Lady in the Water – FLOP!
Walt Disney Co.’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” logged a third weekend as the most popular movie in North America while the latest films from directors M. Night Shyamalan and Ivan Reitman both bombed, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.
The monster swashbuckler “Pirates” earned $35 million, comfortably ahead of Sony Corp.’s animated creepfest “Monster House,” which exceeded expectations with a $23 million debut.
Shyamalan’s mystical fantasy “Lady in the Water” followed at No. 3 with $18.2 million, while Reitman’s romantic comedy “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” was No. 7 with $8.7 million. A fourth new release, director Kevin Smith’s “Clerks II” was No. 6 with $9.6 million, broadly in line with expectations.
The total for “Pirates” sped to $321.7 million. It set a record for a film to reach $300 million — 16 days. The old mark of 17 days was set last year by “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.” The last movie to enjoy a three-weekend stretch at No. 1 was the November 2005 release “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”
The performances of “Pirates” and “Lady in the Water” represent a double victory for Disney, which chose not to release “Lady in the Water” after distributing Shyamalan’s previous three big movies. Disney last week ousted Shyamalan’s nemesis, studio chief Nina Jacobson, in a major revamp that will see 650 people lose their jobs as the studio focuses more on family pictures.
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WARNER BROS. CHALLENGING SUMMER
The dubious honor of distributing “Lady in the Water” instead went to Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. Pictures, which has endured a challenging summer, beginning with “Poseidon” (box office returns of $60 million), and continuing with the costly “Superman Returns” ($178 million to date), and “The Lake House” ($51 million).
Shyamalan’s last movie, “The Village,” opened to $50 million in 2004 and stalled at $114 million — half of what 2002’s “Signs” finished with. Shyamalan’s 1999 breakthrough, “The Sixth Sense,” earned $293.5 million.
His new film revolves around a water nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) who inhabits a swimming pool in an apartment complex. It received a critical pasting that got personal at times. The New York Post described Shyamalan as “a crackpot with a messianic delusions.” Even his hometown newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, said the movie was “extremely silly.”
Warner Bros. said it had hoped for an opening in the mid-$20 million range. It cost in the mid-$50 million range to make. The studio’s distribution president, Dan Fellman, said the movie did well on the coasts but “definitely had some difficulties” elsewhere.
“My Super Ex-Girlfriend,” which received only marginally better reviews than “Lady in the Water,” marked Reitman’s first directing effort since the 2001 flop “Evolution.” Starring Uma Thurman as a needy superheroine, it was distributed by News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox, which had hoped for an opening in the mid-teens.
“Monster House,” which cost $75 million to make, revolves around three youngsters and a voracious haunted house. Executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, the motion-capture film was bolstered by strong reviews. Sony said it had hoped to reach $20 million.
“Clerks II,” a follow-up to Smith’s low-budget 1994 breakthrough, was distributed by closely held firms Weinstein Co. and Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Inc.
