Mike Myers is a big name in Hollywood. But just how big? The first ‘Austin Powers’ in 1997 opened with $9.5 mill, the last in 2002 with $73 mill. But can he carry a new movie (character) into the twenties? The Friday box office numbers for the $62 million ‘The Love Guru’ don’t say so. It made an even lower than expected $5 million this Friday.

Steve Carell is a totally different story. He began to make a name for himself just a couple of years ago. He starred in some hits (‘Little Miss Sunshine’) and some mild flops (‘Evan Almighty’). But most of his movies didn’t flop as hard as ‘The Cat in the Hat,’ by his weekend competitor Myers. The first numbers for the $80 million TV adaptation are good though. Carell opened with about $14.5 million in ticket sales this Friday.

The last numbers indicate a good weekend for Carell and a low point for Myers. The final estimates for the weekend box office are a meager $14 million total for ‘The Love Guru’ and a decent $40 million for ‘Get Smart.’ Based on its budget + marketing, this isn’t looking good for Paramount (‘The Love Guru’). Time for another ‘Austin Powers,’ maybe?

Would it be fair to say the two comedies releasing next week are rather low on buzz? I’d say so. ‘Get Smart’ has the ‘Speed Racer’ vibe going, it’s based on some TV show in the sixties nobody remembers. And ‘The Love Guru’ has the Mike Myers vibe going, which can be bad (’The Cat in the Hat’) or pretty good (’Austin Powers’).

At this point, Warner’s ‘Get Smart’ is topping the Mike Myers vehicle. Especially the older crowd (25+) prefers Steve Carell over Mike Myers at this point. With about the same budgets, around $80 million, this could be a tight race. Let’s have an early look at the tracking numbers to see their box office potential.

Continue reading Early ‘Love Guru’ and ‘Get Smart’ box office tracking