Upset: Hanna Beats Arthur at the Box Office
Insult, meet injury: According to the final numbers released on Monday afternoon, Hanna defeated Arthur at the box office this weekend by roughly $200,000. Focus Features reports that the Joe Wright-directed film overperformed on Sunday -- resulting in the flip-flop -- news that will likely do nothing to ease the hangover Warner Bros. is feeling right now. [Deadline]
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Aw man, now all those headlines touting Russell Brand's conquering of America are lies.
LIES!
I knew it!!! Sometimes the Universe holds fairness. This ain't bragging, but I totally saw this coming. I'm betting on a strong holdover for next week. Hopefully. Come on Universe, Wright and Ronan deserve it.
Loud, foul-mouthed brit conquering America? I believe that'll be Hugh Laurie or whatever, thank you very much.
I am afraid there is a certain Irish person that has the right of pass, apparently.
I've seen three sets of numbers for the movies this weekend, and they are all different, why should i believe you?
It's actually even worse when you look at the per-screen average, which would have sunk it to #6. Arthur got kicked in the *winky.
(* to be pronounced in cockney)
LOL! Honestly, though, what is the point of the weekend prediction on FRIDAY? Is Movieline trying to impress us by telling us the weekend champ before the weekend is half over? Well, it's not so impressive when you are so often wrong! How about y'all just wait until, I don't know, SUNDAY, and then maybe you can be right a little more often.
What are you talking about? We were within $100K on Hanna and under a million on Arthur and Your Highness. The worst you could say for us is that we thought Soul Surfer would be a surprise fifth-place finisher when everyone else was picking it sixth. Instead, it finished fourth:
And did we not say right up front that Hop would win the weekend? Do you even read the Weekend Forecast? Here:
http://www.movieline.com/2011/04/weekend-forecast-its-russell-brands-world-or-is-it.php
This is not exactly a new phenomenon. Studios and distributors report estimates for Friday and then the full weekend. They often shift a bit between Sunday estimates and Monday actuals. It's relatively uncommon for films to switch places in that time; they're usually far enough apart to hold their spots. But it happens -- especially with some of Hollywood's less scrupulous studios, which will inflate or manipulate without hesitation to hold the highest spot possible for as long as possible. (I'm not naming names.)
Not talking about the forecast. That's just fun guesswork. I'm talking about the Friday Box Office report. While it's not actually predicting the weekend box office, the way it is worded make it seem like it has something to do with how the weekend will turn out, which it often doesn't, especially when a kiddie film is one of them. A "forecast", a Friday tally, a Sunday tally and THEN a Monday final FINAL tally is a bit much, especially when the final final no-this-is-really-final tally is followed by Monday morning quarterbacking of why certain film(s) underperformed. It's just too much focus on the money aspect from one of the few websites that is actually about CONTENT. Let's keep it that way!