Nikki Rocco Quotations

We're going to go back to the drawing board. Good movies are supposed to buck this trend. You hear how it's all about the product, but we have an excellent movie that people just aren't turning out for. It's something bigger.

What's so great is that this is a moderate budgeted film that's probably going to be the most profitable for the studio this year, ... There's no back-end participations in it and it only cost us $55 million to make. This is a franchise that we built from the ground floor.

We're hopeful that the nominations will give the film continued visibility, which will prove to be a favorable result at the box office.

My little monkey's doing great. We're convinced with all the information we have that this is the big guy, and he's going to be around for a long time.

Only 19 movies have ever opened to $60 million-plus and none have been in June,

This wasn't about making a blockbuster. This was about telling a story that needed to be told.

We may be seeing a real change in moviegoing patterns. They're not going to the movies that history and research suggest they will. I've never seen a year like this. We're throwing out the old strategies.

has taught us that you can't really predict what's going to happen during any season. I think we're going to make up ground.

Our racy little R-rated comedies are making a hit this year.

I will take a weekend when Universal owns over one third of the total market share for the top anytime.

The American public spoke out this weekend, and clearly what it was saying was that it was not too soon for this film. People understand that it was well made and respectful, that it honors these heroes.

(Theater owners) want it, and they want it in as many play dates as they can get it.

which makes this picture for Universal and for Working Title a hugely profitable endeavor.

We had great sneaks. The capacity was 78 percent, which we're very happy about. They loved it. We had 99 percent in the top two boxes and the excellent (score) was 78 percent. It was definitely females over 30 -- exactly what we expected. And we know the picture has potential to crossover (to a broader audience).

We are obviously disappointed in the drop, but we're proud of the film and, hopefully, it fares better overseas where the openings have been strong.

Well, that's one way to get the young males out of the house. Now if we can just get them some dates. Maybe people aren't dating anymore.

The public has grown to love these characters and the fact that this culminates in a wedding might have something to do with (its audience) getting a little bit older. For the core audience, it was 92 percent in the top two boxes (excellent and very good).

To have a summer where you have five films break $100 million is certainly an achievement. It speaks well for the entire group (at Universal).

There's still room out there for smart, adult films.

The scores were above average, particularly from the under-25 group, which is the target audience. Fifty-seven percent was under 25 (while with) 'American Pie 2' 67 percent of the audience was under 25. Seventy-seven percent was under 25 for the original.

This is the first leg of what we think is an incredible release plan for a picture that technically needs to sell itself because it's a word of mouth film.

This is absolutely a thrill for myself and my team and for the studio, for marketing and production,

This is a big step forward in the transition to digital cinema.

It's a great way to start out. With $10 million and 1.5 million people out there talking about how great it is, it all works to build what we think will be a holiday smash hit.

It's always nice to have the number one film in the marketplace. The exit polls are terrific and we're very hopeful that this picture will continue to perform well.

It's nice to have some good news after all the bad. Maybe things will be a little less unpredictable this year.

It wasn't a film that had to go out and do $50 million on opening. With war looming, the predominant message from moviegoers this weekend was they wanted light escapist fare.

They were motivated to go. They love the material, they love the actors.

They were motivated to go. They love the material, they love the actor. It's the motivation to get them to go to the movies, and I hope that we as an industry keep that up. If we want the business to survive, we have to continue to find ways to motivate them.

It's not about the positioning of the film. It's about the fact that the American public spoke out. ... What they said was that it wasn't too soon for a film about Sept. 11.

That's an unbelievable hold. I (looked back) and there has not been any film since Feb. 7 when 'Chicago' went wide that held as well. In 10 days it's done nearly $50 million. It's obvious the picture has the ability to go past $100 million.

I hope you get into the high-profile film season and they say, 'I want to see that,

I'm very concerned about the marketplace. There are so many movies out, so much to choose from, yet the marketplace continues to fall, and not just by little amounts.

Hulk, ... is only one of a variety of films (from Universal this summer), including 'Bruce Almighty,' '2 Fast 2 Furious' and 'American Wedding' (the 'American Pie' sequel opening Aug. 1) that make up our entire portfolio. We've already grossed $435 million in six weekends with three films. With three other films coming out this summer, including the third installment of one of our most successful franchises ('Wedding'), we're truly optimistic about the performance of Universal's entire lineup.