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The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (2007)

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5 articles from 2007

16 October 2007 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Michael Clayton, which had been the odds-on favorite among movie pundits to win the weekend box-office crown, not only didn't finish in first place -- it didn't even make third place, as studio estimates had initially indicated. Clayton, it turns out, earned $10.37 million, putting it slightly behind the crime drama We Own the Night, which took in $10.83 million. Equally surprising to some writers was that the film that did top the box office charts was the low-budget Why Did I Get Married, from writer-producer-director Tyler Perry. The film raked in $21.35 million, about twice the earnings of The Game Plan, which placed second with $11.04 million. The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?, Lionsgate, $21,353,789, (New); 2. The Game Plan, Disney, $11,037,505, 3 Wks. ($58,97,8,627); 3. We Own the Night, Sony, $10,826,287, (New); 4. Michael Clayton, Warner Bros., $10,373,422, 2 Wks. ($11,45,0,629); 5. The Heartbreak Kid, Paramount, $7,280,450, 2 Wks. ($25,85,6,010); 6. Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Universal, $6,153,075, (New); 7. The Kingdom, Universal, $4,608,025, 3 Wks. ($39,99,6,300); 8. Across the Universe, Sony, $3,824,988, 5 Wks. ($12,73,4,454); 9. Resident Evil: Extinction, Sony, $2,646,261, 4 Wks. ($48,06,3,414); 10. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, 20th Century Fox, $2,212,955, 2 Wks. ($7,167,028).

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15 October 2007 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Once again, Tyler Perry has had the last laugh. The writer-director-star, whose films are generally panned by critics and dismissed by box-office analysts, saw his latest comedy, Why Did I Get Married?, top the box office with an estimated $21.5 million, taking in nearly twice as much as the No. 2 film, The Game Plan, which earned $11.5 million in its third week. Meanwhile, George Clooney's critically acclaimed legal drama Michael Clayton, which had been the expected winner, wound up instead with about $11 million, tying for third in the initial estimates with the crime drama We Own the Night. "This is the last time that anyone will underestimate Tyler Perry," Lions Gate distribution chief Tom Ortenberg told the Los Angeles Times. "Tyler's message of family values and personal redemption speaks very strongly to people who are not frequent moviegoers." (Perry's films appeal mostly to older black churchgoers; almost 90 percent of Married's ticket buyers were black.) Ortenberg made similar comments in other interviews, and in one with USA Today added, "It has been fun confounding the experts." The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers: 1. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?, $21.5 million; 2. The Game Plan, $11.5 million; 3. Michael Clayton, $11.01 million; 4. We Own the Night, $11 million; 5. The Heartbreak Kid, $7.4 million; 6. Elizabeth: The Golden Age, $6.2 million; 7. The Kingdom, $4.6 million; 8. Across the Universe, $4 million; 9. Resident Evil: Extinction, $2.65 million; 10. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, $2.15 million.

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9 October 2007 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Final figures confirmed Monday that Paramount/DreamWorks' The Heartbreak Kid, which had been expected to win the box-office race hands-down, was thrown for a loss by the football-themed family movie The Game Plan. Heartbreak opened in second place with $14 million, while the second week of Game Plan remained in first with $16.6 million. The Jamie Foxx-starring thriller The Kingdom slipped to second place with $9.7 million. Two other new films tanked in their debuts. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising opened in fifth place at $3.7 million, ahead of the dance flick Feel the Noise, which opened in eighth place with $3.1 million. Surprisingly Lionsgate's 3:10 to Yuma had the smallest drop of any film in wide release -- just 28 percent -- as it took in an additional $3.2 million in its fifth week and landed in seventh place. It has now earned $48.7 million, the highest gross for any film thus far in the fall season. In reporting on the Yuma results, Baltimore Sun movie writer Michael Sragow commented that they prove "that even in a lowest-common-denominator marketplace, talent, sometimes, will win out." The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. The Game Plan, Disney, $16,609,377, 2 Wks. ($43,158,823); 2. The Heartbreak Kid, Paramount, $14,022,105, (New); 3. The Kingdom, Universal, $9,722,940, 2 Wks. ($31,746,270); 4. Resident Evil: Extinction, Sony, $4,521,301, 3 Wks. ($43,695,477); 5. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, 20th Century Fox, $3,745,315, (New); 6. Good Luck Chuck, Lions Gate, $3,657,516, 3 Wks. ($29,255,442); 7. 3:10 to Yuma, Lions Gate, $3,215,469, 5 Wks. ($48,728,753); 8. Feel the Noise, Sony, $3,187,153, (New); 9. Mr. Woodcock, New Line, $2,331,445, 4 Wks. ($22,613,590); 10. The Brave One, Warner Bros., $2,321,359, 4 Wks. ($34,380,387).

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8 October 2007 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

The box-office turned out to be a heartbreaker on many levels over the weekend. First of all, the DreamWorks/Paramount release The Heartbreak Kid, which analysts had predicted would trounce the competition with ticket sales of $24-28 million, took in only $14 million. The fantasy film The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, from 20th Century Fox and Walden Entertainment, which critics had compared (mostly unfavorably) with the Harry Potter movies, bombed in its debut with just $3.75 million, averaging just $1,186 per theater. Analysts had predicted it would earn $9-12 million. Theaters showing Sony TriStar's Feel the Noise felt mostly silence as the movie tanked with just $3.4 million. Overall, revenue for the top-12 movies added up to just $65.7 million, down 35 percent from the comparable weekend a year ago. There were a couple of bright spots obvious in the weekend tally. The Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson movie The Game Plan fell just 29 percent and remained the box-office leader with an estimated take of $16.3 million. The art houses continued to boom. Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney, opened with $704,000 in 15 theaters, averaging $47,000 per theater. (It is due to open wide next weekend.) Fox Searchlight expanded The Darjeeling Limited to 19 theaters, where it grossed a solid $552,000 -- or $29,100 per theater. Focus Films moved Ang Lee's NC-17-rated Lust, Caution into 17 theaters, where it grossed a strong $368,831 -- or $21,700 per theater. And Warner Bros.' put a digitally remastered "director's cut" of the classic Blade Runner into one theater in New York and another in Los Angeles, where it took in a surprising $95,000 -- or $47,500 per theater. The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers: 1. The Game Plan, $16.3 million; 2. The Heartbreak Kid, $14 million; 3. The Kingdom, $9.3 million; 4. Resident Evil: Extinction, $4.3 million; 5. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, $3.7 million; 6. Good Luck Chuck, $3.5 million; 7. Feel the Noise, $3.4 million; 8. 3:10 to Yuma, $3 million; 9. The Brave One, $2.3 million; 10. Mr. Woodcock, $2 million.

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5 October 2007 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Like Harry Potter, the main character in The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising is a teenage boy learning how to employ magical powers against evil. So naturally, critics are comparing it to the Potter movies -- mostly unfavorably. Not that the reviews are universally bad, but, as Liam Lacey observes in the Toronto Globe & Mail: "Whether you fully embrace the Harry Potter phenomenon or simply live with it, there's no question that J. K. Rowling is an imaginative story-spinner. The trouble is that she has ruined the field for the legions of the second-rate." But Kevin Crust in the Los Angeles Times dismisses it as a "dreary, spectacle-driven adaptation" of the novel by Susan Cooper to which director David L. Cunningham has applied what Crust calls "a jarring, disorienting style." On the other hand, Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel calls it an "eye-popping, jaw-dropping first installment in a film fantasy series that could turn out to be the new Harry Potter. Tautly scripted, smartly cast, beautifully shot in an England of snow and fog, it's a dazzling slice of cinematic imagination."

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5 articles from 2007