Coraline nets 16M.

[Zoober]

Definitely not a great opening. But it wasn't playing on many screens.

Coraline, 2,299 theaters, per screen - $7,105 average

Bolt, 3,651 theaters, per screen - $7,182 average

Madagascar 2, 4,056 theaters, per screen - $15,559 average


Hopefully Coraline gets some longevity out of the positive word of mouth for it that I've heard so far (other than being scary for small children).

I definitely enjoyed it :D

[FloydBishop]

It's probably much lower than they were expecting, with most animated features that are considered box office smashes opening at upwards of 40 million.

[JDex]

I've never seen an ad for it in my market or online, and frankly I hadn't even heard of it until the "Reviews Are Pouring In" thread here. Number 3 at the BO for such an under-the-radar level of notoriety (outside of the animation industry) sounds quite impressive, even when it's competition is hardly noteworthy.

I hope to check it out soon.

[Dominique]

Did nightmare Before Christmass Better??
from what I've seen, Coraline looks splendid!!

Dom

[blenderhead]

It's probably much lower than they were expecting, with most animated features that are considered box office smashes opening at upwards of 40 million.

You have to take into account that those box office smashes are far more kid-friendly.

[John-S]

Its not a movie that I would typically see but I think a "big opening" is irrelevant. It WILL be huge and sell a mass amount of shirts etc. Its a tim burton cult type movie that will have people dancing around in their outfits just like they do for Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm not bagging on the movie or promoting it... just saying that his dark cartoon films attract all the goth people and young adults. It just needs time to set in and grow...
(it attracts other people too. I'm just saying...)

[CaptCook]

Definitely not a great opening. But it wasn't playing on many screens.

Coraline, 2,299 theaters, per screen - $7,105 average

Bolt, 3,651 theaters, per screen - $7,182 average

Madagascar 2, 4,056 theaters, per screen - $15,559 average



Comparing it to Bolt doesn't add up since Bolt opened against juggernaut Twilight and it made 27M more on the next Thanksgiving weekend. It's very rare a movie does the same BO numbers the 2nd weekend.

But I do agree with Coraline being a great film and 16M is pretty good.

CC

[Meloncov]

Coraline's budget was seventy five million. Generally, a film makes just under half of its total box office earnings in its first weekend.

So no, fifteen million is not good.

[JDex]

Haven't seen that budget released in any of the usual places. If it was in fact that high... yes this is a pretty humbling opening. I can't imagine such a high-budget production having such low investment in advertising. I did a random sampling of friends online in my IM list, only a few had heard of it before this weekend.

[Pyke]

This seems to me a movie that will make more on its DVD release, and with toys and other merchandise, than it will with a theatrical run. A low taking during a theatrical run is in no way reflective of a movies success in this day and age of digital distrbution. Its obviously fantastic to have a big run-but not hitting the 40 million mark on an opening weekend isn't the end of the world.

Also, I'm not sure who the movie is marketed to. Not children...and not really adults...

[doomdragon]

To quote Neil Gaiman from his blog:

"The box office estimates and tracking had us coming in in 5th or 6th place for the weekend. It's now looking like we'll be in a healthy third place, and that a lot more people than anyone expected are going to see it.

Which is good for Coraline, and good for Laika, and good for the Portland animation world, and good for Henry, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't good for me."

I don't know how detailed his knowledge of the production cost and what they're aiming for is, but he probably has a better idea of it than this random guessing here with comparisions to movies which cost at least double of what Coraline did. ;)

[mullet]

I'm quite desperate to catch it - i loved the book. I just can't believe it isn't out in the UK till May. That's really annoyed me - does anybody know why the huge lag?

[gunslingerblack]

analysts expected it to do 10, historically stop motion features make much less than cg. i believe the quote went

"if coraline does 10 million laika should be happy"

so it did 16 m, i dont think thats bad at all.

some numbers

corpse bride did 19m it's opening weekend at over 3 thousand theatres

curse of the were rabbit did 16 m

nightmare before christmas did 8 m, but it opened in 1,654 theatres.

as long as coraline brings attention to laika, it's done it's job.

[jewalker]

Generally, a film makes just under half of its total box office earnings in its first weekend.

This is generally true for live action films that tend to be front loaded. Animated films tend to drop a little less quickly. Here is the opening weekend percent of total domestic gross for animated films in 2008:

The Tale of Despereaux: 20%
Bolt: 23%
Madagascar 2: 35%
Fly Me To The Moon: 11%
Igor: 40%
Star Wars: Clone Wars: 40%
Space Chimps: 24%
Wall-E: 28%
Kung Fu Panda: 28%
Horton Hears a Who: 29%

Since Coraline has a 3-day weekend to help boost its revenue I will guess that the opening weekend will be about 25% of its domestic gross, putting the domestic gross at $64 million.

[pluMmet]

I'm not a big Tim Burton fan but this movie was Great!

In an artsy way :arteest:

[Solothores]

Interesting how people always come up with Tim Burton, even though he doesn't seem to be involved :D

[Venkman]

I'm not a big Tim Burton fan but this movie was Great!

I agree it was great, but it wasn't produced or directed by Tim Burton. :)

When they say "from the director of The Nightmare before Christmas" in the commercials, they mean Henry Selick. :thumbsup:

[gunslingerblack]

I'm not a big Tim Burton fan but this movie was Great!

In an artsy way :arteest:

hahaha priceless

[mental]

I'm not a big Tim Burton fan but this movie was Great!
You're going to find a severed horse head in your bed tomorrow morning courtesy of Henry Selick.

[sebbonaparte]

I feel bad for Selick... not being recognized by the general masses is bad enough, but even in the animation community his name is superseded by Burton. This whole business wouldn't have come around if Burton hadn't slapped his name on Nightmare in the first place.

Ah well, I'm really looking forward to seeing Coraline this weekend. I have to wait for my dad to take me, because my mom and sister are too scared to see it :scream:.

[JDex]

I feel bad for Selick... not being recognized by the general masses is bad enough, but even in the animation community his name is superseded by Burton. This whole business wouldn't have come around if Burton hadn't slapped his name on Nightmare in the first place.
No doubt. Got an email this morning asking me if I saw the new Tim Burton movie yet. :blush:

[RockinAkin]

It's a shame really - the people that marketed Coraline tried to bank on the public's awareness of Tim Burton by implying that it was directed by him.

Most people think Burton directed 'Nightmare', and the Coraline posters have "From The Director of Nightmare..." on it, but Selick's name nowhere in sight.

[JoshBowman]

Yeah, "Nightmare" was so heavily Tim Burton'd that i didn't realise until seeing the trailers for Coraline that he didn't actually direct it.

[John-S]

I gotta admit. I sure do feel like a dumb dumb... I thought Tim Burton Directed both and he did neither :banghead:

I'm gonna make it far in CG industry aren't I :hmm:

[Pyke]

I think that they are worried that if they put an 'unknown' directors name on it, people will be less inclined to see it. Although I wish they would put PRODUCED BY, and give more billing to the director.

To say that Tim Burton had nothing to do with the movie is a little misleading tho. The producer has a MASSIVE job to do on any movie, and I have no doubt that without Burtons backing, these more artistic stop motion movies wouldnt get made. At least not in the form that gives the director this much freedom to actually get their vision accross.

If Coraline was produced by a traditional animation producer (Disney, Dreamworks, etc), the result would be a massively different (perhaps more marketable?) product-but it wouldn't have been Selick's movie.

Look at 9. I cant see another production house giving over a multi million dollar production to an untested director based on a 10 minute short, and actually allowing the original director to fulfill his vision the way he wanted it. Without Burtons name, there wouldn't have been the money, the actors, or the marketing. Surprisingly tho, they market this as "And from Visionary Director Shane Acker", but didn't do the same for Coraline (ie-use the directors name).

I'm just happy to see Stop Motion get the same attention that CG films get. Anyone noticed that the line between the look of stop motion animation and CG has almost merged. Honestly, if someone hadn't told me that Coraline was a stop motion film, I would have immediately thought it was CG.

[Venkman]

I think that they are worried that if they put an 'unknown' directors name on it, people will be less inclined to see it. Although I wish they would put PRODUCED BY, and give more billing to the director.

To say that Tim Burton had nothing to do with the movie is a little misleading tho. The producer has a MASSIVE job to do on any movie, and I have no doubt that without Burtons backing, these more artistic stop motion movies wouldnt get made. At least not in the form that gives the director this much freedom to actually get their vision accross.


Sure, the producer has a lot of work to do, but I can't find any info anywhere that Tim Burton was involved, even at a producer level. I could be wrong, but my google searches and visit to the official site (while clicking on "producer") didn't yield Burton's name in relation to the production of Coraline.

I will give Burton props for producing 9, though. I can't wait to see that. I hope it's in 3d, too, Coraline absolutely popped off the screen.

[Pyke]

Sure, the producer has a lot of work to do, but I can't find any info anywhere that Tim Burton was involved, even at a producer level. I could be wrong, but my google searches and visit to the official site (while clicking on "producer") didn't yield Burton's name in relation to the production of Coraline.

I will give Burton props for producing 9, though. I can't wait to see that. I hope it's in 3d, too, Coraline absolutely popped off the screen.

Woah! Shit man..you are right. Seems I also fell into the 'Burton must have a hand in it' gang. Now I honestly feel like a right tool.

[vlad74]

Coraline's budget was seventy five million. Generally, a film makes just under half of its total box office earnings in its first weekend.

So no, fifteen million is not good.


Wow. Have you asked yourself where did all this money go. Personally I think such movie can be produced with a budget at least 5 times less.

[lebada]

well they should've pushed his name out more (not burton but the aactual director) than they have. He himself maybe could've done some more shameless self promotion of sorts. Im all for it. Its hard to do but if you got things to back it up with like nightmare before xmas and such..why not..

anyways...im go0nna go see it this next long weekend. looks like fun.

[Larry_g1s]

You have to take into account that those box office smashes are far more kid-friendly.And this would be the key issue, as a parent, that something Coraline shouldn't be expected to do as well as such movies from Pixar, DreamWorks, Disney, Blue Sky, Sony, etc. Though I think Coraline looks interesting, and I'd like to make it to the threaters to see it, I wouldn't take my kids to go see it. The movie is just a tad too dark, and out there.

[gunslingerblack]

tim burton was not involved in coraline, in any way, whatsoever

good times lol

[Rick May]

Coraline has the ability to "have legs". Much in the same way that Nightmare Before Christmas. While I don't think it will reach the box office success of more mainstream animated films (percentage wise), it will have lasting power.

With that said. A $70 million film is a $70 million film. It still needs to make the same amount of money as a $70M film made by DreamWorks in order to be successful.

[blenderhead]

I'm not a big Tim Burton fan but this movie was Great!

In an artsy way :arteest:

If only this was intentional sarcasm; it would be the funniest thing I have ever read. :D

Sellick had more to do with the actual production of Nightmare before Christmas for gods sake. Burton turned up on set a handful of times for a couple of hours. Yes, expect a mail bomb in your mailbox tommorow, with a return address that looks suspiciously similar to Henry Sellicks. :D

[FloydBishop]

I think "Coraline" will be in the same category as "The Iron Giant" and "Cats Don't Dance". These were both great films that didn't really hit with a huge audience, but are always mentioned among animation fans when people talk about their favorite animated films.

I have yet to see the film myself, but everyone who has seen it has had nothing but praise for it. The crew that worked on it should be proud.

[Pyke]

I think "Coraline" will be in the same category as "The Iron Giant" and "Cats Don't Dance". These were both great films that didn't really hit with a huge audience, but are always mentioned among animation fans when people talk about their favorite animated films.

I have yet to see the film myself, but everyone who has seen it has had nothing but praise for it. The crew that worked on it should be proud.

Damn....now I gotta go watch The Iron Giant again!

[XminusOne]

Ok, I just read that they were only expecting 10M? So maybe it's exceeding expectations....excuse the hopefulness.

[Robert Magee]

I wouldn't take my kids to go see it. The movie is just a tad too dark, and out there.

I think that really young kids (up to 6 years old) may have difficultly. My kids were never phased by this kind of thing. And now at 7 and 10 they have no trouble at all. They were scared enough to have fun but not enough to freak out. But they have watched Nightmare before Christmas and Corpse Bride and not been phased either.

I think it would be a shame if parents avoid the movie because their kids might be afraid. This is a story written for kids and teaches them about being brave in the face of scary things. And some of the really scary stuff from the book has been "packaged" nicely to make it easier to swallow. In the "other" mother's scariest moments they used a bright white background instead of a dark moody background which helps kids not associate the scariness with the dark.

What I often do with this kind of movie is go first myself then I can suggest the boys turn away when I think something might spook them. I get the see the movie twice and they get to enjoy the less freaky parts of a movie - a win-win situation!

[Venkman]

Though I think Coraline looks interesting, and I'd like to make it to the threaters to see it, I wouldn't take my kids to go see it. The movie is just a tad too dark, and out there.

I think you and your kids will be missing out on an incredible movie. This movie is deeper (IMO) visually and thematically than many of the "kid friendly" movies out there. If nothing else, it's a lot different than the typical talking animal movies we are used to seeing.

Granted, there are talking animals in Coraline. But it's WAY more complex than animals behaving like people and pop culture references. It will exercise a different part of the brain, and I think that's a good thing.

All strictly IMO, but I'd suggest you go see it first. It may change your mind and put a big fat smile on your face! :D

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.