While Nikki Finke is a reliable source with some inside contacts, we also have a report from Reuters saying that G.I. Joe pretty much dominated the weekend box office, making an estimated $56.2 million in the three day span. Obviously these are all just estimates, something very important to understand.
So really, all of my yammering doesn’t mean squat until Monday, but it’s fun to talk about it, anyway… 🙂
In the end, it’s all out of our control, but I gotta admit, it’s been fun this year sitting back and enjoying the ride.
According to the previously mentioned website, Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily, the Saturday box office numbers for G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA came in at $18 million. I’m not sure if a Friday-Saturday drop is normal, but that puts the two-day total at $40.5 million. It seems somewhat doubtful that a Sunday showing would earn another $20 million, so I’d say a $60 million opening weekend is pretty much impossible. Looks like we may be headed more in the $50 million dollar range, depending on how strong Sundays usually are. I suspect I might even be giving Sunday sales even too much credit.
There are still no numbers internationally, so we’ll see how things look going forward. In my mind, this is disappointing news, but we’ll see where it goes.
Ms. Finke does add a bit of disappointing insight, with this quote as well:
“But I don’t see how G.I. Joe can get to Paramount’s predicted $300M worldwide. Especially when, next weekend, G.I. Joe will get swamped by Peter Jackson’s highly praised sci-fi blockbuster District 9.”
Considering Di Bonaventura has been on record saying they need at least $350 million before considering a sequel, this could be a punch in the gut. Still plenty of time to go, though. Again, check out the entire article here.
No new footage, and most folks have seen the movie by now, but with a nice quote from Joe fan and Rise of Cobra Supporter El Mayimbe of Latino Review, I have to give this TV Spot some credit and some coverage, anyway. Pulled from YouTube here.
Credit also goes to the Terror Drome’s “Terror Transmissions” for the encode!
Over the past week or so, it seems every article I’ve read on the Los Angeles Times website has been roasting the film, harassing Paramount, or making other snide or scoffing comments about recent decisions and process regarding G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA. Today, the LA Times posted another online article, about the Box Office Returns, and actually gave Paramount and G.I. Joe some credit:
“Given the movie’s $175-million production budget, that would be a solid start and, assuming audience word-of-mouth is strong, put it on track for a healthy box office run. According to market research firm CinemaScore, opening day moviegoers gave “G.I. Joe” a grade of B+, once again contradicting the view of critics, as they did on Paramount’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” That would seem to validate the studio’s strategy to not screen the picture for print and broadcast critics before it opened and to focus much of the marketing at blue-collar audiences in smaller markets.”
Good to see at least a slight shift in perspective. Hopefully G.I. Joe’s final tallies are enough to make a lot of the pundits rethink their slamming of Paramount. But I doubt it.
Thanks to tkprime’s Twitter feed for letting us know that Electronic Arts has posted a cool little Flash game “Shuriken Shootout” on their website. Click here to check it out!
