Benjamin Button cost $295 Million to produce and market.

Where is this number from?

LA Times - http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-b ... 5419.story

Budget - $150 Million
Marketing and Distribution - $135 Million
Oscar Campaign - $10 Million

Ouch.

Well good for it then, that it's also becoming somewhat of an international hit. At least in Germany the opening is very solid.

estimates

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - $116,540,000 (after 39 days)
Slumdog Millionaire - $67,244,000 (after 82 days)
Milk - $23,416,000 (after 68 days)
Frost/Nixon - $14,311,000 (after 59 days)
The Reader - $13,089,000 (after 54 days)

the race for 4th place!

so we're gonna end up with two solid BO hits and three extremely unappealing/weak nominees. Why couldn't we just have had TDK.

Technically just one.

Sigh. At least Milk isn't the worst perfoming movie so far. I gotta say Focus is doing such a shitty job with this movie. I've been watching Logo all weekend - not one Milk commercial yet ones for The Reader and Slumdog are on all the time.

I think they expected more WOM business than they actually got but that's just stupid. I don't even care about Oscars anymore; it's about Milk's story reaching as many people as possible, especially the LBGT community.

The Reader doubled Frost/Nixon's Tuesday gross (278k vs 137k) . Exciting!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - $117,047,428 (after 41 days)
Slumdog Millionaire - $68,558,794 (after 84 days)
Milk - $23,786,723 (after 70 days)
Frost/Nixon - $14,580,946 (after 61 days)
The Reader - $13,174,110 (after 56 days)

Eh, I think Button had enough of a strong opening and decent enough legs to at least be considered "solid," if not much else.

With South Korea, Japan, Italy, Spain, UK, Russia, Poland, France and some minor markets still ahead, I think Benjamin Button is a good bet for $300+ million worldwide.

And that would make it the biggest worldwide Best Picture nominee since, uhh, Return of the King, I think.

The entire cast of Doubt (yes even PSH) were on The Today Show this morning basically begging follks to see the film.

And Slumdog crosses 70 Mill.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - $117,648,097 (after 43 days)
Slumdog Millionaire - $70,025,785 (after 86 days)
Milk - $24,132,610 (after 72 days)
Frost/Nixon - $14,879,126 (after 63 days)
The Reader - $13,757,581 (after 58 days)

Total gross to date: $240,443,199

2007 - $357,962,353
2006 - $296,776,043
2005 - $245,336,279
2004 - $401,618,339
2003 - $725,953,743
2002 - $662,537,970
2001 - $618,732,281

2008 will surpass 2005 and 2006. That's good at least.

Funnily enough, Doubt will finish with more than Milk, Frost/Nixon or The Reader, it seems.

I took a look at where past BP nominees were this time last year in the top 20:

2008
Juno - #5 with 5.6 Million
There Will Be Blood - #10 with 3.9 Million
No Country - #13 with 2.2 Million
Atonement - #15 with 2.0 Million
Michael Clayton - #18 with 1.4 Million

2007
The Queen - #10 with 2.3 Million
Letters From Iwo Jima - #14 with 1.7 Million
Babel - #15 with 1.6 Million
The Departed - #17 with 1.3 Million
Little Miss Sunshine - #62 with 29k

2006
Brokeback Mountain - #8 with 4.0 Million
Capote - #16 with 1.2 Million
Good Night and Good Luck - #19 with 872k
Munich - #20 with 783k
Crash - NA

2005
Million Dollar Baby - #4 with 7.4 Million
The Aviator - #8 with 4.6 Million
Sideways - #9 with 4.4 Million
Finding Neverland - #13 with 2.2 Million
Ray - #29 with 193k

2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - #7 with 4.2 Million
Mystic River - #8 with 3.6 Million
Lost in Translation - #13 with 1.7 Million
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - #17 with 1.3 Million
Seabiscuit - NA

2003
Chicago - #3 with 10.7 Million
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Tower - #10 with 3.5 Million
The Hours - #13 with 2.1 Million
The Pianist - #18 with 996k
Gangs of New York - #19 with 862k

2002
A Beautiful Mind - #7 with 6.3 Million
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings - #11 with 3.6 Million
Gosford Park - #13 with 1.8 Million
In The Bedroom - #14 with 1.6 Million
Moulin Rouge! - NA

2001
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - #4 with 5.4 Milliom
Traffic - #7 with 4.4 Million
Chocolat - #10 with 3.0 Million
Gladiator - NA
Erin Brockovich - NA

2000
The Green Mile - #6 with 3.0 Million
The Cedar House Rules - #13 with 1.5 Million
The Sixth Sense - #17 with 1.1 Million
American Beauty - #60 with 64k
The Insider - NA

relatively speaking, The Reader is doing amazing. It should pass Frost/Nixon this weekend. Milk, Milk, Milk. So much potential lost.

Friday's numbers

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - $118,288,000 (after 44 days) +106.9%
Slumdog Millionaire - $71,991,000 (after 87 days) +163.5%
Milk - $24,418,000 (after 73 days) +59.3%
Frost/Nixon - $15,068,000 (after 64 days) +22.1%
The Reader - $14,363,000 (after 59 days) +104.3%

The Reader's holding up, but it still won't pass its budget, and it would be an outright bomb if Weinstein wasn't the best fuck in Hollywood.

In the US, and it'll still come impressively close ($25 million, anyone?). Overseas it should do very well.

Frost/Nixon has still not even come within two hours of me. No Best Picture nominee has ever still been unavailable to me three weeks after noms.

Irritating.

Spin.

It's also a fact. It's essentially in the same position as Benjamin Button, anyway, which will also only barely fall short.

The Weinsteins are in a way more precarious position than Paramount/WB, though.

Milk was so FUCKED by Focus Features. I mean if Penn wins, it'll still pass $30 million, but hell, there was $50+ million potential there.


And as I said, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will be the biggest BP nominee worldwide since Return of the King, nothing to complain about. I think it has $300 million WW pretty much locked up.


The Reader should also do well worldwide, especially in Germany of course. The book is quite big here and it's part of most school's curricula. I wouldn't be surprised if it reaches $100+ million worldwide. Also, in the US, it is holding up surprisingly well. I'd imagine that after Slumdog, it's the film most benefitting of the Oscar nods.

Lots of milestones this weekend. Curious Case passes 120 Million, Milk 25 Million, and The Reader passes Frost/Nixon.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - $120,048,000 (after 446 days)
Slumdog Millionaire - $77,426,000 (after 89 days)
Milk - $25,255,000 (after 75 days)
The Reader - $16,058,000 (after 61 days)
Frost/Nixon - $15,632,000 (after 66 days)