Monday Morning Quarterback Part I
By BOP Staff
July 2, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Jason Barney: As David outlined in the Friday analysis and Tom Briody did in the Weekend Wrap-Up, this is about as good of an opening that The Heat could have had. I am not suggesting the numbers should have been higher; quite the contrary. The stars aligned nicely for this film and I think the results will be quite positive well beyond this weekend. Sandra Bullock has demonstrated that she is still near the top of her box office appeal. Melissa McCarthy is no longer a newcomer, but her star is definitely still rising. The combination of these two in a film that has broader appeal than superheroes or aliens worked well; you have to applaud the counter-programming. The early summer had only one real success story even remotely marketed toward women, and that was The Great Gatsby. The Big Wedding failed miserably, and there has been a void of any attempt to attract female movie goers. The Heat’s $43 million budget ensures this is going to be a big hit for Fox. The true budget number is probably a little higher, but still, with the 4th of July looming, The Heat will have a great hold for week number two.
Max Braden: Although it seems like most of the credit for this opening number should go to Sandra Bullock, since this basically gave audiences a chance to see an unofficial Miss Congeniality 3, I wouldn't discount McCarthy. She had a similar wacky pairing with Jason Bateman in Identity Thief, which had a $34 million opening weekend in February. I'd even say that if Bullock were paired with another actress, they might not have been able to make the $39 million. The pairing of the two was very smart. I think it helps Bullock that she's generally riding a wave of national public fandom (and her Oscar win for The Blind Side) that helps us forget things like All About Steve.
Bruce Hall: I think that people love Melissa McCarthy, and anyone who forgot how much they loved Sandra Bullock was reminded of it when they heard she was going to be in a film with Melissa McCarthy. I think not only is this Bullock's biggest opening ever, but it continues a very lucrative year for McCarthy, as this will quickly become the third $100 million plus film for her this year. Suddenly, we have a "strike while the iron is hot" situation on our hands. Don't be shocked to see something else featuring these two greenlit very soon.
The big question this week wasn't who would be number one, but who would be number two. Did audiences want to laugh, or just to laugh at Channing Tatum blowing up the White House in a tank top? It appears America has spoken.
Tim Briody: As absolutely on fire as Melissa McCarthy is in 2013, I wonder if people also really wanted to see Sandra Bullock. After she got her Oscar for The Blind Side, the next movie she did was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. But since nobody saw that, this is essentially her first role in four years. She's always been a fairly reliable draw in her own right and while McCarthy will deservedly get the lion's share of the credit, I think Bullock certainly kicked in more than a few million to The Heat's total.
Edwin Davies: I was thinking along the same lines as Tim with regards to Bullock's involvement. Sure, McCarthy is the one on a hot streak thanks to Bridesmaids, Identity Thief and now The Heat (we can probably overlook the relatively smaller This is 40 since she was only in two or three scenes, funny though they were) but Bullock has also been more or less absent from screens since she won an Oscar and starred in the biggest hit of her career. Rather than risk spreading herself too thin over lots of films in the wake of that success she went away for a few years and I think that on some level people were excited to see her in a movie again, especially one that seems to play to her strengths and features someone else whose popularity is in its ascendancy. (McCarthy has also avoided appearing in too many projects; The Heat is only her second starring role after breaking out in Bridesmaids, so she's not reached the point where people might get tired of seeing her if she was turning up in everything.) It also helped that the marketing really hammered home that the film was directed by Paul Feig, the director of Bridesmaids, and created a strong association between that hugely popular film and this one. It probably didn't do as much to push people to see it as the team up of Bullock and McCarthy, but it certainly couldn't have hurt.
Kim Hollis: This is a slightly higher opening than I expected, though I did think that the combination of Bullock and McCarthy in a buddy cop film could be potent. Bullock can still cash in on The Blind Side, while McCarthy's fame and popularity just continue to grow. I also don't think you can discount that the film was marketed as a follow-up to Bridesmaids thanks to the combined involvement of McCarthy and Paul Feig. And I have to note one more time that women are looking for fun movies and the stale sameness of rom-com after rom-com isn't getting it done anymore.
David Mumpower: The key to McCarthy's success to a lot of people is a strange Hollywood phenomenon. The funny fat man has been a popular concept in comedies going all the way back to Laurel and Hardy. John Belushi, John Candy and Chris Farley are great examples of actors who created screen personae that translated from picture to picture. McCarthy has demonstrated the same tendency with interchangeable roles in all of her roles including bit parts in This Is 40 and The Hangover Part III. All the while, her reputation has grown as movie makers grow to realize what Gilmore Girls fans have known for over a decade now. McCarthy is as personable and charismatic as the human condition allows. Her newfound celebrity is a rare win for the good guys in an industry that historically crushes the spirit out of the well-intended.
With regards to The Heat in particular, I believe that concept is key. We have chronicled director Seth Gordon's triumphant achievements with selling premises rather than stars. Horrible Bosses and Identity Thief both excelled due to the core idea. McCarthy benefited with Identity Thief and now she works without Gordon on a title that also sells because of the conceit. The "by the rules" cop/"plays by his own rules" cop is the most tired concept in the industry. Put women in those parts in a broad comedy, however, and it seems fresh and original.
In addition, something less quantifiable that I consider crucial to the popularity of The Heat is chemistry. I rarely read the Parade Magazine that comes in my Sunday paper but I happened to do so when both stars of The Heat were interviewed. Their adoration for one another was unmistakable. They bonded on the set and such experiences have a tendency to translate on camera. I am convinced that this engaging facet of true friendship is responsible for the tremendous popularity of the Ocean's Eleven franchise as well as Adam Sandler projects such as Grown Ups. The Heat promised such behavior during the press blitz and I believe that audiences could tell it wasn't fake friendship between two ridiculously likable women. Buddy cop films have been done to death yet The Heat felt like something fresh. That shouldn't be possible yet it is.