'End of Watch' grabs first in close weekend

After a close race, End of Watch grabbed the first place spot with $13.2 million. Positive word-of-mouth fueled the cop drama, giving it an extra edge over its competitors. Hispanic audiences, who made up 32% of attendees, may have been drawn in part by co-star Michael Peña,
as well as the setting in Los Angeles, which has a large Hispanic community. Audiences also gave the movie an "A-" rating in CinemaScore exit polls, another reason for newbie distributor Open Road Films to celebrate.

In second place, The House at the End of the Street earned $12.2 million. Audiences gave the horror movie, which stars Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence, a "B" rating.

Trouble with the Curve was right behind in third with $12.1 million. The South and Midwest regions posted the highest returns for the Clint Eastwood-led picture, which is about
old-fashioned, non-Moneyball baseball scouting. Trouble's demographic should give the drama long playability, with plenty of people turning out in coming weeks as word spreads.

Earning half as much as the other three wide releases, Dredd 3D faltered with $6.3 million. The rub is that even a re-release, Finding Nemo 3D, did better, easily accruing a return of $9.4 million.

The Master made a bet by expanding from four to 788 locations in its second weekend. The bet didn't exactly pay off. Although the drama earned $5 million in seventh place, only 36% of locations earned more than $5,000, a sign
that a smaller release might have yielded higher per-screen averages. That being said, digital distribution is a lot cheaper than film prints, so perhaps that affected distribution plans.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower had an extremely strong opening of $244,000 on four screens, a per-screen average of $61,000. With a debut like that, there's no way this offbeat teen comedy will fade into the background.

This Friday, the well-received sci-fi picture Looper (read FJI's profile of the director here) leads the pack. Halloween starts early with the animated feature Hotel Transylvania, parents fight for better teaching in Won't Back Down, and college a capella gets its due in Pitch Perfect.

'Trouble with the Curve' goes to bat against 'Dredd 3D'

Four new movies open this weekend, but the box office is still expected to be 20% off of last year. With some modestly budgeted pictures in the mix, even $10-20 million openings may yield good results for studios. All four of the wide releases are expected to end up in the range, so the race for first will be close.

Clint Eastwood may be the main draw in Trouble with the Curve (3,212 theatres), but Amy
Adams has a surprisingly meaty role in this story of an aging baseball scout and the corporate lawyer who accompanies him on a scouting trip. Yes, director Robert Lorenz "telegraphs plot points" in a way that's a bit eye-rollingly obvious, as critic Daniel Eagan points out, "but he also tells the story clearly, without fuss. As a kind of anti-Moneyball, the picture will hold particular sway among those who, like Eastwood's character, feel a little crochety about the world's technological changes.

The sci-fi dystopia in Dredd 3D (2,506 theatres) is "not as awful" as the 1995 adaptation of the
comic book, according to critic Maitland McDonagh. In the futuristic world, robotic judges mete out justice in giant skyscrapers. Cool idea, but apparently it's "straight and dull, despite the near-nonstop mayhem."

Pre-Hunger Games, Jennifer Lawrence made House at the End of the Street (3,083 theatres), a horror movie that screened only for critics the night before opening. Horror movies have been doing mixed business lately, with The Possession opening over $20 million
but The Apparition falling short with $2.8 million. With the recognizable Lawrence front and center, the horror flick should be in store for an opening closer to Possession than Apparition.

The cop drama End of Watch (2,730 theatres), starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, comes from AMC and Regal joint venture Open Road Films, which aims to increase the amount of product for movie theatres that falls in the middle-budget range. With an estimated budget of $7 million, End of Watch falls on the low end of the budget spectrum, but the results impressed critic Maitland McDonagh, who calls the police drama "fiction designed to look like the most exciting supersized episode of 'Cops' ever." Using the amateur footage technique that's been popularized by horror films and extended to other genres, like the teen superhero pic Chronicle, isn't a gimmick, but "lifts it above cop-movie clichés."

Harry Potter's Emma Watson stars in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (4 theatres), an adaptation of a popular young adult book. The content may have been watered down in execution,
as critic Doris Toumarkine complains the "more mainstream than edgy" tweener pic will be a "box-office wallflower unless there's good word-of-mouth.

Last week's indie smash The Master expands from four locations to 788 this weekend. The critically acclaimed movie is tracking at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and 88 on Metacritic, which is often a bit tougher on releases. Director Paul Thomas Anderson's previous release, There Will Be Blood, didn't open that wide until its fifth week of release, so there is some concern that distributor Weinstein Co. may be opening too wide, too soon. But a quick expansion will help the Scientology-esque drama keep the momentum from its positive film festival reception and record-breaking opening.

On Monday, we'll see if the influx of new movies boosted the box office, and which picture came out on top.