Something weird with regard to TII movie attendance

Wow.........how low is that? Poor MJ.

One more thing......didnt I read somewhere that the movie has only made about $2.2 million so far? WTF?

Will it ever come to an end! People are constantly taking advantage of Michael, and his children will pick up the tab this time. It irritates me so much I could just SCREAM right now, litteraly. Unbelievable, I am at loss for words. However dont forget about the very real law of attraction!! It's gonna come back to whoever is calling the shots at Sony's... I have to believe that.

btw, in my last post about sony and the law of attraction, by rereading it I realized I make it look like I am going to handle this..pirate face... But unfortunately I will not be involved!

I'm in Vancouver, Canada and there were about 80 tickets sold out of 350 seats for the midnight screening

i noticed the same thing,the other nite i am in the states and went and saw it at 11 at night,as i was under the assumption THAT WAS THE FIRST SHOWING,however,one of the guys seeing the movie (as i was just talking to all kinds of people about michael and the movie etc.)he informed me they (theatre)had actually had a SCREENING of it EARLIER,what is the difference between a screening and actually watching the movie?i dont know but,at 11 there were ALOT of seats left in the movie.i dont know whats going on

The whole thing is indeed very fishy.
NO announcements - only posters in the cinemas and knowing from internet that and when the project would be realized.
Since two days there are commercials on it in radio.

I have a feeling as if they believe us now and want to silence him and harm him again. There was no campaign on the movie - nothing except in the web.
For the die-hard. Who are a minority. As if they knew he would want to talk and WOULD talk to his fans in the movie and they wanted to keep the audience as little as possible.
"They" not being defined to me but there is someone pulling against Michael IMO:

Only 20 seats sold out of 300 in my theater - twice the same result (however in the daytime).

These are the "official" sales figures:
http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2009-11-1-box-office-michael-jackson-paranormal-activity-terrify-halloween-moviegoers

Halloween audiences split their moviegoing dollars between two very different films over the weekend.

The weekend champ was the documentary "Michael Jackson's This Is
It," which delivered $21.3 million domestic for the three days ending
Sunday, Nov. 1. The concert film, culled from behind-the-scenes
rehearsal footage from the King of Pop's last weeks before his June
death, has now made $101 million worldwide since it opened late
Tuesday. Many box office prognosticators had projected a far higher
opening weekend for what was originally a limited-run release. Sony has
already extended the film's run.

While "This Is It" may have fallen short of expectations, the
weekend's runner-up, Paramount's low-budget "Paranormal Activity,"
continues to exceed even the studio's wildest dreams. "Paranormal
Activity" made $16.54 million over the weekend, falling only 22 percent
from last weekend's total by adding more than 450 screens. "Paranormal
Activity" has now made $84.78 million domestic to date and is credited
with dethroning the "Saw" franchise as Halloween king.

"Saw VI" finished fifth on the weekend with $5.56 million, behind
"Law Abiding Citizen" ($7.73 million) and "Couples Retreat" ($6.097
million). Jigsaw's latest adventure dropped by nearly 61 percent in its
second weekend, bringing its total to only $22.82 million. Yes, the
"Saw" franchise keeps its budgets low, but since "Saw II," each of the
films has had a lower domestic box office cume than the one before and
"Saw VI" isn't likely to get within 60 percent of the $56 million total
for "Saw VI."

Filling out the rest of the Top 10 were "Where the Wild Things
Are" ($5.08 million), "The Stepfather" ($3.4 million) and a trio of box
office disappointments -- "Astro Boy" ($3.035 million), "Amelia" ($3
million) and "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" ($2.81 million).

Sony Pictures Classic's "An Education" continues to be the star of
the limited marketplace, taking in $505,00 in only 48 theaters for a
total of $1.575 million for the Oscar favorite. Also performing well on
a reduced screen load was the sequel "The Boondock Saints II: All
Saints Day," which made $462,000 in only 68 theaters for the second
highest per-screen average of any film in the Top 20.

Here's a breakdown of the weekend estimates for the Top 10 movies at the box office, according to BoxOfficeMojo. Final figures are released on Monday.

1. "Michael Jackson's This Is It,' $21.3 million, $32.5 million to date.
2. "Paranormal Activity," $16.54 million, $84.78 million to date.
3. "Law Abiding Citizen," $7.303 million, $51.39 million to date.
4. "Couples Retreat," $6.097 million, $86.66 million to date.
5. "Saw VI," $5.56 million, $22.82 million to date.
6. "Where The Wild Things Are," $5.08 million, $61.8 million to date.
7. "The Stepfather," $3.4 million, $24,75 million to date.
8. "Astro Boy," $3.035 million, $10.89 to date.
9. "Amelia," $3 million, $8.31 million to date.
10. "The Vampire's Assistant," $2.809 million, $10.52 million to date.

-----------------------------

And this is the summary of MTV:

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/11/01/michael-jacksons-this-is-it-moonwalks-away-with-first-place-in-the-sunday-box-office-report/



'Michael Jackson's This Is It' Moonwalks Away With First Place In The Sunday Box Office Report





Posted 49 minutes ago by Josh Wigler in Box Office







1. "Michael Jackson's This Is It" ($21.3 million)
2. "Paranormal Activity" ($16.5 million)
3. "Law Abiding Citizen" ($7.3 million)
3. "Couples Retreat" ($6.1 million)
5. "Saw VI" ($5.6 million)
Would-be moviegoers opted for a weekend filled with
trick-or-treating, costume partying and other similar shenanigans in
celebration of Saturday night's Halloween, with a select few heading
into movie theaters as a way to embrace the holiday. But it wasn't the
ghost and slasher-heavy horror flicks that won the weekend — instead,
"Michael Jackson's This Is It" commanded the box office with a $21.3
million first place finish.
"This Is It" has amassed $32.5 million since opening last Wednesday,
which is a far cry from the $250 million concert promoter AEG predicted
the movie would make in its first five days, as Deadline Hollywood Daily
reported. AEG and film distributor Sony anticipated so much success
that they marketed "This Is It" as a two week limited engagement, a
short run that would have ensured the Michael Jackson documentary's
relatively disappointing financial outcome — if Sony had kept that
promise, that is.
According to Deadline Hollywood,
Sony will extend the theatrical run of "This Is It" through November's
Thanksgiving weekend, allegedly due to the widely positive reactions
from fans and critics alike. While the movie was
well-received, there's no doubt that Sony is hoping to milk all the
cash that this cow has to offer, which almost certainly won't be as
much as the studio initially expected.
The Halloween spirit was better represented in the second place
finisher, "Paranormal Activity," which earned $16.5 million by Sunday's
end. The Paramount-distributed horror flick continues to do phenomenal
business given its $15,000 budget and $84.8 million cumulative after
six weeks in theaters. With no signs of slowing down, "Paranormal
Activity" could haunt the box office top five for weeks to come.
"Law Abiding Citizen" secured the bronze medal with $7.3 million
after a close race on Friday against "Couples Retreat," which finished
the weekend with $6.1 million for a fourth place finish. "Where The Wild Things Are" left Friday's box office
in fifth place, but the Halloween-fueled "Saw VI" popped up behind the
Spike Jonze-directed film with a bear trap or an explosive head box or
some other such torture device to eek out the final spot in the top
five.

I am now inclined to believe my Mum when she said that the only ones to want to see the movie will be his staunch fans as who wants to see a movie of someone rehearsing? I thought the movie would be a huge hit and make $$$$$$ but staunch supporters of MJ such as us are have biased opinions.

Harleyblonde wrote:I am now inclined to believe my Mum when she said that the only ones to want to see the movie will be his staunch fans as who wants to see a movie of someone rehearsing? I thought the movie would be a huge hit and make $$$$$$ but staunch supporters of MJ such as us are have biased opinions.

The movie was intended as a gift for his true fans as KO stated.

The theaters are not sold out, they are even far from being profitable. It's all red figures (in our country for sure). Obviously, the cinemas even had to reserve the "big" theater for TII. There are movies that would easily outsell TII and they cannot be played in the big ones since TII blocks them.

There is no exchange or refund for tickets, no reservation of seats feasible like for all other movies. So there are strange things going on - it is the first time in my life that a movie is officially being limited to 2 weeks and tickets are on "buy and no return" basis. And I do get the impression that there are "orders from higher management" that have to be obeyed even that staff and responsibles do shake their heads since it does not make much sense what they have to do.

Now there are rumours there should be an extension period for a non-profitable run of TII - why is that? Just because Sony cannot start the DVD business for Christmas?

If you look from a business side, there are always mixed calculations. Which means profitable products will serve non-profitable ones. But if they expected 250 bill.$ from the movie and only 100 bill.$ on a 60 bill.$ are returning, then this business is not doing well at all.
So the reason for blocking the cinemas cannot be a purely business related one.

I would say this much:
the movie is made by MJ and KO for the fans. Seems that only the true researching fans are getting the message anyway. This is a very small minority of all fans.
So if the theaters are running on a non profitable basis for a 2 weeks period and there is even an extension period in the drawer - what is the reason for doing so?
The reason is not money IMO.

I will do myself a favour and watch as many times as I can.
This is a gift of Michael to pamper our disbelieve to zero and pump us up with L.O.V.E.

Hi Guys, This is my first post here.When i went to see the film on 28th oct only half the cinema was full.On my second visit on 2nd november ,20 out of 200 seats were full.There has been very little advertising here in uk.This is a great site have been watching it for a few weeks.
hugs to all.
steph

Welcome Steph.

welcome Steph.