The box-office estimates from Boxofficemojo for this past weekend surprised the heck out of me. Apparently, I'm out of touch with how popular this HBO show actually was because Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Sex and the City captured first place at domestic multiplexes, hauling in over $55 million as of now (the numbers will change when they are finalized later on). Honestly, I thought I was going to be writing about the failure of Carrie and the gang. Kudos to Time Warner for opening this picture to great success.
Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull continues to bring in the nostalgia crowd as well as generate new fans for the franchise. It came in second place with about $46 million for the weekend. Still, I'm amazed that "Sex and the City" topped it.
But the film at number three perhaps surprised me even more. It's called The Strangers, and it's distributed by General Electric's (NYSE: GE) Universal Pictures. I never thought it would gross anywhere near $20 million, but it looks like it may have ended up doing just that. The concept seemed quite appealing in its simplicity. I haven't seen it yet, but it seems to rely on primal bump-in-the-night scares as opposed to all-out visceral gore. Those masks the intruders wear are incredibly creepy.
Marvel (NYSE: MVL) shareholders (I am one) are now counting the days till Iron Man, which was the number-four flick, crosses $300 million at domestic theaters. That level should have a significant effect on operating income over time; right now, the movie stands at a total gross of approximately $276 million. I'd say $300 million will be reached within two weeks. And who's at number five? My old friend, Prince Caspian. Actually, I'm being a bit sarcastic there, since I am so disappointed as a Disney (NYSE: DIS) shareholder at this movie's performance. After three weekends, the fantasy has a total tally in the vicinity of $115 million. That, my friends, isn't sexy at all...
Disclosure: I own shares of Disney, General Electric, and Marvel; positions change at any time.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-02-2008 @ 11:15AM
Michael Schneider said...
Except for Disney's Narnia it has been a pretty good summer for movies- suggesting that the consumer will be there for the movie industry even as the economy slows. This weekend on Cavuto one of the panelists, Lea, had an interesting play on Sex in the City which she predicted would be a hit (see Weekend Stock Review- white label by red dot on right- at http://www.Barrelomoney.com). She suggested buying Nordstrom as a way to play the impact of the film on fashion. I like some of the movie theater companies here as a way to play it-- like Regal Cinemas which has a fat dividend and is getting into 3D in a big way-- just because we don't really see retail and apparel being able to hold up as much as movies if things get bad. Of course, the companies like Marvel are also interesting and Disney did turn in good recent earnings so it still might be good longer term and there is still hope for the economic stimulus package.
6-02-2008 @ 3:06PM
Steve in Denver said...
This is the only movie I've ever seen that made me want to break something. What a contrived piece of chick flick @#%*!. I'm going to buy up as many movie posters as I can and sell them to gun shops and firing ranges to sell to men who've seen it who still have their cajones to use as targets to get the irritation it leaves out of their system.