Well, it's time to start one now. After two weeks of promising limited release, Kung-Fu Hustle will try to make a statement across the country next weekend. There are a lot of uncertainties, and the predictions for the future all over the place, because we have never seen such a huge expansion for a foreign film without a star who is known in the states. That's what makes this tracking exciting. Many of us lamented when films such as The Motorcycle Diaries, Bad Education, and Maria Full of Grace never got a chance to get past the few hundred theaters plateau, and wondered what they could've done if expanded wide. Kung-Fu Hustle could be a testament of that.

Here is its performance in the first two weekends:

Weekend - weekend gross - % Change - theatres - (PTA) - total gross


April 8-10 - $269,225 - NEW - 7 - ($38,460) - $269,225

April 15-17 - $264,000 (Estimate) - -1.9% - 7 - ($37,714) - $639,000 (Estimate)

Very strong PTA on both weekends. I'm surprised it held up that well.

I can see an opening around $11M next weekend.

BOM has bumped its estimate up from 2,000 theaters to 2,300.

There's a screening of Kung-Fu Hustle about 30 minutes from my house tonight.

I *might* be able to go.

9.2m$-12.7m$

7.5/28

You have GOT to see it!

I don't know...for some reason I don't believe it'll have great legs once it goes wide. But the opening should be pretty decent.


Opening weekend - $12.4 million

Total gross - $35.8 million

Update with actual:

Weekend - weekend gross - % Change - theatres - (PTA) - total gross

April 8-10 - $269,225 - NEW - 7 - ($38,460) - $269,225

April 15-17 - $247,613 - -8.0% - 7 - ($35,373) - $622,655


Reviews:

RottenTomatoes: 87%, 52/8, Average Rating: 7.5/10

IMDb: 7.8/10, 2681 votes

Yahoo: A-, 644 ratings

I've seen NO advertising. There's been more King's Ransom spots than this.

Wide Weekend: $7.7 ($3,348 PTA)
Total: $18.0

Question: Is this the sequel to Kung Pow: Enter the Fist?

Is this a rhetorical question? The two aren't related. Different language, different cast, different purpose.

OK, just making sure. To the normal moviegoer, this would seem like a sequel without seeing the trailer.

But I dont see any squirrel-chucks!!!

What is the performance record of foreign comedies in the United States? Films such as Hero belong to genres more frequently populated by overseas entries. Despite Kung Fu Hustle sporting premises that should cross all cultural barriers, having to read subtitles may spoil the incentive for many to see this film.

It's subtitled?... That would lead me to lower my prediction again...

Wide Opening: $5.9 ($2,565 PTA)
Total: $18.0

I don't think this will do well. Plus, it's R-rated. It has a limited audience, which already saw it in limited release.

Subtitles didn't hurt movies like Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Opening: $11.5 million ($5,000 PTA)
Total: $34.5 million

Hero and Crouching Tiger are not comedies. Maybe I am wrong and the movie is dubbed, but either way it is no good: it becomes a tradeoff between inferior audio and the irritation of reading subtitles. I assume most people would not like to concentrate so hard as to read when watching a light comedy.

Trust me, the audience I saw this with at the Portland International Film Festival didn't mind. Barring opening night shows of Lord of the Rings, I've never seen a better audience reaction, people were in tears.

It's true that there are a lot of obstacles for the movie to overcome. To be able to get to this point, where we aren't discussing 10M total gross but a 10M weekend, without being in the award season or having big names attached to market with, is indicative of how far it has gone in reaching the audience. I don't see Kung-Fu Hustle winning this weekend; it may not even get second place, but I still see it getting over 10M.

The commercials for this are so... stupid. At least Kung Pow's commercials were stupidly funny, but these are just... bad. I don't see a single positive factor going for it right now.

15.25m/49.99m

Yeah, nothing going for it at all.

Except for extremely positive reviews, great WOM, and lots of buzz.

But, that doesn't count. :wink:

The buzz thing is the only thing that would affect my predicting, but I have heard no buzz. This has came out of nowhere it seems like, but Hero also seemed like that as well, and that movie hugely surprised me.

Maybe, but after two straight weekends with a PTA above $35,000, I just don't see how the PTA would drop to below $5,000 when it opens wide with all the buzz, great reviews, and great WOM. It only needs $5,000 PTA to break $10M.

Look at I Heart Huckabees and its PTA decline. I might raise my prediction, because a 90% PTA decline is very unlikely. I'll continue my search for such a PTA drop...