Monday Morning Quarterback Part III
By BOP Staff
August 14, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com

We could never be Royals...

Kim Hollis: Into the Storm, a movie about multiple tornadoes that are apparently hell-bent on destroying a town, opened to $17.3 million this weekend. What do you think of this result?

Edwin Davies: This is fine for a fairly cheap Twister ripoff that's arrived a mere 18 years too late and somehow has effects that look worse than those employed in the mid-'90s. Considering how bad this looks - and, judging by the reviews, is - this is likely more than it deserves. It'll wind up losing money domestically, and might make up the difference overseas since disaster movies tend to play well internationally, but it could have done far, far worse.

Matthew Huntley: This opening is actually higher than I expected, given how ordinary and generic this movie seems. I imagine one of the only reasons audiences chose to sample it in the first place was because either Ninja Turtles or Guardians of the Galaxy were sold out.

Nevertheless, a $17 million opening for a $50 million movie isn't enough that it will show a profit any time soon, but it's also not a disaster. Like the movie itself (probably), it's run-of-the-mill and will be seen as a mild disappointment.

Jay Barney: It is an okay opening considering how tough the box office arena has suddenly become. $18 million against the $50 million budget isn't great, but suddenly the box office is hot and films are competing for screens. Let's not forget that Planet of the Apes is still doing okay, Lucy and Hercules are only a few weeks old and Guardians of the Galaxy was last week. Now we had four new openers this weekend. That is a lot of competition. It is not a great opening, but far from a disaster.

Bruce Hall: Dumb, obvious title, generic story, and they didn't even have Van Halen on the soundtrack. Still, Into the Storm made back half its production budget on opening weekend, if you count the international cume. I guess you'd call that a win?

David Mumpower: What I find telling about the discussion is that everyone’s mind immediately runs to Twister. That is why that film was claimed an absolute monstrous opening weekend for its era. Meanwhile, Into the Storm cannot even reach the $20 million mark. We are talking about a clearly inferior product whose primary hope was that audiences would shrug their shoulders and think, “Eh, good enough.” That did not happen, which means Into the Storm is already a punchline even as it has a chance to become a financial winner, presuming solid overseas results.

Kim Hollis: The Hundred-Foot Journey, a Disney film featuring Helen Mirren and produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, debuted to $11 million. What do you think of this result?

Edwin Davies: This strikes me as a solid opening for a film targeting an older demographic who don't rush out to see films on opening weekend, as well as one that cost only $22 million to make. For a fairly gentle comedy-drama about rival restaurants, an opening north of $10 million is a good debut, and it will probably play very well over the next couple of months as we enter the no man's land between the end of blockbuster season and the start of awards season. A nice, uplifting story would probably play pretty well at a time when the news is very depressing, too.

Jay Barney: This is a really good opening for a film that was never intended to come anywhere close to winning the weekend. Partly because of the number of screens this one was released on, barely 2,000...I'd say this was a very strong opening. It is going to play to a much different audience than most of the other films in the top ten. When you consider the fairly cheap budget for this....it is a nice success.

Kim Hollis: It's a solid result for a film that seems to have been perfectly marketed as an upbeat project for an older demographic. It feels like something that could come from Fox Searchlight or IFC Films, perhaps. Given its A Cinemascore, I think it's a movie that could hang around and make some decent money throughout its run.

David Mumpower: As Edwin noted, we are discussing a project that cost $22-$25 million to produce, depending on who should be believed. The film is obviously going to earn far in excess of that domestically. It’s at $15.3 million through yesterday, and it should match the lower budget figure by Sunday, Monday at the latest. Right now, it is trending toward $40 million, which means that The Hundred-Foot Journey is the latest low scale 2014 release to exceed expectations by quite a bit.

Kim Hollis: Step Up All In, the latest film in the venerable Step Up franchise, opened to $6.5 million. What do you think of this result?

Edwin Davies: It's the worst opening weekend in the series' history and it will probably end up earning less than $20 million in the US. So that's a lot of downside. However, it's already earned $37.7 million internationally and will likely follow the lead of its two predecessors, which both earned more than $100 million outside of the US. Step Up has reached the point where it doesn't even need to be released in the US to earn a profit, and this release feels like an afterthought.

Matthew Huntley: With a title like Step Up: All In, it amazes me this movie even made it into theaters. It practically screams, "Direct-to-DVD." And give how badly this latest installment opened, it wouldn't surprise me if this is the route future sequels in this undying franchise take, at least domestically.

David Mumpower: I agree with Matthew in that every aspect of this sequel feels phoned in. Even during a summer of pointless sequels nobody was begging to have made, Step Up: All In stands out as a particularly strange choice. There was never any solid marketing support for it, commercials have been virtually non-existent and I sincerely doubt that even fans of the prior films knew what the plot is for this one prior to entering the theater. This is an example of commerce gone awry. Just because someone CAN make a sequel to an existing franchise does not mean that they should. Step Up: All in has been so soundly rejected that even with a modest budget, it’s going to be a failure. No wide release should ever need eight days to reach $10 million, especially not a film in an existing franchise. It’s almost too slight to matter, but Step Up: All In is still one of the biggest bombs of 2014.