Despina at 2013-06-28 23:14:20:

So far a handful of people I know saw The Heat tonight and said it's hilarious and 'must see'. I'm a fan of both genres and both pairs of actors (although, I favor Miss Melissa and Miss Sandy a bit more) so I'll likely see both and like both for different reasons... if I can get a sitter. It is VERY interesting to know what a quick turn around these got. Is that normal? Generally speaking, what's the process on that end? And what will(have) the screenwriters come away with after all that (jobs and moola)? Just curious. (that sounds money hungry, but I'm honestly just curious)

CydM at 2013-06-29 22:44:30:

Curious as to how long the trailer of WHD has been out as it is now, and whether or not it's a solid tie in to the film. In light of the recent hoopla over Snowden and the NSA, it's possible box office could have little to do with gender or genre. It's amazing how "on trend" it seems. You can't plan or time stuff like that. Fifteen months to get these two out? That's amazing. Is it part of a new paradigm? It's hard to imagine McCarthy and Bullock just sitting around with nothing to do and hopping on a project that quickly. Hard to imagine anything in the film industry moving that quickly.

Femme_Mal at 2013-07-13 18:47:29:

Compare performance by the numbers: The Heat Domestic Total as of 12-JUL-2013: $102,563,000 (Estimate) Production Budget: $43 million Release Date: June 28, 2013 Distributor: Fox Genre: Comedy Runtime: 1 hrs. 57 min. MPAA Rating: R Total Lifetime Grosses Domestic: $102,563,000 94.4% + Foreign: $6,103,000 5.6% = Worldwide: $108,666,000 Domestic Summary Opening Weekend: $39,115,043 (#2 rank, 3,181 theaters, $12,296 average) % of Total Gross: 38.1% Widest Release: 3,184 theaters In Release: 15 days / 2.1 weeks __________ White House Down Domestic Total as of 12-JUL-2013: $58,638,000 (Estimate) Production Budget: $150 million Release Date: June 28, 2013 Distributor: Sony / Columbia Genre: Action Drama Runtime: 2 hrs. 17 min. MPAA Rating: PG-13 Total Lifetime Grosses Domestic: $58,638,000 77.1% + Foreign: $17,400,000 22.9% = Worldwide: $76,038,000 Domestic Summary Opening Weekend: $24,852,258 (#4 rank, 3,222 theaters, $7,713 average) % of Total Gross: 42.4% Widest Release: 3,222 theaters In Release: 15 days / 2.1 weeks [source: BoxOfficeMojo.com] __________ If Sony-Columbia thought they'd peel away the female audience with Channing Tatum based on last year's Magic Mike, they were wrong. If Sony-Columbia thought a PG-13 flick would do better than an R-rated chick flick, they were wrong. If Sony-Columbia thought big budget CGI would win the day, they made the wrong bet. And if crossed their minds at all that a woman-led film with a female writer wouldn't do well... Think we have been sitting on the tipping point for women in film, whether in front of, behind, or watching the output of the camera. Films like The Heat help give a nice push over the edge.

Scott at 2013-07-13 20:57:54:

Yes, yes, and yes! There is more backstory to White House Down, at least what the rumors are, so it's possible to chalk that up to, let's say, extenuating circumstances. But the blind spot Hollywood continues to show by and large to women actors, writers, directors and audiences works against it as the B.O. numbers The Heat has put up suggest, that is the absence of movies like it = less revenue. My fear is the suits will look at The Heat and this will be the summation of why they think it succeeded: Melissa McCarthy. Obviously she is a huge reason for the film's B.O., but my gut tells me the buddy cop action comedy elements are a significant plus factor. There may be a way to test this out. If we check out another Melissa McCarthy comedy Identity Thief, we find out this breakdown per BoxOfficeMojo in terms of box office, domestic compared to international: $135M / $39M. That 77% / 23% split is almost the reverse of the way most movies play out now with 70% deriving from foreign sales. So safe to say that IT did not 'travel well' overseas, despite having McCarthy as one of the co-stars. My guess is The Heat will travel better in which case we can speculate one contributing factor being the buddy cop action comedy element. Re Sony, Amy Pascal has proven to be one of the shrewdest studio heads in Hollywood. Indeed Sony has put out a number of adult dramas to good success like Argo and Moneyball when conventional wisdom has been those movies can't succeed. It would be great if she embraced more movies targeting a wider diversity of audiences including women.

Femme_Mal at 2013-07-15 14:40:12:

I don't think we should dismiss Bullock as bankable, too, especially after Identity Thief. Audiences not keen on McCarthy or aware of her talents -- say, audiences in the 45-65 crowd -- would be drawn to Bullock because she's been a consistent performer in popular films (versus art films). Had this been a buddy cop action film with another male lead, audiences of all ages might have blown off The Heat as yet another Identity Thief. They likely went expecting another estrogen-enriched comedy like Bridesmaids. This might suggest something about spacing for studios; perhaps two Bridesmaids back-to-back wouldn't work at the box office, cannibalizing audience, but spaced out as estrogen-ensemble then estrogen-pair might work well for sales. Though I do wonder if I should even care about this at this point. Do studios even care if they release testosterone-ensembles then testosterone-pairs to prevent audience fatigue?