In just one week, the box office for Snakes on a Plane dropped and estimated 57%!
This is apparently almost unheard of. Especially in a film that got (as a whole) good reviews, positive word of mouth, and has a big name star.
Posted by Paul Goldner (Member # 1910) on :
But very small target audience.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Exactly. The only people who actually wanted to see it desired more than chuckling at the title. Most of the rest of us were good with doing just that. Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
While I'm very surprised to realize that this whole geeky internet community that I'm a part of is such a tiny segment of the population, I have to say I'm thrilled to see that we won't be suffering through three years of attempts by the hollywood bean counters to capitalize on the bizarre phenomenon that was SoaP. Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Has it even made back production costs yet?
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
As of August 27th it's made an estimated $26 million.
It cost $33 million to make.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Dang, and there goes my script for "Orangotangs on a Bus."
My favorite bit,
S Jackson: I've @#$@# had it with these @#$@# monkeys on this @#$@#$@# bus.
S Jackson cocks large doublebarrelled shot gun with one hand.
Nerd 1: Actually, Orangatangs are not monkeys they are of the genus...
S Jackson shoots Nerd 1 loudly.
Pause.
S Jackson looks around at the survivors: Anyone else here have a @#$@#$@# problem with my species classification @#$@#$@# system?
Posted by Reticulum (Member # 8776) on :
quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: In just one week, the box office for Snakes on a Plane dropped and estimated 57%!
This is apparently almost unheard of. Especially in a film that got (as a whole) good reviews, positive word of mouth, and has a big name star.
Actually, this isn't anywhere close to unheard of. It generally tends to happen to a lot of movies in their first couple of weekends. Mostly with blockbusters; even those with good reviews.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Actually, this isn't anywhere close to unheard of.
From the #2 movie to the #9 movie in just one week -is- pretty rare, Reticulum.
It generally tends to happen to a lot of movies in their first couple of weekends.
Movies may rise or drop, but not normally by the amount seen here. It was incongruous, which was why it got special mention at Comingsoon.net, Boxofficemojo, and other sites.
Mostly with blockbusters; even those with good reviews.
But only rarely is the percentage of the rising or droping this great. Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Actually Reticulum is correct; it is more unusual for a film to maintain its momentum than it is for a film to drop by around 50%; that is fairly normal now.
A trend over the past ten years or so in movie exhibition has been the push for the huge opening weekend. The resulting drop-off caused by this has become common-place.
What happens now is, movies make their money all at once, rather than over a longer period of time.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Websites reporting this are reporting a non-story. I see box office receipts all the time as part of my job. This kind of drop-off is totally normal.
Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
Yes, this drop-off doesn't even register on Boxofficemojo's List of the 217 biggest drops. Some films have dropped over 80%. Just this year, X-men 3 dropped 67% after the opening weekend.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Doesn't SoaP have international sales to look forward to, too? I would think it would be one of those things that would translate very well in foreign markets. After all, who doesn't get snakes on a plane? Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
If it's made 26 mil at the box office so far, then it will probably clear within a few million of the initial production costs.
Then, it will earn its payback through DVD sales, which is actually the driving method behind movie production these days.
Posted by Reticulum (Member # 8776) on :
It generally tends to happen to a lot of movies in their first couple of weekends.
Movies may rise or drop, but not normally by the amount seen here. It was incongruous, which was why it got special mention at Comingsoon.net, Boxofficemojo, and other sites.
It got special news on these sites because most box office analysists thought that it would have a much larger opening weekend, and would most likely sustain smaller drop-offs than what it did.
Mostly with blockbusters; even those with good reviews.
But only rarely is the percentage of the rising or droping this great.
No, not really, many, many movies drop this much after their opening weekend. Very few movies tend to ever have their gross for their second weekend go up from their first, unless it is released wide (over 2,000) in their second weekend, it is being released in a signififcant amount of more theatres, or its gross for the previous was 500,000 to 1,000,000. Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I think a better question will be how this does on DVD. I think it could make a killing in DVD sales.
Especially with all the special features they could add on.
Posted by Libbie (Member # 9529) on :
I LOVE Snakes on a Plane. I thought it was hilarious. And it was so great to see a movie that was written and produced just for internet geeks, even if it didn't turn out to be an enormous box-office smash.
It's a cult icon now. And yes, DVD sales will be insane.
Posted by Lalo (Member # 3772) on :
I'm critical of their marketing team. They could have made a killing if this had been released during the schoolyear, when all the college/high school kids were together to make it a group outing.
Fools.
Posted by Libbie (Member # 9529) on :
Oh, also, I posted this elsewhere, but it's slightly more relevant in this thread (also, I spent 15 minutes of my life making it, so it must be seen).
Heh, it really is cross-cultural. We have a German exchange student staying with us, and when we mentioned SoaP he said, "You've heard of it? Is it out here yet? Can we go see it?"
Well, the English wasn't that good. But you get the idea.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lalo: I'm critical of their marketing team. They could have made a killing if this had been released during the schoolyear, when all the college/high school kids were together to make it a group outing.
Fools.
I'm thinking this was a big factor, too. The whole internet hype machine really hit its peak early in the summer. If "Snakes on a Plane" had been released in May or June, then combined with the usual box office boost that any summer action movie gets, it probably would've made a ton more than it did. The situation is actually fairly similar to what happened with "Serenity," I think, although that movie also suffered from one of the crappiest marketing campaigns I've ever seen. A damn shame in both cases- they're both brilliant flicks, albeit in very different ways. Veeeeery different ways.
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