Salon.com > Scott Mendelson

Breaking down “The Avengers’” box office take

Mon, 07 May 2012 22:30:00 +0000

Ten years ago, "Spider-Man"shocked the industry by grossing more than $100 million in a single weekend. Five years ago, "Spider-Man 3" broke the $150 million weekend barrier. This weekend, "The Avengers" has blown through the $200 million barrier, delivering a record opening weekend of $207.1 million in high style. Yes, the number is beyond huge, besting "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part II" by $38 million. But the total weekend number only tells part of the story. Arguably as important as the massive three-day figure is the manner in which it was earned.

A “Hunger Games” sequel wish list

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:59:00 +0000

The Playlist doesn't break news all that often, merely seeing fit to be a one-stop shop for the movie news that everyone else breaks during the day (I don't mean that as an insult, the Playlist is the site I go to if I only have time to surf one movie news site in a given day). So it's somewhat of a big deal that the Playlist broke a pretty major story last week, confirming that director Gary Ross will not be back to helm the second and/or third films in the "Hunger Games" franchise. There had been rumblings all week about contract negotiations, and Ross has now politely passed. The site chalks it up to Ross' lack of desire to stay in the same universe for the next several years combined with a somewhat low-ball offer from Lionsgate. Whatever the case, Ross is gone and the hunt for a new director is on.

Fake feminism in Angelina Jolie’s “Salt”

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:55:00 +0000

The cover story of this year's Entertainment Weekly summer movie preview concerns the behind-the-scenes scoop on the new espionage thriller "Salt," directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ekiofor. Much of the article is a group pat on the back for the supposedly amazing progressiveness of the fact that Angelina Jolie ended up playing an action hero originally written for a male star like Tom Cruise (who bailed when the script began to too closely resemble a "Mission: Impossible" picture). Fair enough, but such a thing really shouldn't be a big deal in 2010, and the fact that the filmmakers are falling over themselves in self-congratulation is the very opposite of progressive.

But there's a real kicker buried amid Noyce and his colleagues' smugness:

"In the original script, there was a huge sequence where Edwin Salt (the original male protagonist) saves his wife, who's in danger," says Noyce. "And what we found in the new script, it seemed to castrate his character a little. So we had to change the nature of that relationship." In the end, Salt's husband, played by German actor August Diehl ('Inglourious Basterds'), was made tough enough that he didn't need saving, thank you much.

Box office report: Is “Shutter Island” Scorsese’s biggest?

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:02:00 +0000

This will be shorter than usual. First of all, there isn't all that much news to report and second of all, I spent the day at Disneyland, which was far more crowded than usual. Curse you, "Captain Eo"! You marred my Sunday in three dimensions! Point being, I'm pooped. So "Shutter Island" pulled a repeat at No. 1 this weekend, dropping just 45 percent for a $22.2 million second weekend and a new total of $75 million.

Despite the mixed reviews and word of mouth, the Scorsese thriller is still the only real event movie out there for people who don't need a return trip to Pandora. While I didn't care for "Shutter Island" one bit, I am heartened that a moody, complicated, two-hour-plus, non-sequel, R-rated thriller from Martin Scorsese is a genuine smash hit. In this day and age, it's always refreshing to see an adult-driven genre picture to reach heights only usually accorded to franchises and animated films. The picture is Scorsese's fifth-biggest domestic grosser, and will reach no. 3 on that list by next weekend. Whether or not it can surpass the $132 million earned by "The Departed" is an open question, but it won't have any demo competition until "The Green Zone." That Bourne-goes-to-Baghdad thriller opens March 12. (I have no idea if that's an accurate summary, by the way, but it's sure how the Paul Greengrass/Matt Damon film is being sold by Universal).

Box office report: “Shutter Island” blows the doors off

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:23:00 +0000

The infamously delayed "Shutter Island" debuted to smashing business over its initial weekend, as the Martin Scorsese thriller debuted to $40.2 million. That's a personal best for both director Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio. Scorsese's previous best opening was the $26.8 million debut of "The Departed" in October 2006 (also starring Leonardo DiCaprio), while this was DiCaprio's second $30 million-plus debut, following the $30 million opening of Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can" back in December 2002. Since both the star and director have rarely opened anything over $10 million based on their respective names alone, credit should go to the marketing and the general concept of the story. As I've often said, adult thrillers are in rare supply these days and the few that make through the pipeline have a pretty decent track record (you think "Vantage Point" or "Law-Abiding Citizen" opened to around $22 million apiece due to critical acclaim?). Mix a genuinely intriguing concept (1950s lawman trapped in a scary mental hospital), factor the pedigree involved, and then add a compelling and pervasive trailer that has been running in every theater nonstop since August, and you had the recipe for a breakout weekend.

Box office report: “Dear John” takes down “Avatar”

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:09:00 +0000

"Dear John" opened at No. 1 this weekend, with a stellar $32.4 million debut weekend. That gives the picture a mediocre 2.3x weekend multiplier, but the first three days alone puts the picture well ahead of its $25 million budget. More importantly, this is the biggest weekend in Super Bowl weekend history, as well as the biggest opening weekend of all-time for a pure romantic drama. The film played to an 84 percent female crowd, and 64 percent of the audience was under 21. This is the first real test of opening weekend mettle for Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum, and both passed with flying colors. Of course, this number raises new questions about how much credit Tatum deserved for the $54.7 million debut of "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra." Conversely, as I mentioned last September, one wonders how much better "Jennifer's Body" could have opened had the marketing focused even a little on co-star Seyfried and not just Megan Fox. This also makes Nicholas Sparks the first brand-name author since the mid-'90s heyday of Michael Crichton, Stephen King and John Grisham. Regardless, this is a smashing debut and should weather the storm of "Valentine's Day: The Movie" as this far more serious love story will prove solid counter-programming to the overtly comedic all-star mush-fest (or as I've heard the film called: "Garry Marshall Calls in All His Favors Before He Dies: The Movie").

Box office report: “Avatar” hits $2 billion

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:32:00 +0000

"Avatar" won the box office derby for the seventh straight weekend, taking the record for the biggest seventh weekend gross ($30 million) from "Titanic" ($25 million). Dropping just 14 percent, the unstoppable monster has now grossed $594 million, meaning it will cross "Titanic's" $600 million gross in the next two or three days, perhaps on Tuesday, when the Oscar nominations are announced. Early last week, James Cameron's amazing hit surpassed "Titanic's" worldwide box office gross to become the world's highest-grossing movie. This weekend it crossed the seemingly unfathomable $2 billion mark worldwide. You can babble all you want about inflation, 3D and IMAX ticket prices, and what have you, but check out this little statistic: When "Avatar" reaches $2.239 billion, which it will in the next two or three weeks, it will have doubled the worldwide take of every other movie ever made except "Titanic." It will also soon have a $1 billion lead over any movie not directed by James Cameron. There's not much more to say at this point than "wow" and "don't make a sequel," so let's move on.

Box office report: “Avatar” the unstoppable

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:26:00 +0000

It was business as usual this weekend, with "Avatar" again leading the pack and a well-marketed newcomer fairing well in number two. There was a genuine Golden Globes bump this weekend, with all of the big winners showing much smaller drops than last weekend. Still, the story again is all about "Avatar." The big engine that could crossed dropped just 16 percent in its sixth weekend, taking in $36 million for a record sixth weekend ("Titanic" had the previous sixth-weekend record with $25 million). Its new domestic total is $552 million. Yup, it crossed $533 million sometime yesterday afternoon, so it has now surpassed "The Dark Knight" as the second-highest grossing film in the U.S. And there's a pretty decent chance that it will close out the month of January by toppling "Titanic’s" $600.7 million record. Internationally, at $1.836 billion, it's just a skip and a jump away from "Titanic’s" seemingly insurmountable $1.842 billion worldwide record. Wow... just wow.

Box office report: Ho-hum, “Avatar” rolls on

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:20:00 +0000

I've written a bit about "Avatar's" unstoppable run elsewhere, so I won't repeat myself too much here. For the record, James Cameron's multiple Golden Globe-winner dropped just 15 percent in weekend five, for a $42.8 million three-day take and a $54.6 million four-day take. The previous record for a fifth weekend was Titanic's $30 million take. Each of "Avatar’s" three January weekends ($68 million, $50 million and now $41 million) have scored the top three January weekends of all time. The next biggest is "Cloverfield's" $40 million opening from 2008. "Avatar's" new total is $505 million, and it topped the $500 million mark in just 32 days, 12 days fewer than it took "The Dark Knight" to pass that milestone. At this rate, it will sail past "Titanic's" $600 million domestic gross by either the end of January or beginning of February. At well over $1.6 billion in worldwide grosses, it is less than $200 million away from "Titanic's" unfathomable $1.8 billion total. Frankly, there are only so many different ways to say "holy f&^!ing sh$&!", so let's move on.

Box office report: It’s all about “Avatar”

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:12:00 +0000

This is almost getting boring. Yes, "Avatar" grossed $48 million this weekend, crushing the fourth-weekend record ("Spider-Man" and "Titanic" both grossed $28 million in their fourth weekends). Yes, it dropped a mere 29 percent in its first non-holiday weekend. Yes, it's now at $429 million, the seventh-biggest domestic grosser of all time in just under a month. And no, it probably won't be slowing down as next weekend is another holiday weekend, so we can expect to see another sub-30 percent drop. By the end of Martin Luther King day weekend, it'll likely surpass "Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace" ($431 million), "ET: The Extra Terrestrial," "Shrek 2" ($441 million) and "Star Wars" ($461 million) to become the third-biggest domestic grosser of all time. So at this point, the only questions remaining are whether it can surpass the $533 million gross of "The Dark Knight" (probably) and the $600 million gross of Titanic (possibly, especially if Oscar smiles accordingly). With $1.33 billion in the worldwide bank, it is just over $500 million away from breaking "Titanic's" seemingly unsinkable $1.8 billion record. You can babble on about inflation all you want, but at the rate this thing is going, it could very well break both of "Titanic's" records and just keep on going. Because, I've never ever seen legs and constancy like this, not since "Titanic." Whichever movie eventually takes "Avatar" out of the top spot will likely become the answer to a trivia question, just like "Lost in Space."

Films of the decade: “Meet the Robinsons”

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:01:00 +0000

As I look at my list of favorites over the 2000s, I find it filled with movies that were warm and celebrated unexpected goodness, good deeds in a weary world -- to quote a famous chocolate maker. There was certainly a place for masterpieces of cynicism and despair ("Frailty," "The Prestige," "The Pledge"), but I found myself more impressed by those films that could wring emotion out of light rather than darkness. Be it the unwavering friendship of Sam as his friend Frodo descends into madness on their quest to dispose of a cursed ring, young Akeelah remembering all of the people in her life who helped her train for the spelling bee, or Penny Lane tricking Russell Hammond into visiting the home of the young journalist he betrayed so that he might make amends, the moments that stood out were the ones that celebrated surprising decency.