Weekend Wrap-Up

Madea Keeps Box Office in Top Form

By John Hamann

February 22, 2009

Madea goes to the farm!

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Third spot goes to another strong holder in Coraline, Henry Selick's 3-D animated spectacular. Coraline held better than Taken, as it earned $11 million and drops a slim 25%, which is an amazing hold when you consider that it's coming off of the President's Day long weekend. This one is obviously crossing over from kids flick to everybody flick, and Focus Features gets to reap the rewards. Coraline has quickly become Focus Features' third biggest film with $53.4 million so far, passing Lost in Translation ($44.6 million domestic finish) and Atonement ($50.3 million finish) this weekend. The studio's top grossers are Burn After Reading ($60.4 million finish) and Brokeback Mountain ($83 million finish), numbers that Coraline just may overtake, but that mostly depends on what happens next weekend against the Jonas Brothers concert movie.

He's Just Not That Into You slides down to fourth from its second place finish last weekend, when Valentine's Day helped propel it to a weekend gross of $19.5 million. This weekend, people weren't into romantic comedies, and the star studded feature earned $8.5 million and dropped a powerful 56%. Still, the Drew Barrymore feature has now earned an impressive $70.1 million.

Our Oscar "Survivor" this year is Slumdog Millionaire, as it remains the only film on the box office island to receive a nomination. Slumdog, which is everyone's pic to win Best Picture, earned another $8.1 million, and actually increases 11%, which is truly impressive when you consider that it is going against last weekend's holiday-inflated frame. Slumdog goes to the Oscar ceremony with $98 million in the bank, and is Fox Searchlight's second biggest film behind only Juno, which rang up $143.5 million. Slumdog was made for $15 million, and will pass the $100 million mark in a matter of days.

Finishing well back in sixth is Friday the 13th, the one-day wonder from last weekend. After its $19.3 million opening day last weekend, Friday the 13th has suffered badly, behaving like a tire with a large hole in it. Its follow-up Friday grossed only $3.3 million, an 83% drop. The total for its second weekend came in at $7.8 million, good for a whopping 81% drop, which is the biggest ever for a movie opening on more than 3,000 screens. It has a total now of $55 million against a budget of $20 million.




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Confessions of a Shopaholic shows up in seventh, as moviegoers just aren't into the Isla Fisher comedy. After debuting to $15 million in the last frame, Shopaholic didn't hold well, as it dropped 53% and earned $7 million. With its 22% fresh rating, Shopaholic didn't have much of a chance, and it looks like this one will be done quickly. It has a total so far of $27.7 million.

It's time for our weekly discussion about Paul Blart: Mall Cop, as this one is now in its sixth weekend. Blart actually held fairly well, dropping 36% against last weekend's long frame. Mall Cop grossed another $7 million (its first weekend below $10 million), and brings its total up to $121.4 million. As hard as it is to say, I'm looking for Blart to finish just short of $150 million, against a budget of $26 million.

Ninth brings us our other opener, Fired Up!, from Sony and Screen Gems. The teen romp earned only $6 million from a tiny 1,810 venues this weekend, giving it a venue average of $3,315. This one is more Bring It On than Superbad, and the target audience caught on. Look for it to Houdini in no time.

In tenth is The International, last weekend's soft opener with Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. After finishing the last frame with $9.3 million, this Sony effort dropped hard this weekend, picking up only $4.5 million and dropping 52%. It has a total now of $17 million, and I guess I'll look for it on DVD.

Overall, box office is still white hot versus last year. Over the same weekend in 2008, Vantage Point was the number one film with $22.9 million, but three other openers failed to have an impact. The top 12 films last year earned only $90 million. This year, the top 12 films earned $119.8 million, keeping this year well ahead once again. Next weekend is the pre-Watchmen weekend, with the Jonas Brothers 3-D Concert Experience and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, both being projected to open in fewer than 1,200 venues.


Top Weekend Box Office for 2/20/09-2/22/09 (Actuals)
Rank Film Distributor Estimated Gross Actual Gross Weekly Change Running Total
1 Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail Lionsgate $41,120,000 $41,030,947 New $41,030,947
2 Coraline Focus Features $11,031,035 $11,432,124 - 22.7% $53,766,843
3 Taken Twentieth Century Fox $11,400,000 $11,281,262 - 40.6% $95,034,161
4 He's Just Not That Into You New Line Cinema $8,540,000 $8,558,225 - 56.2% $70,100,901
5 Slumdog Millionaire Warner Independent Pictures $8,050,000 $8,384,680 + 15.1% $98,354,395
6 Friday the 13th New Line Cinema $7,825,000 $7,942,472 - 80.4% $55,119,663
7 Paul Blart: Mall Cop Columbia Pictures (Sony) $7,000,000 $6,821,377 - 37.9% $121,200,930
8 Confessions of a Shopaholic Touchstone Pictures $7,019,000 $6,742,778 - 55.2% $27,378,049
9 Fired Up Screen Gems $6,000,000 $5,483,778 New $5,483,778
10 The International Sony/Columbia $4,450,000 $4,463,916 - 52.2% $17,031,200
11 The Pink Panther 2 Columbia Pictures, MGM $3,700,000 $3,802,292 - 55.3% $29,475,898
12 Gran Torino Warner Bros. Pictures $3,640,000 $3,676,310 - 43.3% $134,472,755
  Also Opening/Notables
  Delhi 6 Utv N/A $602,850 New $602,850
  Katyn Koch Lorber N/A $11,053 New $14,115
  Under the Sea 3d (IMAX) Warner Bros. $556,000 $547,339 New $1,697,679
  Push Summit Entertainment $3,100,000 $3,119,656 - 54.5% $24,752,472
  Hotel for Dogs DreamWorks $2,200,000 $2,325,378 - 46.6% $65,535,469
  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Paramount $1,215,000 $1,232,517 - 23.5% $124,211,606
  The Wrestler Fox Searchlight $1,825,000 $1,851,324 + 0.1% $21,578,377
  The Reader The Weinstein Company $2,810,000 $2,642,770 + 19.6% $23,011,596
  Doubt Miramax Films $719,000 $711,360 + 13.9% $31,126,827
  Frost/Nixon Universal $678,180 $653,580 + 26.7% $17,386,586
  Milk Focus Features $1,098,695 $1,066,727 + 21.5% $28,120,218
Click here for all weekend data
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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