Sweeney Tanks in 2nd Week of Release

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:28pm

Numbers from IMDb aren't pretty:

Sweeney took in $8 million, placing it 9th. Total US take so far is a little under $27 mil.

http://www.imdb.com/chart/

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:32pm

How is making $1 million less than your opening weekend tanking in a second weekend? The places (1st, 2nd, etc.) mean nothing. It's doing very decently for its number of theaters. I'm impressed with this weekend considering the opening. It will have well over $30 million by the end of New Year's Day, and we still have the expansion ahead.

I was trying to curb a bunch of Sweeney Box office threads every week by updating the Sweeney Box Office Tracking thread, I think this is the first other post I've seen.
Updated On: 12/30/07 at 03:32 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:35pm

I don't know. An R-rated adaptation of a very bloody and gory Stephen Sondheim musical making $27 million on just 1249 screens (half or even a third the number most of the films ranked ahead of it) in only its first 10 days of release (good enough for 8th place) sounds pretty damn amazing to me. Did somebody think it was going to out gross the new Will Smith movie or something?

Weren't estimates that it's total gross in theaters would be around $50 million? It's adding a huge number of screens in the next couple of weeks, word of mouth and reviews have been mostly fantastic and it has a solid shot at some Golden Globes, so it would seem that $50 million is well within reach.

Updated On: 12/30/07 at 03:35 PM

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:35pm

Almost 27 mil in less than 10 days for a musical that's only playing in a little over 1,000 theaters doesn't seem too bad to me.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:36pm

At least it didn't do Walk Hard numbers... and go Juno!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:37pm

But the thing is, it's a Tim Burton-Johnny Depp movie. Both = boffo box office.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:41pm

Plus, these are domestic figures. The entire pie (yes, pun is fully intended) will be complete when the international and domestic grosses get combined after all is said and done.

Johnny Depp is a huge international film commodity, thanks to Disney's THE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN franchise.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:44pm

But the thing is, it's a Tim Burton-Johnny Depp movie. Both = boffo box office.

Yes, but it's still very gory and a musical. In terms of attracting audience, there's probably a lot of push and pull between two hugely popular commodities and things that can be major detractors.

And I agree with Margo. Hardly "tanking." So quick to the attention-getting catchphrase!

Updated On: 12/30/07 at 03:44 PM

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:46pm

But the thing is, it's a Tim Burton-Johnny Depp movie. Both = boffo box office.

Yeah, but it's also R-rated + musical. Both = not so boffo box office.

We're not talking a "Pirates of the Caribbean" installment here.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:46pm

"But the thing is, it's a Tim Burton-Johnny Depp movie. Both = boffo box office. "


And it's a MUSICAL.


*edit* Wow, Em, you are fast.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:49pm

What? Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have only made two big money-makers together, which both succeeded because of the appeal of the movie itself to a large audience (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Sleepy Hollow). None of the other three passed the mid-50 millions. Their best film together, Ed Wood, was one of the biggest bombs of the nineties, it didn't even pass $6 million in total.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:50pm

"But the thing is, it's a Tim Burton-Johnny Depp movie. Both = boffo box office."

No team is a guarantee. ::ahem:: Ed Wood ::ahem:: Corpse Bride ::ahem::

Like most have said considering that it's a) a musical and b) a bloody one at that, these numbers are quite impressive. After the Golden Globe awards and once it garners quite a few Oscar noms (even if it doesn't get nominated for Best Picture, even though it totally deserves it, there are many technical categories it is sure to be nominated for), more people will go see it, if only out of curiosity. Word of mouth has been suprisingly strong. After my 3rd, count it 3rd, viewing, a bunch of teenagers who had obviously never heard of Sweeney Todd before walked out amazed and jokingly called it "Hannibal: The Musical". They promptly called up their friends to rave about it.

[jpbran]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 4:27pm

This couldn't go in the "Sweeney Todd Box Office Tracking" thread that's currently right near the top WHY?

(And count me as another who thinks that all things considered, it's actually doing ok.) Updated On: 12/30/07 at 04:27 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 4:33pm

The use of 'tanking' here is beyond bizarre. The glee-factor aside, the information is just wrong. No modestly-budged film in only 1200 theatres making over $6,000 per screen "tanks." THE GOLDEN COMPASS, with its nearly 200 million budget and 4000 per screen is closer to 'tanking.' If not exactly a distribution model for SWEENEY, BROKEBACK's is worth remembering. It built slowly and steadily during the post-holiday season of 2006. And in this culture, more people are put off seeing two dudes make it a tent than singing dudes who slash throats. There's good reason to expect a modest success here.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 4:34pm

The use of 'tanking' here is beyond bizarre. The glee-factor aside, the information is just wrong. No modestly-budged film in only 1200 theatres making over $6,000 per screen "tanks." THE GOLDEN COMPASS, with its nearly 200 million budget and 4000 per screen is closer to 'tanking.' If not exactly a distribution model for SWEENEY, BROKEBACK's is worth remembering. It built slowly and steadily during the post-holiday season of 2006. And in this culture, more people are put off seeing two dudes make it a tent than singing dudes who slash throats. There's good reason to expect a modest success here.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 4:35pm

REPEAT

Updated On: 12/30/07 at 04:35 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 4:35pm

REPEAT

Updated On: 12/30/07 at 04:35 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 4:35pm

Yet another repeat. Sorry.

Updated On: 12/30/07 at 04:35 PM

[bk]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 4:36pm

Tanking is relative. I don't think the film will be a hit of any kind, modest or otherwise, except for the fact that it's a good film that certain people will like and certain people won't.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 4:39pm

Isn't the film still a limited release?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 4:47pm

Well, we can see here who doesn't bother reading a thread before putting in thier two cents...

Updated On: 12/30/07 at 04:47 PM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 4:51pm

stick a fork in sweeney.

y'all best be careful about getting auggie wound up too.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 5:04pm

Diva, I hope you are talking about yourself because I am the first person to say limited release in this thread. I was not paying attention to how many theaters the film opened in in it's limited release, so how am I supposed to know if "a little over a thousand" is a limited release or a wide release?



And you can't really try and argue back saying that anybody would know that a little over 1000 is a limited release, but often times with these off-beat movies they scale way way back on the number of theaters they were planning on opening in determined by the success of the limited release.

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 5:43pm

Edward Scissorhands also did pretty well at the box office, I believe it grossed nearly $60 million back in 1990, almost 20 years ago.

With its Best Director Globe Nomination, Sweeney is sure to win the Globe for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy), not to mention that Depp most likely will win Best Actor, which should keep audiences coming to see it until Oscar time.

[cubanpab]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 5:46pm

it made almost the exact same numbers this weekend that it did last weekend... how the hell is that a "tank"?? its only playing in 1k theaters versus the 3k plus theaters other movies are in... sounds like solid numbers to me...

and its a musical!