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Bonds Are a 'Safe' Investment: A Big Lie Gets Even BiggerAccording to Boxofficemojo.com, the fight for top dog at the domestic multiplex is a close one. Both Bangkok Dangerous, from Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), and Tropic Thunder, from Viacom (NYSE: VIA), have almost the same statistic. Bangkok is estimated to have taken in $7.8 million, while Thunder has approximately $7.5 million to its credit. It will be interesting to see who ultimately takes the honors, but I can tell you that from my perspective, it wasn't a great weekend for Lions Gate shareholders.
The reason I say this is because I thought Nicolas Cage would have brought in more moviegoers. The marketing campaign seemed to predict an opening of well over $10 million. Heck, I would have preferred $20 million considering that the budget on the picture has been reported to be about $45 million. But I must remember that we are no longer in the competitive, fast marketplace of summer. The month of September is certainly more mellow, although that doesn't mean that it can't have a breakout hit.
Sony (NYSE: SNE) came in third with House Bunny, and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) continues to add to its Dark Knight treasure chest at position number four. Batman now has over $512 million to his domestic credit. Imagine all the upgrades to the Batcave that such an amount of money could finance!
Unfortunately, Vin Diesel and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) bombed with Babylon A.D. The project dropped to the sixth spot after coming in second last weekend. Although the film isn't overly pricey in terms of budget, the fact that it only has about $17 million in the bank at this point is indisputably disappointing. Too bad, too, because it seemed like the movie had an interesting concept.
Keep an eye on Lions Gate's stock. If the share price pulls back and gets close to the 52-week low of $8.43, I'd argue that they might make for an attractive, albeit speculative, trade. It seems like the stock always wants to rise back to double-digits after it plunges to a low. And with Saw V coming out next month, it might make sense to at least look at Lions Gate. Of course, only risk capital should be used for such a trade, since this is the fickle movie business we are talking about. As for me, I have to admit, if shares go below that $8.43 level, I'll at least be taking a look.
Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.
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