Cinemascope

2008’s “The Band’s Visit” made 2,718,000 US Dollars

It took longer than I expected, but Sunday estimates have Eran Kolirin’s critic-darling “The Band’s Visit” with a cummulative figure of 2,718,000 US Dollars, which makes the film - as of today - the top grossig Israeli film ever in the States. Previous record holder was Eytan Fox’s 2005 “Walk on Water” with 2,713,932 US Dollars. “The Band’s Visit” is now placed at #98 on Box Office Mojo’s top foreign language releases in the US. “Walk on Water” is #99.

2005’s “Walk on Water” grossed 2,713,932 US dollars

Internationally, the film - that made headlines after being disqualified in from the foreign language categories at the Oscars and The Golden Globes, for having too much English dialogue - has been Israel’s best achieving export ever, earning nearly 10 million dollars globally (more than twice than “Walk on Water”’s global take of 4.4 million dollars).
With a release on 121 screen at its highest, “The Band’s Visit” is also easily the widest Israeli release ever on US screens - previous record holders were Palestinian “Paradise Now” (65 screens) and Israel’s “Ushpizin” (48 screens) - reaching cities that have never seen an Israeli picture before.
With a per-screen average of less than $800 on it’s 10th week it now looks that “The Band’s Visit” will not break the 3 million dollars mark in the US, which I originally thought it would.

The Band’s Visit is only the fifth Israeli movie to earn more than a million dollars on US screens. The five are:
The Band’s Visit (2008): 2.718 million dollars
Walk on Water (2005): 2.713
Late Marriage (2002): 1.6
Paradise Now* (2005): 1.45
Ushpizin (2005): 1.4
(* A Palestinian film funded mostly by European money, but directed and produced by Israelis, with shooting locations in the Palestinian Authority and Israel. The movie won the Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar in the Foreign Language category).

An interesting point of interest is that in the top four movies, Hebrew dialogue is the minority: “The Band’s Visit” is mostly English with Arabic and Hebrew; “Walk on Water” is in English, German and Hebrew; “Late Marriage” is mostly in Georgian, and only the Hassidic-Capraesque “Ushpizin” is all in Hebrew.

Israeli movie “The Bubble”, directed by Eythan Fox (”Walk on Water”), won the GLAAD media award for best movie in limited release.

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“The Band’s Visit” has become the widest Israeli movie release ever on US screens, after expanding to 105 screens this past weekend (the widest release for an Israeli movie in the States so far has been the 48 screens of “Ushpizin” in 2004. Palestinian movie “Paradise Now” got as much as 68 screens after winning the Golden Globe). “Band” is also only the fourth Israeli movie to gross more then a million dollars at the US box office, and if it holds steam, it will surely become - within a month or so - Israel’s top grossing movie in the States ever, beating out 2004’s “Walk on Water”, directed by Eythan Fox, which grossed 2.7 million dollars on 47 screens.

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Ricky Gervais launched a hilarious blog chronicling - in print, audio and side-splitting video - the production of “This Side of the Truth“, his first movie as director (along side Matt Robinson).

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Abe Karpen, a Hassidic Jew from Williamsburg, had to drop out from playing Natalie Portman’s husband on a short film she’s directing. Orthodox jews are not allowed to watch TV or movies, let alone play in one.
Karpen, reports Gothamist, was asked to hold Portman’s hand but refused, “It’s against our religion. You can’t even hold your wife’s hand on the street.”
Next thing they’ll tell me Kelly McGillis wasn’t really Amish.

(Hat-tip: Miri)
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Arthur C. Clarke beamed off this mortal coil into the netherworlds of the heavens, where he will catch up with star-children Stanley Kubrick (director of his “2001″ adaptation) and Roy Scheider (star of his “2010″ adaptation), who have gone forth before him.

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It was a week of Minghellas in the news: Hanna Minghella was promoted to be president of production at Sony Pictures Animation. Her new boss is Bob Osher, who replaced ex-pat Israeli Yair Landau as president of the digital production division of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Her brother, Max Minghella, an up-and-coming actor, started principal photography Monday on Alejando Amanebar’s historical epic “Agora”, alongside Rachel Weisz. The film, set in 4th century Egypt, has a plethora of Israeli and Palestinians actors in supporting roles.
But then yesterday, Max and Hanna’s father, director Anthony Minghella, died suddenly, at age 54.

Saturday AM update: Jeffrey Wells is reporting that based on Friday estimates National Treasure 2 is on track for a $50+million weekend, with Sweeney Todd making 14 million. The prophets were right. I was ridiculously wrong. That’ll teach me.

Original posting, Friday AM:

I don’t do weekend box-office predictions. I just don’t have the data, and I can’t really tap into the collective consciousness. But I do like the odd “what-if” speculation game.

Three weeks ago I posted a poll over at my good friends of Poll’s Boutique and asked readers which of these high profile releases they are planning to see December 21st. Though this can cannot be seen as anything remotely valid it did spark my curiosity: 49% said they’d go see Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Only 22% picked National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Today I see that MCN’s box office gurus are predicting Book of Secrets will finish the weekend on top with 44-55 million dollars in the bank. Sweeney Todd, rolling out on only 1200 screens, is expected to come in sixth with 10-13 million dollars.

But what if…?

What if most young teens, both male and female, who are supposed to flock to National Treasure get a sudden whiff of the pile of shit this movie probably is and while standing in line seeing the Sweeney Todd trailer playing on the LCD screen they say to themselves - “Hmmm… this looks like a slasher movie” (boys) and “Hmmmm… Johnny Depp” (girls) and they dump Nic Cave and go for Sweeney Todd. Which could make Book of Secrets the Lara Croft: Cradle of Life of 2007.

So what if… Sweeney Todd makes something between 26 and 30 million dollars this weekend, on only 1200 screens, averaging 21,000 to 28,000 dollars per screen, and Book of Secrets belly-flops with 20-22 million dollars? Meaning that I am Legend could remain at #1 and Sweeney Todd wows and takes the #2 spot. Or: if I am Legend takes a bigger drop, Sweeney Todd could actually become the #1 movie in America, with Book of Secrets debuting at number 4.

Could this happen? Am I only fantasizing of a reality in which ticket buyers don’t just heap the movie most advertised but the movie with the better chances of turning out spectacular?
Come Sunday morning I’ll find out whether I’ll be too humiliated to ever consider making this kind of speculation again. Check back.