Weekend Wrap-Up
Taken Dominates Super Bowl Weekend
By John Hamann
February 1, 2009
Seventh goes to Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, as the monster movie gets eviscerated in its second frame. Underworld 3 earned $7.2 million and falls 65% compared to its opening frame. Underworld: Evolution, the second film in the series, fell 58% in its second weekend, but opened higher, at $27 million compared to $20.8 million for Lycans. Look for the $35 million Rise of the Lycans to top out at about $55 million.
That leaves Lionsgate's New In Town in eighth, as moviegoers abandoned it. The Renee Zellweger flick earned a meek $6.8 million from a decidedly low (and telling) venue count of 1,941 theatres. The comedy was 16% fresh at RottenTomatoes and leaves me wondering why Renee is still opening films. This one was shot in 2007 and shelved, left to open over Super Bowl weekend. Leave it alone, folks.
My Bloody Valentine 3-D manages a final top ten appearance. It earned $4.3 million and tumbled 58%. Surprisingly, this one is going to outgross New In Town the other horror film from Lionsgate (really, what's scarier - a 3-D pickaxe or Renee Zellweger doing the face crunch?). So far, Valentine has earned a respectable $44.6 million.
That puts Inkheart down to tenth after a seventh place finish last weekend. Inkheart is a big miss, as it earned only $3.7 million and was off 51%. Maybe Brendan Fraser should do something other than a green screen film, as this one has a total of $12.8 million.
Oscar-type films continue to reap some benefits from their recent nominations. The Wrestler earned $2.4 million from 722 screens, as Paramount Vantage added another 156 venues. Benjamin Button earned $3.6 million for a 11th place finish (but did drop 41% in the process); Milk re-expanded to 832 venues and earned $1.4 million; and The Reader blew up its venue count to 1,002 and earned $2.4 million.
Overall, things remain very good at the box office. Taken's gross propelled the top 12 films to $110.2 million this weekend, a record for this frame. Until last year, this weekend usually finished in the $70 million to $80 million range, but last year Hannah Montana increased that to $101 million. Next weekend brings four new releases: Pink Panther 2, Coraline, He's Just Not That Into You, and Push, which should deliver the fifth consecutive rise over last year.
| 1 |
Taken |
Twentieth Century Fox |
$24,625,000 |
$24,717,037 |
New |
$24,717,037 |
| 2 |
Paul Blart: Mall Cop |
Columbia Pictures (Sony) |
$14,000,000 |
$13,872,751 |
- 35.8% |
$83,247,655 |
| 3 |
The Uninvited |
DreamWorks Pictures |
$10,512,000 |
$10,325,824 |
New |
$10,325,824 |
| 4 |
Hotel for Dogs |
DreamWorks |
$8,706,000 |
$8,632,740 |
- 32.9% |
$48,156,061 |
| 5 |
Gran Torino |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
$8,600,000 |
$8,232,278 |
- 49.3% |
$110,178,990 |
| 6 |
Slumdog Millionaire |
Warner Independent Pictures |
$7,680,000 |
$7,628,713 |
- 28.7% |
$67,193,169 |
| 7 |
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans |
Screen Gems |
$7,200,000 |
$7,581,272 |
- 63.6% |
$33,165,746 |
| 8 |
New in Town |
Universal Pictures |
$6,750,000 |
$6,741,530 |
New |
$6,741,530 |
| 9 |
My Bloody Valentine 3D |
Lionsgate |
$4,260,000 |
$4,479,662 |
- 55.3% |
$44,827,233 |
| 10 |
Inkheart |
New Line Cinema |
$3,700,000 |
$3,721,492 |
- 51.0% |
$12,813,023 |
| 11 |
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button |
Paramount |
$3,611,000 |
$3,544,251 |
- 41.8% |
$116,473,266 |
| 12 |
Bride Wars |
Twentieth Century Fox |
$3,570,000 |
$3,524,896 |
- 48.7% |
$53,891,483 |
| |
Also Opening/Notables |
| |
The Class |
Sony Classics |
$86,514 |
$80,934 |
New |
$115,830 |
| |
Notorious |
Fox Searchlight Pictures |
$1,700,000 |
$1,700,301 |
- 70.6% |
$35,011,149 |
| |
Defiance |
Paramount Vantage |
$2,533,000 |
$2,503,514 |
- 55.8% |
$22,800,595 |
| |
Revolutionary Road |
Paramount Vantage |
$2,659,000 |
$2,674,320 |
- 48.4% |
$16,054,024 |
| |
Last Chance Harvey |
Overture Films |
$1,187,000 |
$1,227,208 |
- 57.2% |
$11,694,498 |
| |
Marley & Me |
Twentieth Century Fox |
$945,000 |
$960,224 |
- 68.3% |
$139,793,037 |
| |
The Wrestler |
Fox Searchlight |
$2,350,000 |
$2,313,149 |
- 38.2% |
$13,051,867 |
| |
The Reader |
The Weinstein Company |
$2,373,698 |
$2,380,376 |
+ 69.6% |
$12,655,858 |
| |
Doubt |
Miramax Films |
$801,000 |
$836,997 |
- 1.3% |
$27,984,891 |
| |
Milk |
Focus Features |
$1,414,206 |
$1,481,155 |
+ 67.4% |
$23,464,697 |
| |
Frost/Nixon |
Universal |
$1,397,825 |
$1,403,550 |
- 53.6% |
$14,316,246 |
| |
Twilight |
Summit Entertainment |
$585,000 |
$623,836 |
- 36.3% |
$187,010,870 |
|
Click here for all weekend data
|
|
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
|
Continued:
1
2
3
|
|
|
|
Print this column
