Box-Office Showing Good if Not ‘Titanic’

The first leg of Hollywood’s 1999 movie season couldn’t match last year’s “Titanic”-driven period, but it still showed plenty of muscle, thanks to more than a dozen films aimed at teens.

Box-office revenue was off by about 6% to $1.88 billon from January through April, compared with the same period last year, according to box office analyst Exhibitor Relations of Los Angeles.

Comparisons are difficult, however, because all-time box office champion “Titanic” reaped a record $500 million in ticket sales during the period last year.

Among this year’s strongest titles are two medium-budget hits near or clearing the $100-million mark, “The Matrix” and “Analyze This,” both from Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. studio.

Teen films frequently opened at a rate of one or more per weekend. Female audiences in particular were targeted with low-cost films, many of which were profitable. The standouts: “She’s All That,” from Walt Disney Co.’s Miramax Films; and “Varsity Blues,” from Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures.

Hollywood is increasingly seeking to lure teens and young adults into theaters with relatively low-cost films.

Young males have long been attractive to major studios because they often see movies more than once and go the first weekend a film is released. For studios, the first weekend is the most important because studios get a larger cut from exhibitors and because a strong opening can give a film box office momentum.

But Hollywood is increasingly marketing films to females 13 to 25, a population it often ignored in the past. The phenomenal success of “Titanic” last year showed young women will indeed go to see certain movies quickly and frequently.

In addition, some films aimed at older audiences--notably “Analyze This,” “Shakespeare in Love” and the foreign film “Life Is Beautiful”--have succeeded in attracting younger moviegoers as well.

In fact, “Life Is Beautiful” has grossed more than $50 million, more than double what any foreign film has achieved in the U.S.

The biggest hit opening so far this year, “The Matrix,” was aimed at young males but also attracted older audiences on the strength of good reviews.

Disney’s Miramax Films was one of the season’s stars, with the Oscar-winning “Shakespeare in Love,” now nearing $100 million at the box office; and the hits “She’s All That” and “Life Is Beautiful,” for which it is the U.S. distributor.

In addition, Disney also had some low-cost moneymakers domestically in “Doug’s First Movie” and “10 Things I Hate About You” and strong foreign results from such late 1998 releases as “Enemy of the State” and “A Bug’s Life.”

Roaring back to life was Warner Bros. Shaking off almost two years of disappointment, the studio launched what may prove to be a lucrative movie franchise in “The Matrix,” which has sequel potential. Box office experts project that the film will eventually gross $150 million to $160 million domestically and will probably do even better outside the U.S. “Analyze This” is expected to cross the $100-million mark any day now. In addition, Warner’s Christmas hit “You’ve Got Mail” continued to do well into the early part of 1999.

Among the season’s biggest money losers were the Ron Howard comedy “EDtv,” from Seagram Co.’s Universal Studios; “Gloria,” “8MM” and “Deep End of the Ocean,” from Sony Corp.’s Columbia Pictures; “In Dreams,” from DreamWorks SKG; the Clint Eastwood drama “True Crime,” from Warner Bros.; and “Pushing Tin,” from News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox.

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Company Town Film Profit Report

The report is based on projections of total U.S. box-office gross from a consensus of industry sources and studio financial models. The U.S. returns (approximately 55% of gross) represent only 20% of a film’s final revenue, which includes overseas theatrical, video and TV income. The industry marketing average of $30 million per film is factored into these profit equations, as is the relative strength of specific film genres in foreign markets. Results for selected films so far this year:

$$ Mega-Moneymakers

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Estimated U.S. box-office cost, in receipts, Movie title Studio millions in millions She’s All That Miramax $9 $65 Matrix Warner Bros. 62 150

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$ Moneymakers

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Estimated U.S. box-office cost, in receipts, Movie title Studio millions in millions Varsity Blues Paramount 15 55 Payback Paramount 50 85 Analyze This Warner Bros. 45 100 Cruel Intentions Sony 10.5 38 Doug’s First Movie Buena Vista 5 20 Baby Geniuses Sony 12 25 10 Things I Hate About You Buena Vista 13 33 Never Been Kissed Fox 22 45 Life Universal 55 65

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? Tossups

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Estimated U.S. box-office cost, in receipts, Movie title Studio millions in millions Message in a Bottle Warner Bros. 55 53 My Favorite Martian Buena Vista 45 38 Office Space Fox 10 12 October Sky Universal 22 28 200 Cigarettes Paramount 6 7 Forces of Nature DreamWorks SKG 43 50 Go Sony 7 15 Cookie’s Fortune October 8 10

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Money Losers

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Estimated U.S. box-office cost, in receipts, Movie title Studio millions in millions In Dreams DreamWorks SKG 42 12 At First Sight MGM 42 23 Virus Universal 50 15 Gloria Sony 30 6 8MM Sony 48 38 Deep End of the Ocean Sony 38 15 True Crime Warner Bros. 38 17 The Other Sister Disney 32 28 Blast From the Past New Line 32 27 EDtv Universal 55 23 The Mod Squad MGM 21 14 The Out of Towners Paramount 40 30 Pushing Tin Fox 32 10

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Notes: Cost estimates are for production only. Only half of box-office receipts come back to the studio. NA=not available.

Researched by RICHARD NATALE

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