The Tyranny of Opening Weekend Box Office

This summer is "proving the apotheosis of the one-weekend blockbuster," says David Halbfinger in the New York Times, citing Spider-Man 3's $182 million opening week in May, followed by a 61 percent box office plunge the next week. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End had a similar dropped 66 percent in its second week. And when Transformers dropped only 47 percent "Hollywood marveled at the movie's strength."

Hollywood has been living under the tyranny of the opening weekend box office for years. As Halbfinger points out: "The blockbuster onslaught has been driven partly by a shift in the way studios and theater chains divide up box office receipts. Until several years ago, most of the grosses went to the studios initially, but theaters benefited more the longer a film played. As a result, megaplex owners had a financial disincentive to play a new movie on too many screens."

As there's still a chance that this summer could break 2004's summer box office record, Halbfinger says "few in Hollywood are complaining" that a movie has essentially one week to make money in theaters. And the crowded schedule has created a cruel, cruel world. If a movie doesn't instantly connect with audiences (which has more to do with marketing than the movie itself), then it's gone.

While Hollywood may be fine with this system, what about audiences? One could argue that they're paying to see these movies, so they must like them. But looking at a smart, sleeper hit like Knocked Up and how it resonated with people, made them laugh and inspired dialogue about politics and culture, I would hope that a few folks in Hollywood have higher aspirations than simply making ephemeral entertainment.

Back in 2004, I edited a package for Premiere Magazine called "The 50 Biggest Hollywood Disasters." Our number one entry? "The tyranny of the opening weekend box office." Why? Because movies are supposed to be about art and commerce--not just commerce. Here's what it said:

Anyone who has anything to do with movies lives and breathes in its shadow. The amount of money a movie earns in its opening weekend determines its life, and thus, the lives of everyone who works on it, starting with the executive who green-lights the project, so you know quality is not the biggest concern. What matters it what's marketable--the effective trailer, the prettiest face to slap on a poster, the market-tested themes that draw an audience...No longer can smart movies hunker in at movie theaters, slowly developing an audience. This summer's unprecendented glut of huge openings--followed by precipitous drops--tells us that audiences are restless.

Are you?