Paris Hilton’s Masterpiece: $81 per screen average this weekend
Not all marketing pays dividends. Here’s an example that’s bound to bring a delicious smile to your face:
Despite a jam-packed three weeks of promotion for Paris Hilton’s new film The Hottie and The Nottie, the opening weekend numbers were complete cow dung. A romantic comedy starring Hilton, Joel David Moore, and Christine Lakin, it opened Friday to $9,000 on 111 screens, or $81 per screen, according to Box Office Mojo.
For those keeping track on the Paris Hilton temperature scale, that’s NOT hot. In fact, it’s colder than a Eskimo’s refrigerator. Basically, 2-3 people were watching her film, on average, each screening. The weekend gross tumbled in at $27,000. Meanwhile, according to the New York Post, she got “paid $100K to have her 25th birthday at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas.” So don’t worry about the princess going broke.
The only comparable box office disaster is Jessica Simpson’s 2007 “star vehicle” Blonde Ambition, which averaged $48 per screen on a Friday opening for a total box office of $384. The film grossed $6,422 domestically before – thank God!/ at long last!/please kill me! – it came to DVD.
Paris had premiered the film in Hollywood and Dallas, appeared in Philadelphia, at Harvard University, and the Sundance Film Festival, and even shmoozed on talk shows such as the Late Show with David Letterman. And even with all that marketing effort, she still couldn’t get people to watch her movie. What did I tell ya? Marketing ain’t easy.
So what does all this mean for the old marketing adage: does sex still sell? Probably. But sometimes content gets in the way.
February 12th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Man, that really did bring a smile to my face… Very funny article
February 13th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Ha, great find! Funny Stuff.
February 13th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Wow, $81 vs. $100,000 … who’s her manager?
February 13th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Good for her. Paris is not hot!
February 14th, 2008 at 5:28 am
She should ve just released another sex tape at least she would have made more than 8 or 9k lol
What dumb blonde !
February 14th, 2008 at 5:45 am
$81 per screen, 1-2 people means that they paid ticket prices of $27 to $40 per person.Are ticket prices that crazy in the states, am I not understanding something, or is your math wonky?
February 14th, 2008 at 5:57 am
That’s pretty bad
February 14th, 2008 at 7:29 am
i dont understand how $81 per screen equates to 2-3 people. doesn’t that mean each person paid $27-$40?
February 14th, 2008 at 11:45 am
If it was $81 per screen and “2-3 people” were watching per screen, does that mean that the tickets cost $40 each?
February 15th, 2008 at 5:43 am
Can anyone be surprised that anything Paris Hilton does is going to be rediculous at best and plain horrible at worst. As always with her, it’s about keeping her nae out there in the press.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:39 am
The trailer looked pretty good to me, except that it was a rehash of another teen movie whose title has slipped my mind at the moment…
I guess word of mouth can doom a movie as well as sell one.
February 18th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Good to see that not everything turns in gold with those celebrities. You just made my day
February 25th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Can’t Believe I have to explain this…but…the movie was played more than once in that day…the movie made an average $81 per day, which I guess they figured only about 4 showings in that day with 2 people in each showing it would come to just about that much.
Basically, 2-3 people were watching her film, on average, each screening.
Key words being Each Screening….Is this the result of having Paris in your head for even a second….I don’t know…
March 6th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Wow, she really needs help or whoever shelled out the beans to put it together needs help. It must have nothing going for it at all. At least an interesting story line could have brought in some people. Maybe the problem is that people don’t expect her to have an interesting story line and thus it’s self perpetuating.