China records song to send best wishes to London Olympic Games
Donnah Pham
Box office preview: Will ‘Ted’ or ‘Magic Mike’ strip ‘Brave’ of its box office crown?
Image Credit: Claudette Barius
Princess Merida hit the bullseye during her first weekend at the box office, but she’s got a new bear to fight this time around.
His name is Ted. He’s a stuffed animal. And he’s the main character in just one of four new wide releases hitting theaters this weekend. Also opening is stripper showcase Magic Mike, Tyler Perry offering Madea’s Witness Protection, and family drama People Like Us.
Will any of them be able to take out Brave? It’s going to be close. Here’s how I think the box office may shake out:
Channing Tatum’s passion project, stripper movie Magic Mike, which follows a…actually, you’re reading this on EW, so I probably don’t need to explain. The Steven Soderbergh-directed film has been dominating ticket pre-sales heading into the weekend. Fandango reports that Magic Mike accounted for 61 percent of Thursday’s daily ticket sales, signifying that Warner Bros. has successfully marketed the film as a must-see event for large groups of women. The $7 million privately financed project, which Warner Bros. acquired, is tapping into the same female-centric demographic that has helped make Fifty Shades of Grey a steamy bestseller.
Out in 2,930 theaters, Magic Mike may dance away with $34 million over the Friday-to-Sunday period, which would continue Tatum’s blockbuster year following The Vow ($125 million total gross) and 21 Jump Street($138.3 million total). Of course, it’s very likely that Magic Mike will be quite frontloaded (no, not like that — get your mind out of the gutter!), and fall quickly after opening weekend.
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s first feature film, Ted, which stars Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, also has a shot at finishing at the top of the chart. Audiences are exhibiting clear excitement for the comedy, which boasts an easily (and effectively) communicated storyline, and a strong ad campaign, which includes a bawdyred-band trailer that got the Internet buzzing.
The teddy bear flick could play like the aforementioned 21 Jump Street, another raunchy R-rated comedy, which opened with $36.3 million earlier this year, or Wahlberg’s last major comedy, The Other Guys, which started with $35.5 million in 2010. Young men — especially Family Guy fans — will likely snuggle up with Ted, driving it to a possible $28 million weekend.
Despite the strong prospects for those two openers, Brave has the best shot at the number one ranking. The film has held up well during the week following its $66.3 million bow, and its “A” CinemaScore grade signals strong word-of-mouth. The Pixar princess adventure may drop by about 40 percent to $39 million, which would give it a ten-day total of $140 million.
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection will likely have to settle for fourth place. Though Perry’s films were consistently underestimated during his first few years on the film scene, the shine has started to wear off on the oft-cross-dressing director’s films. The most recent Madea picture, Madea’s Big Happy Family, started with $25.1 million in 2011 — a 39 percent decrease from the $41 million debut of 2009′s Madea Goes to Jail. On top of that, Perry’s last non-Madea picture, Good Deeds, gave the writer/actor/director the second-worst box office returns in his career, earning $15.6 million on its first weekend on the way to a $35 million finish.
Fortunately, Perry keeps his budgets low, and the Lionsgate film will still do serious business with Perry’s core African-American audience, although Witness Protection has a more diverse cast thanks to Eugene Levy and Denise Richards. In 2,161 venues, Protection may witness a $22 million weekend.
The only other new wide release is Disney’s $16 million family drama People Like Us, which has one of the most unfortunate titles of the year. The film, which stars Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks, doesn’t look likely to become 2012′s version of The Help, an earnest tale that drew mass crowds. Audiences don’t have a clear sense of the story, and it’s facing heavy competition from new releases. People could earn about $5 million from 2,055 theaters.
1. Brave – $39 million
2. Magic Mike – $34 million
3. Ted – $28 million
4. Madea’s Witness Protection – $22 million
5. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted – $11.5 million
Keep checking EW for full box office coverage during the weekend, and follow me on Twitter for up-to-the-minute box office updates.
China records song to send best wishes to London Olympic Games
Actor Huang Xiaoming performs in the music video recording in Beijing, June 28, 2012. Huang Xiaoming and Fan Bingbing attended the recording of the song "Best Wishes from Beijing" on Thursday. The song shows the best wishes to London Olympic Games from Beijing. (Xinhua/Li Fangyu)
The government-run China Movie Channel will launch an online service like Netflix in China this year, promising a big new revenue source for Hollywood from streaming its films and TV shows to subscribers in the world's most populous nation.
The new service is set to open in the fourth quarter, according to its backers, who say they have signed their first content agreement with a major Hollywood studio.
The as-yet-unnamed service is due to be announced in Beverly Hills on Thursday on M1905.com, China Movie Channel's online site, and by Jiaflix, a consortium of businessmen whose partners include former Columbia Pictures chairman Sid Ganis.
Jiaflix, a play on "Jia", which means "family", expects to soon add content from more studios, said Marc Ganis, a cousin of Sid Ganis and a Jiaflix managing director.
"This new venture will bring the best that Hollywood has to offer to viewers in China," said Sid Ganis. "It represents a great opportunity for Hollywood to increase its exports to China and enhance cultural cooperation between our two nations."
The new service's backers hope that the low-cost and mobile streaming model will help Hollywood studios wring more revenue from Chinese viewers.
China Movie Channel, which is regulated by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, is the country's largest TV buyer of international movies and has deals with all the major studios. Its website, M1905.com, offers 6,000 Chinese-language movies.
The five-year-old M1905.com -- so named because 1905 was the year China began making movies -- has 4 million unique visitors, 3 million registered users and about 16 million daily page-views.
Hitherto China has imposed strict controls on Hollywood shows allowed within its borders, limiting the number of movies screened in theaters and confining broadcasts to cable channels marketed primarily to an expatriate population.
Rampant piracy -- with DVDs of blockbuster films sold widely for often as low as $ 1 apiece -- has also curtailed the expansion of Hollywood content in the world's second-biggest economy.
FLAT FEE
Netflix, which helped popularize online viewing of movies and TV shows in the United States, licenses movies and TV shows with upfront payments. It charges a flat monthly fee for on-demand streaming.
M1905.com will similarly be converted into the new subscription service, and will stream movies to subscribers through computers, Internet-connected TVs and mobile devices.
Subscriptions are likely to be priced at under $ 10 a month to attract customers. Newer films can be purchased individually for on-demand viewing.
Ganis negotiated the service's first agreement with the major studio, which he declined to name until a formal announcement was made, with his cousin Marc and Chinese businessman Kenny Huang, who founded the sports consultancy Sportscorp China in 2002 with Marc.
"We are delighted to make this announcement with our partners at Jiaflix, said Longfei Liang, M1905's managing director. "China has a long and storied history in films. New media distribution of films is the future."
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