Box Office - "movie's long-term prospects are highly questionable."

OrangeAgent

MemberOvomorphJune 10, 2012780 Views11 Replies

The 25% "steep drop" Friday to Saturday is a problem. The anecdotal evidence suggests Prometheus will NOT garner the word-of-mouth that Inception did. Highlights: [list] [*] second-highest opening of RS's career behind 2001's Hannibal [*] new opening $$ record for the Alien franchise [*] ticket sales were about on par with AVP [*] audience was 57 percent male [*] 3D accounted for 54 percent of ticket sales [*] steep 25 percent drop from Friday-to-Saturday [*] the movie's long-term prospects are highly questionable [/list] From [url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3461&p=.htm]boxofficemojo.com[/url] *** While it had to settle for second place, Prometheus still earned an impressive $50 million in its opening weekend. That's off from Inception's $62.8 million, though it's a significant improvement over Super 8's $35.5 million from the same weekend last year. It's the second-highest opening of director Ridley Scott's career behind 2001's Hannibal ($58 million), and it's also a new record for the Alien franchise ahead of Alien Vs. Predator's $38.3 million (though ticket sales were about on par with that entry). Prometheus's debut ranks 12th all-time among R-rated movies, and among action-oriented ones it was behind The Matrix Reloaded ($91.8 million), 300 ($70.9 million), Watchmen ($55.2 million) and Wanted ($50.9 million). This may not be the monumental opening many were hoping for, but by pretty much any measure it's an unqualified success. Dark, "original," R-rated sci-fi movies are a tough sell, and on paper Prometheus resembled recent duds Pandorum and Sunshine (total of $10.3 million and $3.7 million, respectively). Of course, Prometheus was a big-budget Ridley Scott movie getting a nationwide release from a major studio, so it was always going to be significantly bigger than those titles, but to get this high is really a tribute to 20th Century Fox's incredible marketing effort. When the attention-grabbing teaser trailer landed in December the movie immediately shot to the top of many must-see lists, and future material (including some cool viral videos) was equally enticing. Also, for most of the campaign there wasn't an explicit connection made to Alien, which made the movie feel like a must-see original movie event. The audience was 57 percent male and 64 percent 25 year of age and older. 3D accounted for 54 percent of ticket sales, while IMAX contributed 18 percent (nearly all of which is included within that 3D figure). While this is a great start for Prometheus, its ultimate success really comes to down to whether or not it holds up in the coming weeks. Without a CinemaScore available, and with a steep 25 percent drop from Friday-to-Saturday, the movie's long-term prospects are highly questionable. Sometimes discussion-ready movies develop must-see word-of-mouth (here's looking at you, Inception), but if the movie is frustrating enough (which anecdotally seems to be the case for some people with Prometheus) that doesn't necessarily happen. ***

beavis2112
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June 10, 2012

The movie has significant problems with the narrative for sure, but the franchise is enough of a cult hit that it shouldn't threaten the prospects of a sequel. What might is Ridley Scott's age and his other priorities, Bladerunner reboot for example. If there is to be Prometheus sequel, FOX better not hand it off the ass-clowns who made AVP. If they do, they deserve to be kicked in the nads... Repeatedly.

spacyfreak
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June 10, 2012

Come on - its already at 150Mil $, and it will start in AUGUST in some main countries in europe, like germany. So i think it will make all in all this year 200-250Mill. Enough to complete the mission and get some f..ing ANSWERS! MuahahhaHhahHhahahaha..

Gahlaktus
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June 10, 2012

Well, we need to talk it up and let the negative stuff go. It's in all of our best interests for Prometheus to succeed. I, for one, would love to see the two proposed sequels. If we talk the movie down we're talking its box-office down. That means no eggs, no xenos, no whatever you hope for, no nothing. We are Prometheus' audience. Every word out of us helps or hurts. We're that powerful. So, please think about what you want to say and what you want to see in the future before you say it. That's the politics of the matter.

Drakeequation
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June 10, 2012

@ beavis2112 in all fairness, I doubt the studio will care if the film gathers a cult following or is a hit many years down the road. If the film is not profitable by the end of this fiscal year that will be the only thing that matters. No studio will green light a big budget sequel to a movie that only made a splash with die-hard fans and failed to turn a profit. I hate to say it, but the studio does not care if the film sets up for a sequel or you never get the whole story, all they care about is profits (especially when so much money was invested in production and marketing costs). If the worldwide gross is not 400 million dollars worldwide or greater, then a sequel is DOA.

Graphix67
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June 10, 2012

"Madagascar 3" beat out "Prometheus" fairly easily ($60+ Million vs $50 Million). However, it's important to note that parents usually bring along entire groups of kids and their friends for an animated feature while Prometheus's R-rating still made the $50 million weekend-take impressive nevertheless. But the questions remain: Prometheus is an incomplete film that lends itself to a sequel. Will Ridley's age and other commitments ever allow him to finish off the story? And will the eventual financial windfall be impressive enough for the studio to green-light another entry???

Spartan300
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June 10, 2012

I agree... (as usual with Gahlaktus). This is the kind of Franchise I've been waiting for.... Yes, I know it sounds cheesy, but I'm tired of these PG-13 teeny-bopper franchises grossing 10 trilion dollars. Nothing for Adults, nothing that triggers thought and discussion. People are so lazy-minded. I understand that everyone has different opinions, but I can't help to feel that so many people are misinformed. That as soon as they don't understand something or get their answers, they have to label it as Ridley Scott or the writers fault. They seem to attack the views or theories people that like/loved the movie, but offer no evidence or counter theories. They just say this "sucks" because this is not explained for me to understand it. After seeing it for a second time, I truly believe this movie is the beginning of something we have never seen before... Something truly unique and amazing.

beavis2112
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June 10, 2012

A studio film needs to make approximately 4.5x its negative cost just to break even (marketing costs, exhibitors cut, interest on the loan) but that doesn't all have to come from the box office. Packaged media, VOD streaming, licensing (video games, novels, comics etc.) all contribute to the franchises profitability. Studios and the companies that own them are perfectly fine with a film that is a loss leader advertisement for everything else. I think Prometheus will be profitable from box office receipts alone, but even if it's not, FOX has a vested interest in keeping the property alive and well. I expect more of these movies regardless. The only question is quality. Even if Scott bows out, I would be fine with Cameron making Prometheus 2. Just don't give it to some hack.

RSAND
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June 10, 2012

IMHO, I think it would be a horrible idea to let anyone other than Scott helm the sequel(s). But, as we all know, this studio has done some dumb things.

Hadley's Hope
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June 10, 2012

I disagree with the idea of "letting the negative stuff go". Strongly so. And I say that as someone who disliked the film strongly on first viewing, and now hopes to see a sequel. Here's why. I came on here and somebody was gushing over the film. I pointed out lots of plot holes in the narrative of the (and I don't mean the mysterious stuff - I mean the stupid stuff like medpods being in the wrong lifeboat, nobody noticing that the locator beacons show exactly where Milburn and Fifield are on the 3D map, Shaw and Holloway who drove TO the dome in a truck, returned on a quad bike IN a storm and carrying the HEAD of the Space Jockey... and the magically reappearing Quad bike at the end as well - which came back undented or scratched after being tossed about by 200 knot winds, to land close to where Shaw was stretched out on her back waiting to die) I appreciate the real theme of the film is about the 'big question, and I am hooked on how it was woven into the film in little teasing details... but at the same time I'm annoyed at the plot mistakes mentioned above, and also how at times, it felt like the characters were reading the script to us, like we were a bunch of kids... (hey everybody... look at this medpod... this is top of the range... and can do bypass surgery .... remember that for later... okay? - oh, and when you realise it is programmed for a man, and that Weyland was hiding in the other lifeboat... don't wonder why the MedPod was in his daughters lifeboat and not his... even though he has room for it in his king size bedroom.) I would still tell people it's worth seeing, but I'd be honest and say that the script writer has prioritised getting the underlying story across, and at times has cut corners with the surface story, but if you can get past that because a) you just want a great visual ride of a Ridley Scott film or b) you want to be thinking about the film for a week, and all the little subtle hints and relationships... then go see it. Don't try to bull$hit people. We are not the marketing department, and discussion boards are ruined when spammed with spin. ---- p.s. to US grammar nazis: Don't nitpick at my spelling if it's just that I'm using UK spellings with an 's' instead of a 'z' . On this side of the Atlantic, it's correct. :p

OrangeAgent
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June 10, 2012

@drakeequation 400-million dollar question; do you think it breaks the 400M barrier??

spacyfreak
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June 11, 2012

It will not have boxoffice higher then 200Mill IMO. But thats enough for a new franchise... Prometheus on its own does not make much sense. But LOST even did not make much sense all in all, so what should we expect now? hehe.