RENT Box Office Predictions

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 10:11pm

Yes it opens months from now buuuuuuuuut...

How do you guys think RENT will fare at the box office?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 10:24pm

Modest hit - around 50M domestic gross.

[LoudIrishGirl]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 10:29pm

Yah, the good thing for them is that all the theatre fans are of the mind to, if they like the film (which is a good guess), to go several times. I will. So that will help boost the $$ intake. Plus all the Idina tweenies will go a lot, being the obessive little ... they are. *coughcandlelightvigilcough*

[loudasthehelliwant]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 10:46pm

An R-rated musical?

I'm all for this movie, and I'm all for it being R-rated...

However, it probably won't do that great box office-wise. :-/

But hopefully it won't tank either.

[bernadette88]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 11:27pm

I believe that with the GREAT story it tells, people will hear the word and want to go see it! It is something very different, but deals with all of the issues going on in today's society. I think it will do EXTREMELY well at the box office. I know I am REALLY getting ahead of myself, but I think, and hope it will do well at the Oscars. Only time will tell tho...

[zoran912]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 11:29pm

Wait...they're putting an R rating on it? Crazy. The box office is totally favoring the PG-13s right now. Releasing an R rated music is insane! Why not just slap a PG-13 on it. That's what I would give the stage show. How much dirtiness have they inserted, I wonder.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 11:31pm

I think when it's all said and done it will shoot for a PG 13 rating as well.

[bernadette88]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 11:31pm

It deals with too many risque topics. Due to mature themes, sexuality issues, and harsh language, there is NO way this movie could ever recieve a PG-13 rating. I think it will do just fine with an R rating!

[nodaybut2day2007]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 11:34pm

They say the f-word more than once, its R.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 11:38pm

I have a question about the movie. Someone told me that it is set in modern days instead of the 1990's. Is this true? If so I can't believe that I didn't know!

[LoudIrishGirl]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 12:53am

no. not from the looks of it. and in the script version I saw, no it's in the early 1990's.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 12:55am

That's what I had always thought too, so I'm assuming and hoping he's wrong.

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 1:07am

I don't think it'll do too well. Aside from the fans of the stge show, the audience who usually goes to see R-rated movies - early to late twenties - msot likely won't say to their signifigant other one evening, "Oh, let's see that musical instead of that new horror flick." It's a sad outlook, but with both the content and the fact that it's a musical, most people will boycott RENT just on principle.

[Kavana]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 1:11am

I was waiting for this topic.

50mil for Rent???
I really doubt that and the time this film is coming out, a week after "A New World" same week as the 50 Cents film "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" and a week later "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"

all these films will over-shadow Rent.

I think they might re-release it back to theaters in March.

Updated On: 7/21/05 at 01:11 AM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 1:14am

There are five "F*CKs" in the stage script of RENT. Two are in "Tango Maureen" and Two are the bag Lady screaming.

If the use of that word really was the sole thing that pushed it into an "R" rating (after all the drug use isn't graphic, on stage at least, and there isn't nudity) then I would think the studio would rightly push for the slight trims to keep the film PG 13.

It could make a difference to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars at the box office if the film were PG 13 instead of an R.

And according to the Ratings Board, exceptions are made. Films on occassion have more then one "****" in them and still make a PG 13 rating.

And I think the film could do 50 MIL fairly realistically. It will probably get Golden Globe nominations and it couldn't do much worse then PHANTOM.

Updated On: 7/21/05 at 01:14 AM

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 2:37am

it better not be R!!!! i would never be able to see it!!!
and if chicago, i robot, and lotsa other movies (hey, they really might not have too much cursing, but thats just me) can get pg-13 with their cursing, i dont think rent will...well, i hope it wont be R, cuz then i can't see it!!!!
*weeps, and prays*

[IveGottaBeME]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 2:44am

Rent probably wont be a huge hit, but not a flop either.. if they promote it well, how it was a PULITZER PRIZE WINNER and all of that... tell the story.. make it raw and real... and also get the music out there.. it'll do great. I think the seasons of love trailer is good because its a good song.. but we need more.

[whiskedaway]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 2:51am

it depends on a lot of things, but i really doubt its gonna be hit. some people on this board seem to think that just cuz its a big show in the theater world, its gonna do well in the movie world. im hoping more that its a good MOVIE on its own, and not just a good filmed version of the show(Phantom of the Opera).

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:54am

I echo the claims that a PG-13 rating is what's best for Rent's box office. Honestly, I was never able to fathom why Columbus would *push* for an R-rating. Is he not aware that many of the people responding to the blogs and writing fan letters are under 17?

[jam_man]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 4:23am

I think arbitrarily giving Rent a 'PG-13' rating would be contrary to one of it's major themes, not selling out to apease the public. There are too many F-bombs, two gay relationships (GASP!), drug references and uses in Rent on stage, plus the cast has been saying in the blogs (or somewhere, I don't remember) that the film will be "edgier." If they try to grab more $$ by passing with a 'PG-13,' then it will likely end up watered down, leaving the film as a piece less off, us complaining for years, and ultimatly hurting their box office, not to mention the legacy of Jonathan Larson. If he were here, he'd likely be unsatisfied untill he got an 'R' rating.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 4:58am

It has been said before and I'll say it again... no one here knows what Jonathan Larson would have wanted, especially as far as a rating is concerned. A watered-down version of Rent would get a PG rating. It's possible for Columbus to honor the stage production without going out of his way to make sure it gets an R rating. And why would you use the gay relationships as an example of why this film should have a rating that prohibits people under 17 from seeing? Perhaps a respectable adaptation of RENT would be one in which some of the themes people find so gritty and risque are accepted for what they are -- facts of life, whether you live in the projects, the suburbs or somewhere else. The show isn't even about the *acts* of drug use and sexual intercourse anyway, nor is the swearing comparable to what we'd hear on The Sopranos. Part of what makes the characters in Rent likeable and approachable, for me at least, is that they're in difficult situations but not spitting out bile every other second.

For the sake of Rent attracting the broadest audience possible, I hope that it has been conceived with market value in mind. $40M is too much for someone to spend on a projectt with the anticipation that it will flop over something as manageable as a rating. If a director is pursing an R-rating for a MUSICAL (already a precarious project) and admitting that it will probably kill the film at the box office, then I have to wonder how many other unwise decisions he's making and who he expects to see the film. Selling out or not, a feature-length, theatrically-released film needs to be seen or it won't last long in theaters.
Updated On: 7/21/05 at 04:58 AM

[jam_man]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 5:24am

I never said that Rent was ABOUT drug use, gay relationships, etc., however, when considering a rating, those things are definetly going to play a part. Should they be made way too promanent, just for the 'R' rating? Of course not. Should they be downplayed at all, just for a 'PG-13' rating, either? Again, of course not. Besides, if people under 17 want to see this movie, most of them will find a way, weather or not Rent makes any money of it.

All that said, if Columbus found a way to keep the movie a truthful and faithful adaptation of Rent WHILE giving it a 'PG-13' rating, then all the more power to him and the film. However, I stil believe that it should and will be 'R.'

[Urban]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 5:49am

I estimate making $10 million on the US market.

[StarbuckQAF]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 5:52am

^ Should and will be...

Exactly. If the movie was rated "R" and released in the summer it would BOMB. The only way for a summer movie to really make a crap-load of money is for it to be dirty humor (i.e. "American Pie", currently "The Wedding Crashers")

But November isn't summer. It's nearly winter, and that's when the R-rated films are aimed for release - Seriously, a GOOD version of the movie would be rated R, particularly with the drug use and the late-80's drug scene being a large focus in the development of several of the characters and the plot/themes. Chris Columbus made this movie more gritty for the better, because it WOULD have been grittier in real life, not all watered down.

And yeah, for sure young fans of the show or of Idina or whoever has fans under 17 will wanna go! But take it from someone who works in a movie theater... No matter what you do, if people want to see a movie, they'll find a way. For this film, Revolution Studios would be if they push for a PG-13 rating simply so younger kids could come see it. This movie's not about that, and it shouldn't be asked to change.

Also, don't assume that because "Harry Potter" comes out the week afterwards that THIS film won't do well. Everyone and their mother will see "Harry Potter 4"... Comparing "Rent" to it in relation to money, popularity, etc. is just ridiculous. "Rent" is its own movie, and the amount of money it makes won't reflect its greatness. I'm hoping for a success and aome Oscar recognition, because this movie looks fantastic.

[Forester]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 5:59am

I have my doubt that it will do well. There are way too many competition. The week before it opens, you have the cartoon Chicken Little. The week after it opens, Harry Potter will destroy everything in sight. Not a good time to open an R rated musical. A few weeks after that, you have the opening of Aeon Flux.

Then you have the international market to contend with. Let's face it, Rent is an unknown quantity outside of the States. Phantom is more famous to the outside world and it didn't do well. Chicago did well because of its cast.