Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed...

[Jeri]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

I was thinking about going to see it at the IMAX this weekend; but now that they had a fire on the roof of that theater, maybe not. It was one of the heating/cooling units up there.

Well, look at it this way- now they've got a convertible theater. *rimshot*

Yeah...the news article doesn't sound like it went all the way to drive-in status.

 

[Anticitizen]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

People have to remember also that Star Trek was the first film in this series. To get people into the theater, it needed word of mouth.

The sequel won't need it. Look at Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and the difference in profit for those two films.

Well, The Dark Knight also got free publicity from Heath Ledger's demise, like it or not.

 

[Tom Servo]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

People have to remember also that Star Trek was the first film in this series. To get people into the theater, it needed word of mouth.

The sequel won't need it. Look at Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and the difference in profit for those two films.

Well, The Dark Knight also got free publicity from Heath Ledger's demise, like it or not.

I do agree with that statement, however with these big budget summer movies, it seems like the sequels always pull in a boatload more cash then the first film. I donno if someone out there has the numbers to back that up, that thats the perception I got...

 

[Lumen]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

Pirates of the Caribbean is a good example of strong word-of-mouth giving the first entry enough legs to do well enough to get a highly-hyped sequel that goes substantially better. Black Pearl opened with $46 million on its first weekend ($70 million for its 5-day total, since it opened on a Wednesday), grossed $305 million domestic and $655 million worldwide -- its sequel opened with $135 million, grossed $423 million domestic and $1.065 billion worldwide.

Star Trek didn't do as well as the first Pirates, but films move out of theatres now faster than they did back then. At this point in its run, Black Pearl was still in over 1400 theatres; Star Trek is in just over 700, despite similar (~$1600) per theatre averages for the week.

The next Star Trek can certainly break $300 million domestic, but they're going to have to work hard to get it much higher than that, and I really don't know what to expect internationally.

 

[davejames]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

Yup. TDK, Pirates 2, Matrix Reloaded, and Austin Powers 2 were just a few that opened HUGE based simply on the enormous good will created by the original films.

 

[Johnnymuffintop]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

You also have to remember, there is a much greater 14 year old fan base with Harry Potter. And people like me who could really care less but went to the midnight showing because it was something to do and I could MST3K it so easily.

 

[M'Sharak]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

It should be the other way around...esp considering how DREDFUL the last two books are...

Couldn't get a rise out of anyone with that over in SF&F, so you decided to bring it over here, eh, darkwing?

Honestly, I don't think anyone's terribly surprised that the new Harry Potter is doing giant-sized opening box-office numbers; it would have been far more surprising if it hadn't. A franchise which is able to sell out an entire first printing of a book in a matter of hours, as Harry Potter has done more than once, is very likely to be matched by similar performance by the movie adaptation the theater; that's just to be expected.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

Why worry? Trek's BO is enough to get the sequel and restart the franchise, which remember, can go on forever, unlike Potter, which is nearing its expiration date.

Now, with a sequel coming, it's poised to enter the ranks of the super-franchises.

Re-enter. And it was never dead. Light coma perhaps.

 

[Crusher Disciple]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

To be fair, the HP franchise wasn't on life support when this movie came out as Star Trek was.

 

[Franklin]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

Why worry? Trek's BO is enough to get the sequel and restart the franchise, which remember, can go on forever, unlike Potter, which is nearing its expiration date.

Now, with a sequel coming, it's poised to enter the ranks of the super-franchises.

Re-enter. And it was never dead. Light coma perhaps.

"I'm not dead, yet."

True, Trek was a money-making franchise at the theaters, but the best way I can put it is that it was more like James Bond than Indiana Jones. Now, a Trek movie will be produced and marketed as a big-movie event for wide audiences, not as just another installment mostly for existing fans of the series.

And of course, Potter may never expire, either. It can always be recast and rebooted.

 

[Cyrus]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

You got to hand it to the Trek fans. The franchise was on life support just a couple of years ago. Now there is this smash boxoffice hit movie and this is the second thread in the last few days expressing disappointment at not being as popular as some other movies.

I don't give a rat's ass how it's doing compared to Harry Potter or Transformers. As long as it does well enough for the studio to greenlight another movie with a decent budget then the mission has been accomplished. Star Trek has never been the #1 movie or the #1 TV show (not even close in that one). I am not sure if I want it to change to achieve that level of mass appeal.

 

[Borgminister]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

You got to hand it to the Trek fans. The franchise was on life support just a couple of years ago. Now there is this smash boxoffice hit movie and this is the second thread in the last few days expressing disappointment at not being as popular as some other movies.

I don't give a rat's ass how it's doing compared to Harry Potter or Transformers. As long as it does well enough for the studio to greenlight another movie with a decent budget then the mission has been accomplished. Star Trek has never been the #1 movie or the #1 TV show (not even close in that one). I am not sure if I want it to change to achieve that level of mass appeal.

QFT.

 

[Jeri]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

We were happy with our little cottage industry for a long time; and now it's looking like we may have struck pay dirt.

To quote Sophie Tucker: "I've been rich and I've been poor. Believe me, honey, rich is better."

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

I am not sure if I want it to change to achieve that level of mass appeal.

Similarly, the little ST club I joined in 1980 had 222 members - it had been running since the early 70s - and we plodded along quite nicely, increasing memberships with each new movie. Some people in the group always wanted bigger! bigger! bigger! - and by the time of TNG's peak popularity we had over 1000 members.

While it was very cool to have a much bigger club, we were no longer able to have monthly meetings in someone's house, sending someone out to buy a few bottles of Coke, and tossing a few videos on a home VCR. Suddenly we had to hire large halls, borrow big screen TVs, cater food, pre-sell tickets (so we could attempt to estimate seating and food), and risk "cease and desist" letters from Paramount for screening episodes to a paying audience. And demands from the government that we incorporate and get our finances audited. Not to mention the production of a newsletter - which grew from a few stapled Roneoed pages, collated by whichever volunteers turned up, to a bumper bimonthly offset magazine with 60-100 pages, coloured covers and even sealed sections (to hide upcoming spoilers for our more demanding members).

And people still complained if they weren't getting their money's worth.

Sometimes bigger isn't necessarily better. Or more fun.

 

[Orac Zen]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

...esp considering how DREDFUL the last two books are...

In your opinion. In the opinion of other people the last two books are anything but "dredful" (sic). To each their own, y'know.

I'm sure those with genuine depression will be sympathetic to your sorrow over the success of a movie.

You got to hand it to the Trek fans. The franchise was on life support just a couple of years ago. Now there is this smash boxoffice hit movie and this is the second thread in the last few days expressing disappointment at not being as popular as some other movies.

I don't give a rat's ass how it's doing compared to Harry Potter or Transformers. As long as it does well enough for the studio to greenlight another movie with a decent budget then the mission has been accomplished. Star Trek has never been the #1 movie or the #1 TV show (not even close in that one). I am not sure if I want it to change to achieve that level of mass appeal.

Very well said. Agreed 100%.

 

[LeadHead]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

Ah well, there's no accounting for taste.

Couldn't agree more. Tried to make it through a Harry Potter book, bored out of my mind. Tried to make it through a Harry Potter Movie, even more boring, combined with being painfull.

Trek is back and there's no denying that, but still. Harry Potter is a descent Franchise, but there's too many people going ga-ga over it.

 

[LeahBoBo]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

I haven't seen the new HP movie yet, but I plan to within a week or so. Don't revoke my fan girl credentials, but I don't do openings anymore. As for ST's success, I am delighted by it, and thought the movie did excellent business. I did not expect it to beat franchises like HP or Transformers. But it did kick snot out of Terminator and Wolverine, so I'm doing the dance of joy. As far as the last HP book; well, to be brief, it sucked. It had horrible pacing, a meandering plot, some out of character wierdness, and was 250 pages too damn long. YMMV.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

It should be the other way around...esp considering how DREDFUL the last two books are...

Couldn't get a rise out of anyone with that over in SF&F, so you decided to bring it over here, eh, darkwing?

Honestly, I don't think anyone's terribly surprised that the new Harry Potter is doing giant-sized opening box-office numbers; it would have been far more surprising if it hadn't. A franchise which is able to sell out an entire first printing of a book in a matter of hours, as Harry Potter has done more than once, is very likely to be matched by similar performance by the movie adaptation the theater; that's just to be expected.

No, this thread is primarily about box office. I find it depressing that a film with such a bad story should do so well compared to a film that had such a GOOD story.

 

[Da'an]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

Which films were they?

 

[number6]

Re: Harry Potter does 1/4 Trek's TOTAL box in one day...I am depressed

Harry Potter is bigger than Jesus now. There's no reason for a Harry Potter film not to do well. Star Trek has always had a specific niche. For Star Trek XI to do as well as it did is something to celebrate, not something to bitch about!!

Perspective, People!!