Scene - Blogs - Enchanted has the mojo

"Enchanted" has the mojo
Published: 11/21/2007 5:47 PM
Last Modified: 11/21/2007 5:47 PM

People seem fascinated with film box-office numbers, mostly in the years since a weekly top 10 starting being produced. Then moviegoers respond “Did you see what the No. 1 movie was?” as if there was some element of surprise.

The biggest surprises usually come in the form of what some people thought would do well, then come in at No. 7 and people respond, “Oh, that didn’t do very well, did it?”

But there might be a reason for that finish, and that’s where www.boxofficemojo.com can help you understand.

Six major studio pictures were released Wednesday, but there’s no race for No. 1. “Enchanted,” the Disney fairy tale musical, will top the box office.

If all six films opened in the same number of theaters, it would win anyway due to its broad appeal and family-friendly timing for the holiday week. But this isn’t going to be close, because it’s opening on 3,730 screens.

That’s more than 1,000 screens above the competition: “Hitman,” at 2,458; “The Mist,” at 2,423; “August Rush,” at 2,310; and “This Christmas” at 1,858 screens.

The other new opening in Tulsa on Wednesday was “No Country for Old Men,” the Coen brothers’ newest masterpiece, which had opened in larger markets and expanded to 860 screens nationwide this week. In the numbers game, it will finish low on the top 10 list, and for just that reason.

Check out www.boxofficemojo.com and its release schedules and you too will be able to predict in advance, with some degree of accuracy, the No. 1 (money-making) movie each week.

And never again will you say, “Well that movie tanked” if you see the numbers and realize that smaller films that require smaller financing open on smaller numbers of screens and make smaller amounts of money.

As Ron Burgundy might say, “It’s science.”

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I See Movies for Free

“I was born a poor, black child” … not me, actually, but Steve Martin’s character in the “The Jerk.” That absurd opening line is just one of the absurd number of film facts, quotes and minutiae contained in movie critic Michael Smith’s brain, at his disposal to toss out on a moment’s notice. It’s a key requirement as Tulsa World film critic to know these things. Michael learned a few other life facts along the way (seven years as a Crystal’s Pizza & Spaghetti manager) before attempting journalism and joining the Tulsa World in 1996, where he’s covered everything from a school shooting in Fort Gibson to a tornado in Stroud to witnessing an execution. A little community theater coverage was sprinkled in there, too. Movies engender many of his happiest memories, from standing in line for “Star Wars” and “Grease” at the Southroads Cinema to the James Bond and Pink Panther movies that always premiered at the enormous Continental Theater.

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Past Articles By Michael Smith

2/16/2013		Broken Arrow movie theater moves to discount showings
2/15/2013		Review: 'Amour'
2/15/2013		Review: 'A Good Day to Die Hard'
2/15/2013		Review: 'Beautiful Creatures'
2/14/2013		Review: 'Quartet'
2/14/2013		Shirley MacLaine to speak at Osage Casino
2/14/2013		Weekly rewind: February 14
2/14/2013		REVIEW: 'Beautiful Creatures'
2/12/2013		Belgian best picture hopeful 'Amour' opens in Tulsa on Friday
2/10/2013		'Die Hard' marathon at AMC Southroads on Wednesday ends with new film
2/9/2013		Review: 'Identity Thief' a stupid movie from stupid idea
2/8/2013		Oscar audit: Critics choices for best picture hold up over time

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