United 93

I saw this article on FOXnews.com and found it odd. Read it and see if you notice the same thing.

'RV' Tops 'United 93' at Box Office
Sunday, April 30, 2006


LOS ANGELES — Audiences hit the road with Robin Williams as his family-vacation romp "RV" opened at No. 1 with $16.4 million, while the acclaimed Sept. 11 drama "United 93" debuted with $11.6 million.

Studio estimates Sunday had Universal Pictures' "United 93" in second place, just ahead of Disney's sports comedy "Stick It," which premiered with $11.3 million. Those rankings could change once final numbers are released Monday.

The weekend's other new wide release, Lionsgate's spelling-bee drama "Akeelah and the Bee," was No. 8 with $6.25 million.

The 20th Century Fox release "RV" was expected to debut on top, but "United 93" had been an unknown quantity, with Hollywood analysts wondering whether movie-goers were ready to relive the horrors of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"It's not about the positioning of the film. It's about the fact that the American public spoke out," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal Pictures. "This is a wonderful result. What they said was that it wasn't too soon for a film about Sept. 11."

Married couples accounted for just over half the "United 93" audience, and 71 percent of viewers were 30 and older, according to Universal.

With painstaking authenticity, "United 93" recounts the horrific end of passengers who fought back against their hijackers aboard one of the commandeered planes, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

Families of those killed aboard Flight 93 cooperated with director Paul Greengrass ("The Bourne Supremacy," "Bloody Sunday"), who re-creates the experiences of passengers and air-traffic controllers in a documentary-style drama. "United 93" earned widespread praise from critics.

Shot on a modest budget of $15 million, "United 93" should easily turn a profit once theatrical, television and DVD revenues are tallied. Universal said it will donate 10 percent of the first weekend's grosses to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.

Playing in 1,795 theaters, about half as many as "RV," "United 93" averaged a solid $6,462 a cinema, the best results among the top-10 movies.

"We can now kind of put to bed any idea that people are not ready to see this type of movie. The numbers speak for themselves," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Coming this August is Hollywood's second Sept. 11 dramatization, Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center," starring Nicolas Cage in the story of two Port Authority policemen trapped in the rubble of the twin towers.

"RV," starring Williams as a dad taking his family on a slapstick-filled vacation, debuted in 3,639 theaters and averaged $4,507. The gymnastics tale "Stick It," starring Missy Peregrym and Jeff Bridges, averaged $5,523 in 2,038 theaters.

Overall business rose for the sixth-straight weekend, with the top-12 movies taking in $90.7 million, up 12 percent from the same weekend last year. After a big slump in 2005, attendance is running 4 percent ahead of last year's, with Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible III" opening Friday and kicking off what is expected to be a huge summer at the movies.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "RV," $16.4 million.

2. "United 93," $11.6 million.

3. "Stick It," $11.3 million.

4. "Silent Hill," $9.3 million.

5. "Scary Movie 4," $7.8 million.

6. "The Sentinel," $7.6 million.

7. "Ice Age: The Meltdown," $7.05 million.

8. "Akeelah and the Bee," $6.25 million.

9. "The Wild," $4.7 million.

10. "The Benchwarmers," $4.4 million.

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What caught my attention was this - I've never read an article where so many people were applauding a major motion picture for making a little more than $10 million on it's opening weekend. Even low-bugdet action films starring The Rock weren't considered to be major triumphs after making more than $15 million on opening weekend!

First, it's obviously "spin". Possibly trying to get people who still haven't seen it to go and check it out. Or maybe so Hollywood can hedge their bets for when the next 9/11 movie comes out, so it's not dismissed - from "guilt by association". Whatever the thought behind it it's obviously "spin". Hollywood doesn't give so much praise to so little an accomplishment. It may also be Hollywood trying to drum-up justification for their cashing-in on this tragedy so soon.

They say more than once that this is proof that America is ready for 9/11 on the big screen, but I would say it's the total opposite. In fact, I'd have to say - at $10 million, this movie is a failure. More people weanted to see Robin Williams sticking to the front of an RV than wanted to watch Flight 93 crash in a Pennsylvannia field. I really don't find that very surprising. I rarely walk into an obvious "downer" of a situation when heading into the theater.

Back to the subject of spin - don't let it it be lost that I do realize that I found this article on FOXnews.com. Many people will tell you that FOXnews is blatantly slanted to the right. I don't disagree. I don't think it's as bad as some believe, but I do see the slant on a daily basis on the cable news channel. I see the same thing to the left on CNN as well. I'm not surprised to see this on FOX, I just think it was too apparent in it's agenda to not stand out on their website as another biased piece.

Whatever the reasoning behind it, I think it's lame on all counts. I was hoping for United 93 to not do well because I think it's obvious that it's being done simply as a way to make money off human suffering at this point - well done or not. And some may call it a success at $10 million, but I completely disagree and I'm glad that people saw it for what it was and chose not to be sucked in. Hopefully, World Trade Center, coming out later in the summer, will do just as well.

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If you agree, disagree, or saw the United 93, I'd like to hear what you think.

Thanks.