Indiana Jones and the Box Office Tracker - Quarter of a Billion Dollars and Counting

What did they need to turn a profit? $400 million? They are well on their way and not even to the point of looking at DVD/Bluray sales and such. Yay!

 

Let's not forget all the merchandising (action figures, books, etc.) I'm sure Lucasfilm gets a nice cut from those, too.

 

Yeah, they need just around $400 million to start seeing profits.

-matthew

 

I'm kind of surprised by Indy's performance. I was kind of expecting to see ROTS type numbers, but then again I'm no expert. Will it be the highest grossing pic of the year? Well it really only has two opponents, Iron Man and The Dark Knight. Is KOTCS on pace to beat Iron Man right now?

 

No, SATC will be the highest grossing pic of the year because all the women who loved the show will keep watching the movie over and over all summer long.

OK, I'm sort of joking there, but it's no joke that movies aimed at women tend to have better 'legs' at the box-office (yes, pun intended).

As for this weekend's BO results....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080531/en_nm/boxoffice_dc
"Sex" too hot for Indiana Jones at box office

Sat May 31, 12:57 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In a major upset at the North American box office, the four cosmo-swilling fashionistas of "Sex and the City" whipped reigning champ Indiana Jones in the film's first day in theaters, according to preliminary estimates issued on Saturday.

The big-screen adaptation of the groundbreaking HBO comedy sold about $26.9 million worth of tickets across the United States and Canada on Friday, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said.

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" followed with about $12 million, according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo. The film's distributor, Paramount Pictures, declined to comment.

Industry observers had expected the fourth installment of the adventure franchise to win a second consecutive weekend, but "Sex and the City" will clearly be No. 1 when estimates for the Friday-to-Sunday period are released on Sunday.

Warner Bros. domestic distribution president Dan Fellman declined to make a weekend forecast but said the movie made as much in its first day as he had hoped it would make for the three-day period. He said 2006's "The Devil Wears Prada," another movie aimed at women, earned $27.5 million during its first weekend in 2006.

"We're absolutely thrilled with the number," Fellman said. "This is just amazing."

The $60 million film represents a resounding last hurrah for its producer, New Line Cinema. The struggling studio was recently downsized to a division of Warner Bros. by their Time Warner Inc parent after years of losses. It also represents a face-saving release for Warner Bros., which has a spectacular flop on its hands with "Speed Racer."

"Sex and the City" hits the big screen four years after the show ended its six-season run on HBO, also a Time Warner unit. Its four stars, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, dusted off their high-end fashions to stalk the streets of Manhattan and dissect their romantic travails once again.

Reviews were mixed but the show's female loyalists had been working themselves into a frenzy in anticipation of the film's release, arranging to see the film in big groups. While their fervor was never in doubt, observers had wondered how well the film could do with essentially no male viewers. Warner Bros. will release demographic data on Sunday.

Meanwhile, "Indiana Jones" has earned $183 million since its May 22 release, and will follow "Iron Man" to become the second film of the year to break the $200 million mark when Paramount issues weekend data on Sunday. The Viacom Inc unit partnered on "Indiana Jones" with Lucasfilm, the studio owned by the series' executive producer, George Lucas.

 

The Weekend box office estimates are out for May 30-June 1.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2008&wknd=22&p=.htm

Indiana Jones made an estimated $46 million. This was a drop of 54% from last weekend. I think this is pretty good. Based on the Friday estimates this film seemed to be headed for a 60% drop.

 

Still 54% is a huge drop. I was expecting more like 30-40%.

 

It honestly might not have dropped that much if not for SIAC. You know they planned to release SIAC then as a way of getting a story by stealing thunder.


-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Does anyone else feel like Indy vs. Sex in the City is like Dudes vs. Chicks?

 

$46 million is awesome actually. I was honestly expecting $30 million because thats how movies work nowadays. A 54% drop is big, but only because it took so much in its first week, to be in your second week and still closing in on $50 million is very strong.

 

Yeah that's true too. I guess I am just annoyed that Sex in the Friggin City made more than Indy.

 

I think it's an awesome result, it shows that you can have two movies out at the same time with relatively older stars carrying the weight of the pictures and still do great box-office. A lot of other summer movies rely on the usual young stars in their 20's or early 30's.

As far as Indy goes, it's a really good showing considering the 19-year span between the third and fourth installments. Compare it to the only other franchise I can think of that was popular in the 80's but hadn't been back in theaters until now - Rambo, which barely registered at the box office in January. (I'm not even counting the Die Hard series because that one had kept going up to the mid-1990's.)

Not to mention the economy is kinda weak, many people have cut back on their leisure spending, and for the family audience it might make much more sense to wait until the DVD is out, which makes it much cheaper for the whole family to watch the movie.

All in all, not bad for a guy who's just about retirement age.

 

I was devastated to hear that Sex and the City beat Indy...but looking at the estimates, it's not bad at all. A 54% drop is fine for a movie of this type, and 46 million is a good number for any movie. It's going to be a tight race between this movie and Iron Man.

 

Indy salvaging the weekend to end with $46 million definitively proves that it is going to play like a family film this summer. 54% is bad. There is no way of going around that BUT, it's not the dreaded 60% drop. Now that we know how this has performed two weekends into things, we really have a good barometer of how it will play the rest of the summer.

-matthew

 

So disappointed Indy isn't #1 two weeks in a row. That said, it may retake the #1 spot next week. Iron Man is holding strong, passing Narnia to come in at 4th place. Liv Tyler's new film came in at a solid 3rd, beating Iron Man. I'm surprised it did as well as it did.

 

I know I'm going to see Indy again next weekend. I think when all is said and done "The Dark kinght" will be the Summer winner. But, that doesn't matter.

 

Indy is never going to do Star Wars type numbers.

Looks like its going to turn a handsome profit, anyway.

 

Why is everybody so sure The Dark Knight is going to be the biggest movie of the summer?

As I recall, Batman Begins petered out pretty quickly. It was a great movie(best Batman movie ever, by far), but it's a little too serious and the action isn't exciting enough for it to really draw in repeat business.

Am I wrong?

 

I agree that the anticipation among fans might not necessarily translate to a huge box-office.

 

Don't get me wrong, The Dark Knight has a lot going for it that Batman Begins did not.

The Joker is a huge draw. And not to be morbid, but the fact that it's Heath Ledger's last film will certainly be a draw to some.

Plus Batman Begins has found a new life on home video and cable. I know a lot of people who skipped it in theaters who ended up falling in love with it later. So now there's more people who are hyped up for the sequel.

...still, I just don't feel like it will have repeat business. It's going to be a very serious movie, and a very dark movie. I think it will be very well regarded, but I will be very surprised if it reaches 300 million. (Of course, I'm wrong on just about every prediction...so stay tuned!)

 

I also wouldn't be surprised if there was a dark horse this summer that ended up making more money than the Dark Knight.

 

And it having Heath Ledger has caused a great deal of talk. I still think Indy will win the year. I saw it for a third time this weekend with my 6 year old cousin and he absolutely loved it. Iron Man's doing very well, but Indy's not too far behind.

 

I wouldn't mind to see Indy back on top of the charts for its 3rd weekend.

Anyone here have any prediction on how much Kung Fu Panda and Don't Mess with the Zohan will make next weekend?

 

Indy Box Office Recap

Weekend Total = $46,000,000 (Friday = $12,233,000, Saturday = $19,875,000, Sunday = $13,892,000)

Domestic Total = $216,881,000
Worldwide Total = $363,853,020

Box Office Mojo's Indiana Jones Page
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=indianajones4.htm

Looks like Indy held it's own against some fierce competition. A 54% drop is actually better then what most people were fearing. Look at those Saturday and Sunday numbers. A 7 million dollar jump from Friday to Saturday is fantastic and not falling bellow Friday's numbers for Sunday shows that Indy will have legs and play well over the weekends when families go to the movies.

Note how Sex and the City's numbers fell over the weekend.

Friday = $26,930,000
Saturday = $17,920,000
Sunday = $10,890,000

Indy beat them on Sat. and Sun. by several million dollars. This to me signals that Sex may not have strong legs.

Also take a look at how Indy compares with Iron Man after 11 days of release.

Iron Man at 11 Days = $181,675,868
Indiana Jones at 11 Days = $216,881,000

If Indy can fend off Zohan and Kung Fu Panda it's got a shot of beating Iron Man.

 

Sex may not have strong legs.

This is an interesting sentence.