Viacom (NYSE: VIA) scored over the weekend at the domestic box office. Ever since I saw the trailer for the movie Eagle Eye back in the summer, I had a feeling this was going to turn out to be a hit. According to Boxofficemojo, the thriller took in $29 million since opening on Friday as of early estimates.
In fact, I can't understand why Eye wasn't placed in a summer slot. I suppose there are some legitimate reasons, such as the density of releases during the season, but this one begged to be competing in the busy time period. Steven Spielberg served as executive producer on this one, and Viacom's Paramount distributed it on behalf of the DreamWorks brand. Of course, Spielberg and DreamWorks will be departing from the Viacom fold, perhaps heading to General Electric's (NYSE: GE) Universal to set up a distribution deal.
Coming in second was Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Nights in Rodanthe. It was a distant second at an estimated $13.5 million. Got to be honest, I didn't hear of this movie before I started writing this piece. Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Lakeview Terrace was in third place with $7 million. Last week, Sony was on top with that picture.
I was disappointed with the performance of Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Miracle at St. Anna. The Spike Lee war feature only grabbed about $3.5 million. It placed in spot number nine and even though it wasn't in as many theaters as some of the biggies of the weekend, thus making its per-theater average heftier than some of the higher-ranking movies, I thought Miracle could have done a lot better considering its compelling marketing campaign. Would have been nice for Disney shareholders to have seen a big hit with this project.
Perhaps the long running time of 2 hrs. 46 min. affected its chances for success. I always say that execs should insist on movies with shorter run-times. That's more shareholder-friendly to me. I don't really care if an artist believes he needs a ton of time to tell a tale. Realistically, shorter movies reduce the risk of failure and can maximize the total return from the box office.
Viacom is certainly hoping that its latest hit can sustain the momentum. I think there's a good chance it might. Eagle Eye does seem to be powered by a strong concept. And I would hope that Viacom management, instead of moaning about the loss of Spielberg, would simply put its corporate head down and hunt for even better concepts. It's what the movie business thrives on.
Disclosure: I own Disney and GE; positions can change at any time.