TLK

Having a recognizable name helps but The Call didn't have an extraordinary debut for a movie marketed as a horror/thriller. It is just that Wonderstone bombed and The Call is looking good in comparison.

To be fair, the production budget for Wonderstone is only $32 million so there is a chance that they will make some money with this movie but it is definitely a disappointment.

Burt Wonderstone would've done better with someone like Will Ferrell in the lead role. He is perfect for over the top caricatures like Ron Burgundy or Ricky Bobby. Steve Carrell is better suited for the regular guy/lovable loser type of roles.

Dunno but I always expected The Call to make around $15 million. Any horror movie that looks decent and/or has a good cast always makes money.

#1 ‘Oz’ Holding Huge For $143M Domestic; Halle #2 In ‘The Call’ And Beats Carell-Carrey In Bombing ‘Incredible Burt Wonderstone’ The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (3,160 theaters) is a complete disaster despite no fresh comedy at the multiplex since Identity Thief opened five weeks ago. This is Warner Bros’ 5th straight box office dud, continuing what has been an abysmal beginning of the year. Any hope for an upside because of the casting of Steve Carell and Jim Carrey (who’s in the Witness Protection Program in the trailers) has been trashed. Those guys should have delivered at least a $20M if not $30M opening. Instead their pic will be lucky to max $11M for its first weekend after grossing only $3.5M Friday. And, remember, that includes 1,800 Thursday late shows, too. Even worse, pic scored a ‘C+’ CinemaScore from audiences who will hurt word of mouth along with a dismal 25% positive reviews from toop critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Burt was beaten badly by Sony/TriStar’s new Troika pickup starring Halle Berry, The Call (2,507 theaters). In 2nd place, it earned a ‘B+’ Cinema with $5.7M at Friday’s box office for a $17M first weekend even though the low-budget kidnap thriller is playing in 653 fewer locations.

Mid to high teen weekend is pretty standard for an average horror movie.

Franco is already getting some internet buzz but it is unlikely that this performance will be considered by the academy. Anyway I am #TeamFranco. This is a very interesting role as compared to mostly boring, paint-by-numbers roles that academy nominates every year. http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/so-james-franco-spring-breakers-best-supporting-actor

Studios never release those numbers. Even the-numbers.com's data is just a guess most of the time. Nielsen VideoScan is the only service that tabulates the actual data so if you don't have the subscription to Nielsen you don't have the actual numbers.

Warner Bros. have a very impressive and risky blockbuster lineup for 2014 with at least three big original movies -Transcendence, Jupiter Ascending and Interstellar.

Autumn of 2011 meant it was ready to screen at the TIFF. That's where the hype started. This movie will start shooting next month and it won't be ready before November-December which means that it won't be ready for either Toronto or New York. I don't know about the quality but movies like this need to build awards hype. Actually it did. Django release was rushed and it never quite made it into the upper echelon of contenders. BP and BD were out for all intents and purposes once it didn't make the SAG deadline. In fact, none of the directors of December or later releases made the cut this year.

Gatsby will be a disaster. They moved it from the December date for a reason and the critics are always very harsh on movie adaptations of literary classics. This is the Cannes opening movie because of the cast and especially Leo. Cannes always wants big stars and there is no one bigger than Leo.

ZDT wasn't helped by the release date. People talk about controversy but the fact is that Sony bungled the campaign at every point and a lot had to do with the release date. They didn't even get the screeners out in time for SAG nominations. Release date matters especially when the entire process has shifted forward. DOR is another issue. He just finished three months of campaigning. Now he is going to spend the next 8 months preparing to release the movie just in time for another three month of campaigning. The movie will start shooting next week and it is pretty obvious that they are rushing the movie. There is a good chance that this movie and The Monuments Men are going to be hurt by their schedules.

I think they are making a mistake by releasing it so soon after DOR's success this year. Academy isn't too keen on nominating same people in successive years and the release date isn't very good either. November release is always better for dramatic movies like this.

Gitesh Pandya ‏@giteshpandya Sony slots untitled David O Russell pic on 12/13 ltd, 12/25 wide. Hot cast: B Cooper, J Lawrence, Bale, Renner & LouisCK.

I think it is opening the same day in France and in the same week worldwide so I don't think this is a major issue.

The Great Gatsby will open the festival. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/great-gatsby-open-cannes-film-427454 The Great Gatsby will open the 66th Festival de Cannes, organizers said early Tuesday local time. The movie will screen May 15 at the Grand Theatre Lumiere of the Palais des Festivals, out of competition as part of the Official Selection.

It is such a shame that RDJ has stopped doing risky roles. He is a really talented actor who deserves better than just being Iron Man and a bastardized version of Sherlock Holmes.

Does The Best Of Youth count? It is over 6 hours and it is a pretty good movie.

If Harvey plans to make a big push for Fruitvale during the awards season then there is a pretty good chance that they won't send it to Cannes. Bling Ring is a good bet but it may screen out of competition.

One of the best comedies of the past decade. Tropic Thunder > All Judd Apatow movies combined

So what's going on with Identity Thief ? The movie has made only $2.2 million so far from 12 markets. Are these numbers only from smaller markets or did the movie just bomb internationally?

Everyone was laughing at Hansel & Gretel initially but look who is laughing now? I think this will finish with over $240 million Worldwide on a $50 million production budget. Well-marketed fantasy movies can easily make $200 million Worldwide so the main issue is the budget.

No solid numbers. Just a tweet from a LA Times journalist.

My guess was 34 million Saturday + 22 million Sunday = $80 million OW. Let us see if it turns out to be close.

Amy Kaufman ‏@AmyKinLA "Oz" gets a good bump from Friday to Saturday -- now looking like $80m for the weekend instead of last night's $70m projection.