Weekend Wrap-Up
Witch Mountain Holds Off Watchmen
By John Hamann
March 15, 2009
Second spot this weekend goes to Watchmen, and the second weekend fallout was expectedly bad. After opening above $55 million last weekend, Watchmen crashed, grossing $18.1 million and dropping 67%. We knew by reviews and word-of-mouth that this one was made for the voracious fans of the graphic novel, and that it left non-fans somewhat behind with its convoluted plot and long running time. Warner Bros. needed a bigger opening weekend to go with this expected drop, so the writing was on the wall. Since opening, Watchmen has also done poorly internationally, earning only $26.6 million from 44 foreign markets, which is a gross akin to a film like Bedtime Stories (yep, that bad). Domestically, it now looks like Watchmen will not match its reported budget of $150 million, as it currently sits with $86 million.
Third goes to The Last House on the Left, which outgrossed Watchmen on Friday, but lost ground over the rest of the weekend. Torture porn is officially no longer the box office success that it was, as this remake/reboot/re-imagining earned a soft $14.7 million from 2,401 venues. Despite having a supposed built-in audience, Last House on the Left finished in the same neck of the woods as Quarantine, a new horror idea that was released last October, and opened to $14.2 million. Gone are the bigger grosses for horror remakes (even very bad ones) like When a Stranger Calls ($21.6 million opening), The Amityville Horror ($23.5 million opening), or Dawn of the Dead ($26.7 million opening). However, these films have D list stars and no budget - Last House gave employment to Tony Goldwyn (the bad guy in Ghost) and Monica Potter (Saw, Patch Adams). This was probably made for about $25 million, which means Rogue Pictures (a division of Universal) might see some backhanded success.
Fourth spot goes to Taken, the Paul Blart of revenge films. Taken is now its seventh weekend in the top five (yes, seventh), which is something that even his honor Paul Blart could not achieve. The Liam Neeson flick earned another $6.7 million, dropping a tiny 9% from the previous frame. The overall total for Taken is $126.8 million, which puts it alongside Slumdog Millionaire, Gran Torino and the aforementioned Paul Blart as a set of four films that have shockingly made it over the $125 million mark.
Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail finishes fifth, as Perry sees the best legs ever for any of his releases, even though this one hasn't held all that well. Madea earned $5.1 million and was off 40% compared to the previous frame. While this one will likely fall short of $100 million, it's the closest Perry has come to the mark, and Madea Goes to Jail has a total so far of $83.2 million.
Slumdog Millionaire slides to sixth spot as the shine is coming off the Best Picture winner somewhat. The Fox Searchlight goldmine earned $5 million and was off 26% compared to the previous frame. Slumdog now has a $136.2 million domestic tally, a $117 million foreign tally, and still has a huge run on DVD to come. Remember, this one cost the studio only $15 million to make.
Seventh goes to top ten stalwart Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which is now in its ninth weekend (can you believe this debuted on January 16 to $31 million?). Nine weekends later, Paul Blart is still earning, taking down another $3.1 million, good for a drop of 25%. Don't forget - this one matched its budget ($26 million) two days into release, and has a running total so far of $137.8 million.
He's Just Not That Into You slides to eighth, and is now in its sixth weekend of release (legs have been the flavor of winter in North America). The Drew Barrymore flick earned $2.9 million and was off 28%. The Warner Bros. feature has now earned $89 million.
In ninth we have a good movie in Coraline. Now in its sixth weekend, Coraline grossed $2.7 million and dropped a slight 18%. The animated Focus Features film has now earned $69.1 million against a budget of $35 million.
Tenth goes to the last of our crop of openers, Miss March from Fox Atomic. Miss March is a complete disaster on 1,742 venues. It earned only $2.4 million and garnered a RottenTomatoes score of 5% (two positive reviews out of 37). Close on the heels of the other horny teen comedy Fired Up!, studios might want to revisit the idea of sending these straight-to-video.
Overall this weekend, thanks to the big drop from Watchmen and the low debuts of Last House on the Left and Miss March, the box office lost ground compared to last year - for the first time in 2009. The top 12 films earned only $89.2 million this weekend, whereas a year ago, Horton Hears a Who led the top twelve to $105.9 million, with a $45 million opening frame. Next weekend could be interesting. We get a new Paul Rudd (Role Models) comedy that's already receiving solid reviews in I Love You Man, a Nic Cage effects laden flick in Knowing, and the Julia Roberts/Clive Owen thriller, Duplicity.
| 1 |
Race to Witch Mountain |
Walt Disney Pictures |
$25,000,000 |
$24,402,214 |
New |
$24,402,214 |
| 2 |
Watchmen |
Warner Bros. |
$18,070,000 |
$17,817,301 |
- 67.7% |
$85,751,993 |
| 3 |
The Last House on the Left |
Rogue Pictures |
$14,658,105 |
$14,118,685 |
New |
$14,118,685 |
| 4 |
Taken |
Twentieth Century Fox |
$6,650,000 |
$6,568,651 |
- 10.4% |
$126,752,054 |
| 5 |
Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail |
Lionsgate |
$5,130,000 |
$5,108,532 |
- 40.1% |
$83,187,594 |
| 6 |
Slumdog Millionaire |
Warner Independent Pictures |
$5,025,000 |
$5,002,777 |
- 26.5% |
$132,602,820 |
| 7 |
Paul Blart: Mall Cop |
Columbia Pictures (Sony) |
$3,100,000 |
$3,119,151 |
- 24.8% |
$137,785,983 |
| 8 |
He's Just Not That Into You |
New Line Cinema |
$2,905,000 |
$2,929,484 |
- 27.1% |
$89,038,259 |
| 9 |
Coraline |
Focus Features |
$2,654,909 |
$2,718,231 |
- 16.5% |
$69,240,852 |
| 10 |
Miss March |
Fox Searchlight Pictures |
$2,350,000 |
$2,409,156 |
New |
$2,409,156 |
| 11 |
Confessions of a Shopaholic |
Touchstone Pictures |
$2,004,000 |
$1,941,638 |
- 37.4% |
$41,295,158 |
| 12 |
Fired Up! |
Sony |
N/A |
$1,645,380 |
New |
$15,430,103 |
| |
Also Opening/Notables |
|
Sunshine Cleaning |
Overture Films |
$214,000 |
$219,190 |
New |
$219,190 |
|
Brothers At War |
Samuel Goldwyn |
$35,040 |
$33,142 |
New |
$33,142 |
|
Tokyo Sonata |
Regent |
N/A |
$28,345 |
New |
$28,345 |
|
Z |
Rialto |
N/A |
$10,144 |
New |
$10,144 |
|
Gran Torino |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
$1,500,000 |
$1,505,408 |
- 26.1% |
$143,829,449 |
|
The Reader |
The Weinstein Company |
$1,346,078 |
$1,309,669 |
- 32.0% |
$31,887,248 |
|
Click here for all weekend data
|
|
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
|
Continued:
1
2
|
|
|
|
Print this column
