Announcements

2004 Saw Fewer But Faster $100-Million Earners

By Nicole Sperling
Reprinted Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter

While everyone's waiting to find out who's going to take home the most Oscars for 2004's films, everybody knows that Warner Bros. Pictures is going to walk off with the most Nielsen/EDI Gold Reel Awards, which acknowledge films that have surpassed the $100 million mark at the domestic boxoffice.

Warners had four $100 million-plus films in 2004, the same as the previous year. Overall, there were fewer $100 million grossers -- 22 in 2004, as opposed to 29 in 2003 (when Sony and Universal ruled the roost with six titles each). However, those films that did hit the magic number tended to open wider and earn more than last year's Gold Reel winners. DreamWorks' "Shrek 2" won this year's top prize -- earning $436.5 million and claiming the title of third all-time highest-grossing film behind Paramount's 1997 juggernaut "Titanic" and Fox's 1977 sci-fi fantasy "Star Wars." The year's second-highest-grossing film, Sony's "Spider-Man 2," made $373.4 million, becoming the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time, while Newmarket's "The Passion of the Christ" earned $370.3 million, notching the ninth slot on the list.

Now, Newmarket and Lions Gate -- which released Michael Moore's $119.1 million grossing "Fahrenheit 9/11" -- are standing in line with the majors for honors today, when nine companies will receive recognition for their boxoffice performance.

In all, the average Gold Reel winner grossed $187 million last year, compared to the $157 million average cume that 2003's films generated. Also, three movies grossed more than $370 million in 2004, while only New Line's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" held that honor in 2003.

One thing is clear: Members of the $100 million club all reached that benchmark faster than in years past. "What impressed me is the efficiency of this year's bunch," Nielsen/EDI analyst John Spitler says. "(The 2003 group) of 29 took an average of 29 days to reach $100 million. (The 2004) group (of 22) did it in 18 days on average -- by the end of the third weekend, they were there."

Only "Fahrenheit" and DreamWorks' "Collateral" required more than 30 days to reach the milestone. "Fahrenheit's" low-grade ascent was due to the limited release the film initially received; it opened at the end of June on 868 screens and crossed $100 million on the weekend of July 25.

For "Collateral," a co-production with Paramount Pictures, the August-opener parlayed good reviews and positive word- of-mouth into the kind of sustained momentum that kept it in theaters long enough to reach the benchmark.

"We had a fair-to-good opening weekend, but the movie played so strong to its core audience that it played well into September," DreamWorks president of domestic theatrical distribution Jim Tharp says. "Our audience was initially older but expanded to a younger crowd as Jamie Foxx's role became known."

Sony's $100 million films -- "Spider-Man 2," the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore romantic-comedy "50 First Dates" and the horror-thriller "The Grudge" -- illustrate the studio's effort to produce a slate of films that contain big franchises, star-driven vehicles and genre entries, a strategy the rest of the industry seems keen to adopt.

"I think our three pics are a perfect representation of what the studio is trying to do on a consistent basis," Sony vice chairman Jeff Blake says. "'Spider-Man' is our big movie franchise, and to continue to have it perform at this level is amazing. Adam and Drew are two of our absolute best star relationships, and to have them in a star-driven vehicle and have it perform so well is exactly what we hoped for. Also, to take a lower-budget film and really drive it to be an unexpected hit is exactly the balance we like to have."

But a film like, say, "Dates," has more than just boxoffice in common with some of the other Gold Reel winners. Many of the highest-grossing films found favor with audiences despite earning drubbings from critics: Warners' "Troy" is one of the movies that received poor marks on the Web site Rotten Tomatoes (which pools critical reviews) but managed to perform well at the multiplex.

"There were a number of movies that went on to huge commercial successes after critical panning on opening weekend," Buena Vista president of distribution Chuck Viane says. "Maybe the critics are out of touch with what everyone's really into. You can't have such huge commercial success with movies that aren't good. It just doesn't happen."

Although reviews could have been problematic for some titles, exposure wasn't an issue, with films routinely opening in more than 4,000 theaters. "Shrek 2" became the first film to go that wide, with 4,163 theaters, and "Spider-Man 2" and DreamWorks' "Shark Tale" followed suit, opening on 4,152 theaters and 4,016 theaters, respectively.

According to Spitler, Fox's 2003 blockbuster "X2: X-Men United" previously held the record for the widest release of any film, opening on 3,741 screens.

Says Tharp: "Our idea of going on that many runs (with 'Shrek 2') was to take advantage of Memorial Day weekend. (Warners' 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban') opened two weeks after our opening, and we wanted to get as many play dates as we could because we felt we would be impacted beginning June 4. Luckily, the impact was small, and 'Shrek 2' continued to play well even after 'Potter' opened."

It looks like the days of films opening north of 4,000 screens is likely to continue. Between the intense competition in the marketplace and the amount of money being spent on marketing, studios are not willing to give up seats during that opening frame.

"The volume of pictures in the marketplace really demands that you create a moment for each film, and you want to take advantage of that moment," Blake says.

And, of course, creating that moment helps to generate those huge opening-weekend grosses. In 2004, 10 of the 22 films that went on to earn more than $100 million took in more than $50 million during their opening frame. (The average opening-weekend gross was $54 million, $10 million more than 2003.)

With time, those numbers are likely to only increase.

"If exhibition continues to build -- and they seem to be doing so even though the marketplace has matured in the last few years -- then you will see those numbers escalating," Warners president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman says. "With the DVD window closing in, the patterns of major tentpole movies will become as wide as possible for good reason. These films cost a lot to make and a lot to market. You build up an anticipation, and you want your audience to see the movie as soon as they can."