Guess we've got to hand it to Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. I oftentimes criticize the enormous compensation packages of celebrity thespians, but I'll give credit where credit is due. These two stars have powered News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Marley and Me to great success (I suppose that dog helped out, too).
In its second weekend out in the marketplace, the film was again in the top slot at domestic theaters, with current estimates pegging its three-day gross at around $24 million. Marley is now well past the $100 million mark.
Another movie is doing well at the box office, one that I thought wasn't going to be so hot. Again, it has a big star to thank, to some degree at least. Adam Sandler and his Bedtime Stories flick, distributed by Disney (NYSE: DIS), came in second over the weekend, grossing about $20 million. It's total tally is at $85 million after two weekends.
Then there's Brad Pitt's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, from Viacom (NYSE: VIA). Button was third with $18 million, and now has almost $80 million in its box-office bank account.
But don't think that stars are always a guarantee of runaway success. I mean, you can't get much bigger than Tom Cruise, right? Well, his movie Valkyrie came in fourth over the weekend, and so far, it's only taken in $60 million after two weekends at bat. Granted, this isn't necessarily a fair comparison, because Valkyrie's subject matter isn't as multiplex-friendly as the other movies mentioned here. Still, you would have figured on a bit more from Cruise.
Let's look at Jim Carrey's Yes Man. The Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) project came in fifth and has grossed, after three weekends out, about $80 million. Now that's a film that one might have assumed would be at $100 million by this point.
I think the evidence continues to show that big stars and their even bigger salaries don't guarantee anything.
As we stand at the beginning of the new year, how do the media companies mentioned here stack up? Quite frankly, I think all of them are pretty cheap, but it's impossible to say exactly how their stocks will perform. If we get another year of market irrationality, then all bets are off. I'd feel a lot better about these media companies if they aggressively attacked the issue of rising costs in movie budgets in the new year. That would be one heck of an awesome resolution.
Disclosure: I own Disney; positions can change without notice.
Twitter finally reveals revenue ambition, wants to be Google -- but not yet
Google says: Chrome for Christmas
Why is gold marching higher? Ask the central bankers
