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Where's the Lil'?

Kim Hollis: Lottery Ticket, the Bow Wow comedy, earned $10.6 million and had a per venue average of $5,399 (the best in the top ten). What are your thoughts on this performance?

Josh Spiegel: Lottery Ticket clearly did well with the target audience - having the highest per venue average isn't too shabby. That said, I wonder how well it could have done with more theaters. The ceiling for this movie - a Tyler Perry-esque neighborhood comedy without a Madea character - was probably not much higher than the result. Though I've seen neither, it looks like I'd have been happier with this doing better business than Vampires Suck, but the entire list of new releases just cause so much malaise in me that I imagine they did the same with most audiences.

Bruce Hall: On the one hand, such a narrow release might seem smart, with this being the somewhat less than enlightening fare that it is. But I it feels like they might have been a little gun shy on that front, so I am with Josh in wondering what might have been with a somewhat wider release. Needless to say, there is a very specific target audience for this movie, but that well is going to run dry pretty quickly and I can’t help but think that they might have capitalized on that better, the competition being what it was this weekend. At any rate, it served as a decent litmus test for (The Artist Formerly Known As Li’l) Bow Wow’s appeal, and he looks poised to be a relative long term success, all things considered. I guess you’d have to call this a win of sorts, but I wouldn't waste any champagne on it.





Matthew Huntley: Given the lack of buzz and low theater count, the expectations for Lottery Ticket were obviously low (as we all know), but I was glad to see the movie overcome soft predictions and earn back roughly two-thirds of its production budget. I haven't seen the movie yet, and I doubt it's anything special, but its box office performance at least offers hope that small, niche-audience films can still succeed in a crowded marketplace. Plus, and maybe this is because I'm so turned off by Vampires Suck, the movie seems high-spirited, as if there was some care put into it (at least as far as a dumb comedy goes). Warner Bros. should be pleased with the result, and even though the movie will likely struggle to make more than $30 million, it will find extra life on DVD/Blu-ray/cable. For a late-summer entry, that's not bad.

Brett Beach: The per screen average says it all. As others have noted, if this had opened at more theaters, it might have competed for the top spot. With summer winding down it could have a decently small drop-off next weekend and get a little boost from Labor Day. My thoughts from the trailer I saw was that it looked like a kinder, gentler Friday, and would be worth a Redbox rental or Netflix stream down the line. (On a side note: I can't handle that Mr. Cube has already graduated to playing Grumpy Old Man, even if it is with lots of makeup.)

Jim Van Nest: Considering the screen count, I'd have to say this is a win. You have to wonder, though, what would the screen count (and ultimate opening weekend take) have been is this film was "Tyler Perry Presents Lottery Ticket"?

Reagen Sulewski: I think it's missing the point slightly to say that the per screen average means this film was under utilized. That's not that great an average even if it was the best of the week, and it likely would plummet if you started expanding it into marginal markets. Think back to a few years ago to films like Barbershop, which were opening to $20 million. There appears to just as much a dearth of stars in black cinema as there is in Hollywood in general, that is, until Isaiah Mustafa breaks through.

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