We blogged earlier about how online buzz for Snakes on a Plane failed to translate into box-office success — in part because the buzz was perhaps manufactured. That film was released by New Line. Now comes word that Fox, the studio that released Borat, was scared off by what happened to Snakes. And so, while Borat also had gigantic pre-release buzz, Fox decided last weekend to not open the film too wide, instead putting it on a modest 837 screens.
But it turns out that Borat really did have an audience waiting for it. It opened to a huge $26 million, taking the No. 1 spot over Santa Clause 3, which opened on more than four times as many screens as Borat. Borat did great again this weekend, still holding the No. 1 spot even though its dollar-per-screen figure tumbled.
The success of the film has led a Borat fan site to berate Fox for being scared off from opening the film wide in the first place:
I bet you feel real stupid right about now. Think about how much money you just lost by dropping 1,700 theaters from the release … Anyone who knew anything about Borat knew it was not a crap piece like Snakes on a Plane. The comparison itself was insulting.
If Fox indeed scaled back its plan because of what happened with Snakes, this serves as yet another reminder of how dangerous it is to make assumptions when your sample set is 1. Just ask the people who wrote about Little Emily Oster (see end of article).
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“I bet you feel real stupid right about now.” Somehow I doubt that Fox feels stupid at all. Their $18m underdog has grossed $67m in ten days and looks set to gross around $140m by the end of its theatrical run. It’s funny that fans get angry over the way the studio handles their movie even when the marketing completely pays off.
“I bet you feel real stupid right about now.” Somehow I doubt that Fox feels stupid at all. Their $18m underdog has grossed $67m in ten days and looks set to gross around $140m by the end of its theatrical run. It’s funny that fans get angry over the way the studio handles their movie even when the marketing completely pays off.
I heard the reason it opened on so few screens was that Fox were expecting that the American nation would boycott the movie due to its controversial and ‘unpatriotic’ nature?
I heard the reason it opened on so few screens was that Fox were expecting that the American nation would boycott the movie due to its controversial and ‘unpatriotic’ nature?
I thought it was because the company felt middle America wasn’t “aware” of Borat yet so thought it would be good to open it on the coasts first.
I thought it was because the company felt middle America wasn’t “aware” of Borat yet so thought it would be good to open it on the coasts first.
I’m not sure their plan was so bad. By scaling back the number of screens it played on in its opening weekend, the story goes from overhyped movie does pretty well for a huge release to overhyped movie exceeds expectations in “limited” release. And 800 screens is still a lot of screens even if it’s less than the 3000ish that Santa Clause 3 opened on. I suspect the people at Fox are perfectly happy with the money rolling in here. They got a #1 movie two weeks in a row, which means the DVD (where the majority of money is made on a film) is going to sell a ton. Missing 900 screens on its opening weekend will not mean a thing to the longterm bottom line for the film.
I’m not sure their plan was so bad. By scaling back the number of screens it played on in its opening weekend, the story goes from overhyped movie does pretty well for a huge release to overhyped movie exceeds expectations in “limited” release. And 800 screens is still a lot of screens even if it’s less than the 3000ish that Santa Clause 3 opened on. I suspect the people at Fox are perfectly happy with the money rolling in here. They got a #1 movie two weeks in a row, which means the DVD (where the majority of money is made on a film) is going to sell a ton. Missing 900 screens on its opening weekend will not mean a thing to the longterm bottom line for the film.