'Robin Hood' far from a bull's-eye, but foreign grosses keep it in the range

It's not clear yet whether a healthy overseas performance will be enough to make a hit out of "Robin Hood," but it certainly staved off disaster.

Universal Pictures and Relativity Media's costly historical epic, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe, had a weak estimated opening in the U.S. and Canada for a summer event film -- $37.1 million -- but took in a more-than-respectable $74 million overseas, where it opened in every major territory except China and Japan.

It has virtually no chance of being a major hit like Crowe and Scott's "Gladiator," which won a best picture Oscar and grossed $458 million worldwide in 2000. But it should do much better than Scott's 2005 historical-epic flop, "Kingdom of Heaven," which ended up with $211.6 million worldwide.

U.S. and Canadian audiences gave "Robin Hood" a mediocre average grade of B-, according to market research firm CinemaScore, meaning word of mouth will probably be soft. That's counter-balanced somewhat by the fact that it appealed mostly to adults, who were more likely than young people to see a movie after its opening weekend. Still, the film probably will end up with a domestic total of about $100 million, an unimpressive performance for a big-budget summer picture.

Overseas, however, "Robin Hood" should end up with at least $200 million, a solid total for any movie with aspirations of worldwide appeal. If foreign audiences really take to the film and it significantly exceeds $200 million internationally, "Robin Hood" could end up something of a hit.

At a minimum, however, Universal and its financing partner Relativity appear to have a so-so performer on their hands, which is likely a relief given that studio executives have admitted the economics of the movie make it challenging to turn a profit. The picture cost more than $200 million to make, according to two people familiar with the budget, though a spokesman said that if tax credits were included and costs for an aborted production start in 2008 were excluded, the budget was about $155 million.

"Robin Hood" is the third of three costly pictures released in 2010 by Universal and co-financed by Relativity that had executives at the companies nervous, along with "The Wolfman" and "Green Zone." The latter two movies both flopped, but "Robin Hood" appeared to have avoided that fate.

Now executives at Universal, which also had a dismal 2009 that led to the firing of former Co-Chairmen Marc Linde and David Shmuger and the elevation of Adam Fogelson, president of marketing, and Donna Langley, president of production, to the top jobs, can breathe a small sigh of relief and look forward to potentially more profitable pastures ahead.

The studio's highest-profile release still to come this summer is the animated family comedy "Despicable Me."

For more on the opening of "Robin Hood," along with "Letters to Juliet" and "Just Wright" and the second-weekend performance of "Iron Man 2," see our initial box office post.

Here are the top 10 movies at the domestic box office, according to studio estimates and Hollywood.com:

1. "Iron Man 2" (Marvel/Paramount): $53 million on its second weekend, down 59%. $31 million overseas in 63 foreign territories. Domestic total: $212.2 million. International total: $245 million

2. "Robin Hood" (Universal/Relativity): Opened to $37.1 million. $74 million overseas in 56 foreign territories.

3. "Letters to Juliet" (Summit): Opened to $13.8 million.

4. "Just Wright" (Fox Searchlight): Opened to $8.5 million.

5. "How to Train Your Dragon" (DreamWorks Animation/Paramount): $5.1 million on its eighth weekend, down 23%. $7 million overseas in 61 foreign territories. Domestic total: $207.8 million. International total: $221 million.

6. "A  Nightmare on Elm Street" (Warner Bros./New Line): $4.7 million on its third weekend, down 48%. $7.8 million overseas in 24 foreign markets. Domestic total: $56.1 million. International total: $17 million.

7. "Date Night" (Fox/Dune): $4 million on its sixth weekend, down 27%. $5.1 million in 40 foreign markets. Domestic total: $86.7 million. International total: $48.3 million.

8. "The Back-Up Plan" (CBS): $2.5 million on its fourth weekend, down 51%. Domestic total: $34.2 million.

9. "Furry Vengeance" (Summit): $2.3 million on its third weekend, down 49%. Domestic total: $15.1 million.

10. "Clash of the Titans" (Warner Bros./Legendary): $1.3 million on its seventh weekend, down 50%. $4.3 million overseas in 58 foreign markets. Domestic total: $160.2 million. International total: $303.1 million.

-- Ben Fritz

Photo: Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott on the set of "Robin Hood." Credit: David Appleby / Universal Studios

Comments

[AL]

This was a horrible movie. I will not comment on the visuals, as I didn’t watch it on the big screen. So I will be fair on that. Anyway, the major problem for this movie is that…the script was only written, not rewritten. In other words…it was just written by someone who never worked out the details. There was no MAJOR conflict. If Robin was the main actor then he was totally undeveloped as a character. The scene when his father was executed served no purpose whatsoever on the entire movie. A movie should have a Main character, a Villain and a good conflict. To have a good conflict one must have a PREMISE. Everything else should just serve that premises. Every supporting character or subplot should be there to drive the conflict towards the climax (which was horrible as well).
To be honest there were too many undeveloped conflicts. Too many PLOTS. While a movie should have only one plot. At most two, but even then it should be a plot and a subplot. It started out nice, with the king killed and Robin and his friends trying to get back to England. King John is presented as a villain. But there is no conflict between him and the main character. Suddenly, Godfree comes out as a villain, but he too has no real conflict with Robin. It’s a mess all over the place. The couple has no chemistry whatsoever. How did he just fall in love with her? How come none question Robin for Loksley’s death. How do they know he didn’t kill him or something?
The battle was horrible. The French didn’t fight at all. They were slaughter continuously. Not single English man lost to any of the French. ??
With all due respect to Crowe he was not a good choice for this movie. The entire thing was a bad remake of Gladiator. The only thing they were thinking the entire movie was the success of gladiator.
How a man became a legend. Isn’t that GLADIATOR?? General-slave-gladiator…
As for the sequel, even though Ridley was thinking to lay the ground for the second episode, he has done so much damage that there is nothing he can do to repair it. In my opinion he should move on to the next project and forget about Robin Hood forever, it’s not his type of work. It is out of his league.

In order to understand how badly this movie was just Ask the main question; If you remove Robin from the picture could things have resolved differently?
NOOOOO…John would have been King, Godfree would have slaughter all those people and the French would have been discovered by the English. Image in how bad is a movie when the Main Character doesn’t play any role whatsoever!!!

Rating: 2/10

[John Dingler]

Hi Al,
King John was over the top, hence incongruous relatve to the rest of the characters. He was as if cartoon characters Daffy Duck were plopped down into a serious stage play. He played it as silly as the protagonists in the Kevin Kostner version.

Every time K. John appeared on the screen, the spell of believability broke.

However, it was good overall, I guess the camera, acting, and the action compensated.

[vikrantBirje]

Dear RC and TS,

The movie should rock us to the very bottom, but looks we missed getting it from you guys. We are a bit disappointed by the end product since this is the result of the high expectation from your side that was anticipated. Best luck for your future endeavors
Regards,
Vikrant Birje

[Mark]

Remember when a great film had nothing to do with how much money it made? The idea that anyone is calling that crap, I mean Iron man, a hit is amazing to me. Does anyone even care that we've totally dumbed down the world?

Well..."as long as I have my SUV and xbox, Ahm happy"......imbeciles

[Breton]

What next ? A remake of" The Elephant Man" - or how about" Reuben,Reuben".It's hard to show off " range" when a garage sale blender has you beat...

[arturotorres]

great movie can not wait for the real robin hood movie though planting corn corn was introduced to europe from the americas first propagated in mexico 7000 years ago

[Ripp]

I'm trying to figure out why I really like that movie. It really got medieval, that is, I really felt the times. In America, the idea of some guy not being able to at least go get a deer for food is so unthinkable. The King claiming God is on his side, the orphans just fending for themselves out in the woods somewhere, people living for today because living past 30 was a real question, getting an arrow in the side and no doctor to do anything about it, that was all the life then.
They had to include a strong feminist to keep today's woman happy, but they pulled it off pretty well. All right, the woman jumping into the battle in a coat of armour, oh please.
(That was a gaffe with the mention of corn although they did use that word for grain back then, using it in the script was unwise because it makes the audience wonder whether they really knew better.)