Articles

August 28, 2011
 

THE BIJOU EARLY BOXOFFICE: Hurricane Watch 8/28/11

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Early numbers for Friday and Saturday suggest that the first day, at least, of Hurricane Irene didn’t do enormous damage to the boxoffice.  Deadline reports that THE HELP had a healthy Friday-to-Saturday bump of 38%, on its way to a $14.5M weekend which would be only $1M below Mitch Metcalf’s pre-storm weekend prediction.  Similarly, holdovers RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and SPY KIDS look to be within around $500K of their weekend projections.  
Of the newcomers, COLOMBIANA held steady from Friday to Saturday, and seems to be headed for just about its $10M projection.  DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK and OUR IDIOT BROTHER, though, are underperforming significantly, with respectively around $9M compared to its $11.5M projection, and $6M compared to a projected $9.5M–however, those pictures also got dreadful C- and C+ scores in exit polls, so their dismal returns may have as much to do with bad word of mouth as with wind and rain.  
As of this writing, the worst of the storm is still several hours away from the NY area, so Irene’s effect on Sunday grosses may be more serious.  Stay with SHOWBUZZDAILY for all the weekend numbers, and look for Mitch Metcalf’s boxoffice analysis on Sunday morning.


About the Author

Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."