Disney's jaded take on 'A Christmast Carol' (2009) proving..

Opening day: 'Christmas Carol' debut not looking too jolly
November 7, 2009 | 8:45 am | ntvnat.com/achristmascarol

Walt Disney Studios' big-budget holiday bet "A Christmas Carol" got
off to a soft start Friday, selling a studio-estimated $9 million in
the U.S. and Canada.

Based on the performance of similar films, that means the motion-
capture-animated tale starring Jim Carrey should gross $30 million to
$35 million through Sunday, a relatively weak debut given its
production budget of nearly $200 million and Disney's substantial
investment in marketing.

Pre-release surveys had indicated the movie would open to at least $40
million domestically over its first three days.

A soft launch at home won't necessarily be a lump of coal in Disney's
stocking, however. Several other family movies have done huge business
overseas this year, and the studio is surely hoping "A Christmas
Carol" will do the same. In addition, family movies often play for a
long time in theaters. Director Robert Zemeckis' previous motion-
capture holiday tale, "The Polar Express," grossed $30.6 million in
its first five days after debuting on a Wednesday and went on to
collect a healthy $162.8 million.

"This Is It" had a strong hold for a concert movie. Sony's Michael
Jackson film saw ticket sales drop 47% on Friday from a week earlier,
putting it on track for a full weekend decline of closer to 40% and a
three-day gross of about $14 million. Most concert movies decline more
than 50% on their second weekends.

Overture's "The Men Who Stare at Goats" and Universal's release of
Gold Circle's "The Fourth Kind" appear headed toward openings in the
low- to mid-teens, while "The Box" from Warner Bros is on track to
gross about $8 million by Sunday.

-- Ben Fritz

Photo: A scene from "A Christmas Carol." Credit: ImageMovers Digital

More in: Box office

---

'Disney's A Christmas Carol Sings To The Top Of The Saturday Box
Office
Posted 5 hrs ago by Adam Rosenberg in Uncategorized | ntvnat.com/
achristmascarol

1. "A Christmas Carol" ($8.9 million)
2. "The Fourth Kind" ($5 million)
3. "The Men Who Stare At Goats" ($4.6 million)
4. "Michael Jackson's This Is It" ($4.1 million)
5. "Paranormal Activity" ($2.8 million)

The opening day for Robert Zemeckis' "A Christmas Carol" wasn't
exactly worthy of a "bah humbug" reaction, though the folks at Disney
might be lacking some Christmas spirit this morning. The 3-D holiday
film, which stars Jim Carrey as the infamous grouch Ebenezer Scrooge
and a whole slew of other characters, opened to $8.9 million on Friday
with a projected $31 million weekend, according to Deadline Hollywood
Daily's Nikki Finke.

"Poor reviews coupled with the 'too dark for kids' attitude may really
be hurting the opening," a rival studio executive told Finke about the
holiday picture, which was initially expected to earn as much as $40
million this weekend. "Throw that in with the possibility that they
just might be a bit too early with the Christmas theme, and you have
the possibility of a really lackluster debut for an expensive movie."

While audiences aren't latching onto the preemptive holiday cheer as
much as Disney executives had hoped, other studios are enjoying the
aftermath of last weekend's Halloween. The Milla Jovovich-starring
"The Fourth Kind" earned the second place spot on Friday with a $5
million intake, which could be the result of its similarities to the
supernaturally successful "Paranormal Activity." But given "The Fourth
Kind's" debut weekend in just over 2,500 theaters, I wouldn't expect
this thriller will come close to the increasingly popular "Paranormal
Activity," which ended Friday night in fifth place.

Moviegoers not only rejected the early Christmas spirit, but also the
allure of Hollywood star power. Despite a star-studded cast including
George Clooney, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey, "The Men Who Stare At
Goats" only opened to $4.6 million on Friday for a third place finish.
Deadline Hollywood estimates that the movie will wind up with $14.5
million by weekend's end.

"Michael Jackson's This Is It," meanwhile, sunk from first place last
weekend to fourth place on Friday night with $4.1 million and an
expected $14 million weekend. The result isn't quite as bad when
factoring in the international success of "This Is It," which has
earned just over $100 million overseas. Combined with its domestic
intake, "This Is It" has yielded almost $150 million thus far. While
that's not quite the $250 million it was projected to make within five
days, the Jackson documentary still has time to pick up extra cash
thanks to an elongated theatrical run.

On Nov 7, 9:18 pm, Taylor <lukebenw....TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote:
> Opening day: 'Christmas Carol' debut not looking too jolly
> November 7, 2009 |  8:45 am | ntvnat.com/achristmascarol
>
> Walt Disney Studios' big-budget holiday bet "A Christmas Carol" got
> off to a soft start Friday, selling a studio-estimated $9 million in
> the U.S. and Canada.
>
> Based on the performance of similar films, that means the motion-
> capture-animated tale starring Jim Carrey should gross $30 million to
> $35 million through Sunday, a relatively weak debut given its
> production budget of nearly $200 million and Disney's substantial
> investment in marketing.
>
> Pre-release surveys had indicated the movie would open to at least $40
> million domestically over its first three days.
>
> A soft launch at home won't necessarily be a lump of coal in Disney's
> stocking, however. Several other family movies have done huge business
> overseas this year, and the studio is surely hoping "A Christmas
> Carol" will do the same. In addition, family movies often play for a
> long time in theaters. Director Robert Zemeckis' previous motion-
> capture holiday tale, "The Polar Express," grossed $30.6 million in
> its first five days after debuting on a Wednesday and went on to
> collect a healthy $162.8 million.
>
> "This Is It" had a strong hold for a concert movie. Sony's Michael
> Jackson film saw ticket sales drop 47% on Friday from a week earlier,
> putting it on track for a full weekend decline of closer to 40% and a
> three-day gross of about $14 million. Most concert movies decline more
> than 50% on their second weekends.
>
> Overture's "The Men Who Stare at Goats" and Universal's release of
> Gold Circle's "The Fourth Kind" appear headed toward openings in the
> low- to mid-teens, while "The Box" from Warner Bros is on track to
> gross about $8 million by Sunday.
>
> -- Ben Fritz
>
> Photo: A scene from "A Christmas Carol." Credit: ImageMovers Digital
>
> More in: Box office
>
> ---
>
> 'Disney's A Christmas Carol Sings To The Top Of The Saturday Box
> Office
> Posted 5 hrs ago by Adam Rosenberg in Uncategorized | ntvnat.com/
> achristmascarol
>
> 1. "A Christmas Carol" ($8.9 million)
> 2. "The Fourth Kind" ($5 million)
> 3. "The Men Who Stare At Goats" ($4.6 million)
> 4. "Michael Jackson's This Is It" ($4.1 million)
> 5. "Paranormal Activity" ($2.8 million)
>
> The opening day for Robert Zemeckis' "A Christmas Carol" wasn't
> exactly worthy of a "bah humbug" reaction, though the folks at Disney
> might be lacking some Christmas spirit this morning. The 3-D holiday
> film, which stars Jim Carrey as the infamous grouch Ebenezer Scrooge
> and a whole slew of other characters, opened to $8.9 million on Friday
> with a projected $31 million weekend, according to Deadline Hollywood
> Daily's Nikki Finke.
>
> "Poor reviews coupled with the 'too dark for kids' attitude may really
> be hurting the opening," a rival studio executive told Finke about the
> holiday picture, which was initially expected to earn as much as $40
> million this weekend. "Throw that in with the possibility that they
> just might be a bit too early with the Christmas theme, and you have
> the possibility of a really lackluster debut for an expensive movie."
>
> While audiences aren't latching onto the preemptive holiday cheer as
> much as Disney executives had hoped, other studios are enjoying the
> aftermath of last weekend's Halloween. The Milla Jovovich-starring
> "The Fourth Kind" earned the second place spot on Friday with a $5
> million intake, which could be the result of its similarities to the
> supernaturally successful "Paranormal Activity." But given "The Fourth
> Kind's" debut weekend in just over 2,500 theaters, I wouldn't expect
> this thriller will come close to the increasingly popular "Paranormal
> Activity," which ended Friday night in fifth place.
>
> Moviegoers not only rejected the early Christmas spirit, but also the
> allure of Hollywood star power. Despite a star-studded cast including
> George Clooney, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey, "The Men Who Stare At
> Goats" only opened to $4.6 million on Friday for a third place finish.
> Deadline Hollywood estimates that the movie will wind up with $14.5
> million by weekend's end.
>
> "Michael Jackson's This Is It," meanwhile, sunk from first place last
> weekend to fourth place on Friday night with $4.1 million and an
> expected $14 million weekend. The result isn't quite as bad when
> factoring in the international success of "This Is It," which has
> earned just over $100 million overseas. Combined with its domestic
> intake, "This Is It" has yielded almost $150 million thus far. While
> that's not quite the $250 million it was projected to make within five
> days, the Jackson documentary still has time to pick up extra cash
> thanks to an elongated theatrical run.

Christmas comes early: ‘Carol’ tops box office
Jim Carrey’s holiday film takes in $31 million; Jackson film slips to
second

DisassociatedPress, NLSN TLVSN | updated 18 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - Jim Carrey's Scrooge collected holiday donations from
movie fans with his new take on "A Christmas Carol," which took in $31
million to open as the weekend's top movie.

The Disney animated version of the Charles Dickens classic knocked the
King of Pop out of the No. 1 spot as "Michael Jackson's This Is It"
slipped to second place with $14 million, according to studio
estimates Sunday.

Sony's "This Is It," presenting rehearsal performances Jackson shot
before his death last June, raised its domestic total to $57.9
million. Worldwide, "This Is It" has taken in $186.5 million.

Story continues below ↓
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Featuring Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge and also as the three holiday
ghosts that show Scrooge the error of his miserly ways, "A Christmas
Carol" came in on the low end of Disney's expectations for opening
weekend.

On the other end of the spectrum, Lionsgate's acclaimed drama
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" had a spectacular
start, pulling in $1.8 million in just 18 theaters, averaging $100,000
a cinema. That compares with an $8,418 average for "A Christmas Carol"
in 3,683 theaters.

"Precious" had a record average for films opening in 10 or more
theaters. Others that have averaged $100,000 or more typically debut
in only a few cinemas.

The weekend brought a rush of other new movies, led by George
Clooney's comedy "The Men Who Stare at Goats," which finished at No. 3
with $13.3 million. The Overture Films release is a satiric look at
U.S. military efforts to create "warrior monks" who can predict the
future or walk through walls.

Debuting in fourth place with $12.5 million was Universal's "The
Fourth Kind," starring Milla Jovovich as a psychologist studying alien
abductions in Alaska.

Cameron Diaz and James Marsden's sci-fi tale "The Box" opened at No. 6
with $7.9 million. The Warner Bros. thriller centers on a couple given
a mysterious box that can provide them $1 million, but at the cost of
a stranger's life.

With nearly two months of playing time through the holidays, Disney is
counting on steady business for "A Christmas Carol," particularly over
Thanksgiving weekend and in the buildup to Christmas itself.

"You have to play these things for the long term," said Chuck Viane,
Disney's head of distribution. "You've got to have the patience and
you've got to pick the right weekend. For us, the days when the malls
turned to Christmas stores is when we wanted to go."

Director Robert Zemeckis shot the movie using the same performance-
capture technology used on his 2004 holiday offering "The Polar
Express." Carrey and his co-stars acted on a bare soundstage as
digital cameras caught their performances, with computer animators
later adding costumes, sets, props and other effects.

"A Christmas Carol" came in ahead of "Polar Express," which had an
opening weekend of $23.5 million. But it fell well short of the $55.1
million opening for Carrey's previous holiday tale, "Dr. Seuss' How
the Grinch Stole Christmas" in 2000.

‘Precious’ coming to more cities
Holiday-themed films tend to hold up well through the season, among
them Disney's "The Santa Clause" comedies. After its modest start,
"The Polar Express" went on to become a $160 million hit by the end of
its run and has become a holiday perennial in rereleases in huge-
screen IMAX theaters.

A Christmas Carol" did three-fourths of its business in theaters
showing 3-D versions. Huge-screen IMAX theaters, which represented
only 5 percent of the theater count, accounted for $4.5 million, or
14.5 percent, of the movie's total gross, said Greg Foster, IMAX
chairman and president.

"Precious," which won the top awards at last January's Sundance Film
Festival, stars newcomer Gabourey Sidibe as a Harlem teen who
gradually rises above an upbringing of incest, abuse and illiteracy.

After Sundance, Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry signed on as executive
producers, helping to spread the word on "Precious," which has earned
acclaim from critics and audiences at other film festivals. The film
has Academy Awards buzz as a best-picture contender, along with Oscar
prospects for Sidibe, co-star Mo'Nique and director Lee Daniels.


Click for related content
‘Carol,’ ‘New Moon,’ ‘Avatar’ among winter films
Review: Bah, humbug! ‘Carol’ has no spirit

The movie started in only four cities — New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta
and Chicago. Lionsgate plans to expand it this Friday to five more —
Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Dallas and Houston,
then take it into wide release Nov. 20.

"A lot of movie-goers are not happy with the release plan right now,
because it's not in their cities yet," said David Spitz, head of
distribution for Lionsgate. "That's always a good sign."

Box office results
Estimated ticket sales for Nov. 6-8
1. "A Christmas Carol," $31 million.
2. "Michael Jackson's This Is It," $14 million.
3. "The Men Who Stare at Goats," $13.3 million.
4. "The Fourth Kind," $12.5 million.
5. "Paranormal Activity," $8.6 million.
6. "The Box," $7.9 million.
7. "Couples Retreat," $6.4 million.
8. "Law Abiding Citizen," $6.2 million.
9. "Where the Wild Things Are," $4.2 million.
10. "Astro Boy," $2.6 million.