HALLOWEEN vs DEATH SENTENCE:The Box Office Battle!

[!MorganOnyx!]

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last year you'll know that ROB ZOMBIE'S HALLOWEEN opens this friday. What you may not be aware of is that it's going head to head in a box office battle with JAMES WAN'S DEATH SENTENCE. Now pretty much everybody expects an all out win for the former but the latter's star KEVIN BACON has a healthy record of box office hits, whilst ZOMBIE'S first two movies were theatrical flops! Will it really be as cut and dry as it seems?!!

What do you think will be the opening weekend total for the two movies, and do you think an upset may be on the cards? List your predicted final position on the weekend box office chart and opening weekend total. The schmoe whose guess gets the closest to the final chart position and box office total of both movies for the weekend will be crowned victorious! The winner gets fuck all but can bang on about how great he/she is whilst the rest of us wallow in defeat!

I'll go first:

HALLOWEEN - 1st - $15 million
DEATH SENTENCE - 3rd - $10 million

[LordSimen]

Halloween: 20
Death Sentence: 15

[Bourne101]

Halloween- $20 million
Death Sentence- $6 million

There hasn't been an R-rated horror movie in a while, it is a remake of one of the best horror films ever made, it's the start of the horror season, it's been marketed well, and has been getting mixed reviews. $20 million sounds about right for Halloween.

Death Sentence is in only 1900 theatres, it hasn't been marketed well (as far as I can tell) and there haven't been any reviews left. Looks like a badass movie that I will be seeing opening weekend (after Halloween of course), but I don't think box-office hit is in its vocabulary.

[!MorganOnyx!]

Yeah I know what you're saying, DEATH SENTENCE isn't the type of movie that would normally be a hit but I think the big coup for its promotion is that it's "From the director of SAW". I think that will be enough for it to get a strong opening weekend but will fall massively afterwards.

With HALLOWEEN, I'd love to see it get ten times the amount I've predicted but I don't want to jinx it. Plus, even though it's hugely talked about us horror schmoes are sadly only a small percentage of the movie going public. If it gets bad word of mouth opening night, it may suffer. And I'm still not sure how the average joe feels about a "remake". I know alot of non-horror fans that regard the original as an excellent genre film, but I don't think they care about seeing another one. :(

[countchocula]

Actually, Zombie's first two ventures were financially successful. House of 1,000 Corpses only opened in 800 theaters, and it made back its budget. The Devil's Rejects also made back its budget during its theatrical run. They could hardly be considered flops. I believe that both films did very well on DVD.

Death Sentence doesn't stand a chance against Halloween. The buzz is overwhelming.

[Frank the Tank]

Wasn't Dead Silence marketed as being from the director of Saw and that didn't do too good at the box office. Death Sentence looks great, but it'll probably do about what Dead Silence did.

Halloween - 22 Million
Death Sentence - 5 Million

[Narfellus]

I think that Death Sentence will be a better movie overall, but Halloween will slay at the Box Office.

[Kikabi]

Originally posted by Narfellus
I think that Death Sentence will be a better movie overall, but Halloween will slay at the Box Office.

I think you're right.

Considering that Death Sentence isn't a horror movie but a revenge thriller, I don't think it's smart marketing to proclaim it as "made by the makers of Saw." I'm sure that will confuse people who like thrillers but might stay away from it thinking it's a horror movie.

[!MorganOnyx!]

Originally posted by countchocula
Actually, Zombie's first two ventures were financially successful. House of 1,000 Corpses only opened in 800 theaters, and it made back its budget. The Devil's Rejects also made back its budget during its theatrical run. They could hardly be considered flops. I believe that both films did very well on DVD.

Both films may have done well on dvd but my point was that they were regarded as theatrical flops as opposed to hits. Ok, THE HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES wasn't an outright flop but it was barely a success when compared to other low budget fare such as CABIN FEVER. THE DEVIL'S REJECTS was indeed a flop. Ask LIONSGATE, read any studio briefing or refer to the main man ANTHONY TIMPONE, the Godfather of horror. Quote from a studio briefing at the IMDB:

'Lions Gate, the self-described "anti-studio," may have dazzled the industry this year with such hits as Crash, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and Saw II, but a couple of flops, namely Lord of War and THE DEVIL'S REJECTS pushed it into the red during the second quarter. The Canadian-based company reported a second-quarter loss of $14.1 million on revenue of $212 million versus a profit of $8.3 million on revenue of $231 million during the comparable period a year ago. Not included in the figures was revenue from Saw II, which opened two weekends ago with $30.5 million, the highest opening gross for the studio, and went on to earn $62.5 million through Tuesday.'

I hope this means absolutely nothing, and we all know the buzz for HALLOWEEN blows away ZOMBIE'S previous two. Let's just not set our sights too high! ;)

[countchocula]

Morgan, our relationship isn't going to work if you insist on correcting me in front of my friends. We need to talk, and both of our voices need to be heard.

;)

[!MorganOnyx!]

Originally posted by countchocula
Morgan, our relationship isn't going to work if you insist on correcting me in front of my friends. We need to talk, and both of our voices need to be heard.

;)

Ha ha in all fairness I saw exactly where you were coming from. You were looking at the positive fact that both movies eventually turned a profit and had respectable box office runs considering the amount of screens. I agree this constitutes a success. However, I was looking at it through the negative, money hungry eyes of the studios. Unless a movie adds on a profit of about 60%+ of the original budget, it's regarded as a failure. That's unfair, but hey that's Hollywood for ya! ;)

[XCoRyX]

Its nothing close to a battle...

Death Sentence will struggle like a badly depressed kid to get double-digits, and Halloween will easily rake in $19+

Halloween - $22 Million
Death Sentence- $7.4 Million

[Ratlehed]

I am going out on a limb and saying Halloween brings in $35 million. I think Freddy VS. Jason hit the $30 million mark opening weekend. Plus its a holiday weekend. I dont think anything else is opening this week either.

[countchocula]

I might as well post numbers...

Halloween
(3-day total) - $27m
(4-day total) - $31m

Death Sentence
(3-day total) - $8m
(4-day total) - $10m

[yorrick brown]

superbad will stay at number 1

halloween $14 million(3 days)
death $ 5 million (3days)

[Frank the Tank]

Originally posted by Ratlehed
I am going out on a limb and saying Halloween brings in $35 million. I think Freddy VS. Jason hit the $30 million mark opening weekend. Plus its a holiday weekend. I dont think anything else is opening this week either.

Well, for a fairer comparison the TCM remake did close to a 30 mil opening, so Halloween could do that well. I just think TCM had a better time that it opened instead of the last week of August.

[XCoRyX]

Originally posted by yorrick brown
superbad will stay at number 1

halloween $14 million(3 days)
death $ 5 million (3days)

Superbad dropped to $18 million this past weekend...do you seriously expect it to only lose $4 million? Superbad is going to drop down to the $10 million mark atleast.

[LordSimen]

Originally posted by Frank the Tank
Well, for a fairer comparison the TCM remake did close to a 30 mil opening, so Halloween could do that well. I just think TCM had a better time that it opened instead of the last week of August.

Yeah, and those movies didn't have Rob Zombie's name attached, which already gives it a preset fan base.

[Duke Nukem]

It doesn't matter in the least that Rob Zombies two other movies didn't make huge numbers, I have a feeling people will flock to the new "Halloween." The current generation will either not even take enough notice that it is directed by him and some of them will no doubt think "Halloween" is a completely original movie

(Let's face it, there are braindead MTV/ADD people like that and you know it / there were people who thought "Halloween: H20" was a completely original movie with no baggage of six children).

They're just going to see it, because the new "Halloween" does appear to suit to new generation more than the old-school generation (even though at least some us old-schoolers will be seeing it anyway). So there. The new "Halloween," well around $20 million in its opening weekend. At least around $20 million. It's playing in supposedly 3500 theaters, it could make even more.

"Death Sentence" looks good, but also is not the most original type of movie either. However, it's based on a different novel by the same guy who wrote "Death Wish," so it is legitimately not a rip-off. No matter how good it may look, I don't see this over-topping "Halloween." I have a feeling people will more interested in that that over this. I'm looking at $15 million. The fact that its playing in only 1900 theaters says something as well.

If I'm mistaken about this, I will gladly eat my words. Heck, if "Halloween" flops, maybe it will send a message to Hollywood about the other remakes in the works.

[Cop No. 633]

I hope Halloween bombs. If it makes too much, it'll only encourage them to keep making more fucking remakes! And inflate Zombie's already big ego to astronomical proportions... He might turn into... Mecha-Rob-Zombie... Mecha-Rob-Zombie...

No thanks.

[!MorganOnyx!]

Man I didn't realise DEATH SENTENCE was only playing 1900 screens! My estimates are going to be WAAAY OUT lol!

Oh well, I sincerely hope both movies destroy my pitiful guesses. I just don't want to get my hopes up. :(

[Frank the Tank]

Halloween made 10 million on Friday, leading itself to a 30 million plus opening for the 4 day weekend.

[zombievictim]

Originally posted by Frank the Tank
Halloween made 10 million on Friday, leading itself to a 30 million plus opening for the 4 day weekend.

That's the saddest news I've heard all day. Let's hope its not true.

[teenkiller]

Yep. Close to $11 million for Halloween's opening day. A $30 million weekend seems plausible. Unfortunately Death Sentence opened in 8th place with an estimated $1.3 million. Not good for James Wan who really needed another hit after the disappointing performance of Dead Silence. Death Sentence is clearly mismatched against Halloween. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[XCoRyX]

Originally posted by zombievictim
That's the saddest news I've heard all day. Let's hope its not true.

I have to agree with you.

[X-Nightcrawler]

OMG u guys its true halloween open'd at 11,000,000!!11one

What the hell did you guys expect! Of course it's going to open well. People love big, bad, gory movies remake or no remake. And many skeptics were interested because of the cast and Rob Zombie.

[yorrick brown]

i was miles off about HALLOWEEN but pretty much on the money for death sent.

and also with superbad so i shall give myself one pat on the back

[teenkiller]

I just saw Death Sentence. Now having seen both films I can opine that Halloween should rightfully come out on top. Death Sentence was... wow... just... what a disappointment. I actually think that the reason I've been hearing so many people say that they didn't see much promotion for it is because the studio probably got nervous and/or embarassed. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[countchocula]

Halloween has a 3-day total of 26.5 million, but of course, that's just the estimate. I nailed it. However, I overshot Death Sentence by 100%.

[!MorganOnyx!]

I'm deeply saddened by the piss poor takings of DEATH SENTENCE and the scathing review it received by JACK MATHEWS in the NEW YORK CITY DAILY NEWS. This man is clearly a motherfucking hack of the highest standards! He can't construct a review consisting of positives and negatives so he flies right down to the end of the negative spectrum to claim that KEVIN BACON deserves a GOLDEN RASPBERRY for his troubles! Has this man been smoking crack or what?!!! He obviously hasn't seen MARIAH CAREY or PUFF DADDY try to act!

Anyway, fuck him, I'll email the twat later to berate him further. I now couldn't care less whether HALLOWEEN is good or not, what I can guarantee is that it I WILL NOT like it anywhere near as much as DEATH SENTENCE! That is the movie that deserves to be top of the box office! :(