SNEAK PREVIEWS
This weekend saw Miramax hold 1,250 well attended sneak previews Friday and Saturday night of its PG-13 rated romantic comedy Serendipity. The sneaks were held at theaters playing The Others.
Directed by Peter Chelsom, it stars John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale.
"They were extremely successful and we're just over the moon this morning," Miramax senior vice president, marketing David Kaminow, said Sunday morning. "We had a national average capacity of 80-90 percent. We had sell-outs in almost every single market and in some markets multiple sell-outs. I'm not just talking about New York or L.A. type markets. We had sell-outs in places like Franklin, Tennessee and Omaha, Nebraska and Birmingham, Alabama.
"So the movie played really, really deep, which is very exciting for us--to have the movie play as broadly as it did and get the reach of an audience that deep both on Friday and Saturday night. We know that the film is (its own) best friend. We love to show the movie to audiences because we know they're going to love it and get the word of mouth out there."
Asked about the film's audience, Kaminow replied, "Demographically we were about 60 percent female and 40 percent male, about 40 percent under 25. Our exit surveys--the ones that we've gotten back (as of early Sunday morning) from six or seven markets--on average we're looking at 80-90 percent in the Top Two Boxes (excellent and very good) and a 70s percent (range) definite recommend. So we feel we're in a great position (to open) this weekend.
"We're really the only romantic comedy in the marketplace right now. It is the perfect movie for the current climate of the country. You go and you feel good. It's 90 minutes of romance and humor. I think one of the things that also made the sneaks successful was getting the idea out there that it's not just John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, who are of course wonderful actors and performers in their own right, but letting people know that we have Jeremy Piven and Molly Shannon and Eugene Levy in the cast for the comedy aspect of the film that might help it skew a little younger and a little more male, not just for women. So we got that message out there I'd say in the past week to 10 days to let everyone know that they were in the movie, as well. I think it's shaping up to, hopefully, be a big hit this weekend."
Serendipity opens Friday (Oct. 5) at between 2,200 and 2,400 theaters.
EXPANSIONS
There was no significant action on the expansion front this weekend.