Monday Morning Quarterback Part III

By BOP Staff

December 15, 2015

That's not the kind of ornament you really want.

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Kim Hollis: Victor Frankenstein earned $2.4 million over three days and $3.4 million over five days. It managed to cross the $5 million cumulative mark this weekend (and had a 71% decline from last weekend). Say something funny about Victor Frankenstein.

Jason Barney: Kim Hollis: Victor Frankenstein earned $2.4 million over three days and $3.4 million over five days. It managed to cross the $5 million cumulative mark this weekend (and had a 71% decline from last weekend). Say something funny about Victor Frankenstein.

Michael Lynderey: If you thought the Bride of Frankenstein's scream was horrifying before, wait till she sees these numbers.

A lot of horror movies out there this year, that's for sure. Most got the short end of the stick. Victor Frankenstein didn't even get a stub.

Ben Gruchow: Poor Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy. They just can't catch a break.

Tim Briody: Victor Frankenstein? More like LOSER Frankenstein, am I right? Hey, where are you all going?

Max Braden: This Frankenstein movie doesn't just need a jolt from lightning, it needs a pair of defibrillator paddles. Fortunately Frankenstein's monster is safe from the townsfolk because they don't even care that he's in the theater next door.

Kim Hollis: Krampus, a scary Christmas movie, earned $16.3 million this weekend, which isn't traditionally the best time to open new films. What do you think of this result?




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Jason Barney: This is about as good as it gets in the movie industry, and once again Universal is able to claim success very early. With Krampus opening up second for the weekend, it is in the admirable position of already eaten up all of its production costs. The $15 million dollar budget has been taken care of, and the earnings over the next couple of days will take care of the marketing costs. I know this is not one of the blockbusters that we love to talk about, but as Krampus moves into the sweet spot of the calendar around Christmas, it is actually going to do really well. Even if the ratings are not great, Universal has another nice money maker on its hands.

Michael Lynderey: Really shocking. I thought Krampus would easily go down the same road as The Last Witch Hunter, Scouts Guide, Our Brand is Crisis, Burnt, and all those other horror and/or other films that mostly went in through one ear of the box office and left through the other without making any sizable impact. Instead, it has opened well higher than all of those, and it even bested the high-profile, big-star Crimson Peak! Who'da thunk it? I wonder if the generally positive reviews were a factor here. The reason I'm not sure is that the film didn't start getting reviewed until relatively late, Thursday afternoon/evening, right before the first theatrical screenings began. I also suspect that the PG-13 rating had something to do with this impressive opening. PG-13 horror hasn't been in fashion lately, but Krampus might be a reminder of why the rating became coveted in the first place (for studios, not for gore hound audiences, that is). Having seen the film, I thought it lacked something not being rated R. Well, there's always the sequel.

Ben Gruchow: This is still on my list of things to see, and it's jostling for the top spot with Creed. I saw Michael Dougherty's Trick 'r Treat back in 2007, when Warner and Legendary buried it for reasons that are still a mystery to me. I'm thrilled, at the very least, to see that Krampus has avoided the same fate, despite Universal exercising what must be the most draconian review embargoes of any studio this year (I still remember how there was not a single Jurassic World review on Rotten Tomatoes until either the Wednesday or Thursday before the movie opened). I'm also a total sucker for the horror-comedy film. There are basically two levels of performance for something like this: either near-total ignorance, whether or not it's justified (Slither, Jennifer's Body, Seed of Chucky, Shaun of the Dead), or a midlevel performer that's barely profitable. Krampus fits into this latter category; a $16 million opening, when you adjust for inflation, is actually pretty par for the course for a midlevel horror-comedy performer: Cabin in the Woods, Arachnophobia, Snakes on a Plane, and Lake Placid all had adjusted openings between $15 and $18 million. Krampus carried a lower budget than most of those, so the likely $35-40 million domestic finish is going to be another win for Universal. Good thing, too; they needed one this year.

Max Braden: That's pretty great, especially for the opening weekend that didn't have a lot of time to generate audience buzz. I overlooked the humor aspect in the trailer but I guess it appealed to audiences in the same way as Gremlins and Arachnophobia did, offering a fun horror that turns the Christmas spirit on its head. It seems to have turned the bah-humbug spirit into money. That PG-13 rating seems to have been the smart move, giving teens who are disenchanted with Christmas something to do before Star Wars comes to town. It's too bad Rare Exports never got the same distribution (though that movie had a language barrier).


     


 
 

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