This is topic How's Pearl Harbor doing? in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Scott Madsen (Member # 167) on 05-25-2001, 01:58 PM:
I'd be interested in how Pearl Harbor business is doing as the day and weekend roll along? Any reports or accounts from your theatres would be interesting. Above expectatations, below expectations, etc.
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 05-25-2001, 02:57 PM:
I think it will be "Kapoot" in 4 weeks.
Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 05-25-2001, 03:02 PM:
Today's Huntsville Times had quite a negative review of this movie. If people read reviews like this one, it will cause some to shy away and will hurt the attendance. I'll bet it will do great business this weekend, though. There's no doubt in my mind that showings of this will sell out tonight and tomorrow night, but it's the following weekends that will tell the real story.
Posted by Mitchell Cope (Member # 32) on 05-25-2001, 03:37 PM:
It will be interesting to see if seniors will come out to see "Pearl Harbor" like they did for "Saving Private Ryan". It was a culture shock just to see so many people in their "upper years" 
waiting in line to see a show.I don't wish bad business on any movie, but it's also refreshing to hear that James Cameron may not have been such a bad writer after all, in comparison. Yes!!! 
Posted by Daryl Lund (Member # 356) on 05-25-2001, 11:12 PM:
I had six pearl harbor survivers watch the first show today five out six came out at the end of the movie crying. One friend of mine said that brought back so many memories. They all liked the movie.
Posted by Joe Smith (Member # 190) on 05-26-2001, 12:40 AM:
In my small corner of the world (at National Amusements in Centerville, Va.) Pearl opened on 4 screens starting at about 1115 with advance advertising of extra showtimes. The first 4 shows may have only 75 cars for all 4 shows total. The second set of 4 shows starting at 2:45 had about the same. I don't think there was more than 50 people in any show. The set of shows starting at 6:00 had more but they couldn't have been more than 30% full in any theatre. It ran just short of 3 hours, at 170 minutes, with no intermission, and had FIVE trailers. There were no lines at the two open ticket booths at 2:45 and only 2 or 3 people at the snack bar at any time. There were 6 open ticket booths at 6:00pm but no lines, nobody at the snack bar and the cashiers looked very bored (and this is a 12-plex). If it doesn't do better tonight and tomorrow it'll propably be in 2nd run houses within 2 or 3 weeks....
Posted by Kyle Abel (Member # 819) on 05-26-2001, 02:50 AM:
From what I understand, the critics bashed the hell out of this one, and it looks like people actually do pay attention to that. I originally thought that this one was going to open HUGE, but it looks like it'll be a 150-200 mil run (still not too shabby, but I was thinking more up to 300 mil). Not sure yet if it has legs...------------------
Kyle Abel
General Manager
Plano Movies 10
Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 05-26-2001, 02:53 AM:
My area saw modest (at best) turnout for this film. Word of mouth from patrons was exactly what I predicted.. a overly saturated love story with a little historical fact thrown in for flavor... Ala.. Titanic, as several patrons pointed out. Bay & Brukhiemer (sp) are NOT James Cameron and this is NOT Titanic. It better make it's money this wknd, that'll be all she wrote for this film, IMO.
WTF is wrong with directors/producers these days?
Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 05-26-2001, 11:21 AM:
While the studio wants to say "From the producer of Remember the Titans" the audience seems smart enough to remember this is "From the producer of Gone in 60 Seconds and Coyote Ugly." Perhaps, as the cultural pendulum goes, we've swung into an era of people who are sick of paying $7+ to see crap. And I'm not saying this movie is crap. I'm just saying that the fluff surrounding the "history" in this movie is.Maybe this explains why the Hollywood writers didn't go on strike. They might have been afraid that the studios would go out and find good writers elsewhere in the world.
Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 05-26-2001, 03:48 PM:
It seems to be opening reasonably strong here in DC...we have four shows (11, 3, 7, 11)The latter three are sold out (the 7 show was almost sold out by 11am)..the first 11 show did well but not sell-out (sell out being 830 seats).
Steve
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"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"
Posted by Ky Boyd (Member # 23) on 05-26-2001, 09:47 PM:
According to the Saturday Update on www.boxofficeguru.com, PH took in $18.3 million on Friday. According to the Thursday report, PH was scheduled to open in 3,214 theatres (not screens) which would put Friday's business at an average of 5,694 per theatre. Of course the real interesting thing would be to know how its doing per screen. For instance here in Sonoma County there are 13 prints in 7 theatres. So, if the average is true (which it doesn't, but mathematical lies are fun) those 7 theatres generated $39,858 from PH on Friday or an average of $3,066 per print.
Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 05-27-2001, 12:29 AM:
We're not doing what I expected either. Although I don't think it will hit second run houses for about another month, word of mouth won't carry it like Titanic. Love story is too hoeky and the scenes with John Voight as President Roosevelt are just short of laughable. I'm going with Paul's prediction of 4 weeks as well.
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 05-27-2001, 02:14 AM:
What terms are you guys stuck with for PH? We have it for 9 weeks...6 at 2 mats/ 2 evenings....and two prints for the first 4 or 5.
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 05-27-2001, 02:58 AM:
Jason, they ran out of ideas. It shows with all the crap they send you via TES. Most of the movies are not worth the film they are printed on.
Posted by Will Morrow (Member # 792) on 05-27-2001, 01:07 PM:
Hey guys, and gals, audiences are liking this movie. We have been selling out all weekend long, and I have only noticed a few negative faces after the movie. The senior crowd (people that were alive when the attack took place) seem to enjoy it. The young girls will watch the hunks do anything, and the young men will go where ever the young girls are. This one will make its money back. Bye the way, I have Gone In 60 Seconds and I like that movie a lot. Sweet cars and Angelina, mmmm mmm good.I think we tend to be very critical of flicks and thats cool. Remember, general public loves doing the opposite of what critics predict or tell them to. People hated traffic here, but it was supposed to be this "great" movie according to the critics. Same with crouching tiger. ITS ALL ABOUT MARKETING and they have promoted the hell out of Pearl Harbor. Personally I give it 3/10 stars.
Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 05-27-2001, 06:09 PM:
It really will be interesting to see how this does next weekend and the week after that. The key to "blockbuster" status is really the willingness of people to see a movie more than once. At $7 to $10 a pop, anything can make $100 million these days.
Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 05-28-2001, 02:27 PM:
This movie is doing PHENOMINAL busininess here in Mankato. I only have 2 prints (6 shows per day), and my gross beat my Hannibal gross on 8 shows/day for opening weekend. I'm selling out by 6:30 pm for the 8 AND 9 pm shows. The audiences are buzzing about how good it is as they are leaving, so it's getting good word of mouth here.
Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 05-28-2001, 09:22 PM:
Has anyone else noticed that Shrek seems to be doing better than PH?
Steve
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"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 06-07-2001, 07:11 PM:
First weekend $75 million. Second weekend 50 percent dropoff. Third weekend just as big a dropoff? Bookings look that way Loews Lincoln Square -- 5 screens to 3 (last show midnight)
UA Union Square -- 5 screens to 3 (last show midnight)
And . . . for the stadium theater near me . . . 3 screens to 2 full-time (last show 11 PM) plus a double-up with The Mummy Returns at night 
Posted by Scott Madsen (Member # 167) on 06-11-2001, 08:47 PM:
Can anybody out there tell me if Disney is still insisting on the big auditoriums for this? I would think Atlantis and Tomb Raider would do better on Friday in the bigger houses. I cannot recall how long the terms were for this stipulation.
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 10-15-2001, 06:39 PM:
Bumped this back up thanks to this great quote on the Film Releases website:"Disney, I don't care how long you let Pearl Harbor run, it's not going to hit $200 million! I guess you never studied the Calculus . . ."
Posted by Sherry Legare (Member # 671) on 10-15-2001, 07:13 PM:
We picked it up on Friday and we will be losing it on Thursday. It was pretty much our worst matinee and had a rather poor weekend overall.
Posted by Don Sneed (Member # 955) on 10-16-2001, 09:19 AM:
Here In Japan Pearl Habor has been running for only the last three weeks, Did y'all (can you tell I'm from Texas) know that when the feature in the states goes to Dollar theatres or to video, Japan is just getting the feature as 1st run !!!, They are about 3-months behind the states due to sub-titles has to be added.....
Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 10-17-2001, 10:20 PM:
It hit subrun on 10/5.
Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 10-18-2001, 11:26 AM:
When it comes to movies like this I AM ALL FOR HISTORICAL ACCURACY! When it comes to HISTORICAL ACCURACY, this movie is 
! I almost walked out on it! This film is no where the same quality as TORA TORA TORA, Midway, The Longest Day...! I was going over the set details with a collegue who is a professional model builder and historian. I would have to watch the film again and compare it to books I have about Pearl Harbor, but I distinctly remember one of the ships--maybe the AZ having caged masts in the movie--in actuality, these had been removed and replaced prior to the attack! Inaccurate placement/types of guns etc,etc!
Posted by Tao Yue (Member # 836) on 10-19-2001, 12:49 AM:
Not to mention all those missile-armed ships blowing up. Or the quick shot of a "Japanese task force" that somehow included a carrier with a canted deck. Considering how much was spent on CGI effects, using stock shots of modern-day naval vessels is really inexcusable.
------------------
Tao Yue
MIT '04: Course VI-2, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Projectionist, MIT Lecture Series Committee
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 11-01-2001, 05:41 PM:
Don S: Pearl Harbor was a major hit in Japan and Germany. Because it did so well overseas Disney will make money on the picture before it goes to video.By this result Pearl Harbor joins the likes of The Beach and Waterworld -- a perceived flop that actually turned a profit thanks to international box office.