Weekend Wrap-Up
Underworld Rises, Inkheart Flops
By John Hamann
January 25, 2009
Eighth goes to Bride Wars, the painful (but somewhat successful) comedy from Fox. Bride Wars tricked another $7 million out of the fairer sex this weekend, as the Kate Hudson Anne Hathaway flick falls 40% in its third weekend. Expect another wedding pic in January next year, as Bride Wars has now earned $48.7 million against a slim $30 million budget.
Finally in ninth we have our other big Oscar contender, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. After finishing outside of the top ten last weekend, Button bounces back, rising to ninth and earns almost the same amount as did last weekend, finishing the frame with $6 million. That's an increase of 8% for the Brad Pitt film, and Paramount was certainly desperate for those 13 nominations. Benjamin Button crossed the $100 million domestic mark last weekend, but still needed at least another $50 million to match its production budget domestically, so the Oscar bump will help somewhat in that regard. The fact that it didn't bump higher might leave Paramount feeling a little left out next to Slumdog Millionaire; however, Button has earned $111 million so far.
Tenth goes to Notorious, last weekend's number four finisher. The Biggie Smalls biopic got absolutely killed as it dropped to only $5.7 million, good for a drop of 72%. It has a gross so far of $31.8 million.
In other award news, Frost/Nixon, with five nominations (including one for Best Picture) and an expansion to 1,099 venues, earned $3 million. The Wrestler, with two nominations (where are the Aronofsky and Springsteen nominations?) and an expansion to 566 venues, earned $3.7 million. The Dark Knight, with eight nominations, came back to 350 venues and grossed $661,000, and Milk, with eight nominations and 250 venues, earned $864,342.
Overall, box office was still strong compared to last year, but wasn't the blowout that previous weekends in January 2009 have been. This weekend the top 12 films took in about $140.8 million, which still compares quite favorably with last year's top films, which earned $117 million. New films next weekend include Taken with Liam Neeson (which looks good), New in Town with Renee Zellweger (which looks not so good) and The Uninvited, which already feels like our zillionth horror flick this year.
| 1 |
Paul Blart: Mall Cop |
Columbia Pictures (Sony) |
$21,500,000 |
$21,623,182 |
- 32.1% |
$64,923,380 |
| 2 |
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans |
Screen Gems |
$20,700,000 |
$20,828,511 |
New |
$20,828,511 |
| 3 |
Gran Torino |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
$15,985,000 |
$16,244,462 |
- 26.1% |
$97,819,975 |
| 4 |
Hotel for Dogs |
DreamWorks |
$12,360,000 |
$12,860,944 |
- 24.4% |
$37,455,759 |
| 5 |
Slumdog Millionaire |
Warner Independent Pictures |
$10,550,000 |
$10,699,629 |
+ 82.9% |
$56,065,245 |
| 6 |
My Bloody Valentine 3D |
Lionsgate |
$10,050,000 |
$10,112,658 |
- 52.4% |
$37,687,394 |
| 7 |
Inkheart |
New Line Cinema |
$7,725,000 |
$7,601,379 |
New |
$7,601,379 |
| 8 |
Bride Wars |
Twentieth Century Fox |
$7,000,000 |
$6,868,664 |
- 41.0% |
$48,570,928 |
| 9 |
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button |
Paramount |
$6,000,000 |
$6,085,919 |
+ 9.1% |
$111,129,482 |
| 10 |
Notorious |
Fox Searchlight Pictures |
$5,700,000 |
$5,779,692 |
- 71.8% |
$31,874,538 |
| 11 |
Defiance |
Paramount Vantage |
$5,432,000 |
$5,666,785 |
- 36.4% |
$18,564,544 |
| 12 |
Revolutionary Road |
Paramount Vantage |
$5,268,000 |
$5,185,146 |
+190.8% |
$11,784,049 |
| |
Also Opening/Notables |
| |
Outlander |
WeinsteinCo. |
$57,000 |
$59,581 |
New |
$59,581 |
| |
Killshot |
The WeinsteinCo |
N/A |
$10,741 |
New |
$10,741 |
| |
Donkey Punch |
Magnolia |
N/A |
$4,744 |
New |
$4,744 |
| |
The Unborn |
Rogue Pictures |
$4,530,050 |
$4,359,865 |
- 53.3% |
$39,230,025 |
| |
Last Chance Harvey |
Overture Films |
$3,000,000 |
$2,865,298 |
- 33.4% |
$9,529,976 |
| |
Marley & Me |
Twentieth Century Fox |
$3,000,000 |
$3,031,969 |
- 50.6% |
$138,092,165 |
| |
Bedtime Stories |
Walt Disney Pictures |
$1,839,000 |
$1,955,408 |
- 58.6% |
$107,600,474 |
| |
Valkyrie |
United Artists |
$1,537,000 |
$1,509,786 |
- 60.3% |
$80,740,385 |
| |
The Wrestler |
Fox Searchlight |
$3,700,000 |
$3,745,643 |
+120.0% |
$9,557,610 |
| |
Doubt |
Miramax Films |
$852,000 |
$847,855 |
- 31.1% |
$26,753,136 |
| |
The Reader |
The Weinstein Company |
$1,416,063 |
$1,403,410 |
+ 9.2% |
$9,661,121 |
| |
Frost/Nixon |
Universal |
$3,022,250 |
$3,022,250 |
+351.5% |
$12,005,811 |
| |
Milk |
Focus Features |
$864,342 |
$884,715 |
+ 13.6% |
$21,637,349 |
| |
Twilight |
Summit Entertainment |
$937,000 |
$978,618 |
- 43.9% |
$185,027,660 |
| |
The Dark Knight |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
$661,000 |
$667,397 |
+6844.% |
$531,706,809 |
|
Click here for all weekend data
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Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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