Chicks flick craters at the box office — or does it?
posted at 6:55 pm on November 12, 2006 by Allahpundit
Share on Facebook | regular view
It’s only been out two weeks, but with nine theaters reporting, Tinti’s now prepared to call this race for the Chicks-haters.
Fair assessment? In 14 days, “Shut Up and Sing” has taken in $174,891. On opening weekend, it played in four theaters for a total box office of $50,103 — a per-screen average of $12,525, despite tons of moony free publicity on TV news and talk shows (including a feature on Nightline) and blanket advertising on blogs (including HA).
By contrast, “The U.S. vs. John Lennon” opened on six screens on September 15 and raked in $69,143. The per-screen average of $11,523 was only slightly lower than SUAS, as was the two-week total take of $151,139. In fact, it’s even closer than that: “Lennon” continued to play in six theaters for both of its first two weeks while the Chicks expanded from four to nine halfway through.
How do the Chicks stack up with a random indie non-documentary? “The Science of Sleep” earned $347,925 from 14 theaters on its opening weekend for a per-screen average of $24,851, or almost double that of SUAS. “The Queen” with Helen Mirren opened on October 6 and earned $122,014 in three theaters, a per-screen average of $40,671. Both films expanded to wider release after a week so you can’t fairly compare their total two-week takes to that of the Chicks’ flick. You can, however, compare their per-screen averages, and that’s where there’s a tiny bit of good news for Natalie and the girls: whereas the Chicks’s average declined by less than 6% over 14 days, “John Lennon” declined by almost 14% and “Science” by more than 72%. (“The Queen” actually increased by 35%.) So maybe they’ll have some staying power.
We’ll know soon enough: the film opened to wider release on Friday, although the B.O. isn’t known yet. Keep your eye on Drudge; if it’s a bomb, he’s sure to take note.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages:
You must take into account that 1/4 of Americans are retarded.
At least…..
bbz123 on November 12, 2006 at 7:08 PM
Isn’t that per screen average pretty good though? Only 4 theatres? Borat was $11,000 per screen this weekend and it was #1.
lorien1973 on November 12, 2006 at 7:09 PM
So the Chixie Dicks are bombing at the theater. Not surprising. A country act should never embarass their fan-base in public. A bad move from which they will never recover as a group.
thedecider on November 12, 2006 at 7:27 PM
I think it’s too soon to tell. Films like “Fahrenheit 9/11″ show there is a market for these sorts of films.
Slublog on November 12, 2006 at 7:28 PM
Unfortunately, I should add.
Slublog on November 12, 2006 at 7:28 PM
I think it’s an OUTRAGE the way people are trying to DENY these courageous women their freedom to speak truth to powe…
**yawn**
Hey Dixie Chicks…sing or don’t sing…shut up or don’t shut up. It doesn’t really matter. No one gives a shit anymore.
Rosetta on November 12, 2006 at 7:29 PM
Love their music… Not a big fan of their politics. Taking the Long Way is easily the best album to come out this year, but its gotten virtually no air time on country radio, so a lot of people are probably unaware of just how good it is or that the Dixie Chicks are still out there. I definitely like the Chick’s new sound, which is a lot more grown up and substantive than most of what passes for country these days.
Unfortunately, Natalie and the girls continue to be their own worst public relations nightmare. You’d really think they would’ve gotten some better marketing people by now. What plays to Green Day’s hate America first audience doesn’t go over too well with the far right wingers that dominate the country music market. Rule number one: KNOW. YOUR. CUSTOMERS. Toby Keith go’s out and drapes himself in the flag and sings about Iraq, drives around in his pickup truck and the whole nine yards. He gets it. He knows how to sell his image to the people he wants to sell it to. Just the same way Eminem gets it. He cusses like a sailor and has porn stars appear in his videos and that stuff sells to his base. But needless to say, you won’t find a lot of Toby Keith fans at an Eminem concert, or the other way around. Record companies can segment the broader music market by catering to different fans by offering them different audiences. I buy the music I like regardless of the artist’s politics or brand image. But most people do not, and the Chicks need to get with the program.
John on November 12, 2006 at 7:40 PM
Free speech, ladies, but freedom brings responsibility.
You are reaping what you have sown.
Jonathon on November 12, 2006 at 7:40 PM
They probably should have just shut up and sang.
Christoph on November 12, 2006 at 7:41 PM
More than that, judging by the election results last Tuesday.
Ali-Bubba on November 12, 2006 at 7:56 PM
Actually, now that Republicans aren’t popular, Toby’s runnin’ to the left as fast as he can. I saw him on Neil Cavuto a couple of months ago and he said he was a lifelong Democrat and he could’nt understand why people think he’s a “gun totin’ right wing redneck”. It’s pretty clear he’s just a shameless oppurtinist who will hitch a ride on whatever bandwagon happens to bw passing by.
Scot on November 12, 2006 at 7:59 PM
I’d still do them if you paid me. I would accept two eggs and a nickel.
Christoph on November 12, 2006 at 8:04 PM
I’m not a big country fan, but I do like the Dixie Chicks. I think their version of “Landslide” is far superior to the original. Had it not been for the incident in Europe and the aftermath, the Chicks would have had an amazing career in country music.
If they had simply come out with a new album and left the incident behind them, I think country fans might have forgiven them because John is right – their new album is really good. But their snarling refusal to stop playing the victim card has doomed their career. This new movie will be remembered right along with “Xanadu” and “Can’t Stop the Music.”
Slublog on November 12, 2006 at 8:11 PM
Olbermannesque numbers.
JammieWearingFool on November 12, 2006 at 8:14 PM
Suggested Variety headline: Chick Flic Sick Trick.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on November 12, 2006 at 8:22 PM
Speaking of politics and entertainment…is the “Simpsons” going to be political all season? This episode sucks.
Slublog on November 12, 2006 at 8:27 PM
Judging from the preview, it looked like just another strained and forced media opportunity to bash President Bush, and portray the Chicks as victims of something quite apart from their own incredibly boorish behavior.
Who wants to spent how much … $6 or more ? to watch a trio of sour whiners for two hours? Then be informed with no decency whatsoever that it’s all your fault. Brilliant product, breathtaking genius in marketing it. Who’s the dope who financed this screed or is it really just more Dem propaganda, like Air America – no profit needed, just any airtime to spread the Left doctrine?
naliaka on November 12, 2006 at 8:30 PM
What did The Simpsons do Slublog? I was watching football and did’nt see it.
Scot on November 12, 2006 at 8:33 PM
It’s another bash the war episode. Homer’s AWOL from the Army; hilarity ensues. Minus the hilarity. So far, there’s been a cost of war joke, an Abu Gharib joke and a detainment joke.
None of which have been all that funny.
Slublog on November 12, 2006 at 8:36 PM
I can’t find any pleasure in the chick’s music, I don’t care how talented they ever were. I will always associate their products, with their poor quality of patriotism, and it will always stink accordingly.
USA all the way!
ValhallaMike on November 12, 2006 at 8:41 PM
Slublog,
I thought the same thing.
Maybe the good writers are putting all their efforts into the movie and they have the B-team doing a few TV episodes.
Tonight’s was crap.
Rosetta on November 12, 2006 at 8:47 PM
Basically, all I ask of entertainment is that it entertains. If you’re supposed to be funny, make me laugh. If you’re supposed to have a good voice, sing well. I don’t mind if entertainment has a viewpoint – but it’s annoying when writers don’t have the talent to weave their views into a compelling story and insist on beating people over the head.
Slublog on November 12, 2006 at 8:55 PM
Hey Lefties & Dems (party of Lies & Deceit), you paying attention to how the country, America not just the genre, reacts to all this hate rhetoric? Your days ARE numbered.
shooter on November 12, 2006 at 9:06 PM
You’d still hate yourself in the morning.
infidel4life on November 12, 2006 at 9:12 PM
Sublog,
I already sent an e-mail to the tips e-mail address at hotair asking them to have this as a topic and have already posted on lgf.
What the hell kind of crap was that??? Unlike South Park which can kick out an episode in a couple of weeks, Simpsons episodes take months. I think this one was near completion or already in the can and rushed forward given Kerry’s comments.
Humour comes from truth. The Army recruits we have are very intelligent, the Army is not desperate to recruit people, Iraq is not a complete quagmire (although somedays…), and prisoners in Iraq have seen a lot worse than some backward forces have EVER inflicted. There was very little that was funny about that episode because there was very little that was true.
If this does keep up, I’ll stop watching. I don’t need to be preached to. And this was preaching. It wasn’t satire. It wasn’t parody. It wasn’t funny.
Canadian Infidel
Canadian Infidel on November 12, 2006 at 10:13 PM
I shut it off about halfway through and put “Galaxy Quest” into the DVD player.
“The pig lizard is inside out.
And it exploded”
Slublog on November 12, 2006 at 10:20 PM
The Dixie Chicks, and any other entertainer, needs to understand it is not about what you say, it is about the microphone you say it over. The fans pay for those microphones, if they don’t like you they will take them away.
It isn’t complicated.
B Moe on November 12, 2006 at 10:45 PM
…what do you call three prima donna hillybilly singers who p*ss from what they thought was a great height down upon their fan base?
…nothing. You don’t call them anything, or any time, for any reason.
…the whole notion of the film, or at least of the campaign, played on the whole “aren’t you tired of these right-wing rednecks?” dynamic…but Toby Keith’s still selling out, and they’re looking sort of foolish…and spoiled….
They’ve been trying to crossover, shooting for an audience like that of Bruce Springsteen. They seem to want to shed the trailerpark crowd…but, they don’t appear to have the chops….
“Pretentious redneck” is an oxymoron.
…these whining women have little to fall back on but their looks…which means that the short, fat one is screwed.
Puritan1648 on November 12, 2006 at 11:23 PM
The worst part is Natalie still doesnt understand what she did. Natalie was abroad and said bad things about USA to a sympathetic audience. Same book as Hanoi Jane and Sean Penn. If you are dissenter say it at home or move out.
infidel on November 12, 2006 at 11:33 PM
Ya mean it’s actually free market economy Capitalism at work, and not the vast right wing conspiracy that’s controlling people’s choices in entertainment? (rhetorical question)
Obviously the Dixie Slits could use a few lessons on how a free society operates.
infidel4life on November 12, 2006 at 11:38 PM
…nope…if you’re a dissenter, say what you will, when you will, where’er you will…just be prepared for the fallout.
Freedom of speech doens’t mean that you speak and we all have to shut the hell up. It’s a two-way street.
…so, if they rake in some consequence along with their ticket and record money (what there is of it), maybe they’ll learn a valuable lesson in civics…and civility.
…but, don’t hold your breath waiting for the fat girl to learn anything. I remember a couple of country DJs in Austin talking about her, and I seem to remember their saying that she’s…well…a bit of a diva….
…”All right, Mr. Moulitsas…*GRIN*…I’m ready for my closeup….”
Puritan1648 on November 12, 2006 at 11:53 PM
But don’t anybody make fun of Ann Coulter.
John on November 13, 2006 at 12:20 AM
…hey, HEY, hey! Lay off Annie. B*tch is a saint!
Puritan1648 on November 13, 2006 at 12:31 AM
OK…sorry…
…that “…is a saint…” thing is an old joke we used to use on my team in the Army…except we used it when discussing our mothers…doesn’t work in plaintext as well as it does when spoken….
…Annie’d like it, though…betcha….
Puritan1648 on November 13, 2006 at 12:38 AM
Freedom of speech means the government can’t limit what you say, subject to the litmus test set out by the Supreme Court. The ignorant chicks (and most of Hollywood) think that it means the public needs to accept what they say and not take it out on them by choosing not to pay for their work product. Talk about a bunch of dumb$hit$. To the chicks, the fact that (the big bad) corporate owned radio stations have turned against them, for making their stupid comments, is baffling and, in their opinion, a violation of their “free speech” – typical liberal nonsense – liberal (socialist) government good/corporations bad (and must be controlled by said government).
Rick on November 13, 2006 at 12:38 AM
What I don’t get, is that the very name Dixie Chicks sounds vaguely intolerant, and certainly insensitive. Where they granted Absolute Moral Authority when I wasn’t looking?
Coyote D. on November 13, 2006 at 12:46 AM
A relative of mine is an executive at the Weinstein Company (which distributed “Shut Up and Sing”)and Sunday stated he wasn’t very happy with the film’s box office performance.
Capp on November 13, 2006 at 12:52 AM
Even people who don’t like the Dixie Chicks politics say they’re music is good but it always seemed like typical over stylized 90’s crossover country to me. I’d rather listen to Waylon and the boys.
Scot on November 13, 2006 at 2:31 AM
You’re probably right. It’s annoying when any multi-million dollar celeb complains of victimhood. But when they’re doing it while calling their fans “a bunch of rednecks”, it’s even worse.
Esthier on November 13, 2006 at 10:03 AM
I couldn’t possibly agree more.
If it was funny, I’d forgive the insult.
Esthier on November 13, 2006 at 10:08 AM
Slublog,
You think their “Landslide” is better than the original? Wow. How about the live version from “The Dance”?
Good lord.
Cary on November 13, 2006 at 2:00 PM
The Dixie Chicks are suffering the fate that they so richly deserve. That is, that they are simply irrelevant.
After all they are entertainers not oracles no matter how important they think their message is.
G-man on November 13, 2006 at 3:18 PM
Chicken eggs, or Natale Maine-type’ eggs?
SouthernGent on November 13, 2006 at 5:04 PM
“If it weren’t for those two good lookin’ Dixie Chicks, that short, fat Dixie Chick would still be working at a Lane Bryant in Nashville.” – Larry The Cable Guy
MOMinuteman on November 13, 2006 at 6:08 PM
Comment pages: