61th Portuguese Box-Office Analysis

Two weeks to come back home. I’m already counting the days after being here for four weeks. And when you work away from home, the return to it just makes it sweeter. We surely give a new meaning to life, but especially to the word Home.
Enough about this mambo-jambo and let’s talk numbers.

We have a new number one. That is always news. But it’s even more bigger news when this first place is a Portuguese movie. Yes, you heard it right. A Portuguese in the top spot. You will, for sure, never heard of the directors or the actors, but I can assure you that this movie is based on a radio show, then a play (some plays actually) and now it is a movie. Always with the same actors, Jose Pedro Gomes e Antonio Feio. Ring a bell? I though so.
But they are there and with a bow above 65000 spectators, the biggest ever for a Portuguese Movie. Well done, and good news for the Portuguese movie “Industry” (there is no industry just some people trying to do movies).
Besides this we also find a new number 2, with an actor comeback to box-office glory in Portugal, one more “indy” top ten, big movie in America, entry and finally a new movie entry at number 20, but a very, very small one.
So let’s get on with the show.

This report concerns the week between 12 to 18 of October.

Legend

Position/Movie
Number of Theaters
Number of Spectators/Week
Average per Theater/Week
Comparison with Last Week’s Number of Spectators
Number of Spectators/Total Run
Week of Release
1. Filme da Treta
35
67868
1939
-
67868
1st Week
2. The Guardian
48
42738
890
-
42738
1st Week
3. Barnyard
44
40234
914
-45%
112801
2nd Week

4. Click
43
31968
743
-46%
91205
2nd Week

5. World Trade Center
49
18414
376
-53%
241958
4th Week

6. The Black Dahlia
21
16153
769
-45%
45392
2nd Week

7. Little Miss Sunshine
11
9446
859
-
9446
1st Week

8. Lady in the Water
16
8424
527
-50%
51130
3rd Week

9. Volver
14
8417
601
-25%
102807
6th Week

10. You, Me and Dupree
25
6761
270
-59%
273777
7th Week

The Champion:

What to say of this surprise. A big opening was expected, for sure, considering the openers of the week and considering the success the series had here in Portugal. Of course nothing could prepares us for the biggest opening, ever, for a Portuguese movie (since ICAM started releasing the box-office of Portugal in 2002) with 67868 spectators on 35 theaters (also the highest number of copies for a Portuguese movie) with an almost 2000 average, one of the best of the year, and this considering all movies that opened in Portugal. Good news for independent filmmaking in Portugal since this is a totally private operation and in here, the State supports culture and especially cinema with money. So this could be the start of people trying to bet they’re money on movies. They could, actually, give profit. I hope it starts the revolution we, almost, all want for the Portuguese cinema. The name of the revolution is “Filme da Treta”.

The New Players:

“The Guardian”, in number 2 marks the return of Kevin Costner, to a decent opening, here in Portugal. His last one had been with “Dances with Wolves”. I think I’ve said enough. It made 42738 spectators, nothing very good but above 30000 it’s already good here, considering the type of film, not blockbuster-themed. An average of 890 makes this a good comeback. Ohhh, I forgot. The other actor is that Ashton Kutcher. Big in the U.S, completely unknown here. And he’s acting is sure not helping (although I have to admit this is his best performance ever, and that’s saying much).

The independent film of the year. Have you guessed which one it is? It’s “Little Miss Sunshine”. Ready to take on the Oscars after it made big, first, in the Sundance Film Festival. 9446 spectators here. Nothing very good, since the marketing was practically zero here. And personally that Contest of Beauty is pretty creepy indeed. That actually happens there? Sick…I liked the film, although it only lives when Grandpa is on scene. Is character is the bread and soul of the movie. Alan Arkin is big in my book. Even bigger then he was before. The film never gets on solid ground, the time he leaves the scene.

The final entry is a disappointment, at number with 1487 spectators for a 372 average per theater/week. It’s “End Game”. A small film, gets small treatment here. The movies that don’t open in multiplexes, hardly ever pass the 5000 for an opening.. Malls=Movies in Portugal, so this didn’t stand a chance.

The Winner of Week:

All has been said of this week winner of the week. A Portuguese movie, in number one, with the biggest average of the week!!!! In this case only this words make this a big milestone in our cinema. It may not be the best of films but at least people went see it at the movies, instead of staying home waiting for a DVD pirated copy. And since, hardly ever any Portuguese movie enters the pirate circuit, you really have to see it in theaters. And the name is "Filme da Treta".

The Looser of the Week:

It clinched to the top ten but still won the title for the looser of the week. In it’s 7th Week, and on a impressive run, the –59% decrease in spectators to 6761 just made it the worst run of this week top ten. What goes up, must go down one time right. This was “You, Me and Dupree” time.

See you in the next box-office report of Portugal.

Good Night and Good Films.

60th Portuguese Box-Office Analysis

Yet another week, in this “island” of sand, instead of water. With a decent internet connection this is, now, much more bearable, because just that makes us near to the world. And I realized I couldn’t be disconnected from the world. I have a need to feed on the news that pour from all earth and especially from my home country. And to not be by here let’s say, especially, about what’s happening in Portugal in terms of Box-Office.
And yes, we have some news, to show you.

Let’s move on to the real business.
First I will start by saying, we have a new champion, and yet again, for many weeks this year, it’s an animation movie. No big news in the number one spot. We just love the little animated critters. And since they are in 3D we love them even more.
Four new openings in the top 20 spots and 3 in the top 10. Our second position is also no big news. He is big in Portugal, and still manages to put all his movies above the 150000 spectators. And that in here is no small task.
In the four top movies, we have three new ones. And that also explains the fact that spectators raised 34% to 275353. Big openers, almost, always mean better business in the week. And this week we have 3 above 28000 spectators. Big.

About the older movies we have a good holder at –3% but basically the drops, for all movies, are around 30%.

Let’s go to the numbers.

This report concerns the week between 5 to 11 of October.

Legend

Position/Movie
Number of Theaters
Number of Spectators/Week
Average per Theater/Week
Comparison with Last Week’s Number of Spectators
Number of Spectators/Total Run
Week of Release

1. Barnyard

45
72567
1613
-
72567
1st Week

2. Click
40
59237
1481
-
59237
1st Week

3. World Trade Center
53
39555
746
-41%
223544
3rd Week

4. The Black Dahlia
25
29239
1170
-
29506
1st Week

5. Lady in the Water
16
16979
1061
-34%
42706
2nd Week

6. You, Me and Dupree
39
16616
426
-38%
267016
6th Week

7. Snakes on a Plane
24
12794
533
-33%
31809
2nd Week

8. Volver
16
11165
698
-25%
94390
5th Week

9. An Inconvenient Truth
11
9578
871
-3%
38362
4th Week

10. Little Man
16
7623
476
-32%
61114
5th Week

The Champion:

And the animation (3D ofcourse) make it again. The top spot is theirs for the taking. With a bow of 72567 spectators for the week and with an average of 1613 (Not bad, although not excellent either, considering it’s an animation movie). It's "Barnyard".
This time it’s with cows. They have never been there. An animal’s animation movie, is something we definitely seen before. But still, it gets number one. Just 3D, for me, is getting kind of boring now. Give me stories, not just 3D. Ahh, “Ghibli” we miss you so much (if you didn’t understand this, you are not an animation fan. Just a trend fan). Comeback soon…

The New Players:

The other new opener is right around the corner, in the second place. They say that second place is the first looser, but this is not the case. A Second place with 59237 spectators and an average above 1400 is nothing to ignore. An amazing result for a household name, here in Portugal. He always gets the film above 100000. He’s like the Tom Hanks of box-office here. All his last movies have put more than 150000 spectators in the theaters. So they continue to bet on him. It’s a pity that his best role in PT Anderson’s “Punch Drunk Love” is the only film that didn’t made the cut. That’s the movie business for you. It's "Click" time

Still, in the top ten, we find, at number 4, “The Black Dahlia”. De Palma’s latest take on “noir” is a nice film, but needed a fresher take on the subject. But De Palma is still one of the masters and he sure knows how to direct. Maybe the problem, is choosing the right people for each part. Still one to consider, as 29239 spectators, that thought the same as myself. An Average above 1000 and we have a good opening for a Brian De Palma movie. And he was missing those in here. He’s back.

A big disappointment is at number 20. The latest Teresa Villaverde’s film “Transe” was very well received in the late Cannes festival. Willem Dafoe told Ana Moreira her perfomance was remarkable and it truly his. She’s the center, she’s everything on the film. A great actress and a good director but unfortunately, it just continues trough the art way. There is no work to make the person watching to enter the story. It’s full of long boring stills, very beautiful indeed and made in a arty way. And what does it get to? 1065 spectators and an average of 355. The directors want to make arty films for themselves. But they also have to understand that people go see the movies. I went to see it. And I liked some parts of it. I’m not the average film guy. I see a lot of movies (1 time per week). So if somebody doesn’t go too often and sees this film, he doesn’t want to see any more a Portuguese movie. It’s boring, too still and it doesn’t captivate you to the caracters. And cinema only makes sense if somebody sees it. It’s not just for the director, no matter what they say. They say cinema is dead. I don’t think so. There are arty films that entertain. The two can be together in the same film. And don’t tell me you don’t have movies that are liked by the arty and entertainment style.
Please make movies for all of us. Not just for you.

The Winner of the Week:

“An Inconvenient Truth”, in it’s third week only had the biggest drop at –3%. So we can only say. It’s amazing. We are talking about a documentary feature about the environment, with Al Gore. And in here Al Gore is just an unknown. A regular Joe. So that leaves the environment and the great title of the movie. It really called to the Portuguese heart. And this means 9578 spectators on its 4th week.

The Looser of the Week:

For a second straight week it’s “World Trade Center”. Again a –41% drop to 39555 spectators. A very good result, indeed but the average drop at a peak (almost in half) and after that amazing opening week, it’s loosing all its gas. And fast. Next week, expect the same thing, almost for sure.

So that’s it for this week.
See you in some days.

Good Night and Good Films.

59th Portuguese Box-Office Analysis

Yet another week in the desert where I write you this box-office report of the, now very far, Portugal I talk about. I am writing one per week here, but I just have the internet to send it the right time but I really have to put this in order when I get back to Portugal.
Altough, here is much easier to find the time to do it. The distractions are not that much. And when there is no big work or reports to do the time is a very long one.

Starting this week’s report I talk about the champion of the week. Criticized in the USA for going soft and leaving the politics of a, so, important theme as this one. The 9/11 has it everyone in the world. Even the ones who don’t care. And this result for “World Trade Center” proves it here in Portugal. So no news at the front.
But we do have 4 new openers in the top 20 and, especially, two in the top ten. Two have great openings, the other two, have disastrous openings.
In general the movies got a good hold of themselves and we even have a increase in the top ten, for one of the movies.
So despite all this we have a down week of 16% to 205296 spectators.
So let’s start with some numbers.

This report concerns the week between 28 of September to 4 of October.

Legend

Position/Movie
Number of Theathers
Number of Spectators/Week
Average per Theather/Week
Comparison with Last Week’s Number of Spectators
Number of Spectators/Total Run
Week of Release
1. World Trade Center
53
66992
1264
-43%
183989
2nd Week
2. You, Me and Dupree
42
26666
635
-9%
250400
5th Week
3. Lady in the Water
19
25727
1354
-
25727
1st Week

4. Snakes on a Plane
28
19015
679
-
19015
1st Week

5. Volver
18
14804
822
-21%
83225
4th Week

6. My Super Ex.
28
12541
448
-16%
48902
3rd Week

7. Little Man
18
11138
619
+5%
53491
4th Week

8. An Inconvenient Truth
9
9836
1093
-2%
28784
3rd Week

9. The Sentinel
28
9515
340
-18%
80889
5th Week

10. Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties
32
9062
283
-41%
200281
6th Week

The Champion:

And for the second straight week, we have “World Trade Center” and the top of Portuguese Box-Office. With 66992 spectators, despite a –43% drop making it the film that most dropped in it’s second week. But this is an usual drop for a film that opens big, and way above than it was expected to conjure. The 9/11 will be a big subject for cinema in the next years and that is something more than expected since it happened in US soil. You won’t see the same about the Madrid (Atocha) or Great Britain (London) because the industry is not as developed in those countries.

The New Players:

We find the first opener at number 3 and it’s one of my, if not the first, favorite directors, it’s Shyamalan latest, “Lady in the Water”. At the present moment, he is filming at the top of cinema. All his films look amazing on the big screen. It’s not the same in the DVD, at home. And that’s what I look when I go to the movies. To be overwhelmed. Not his best but another great movie of the mind of this excellent director. It made 25727 spectators for an ok average of 1354 per theater/week. The best average, of the week, in the top ten. Congrats.

The next opener is right after, it’s “Snakes on a Plane”. The film, best known, for the buzz it created just with the force of it’s title alone. The problem is that the buzz created didn’t create revenues, big enough for it. In Portugal, the buzz was almost non-existent, and so this was just a film with planes and snakes. Hence the disappointing average of 679. And only 19015 spectators to it’s name. It didn’t rang that many bells here. The title in Portuguese doesn’t sound so articulated.

Almost reaching the top ten, and a complete surprise is “Adrift”. In just 7 theaters it managed 8949 spectators for an average of above 1000. A very good result for a movie made with not that much money and going after one that opened just last year with almost the same story. And people are still buying it. That’s strange but good news for the distributors and especially for the film.

At 20 is the disappointment of the week, with an average of 354 to 2126 spectators. It’s “Clerks 2” that didn’t translate the first ones success to the screen. It’s stupid to make a sequel of an independent film of a different time and especially when you don’t have anything new to add except the age on the caracters. A bad choice for Kevin Smith, that I personally don’t like very much. Not that much of a director, if you ask me. He just got lucky with “Clerks”.

The Winner of the Week:

It has to be “Little Man”. A 5% increase in spectators numbers to 11138. An increase in average to 619 and especially because it was on the dreaded 4th Week. The numbers just don’t lie. But the film still sucks big time.

The Looser of the Week:

Altough it technically didn’t had the highest (that prize went to this week’s champion) I think it’s fair to say that it’s 283 average per theater/week and 9062 spectators for the week in the third biggest number of seats for the week and position number 10 say it all. Again, the numbers don’t lie. Ok I admit in this case they did. But perception on the other hand always does the trick. It's the cat "Garfield".

And so I leave you.
See you in another time here at bardus.blogspot.com.

Good Night and Good Films.

58th Portuguese Box-Office Analysis

This is being written in the middle of the Sahara, if you don’t know it already. And seeing all this dust and wind and cold (during the night) is really an interesting experience. Now let’s get to business, and that means movie business.

The first thing that comes to my mind is a big opener and a new number one. One that, looking at the openers this week, was expected and proves that the event of 9/11 is still very much present in our minds.
After “United 93” we have the second big opener of this subject but this time on a bigger scale.
On the other hand we have an expected bad opening but was not expecting one this bad. The subject is not very known here in Portugal or I maybe say that almost 95% of the population never heard about it. But still…It has got Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G, Borat, hello…). Which film it is? Come on, you have to know if you are reading this.
The drops were acceptable for a strong week. We had 244615 spectators for the first ten movies. A increase of 44% comparing it with last week’s top ten. A good week, thanks to a big opener and some strong hold-ups. And even some rises when comparing to last week numbers.

Now let’s get back to this week’s numbers.

This report concerns the week between 21 to 27 of September.

Legend

Position/Movie
Number of Theaters
Number of Spectators/Week
Average per Theater/Week
Comparison with Last Week’s Number of Spectators
Number of Spectators/Total Run
Week of Release
1. World Trade Center
54
116997
2167
-
116997
1st Week

2. You, Me and Dupree
43
29385
683
-22%
223734
4th Week

3. Volver
19
18850
992
-20%
68421
3rd Week

4. Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties
38
15271
402
-12%
191219
5th Week

5. My Super Ex.
29
14918
514
-30%
36361
2nd Week

6. The Sentinel
29
11597
400
-22%
71374
4th Week

7. United 93
19
10575
557
-40%
169833

5th Week

8. Little Man
18
10561
587
-22%
42353
3rd Week

9. An Inconvenient Truth
6
10033
1672
+13%
18948
2nd Week

10. Havana
7
6428
918
+28%
11436
2nd Week

The Champion:

And the champion is, “World Trade Center” the last take on 9/11, by the hand of Oliver Stone, and this time without the usual polemic or politic views of Mr. Stone. The man was criticized by it but I ask why? Can’t he do a film without political commentary? This is just a movie related to a real time occurrence. And in a very personal way. The last two people to be taken alive from the Twin Towers debris. I find it a very nice way to honor all the dead. Thank you Mr. Stone for your view.

The New Players:

In a film I never heard about before we find the 11th place “The Eye Collector” A Z-grade movie finds it’s way, yet again, to Portuguese movie theaters. They just love this sunny country, ohhhh yes. It’s just that I don’t like other people’s garbage. Could the film be good? Maybe, but it’s still other people’s garbage.

Finally, and by the way, what a bad opening for this film. In 18 theaters it just managed 4946 for an average of 275, the lowest of the week. With this it’s fair it should also get the looser prize of the week. Nascar, “rednecks” and comedy in Portugal don’t mix. We just don’t get the joke. At least 95% of us. The other 5% find it very funny. I will check it out. It's "Talladega Nights:The Ballad of Rick and Bobby".

The Winner of the Week:

We have to give it up to two films especially. The first one is Andy Garcia dream come true, the film “Havana”. I guess he struck a cord in the Portuguese soul with this week 28% increase in number of spectators. The other one is the documentary that is making many headlines and, in Portugal, lots of spectators. It’s already one of the top 5 documentaries of all time here and should get to number 2 behind the all mighty “Fahrenheit 9/11” from Michael Moore but that’s in another context. In this time of big changes, something has to change in environment terms. And fast. This film could really help out the problem. At least it’s waking up people.

The Looser of the Week:

One I already talked about “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky & Booby” with it’s disappointing run and even more the 235 average on opening week. Arghhhh. A reason for the distributors to say. Forget this time of American way movies here. Nascar, rednecks, etc, don’t get in here. Or even American football. It’s just not our territory.
The other looser as to be “United 93”. After being a winner in it’s first week, it suffered, in it’s 5th week, the opening of a new 9/11 film. It was an expected event but it was still the worst drop of the week, hence the prize it gets.

That’s it for today.
See you next time with more box-office talk.

Good Night and Good Films.

57th Portuguese Box-Office Analysis

Hello, and finally we are back for the next weekly (a little bit late) but I believe the excuse is a good one. It’s very difficult to have internet in the middle of the Sahara desert but now I think once in a while I can update the box-office in Portugal although I’m not actually there (I’m in Libya if anyone cares) I’ll try to release some more as long as the work allows me too.
It’s a little bit late but just not every week because I can’t.
The top ten films conjured 169415 spectators to it’s seats. That a big drop of 27% since last week and one of the worst weeks of the year.


No big changes in the front place, it maintains it’s spot, but the top three as actually changed with a rise of one film and the release of a new one. Overall it was a down time week due, especially to the weak openers and the big drops for almost all other movies, except one. But that will be confirmed in just a moment in the box-office below.

Let’s check it out.

This report concerns the week between 14-20 of September.

Legend

Position/Movie
Number of Theaters
Number of Spectators/Week
Average per Theater/Week
Comparison with Last Week’s Number of Spectators
Number of Spectators/Total Run
Week of Release
1. You, Me and Dupree
42
37850
901
-39%
194349
3rd Week

2. Volver
20
23577
1179
-9%
49571
2nd Week

3. My Super Ex.
26
21443
825
-
21443
1st Week

4. United 93
19
17719
933
-36%
159258
4th Week

5. Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties
44
17279
392
-47%
175948
4th Week

6. The Sentinel
28
14797
528
-26%
59777
3rd Week

7. Little Man
21
13462
641
-27%
31792
2nd Week

8. An Inconvenient Truth
6
8915
1486
-
8915
1st Week

9. Miami Vice
30
8631
288
-41%
298371
7th Week

10. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
22
5742
261
-45%
626383
9th Week

The Champion:

And for the third straight week we got yourselves the same winner. “You, Me and Dupree” gets the top spot again, thanks to the small openings of the new films. With 37850 spectators it managed to gain a lot of advantage over the rest of the competition. This means that comedies are in a upper mood in Portugal. Every country needs to laugh, no matter the times. And for now we just have this film.

The New Players:

The first new opener we find at number 3, “My Super Ex.” With 21443 spectators and not very good average of 825. A bad opening for a movie that did nothing to get it’s audience. Is this a super hero movie, a comedy or a romance? When people don’t know what they are getting into they just don’t get in. And why not Dupree besides this new film? The answer is mostly yes.

At number 8 we find and unexpected and very strong opener. It’s the Al Gore inspired movie “ An Inconvenient Truth” that figured out how to get it’s audience inside the theater. With not much big of a fuss it penetrated, even, some theaters where it’s not common to see documentary features. Like in big malls. I guess people really have an ecologic conscience. And this is a problem for the future even if you listen to it we will still suffer the consequences.

In number 13th the last attempt of an actor to direct a movie. This time it’s Andy Garcia with his beloved, “Havana”. Of Cuban origin this must be a special film for him. But that doesn’t mean everyone else will like it. I say he still has a lot to learn. But maybe someday he will get there or not. It managed 5008 spectators for an average of 835. An ok opening for a ignored film by the press.

Finally, “A Few Days in September” with Juliette Binoche and relating to the famous 9/11 but that starts to feel to much crowded with films. A little rest would make it good for everyone involved. And I know, for sure, that much more films of 9/11 are coming our way. Somebody helps us. We need a different view of the subject. His this film it? Will check it but…It opened to 2304 spectators in just 5 theaters.

The Winner of the Week:

This week most impressive film has got to be Almodovar’s latest with “Volver”. On a week with, usually, very high drops for every film, “Volver”, managed just a 9% drop to above 23000 spectators. A very strong second week that gave her (it’s definitely of the feminine side) the second place overall behind Dupree.

The Looser of the Week:

It can only be “Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties” with it’s disappointing drop, on it’s 4th week, of 47%. On a usual bid dropping week, the most famous cat of the world, got kicked to 17279 and the 5th position overall (minus 3 since last week). So we have a winner, err I mean a looser, justified by it’s numbers. Even if this second attempt at Garfield is much better than the first and it’s doing a very good run, overall.

See you next week. I Hope.

Good Night and Good Films.