The Sweeney Todd Box Office Tracking thread- Page 2

[icantbelive]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 9:43am

Though Sweeney may not be showing on so many screens... look at it, the reviews are good. Maybe that's all it needs to have to secure a spot in the top ten or even five movies of this weekend, kind of like what Borat did. Though when I saw it the 180 seat theater was 1/2 full and there was a line waiting to go into National Treasure 2, kind of like what everyone else said on this thread

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 10:50am

Oh, I definitely think Sweeney's going to have a good showing for the weekend totals.

Just don't look to compare it to National Treasure 2's box office intake... on over 3 times as many screens.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 3:35pm

Don't forget that the masses are turning out in droves for Alvin and the Chipmunks... there's no accountin' fer taste I tells ya :P

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 4:21pm

Estimates are in:

SWEENEY made approximately $3.85 million yesterday, which is pretty good with just over a $3000 per screen average on opening day...

It should make between $10-$12 million over the weekend
Updated On: 12/22/07 at 04:21 PM

[jam_man]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 5:48pm

I've seen it three times already (one without the student discount), so there's $25 of my money already. The 7:00 showing I was at last night was almost completely full, albeit in a smaller theatre than the other two were in. When we bought our tickets, they told us that there may only be room in the first couple rows! Also, the midnight showing I went to was at least 1/3-1/2 full, which since our theatre was showing midnight showings of National Treasure 2 and Walk Hard as well, is not too shabby at all. I'd say those are good signs.

That said, I'm still not going to make any predictions just yet - it's just so risky of a movie to predict at all!

[chris d]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 5:48pm

I hope it becomes a cult classic rather than a big hit.

[mateo]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 5:55pm

Does it matter?

I think all Musicals are 'cult classics' by nature.

A big hit musical is good for the genre. If movie musicals only hit mediocre success - no more will be made.

[chris d]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 7:04pm

that's true, although Sweeney Todd is a little bit different from most other musicals. Personally, I think of it as more of a horror movie than a musical.

[Tkt2Ride]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 7:38pm

I live in what I guess is your average suburb. Our Theatre was 75% full. So I guess over a hundred people attended the 7:15 performance on the 21st. Not bad and no one left so that was encouraging. They were very strict about ID here but of course if you can find an adult to say they are your Parent or Guardian, you could get a ticket. So I think this is curbing sales some at least in my Town.

I was up at Midnight but my boys were out of it so I had to wait until the next day. So I would think the midnight performance sold fairly well out here. I plan on seeing it again soon and not too many shows would I bother to do that for.

I see Sweeney as a Musical with a better than average book. The blood was very fake. One of my Son's pointed out it was strictly to give it more of an "artist effect" on the Movie. I can see that but would have preferred it at least look similar to the real thing better.

[Holbee]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 11:07pm

It is hard to measure this to Dreamgirls as Dreamgirls had an earlier release in some major cities where it made good money.

But on its first national weekend how did Dreamgirl's take compare to Sweeney's?

What numbers should Sweeney have this weekend to pretty much assure a 100 million domestic earning?

[americanboy99]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 11:15pm

The R rating just seems so odd to me. I don't think the film warranted such a rating.

[hilltop]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 11:22pm

BoxOfficeGuru.com prediction:

"Setting a new record for most throats sliced open in a Hollywood musical, Paramount and DreamWorks give a moderate national roll-out to Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. . . . Musicals are often tough sells at the box office but Depp-Burton concoctions almost always score big bucks. Like most song-and-dance pics, Sweeney Todd should skew slightly more female but appeal seems broader across many age groups.

Although Paramount is marketing the revenge flick like a 3,000-theater bow, it is only going into about 1,000 locations this weekend. That should lead to sold out shows and a very high average. Plus with so many other films releasing at the same time, getting second and third screens within multiplexes will be difficult. The gruesome pic should bring out hard-core fans first and then reach a more mainstream crowd after Christmas when seeing blood and gore will not be as bad of a thing. Positive reviews and four Globe nominations will also help to convince audiences, but the starpower of Depp and Burton is the film's biggest asset. Look for a debut of around $10M this weekend followed by good legs in the coming weeks."

and the Saturday update:

"Nicolas Cage topped the charts on Friday . . . . Leading the rest of the field was the Johnny Depp-Tim Burton collaboration Sweeney Todd with an estimated $3.9M despite playing in the fewest theaters of any of the weekend's five debuting titles. Paramount looks to cut up $11-12M from just 1,249 sites resulting in a per-theater average in the neighborhood of $9,000."

Looking strong, I'd say.
link

Posted: 12/22/07 at 11:23pm

AmBoy, congratulations, you are officially unfazed by onscreen violence. How many throats do we see slit (usually in close up?)? 15? 16?

[tazber]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 11:26pm

It will probably come in 4th for the weekend, but it will have "legs" as they say. With awards recognition I think that it will eventually reach 100 million.
The word of mouth is supposedly strong.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 11:35pm

How many throats do we see slit (usually in close up?)? 15? 16?

- Not to mention the themes of rape, pedophilia, and cannibalism. Oh yeah and they show a woman being burned alive. Oh, that sounds like PG-13 to me!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 11:51pm

I'm suprised they're predicting only $12 million or so. The last movie I went to that had sold-out screenings was 300.

[bk]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 2:15am

Depends on what site you're reading - I've heard it's going to be more like eight or nine, which sounds right. And it may or may not eke out fourth, depending on the Tom Hanks picture, which it is running neck and neck (pun intended) with. The big surprise, no matter what anyone tells you, is Alvin and the Chipmunks, which not one industry pundit predicted this sort of gross for. And Sweeney, from all reports, hasn't had any daytime sold out screenings, in fact, the opposite, with most reporting around fifty to one hundred fifty people in attendance. Whereas National Treasure is obviously selling out.

[Tkt2Ride]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 4:17am

Interesting I was reading more women will see this Movie. In my Town, it was the opposite. Guys had it eight to one at least. Though I expect Depp fans to come to see it at least once.

It didn't play up the horror thriller some fans may have expected of the film. The guys labeled it pure Goth. I could not see this as anything less than R though. Even if the slicing looked fake.

That scene where Mrs. Lovett becomes BBQ was long drawn out and very dramatic. Maybe would have wanted to see a horrified Toby see this before doing the deed, a little less dramatic, more for the Cameras than the scene itself but still dramatic.

I was so-so with the ending. Seeing a crying, grieving Toby over the demise of Mrs. Lovett, whom he swore to protect and was coming to see as a Mother, would have touched me more. It would have enhanced the horror of their existance better as well to me.
They were all cursed, due to their circumstances, to me.

Ending with a crying, weeping Toby, with the furnace churning away in the background would have touched me more. He really had nothing left after losing them all to ruin.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 8:45am

Box Office Mojo has it in fourth place for Friday's estimate, with a $3.85 million take for that one day. Its per-screen average is actually second, behind National Treasure 2.

http://boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/?sortdate=2007-12-21&p=.htm

[DrTheatre]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 12:26pm

$3.85 million---would that be considered the weakest gross for an opening(so far) of a Johnny Depp movie, not matter if it's a musical or not?

I mean HAIRSPRAY did take in close to 30 million for the weekend...I know they are two different audiences and had two different ratings, but, I am looking at it for the Depp and musical aspects alone!

Updated On: 12/23/07 at 12:26 PM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 12:33pm

"$3.85 million---would that be considered the weakest gross for an opening(so far) of a Johnny Depp movie, not matter if it's a musical or not?"

Nah, there are Johnny Depp movies that have barely made $3.85 million in total. When Sweeney opens to a little over 1/3 of what Hairspray did, it's really not a fair comparison. Number one, of course, is that Hairspray had an enormous screen count from the get-go, whereas Sweeney won't roll into about 3,000 theaters till January. Not to mention that Hairspray had virtually no competition, while Sweeney is released on one of the biggest Box Office weeks of the year.

[NYC4Life]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 12:48pm

No way! Depp and Burton have had a lot lower for opening weekends.

[Fan2]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 1:03pm

Updated:

>Sweeney Todd suffered a disastrous 28% drop from Friday to Saturday, a result of the Redville cognoscenti finally figuring out it's not a London-based Jack Sparrow adventure of some kind but a (choke...gag) Stephen Sondheim musical!

Realizing they'd been boondoggled (after ignoring the internet chatter for months), a significant percentage of the slow-on-the-pickup crowd went into shock after seeing Tim Burton's dark fantasia on Friday. They obviously passed along some negative comments to their friends (perhaps not only about the music but about the arterial garden-hose spurtings) and led a modest revolt against the Paramount/DreamWorks ad campaign.

Sweeney Todd had been projected to take in $12 million after Friday's earnings were calculated, but the weekend projection is now down to $9,399,000. I'm told that DreamWorks marketers wanted to sell Todd for the grand guignol musical that it is and open it more slowly -- starting with 200 theatres -- but Paramount marketers insisted on a fake-out campaign with a bigger 1200-theatre opening.<<<

The rest of the story is here:

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives/2007/12/topd_drops_bigt.php

[mateo]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 1:06pm

A drop?

really?

[Fan2]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 1:10pm

Some of the comments on that blog are interesting.