Ringing in with a better-than-expected $19.1 million, Red Tails is second only to the fourth Underworld film in this weekend’s box office numbers. It’s a strong debut, bolstered by support from the African-American community and good word-of-mouth. (CinemaScore audiences have rated the movie a solid “A-.”) Viewers increased 40% from Friday to Saturday as well – a good sign for next weekend’s numbers, according to Entertainment Weekly. Box Office Mojo notes that this is 20th Century Fox’s best opening for “a non-franchise title” since last year’s Rio.
Also of note to Star Wars fans, given the February 10 release of The Phantom Menace 3D, is the performance of Disney’s recent release of Beauty and the Beast in 3D. It’s not doing near as well as the 3D version of The Lion King did last year, plummeting 52% this weekend. (It was #2 last week.) Lion King 3D spent a surprising two weeks at #1 in September. On the other hand, there’s little doubt that the 3D revenues from Underworld: Awakening helped bolster the film to #1. Who can say what it all really means for TPM?
comparing Beauty and the Beast 3D to the Lion King 3D is not quite even, since there they are being released at different times of the year (Lion King 3d was September with its warm-weather evenings, which has a different movie-watching audience than January cold and paying-off-the-holidays)
marketing-wise, while i’m sure they are hoping for the nostalgia factor onto those who were kids and teens in the 90s, with these 3d releases. When it comes to pitching to families with small kids, the lion king is a more general sell than a character that has sadly being re-branded into the disney princess pack.
But yay for Red Tails strong performance. Despite some cheesy dialogue by the bomber pilots (some of whom were voiced by TCW cast members), I really enjoyed it.
I’ve heard that the Disney 3D results mirror their original openings, or at least their original box office grosses… Though honestly, I’d rather see B&B in 3D than LK, though that may be a gender thing. I never disliked LK but I was older when it originally came out than I was for B&B and have no nostalgia about it.
BUT the key thing here is that they’re both 3D rereleases of older movies, and they’ve done okay – although TPM is far more polarizing than any of the Disney Renaissance stuff in question, so it’s still a question mark. I mean, hell, I’m debating if I want to pay 3D prices to see the thing again.