Monday Morning Quarterback Part I

By BOP Staff

August 6, 2013

Go Braves!

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Jay Barney: I'd have to agree with Bruce and indicate that the bigger story here is that Universal has continued their hot streak. 2 Guns is not going to make the money some of the other films the studio has produced this summer, but with a $27 million opening, it is very likely to make most of its budget back domestically. When the foreign dollars are brought in, this will be another win for the studio. As far as Washington and Wahlberg, it is a pairing that fans seem to have embraced.

Edwin Davies: I must admit that I was expecting a touch more from the opening weekend for 2 Guns. Not a huge amount more, but I thought that if Denzel could team up with Ryan Reynolds and open Safe House to $40 million then a film with a more established action star should be able to make at least $30-35 million. Then again, Safe House benefited from being released at a time of year when people hadn't been watching action films for months on end. Even so, this is going to be a small victory for all involved thanks to the fairly modest outlay, which it should earn back before it leaves theaters. If nothing else, this result demonstrates that the Venn Diagram of Denzel Washington fans and Mark Wahlberg fans is pretty much a single circle.

Shalimar Sahota: Along with Edwin's comparison with Safe House, the mix of Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe also pushed American Gangster to open to over $40 million back in 2007, so likewise, even I thought 2 Guns would open a little higher. Maybe the target audience already had their action fill with The Wolverine last week? This is still a good opening and I'm sure it'll play well and make Universal very happy. It's also quite likely that Universal will continue their hot streak with Kick-Ass 2 in the coming weeks.




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David Mumpower: I echo the thoughts of Edwin and Shalimar. My takeaway from the opening weekend of 2 Guns is that Mark Walhberg added nothing to the project's bottom line. As Brett mentioned, Denzel Washington movies are good for this much independent of the co-star. In fact, Flight grossed almost as much at $24.9 million, and the second most famous person in that cast was Don Cheadle, whom I love but who isn't a box office draw. Thus, Wahlberg didn't add any more here than he did to the happening.

To a larger point, we have a fascinating box office conclusion we can draw from this result. Washington plus Crowe is good for a $43.6 million opening weekend. Washington plus Wahlberg is only $27.1 million. And Crowe plus Wahlberg sans Denzel in Broken City is good for only $8.3 million. Yes, movie concepts come into play, but I think that's a hysterical evaluation of what each actor brings to a project.

Kim Hollis: I'd say it's perhaps a little lower than my expectations given the fact that both Washington and Wahlberg generally have a certain dollar range for their box office openings. Apparently, as Edwin mentions, they have about the same fan base. Nonetheless, it's a good opening and gives Universal one more thing to brag about for 2013. The remainder of their 2013 is pretty quiet (other than Riddick), so to say that they've knocked it out of the park is an understatement.


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