It actually did have one of the worst WOMs for the CGI genre. Since CGI films are easily very impressive from a technical standpoint, as long as it has a good story, they are custom to get abov 70% in RT, B+/A- at Yahoo, and above 7 average at IMDb, and Shark Tale had none of those. The only thing that helps it is the release date, as Lecter mentioned. Let's say if it had opened in the Monster Inc.'s slot and had to face Harry Potter in the second weekend, it would certainly drop even more than what Monster Inc. suffered.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Sideways. I'd say it had a pretty good opening weekend was a PTA of $52000 in 4 theaters. It's sitting at 100% in RT with 42 reviews and will expand to 16 theaters next weekend. I want to catch this one sometime next month.

Sad to see TA:WP be dropped to 5th place.

http://www.moviecitynews.com/columnists ... 41024.html

The rest of the pack had performances ranging from OK to DOA. The politically themed Celsius 41.11 (get it?) managed to sign up 117 theaters but had a decidedly different scale response of about $92,000. The Southern Gothic Undertow dragged up a lethargic $22,300 from six bayous while the musical doc Lightning in a Bottle struck once with $5,500 from two screens and Stella Street was going one way with $2,800 from 10 disengagements.

The turkey Celsius got a per theatre average of 786. Less than 10 people per show

Probably did not even make back the cost of a few prints. Loving it.

As for release dates, it is true that some movies do better at certain times. Would LOTR do well if it had gone against Titanic that year? Probably would been crushed by the boat. Would LOTR movies do as well in summer. Probably not? If Shrek was two weeks before Monster's inc, MI would have made less than 160 mil. also and Shrek 2 was two week prior to Nemo, FN would not make over 250 mil.

WOM is not based on Yahoo ratings, IMDB and certainly not critics. Movie buffs rate the movies on Yahoo and IMDB. If you go by these TA would have been a big hit and it tanked. Reason bad WOM from general auds.

ST has good WOM from general auds and that is why it is doing well.

Lol people are so guliable, Grudge was such a cheap movie, with cheap scares. People were busting up in my theater, cause the movie was so lame.

It's so lame, it made $40 million on opening weekend. :wink:

Village made 50mil, people thought that was a lame movie. Crappy horror flicks that make big bucks because they're rated pg-13.

You're missing my point. I'm not saying putting Shrek before Montster's Inc, or Shrek 2 before Finding Nemo. I propose a simple question: If you put Shark Tale into Monster's Inc's slot, will its second weekend drop be higher or lower than Monster"s? The question has nothing to do with their total gross or other movies, because those are absolute numbers and hard to compare. I'm having a controlled experiment with respect to WOM: everything else being equal, if you put Monster Inc. and Shark Tale in the same release date, which one will have better second weekend drop. I think the answer is pretty obvious. The simple matter is if you put Shark Tale in Shrek/Shrek 2, Finding Nemo, or Monster's time slot, it would have much worse hold than what those films were able to despite of summer or other competitions.

Again, my point is CGI films hold up well regardless of their WOM. The WOM for Shark Tale is certainly much worse than Toy Story 1 and 2, Shrek 1 and 2, Monster Inc., and Finding Nemo, but because of its genre and its release date, it's able to gross a very impressive amount regardless. Granded, those are some of the best reviewed films ever, but the thing is CGI films have kind of spoiled us with one good production after another, and Shark Tale just didn't measure up to those. It's not a knock on Shark Tale. DreamWorks did everything it can to make it as successful as it can be given its quality, or lack thereof.

Question. How is someone supposed to know if a movie is crappy without... seeing it?

I saw Grudge, and i didnt like it

the plot, little that it is, is quite awful. But hey, its a horror film, and as so many people would say, 'fuck plot.' fine, i'll do that. forget about the plot. the entire basis for scaring people in this film is "shock." and apparently, swift moving objects and sudden loud bursts of noise are the most horrifying things on earth. There was maybe one scene of extended suspense, but even then my heart wasn't racing even close to the speed that it beats after a big cup of coffee.

I got really annoyed with the 'creapy' spirits too. I'm sorry, but a naked little Japanese boy with a habit of screaming does not make me jump out of my seat.

and, the ending... i wouldn't want to spoil it, but there's not much to spoil.

Awesome for the Grudge! Especially considering the genre (horror, which is pretty frontloaded), an increase on Saturday is definitely a surprise.

Another good week for Shark Tale. Taxi is doing quite decent, and Shall We Dance and The Forgotten continue to impress.

That's the whole point. These are relative terms. MI did not measure upto Shrek and TS 1&2. Does it mean it had bad WOM.

Had FOTR come against Titanic, TTT and ROTK might have been very ordinary hits, if at all. The timing is everything. You cannot defend anything with what ifs. A bug's life was awful and it still made ton of dough. You can make the point had it been released with MI release date, it wouldn't have even made 100mil. But it made 162 mil. in its own release slot and that's how it is.

THE GRUDGE.....the NINTH number 1 horror movie this year

The Grudge will be the #1 horror film this year. I don't see horrible legs that The Village had. I think it can pass The Village.

I wouldn't mind. I'm not sure if I think it is better than the Village. They are different movies. But I would like to see it do well. It was a pleasent experience.

I explicitly said I wasn't complaining that it made 162M. I could careless if it made 50 or 300M. I'm just making a point that making 162M doesn't mean it's having good WOM, which is what we were debating. There are a lot of other factors that propel a film's gross to 150 or 200 or 300M (release date, buzz, fanbase) than just WOM. Even good week-to-week drops don't necessarily mean good WOM. You have to compare within its genre, and for the CGI genre, 30% drop is common regardless of the film's quality. On the other hand, for example, Resident Evil 2 dropped more than 60% in its second weekend, even though it had good WOM, because all horror movies drop hard initially. But eventually its good WOM showed in the box office, as it had good holds from its 4th weekend on.

Not very good for I Heart Huckabees, which couldn't even manage a 4000 per theater average. Looks like it's too quirky for mainstream audiences.

The Village was ANYTHING, but a horror movie, really!

The Village was a Period Romance Drama w/ Horror elements.

What were those horror elements?

Yeah, I mentioned this in another thread where someone had listed all of Shyamalan's films as horror movies. Sixth Sense? Fair enough. Signs? At a push. But Unbreakable? The Village? Pfft I say!

It's like making a list of action/adventure films and putting every Spielberg film in just because the guy's well known for working in that genre. Sure, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jaws will make fine additions to anyone's action/adventure list! But Schindler's List?

The Village attack
Ivy in the woods