It comes as no surprise that this weekend’s box office was down 10 percent from the same time last year. January is typically a month when great films are not released, as the month falls between the two seasons of studios’ best releases: winter holidays and summer time. Thus, this month, audiences can expect to see forgettable films. That was especially the case with this weekend’s slate of new releases, which included Paramount’s “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters,” FilmDistrict’s “Parker” and Relativity Media’s “Movie 43.”

Coming in at the top slot for the weekend was “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” with approximately $19.7 million. The film is a revival of the classic children’s tale, and has star power in lead Jeremy Renner with plenty of action sequences to entertain audiences.

Despite this, however, the film opened with tepid results, considering Paramount Pictures produced it for $50 million and spent another $40-$50 million on prints and advertising (P&A). That being said, it may seem unclear as to why the film didn’t meet expectations.

First and foremost, this film is not good, and in all likelihood, even Paramount Pictures knew that. After all, the studio pushed back the film’s release date multiple times and did not even screen the film for critics in advance, which is typically done in order to generate buzz prior to release. Audiences were also not impressed, given the disappointing 18 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This can mainly be credited to the film’s poor special effects and bad CGI in its action sequences. While Paramount Pictures is most likely disappointed by the debut, the film should not be considered a flop, as it will most likely recoup any losses from foreign markets.

This same optimism cannot be expressed in this weekend’s other new release, “Parker,” which opened at number five with just $7 million. The film’s lead is Jason Statham, one of the biggest action stars in the world.

Yet despite Statham’s large fan base, you have to wonder if audiences are tired of seeing him play the gun-and-knife-wielding action honcho. The opening comes as no surprise however, because most of Statham’s films open below the $10 million mark, and typically end up grossing between $25-$30 million. But it will be hard for distributor FilmDistrict to make a short-term profit, given the fact the company paid $30 million to produce the film.

The final new release in the top 10 was “Movie 43,” which tanked with $4.8 million. With an unbelievably talented all-star cast that consisted of more than two dozen big-name celebrities, the fact that the film’s results were disappointing seems, at first glance, surprising. However, every studio should know by now that star power alone is not reliable. If the film is not well-made — as is the case with “Movie 43” — audiences will simply not pay money to see it. Additionally, the film’s title is just bad; it reveals nothing about the movie. Finally, truly ineffective marketing measures were taken to promote it, which is a problem for any film.

Compiled by Ian Tecklin, contributing writer, ijteckli@syr.edu

Published on January 30, 2013 at 10:43 pm