This Is It Disappoints In First Day

by pastapadre
Posted October 29th, 2009 at 11:13 am

thisisit1029

The results are in and the Michael Jackson documentary This Is It has opened on Wednesday with 7.4 million. That number includes 2.2 million that it made on Tuesday night screenings. That puts This Is It on track to make in the range of 32-36 million over the opening five days.

Industry expectations were all over the board. On the low side was around a 10 million opening day but that extended all the way up to some predictions of a five day take larger than that of The Dark Knight. While I didn’t believe it would approach the opening Wednesday record I am very surprised it didn’t even make the Top 40 for the day. I think I bought into the hype a little but primarily overestimated the draw based on the ground swell of support in the days following his death and the potential of it being such an event due to the unprecedented nature surrounding the film.

In comparison the top grossing concert film currently is Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds. That made 8.6 million on opening day (Friday) and finished its three day opening weekend with 31.1 million. It now looks as though This Is It will not even beat Miley Cyrus with its three day weekend take. Its five days won’t even surpass it by much. That says a lot considering the statements beforehand about how it was crushing everything including Miley in pre-sales data.

This Is It will still end up a big success even with the lower than expected gross domestically. Worldwide it will rake in far more than what it will make in the US and it will be a big hit on DVD. However the latest is that it will not make it to DVD/Blu-ray until late January or early February. The original plan had been to have it out before Christmas which would’ve offered significantly increased sales potential.

Tags: box office results

trev

I decided just to wait to be able to watch it at home. Not going out to a theater to watch a documentary.
trev

I decided just to wait to be able to watch it at home. Not going out to a theater to watch a documentary.
Eleanor

http://www.yeahoyeah.com/mjvideo.aspx?id=2348

New MJ Tribute video with the lyrics to They Dont Care About Us highlighted. Great stuff.
Eleanor

http://www.yeahoyeah.com/mjvideo.aspx?id=2348

New MJ Tribute video with the lyrics to They Dont Care About Us highlighted. Great stuff.
YTK

It even only made 20 million worldwide. Of course most of the media is spinning these numbers as impressive but they are far from it.
YTK

It even only made 20 million worldwide. Of course most of the media is spinning these numbers as impressive but they are far from it.
umm…

It's a documentary. Apparently some of you guys missed out on the fact that they don't gross as well as normal films. You're expecting it to do Titanic numbers? Bowling for Columbine is the highest-grossing documentary ever and did $58mil *total* worldwide, yet you're ripping This Is It for only being on track to make about 60% of that in its first 5 days.

You don't compare documentaries to feature films, you compare them to other documentaries Padre. Get a clue.

http://intensedebate.com/people/pastapadre pastapadre

There was really no comparison for this film. The circumstances make it far from a typical documentary. Which is why industry analysts and tracking firms had such wide ranging data saying it could make anywhere from 50-120 over the five days. Sony/AEG didn't do it any favors by saying it would make 250 over five days or the hype over how it was out-tracking The Dark Knight, Transformers 2, ect.

umm…

It's a documentary. Apparently some of you guys missed out on the fact that they don't gross as well as normal films. You're expecting it to do Titanic numbers? Bowling for Columbine is the highest-grossing documentary ever and did $58mil *total* worldwide, yet you're ripping This Is It for only being on track to make about 60% of that in its first 5 days.

You don't compare documentaries to feature films, you compare them to other documentaries Padre. Get a clue.

http://intensedebate.com/people/pastapadre pastapadre

There was really no comparison for this film. The circumstances make it far from a typical documentary. Which is why industry analysts and tracking firms had such wide ranging data saying it could make anywhere from 50-120 over the five days. Sony/AEG didn't do it any favors by saying it would make 250 over five days or the hype over how it was out-tracking The Dark Knight, Transformers 2, ect.

tennor

after reading on lots of websites how the movie would make 30+ on opening day and 100+ by the end of the weekend i thought it would be huge too. guess the support just wasnt out there that everyone thought because of the hype
tennor

after reading on lots of websites how the movie would make 30+ on opening day and 100+ by the end of the weekend i thought it would be huge too. guess the support just wasnt out there that everyone thought because of the hype
tennor

after reading on lots of websites how the movie would make 30+ on opening day and 100+ by the end of the weekend i thought it would be huge too. i liked the movie but my theater only had like 20 people in it yesterday afternoon. guess the support just wasnt out there that everyone thought because of the hype
tennor

after reading on lots of websites how the movie would make 30+ on opening day and 100+ by the end of the weekend i thought it would be huge too. i liked the movie but my theater only had like 20 people in it yesterday afternoon. guess the support just wasnt out there that everyone thought because of the hype
CrimsonVoodoo

Concert movies typically don't do the kind of huge business that would justify throwing these numbers around. Far back as the Beatles n' Stones with Let It Be and Gimmie Shelter – the 80's w/ U2's Rattle & Hum etc. Add to that Michael was certainly not in his prime anymore it terms of selling records …. well, not sure what people were thinking
CrimsonVoodoo

Concert movies typically don't do the kind of huge business that would justify throwing these numbers around. Far back as the Beatles n' Stones with Let It Be and Gimmie Shelter – the 80's w/ U2's Rattle & Hum etc. Add to that Michael was certainly not in his prime anymore it terms of selling records …. well, not sure what people were thinking
pennylane

I saw that post on YOY and I got my tickets there for the Movie, which I saw yesterday! it was very good. I think it was really inspirational to watch MJ be so nurturing to the other artists around him
pennylane

I saw that post on YOY and I got my tickets there for the Movie, which I saw yesterday! it was very good. I think it was really inspirational to watch MJ be so nurturing to the other artists around him