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Actually, of the three, Must Love Dogs did the best per venue. It was in 2500 locations whereas Stealth was in 3500. Sky High split the difference in 2900. This makes Stealth look a lot worse.....

So, it seems like Dukes is headed for a decent weekend (estimates at $32M or so) based on a good Friday. However, it has gotten some of the cruddiest reviews I've ever read.

What do you think?

I can see where people in larger populated areas would not like this movie--but I have it playing in 3 of my little "hick" towns (of which I consider myself to be)and had better turn outs last night than most movies--the comments after the showings were almost all positive.

Thanks, Wisconsin, that's just what I needed. We are from quite the "hick" town too.....

No Problem Leeler---and now that Day 2 is about done, 2X busier than Fri, plus repeat business already. Had a couple tourists tonight that didn't care for it--but, every movie I show always has a few that dislike.

Dukes of Hazzard has done nothing for us. Wedding Crashers has actually picked up in its 4th week. It was in our second biggest house and I've now moved it to the largest. Dukes got dumped to our second smallest. It would have gone to our smallest, but we still have Stealth, which is doing the worst. August 12th I would like to open Domino or Skeleton Key and dump Stealth. I don't think Deuce Bigalow will do much in the way of business at my theatre.

I think Dukes will do fine here, if not fantastic. At this point I'm just looking for something to put on the screen. Jeez, and I thought the July releases looked bad! I may only get Dukes and Valiant at this point and they better start advertising Valiant or it's gonna go, too! I'm also considering March of the Penguins

Domino is way back in November, I believe.

Stealth is doing terrible in Burney where we have air conditioning, while Bad News Bears is doing pretty good in the other theatre that does not have air conditioning.

It has been unusually hot here for about six weeks. It seems like the folks would just come in to get cool. It was so hot where Bears was showing that two of my amps decided it was too hot in there and shut down on Friday night 3/4 of the way through the show. I now have a fan blowing on them.

I have been trying to get all of the nearby air conditioning companies to come put in new HVAC units but they are all too busy or too lazy and no one will even come out to look. It is very frustrating.

Dukes did well opening weekend but it is falling like a brick. I think I'm changing my mind again! Plus, I don't know if I can stomach it for a whole week!

Leeler,

I formulated a motto eons ago..."If I only book what I like, the theatre will be out of biz in about three weeks."

Unfortunately, crap sells.

LT

I'm playing Herbie Fully Loaded and it isn't like anybody is going to walk away with an award for this one either but, it is cute enough and it seems to please its' target audience well. Moreover, it is for an audience that for some reason is underserved for movies. Dukes, on the other hand, may serve its' target audience on some level (or may not, depending on who you talk to) but there is loads of other stuff out there for that market. Witness the 65% dropoff it had this Friday over last. Those people are all seeing Wedding Crashers again or Four Brothers or Skeleton Key, etc etc etc. I think what we're seeing in those markets is a saturation point whereby it is almost miraculous if it has any kind of legs at all. Wedding Crashers this year is truly the wonder of the summer. If I had enough of those folks here I would get that movie in a heartbeat. Alas, I have a heavy population of grade school kids and a heavy population of grade school parents and then a really heavy population of seniors. Thus, Herbie is the obvious choice. Dukes, just won't make it, I think.

Actually, I'm probably overanalyzing this (a weakness of mine). The slot I was going to put it in is in the middle of my deadest period from Labor Day to Thanksgiving and it probably won't matter that much anyway. At least I can hold my head up high when I walk down the street though....

i don't see the critics helping me at all with booking my theatre. Customers around here don't seem to notice or care what the critics think. Dukes has been awesome for us, selling out 2 shows last Friday and Saturday night, and still taking the lead this weekend even with 3 new movies out. I can't seem to force myself to watch it, it looks so stupid, but hey, who am I to judge when its bringing the customers in.

I will play Dukes in a couple weeks. I saw it last week and actually liked it. I think it will do well here. I am going to see The Great Raid and Skeleton Key next week for my evaluation.

Dukes opened huge here. However, it's target audience seems to have a short attention span, and they're forgetting quickly!

We finally got a print of Wedding Crashers... put it with Deuce Bigalow.
Since Wedding's been around, and I let my personal attitudes about Deuce convince me that we'd probably just to ok, I put them in one of my back screens & kept Dukes in the big one. Mistake! We switched 'em fast for Saturday.

Love this business!!!!