The movie is going to open huge. Thats something you and I agree Zing. I say 30 million at least

And, this is like, what? The first time?

We've gotta be right.

I guess we'll see how popular Miss Alba really is this weekend, huh?

Serenity
12:20 p.m.
300-seater: 50% full

First of all, wow -- usually noon shows bring in maybe a dozen people. This was quite a bit fuller than I expected. Not Star Wars, but about six times as full as Chronicles of Riddick.

Trailers

Snowboarding Flick 2005 (Some "ooh's" at the stunts)
Jarhead (whispers)
Stay (no reaction)
Doom (laughs -- it'll be so terrible... I can't wait!)

Film

Crowd seemed to love the film. Laughs in the right places, jumping during "shock" moments, gasps at "the scene," etc. Some applause at the end (though not a standing ovation or anything). One funny comment I heard was a girl who said, "That sucked! ... I mean, it was great, but it sucked!" This is a bit of a depressing movie for Firefly fans

Info so far From HSX:

"I've been talking to a couple of my SoCal theatres (not yet to LBC)
-- notfabio, Sep 30, 17:44
SERENITY is far and away the top new debut so far, but isn't doing so well that a higher than teens opening this weekend is looking like a shoe in.

So far everything else new is doing in a direct quote "jack squat"

That said, INTO THE BLUE was going to be an evening movie anyway, so there is still some hope that might wind up hitting where tracking had it."



"FRFLY Theater Report
-- flavioandmarita, Sep 30, 15:03
Loews Boston Common
11am showing
654-seater with about 80-90 people ranging from 20-something's to 50-ish - seemed to be pretty equally split male/female. I'd say this was a pretty good turnout for a Friday first showing since this theater has a policy to not allow school-age kids in before 2:30.

Only a couple of fairly non-obnoxious ads. Stuck among them was one for PRDPJ - part trailer, part interviews, part promotion for enjoytheshow.com (Win Your Way to Hollywood contest).

Trailers:
AFLUX
HPOT4
ZORR2
SAW2
JARHD
DOOM

No reaction to any that I noticed.

I saw the episodes of Firefly that aired, enjoyed them and was disappointed when it was canceled. I haven't seen any episodes since either on TV or DVD. I liked the movie a lot. It was action-packed, funny, sad, scary and there were some surprises (to me anyway since I've refrained from reading any of the FRFLY threads). No one need have seen the TV show to enjoy the movie. About a third of the audience stayed thru to the end of the credits. You don't have to unless you like reading them - there was nothing else to stay for.

Snacks: Extra large popcorn and soda - free because I had a birthday coupon. I rarely go to a movie on opening day but couldn't pass up the free snacks since I had the day off anyway."

I guessed high on Serenity, so these are looking good for me.

am I not the only person who read that correctly

Serenity sold out the 7:00pm showing at our theater. I know, because my friends and I were a little too late.

LMAO this films is going to open explosivly

Nah, it doesn't mean anything, really. My theater sells out a lot of films during the 7:00pm area, it's not shocker. We were just a little too late. I would be shocked if it didn't sell that show out, considering every movie plays on one screen.

We're going back at midnight. Usually, the only trend is that if the midnight show sells out, it's making $20 million that weekend. I don't know what'll happen with Serenity, but it could pull a good $18 million, considering the low theater count.

Pfft!

$5m+$4.4m+$3m - $12.4m

That's not explosive opening! Brilliant, yes. Fantastic, yes...but explosive, NOT!

a low theater count never stoped curtain films, 8 mile comes to mind, I dont think its going to have the grand effect some are predicting.

Wow, many of Serenity's 7-8 PM shows are already sold out as much as an hour beforehand. I'm actually getting White Noise vibes. Universal put it in even less theaters and it was tracking at 10-12 million, but ended up exploding.

Yay another poster that sees the light

UIVERSAL are often very conservative with theatres.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin - 2800+
Interpreter 2700+
Cinderella Man 2800+
White Noise 2200+
Skeleton Key 2700+
The Wedding Date 1600+ <---- could of opened so much higher
Land of the Dead 2200+
The Perfect Man 2000+

So really there is nothing wrong with having 2100 or so theatres.

SERENITY 7:40 showing
about 75-85% full.
shows in my neck of the woods [CT] rarely ever sell out.

Previews: i got late but
Doom
Jarhead [reaction, singing with kanye]

Movie: Audience ate it up. I had never seen firefly but it was my brothers birthday and he was an obsessive fan of the show so i decided i'd take him to it. let's just say this is the BEST movie i've seen since crash, maybe even surpassing that. i was in shock about how much i loved it, i am not a sci-fi person and didn't know the background story or anything but i thought this was funny, had the right amount of thrills and shocks and was just all around really awesome. the only flaw were a couple really cheesy moments that just seemed out of place. but a very witty, smart film.

Prospects: i don't know how good this looks, it seems to be frontloaded as the crowd, though i try not to sterotype, looked like the shows cult fans who came out opening night to support this film. but if its any indication they loved it as the film got a standing ovation at the end.

Prediction: around a 6-7 m opening day and around 16-17 opening weekend.

My Grade: B+/A-

Serenity sold-out showings (courtesy of Fandango):

NYC-

Regal Union Square Stadium 14- 7:45 8:25 (at least 40 minutes before showing) 10:45

Leows 34th Street- 7:45 (at least 40 minutes before)

Boston-

Loews Boston Common- 9:30 (at least an hour before)

Los Angeles-

The Bridge: cinema de lux- 9:50 (at least seven hours before)

ArchLight Hollywood- 4:35 (at least a hour before)

Seems like Serenity is doing well. At least in the major cities.

A History of Violence
8:30 show, 200-seat auditorium, sold out.

Trailers
Stay
The Family Stone
Walk the Line
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
Brokeback Mountain
The New World

Film (spoilers within)
This is one of those movies that really doesn't make all that much sense when all is said and done, but the film is gripping and somehow manages an odd combination of being unsettling and entertaining at the same time. Viggo Mortensen never misses a beat as Tom Stall, newfound hero and possible past criminal. It is because of Mortensen's performance that we are never really sure if Tom is who he claims to be (himself) or this thug from the past named Joey Cusack, even as we receiveindications leaning towards either possibility. Ed Harris oozes sliminess in a villainous role, while William Hurt gives a marvelous performance that works on about five different levels, despite not being on screen for more than 5-10 minutes. The best performance of the film belongs to Maria Bello (who deserves Oscar consideration for this film), wonderfully showing a woman who is torn by love and suspicion of the same man she knows better than anyone else - her husband. A History of Violence raises interesting questions about the nature of violence in our lives, as well as crises of identity that Tom's family go through. What happens when you realize the man you have known to be the patriarch of your family turns out to not be who he claims? Although the first 2/3 of this movie are nearly perfect, the final act is a bit sluggish because of the need to end the movie. Most movies are usually too long, but this one could probably have used another 20 minutes to add clearer explanations. By the way, this movie? Not for the faint-of-heart or easily offended. There is a whoooleee lot of violence (duh) and surprisingly explicit sexual content. Overall, I felt A History of Violence was a compelling look at the dark side of human nature and establishments of identity. B+

The audience had somewhat strange reactions to this film, whooping and cheering during particularly gruesome and bloody moments. I realize some of these were intended to be reacted to that way, but I don't get the impression that they all were, which made me a little disconcerted about some of the people seeing the movie. I wondered if they all just wandered in because "violence" was in the title or something.

The only other sold out show at the time was Serenity and Flightplan on small theaters.

That's scary, Libs. My review from earlier is dead on with yours, right down to the grade and Maria Bello. The first 2/3 of it had me thinking it was the best film I'd seen this year, but the final act lost it a bit, but not enough to hurt that much.

My crowd didn't hoot and holler, but I did get the feeling some where thinking "wow, cool" when some of those very impressively done graphic images were shown.

Oops, I didn't see the warning of spoilers and read your thoughts on it Libs .

How was the BROKEBACK trailer? Did anyone laugh or make stupid remarks? I hear the trailer is great but someone that saw it in front of FLIGHTPLAN last weekend told me that it got a ton of laughs and a teen girl screamed "fags." I'd hate to have to see the trailer in theaters with an audience that had immature teens in it. I'd probably say something if someone yelled something like that. I'd at least say "Shut up."

Ummm, I think I heard some people snicker when Jake Gyllenhaal said "I just can't quit you" or whatever, which is arguably one of the worst lines of dialogue I've ever heard in my entire life.

LOL! That does sound lame .

One of the lamest lines of the year to me is from a movie I haven't even seen, which is Undiscovered. I haven't been able to get that "I really like you, but rockstars can't have girlfriends" line out of my head since seeing a ton of TV spots this summer. I don't even need to see the movie to know it's one of the worst lines this year so far, which is why I can't stop saying it, or making my own twists on it .

Sometimes it's the lines that sound so stupid that become legend. I just saw Patrick Swayze talking about the "Nobody puts baby in a corner" line, and how he tried and tried to get them to change it. He called it a terrible line of dialogue that he hated saying, but admits that it's the most popular line in the film. I personally love that line. It's so terrible that it's a highlight.

Yeah, you're right. "I'm king of the world" has become so popular that it's become even more lame. There are a lot of popular lines that are kind of cheesy. I remember a lot of people thought the "Swing away, Merrill" line in Signs was actually cool when I thought it was one of the worst of the year and it made me cringe.

Oh, and "You complete me" has become really cheesy as well, and that's very popular.