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I had high hopes for News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) remake of one of my favorite sci-fi films from the 50s, The Day the Earth Stood Still. I'm not sure what everyone else was thinking, but I figured the film would take in at least $50 million at the opening weekend.
Unfortunately, according to early estimates at Boxofficemojo, Earth could only scare up around $31 million in its first three days at domestic theaters. In fact, compared to last year's I Am Legend from Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), which came out at about the same time, and was another remake of a famous cult sci-fi flick as well, it performed poorly as Legend, starring Will Smith, grossed $77 million in its debut weekend.
Keanu Reeves starred as the alien Klaatu in Earth. One has to wonder how the box-office dynamic would have changed if Will Smith was in the role. Of course, maybe the movie would have been more expensive to make (although I'm sure Reeves doesn't come cheap, either). I heard great word on the remake from a friend of mine who saw it over the weekend on an IMAX (NASDAQ: IMAX) screen and really enjoyed it. He was a bit surprised when I suggested that the film only pulled in around $30 million.
Time Warner's Four Christmases continues to rake in the holiday bucks. It came in second with about $13 million. So far, it's made close to $88 million. Twilight, from Summit Entertainment, was third and has now passed the $150 million mark. Vampires sure are popular.
Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Bolt came in fourth with over $7 million. The cartoon about a dog's misconceptions concerning the true nature of his reality still hasn't crossed the $100 million mark after four weekends out (its total stands at around $89 million). It should hit $100 million, but it should have passed that statistic a lot sooner in its run. Disney needs to evaluate its animation concepts and ensure that it can easily pass $100 million with most of its cartoons. I do have to say, though, that Disney seemed to do well by this one. It looked like the company did everything it could possibly do to produce a great animated classic. Shareholders, however, will still demand higher grosses in the future.
It was a disappointing weekend for News Corp., in my opinion. But I still want to see Earth. I hope it's at least half as good as the original (and I hope the word of mouth turns out to be positive so that next weekend's results will be kind to the film).
Disclosure: I own Disney; positions can change at any time.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-15-2008 @ 2:39PM
dan said...
Klaatu was a bore. As a matter of fact, I found the movie to be a bore. The original was a lot better. Hollywood should quit trying to make remake movies they all seem to be poor. If they think modern technology makes a movie, they are mistaking. As a matter of fact movie makes should all be replaced by people that have hearts and morals.
12-30-2008 @ 12:35AM
michael Med said...
If you liked this pathetic , amaturish,error
filled remake of the great classic Then you
may also enjoy the Mona Lisa painting by DiVinci to be vandalized with a mustache.
Klatu was shown to have the power to disable any human with a debilitating soundwave projection, but decided to smash an innocent police officer between two cars. He immolated two helicopters and the innocent soldiers. Who wrote this? A 12 year old on crack?