LOS ANGELES — Hollywood is acquisitive that a battery of sequels, anew added admission prices and the 3-D bang will ability its acute summer season, which kicked off this weekend, to a almanac $5 billion in North American admission sales.
It’s an optimistic anticipation — aftermost summer’s absolute was about $4.25 billion — but one that adept box appointment analysts anticipate is aural reach, abnormally accustomed the achievement of “Iron Man 2,” which opened in calm theaters with a all-powerful $133.6 actor in sales.
That result, on par with blockbusters like “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” positions “Iron Man 2” to become one of the highest-grossing motion pictures of the year. In its aboriginal 12 canicule of absolution overseas, “Iron Man 2” has awash about $194 million, giving the cine an all-embracing absolute so far of $327.6 million, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box appointment statistics.
“Iron Man 2,” which stars Robert Downey Jr. as the ablaze but emotionally damaged baron Tony Stark and Mickey Rourke as his nemesis, amount about $170 actor to accomplish and had an estimated all-around business account of about $150 million. Marvel Studios, a analysis of the Walt Disney Company, produced the movie. Paramount Pictures broadcast it for an 8 percent allotment of the revenue.
“Audiences are responding to the connected abrupt attributes of this franchise, whether it’s the darker places we booty Tony in this film, a absurd new villain — we didn’t cull aback in any way from the spirit of the aboriginal movie,” said Kevin Feige, admiral of Marvel.
Exit acclamation were badly absolute — in adverse to some analytical reviews, which were beneath rapturous. Rob Moore, Paramount’s carnality chairman, said, “The after-effects affirm what we consistently knew: bodies adulation this franchise.”
The aboriginal “Iron Man,” which was appear in May 2008, awash $98.6 actor in its aboriginal weekend and $318.4 actor total. Worldwide, “Iron Man” awash $585.1 million. Its success played a starring role in Disney’s accommodation to buy Marvel for $4 billion aftermost August.
Now Hollywood charge accumulate up the momentum. The summer season, which runs from aboriginal May through Labor Day, about accounts for 40 percent of anniversary box appointment receipts. To auspiciously cross this high-stakes period, studios await in allotment on admirers breeze from weekend to weekend; trailers that comedy with “Iron Man 2” will accelerate bodies aback to theaters and so on until, Hollywood hopes, a amount of addiction bliss in.
So big-budget movies will cycle out like awkward array floats. Next up is Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood,” followed by “Shrek Forever After,” followed by “Sex and the City 2.”
“People consistently ask how this summer will be different, but they’re never that altered — it’s a formula,” said Paul Dergarabedian, admiral of Hollywood.com’s box appointment division. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
This summer, sequels are accepted to be the better draws. In accession to new installments of “Iron Man,” “Shrek” and “Sex and the City,” there are “Toy Story 3” and “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.” Most of the added offerings are based on acknowledged video amateur (“Prince of Persia”) or books (“Eat Pray Love”).
One absorbing weekend to watch, at atomic from a box appointment perspective, will be Memorial Day, back “Sex and the City 2” from Warner Brothers and Disney’s big-ticket “Prince of Persia” go arch to head. The success of Disney’s alms will abundantly depend on adorable changeable admirers — it’s one acumen the acute Jake Gyllenhaal was casting in the appellation role instead of a acceptable activity brilliant — but “Sex and the City 2” will be a appalling opponent. The aboriginal “Sex and the City” was an abrupt powerhouse, bringing in added than $415 million.
Another abnormal weekend arrives on June 11, back two remakes of hits from the 1980s are released: Sony’s “Karate Kid,” starring Jackie Chan and Will Smith’s son Jaden, and 20th Century Fox’s big-screen adjustment of “The A-Team,” which stars Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper, amid others.
Of course, there are risks. “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” which Disney affairs to absolution on July 16, is a live-action fantasy starring Nicolas Cage as a adept archimage who recruits an accustomed dude (Jay Baruchel). Box appointment watchers say it’s cryptic at this point who this extravaganza, based in allotment on the acclaimed angular arrangement from “Fantasia,” is for. Little kids? Activity fans? Both?
No comments:
Post a Comment