Box Office: ‘THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES’ opens No. 1 on Wednesday in U.S. with $3 million
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones opened at No. 1 at the U.S. box office on Wednesday with a $3 million (exact $3,006,254) gross, according to The Hollywood Reporter. No official announcement from Sony Pictures yet on Wednesday’s gross. The final number is coming later today.
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, the latest supernatural film property based on a bestselling YA book series, debuted at No. 1 Wednesday with a tepid $3 million.
Starring Lily Collins as a girl who discovers she’s part of a secret order of half-angel warriors, the supernatural pic is on course for a five-day debut in the $15 million range. It earned a B+ CinemaScore.
But we can do much better than that, U.S. fans.
This is where I continue to stress the importance of opening week/end to everyone — U.S. and international fans. It’s very important that you see The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones opening week/end — Wednesday through Sunday. We need this film to do well in the box office the first week to ensure future movies. You want to see more Mortal Instrumentsmovies, as well as Infernal Devices movies, right? Then go see The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones multiple times this week and bring your friends and family with you and keep spreading the word. It’s time to show the mundane world that the Shadowhunters are indeed a force to be reckoned with. As Jace says, “Have a little faith!” We have faith in you!
No word yet on the international numbers for Wednesday.
TMI Source 
Is 3 million considered good or a flop opening? I don’t really know when a movie is considered a success. But i’m going tomorrow with 3 others, but the reviews i’ve seen in my country weren’t very positive, so i’m not sure i’ll do so well here.
This box office is very poor ;( The hunger games first day´s box office was 60 millions. If this does not improve, we won’t have more films ;(
Finger’s crossed then! Sucks that the date was poorly choosen then. And it doesn’t come out every where on the same day.
A big flop
On its opening day, Hunger Games made $67.3 million !!!
well yes but that was also a friday
that was all around the world lol this is just the US
According to Variety.com, the film is expected to earn just 12 million over the 3 day weekend and 18 million over the 5 day opening weekend.
So please go 2-4 times in the cinema!
The 60 million og the hunger games was ONlY in USA. For this reason it´s calle phenom
The 60 million of the hunger games was ONlY in USA. For this reason it’s called phenomenon to the hunger games´ movement
Well, for a movie to be considered a success it should have an overall worldwide gross of twice its budget. The CoB budget is listed as 60 million on imdb, so we’re nowhere nearly close to that yet,
BUT consider that
a) this movie opened on a Wednesday
and
b) this is only the US gross we’re seeing and the international could be much higher.
The reason we’re being told to go on opening week is that in the first week the theater only keeps 10% of the ticket price and the studio receives 90%. The second week the studio will only get 80%, the third 70%, and so on. That means if you buy a ticket for 10$ in the first week Sony will get 9$ out of that, the second only 8$, and so on.
So if we want the maximum amount of our ticket to go to Sony, we better go by Sunday.
I think Friday will be a decisive night for this movie, because it’s a date night in the US and also the opening day in some countries. Whether or not CoB is a financial success for Sony will probably be clear by the end of the weekend.
Wow, I didn’t know. We also go on a later week to avoid crowded rooms if it not a must see that right away film. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Studios keep roughly half the gross. TMI costs 60 million with a marketing budget of around 15 million. So the total is 75 million, meaning it needs to make 150 million world wide to break even. Now considering beautiful creatures and the host, TMI is on track to end up worldwide with 100 million if all goes well. Movies that get savaged with a 14 percent rating on rotten tomatoes and only make about 100 million worldwide usually make 20-30 million off syndication rights and DVD sales/rental and merchandise. This money is NOT split with movie studios, so TMI cost the studio 75 million, if it makes 100 mil worldwide and splits half with studios, it gets 50 mil. Assuming that they get lucky and get 30 mil from DVD/syndication/merchandise, the studio makes 80 million on a cost of 75 million, meaning 5 million profit.
It really needs 30 million profit to even think about justifying a sequel.
By the way, 100 million worldwide is a very realistic estimate and I am a semi large TMI fan.
Let us not kid ourselves it will do hugely in foreign countries. There’s no evidence to suggest otherwise and this can be predicted easily based on percy Jackson, beautiful creatures, the host, and even hunger games which underperformed worldwide with respect to domestic.
if it opened on a normal day, for sure flop. but it was a wed. a lot of people had school or work the next morning or that day, so it hurt sales. But because they have an added 2 days to the weekend, it may make it easier to get a good opening weekend.
City of Bones needs to make back the 60 million budget. However, most of the success is expected internationally. So if opening are good there we should be safe to get get city of ashes.
We won’t know if it’s a flop or not until the weekend box office reports come out monday.
The reason films open on a Wednesday is because studios predict it will do badly at the box office and they need to add in 2 extra days box office to offset bad press….ie it sounds better to say “tmi opened to 18 million this weekend” compared to “tmi opened to 12 million this weekend”
Also this movie embargoed critics prior to the release meaning they knew it would get bad reviews and bad press.
Hmm.. also, the movie doesn’t come out every on the same time. It comes out today in my country as in my other countries. So hopefully it’ll go up some more over the weekend
i don’t consider 3 million to be a flop. so we can do better by going to the film and with the wekkend imagine how much better! not everyoen could see it due to work, or school and there are other release dates in countries
Wednesday is a weird day for films like these cos their key demographic is at school! Hopefully the weekend will prove a hit!
Me and four friends went twice yesterday! But we’re in the uk….
yeah it is but id id have a pretty good turn out at my theatre for a wednseday! this is is in canada too . some constructive critisms for markters for the next films, advertise on the internet, movies, magzines, social networking anywhere in any shpe and do it often !
First Day, part of it could be because it was on a weekday, and a lot of people have work, and a lot of schools/colleges have started back. It opened No1 though so that makes me a bit happy >.<
Oh my GAOd. I’m srsly gonna buy a ticket for some random people from the U.S. or wherever the movie’s available already and make them go to the theatre and watch this flippin’ amazing movie! >< To all the fans who can go and watch this movie this week: Our fate is in your hands, please do your best on behalf of all the poor souls who can't watch and support the movie right now (including me). We're rooting for you to do well and for your wallets to survive. Good luck y'all and may the GAOdds be ever in your favour ^^
I saw this film in the UK Wednesday evening and nearly every seat in the screen was taken, so hopefully some good numbers will be coming from here. I am also going to see it again on Friday :).
Also don’t forget that if that $3million makes it No 1 on the list it means that more people were physically watching that than other other film that day….so there’s hope in that!
It was the only new release…it will be in trouble on Friday when other films open.
Saw it twice yesterday here in UK – there were 4 screenings at that particular cinema; we went to first and last and both were quite full, and staff said the middle 2 were busy too. There are 4 other big chain cinemas within 10-15 miles so I don’t think that’s bad for a mid week opener with nearly no promo in our area! Going again this weekend 🙂
damn!
just i read hours ago…
i hope this movie somehow manage to collect about 60-80 million and in overseas about 100-120. but when i saw the collection hours ago i had a huge doubt about it.
hopefully somehow they manage to collect +180million.
*pray*
Those numbers are not great especially as it has some IMAX screens. For comparison Welcome to the Millers opened to $7million and Percy Jackson to $5million when they opened on a Wednesday two weeks ago. It will probably only do $18million for the 5-day weekend and won’t even make the budget domestically if it opens that low. A lot of fans are in school during the week so hopefully they will tun out this weekend or you can wave bye bye to CoA. I think it might do better overseas. It seems to be doing pretty well over here in the UK.
But does that count? Some US films never got a second part because of the poor viewer outcome in the USA when they were a success in Europe. So how is success measured?
Overseas numbers rarely count towards a sequel unless it does very, very well. An example is the Resident Evil movies they only do mediocre numbers in the US but they are cheap to make and make like 3-4 times the domestic amount overseas. Or Pirates of the Caribbiean 4, the fourth movie is the lowest grossing of the whole series domestically and didn’t even make its budget back domestically but it broke records overseas and pushed worldwide gross pass the $1billion mark and that’s the reason there is going to be a fifth movie.
Both of those opened in the Summer, for a lot of US schools this was the first week of school so younger fans couldn’t go.
Well, guys we also have to think about Canada and the UK where the movie has also opened! The US gross isn’t the only one that counts!
Well, considering it was released on a Wednesday, it could have been worse:/ I’m going on Friday, and hopefully I can convince my parents to let me go at least once more. I REALLY hope the numbers can rise enough to warrant a sequel. *fingers crossed*
I still cannot move past the part where someone mentioned that Hunger Games movie was better than City of Bones! In what warped Dimension/Universe is HG a good movie? I just don’t get humanity!
I personally liked it better than the Hunger Games. It was more like the book than that was and I just thought it was a thousand times better! I would watch it 24/7 if I could. And in the theater I went to, there were maybe only 10-15 people. Of course it was a Wednesday at 5:15…
Considering that it was a Wed. and it opens on different dates around the world, I think that’s pretty good
Also, I don’t’ know about everywhere, but from people I talked to, a lot of them went to theaters that only played it one time Wednesday since the theaters were only open for a short time on the middle of the week
well… lets just hope that they manage to collect +160 million
i just saw that hunger games collected 8 million in wednesday.
of course hunger games started on friday, but “this” is a for all fans a hope that city of bones still make a “huge” success. mybe the chances are small but with a little bit luck its still possible. 🙂
*continue to pray*
I bet It’ll be more when the Movie opened in every country! I can tell you, many people in Germany will watch CoB because Elyas M’Barek (Vampire Leader) is in it. Everyone in Germany knows and loves him. They will run the cashiers. For sure.
I saw it yesterday with my mom and sister, and we’re seeing it again with again my mom and sister and six of our friends! Can’t wait to see it again!
I saw it twice yesterday…the theater was NOT packed…but then again, my friend and I saw it at 10am and again at 1pm. It was still early…And we saw it in IMAX…I definitely want to see it again, I’d pay $20 just to see the greenhouse scene again..LOL
Let’s just hope that it goes up by Sunday.As it is the weekend,more people will have the time to go to the cinema to see the film.I seen it yesterday and there was about 10 people there,but then again it was the first showing at 11:30am so it really only was die hard fans like myself.I’m seeing it again Tomorrow (Friday) hope to see more people at it then.It was a great movie after all and I’d hate for people not to see it just because the critics are stereotyping the YA genre.
I’ll see it only once!
:””””””””/
I’ll have to wait for it come out in DVD to see it again.
But there is a chance to see it again cuz my friends are going ton see it and I may come with them! 😀
Hope the movie gets better
We WILL get a sequel and a CoG movie but we ALSO need CoFA and CoLS and CoHF!
Make like, 180+ million dollars
Please! 🙂
I really think that on Friday the movie will explode and our fandom, because most people go out on Fridays and like we all agree, CASSIE’S BOOK ARE AMAZING AND SO IS THE MOVIE! So it WILL do amazing! Just wait, see it at least twice and, most importantly, HAVE A LITTLE FAITH IN IT! 😉
I live in argentina and i’m going on friday with a friend, I’m sure it is going to be amazing, just like cassie’s books 🙂 I’m convincing all of my friends to go and watch it this weekend and maybe I’ll join them too! I’m SO EXITED 😀
“Numbers matter more than the ranking”, this is what i learned from my other fandom. after researching, both twilight and hunger games opened on a friday and most movies are released on that day except for some and it includes city of bones. I think the usual movie-watching day in u.s is from friday-sunday. So, let’s try not to worry so much that it opened low. It’s not a sequel but first of the series and the critic reviews are really not helping for the film. Yes, the numbers are not that good but look on the bright side, it managed to be no.1 despite the very unusual release date when people are busy with their lives. Or maybe, the producers decided to release the film on a wednesday as an experiment so they can estimate how it will fair from friday-sunday. But if the modest number continues, let’s just hope that the international box office will do a lot better. It only needs to make $180million unlike the huge-budget films. We can do it!!!
Movie studios release movies on Wednesdays because they predict a bad box office opening and want to offset bad press in the “tmi bombs” by getting to add on a few extra million accumulated on Wednesday and Thursday,
Another telling thing that the studio knows the movie will do badly is they either don’t screen it in advance for critics, or in the case of mortal instruments, embargo critics from publishing reviews until opening day.
I don’t know if I want to laugh or cry when I read this, lol.
MY BROTHER SAW ME READING THESE BOOKS AND SAW HOW EXCITED I GOT WITH THE MOVIE AND IS GONNA SEE IT TOMORROW WITH HIS WIFE EXCITED TO HEAR A REACTION FROM A PERSON WHO HAS NOT READ THE BOOKS AHH CANT WAIT MEANWHILE I’VE TOLOD EVERYONE IVE KNOWN TO SEE THE MOVIE SO FAR MOPST OPF THEM ARE GOING YAAY!!
I went at midnight on a Wednesday and the whole theater was full of screaming fans, I kept hearing people say “definitely going to see it again” and I’m going again on Saturday, so let’s hope for the best *crosses fingers* best movie I’ve ever seen!
Alright guys I’m hoping it to see it sat agaiband i think it’s possible that those who were disappointed may be more satisfied with city if ashes with ralphel being In the movie .Signourney weaver joined the cast. I’m trying to be optimistic because I’m kind meh and mad at myself for something that happened not related to the movie though Tmi helping my mood At least
I saw it and liked it. Maybe see it again this weekend
I thought Jamie did a good job …
I’m getting so emotional reading these comments. My boyfriend is planning on taking me tomorrow :3
As awesome as a Wednesday early release was for fans, it doesn’t really translate into a successful opening day. Who is going out aside from fans to go see this movie on a weekday? Also, not a lot of theatres did midnight releases. The closest midnight showing to us was 45minutes away (and we live in a town with three theatres 10-15 minutes drive from us), and then we found out at 6pm on Tuesday one theatre had opened up the midnight premiere, so it was a low turnout since no one KNEW (except the diehard fans like us that showed up in full runes and black leather). We’ll hopefully see a better response come the ACTUAL weekend, when the mundanes get around to visiting the theatres….
I think that the critics have made it worse by comparing it to twilight, there not even remotely similar. I thought it was amazing, they are just slating it because it is a ‘teen’ franchise.
So annoying how every YA book (and now movie) is being compared to The Hunger Games or Twilight. I mean, hello people, there are OTHER books out there besides those two. TMI is so good, it should have its own category! I’m excited to see this film, and I love the actors that they have chosen. It being released on a Wednesday is probably what made the numbers so low, but I know a lot of people will be seeing it this weekend! :]
I agree, it’s getting annoying seeing it compared to them everywhere. I like Hunger Games also, but they are far to different to compare to each other. (TMI is way better though >.>)
I’ve read the book series of The Mortal Instruments…. They are all good to read … but what happened to the Movie Adaption … I was so excited when it announced that there will a movie going on, and now it’s in Cinema and we watched it, i was so disappointed … the story is so fast , no thrill at all unlike the book, lack of passion in the movie , why cant they make a movie like harry potter … really … TMI is so rich in actions, well defined scenarios , great dialogues, rich in culture, great imaginations, great story lines … but my God … I’ve been waiting for this day to come and watch my fave books in live action but im truly disappointed… I hope that the writter and director should be more meticulously do their jobs … and please cassandra clare this is your books … so dont let them ruin it in Filming … find somebody who could do a better job .. like Zack Snyder …
There’s no need to be nervous. City of bones hasn’t opend yet in european countries (well in Germany not, where I live), so we cannot say anything about the box office. Also you cannot compare CoB with big hollywood productions.
in mexico it premieres in august 30… like how do they expect to have a great opening weekend?
i saw it yesterday in norway but only 15 People were to see it, i was quite in a shock but the local cinema, do just one screening a day and the times are so early in the Afternoon??! Who have time to see it??? O-o
It’ll do well overseas. I hope. I know fans who live in other countries who havn’t had the movie premier yet. Some are still waiting for september & october!!!? My country was fortunate to see TMI on August 22nd. The weekend had full cinemas So our cinema had to put up more showings 🙂