Joe Somebody
Release Date:
December 21, 2001
It's Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, so a proud father grabs his little girl and heads to the office. Divorced and aimless, this is one of the first enjoyable days he's had in his life in a long time, but then it's ruined. Another man gets into an argument with him - over a *parking space*, of all things - and beats him up. Humiliated in front of his little girl, he decides to gain revenge upon the man who has committed this act, and his life becomes reinvigorated as he sets upon this course of action.
Now that Home Improvement has run its course, Tim Allen has more time to work on movies. Whether that's a gain or a loss is up for debate, but this film has a very funny synopsis. Having Patrick Warburton, famous as Puddy from Seinfeld and soon to become famous as The Tick, play his comic foil will make for an exquisite match of strong, gruff man vs. undersized, insecure neurotic. The film that most easily compares to this on a surface level is Jingle All the Way, a movie where Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad faced off in an attempt to win a prized Christmas holiday toy. This will be the only time in his career that Tim Allen as a lead actor is equated on any level with Ahnuld, so if you're reading this, Tim, congratulations.
The good news for this film is that Jingle All the Way was a very nice-sized hit, and Galaxy Quest, Jungle2Jungle and The Santa Clause show that Tim Allen has a surprising amount of box-office pull. In fact, even the horrific For Richer or Poorer made over $30 million domestic. He has an everyman charm to him that draws a lot of generic appeal across family demographics, and as such, this is exactly the sort of film that people are likely to pay to see him in. There's something to be said for a performer who gives the audience exactly what they want each outing, and as long as he follows through on this, his films are nice, safe bets. Keep an eye on the performance of Big Trouble to see if his appeal might change based on how well-received that film is. (David Mumpower/BOP)
Comparison films for Joe Somebody |
Title |
Date |
Opening |
Adjusted Opening |
Screens |
PSA |
Adj PSA |
Total BO |
Adjusted Total |
Mult |
| Santa Clause 2, The |
11/1/02 | 29.01 |
30.16 |
3350 |
8659.00 |
8659.0 |
139.23 |
144.75 |
4.80 |
| Santa Clause, The |
11/11/94 | 19.32 |
28.55 |
2183 |
8850.00 |
12580.9 |
144.83 |
214.04 |
7.50 |
| Jungle 2 Jungle |
3/7/97 | 12.81 |
16.82 |
2316 |
5531.00 |
6989.1 |
59.93 |
78.73 |
4.68 |
| Jingle all the Way |
11/22/96 | 12.11 |
16.52 |
2401 |
5044.00 |
6618.8 |
60.59 |
82.66 |
5.00 |
| Galaxy Quest ^ |
12/25/99 | 7.01 |
8.35 |
2412 |
2906.00 |
3317.9 |
70.26 |
83.72 |
10.02 |
| Big Trouble |
4/5/02 | 3.55 |
3.69 |
1961 |
1808.00 |
1808.0 |
7.26 |
7.54 |
2.05 |
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