Miley Cyrus' 'LOL' is a box office flop — but how big a flop?

This post has been corrected. See below for details.

Miley Cyrus’ latest film, “LOL,” hit theaters this past weekend, but the world may never know how it did at the box office.

Lionsgate released the teen romance, an adaptation of a popular 2008 French film of the same name, in 90 theaters with virtually no publicity. But the studio did not disclose ticket-sale data to the public or data company Rentrak, a highly unusual move in an industry where box office grosses are widely disseminated and analyzed.

The film, which also stars Demi Moore, played in a dozen states this weekend, including Utah, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Texas.  Executives at the studio did not believe the picture would prove commercially appealing and wanted to release it direct-to-video, according to people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly about it. However, as a condition of its deals selling the picture to foreign distributors, Lionsgate was required to play "LOL" in nearly 100 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.

It did so but provided virtually no marketing support for the movie beyond a single trailer released online.

While Cyrus mentioned the film’s release on her Twitter account, the 19-year-old did not appear on any major talk shows and was not made available for interviews to discuss her role in the movie.

Unsurprisingly, several theater managers said the movie did dismal business at the box office this past weekend.

At the Great Escape Theatre in O'Fallon, Mo., the movie screened five times per day Friday through Sunday. But only 28 people showed up to see the film over the course of the weekend, amounting to $260.75 in receipts over the three-day period.

Richard Lintker, Great Escape’s city manager, said that Lionsgate was so eager for the theater to play "LOL" that the studio agreed to allow it to play it in place of the Jason Statham movie "Safe" this past weekend. The action film, also from Lionsgate, has not been a box office smash but would have likely made more money than the Cyrus flick.

"LOL" fared even worse at one of Atlas Cinemas’ locations in Ohio, where director of operations Chris Baxter said the movie collected a little over $100 from roughly 12 patrons all weekend long.

"It didn’t pay for the lights to be on," Baxter said. "It was literally the slowest movie we had this weekend, behind movies that have been out for 10 weeks."

Baxter noted that other Cyrus films — including the 2010 tear-jerker "The Last Song" — have performed well at the chain.

"This just wasn't marketed well," he said. "I've seen or heard nothing about it other than the posters we had in the theater."

As for the tween star herself, Cyrus seemed undeterred by the film's disappointing returns.

"Thank u so much for everyone who went to see LOL," she tweeted Monday morning. "It is a film I loved making and I am proud of... That's really all that matters to me."

A Lionsgate spokeswoman declined to discuss the movie or the studio's reasons for not reporting its box office receipts.

[For the record, 6:35 p.m., May 8: This post previously said O'Fallon is in Mississippi. It's in Missouri.]

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Photo: Miley Cyrus in "LOL." Credit: Lionsgate.

Four-alarm fire at Tyler Perry's Atlanta studio under control

A fire that broke out at Tyler Perry's Atlanta film studio was under control late Tuesday night, the Atlanta Fire Department said.

Over 100 firefighters, 13 engines and 12 trucks responded to the four-alarm fire at the filmmaker's studio complex, and no injuries were reported, said Capt. Jolyon Bundrige.

"As far as I know, [Perry] is OK -- there was a report that he was on the scene, but I didn't see him," Bundrige told The Times.

It is unknown what caused the fire, and firefighters on the scene were continuing to investigate the source Tuesday evening, Bundrige said.

Perry's Hollywood connection has been principally with Lionsgate Entertainment, with whom the filmmaker has had a long-standing relationship. The filmmaker's next movie, "Madea's Witness Protection" -- in which he will reprise his role as a sassy, plus-size grandmother -- will be released by Lionsgate on June 29. Perry is currently in post-production on "The Marriage Counselor," which is set to hit theaters next January. TBS also ordered 35 additional episodes of Perry's sitcom "For Better or Worse" in February. 

Lionsgate had no comment Tuesday night on how the fire may affect production.

According to Perry's website, in 2008 his studio moved into a 200,000-square-foot location in southwest Atlanta. The studio includes a back lot, a 400-seat theater, a private screening room, five sound stages, a post-production facility, a chapel and a gym, the website said. In March, Perry hosted a fundraiser for President Barack Obama at the 30-acre complex.

-- Amy Kaufman

twitter.com/AmyKinLA

Photo: Tyler Perry introduces President Obama during a fundraiser at the filmmaker's Atlanta studio in March. Credit: David Goldman / Associated Press

Joe Drake reunites with Mandate partner for Good Universe

Former Lionsgate movie chief Joe Drake, who was squeezed out of his job as part of the independent studio's acquisition of Summit Entertainment, is joining his former Mandate Pictures business partner to launch a new company that is essentially Mandate 2.0.

Drake and Nathan Kahane, who was most recently president of Mandate, are starting a new film finance, sales and production company called Good Universe.

Mandate is best known for quirky low-budget films like "Juno" and "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle," as well as horror films like "The Grudge" from its Ghost House label, a joint venture with director Sam Raimi. Good Universe will continue both efforts and also seek to make bigger-budget projects that appeal to a broader audience and have the potential to spawn sequels.

Founded in 2003, Mandate was acquired by Lionsgate in 2007. Drake then took a job as chairman of that studio's motion picture department while Kahane ran Mandate independently.

Several of Drake and Kahane's staffers from Lionsgate and Mandate will be joining them at Good Universe.

Their move to essentially re-establish Mandate has been expected for several months, since former Summit co-chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger were given Drake's job.

Santa Monica-based Good Universe will take over Mandate's entire development slate, in which it will share ownership with Lionsgate, and will help manage Mandate movies soon hitting theaters, including August's "Hope Springs," starring Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell.

The first Good Universe movies expected to start production are both carry-overs from Mandate: "Oldboy," directed by Spike Lee and starring Josh Brolin, and "Last Vegas," starring Michael Douglas. Drake will sell foreign distribution rights for those pictures and others at the Cannes Film Festival later this month.

Lionsgate will maintain its ownership of Mandate's library of approximately 30 films, including last year's dark comedies "50/50" and "Young Adult," though Good Universe will provide management services for them.

Lionsgate is not expected to replace Kahane or keep Mandate open as an operating entity. The studio already has a significantly expanded film operation following the integration of Summit.

Drake's departure from Lionsgate ironically comes little more than a month after the blockbuster success of "The Hunger Games," which the executive oversaw from development through release. However, Friedman and Wachsberger were promised the top film jobs at Lionsgate as part of the Summit acquisition.

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Muted joy over jump in location film shoots in L.A. last month

Annette Bening, Al Pacino, Ed Harris and several other celebrities helped power a surge in feature film shoots on the streets of Los Angeles last month, but film industry officials were hardly star struck.

Thanks to a flurry of low-budget celebrity-packed pictures, location shoots jumped 74% in April over last year, continuing double-digital gains from the first quarter of the year, according to data from FilmL.A. Inc., the nonprofit group that handles film permits for the city and county.

But the welcome news was tempered by the fact that most were features costing less than $20 million that don’t pack the same economic punch as big studio movies that mostly film in Louisiana, Georgia and other states with richer incentives.

California offers a credit of up to 25% of qualified production expenses, but the credit applies only to movies with budgets lower than $75 million.

What’s more, feature film activity, while up by double digits this year, remains a fraction of what it was during its peak more than a decade ago. And in a development that is more worrisome for Los Angeles, location filming for television shows — long a key driver of economic activity in the entertainment sector — continued to decline.

Production days for television shoots dropped 17% in April, after a 9% falloff in the first quarter, a trend that industry officials attributed to competition from states like New York, which hosted more than a dozen pilots this year. New York allocates $420 million annually to TV and movie production — four times as much as California.

“It’s a continuation of a trend we’ve seen for a long time," said FilmL.A. Inc. President Paul Audley. “The truth is California has put its toe in the water but really hasn’t become fully competitive to bring back the large features and TV dramas that produce the most spending and the most number of jobs for Californians.”

Audley said the California Legislature’s decision last year to extend the state tax credit by only one year instead of five sent the wrong message to the industry. A bill to extend the program five more years will be taken up by lawmakers this month.

“We need to see them make a true commitment to the industry," Audley said of the state lawmakers. “New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg routinely brags about how much business New York is taking from California.”

Although limited in scope, California’s program is having some effect in spurring local filming. Two of three new feature films that began filming in L.A. last month — the Lakeshore Entertainment comedy “Stand Up Guys” and the independently produced “The Look of Love” — each received approval for a state film credit.

“Stand Up Guys,” which stars Pacino and Christopher Walken in a story about aging con men, received approval for a $2.4 million credit, according to the California Film Commission.

“The Look of Love," a romantic comedy with Bening, Harris and Robin Williams, received an $800,000 credit. The production, which began its 26-day-shoot early last month, has filmed in multiple locations, including Mar Vista, La Canada Flintridge, Bergamot Station in Santa Monica and Aliso Beach in Orange County.

The crew will film in Venice this week, said Mike Fantasia, a veteran location manager who has worked on big-budget movies such as “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “Green Hornet.”

“The movie is set here so it would have been hard to film anywhere else," said Fantasia, mulling offers to work on films in North Carolina and Florida. “It’s great to be working at home.... All the big boys are filming out of town.”

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Photo: Al Pacino, seen holding an Emmy Award in 2010, is starring in a "Stand Up Guys," a movie filming in Los Angeles. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times.

Where the cameras roll

Sample of neighborhoods with permitted TV, film and commercial shoots scheduled this week. Permits are subject to last-minute changes. Sources: FilmL.A. Inc., cities of Beverly Hills, Santa Clarita and Pasadena. Thomas Suh Lauder / Los Angeles Times

Lionsgate keeps two marketing chiefs, extends Palen's contract

Lionsgate has decided to solve one of the thorniest staffing problems resulting from its acquisition of "Twilight" studio Summit Entertainment by keeping the marketing chiefs from both studios.

Tim Palen, Lionsgate's chief marketing officer who is coming off of the blockbuster success of "The Hunger Games," has signed a new deal that will keep him in his job through 2015.

However, the studio is also keeping Nancy Kirkpatrick in her current job as president of marketing for Summit, which is now a Lionsgate label.

The unusual arrangement comes after months of speculation within the company and throughout Hollywood over what Lionsgate would do with the duo. It has already merged every other department from the two studios and chosen an executive from one or the other to be in charge. Erik Feig of Summit is now the sole president of production, for instance, while Lionsgate's Steve Beeks oversees their combined home entertainment units.

Palen, a photographer who takes many of the pictures and designs some of the art for Lionsgate's advertisements, is well respected in the community and said to be a favorite of Chief Executive Jon Feltheimer. Kirkpatrick joined Summit along with its former chief Rob Freidman, now co-chair of Lionsgate's motion picture group, and remains close to him. Both previously worked together at Paramount Pictures.

People close to Lionsgate who were not authorized to speak publicly said the two did not want to share a "co-president" title.

Going forward, Palen will oversee the marketing for movies that were already in the works at Lionsgate, including the upcoming "What to Expect When You're Expecting," "Expendables 2" and next year's "Hunger Games" sequel "Catching Fire."

Kirkpatrick will handle marketing for movies that were in development at Summit before it was acquired by Lionsgate, including November's final "Twilight" film, "Breaking Dawn Part 2," as well as "Step Up Revolution" and next year's "Ender's Game," based on the classic science-fiction book.

It remains to be seen how the two will work together once the movies Summit already had in the works before the merger have all been released and Lionsgate has only one movie slate. Given his new contract and chief marketing officer title, however, Palen appears more likely to retain the top marketing job.

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OMG! Miley Cyrus' 'LOL' gets no love from Lionsgate

"LOL" was supposed to represent a big step for Miley Cyrus' movie career as she attempts to mature beyond her saccharine sweet image as Disney's Hannah Montana. Instead, it has turned into a tough lesson about how quickly a Hollywood studio can fall out of love with a movie.

An English-language adaptation of the hit 2008 French film of the same name, "LOL" is about teen romance in the age of texting and social media. The picture's sophisticated tone is set in one of its first scenes when Cyrus takes a shower while her mother, played by Demi Moore, takes a bath in the same room. The two have a frank talk about sexuality after Moore's character notices that her naked daughter has had a Brazilian wax.

"I really thought this movie could be universal," filmmaker Lisa Azuelos, who wrote and directed the American and French versions of the films, said in a telephone interview from Morocco. "Usually teen movies are tender or scary or have vampires in them, but they’re never realistic. This story isn’t too dirty and not too stupid."

The Cyrus movie was made in 2010 and produced by Mandate Pictures for about $11 million, with money raised primarily from sales to foreign distributors. Lionsgate, Mandate's parent company, acquired domestic distribution rights for several million dollars. In a statement released at the time, Lionsgate's then-production president, Allie Shearmur, described it as "the kind of smart, fresh and accessible comedy that ... is a great fit for Lionsgate's release slate."

But executives at the studio soon lost their enthusiasm for the picture, according to people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly about it. With Lionsgate focused on several higher-profile projects, including last year's flops "Abduction" and "Conan the Barbarian" and March's mega-hit "The Hunger Games," "LOL" never got a spot on the release calendar.

Lionsgate executives were not confident that they could successfully sell the picture, which centers on Cyrus' character, named Lola, but features a series of interwoven tales involving teenagers. It lacks the obvious marketing hook of high-profile films like "Hunger Games" and the upcoming adaptation of the bestselling pregnancy book "What to Expect When You're Expecting."

Azuelos said she was told by Lionsgate executives that they couldn't give "LOL" the proper attention until after "Hunger Games." "They couldn’t take care of my movie, and I waited in line," the director said, sounding frustrated.

In fact, "LOL" would likely have gone direct to DVD, the knowledgeable people said, but Mandate's contracts with foreign distributors contained a provision that the movie must be shown domestically in at least 100 theaters. As a result, the studio has very quietly decided to release "LOL" in seven cities on May 4, the same day as the sure-to-be blockbuster "Avengers," which is expected to open to more than $100 million.

Lionsgate set the May 4 date recently without making any formal announcement and has apparently planned to do no publicity.

In a sign of how low a priority "LOL" is at Lionsgate, its marketing is being handled by the studio's home entertainment division, not its theatrical marketing team, which typically oversees any release going to theaters.

A studio spokeswoman said that Cyrus was not available to discuss "LOL" due to her schedule. On her Twitter page, the actress has within the last weeks written about spending her time obsessively watching the television show “Prison Break,” eating walnuts, and walking her dog. This week, she also thanked her fans for promoting "LOL."

"LOL" marks the first PG-13 film for Cyrus, 19, who has previously found some success in more kid-friendly fare. A documentary following the pop star on her Hannah Montana concert tour grossed a solid $65.3 million in 2008, and "Hannah Montana: The Movie" performed even better the next year, collecting $79.6 million. Even 2010's tear-jerker "The Last Song," based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, generated a respectable $63 million.

This summer, Cyrus will appear in The Weinstein Co.’s “So Undercover” as a private eye investigating a college sorority house.

"LOL" is certainly not the first movie to linger on a studio's shelves before getting a less-than-enthusiastic release. Paramount Pictures' Eddie Murphy comedy "A Thousand Words" was shot in 2008 and only hit theaters this past March with a relatively small marketing campaign and very little support from its star.

Despite the lack of attention Lionsgate is giving the movie, the team behind "LOL" reserved hope that it will overcome the odds.

"It's a mother-daughter story that's really fresh and could find an audience," said producer Michael Shamberg.

"Your country is so big, so I’m very flattered the movie is being released," added Azuelos, who with "LOL" makes her American debut. "I wish it would be a national release. And I’m still hopeful that in those seven cities it’s going to be big and grow and grow."

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Photo: Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore in "LOL." Credit: Mika Cotellon / Lionsgate.

'Hunger Games' to deliver more than $300 million in profit to Lions Gate

The blockbuster opening weekend of "The Hunger Games" — which debuted with an estimated $155 million — will ultimately lead to more than $300 million in profit for independent studio Lionsgate, analysts predicted Sunday.

And with three sequels to come, the franchise as a whole is expected to deliver $1.5 billion or more to the Santa Monica company's bottom line.

That's a significant success for Lionsgate, which has posted net losses in its last four fiscal years and struggled to up its game in film production. While it has scored with a variety of genre and prestige pictures like "Saw" and "Precious" and has a growing television division, the studio last year took losing bets on several high-profile flops, including "Conan the Barbarian" and the Taylor Lautner action-thriller "Abduction."

Media analyst Monica Dicenso of JP Morgan predicted that the first "Hunger Games" film will produce $310 million in profit and the series as a whole will generate $1.5 billion. James Marsh of Piper Jaffray said the numbers could be even higher, with more than $400 million from the first movie and $2-billion-plus for the entire series.

This weekend's release, which cost a little more than $80 million to make (after a tax break) and $45 million more to market, needed to reach about $100 million in domestic box office receipts to break even, according to a person familiar with the picture’s economics who was not authorized to speak publicly. The picture reached that milestone on Saturday.

The ultimate success of the franchise will depend largely on how the movie performs on DVD when it's no longer in theaters as well as the sales of licensed products.

Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns noted Sunday that he had just received an email informing him that "Hunger Games" T-shirts were already selling out in many Hot Topic chain stores.

"The panacea in the movie business is to find franchises," he said when asked to reflect on the meaning of "The Hunger Games" to the studio, which he and chief executive Jon Feltheimer have run since 2000.

"The idea that we can create some predictability around the most unpredictable part of our business is fantastic," he added.

There are several factors in Lions Gate's favor that should help the company generate even higher profits from the sequels than the first film. The movie's international opening, for instance, was solid but not spectacular, particularly outside of the English-speaking world, where author Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" novels are not as well known.

Just as the popular"Twilight" sequels did much better overseas than the original, the same might hold true for Lionsgate's new franchise.

In addition, with the success of the first film, Lionsgate will be in a position to demand more favorable terms from foreign distributors for the sequels. The independent studio does not handle the release of its movies outside of the U.S. and Great Britain.

One challenge the company faces, however, is the pending departure of motion picture group president Joe Drake. While Feltheimer gave the movie the greenlight, it was Drake and his team who oversaw the development, production and marketing.

Drake and several of his key executives are being replaced by the team from "Twilight" studio Summit Entertainment, which Lionsgate acquired in January.

Lions Gate stock has more than doubled in value since September in part because of anticipation for "The Hunger Games" (as well as the exit of dissident shareholder Carl Icahn). The shares closed at $14.53 on Friday. But with the movie outperforming even the most optimistic expectations this weekend, they could rise again Monday.

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Photo: Lions Gate vice chairman Michael Burns and actress Jennifer Lawrence at the premiere of "The Hunger Games." Credit: Kevin Winter / Getty Images.

'Hunger Games' grosses $68 million Friday, earns 'A' CinemaScore

"The Hunger Games" scored the fifth-highest opening day of all time at the box office and earned a perfect score from moviegoers.

The adaptation of the best-selling book about teens battling to the death grossed $68.25 million on Friday, according to the film's distributor, Lionsgate. That puts it behind the last three "Twilight" movies and the final "Harry Potter" installment on the list of best single-day ticket sales, but ahead of such mega-hits as "The Dark Knight," "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Spider-Man 3."

Just as importantly for Lionsgate, the film earned an average grade of A, according to market research firm CinemaScore. Among audiences under 18, it received a rarely rewarded A+. That means word-of-mouth should be very strong and moviegoers who weren't among the hard-core fans who rushed out opening day are more likely to turn out in the coming days.

With such a strong debut, "The Hunger Games" is now all but assured to gross at least $140 million for the full three-day weekend, with $150 million very possible.

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Photo: A worker installs a "Hunger Games" marquee on the billboard at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York. Credit: Don Emmert / Getty Images.

'Hunger Games' collects nearly $20 million from late-night shows

"The Hunger Games" cleaned up during its first night in theaters, taking in $19.75 million from late-night shows after 12 a.m. on Friday.

Lionsgate's hotly anticipated adaptation of the bestselling book by Suzanne Collins ranks as the seventh highest ever total gross from "midnight screenings" (Hollywood's term for shows that start anytime from 12 a.m. on a film's opening day until the sun rises).

The six films ranked higher were the three most recent installments in the "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" series.

VIDEO: 'The Hunger Games' review

Big turnouts for late-night shows are an indication of intense excitement among fans, who would rather stay up until dawn than wait a minute longer than necessary to see a film. And while they don't guarantee that a movie will ultimately prove popular among broad audiences, a big midnight debut is an indicator that a picture will have a huge opening weekend.

Every other film that has posted more than $16.6 million in midnight shows on a Friday (the cut-off point for the top 10) has gone to take in well over $100 million on its opening weekend. "The Hunger Games" appears poised to do the same, with a debut as high as $150 million still possible.

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Photo: Two fans at the opening night of "The Hunger Games" at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. Credit: Valerie Macon / Getty Images.

Lionsgate spending $45 million to market 'The Hunger Games'

Lionsgate is launching its biggest ever marketing campaign for "The Hunger Games," but still not outspending Hollywood's major studios.

To promote its biggest budget production yet, the Santa Monica-based studio is spending about $45 million to advertise the picture in the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter but not authorized to speak publicly.

Lionsgate typically devotes less than $30 million to selling its nationwide releases, which are often targeted genre films such as "Saw" and Tyler Perry's comedies, though it did spend $40 million to market the 2010 hit "The Expendables."

Hollywood's major studios can spend as much as $70 million to $80 million marketing their most expensive event movies domestically.

Lionsgate has the advantage, of course, of huge built-in awareness for "The Hunger Games." The trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins on which the film is based have already sold 23.5 million copies worldwide.

As a result, the studio has not only been able to afford a more cost-effective advertising campaign, but is able to get away with not showing any footage in commercials and trailers from the actual hunger games, in which teenagers hunt each other to the death in front of a televised audience.

Lionsgate's marketing strategy appears to be working spectacularly well. Pre-release surveys suggest that "The Hunger Games" will have an opening weekend of more than $100 million when it debuts across the country on March 23.

For more, see the story in today's Times on on Lionsgate's marketing campaign for "The Hunger Games."

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Photo: Josh Hutcherson, left, Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth at the premiere of "The Hunger Games." Credit: Kevin Winter / Getty Images.