It’s a light week.
Warner Bros financed this $50m Liam Neeson vehicle and Run All Night opened a mere two months after Taken 3. Despite being overexposed in interchangeable action leading man roles, this Neeson actioner had a strong US marketing push by Warner Bros, with over $40m in just television ads, plus millions more in print ads, posters, online, etc. Run All Night opened with a disappointing $11,012,305 in 3,171 theaters and the film had weak legs, declining 54.3% in its second frame to $5,032,323. The film fell 56.7% in its third weekend to $2,178,380 and left theaters with a weak $26,461,644 leaving Warner Bros with $14.5m after theaters take their percentage of the gross - which would barely cover 1/3 of their marketing blitz. Overseas, Run All Night did not fare much better, with a poor $40.5m total and the film pulling in soft numbers in every territory.
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Miramax financed The Shipping News for $38m and rushed the film’s editing to position the film as an end of the year Oscar contender, which they would give an all-category push. The film opened to mixed reviews and was released over the crowded christmas frame, where Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Ocean’s 11, Ali and A Beautiful Mind were dominating sales. The Shipping News opened in 186 theaters to a soft $1,205,174 and expanded to 213 theaters the following weekend to diminishing returns with $1,133,367 which would kill off a large nationwide expansion. The film’s widest release was in 434 theaters and The Shipping News closed its run with a weak $11,434,216. Miramax’s parent company Disney released the film in a few overseas territories through their Buena Vista International label and the film tanked in every market. Disney saw $365,955 from France, $825,583 from Italy and Concord saw the film’s strongest showings in Germany with a weak $2.2m. The overseas total was $13,256,225 across a few distributors.
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New Regency financed the Vince Vaughn vehicle for $35m and the film posted the worst opening of the actor’s career, which has been in free-fall after flops Delivery Man, The Watchand The Dilemma. Fox distributed in the US and in most overseas markets and spent an estimated $25m+ on a US ad spend and opened the film in 2,777 theaters to a terrible $4,772,613 and Unfinished Business declined 51.5% in its second weekend to $2,315,953 and promptly lost most of its theater count. The film’s third weekend declined 86.3% to $317,958 and Unfinished Business closed its run with $10,219,501. Only $5.6m would be returned to Fox after theaters take their percentage of the gross. Overseas, Fox released the film wide in the UK in 408 theaters to a terrible $593,176 and stopped reporting the gross after two weeks with a total of $1,057,035. Fox also saw similar poor numbers in Australia with a total of $1,073,442. Unfinished Business is scheduled to open throughout the next few months across most overseas markets – more after it finishes its release…
