So, I got a good group of folks this weekend to check out "Talk To Me" this past Friday night here in L.A. at the Arclight. I'll have alot to say about the film in a bit - in short, I absolutely love it, the emotional intensity is more spin-tingling to me than any number of explosions I saw last week in "Transformers", and Meshell Ndegeocello has a rediculously good track in the end credits with Terence Blanchard called "Compared to What".
But, I would like to point out the statistics:
on 33 screens nationwide, Talk to Me brought in $391,000, for a per-screen average of roughly $11,848 for the weekend. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", on 4,285 theaters nationwide, brought in $77,410,000, for a per screen average of $18,065.
Let's say they took a 10th of those Harry Potter screens and played "Talk To Me" instead, for a combined number of 461 screens - assuming the same per screen average (which is, admittedly, a huge assumption - but when my friends in Chicago are telling me that the movie's not playing, well, there's clearly a market) - they could have earned $5,461,928, which would have placed it at 6 for the weekend box office, above "1408".
Actually, a better comparison would be, instead of taking ~400 screens away from Harry Potter, a Warner Bros movie, how about taking 200 each away from "Evan Almighty" and "Knocked Up", both of which are distributed by Universal Studios - who owns Focus Features and also distributed "Talk To Me". The highest per-screen average Evan ever did was $8,654, and Knocked Up's was $10,690. Knocked Up opened on 2700 screens, and Evan Almighty on 3600. And both those films, as of this weekend, were still in 1700 and 2700 theaters, respectively. My point is, Universal left money on the table this weekend by giving Talk to Me such a limited opening. I do, however, expect that it will expand in a week or two.
I'm just sayin'.
Showing posts with label talk to me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label talk to me. Show all posts
July 16, 2007
July 08, 2007
go see "Talk To Me" this Friday
Now, I know you COULD go see "Harry Potter", or you could watch Elisha Cuthbert get tortured in "Captivity", or you could even go see "Transformers" again.
But, quite frankly, Harry & Optimus Prime are gonna be a'ight as far as opening weekend box office grosses go. There will be sequels. And no matter how well or poorly "Captivity" does, people will continue to make garish horror films.
On the other hand, there's "Talk To Me".
Check out the trailer here.
It stars Don Cheadle, along with Taraji P. Henson from "Hustle & Flow", Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Cedric the Entertainer.
It's co-written by Rick Famuyiwa, who wrote & directed both "The Wood" and "Brown Sugar", and Michael Genet, who wrote "She Hate Me" for Spike.
And it's directed by one of my filmmaking heroes, Kasi Lemmons.
You may recognize Kasi as Clarice Starling's best buddy at the FBI Academy in "Silence of the Lambs", or even as one of Tony Todd's victims in the original "Candyman". But the sister has really been puttin' in work for the last ten years as a filmmaker, who, most notably wrote & directed a little gem called "Eve's Bayou
".
Point being, here's a great film where virtually all of the above-the-line talent are Black, that gives all of us a bit of our history.
Now, "Captivity" is going to be in 1,500 theaters around the country. "Transformers" is already in 4,000, and Harry Potter is going out to 4,100 on Friday.
Focus Features is only releasing "Talk To Me" on 31 screens.
That's not a typo - only 31 theaters in the entire country are going to get this movie.
My point is, if we want more films like this, made by more filmmakers like these, we need to speak the studios' language by buying tickets. Preferrably on Friday night.
Go see it.
And, while you're at it, if you haven't had the chance, check out Kasi's last feature film, "The Caveman's Valentine
", with Samuel L. Jackson as a former concert pianist who's become schizophrenic and homeless, but is still trying to solve a murder mystery. It's good stuff.
But, quite frankly, Harry & Optimus Prime are gonna be a'ight as far as opening weekend box office grosses go. There will be sequels. And no matter how well or poorly "Captivity" does, people will continue to make garish horror films.
On the other hand, there's "Talk To Me".
Check out the trailer here.
It stars Don Cheadle, along with Taraji P. Henson from "Hustle & Flow", Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Cedric the Entertainer.
It's co-written by Rick Famuyiwa, who wrote & directed both "The Wood" and "Brown Sugar", and Michael Genet, who wrote "She Hate Me" for Spike.
And it's directed by one of my filmmaking heroes, Kasi Lemmons.
You may recognize Kasi as Clarice Starling's best buddy at the FBI Academy in "Silence of the Lambs", or even as one of Tony Todd's victims in the original "Candyman". But the sister has really been puttin' in work for the last ten years as a filmmaker, who, most notably wrote & directed a little gem called "Eve's Bayou".Point being, here's a great film where virtually all of the above-the-line talent are Black, that gives all of us a bit of our history.
Now, "Captivity" is going to be in 1,500 theaters around the country. "Transformers" is already in 4,000, and Harry Potter is going out to 4,100 on Friday.
Focus Features is only releasing "Talk To Me" on 31 screens.
That's not a typo - only 31 theaters in the entire country are going to get this movie.
My point is, if we want more films like this, made by more filmmakers like these, we need to speak the studios' language by buying tickets. Preferrably on Friday night.
Go see it.
And, while you're at it, if you haven't had the chance, check out Kasi's last feature film, "The Caveman's Valentine
", with Samuel L. Jackson as a former concert pianist who's become schizophrenic and homeless, but is still trying to solve a murder mystery. It's good stuff.
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