The Back-Up Plan, part 9 - SPOILERS

[darkstarrising]

Wow! Had y'all not pointed that out, I never would have seen it. Subtle indeed!!

Forgive my sartorial ignorance, but is this something new or do I travel in the wrong circles?

[wpgrace]

And dontcha just love that he STILL had that top button undone????

[allegrita]

Yep. Our boy's "still in there," too...

[PNWgal]

Perfect...absolutely PERFECT.

What wonderful detail on that dress shirt...and I cannot get over how well that jacket fit him.

[wpgrace]

LOVE that quote, Alle...

And another take on the weekend Box...

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wir ... d=10471086

[darkstarrising]

LOVE that quote, Alle...

And another take on the weekend Box...

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wir ... d=10471086

thanks, sweetie This bears out what I said earlier about movies that get tepid critical review, end up doing well by word of mouth reviews.

[Fleur de Lisa]

Agree with y'all on the gritty and the pretty and on Alex having lots of choices to make about what comes next. I can't wait to find out.

Of all the comment here, this made me happiest:

And BUP getting 12 million? That is perfectly acceptable and I believe in line with what the studio expected for their opening week-end.

I hadn't seen any comment from the studio on the numbers so I'm delighted to hear this was what they were hoping for/expecting. Was this from Les, Fleur? Cos, bottom line, if he's happy, everyone's happy.

Red

Wasn't from Les, but some CBS Films exec, whose name OF COURSE I do not recall... and they were actually hoping for 18 million, but said they'd deal ok with 12. I forget which article this was in. At any rate, it oughta be more than 12, no? As there may still be theater goers tonite... so it's not likely to hit 18, but they said they'd accept between 12 and 18. SO still cool enough I think.

The guy ALSO said that JLo movies typically do well, sometimes better, on their second weekend. Which I take to mean the critics never really like em and word of mouth helps em. So talk it up, Sister Girls, make all your friends go.

And yeah, that collar is just icing on the d@mn cake, isn't it??

We are in the same boat, grace. I've read so much regarding this film, that the exact place I read this escapes me. I just know that I did read it, and that number stuck out in my head. I thought they were aiming for a 12-15 million range. Although, sometimes I wonder if studios lower their expectations so that their movie has more of an appearance of being successful.

Generally, films have a normal drop-off from the opening week-end. For most successful films, there is an actual percentage that of course, escapes me. I bet dsr may know this. I don't know if it's as much as 40% or not. There is kind of a formula they go by, where if it drops too much, you can pretty much assume you have a dog on your hands.

As to the total take. For a $35 million movie, 12-13 million (b/c I am hopeful we will be hitting closer to that 13 number!) for opening week-end is a good amount. That gives the film several weeks in theatres to re-coup the remainder of the cost, and profit, then you have your dvd sales which figure more prominently than they did years ago. (curious as to the dvd profits that most average romcoms get....hmm, may have to check that out)

So, truth be told, next week's numbers may be more telling, if the numbers don't drop much. Then we definitely will know if we have a winner on our hands. That shows that word of mouth contributed more than reviews and that the film has staying power. And as strange as it may seem, the fact that there wasn't a big film, or kinda blockbuster movie, didn't help our sales. A lot of times movies like BUP drift off of those films, simply b/c so many people are going to the theatres already.

So, red, verrrrry long story short, be happy with our numbers this week-end!

[darkstarrising]

OK, not only am I image challenged, I can't bring in in any kind of legible format the lovely little table I created.

I tried to compare BUP's numbers to Bounty Hunters, which did show a 42% drop-off in take after one week, with another 49% the following week. However, the number of screens that a movie is shown on comes into play as well. Over time, the number of screens showing any given movie decreases, so the gross will decrease as well. What's important is how the per screen number changes. Taking the Bounty Hunter as a point of comparison, the numbers from Box Office Mojo show:

Week 1 average= $6,729
Week 2 average = $3,906
Week 3 average = $1,954
Week 4 average = $1,453
Week 5 average = $1,246
Week 6 average = $1,012

For BUP
Week 1 average= $3,735

Bottom line is that for a movie with comparable production costs, with comparable reviews, Bounty Hunter in theory looks to be doing better than BUP. Then again, the premise of Bounty Hunter would also appeal to men more than perhaps BUP does, and both leads (Jennifer Anniston and Gerard Butler) had the name recognition that Alex doesn't (yet).

Time will tell

[Fleur de Lisa]

dsr~~ you rock so hard it oughta be illegal!!

That was fantastic info, and it really gives us a comparison for BUP's success. I had forgotten about the number of movie screens being an issue--although I imagine JLo would warrant as many showings as Jen Aniston. Yeah, I abbreviate their names because we are thisclose.

Isn't it terrific the thngs types of things we are being educated about? Who knew that a little vampire show could have broadened our minds so much?

[darkstarrising]

dsr~~ you rock so hard it oughta be illegal!!

That was fantastic info, and it really gives us a comparison for BUP's success. I had forgotten about the number of movie screens being an issue--although I imagine JLo would warrant as many showings as Jen Aniston. Yeah, I abbreviate their names because we are thisclose.

Isn't it terrific the thngs types of things we are being educated about? Who knew that a little vampire show could have broadened our minds so much?

Hey, I've got to be good at something (and I will figure out how to get that bloody table in if it's the last thing I do )

The number of screens for the first week were comparable (3074 for BH, 3280 for BUP)....

As for what that little vampire show has done for us - it made us a little more caring, it brought together people from all over the world who wouldn't ordinarily have met, it sparked our imaginations causing some to do things they'd only dreamed of, gave us a finer appreciation for graphic art and it let us know that love never dies.

[eris]

Looks like Yahoo had something nice to say about it.

Despite opening in second place, there are high hopes for Jennifer Lopez's romantic comedy

"The Back-up Plan," which is Jennifer Lopez's first movie appearance since 2006, opened within industry expectations. The singer and actress stars opposite Alex O'Loughlin.

"Romantic comedies have been over-performing this year and in the second and third and fourth week, Jennifer Lopez films tend to over-perform and have great legs, as does Jennifer herself I might add," said Steven Friedlander, executive vice president, distribution, for CBS Films.

[Luxe de Luxe]

fascinating stuff, all. not sure when BUP will premiere over here. I really hope it does well for AOL's sake. I think he's got the range to do lots of things. He made a pretty creepy villain in the Invisible.

[OnceBitTwiceShy]

Yahoo has Alex O'Loughlin as number one in trending right now:)

[darkstarrising]

Yahoo has Alex O'Loughlin as number one in trending right now:)

do you have a link for that? I don't use yahoo much.

[Fleur de Lisa]

Yahoo has Alex O'Loughlin as number one in trending right now:)

do you have a link for that? I don't use yahoo much.

He's been trending number one for me for a looooooong time!