Wednesday, July 17, 2013

17-07-2013 Pacific Rim flops the test against Monsters University and sun H0us3

Pacific Rim flops the test against Monsters University and sun Jul 17th 2013, 09:54



Disney sequel is top at the UK box office as Pacific Rim fails to impress, and Andre Rieu's live concert pulls in the profits




THE WINNER



The third successive sunny weekend continued to see tough conditions for film exhibition in the UK, with significant drops for existing films, and below-expected numbers for new entrants. At least there wasn't a historic Wimbledon final to contend with. Top title was Disney-Pixar's , with EUR3.46m, well ahead of rival new entrant .



Disney cheerfully announced, "Monsters University Withstands the Heat as it Comes Top of the Class at #1 at UK Box Office," adding that the film had achieved strong evening business, indicating a broad audience that extends beyond the family market. Fair enough, but that's only the 11th best three-day debut of 2013, behind , , , , , , , and Disney's own and . Predecessor debuted with a much more impressive EUR9.20m back in 2002, including previews of EUR2.71m.



In Disney's favour are the strong legs often exhibited by animated features. For example, The Croods opened with EUR3.52m plus EUR1.85m in previews, and is now at an impressive EUR26.2m. Monsters University has posted a very similar three-day debut, and could easily end up with a comparable number, especially with the whole school summer holiday ahead of it.



Animation is so far proving particularly robust in 2013, with The Croods, Despicable Me 2 (EUR27.1m) and Wreck-It Ralph (EUR23.8m) among the top eight grossers so far. Despicable Me 2 is steadily rising up the all-time animation rankings, and now has (EUR29.0m), A Bug's Life (EUR29.4m) and (EUR29.5m) in its sights.



THE DISAPPOINTMENT



Critics and audiences bemoan Hollywood's obsession with sequels and film based on established material such as comicbooks, TV shows and young adult fiction, but once again the numbers seem to support the studios' risk-averse thinking. Pacific Rim, debuting with EUR2.19m is the latest film that is struggling to engage audiences, having been based on characters that lacked pre-existing awareness. The number would be less of a problem had the production budget not been a reported $180m (EUR118.5m).



Last summer, , derided at the time as a costly flop, opened with EUR2.25m plus EUR1.51m in previews. Thanks to director Guillermo Del Toro's credible reputation, Pacific Rim might hold up stronger in the coming weeks, especially as temperatures cool. But at this point it hardly looks a profitable endeavour for backers Warners.



The other big commercial disappointment of the summer so far is likewise based on an original story: M Night Shyamalan's , which debuted just ahead of Pacific Rim with EUR2.25m, and is now at EUR6.25m. Of course, critics may carp that the problem with Pacific Rim and After Earth is their familiarity, rather than their originality. The only 2013 release based on original characters that's above EUR20m box-office is The Croods.



THE LIVE EVENT



Dutch violinist AndrRieu once again proved the potency of live events beamed into UK cinemas, with a stunning EUR449,000 on Saturday evening (includes some Sunday encore showings), according to distributor CinemaLive. The company adds that official data gatherer Rentrak has verified the result as the biggest opening weekend for an artist music concert at UK cinemas, ahead of May 2012's Westlife farewell performance.



UK audience interest for Rieu's concerts, beamed in from his home town of Maastricht, has been steadily growing since they began transmission here in 2010. His summer concerts in 2011 and 2012 grossed EUR55,000 and EUR153,000 respectively at UK cinemas, and his Home for Christmas 2012 pulled in EUR250,000, according to CinemaLive. A point to note: Rieu plays a week's worth of concerts, and the cinema event has in fact been recorded several days before live satellite transmission.



THE ARTHOUSE SCENE



Is your local arthouse playing mostly summer blockbusters? If so, it's hardly surprising given the dearth of commercially viable specialised fare right now. With animation, action and comedies occupying the top eight places of the chart (respect to genre straddler , offering something a bit different and holding well in fourth place with EUR5.4m to date), and Bollywood flick Bhaag Milkha Bhaag in at number nine, the top release targeting non-mainstream audiences is . Next comes , now in its sixth week of release - the fact that it is still beating the numerous arthouse films released in the past month tells its own story. Everything else grossed less than EUR20,000 at the weekend, and the Other Openers chart below is mostly a sorry tale of woe.



THE FUTURE



Overall, the weekend box-office is 43% down on the equivalent frame from 2012, although, as so often, the devil is in the details. A year ago the market was boosted by two successive weekends of previews in England and Wales for , totaling EUR4.8m - whereas there were no previews to add in for Monsters University or Pacific Rim. Cinema owners will now be pinning hopes on a) an end to the heatwave and b) a nice big opening from , which reunites Edgar Wright with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. There's also serial killer investigation , with Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and Vanessa Hudgens; Swedish thriller with Joel Kinnaman; and arthouse offerings including and .



TOP 10 FILMS



1. , EUR3,463,917 from 525 sites (NEW)



2. , EUR2,225,543 from 539 sites. Total: EUR27,082,903



3. , EUR2,193,500 from 494 sites (NEW)



4. , EUR1,142,376 from 478 sites. Total: EUR5,366,612



5. , EUR397,660 from 388 sites. Total: EUR2,263,505



6. , EUR382,975 from 366 sites. Total: EUR13,242,263



7. , EUR278,607 from 317 sites. Total: EUR29,190,336



8. , EUR181,367 from 265 sites. Total: EUR3,677,230



9. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, 56 sites, EUR89,348



10. , EUR76,540 from 75 sites. Total: EUR348,269



OTHER OPENERS



, 38 sites, EUR19,309



Fer Mamia Gadbad Gadbad, 5 sites, EUR10,259



, 13 sites, EUR7,478



, 5 sites, EUR5,451



, 31 sites, EUR2,845



, 3 sites, EUR2,003 (+ EUR1,334 previews)



, 4 sites, EUR729 (rerelease)



, 3 sites, EUR695



, 3 sites, EUR516



Thanks to Rentrak(c) 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our |
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