Weekend Box Office: Who Watched the 'Watchmen'?
Filed under: New Releases, Box Office
Let's give a little context to the already much-talked-about $55 million number for Watchmen.- It's the twelfth highest opening weekend gross for a comic book film.
- It's the sixth highest opening weekend gross for an R-rated film.
- Zack Snyder's 300 grossed $15 million more when it opened around the same time two years ago.
That said, Watchmen did take a fairly massive Friday-to-Saturday-to-Sunday tumble, which is admittedly worrisome. And having seen the film I'm pretty confident that word of mouth will not carry it along. Not because it's bad, necessarily, but because it's not particularly "crowd-pleasing," and rather inaccessible to the uninitiated. So there's good news and bad news. People are worried that since a good chunk of the audience for Watchmen consists of fans of the novel, who presumably all went this weekend, the film will sink quickly at the box office. But that cuts both ways, since those people are also likely to buy the animated DVD tie-in, and the eventual director's cut. I don't think Warners will take a big hit on Watchmen.
There's basically nothing else to report, as Watchmen was the only new wide release and nothing outrageous happened among the holdovers. I'll mention the nearly 80% drop for the Jonas Brothers concert flick, which will fizzle out with under $20 million in the bag.
Here's the top 10 for the weekend.
1 - Watchmen (Warner Bros.) - $55.66 ($15,413) - $55,66
2 - Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail (Lionsgate) - $8.80 ($4,091) - $76.51
3 - Taken (Fox) - $7.45 ($3,221) - $118.05
4 - Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) - $6.93 ($2,396) - $125.44
5 - Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony) - $4.20 ($1,642) - $133.64
6 - He's Just Not That Into You (New Line) - $4.02 ($1,644) - $84.65
7 - Coraline (Focus) - $3.31 ($1,691) - $65.68
8 - Confessions of a Shopaholic (Buena Vista) - $3.12 ($1,363) - $38.36
9 - Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience (Disney) - $2.79 ($2,183) - $16.79
10 - Fired Up (Screen Gems) - $2.60 ($1,446) - $13.36
Next week: the hard-R remake of The Last House on the Left, an obscure sex comedy called Miss March, and the kiddie sci-fi offering Race to Witch Mountain.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-09-2009 @ 1:37PM
TheRedMonkey said...
I went to see the Watchmen in IMAX and the theater was packed. Since the movie is so long it can not be shown as often as other films and I think that had a major impact on the Box Office Take. Its run time sat around 2 hrs and 43 min. while most films hit 90 min.
Its not A list material for "outsiders" either. But much like other films geeks love, this one will blossom and will be a classic.
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3-09-2009 @ 3:36PM
Bullocks said...
Watchmen is one of the worst movies ever. And I am not a tough critic...I even liked "Freddy Got Fingered"; if you can believe that.
It was a bastardization of the original story and focused too much on trying to shock the audience, (ex. shooting a pregnant lady, a 25 min. sex scene, much more garbage). This could have been a good film, but surprisingly was not directed or written well.
This is not a cult classic...it is painstakingly long and terrible.
The character Rorschach added some depth and comedy to the film, but could not save it. Save your $9.
3-09-2009 @ 12:14PM
R.J. said...
Tried as legally as possible to get in underage and unaccomipanied but after 7 pm there was heavy I.D.ing
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3-09-2009 @ 12:18PM
Robin said...
Many, many kids at our theater (SW Dallas area) for the Saturday matinee. Kids as young as 2-3, and a few babies being carried by their parents.
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3-09-2009 @ 4:26PM
Scullygirl78 said...
Bullocks you didn't even read the comics because if you did you know that the sensationlism you're describing (e.g shooting the pregnant woman) happened in the comic. It's not like they made it up. In fact it was suprisingly faithful to the comics.
As far as the kids thing. My fiancee and I went and the lady asked us upfront if we were going to be the users of the tickets we purchased. We're confused and it was explained to us that they were flat out refusing to allow anyone underage to watch the movie unaccompanied by an adult. So yeah they've been pretty strict here in Florida.
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3-09-2009 @ 10:33PM
andrew said...
this movie is going to be hurt by the normal joe-shmoe movie audience. i saw it with some high schoolers in front of me and they didn't get it and thought it was horrible. i have the terrible feeling that paul blart ($133) will make more than watchmen. :-(
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3-10-2009 @ 5:50PM
chaingunZX said...
The movie is much more then the sum of its parts.
Watch it again and understand what I mean.
One of the greatest things about the book is how dense it is. At first glance it looks like pure cheese. I mean come on even in the book the minutemen look cheesy.....but if you go past the tongue in cheek, you find the pure genius and humanity of the book....like the movie.
The movie takes the tongue and plants it firmly into the cheek. Thumbs pop culture with its musical refrences and throws the middle finger up at your superhero flick, then turns its back on political correctness all the while throwing you such visceral brutality and sexuality that you leave wondering what the heck was that. Are you happy or sad at the end? did you enjoy it or hate it?
And for those who read Alan Moore do you believe he wrote it for you to absorb and pass, or for you to think and ponder. In that one sense Mr. Zack Snyder directed it close to the soul of the book. Where you wonder what is going on and want to see it again to understand. To put all the pieces together. In the book you had panels to study at your leasure, in the movie you have 3 hours to absorb it. So at first it will not make sense the choice in music or color or even the brutality or sexuality, because it is a movie full of soul. Not HEART but SOUL!
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3-12-2009 @ 4:18AM
Ryan Colgin said...
Wow - great point chaingun. I had actually only read half of the graphic novel before giving in and seeing the movie before finishing. The BEST part of the movie was the part I had read and more fully understood. The graphic novel does delve much deeper than the movie (could). I'm going to finish the novel and re-watch the movie.