Angels Fail to Live Up to Heavenly Expectations

June 30, 2003

Another week in June saw a disappointing box office. The box office was down almost 15% from the same time last year and more than 20% from last weekend. Overall, June’s box office was down just 2% from last year.

Expectations for Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle were high, with some predictions going as high as $70 million. But not only did it not live up to predictions, studio estimate, it even failed to match the original’s. It opened with only $37.6 million, and with reviews that just don’t cut it, this movie’s box office won’t even match its budget, (estimated at $120 million.) Add in the P&A budget and the theatres share and you get a bomb.

The Hulk’s plummet at the box office could be the story of the week. Making just $18.9 million, a drop that was just a few hundred thousand shy of 70%. Eighteen movies have opened with more than $60 million at the box office. Of those, only one has failed to make $200 million. Not only will The Hulk fail to make $200 million, it will fail to make $150 million.

Fortunately, there is some good news at the box office. Finding Nemo earned $14 million at the box office to cross the $250 million mark. And after tonight, it should have beaten Monsters Inc. to become the highest grossing Pixar movie. Up next, Shrek’s crown highest grossing CG movie ever. There should be a new king sometime early next weekend.

The good news continued as 28 Days Later beat even my prediction. $10.1 million in only 1258 theatres is fantastic, more than doubling some analysts’ predictions. With a total budget estimated at under $15 million, Fox Searchlight must be ecstatic over this movie’s performance. But how well this movie does in the long run is still a bit unsure. Going against it is its genre; most horror movies drop fast at the box office. But the positives, including amazing reviews, outweigh any negative effect the genre might have.

2 Fast 2 Furious just managed to make the top 5 one last time, beating Bruce Almighty by only $35,000. $6.2 million was added to its running total of $114 million, which is still not enough to make a profit anytime soon.

Submitted by:

Filed under: Hulk, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, 28 Days Later…, 2 Fast 2 Furious