This is one of those rare weekends where, my predictions are called more or less correctly. Yay for me. (Hey, I also completely nailed the ultimate Democratic primaries results last winter — not that I ever get credit for this stuff.)
* “Kung Fu Panda” delivered the Five Point Exploding Heart Technique to naysayers with a powerful $60 million opening weekend. Nikki Finke points out that almost any animated film about something furry seems to do well, which is true, but I’ll point out her other observation, which is that “Panda” is “playing” more like an action film than a kidflick. Seems to me this is another combination of the power of films that combine adult and kid appeal which, in an especially strong film reaches beyond parents and into people without kids (and not just fanboy geeks like yours truly).
In fact, I pretty much knew this one was going to exceed expectations when I attended traffic school yesterday when a rather obnoxious (and really large) guy who kept babbling throughout the day, asked me out of no place during the class if “Kung Fu Panda” was out and seemed delighted when I tersely muttered “yes.” Also, an “insider” attributes part of the success to the popularity of pandas. This brings up some questions, such as, on the hierarchy of species, what are the panda’s Q rating…and is panda the new penguin? Only time, and unimaginative movie executives, will tell.
* “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” didn’t mess up anyone’s expectations much, and the magic of Adam Sandler’s name delivered a reliable $40 million to a grateful Sony Studios. No word on whether or not the movie received any bump from the not-so sizable Jewish market grateful to see a bad-ass Jew for a change. (In movies, as in real life, you pretty have to go to Israel for that kind of thing.)
One item I found interesting from Nikki Finke’s column is that the audience for the film was divided about evenly between males and females, which is not what you really expect for this kind of comedy. Is the Judd Apatow brand — and the guy only cowrote the film (back when he wasn’t yet famous) — really that strong with lay audiences? Considering his string of hits, it’s not impossible that he could have developed a bit of a brand name in there some place.
* As for the ongoing hits, there plenty of b.o. (that’s “box office”) to go around, with “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “Sex and the City” both doing very respectably in the low $20 millions.” Last weekend’s surprise minihit, “The Strangers,” experienced a typical drop for a horror flick in its second week, earning about $9.25 million. Meanwhile, “Iron Man” flies on nicely with just over $7.5 million earned over the weekend.
* In the limited release sweepstakes, as I thought might happen, the general buzz and critical excitement generated by the violent swords & sandals-go-East Ghengis Khan biopic, “Mongol” really did seem to pay off this weekend, as the film exceeded even my own hopes and made it into into the top twenty while playing at only five theaters nationwide — earning an epic $26,600 at each theater on average, despite subtitles and a complete lack of names familiar to an American audience. This looks like a good blow for the seemingly lost cause of old fashioned storytelling. Expect a much wider release for this one and check out the almost outstanding trailer. (I say “almost” because it’s really getting to be time to retire the use of metal-style guitars at the of every action film trailer, especially if it’s a period piece. Also, did Picturehouse really need to add all that narration? Do they really think letting some guy talk over the whole trailer will make audiences think it’s not in an Asian tongue?)
* Two other indie releases had acceptable debuts for indies, the Box Office Mojo tells us — though nothing on the scale of “Mongol.” The English drama “When Did You Last See Your Father?” earned $41,100 at eight theaters. And the workplace comedy “The Promotion“, which I didn’t mention last time, received $28,900 in compensation at six theaters, despite weak reviews for an indie. Chalk that one up to the growing familiarity and even star power of John C. Reilly and, I guess, Seann William Scott (not my favorite performer, but I guess someone likes him) despite blasé reviews, never good news for a small-scale an indie flick.
