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August 21, 2011
 

THE BIJOU EARLY WEEKEND: FRIGHT BOXOFFICE

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Written by: Mitch Salem
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According to Deadline, nothing much changed for the new boxoffice arrivals on Saturday.  THE HELP is still far in front for the weekend, with a beautiful $19-20M second weekend, and it’s followed by RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, with its own impressive $16-17M third round. (Apes now looks like it will pull ahead of Captain America‘s $162M, and has a shot at beating Thor‘s $181M–while costing considerably less than either one of them.) 
The performance of the new group can’t even be called mediocre.  SPY KIDS:  ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD leads the pack, but with an opening weekend of around $11.5M, its total US gross may end up being less than the $33.4M opening weekend for Spy Kids 3 in 2003.  Wait, you think that’s bad?  With an opening weekend of about $10.5M, the total US gross for CONAN THE BARBARIAN may not even reach the $39.6M total the Arnold Schwarzenegger original made… in 1982.  Similarly, with an opening weekend under $9M, FRIGHT NIGHT may not equal the $24.9M gross of its 1985 forebear. And all three of those had the benefit of inflated 3D ticket prices, on top of the regular inflation over the past few decades. Meanwhile, ONE DAY, in 1700 theatres, will struggle to get past a measly $5M for the weekend.  Make it stop…



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."