on its way to a $176 million domestic cume, along with another $194 million internationally. Since then, "The Avengers" elevated the Marvel brand with a stunning $1.5 billion worldwide and Avengers stand-alone title "Thor: The Dark World" topped $640 million worldwide.
As a result, expectations are for the sequel, which has already grossed $95 million in 32 markets outside the U.S. and is opening in Australia and Russia this weekend.
Paramount's second weekend of "Noah" was leading the rest of the pack with a forecast of $5.8 million, off 62% from its opening day. The Biblical tale looks likely to wind up the weekend with a 55% decline to finish around $20 million, lifting the U.S. cume to $75 million in its first 10 days.
Lionsgate announced Friday that "Divergent" had crossed the $100 million domestic milestone in two weeks. The Shailene Woodley starrer is forecasted to take in about $3 million on Friday on its way to a weekend in the $9-to-$10 million range.
Two other titles in their third weekend - Disney's "Muppets Most Wanted" and Freestyle's "God's Not Dead" - will battle for fourth place at about $6.5 million.
"Muppets" has been a mild disappointment for the Mouse House with a cume of $42 million, while "God's Not Dead," now expanded by 587 locations to 1,765, continues to show impressive holding power with a decline of only 26%. The religious drama should finish the frame with over $31 million.
Follow @Variety on Twitter for breaking news, reviews and more
Friday, 4 April 2014
BOX OFFICE: 'Captain America' Latenights $10.2M …
PREVIOUSLY, THURSDAY, 10:08 AM: Captain America: The Winter Soldier from Disney/Marvel, bows tonight having already stormed through international markets and by this evening the super-soldier franchise will have shattered the $100M worldwide. The current international take is $94.8M. The sequel opens tonight at 8 PM screenings and will be the largest 3-day opening of 2014. The first Captain America opened to $65M when Paramount Pictures distributed in 2o11. Captain America will take the rest of the world by storm tomorrow, opening in Russia and Australia today and will bow in China tomorrow. The negative cost of Captain America: The Winter Soldier is approximately $177.6M.
Related: International Box Office, Territory By Territory
To become the highest-grossing April opener ever stateside, it will have to gross over Universal's Fast Five from 2011, which holds the record at $86.1M and it could actually do that.
Related: Marvel & Disney Rights Case For Supreme Court To Decide Says Jack Kirby Estate
The comp that is being used for Captain America is Thor, which also debuted in 2011 to $65.7M. The sequel, Thor: The Dark World opened to $85.7M last November and went onto gross $206M+ domestically and $438M+ internationally. However, Fandango reported this morning that Captain America: The Winter Soldier is outselling Thor: The Dark World at the same point in that film's ticket sales cycle and the film now ranks as the biggest pre-sales for any April release in the company's 14-year history. Captain America represents 82% of pre-sales.
Need for Speed remains top of China's box office
American movie Need for Speed remained top of China's box office for a third week, according to a film industry weekly.
The film, an adaption of the Need for Speed series of video games, stars Aaron Paul as a street racer joining a cross-country race. It grossed 86.5 million yuan (US$14 million) in the week ending March 30, according to figures released by China Film News on Tuesday.
The movie has grossed 371.5 million yuan (US$59.9 million) since its debut on March 14.
The animation Mr Peabody & Sherman took second place last week taking 49.9 million yuan (US$8 million) in the first three days since its release on March 28.
Black Coal, Thin Ice, a Chinese thriller, took third place. In February, the film won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival for director Diao Yinan, while star Liao Fan took the best actor award.
Another new release last week was The Monuments Men, starring a string of big name stars including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin and Bill Murray. But its box office performance was less impressive taking in 31.5 million yuan (US$5.1 million) in the first three days since its debut on March 28, ranking it fourth.
In the week from March 24 to 30, 9.72 million people went to cinema in China, a drop of 16.7% from the previous week. The total box office was 325 million yuan (US$52.4 million), down 16.4%.
Thursday, 3 April 2014
Biblical tale 'Noah' rises to top of box office with $44M debut
LOS ANGELES - After weathering a sea of controversy, "Noah" arrived in first place at the weekend box office.
Paramount's biblical epic starring Russell Crowe in the titular role opened with $44 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The imaginative take on the tale of Noah's Ark from "Black Swan" director Darren Aronofsky led some religious groups to claim the story had been inaccurately depicted and prompted Paramount to add a disclaimer to marketing materials noting that "artistic license has been taken" in telling the story.
The polarizing attention apparently paid off for "Noah," which features such additions to the well-known Bible story as angelic rock creatures and chic wardrobes for Noah and his family.
"Noah," which also stars Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson, also sailed smoothly in 22 international markets, such as Russia and Australia, earning $33.6 million abroad.
"It certainly feels like the film has really connected with both mainstream moviegoers who are looking for a really sophisticated film and those folks who really want to see a movie that honours their faith," said Rob Moore, Paramount vice chairman. "It's been a very interesting journey to get to this point, but it's definitely a spectacular launch."
"Noah" is the latest faith-centric film to win over audiences this year. Others include the independently released "God's Not Dead," which earned $9 million in its second outing this weekend, and "Son of God," whose domestic total now stands at $57.9 million since opening last month.
"I think these biblical-themed movies are like the next frontier in Hollywood," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak. "Hollywood hadn't cracked the code on a biblical movie that would have mainstream appeal. Now, I think they've figured it out. We may see a flood - pun intended - coming down the pipeline. We already have 'Heaven is for Real' and 'Exodus' slated for later this year."
Elsewhere at the box office, Lionsgate's teen science-fiction thriller "Divergent" starring Shailene Woodley came in second place and earned $26.5 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $95.3 million.
"Muppets Most Wanted," the globe-trotting Muppet sequel from Disney featuring Tina Fey and Ricky Gervais, captured third place with $11.4 million in its second weekend. The latest Muppet caper's total domestic haul is now at $33.2 million.
The weekend's other major new release, "Sabotage," flopped in the seventh spot with $5.3 million. The Open Road action flick starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is the latest failure for the former California governor, whose "The Last Stand" and "Escape Plan" were box-office duds last year.
Disney's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," which opens in the U.S. on Friday, dominated 32 international markets by capturing $75.2 million. The sequel stars Chris Evans as the patriotic Marvel super-soldier.
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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Noah," $44 million ($33.6 million international).
2. "Divergent," $26.5 million.
3. "Muppets Most Wanted," $11.4 million.
4. "Mr. Peabody and Sherman," $9.5 million ($17.8 million international).
5. "God's Not Dead," $9 million.
6. "The Grand Budapest Hotel," $8.9 million.
7. "Sabotage," $5.3 million.
8. "Need for Speed," $4.3 million ($13.3 million international).
9. "300: Rise of an Empire," $4.3 million ($8.8 million international).
10. "Non-Stop," $4.1 million.
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Estimated weekend ticket sales Friday through Sunday at international theatres (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:
1. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," $75.2 million.
2. "Noah," $33.6 million.
3. "Mr. Peabody & Sherman," $17.8 million.
4. "Rio 2," $14.1 million.
5. "Need for Speed," $13.3 million.
6. "300: Rise of an Empire," $8.8 million.
7. "Frozen," $8 million.
8. "The Monuments Men," $7.8 million.
9. "The Grand Budapest Hotel," $7.5 million.
10. "Ocho apellidos vascos," $7 million.
'Noah' Is No. 1 Despite Complaints
LOS ANGELES - Viewers went to "Noah," many in pairs, like the creatures in Genesis; but they quickly erupted in disagreement over the film's action-packed, modernist rendering of the biblical flood.
With an estimated $44 million in domestic ticket sales, including $6.2 million from giant Imax screens, "Noah" (Paramount Pictures) surpassed Lionsgate's "Divergent," with $26.5 million, and Walt Disney's "Muppets Most Wanted, with $11.4 million, to lead the weekend box office. But "Noah" had a soft rating of C by Cinemascore, which gauges audience reaction. That happened as a majority of viewers - 63 percent, according to Paramount executives - gave the movie a positive score of A or B, even while a significant minority judged the film as low as D or F.
"People are getting their arms around, are they comfortable with it?" said Rob Moore, Paramount's vice chairman. "There's a small, vocal minority who are not."
Professional film critics scored the movie with a respectable 68, according to Metacritic.com, which tracks reviews. "This is a Noah for the 21st century, one of the most dazzling and unforgettable biblical epics ever put on film," Richard Roeper, one of the fans, wrote for The Chicago Sun-Times.
Other viewers were harshly opposed. "If you are looking for a biblical movie, this is definitely not it," said Glenn Beck, one of many detractors, on his radio show, as noted by Gospelherald.com.
Much controversy centered on the director Darren Aronofsky 's environmental messaging - his Noah appears not to be a meat eater and reprimands his son for picking a flower - and on action sequences that involve Transformer-like exiled angels encased in rock.
While Paramount eased religious leaders into early screenings and landed some cautious endorsements, it never received the kind of support that found church groups buying blocks of tickets to "Son of God," which became a surprise hit for 20th Century Fox after opening last month.
Mr. Moore said the split-level Cinemascore for "Noah" and the polarized audience reaction were similar to what the studio experienced with Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street." That film has had about $116.9 million in domestic ticket sales since its release in December.
"Noah" was banned in Indonesia and in a number of Middle Eastern countries, where it was held to violate Islamic law, but it has played well in Mexico, which has a large Roman Catholic population. To date, the film, which cost about $125 million to make, has taken in about $51.1 million from international markets, Paramount said.
"Mr. Peabody & Sherman," from DreamWorks Animation and Fox, had $9.5 million in domestic ticket sales, to place fourth at the weekend box office, while "God's Not Dead," an independent film from Freestyle Releasing, ranked fifth, with $9.1 million in sales. "Sabotage," a new release from Open Road starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, did poorly, with just $5.3 million in ticket sales. "Cesar Chavez," from Lionsgate and Pantelion, placed 12th, with opening weekend sales of $3 million, according to Rentrak, which compiles box-office data.
Through the weekend, the debate around "Noah" was still drawing attention from competitors.
On Saturday morning, Mr. Aronofsky was warding off the backlash to some of his own comments. Asked on "CBS This Morning" about having called his film "the least biblical, biblical movie ever made," he said he was simply distinguishing his approach from that of much older films, like Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments."
Responding to reports that identified Mr. Aronofsky as a self-professed atheist, Leslee Dart, a spokeswoman for him, said she did not believe that he would directly challenge the characterization.
"I believe he would say: 'It doesn't really matter what I believe. The movie believes in God,' " Ms. Dart said.
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Lunchbox among top
According to an Indiewire article, The Lunchbox has now totaled $885,451 after playing in 73 theatres in the past weekend.
" Expect it to join Gloria in the $1 million club in the next week or so..." writes Peter Knet. Gloria, the Oscar submission from Chile in the foreign-language category, is the only foreign-language film to have crossed the $1m mark at the US box-office this year.
The four indie releases that made more money than The Lunchbox are Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, Harold Cronk's God's not Dead, Sebastian Lelio's Gloria and documentary Tim's Vermeer by Teller.
The Lunchbox, starring Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, released in the US on February 28 and is now playing in theatres in major cities of the country including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, Chicago, San Jose, Denver, Houston, Philadelphia and Dallas.
The 'Prophecy' Came True: 'Noah' Tops US Box Office Despite Flood of ...
The previous week's speculation that the film "Noah" will take over "Divergent's" top spot in the box office had been true. Despite the series of controversies, the Darren Aronofsky film was able to weather the storm and proved that a top quality film can beat even some nation's banning.
Reuters Cast member Russell Crowe attends the U.S. premiere of \"Noah\" in New York March 26, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
The epic biblical film grossed $1.6 million in its first day of release in the U.S. "Noah" has been a subject of more predictions with critics and audiences keeping their watch whether the film could reach the expected $35 million mark in its first week in the U.S. theatres. "Noah" did not disappoint though, as of this writing, the film already raked a whopping amount $44 million in the box office.
With "Noah's" success, a new prediction rose to life, although this may not be impossible to happen considering the trend of the type of movies shown by starting this 2014. "Noah" came out this week following other faith-based movies "God's Not Dead" and "Son of God." Two other films "Heaven Is for Real" starred by Greg Kinnear and Kelly Reilly, and "Exodus: Gods and Kings" with Christian Bale to play the role of the prophet Moses are also listed in 2014 cinemas.
"I think these biblical-themed movies are like the next frontier in . Hollywood hadn't cracked the code on a biblical movie that would have mainstream appeal. Now, I think they've figured it out," said Rentrak senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian in a BBC report.
"Noah" is a force to reckon in cinemas, and it is not far that the film could "immensely" exceed the $125 million Paramount Pictures investment. The movie already premiered in , , Spain, South Korea, U.S., and among others. More European countries, on the other hand, will have the first week of April to watch "Noah."
The box office success of "Noah" became the lead star Russel Crowe's success as well. The actor who previously landed supporting roles in his recent film bounced back as Hollywood's top leading men earning positive critiques with his moving performance on the film.
Andrew Pulver, a film editor for The Guardian UK, in his article, wrote "Russell Crowe is just about the only actor who could have pulled off the mixture of muttering, furrowed-brow intensity and slice-and-dice that the role calls for."
Related Posts: Russell Crowe Takes on 'Noah' Critiques, Film Predicted to be Major Hit in Box-Office Sales Countries to Ban "Noah" Over Religious Concerns Emma Watson Praised by 'Noah' Director Darren Aronofsky
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This article is copyrighted by IBTimes.com.au, the business news leader
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
Noah rises to top of US box office
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