September 15th-17th of 2023 Weekend Thread | $1.2M previews for A Haunting in Venice

[BadOlCatSylvester]

https://deadline.com/2023/09/box-office-a-haunting-in-venice-1235547819/

Quote

20th Century Studios’ Kenneth Branagh starring and directed, A Haunting in Venice, has scared up $1.2M in previews. The weekend outlook for the feature take of the Agatha Christie novel Hallowe’en is $12M+, similar to what Branagh’s feature take on the author’s Death on the Nile did back in 2022 in its first weekend, $12.8M.

Comps for the expected older female skewing, A Haunting in Venice includes, 2019’s Doctor Sleep which did $1.4M on its Thursday before a $14M opening weekend, the Jennifer Lawrence Russian spy flick Red Sparrow ($1.2M Thursday previews and $17M opening), Ticket to Paradise ($1.1M previews, $16.5M opening) and Death on the Nile ($1.1M previews).

 

As we mentioned, working in A Haunting in Venice‘s favor is that it’s the best reviewed of Branagh’s Hercule Poirot movies at 77% certified fresh to Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile’s 61% on Rotten Tomatoes. The downside is that Venice isn’t tricked up with stars like Murder was; the only big names here outside Branagh being Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh and 30 Rock‘s Tina Fey.

A Haunting in Venice could win the weekend if New Line’s Nun 2 takes an enormous tumble deeper than -60%.

 

[Bob Train]

Underwhelming finish.

[DAJK]

Ouch

 

@CJohn your time to shine buddy.

[BadOlCatSylvester]

7 minutes ago, DAJK said:

Ouch

 

@CJohn your time to shine buddy.

I wonder how many "BOMB BOMB BOMB"s he'll give to this one.

[Bob Train]

Needa $150m to breakeven, DOTN did $120m.

[Eric Duncan]

I’m typically not a “why was this greenlit” guy, since movies take a long time from pitch to production to release that something that seemed surefire at first would become a bomb a year or two later.

 

But like…why was this greenlit? Why make a sequel for a franchise nobody is passionate over and the last movie was a flop? Why go down a horror angle that makes this too square for horror fans and too spooky for old people? Why even green light something for an audience that doesn’t go to the movies anymore? I don’t even think Death on the Nile was a big hit for Hulu, because I don’t think it even got onto the Nielsen charts

 

Was this all done because Disney wants Branagh to make a Hulu show? I genuinely don’t get it.

[John Marston]

It’s obvious that Murder on the Orient Express was a big hit because Imagine Dragons was in the trailer 

[Giorno]

1	(1)	The Nun II	Warner Bros.	$1,710,000	-15%		3,728	$459	$41,791,466	7
-	(2)	The Equalizer 3	Sony Pictures	$915,000	-13%	-39%	3,965	$231	$66,441,754	14
-	(-)	Barbie	Warner Bros.	$390,000	-16%	-37%	3,281	$119	$622,155,748	56
-	(-)	Gran Turismo: Based on a …	Sony Pictures	$260,000	-8%	-27%	2,765	$94	$37,075,252	21
-	(-)	Blue Beetle	Warner Bros.	$215,000	-11%	-23%	2,786	$77	$64,807,500	28
-	(-)	Meg 2: The Trench	Warner Bros.	$60,000	-8%	-32%	1,574	$38	$81,040,077	42

[Shawn Robbins]

Venice had $100k from non-Thursday shows, not sure if reported anywhere yet. Was included in the $1.2m figure.

[vale9001]

 

14 minutes ago, Eric Poirot said:

I’m typically not a “why was this greenlit” guy, since movies take a long time from pitch to production to release that something that seemed surefire at first would become a bomb a year or two later.

 

But like…why was this greenlit? Why make a sequel for a franchise nobody is passionate over and the last movie was a flop? Why go down a horror angle that makes this too square for horror fans and too spooky for old people? Why even green light something for an audience that doesn’t go to the movies anymore? I don’t even think Death on the Nile was a big hit for Hulu, because I don’t think it even got onto the Nielsen charts

 

Was this all done because Disney wants Branagh to make a Hulu show? I genuinely don’t get it.

 

 

also they went from two thriller classics even the average person knows to a book only the Agatha Christie fanatics know. 

They should have made another famous book. After the two they already made other very famous Poirot books are Evil under the sun, The murder of Roger Ackroyd, The mysterious affair at Styles and The A.B.C murderers. 

 

The other ones are not classics as them. 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by vale9001

[BadOlCatSylvester]

6 minutes ago, Eric Poirot said:

I’m typically not a “why was this greenlit” guy, since movies take a long time from pitch to production to release that something that seemed surefire at first would become a bomb a year or two later.

 

But like…why was this greenlit? Why make a sequel for a franchise nobody is passionate over and the last movie was a flop? Why go down a horror angle that makes this too square for horror fans and too spooky for old people? Why even green light something for an audience that doesn’t go to the movies anymore? I don’t even think Death on the Nile was a big hit for Hulu, because I don’t think it even got onto the Nielsen charts

 

Was this all done because Disney wants Branagh to make a Hulu show? I genuinely don’t get it.

I can think of a fair few reasons. One interesting one could be that this is Disney's apology to Branagh for how Artemis Fowl turned out. He must have been pissed at the beating that movie got, and the Mouse might need him for another blockbuster down the road so they might've decided to appease him in the name of rebuilding that bridge for future negotiations.

 

Iger shifting away from streaming might've been another reason why this got a theatrical release. If Chapek was still here you can rest assured this would be dumped on Hulu. Now that streaming movies aren't as lucrative anymore, the current regime figured that they'd at least get some money out of it this way, regardless of how much audiences of today really want it.

[Giorno]

Will never understand why studios will pack blockbuster from may through july and leave august and september mostly bare, transformers 7 or mi7 could have coasted with later release dates instead of being swallowed up in the summer

[ChipDerby]

15 minutes ago, Eric Poirot said:

I’m typically not a “why was this greenlit” guy, since movies take a long time from pitch to production to release that something that seemed surefire at first would become a bomb a year or two later.

 

But like…why was this greenlit? Why make a sequel for a franchise nobody is passionate over and the last movie was a flop? Why go down a horror angle that makes this too square for horror fans and too spooky for old people? Why even green light something for an audience that doesn’t go to the movies anymore? I don’t even think Death on the Nile was a big hit for Hulu, because I don’t think it even got onto the Nielsen charts

 

Was this all done because Disney wants Branagh to make a Hulu show? I genuinely don’t get it.

 

Maybe Branagh has dirt on the execs?

[WorkingonaName]

We still have belfast. 

[ThomasNicole]

28 minutes ago, Eric Poirot said:

I’m typically not a “why was this greenlit” guy, since movies take a long time from pitch to production to release that something that seemed surefire at first would become a bomb a year or two later.

 

But like…why was this greenlit? Why make a sequel for a franchise nobody is passionate over and the last movie was a flop? Why go down a horror angle that makes this too square for horror fans and too spooky for old people? Why even green light something for an audience that doesn’t go to the movies anymore? I don’t even think Death on the Nile was a big hit for Hulu, because I don’t think it even got onto the Nielsen charts

 

Was this all done because Disney wants Branagh to make a Hulu show? I genuinely don’t get it.

Branagh said the movie was huge on home video, maybe the PVOD etc sales was really big 

 

And i believe him, i doubt they would give him 60M to another one if it wasn’t the case

 

Maybe this one will be another one doing 120M and great on home video, for a 60M budget, it can be enough

[CJohn]

More like A GIGABOMB IN VENICE amirite?

[vale9001]

Honestly I don't think the fact they made another movie is so crazy. The first one was a big success. Even if of course it's made from a famous book 350M from a 50M budget for a drama it's not something you get every day. 

 

It's not bad to make 350M from a 50M budgeted movies instead of always risking 200-250M with blockbusters.

Yes the second one made 140M but it was during covid so trying another movie (60M budget) with the hope without covid you can make 200-250M it's something i can understand. I think at least another movie to see if you can approach again the first one and to see if the second one suffered because of covid makes sense. 

 

Disney makes so many predictable 200M flops that risking 60M to see if this saga could work again doesn't seem that crazy to me. 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by vale9001

[Giorno]

does barbie get all the imaxes from the 21st through 28th or will it share them with Nun 2 and Haunting in Venice?

[filmlover]

4 minutes ago, ThomasNicole said:

Branagh said the movie was huge on home video, maybe the PVOD etc sales was really big 

This.

 

Not a great launch, but it should debut with about the same numbers as the previous movies, and I imagine the budget for this was much more reasonable than it was for the previous one given that this has the least starry cast to date, so it'll probably turn a profit on the home market once again even if it doesn't in theaters.

[Bob Train]

Box Office will be in the gutter for the next 2 weeks

Taylor can't come soon enough for theaters.

Edited September 15, 2023 by Bob Train