Green weekend for 'Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'

By Sarah Sluis

Almost a quarter-century after the 1987 original, Oliver Stone and his creation Gordon Gekko returned for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Finishing up the weekend with $19 million, the financial drama saw a

nice appreciation from its $4 million debut way back in the 80's. Audiences over thirty came out in force, since they were most likely to be familiar with the initial film.

Debuting in second place, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole racked up $16.3 million, including $1.7 million from IMAX screens. Director Zack Snyder's switch from R-rated movies like Watchmen and 300 to a PG, animated movie was deemed too violent by many

critics, but that didn't stop the owl adventure from finishing within expectations.

You Again opened in fifth place with $8.3 million. The addition of stars such as Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis and Betty White succeeded in drawing in an older audience. Though younger audiences in the Kristen Bell age range did turn out, they represented just 25% of

the total. A sub-$10 million opening isn't that great, but Disney should be able to rouse up some good post-theatrical returns. The chick flick's older audience also suggests it will play well in coming weeks.

The 700-screen release of The Virginity Hit did not go well for Sony, which hoped to use a limited release to launch a larger one in coming weeks. With just a $429 per-screen average, the teen sex comedy finished with $300,000.

Director Davis Guggenheim's documentary about America's failing public schools, Waiting for "Superman," had an A+ debut. It's $35,250 per-screen average was the highest of the year. The movie will expand into ten markets next week and Paramount plans to tie in the film's marketing to the midterm elections in November.

Woody Allen's latest, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, did exceptionally well its opening weekend, with a $27,000 per-screen average on six screens. His last film, Whatever Works, however, opened slightly better and finished with $5 million, so the outsize opening will likely be followed up by a more modest, but successful, run.

Enter the Void had the third-highest per-screen average, $14,000, along with some good buzz, which should help the psychedelic, experimental movie out in coming weeks. Ryan Reynolds' turn in Buried piled up $9,500 per screen at eleven locations, and James Franco's performance in Howl accrued $9,000 per screen at six locations. Among returning specialty releases, Never Let Me Go went from 4 to 26 locations and increased 119% from last week. Catfish upped its take 82%, expanding from 12 to 57 theatres.

This Friday, the much-hyped The Social Network will enter theatres along with horror remake Let Me In and the thriller Case 39, starring Renee Zellweger.