‘Troy’s’ debut at No. 1 less than epic

For the second weekend in a row, a spectacularly expensive summer action movie has opened at the top of the box office -- but with numbers well short of spectacular.

“Troy,” with a budget of at least $175 million, took in $45.6 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates. The R-rated, long-running (2 hours, 43 minutes) action adventure about the Trojan War, based on Homer’s “The Iliad,” presented marketing challenges for Warner Bros., but still the studio might have been hoping for higher opening numbers for “Troy.”

Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution, noted that the “Troy” opening exceeds May records for an R-rated non-sequel film. He said the studio had aimed to beat “Gladiator,” another R-rated epic of the ancient world, which opened in May 2000 with $34.8 million. But Warner Bros. opened the film on 3,411 screens, about 500 more than “Gladiator,” which had a similar length to “Troy’s.”

Meanwhile, last weekend’s No. 1 film, Universal Pictures horror adventure “Van Helsing,” had something of a horrific drop in its second weekend, falling an estimated 61% to $20.1 million.

Despite the presence of star Brad Pitt and a massive TV campaign, selling an R-rated historical action drama like “Troy” during Hollywood’s summer season is tough. Most summer films are aimed at kids, and studios work to keep the ratings at the family-friendly PG-13 or PG. (“Van Helsing” for example is rated PG-13, and “Shrek 2,” premiering this week, is rated PG).

At a time when box office records are shattered on a regular basis, getting a breakout R-rated hit is still rare. Only two of the top five R-rated films were released in the last five years. “The Passion of the Christ” is the current record holder with a $368-million domestic gross; “The Matrix Reloaded” is second with $281 million.

“The idea that getting an R-rated hit is extremely difficult is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Brandon Gray of the box office tracking firm Boxofficemojo.com. “Studios tend to aim their biggest movies at PG or PG-13 ratings. If there were as wide an array of R-rated tent-pole pictures out there, there would probably be just as many hits.”

Although Warner Bros. took a chance on releasing “Troy” with an R rating, Fellman said it took no extra steps in promoting the film and will do nothing different in its promotion of Oliver Stone’s “Alexander,” another expensive historical epic being released later this year that Fellman expects will be R-rated as well.

“By May blockbuster standards, ‘Troy’s’ opening is modest,” says Gray, “but by historical war opening standards, it’s very strong. It’s not the most relatable story to the American public. This picture was not going to be the biggest movie of the summer. Anyone who thought that was too taken with the CGI ships.”

Another limiting factor in Warner Bros.’ promotion of the film may have been the historical nature of the film’s origins. Where Universal was able to cross-promote “Van Helsing” with a simultaneous DVD release of its classic monster movies and reuse the sets for its upcoming NBC series “Transylvania,” Warner Bros. had only the written work of the poet Homer.

“We’re not an old horror movie; we’re a movie that will stand on its own,” said Fellman, who cited the efforts of “Troy” stars Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom to help sell the film.

Even if “Troy” turns out to do only moderate business in the U.S., the studio has high hopes for its returns overseas, where Pitt is a huge box office draw. Over the weekend the film made $54.8 million in 47 territories.

Universal is also looking closely at the overseas returns for “Van Helsing.” “The theatrical release is an important thread in the tapestry,” said Universal Vice Chairman Marc Shmuger, “but we’re weaving together many different areas of opportunity. The $100-million-plus first week [worldwide grosses] should be viewed as the launch of a global, multichannel distribution business. We’re in this for the long term.”

Shmuger said sales of the DVDs of the classic Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolfman movies were “brisk.”

On a much smaller scale than “Troy” and “Van Helsing,” Televisa Cine’s controversial “A Day Without a Mexican” opened strongly in 55 theaters in Southern California, with a weekend total of $562,000.

“Latinos are responding quite well to the movie,” said Steven Z. Eller of GS Entertainment Marketing, which is handling the film for Televisa Cine. Anglos, he said, were “not responding as well.”

Next week the film will expand into Northern California and Texas as well as premiere in Mexico.

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Box Office

Preliminary results based on studio projections (in millions of dollars).

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total

*--*

*--* Troy $45.6 $45.6

Van Helsing $20.1 $84.5

Mean Girls $10.1 $55.3

Breakin’ All the Rules $5.3 $5.3

Man on Fire $5.3 $64.3

13 Going on 30 $4.2 $48.6

New York Minute $3.8 $10.7

Laws of Attraction $2 $15.4

Kill Bill Vol. 2 $1.6 $60.8

Envy $1.1 $12

*--*

Source: Nielsen EDI Inc.

Los Angeles Times