'No Strings Attached' reels in female audiences

By Sarah Sluis

The sex-first/romance-second comedy No Strings Attached overperformed this weekend, tipping over the twenty million mark to finish with $20.3 million. 70% of the turnout was female. Star Natalie Portman hasn't really done anything in the romantic comedy genre, so this shows she can come across as an appealing, likeable heroine to female viewers.

In its second week, The Green Hornet dove 46% to $18.1 million. Its performance is better than last year's fanboy extravaganza Kick-Ass, and has also held onto audiences better than star Seth Rogen's stoner comedy Pineapple Express. Might there be buzz of a sequel soon?

Director Peter Weir's The Way Back drew in paltry audiences despite positive reviews and a well-known cast. With $1.4 million in receipts, the Siberian prison-escape movie finished outside of the top ten due to its meager $2,100 per-screen average.

The Weinstein Co.'s The Company Men fared better, averaging $7,300 per screen on its 106 playdates. By comparison, however, this season's heavy-hitters were averaging $20,000-$40,000 per screen before expanding, so this is not a film that's going to be in for the long haul. Count this as one strikeout in the Weinstein Co.'s rebounding batting average.

Among platform releases in the top ten, The King's Speech showed the most traction, holding onto fourth place and $9.1 million by sliding just .2% from last week while adding a conservative 137 screens for a still-small 1,637-screen run. True Grit and Black Swan both fell in the 25% range, posting $8 million and $6.2 million weekends, respectively. The Fighter followed with $6.5 million and a smaller 11% drop from the previous week.

IFC's The Housemaid brought in a strong $18,000 per screen at two locations, a sign this movie will perform well across all of IFC's platforms, including on-demand.

This Friday, Jason Statham-led action film The Mechanic will open alongside the religious-tinged horror movie The Rite. A targeted release of From Prada to Nada, a romantic comedy from Lionsgate's Latino-focused Pantelion Films, will also enter the arena.

Audiences swarm for 'The Green Hornet'

By Sarah Sluis

Whoever at Sony decided to push The Green Hornet to a January release is getting a nice pat on the back right now. The post-holiday release opened better than Little Fockers and not far under action fare like Tron: Legacy. Though the movie won't have the high weekday earnings of the December releases, the four-day weekend gave it a chance to rack up $40 million in four days ($33.7 million came from the three-day weekend).

The marriage/adultery-themed romantic comedy The Dilemma finished in second place, laughing up $20.5 million over the four-day period. Star Vince Vaughn's previous film, Couples Retreat, earned twice as much its opening weekend, making this debut a disappointing one.

The King's Speech and Black Swan both added around 750 theatres, giving each film a boost even without the holiday factored in. Right now, The King's Speech is the up-and-comer, with its three-day gross up 43% and a per-screen average of $7,200. Black Swan, which has been out a week longer than The King's Speech, has reached its near-saturation point (2,300 theatres to King's Speech's 1,500). The ballet thriller brought in $10.3 million to the historical film's $11.1 million. In terms of cumulative gross, however, Black Swan is the winner, with a total of $75 million to date vs. The King's Speech's $48 million. Elsewhere in the top ten, The Fighter dropped theatres, falling 27% over the three-day period. The biographical film still earned another $5 million, and its decision to go big early has allowed it to accumulate $65 million in six weeks.

With the school holiday, family films dropped minimally. Yogi Bear earned $7.4 million over the four-day period and Tangled scooped up another $5.4 million, making this Disney princess tale one of the most lucrative in recent history.

This Friday, the romance-sex comedy No Strings Attached will lead the pack, with more targeted releases for The Way Back and recession drama The Company Men.

'The Green Hornet' and 'The Dilemma' shake up the box office

By Sarah Sluis

It's been three weeks since the Christmas weekend crush of wide releases, and audiences will finally have a chance to sample something new.

The Green Hornet (3,584 theatres) was originally going to release during the holiday season, but it now will have a wide-open chance at bringing in audiences, especially school-age ones, during the long Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. The comic-book adaptation was helmed by Michael Gondry, known for more arty, visually playful fare like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Even with a bigger budget to work with, "Gondry keeps the movie grounded in a convincing, if ever-so-slightly skewed, reality by prizing practical effects and props over CGI and actual locations over studio soundstages," critic Ethan Alter praises. Seth Rogen, true to his comedic background, plays a "clumsy" un-hero, and the movie is "at its best when it just lets this dynamic duo [Rogen and co-star Jay Chou] blunder through their new vocation, bickering, screwing up and catching bad guys almost by accident."

Vince Vaughn plays a guy who finds out his best friend's wife (Winona Ryder) is cheating on him in The Dilemma (2,941 theatres). Critic Doris Toumarkine enjoyed director Ron Howard's "zippy journey into late yuppiedom" and the comedy's "often smart and downright funny take on issues that aging moviegoers might find familiar."

On the specialty front, many of the award-bait films are expanding in advance of the Golden Globes presentation this Sunday. Blue Valentine will move into 230 theatres. Rabbit Hole, which has been drawing raves for Nicole Kidman's performance, will increase its run to 100 theatres. The King's Speech, which has been in the top ten with under 1,000 theatres, will finally go over that mark, spreading into 1,543 theatres. Finally, Black Swan will spread its wings into 2,328 theatres, 800 more theatres than its current run.

On Tuesday, I'll tabulate the results of the long weekend, which should be especially favorable to The Green Hornet because of its young-skewing subject matter.