'The Grey' treks to first place

Is Liam Neeson the new Harrison Ford (circa Air Force One)? The 59-year-old star led Taken to success a couple of years ago, and with The Grey he's struck again. The man vs. nature survival flick earned $20 million to win the weekend, exceeding expectations. There aren't many convincing older action heroes out there, but I think Neeson proves there is a contingent of people, including baby boomers, who like to see one of their own in an adrenaline-filled adventure. The 60% male audience made this a moneymaker for Open Road Films, which spent just $25 million on production.

In third place, One for the Money did surprisingly well despite the fact that many saw this Katherine Heigl pic was a stinker a mile away. It earned $11.8 million, driven by older female ticket buyers. The adaptation of Janet Evanovich's popular book "resembles a failed television pilot," THR's Frank Scheck laments. Plus, as New York Magazine outlines, Heigl is considered a toxic asset right now thanks to gossip about her ungraceful conduct on set and off. Still, the  light detective picture had a couple of tricks up its sleeve. One, 11% of attendees bought discounted tickets through Groupon. 93% of them said they would not have seen the movie without the promotion. Two, Lionsgate did a decent job connecting with the movie's literary fan base. I saw prominent ads on Goodreads.com, a book-centered social networking site.

In fourth place, Man on a Ledge stumbled with $8.3 million. Summit also offered discounted tickets through Living Social, but it appeared not to pay off. When it came to man vs. ledge or man vs. nature, Neeson in Alaska fighting wolves appeared to be more appealing than a jumper who was seeking revenge, vindication, or covering for a heist, depending on which ad or review you saw.

In the wake of the Oscar nominations, a number of the selected films made expansions and drew more audiences. The Descendants made its widest expansion yet, playing in 2,001 theatres, and came up with $6.5 million. It's the dramedy's second highest weekend to date. Back in November, it managed to earn $7.3 million while playing in only 390 theatres. The George Clooney starrer has earned $58 million to date, making it one of the most successful films in the running. The per-screen average, $3,200, in on par with where The King's Speech was last February.

The Artist, which earned ten nominations, added more theatres and rose 40% to grab the twelfth-place spot with $3.3 million. Hugo, which led with eleven nominations, added 50% more screens and went up 142% to $2.2 million. Still, the expensive film has earned just $58 million to date in the U.S. 

This Friday, audiences can save the whales with The Big Miracle, grab some thrills with The Woman in Black, or check out some teens with superpowers in Chronicle.

 

'The Tourist' sets out against 'Dawn Treader'

By Sarah Sluis

Just two weeks after Disney's Tangled hit theatres, another family-friendly film joins the slate of end-of-the-year films. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will open in 3,555 theatres. 56% of them (1,989 theatres) will screen the picture in 3D, a fairly low percentage that reflects the crowded 3D marketplace right now (Tangled and Megamind are still commanding a sizeable percentage of 3D screens). Given the price of 3D tickets, however, it's expected that many families will be happy saving money and catching the 2D version. The third film in the Narnia series is the first to be produced by Fox. Disney abandoned the series after the second film underperformed, but not flopped, at the box office. But don't get your hopes up. "The magic is over, folks," critic Ethan Alter proclaims. The unimaginative sequel "feels like the last gasp of a franchise rather than a creative rebirth" and the movie's reduced budget gives the generic feeling of a "Renaissance fair" rather than Narnia.

Can a movie succeed solely based on the charged pairing of Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp? Signs point to no. Just 16% of Rotten Tomato critics gave The Tourist (2,756 theatres) their stamp of approval. "Angelina Jolie glides serenely through her scenes, confident in her ability to ignore obstacles like dialogue and plotting," critic Daniel Eagan snipes. The talented director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) devotes his attention in the film to such "material details" as clothing and makeup, as he revealed in a New York Times article. "We spent a few days just doing camera tests on different types of lipstick and white silk to be sure we could find the right combination and see how it would translate onto film," he said. "Even filmgoers expecting a bit more plot and action can't help but be seduced by so polished an entertainment," Eagan concedes.

Boston accents and dated, teased hairstyles are just comedic accessories in The Fighter (4 theatres), which stars Mark Wahlberg as an up-and-coming boxers and Christian Bale as his older brother and trainer, a former boxer and crack addict. Both Amy Adams (Wahlberg's girlfriend) and Melissa Leo (the mother) turn in dynamo performances, but "it's not a total knockout," according to Alter. Still, it's a "loud, rowdy and often very funny movie," and one that has critics talking about Oscar nominations.

Director Julie Taymor has been in the news in recent weeks mostly for the accidents and other travails of her Spider-Man Broadway musical, but she has a film coming out too--her adaptation of the Shakespeare play The Tempest (5 theatres). Critic David Noh called it a "singular disappointment," and given her colorful work on other projects, "surprisingly uninteresting visually." This movie is a bit of an orphan, a Miramax project now being released by "Disney-Touchstone-Miramax," and I doubt it will receive a concerted marketing effort or awards campaign.

On Monday, we'll see if Chronicles of the Dawn Treader earned its expected $30 million, and if The Tourist was able to open above $20 million. Last week's per-screen average winner, Black Swan, expands to 80 theatres, and many eyes will be watching the opening weekend of The Fighter.

Debut of 'Resident Evil: Afterlife' marks new high for franchise

By Sarah Sluis

The franchise responsible for Resident Evil: Afterlife is alive and well. The fourth installment of the video game adaptation debuted higher than all three previous movies, finishing the weekend with a robust $27.7 million. Consistent with many action/horror/sci-fi genre films, the movie had its biggest night on Friday, to

the tune of $10.8 million, before slowly declining over Saturday and Sunday. Afterlife inched out the last Resident Evil film by $4 million. The reason for Afterlife's stunning performance, however, may not be the health of the franchise but the profitability of 3D. The 141 IMAX screens (compared to 3,000 regular screens) contributed $2.6 million to the box office, and over two-thirds of the screens were shown in 3D theatres charging premiums for seats.

The race for second place between holdovers Takers and The American ended with Takers on top with $6.1 million. Though the slick heist movie finished below The American last week, it declined just 43% to The American's 55% fall. The latter film, starring George Clooney, was expected to have a more leggy run due to its appeal among older audiences, so its second-week slump to $5.8 million could be telling.

Joaquin Phoenix's sorta-documentary I'm Still Here just surpassed $100,000 over the weekend, playing at 19 locations with a $5,500 per-screen average. Phoenix is expected on "Letterman" Sept. 22, a

year after his bizarre interview with the late-night host that circulated virally, so that added publicity could be a boon to its box-office take two weeks from now.

The all-star cast of The Romantics helped earned the film a stellar $22,200 per-screen average during its opening weekend at two screens in New York and Los Angeles. Leading lady Katie Holmes hasn't been seen much on screen lately, but if that wasn't a draw, "True Blood" star Anna Paquin, Elijah Wood, Josh Duhamel and Malin Akerman gave this movie an above-average roster.

The re-release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse failed to do much--including to push the movie over the $300 million vanity mark. Its $745,000 was far below the low single-digit millions predicted, but represented a 71% boost from the previous week. That's right, this "re-release" is actually still playing in select theatres.

Specialty releases showing big increases included director Rob Reiner's Flipped, which went from 28 to 442 screens and boosted its gross 863% to $490,000. Its $1,000 per-screen average is a less promising figure, but positive reviews from critics like Roger Ebert and its family-friendly reputation could propel this film further.

In its fourteenth week, Winter's Bone rose 21% to $143,000, adding to its over $5 million gross. When I saw the movie, I was surprised by the representation of Ozark life, sensing the authenticity of its realism; apparently the movie has played quite well in the Ozark region, where audiences have responded to its mirror-like realism and thriller feeling.

Another mover-and-shaker in the specialty market is Animal Kingdom, which has amassed almost $750,000 in five weeks. The Australian crime drama rose 9% this week, and the 61-screen release accumulated another $122,000.

This Friday, four wide releases enter the mix: Warner Bros.' Boston crime drama The Town, the 3D animated Alpha and Omega, teen sex comedy Easy A, and horror picture Devil. The much-buzzed documentary Catfish and the spare but heart-wrenching Never Let Me Go will also make their debut on specialty screens.

'New Moon' to bring fangirls to the box office

By Sarah Sluis

The Twilight Saga: New Moon will open in over 4,000 theatres at midnight, 600 more screens than the first Twilight. Movietickets.com reported that over 2,150 screenings of the vampire romance have sold out, and the film has surpassed franchise films like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter to become their #1 advance seller of all time. The reviews are coming in, but it's doubtful the fan base will even care. This movie is all about reliving the book with the added visuals of Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, and the swoons and shrieks of your friends and fellow audience members. Plus, the sequel combines Vampire-mania with Werewolf-mania, throwing heroine Bella into a love triangle between the two man-creatures.

The Blind Side, which many have called Precious with a white, Republican savior (and thus appealing to that demographic) will open in 3,100 theatres. Sandra Bullock is in top form, but critic Michael Rechtshaffen wished that "Oher [the black homeless teen Bullock's character and her husband took in] had been presented as something other than essentially a large prop." Further separating itself from a movie like Precious, The Blind Side sticks to "proven inspirational sports-movie/fish-out-of-water

formulas while holding the inherent sociological issues to the

sidelines," despite the fact that "there also was room for more thought-provoking substance."

Planet 51 (2,600 theatres), a kind of E.T. in reverse, revolves around an astronaut who has landed in a suburban alien town. Grade-school joke: they think he's the one who's funny looking. The "Sci-Fi Lite" movie, according to critic Kirk Honeycutt, has "gentle jokes and cornball battles," and is geared more towards children than the adult-children mix more frequently seen in today's animated movies.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans opens in 27 theatres, and if you are near one--you need to see it. Genre-wise, it's a story of a corrupt cop (Nicolas Cage) in love with a prostitute (Eva Mendes), but director Werner Herzog takes this story places you have never even imagined. The screening I was in prompted several moments where everyone broke out in shocked laughter--whether it was because Cage was so outrageously bad, mad-scientist crazy, or because the movie did things you just aren't supposed to do on film, including alligator point-of-view shots.

Also moving into theatres on Friday is Red Cliff. Directed by John Woo, the American version compresses the two-film arc into one historical epic critic Daniel Eagan called "teeming with characters and plot twists," but "told in such a direct and vigorous style that it is never confusing."

New Moon is the hands-down winner for this weekend, but its narrower fan base is always a liability. Everyone will be watching to see how much the film drops Saturday and Sunday after its Friday open. Precious and Fantastic Mr. Fox will be expanding this runs, and Planet 51 needs to bring in audiences before The Princess and the Frog opens over Thanksgiving (though, thankfully, in a limited run).

Audiences die for 'Zombieland'

By Sarah Sluis

Combining the classic opening weekend winner, the horror genre, with an 89% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Zombieland went straight to number one at the box office, bringing in $25 million. The number exceeds the reported production budget, making this movie an out-of-the-gate winner for Sony.

The studio also had the second place film of the week, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The 3D animated movie earned $16.7 million with just a 33% drop from last week, even as it shed 142 locations.

Right behind it was its 3D animated rival, the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D double feature. The re-release brought in $12.5 million. Because it opened in a smaller number of theatres, its per-location average bested that of Cloudy, $7,100 to $5,600.

The Invention of Lying opened at $7.3 million, despite its dismal reviews. By contrast, the well-reviewed Whip It opened three spots lower, with a gross of $4.8 million. However, the movie sneaked in 500 locations the week before, so the studio likely has an extra million or so in its cumulative gross. If Fox Searchlight's predictions come true, the movie could play well in coming weeks due to positive word-of-mouth.

Increasing 1,990% from last week, Capitalism: A Love Story also opened at $4.8 million. Its first wide opening weekend matches that of Sicko, so it's likely to end up in the $20-25 million range.

Among specialty releases, The Coen Brothers' A Serious Man racked up a quarter million at its six locations for a per-theatre average of $41,00. While the Coens' movies have a large number of fans that likely turned out opening weekend, and many expect this to be one of their smaller films, the large average indicates that this film is in for a healthy, robust run at the box office.

In its second weekend of release in college towns, Paranormal Activity went from 12 to 33 locations, and brought in $16,200 at each. The unusual release strategy appears to be paying off--the movie brought in $535,000 this week, for a cumulative gross of $780,000.

LeBron James documentary More Than a Game debuted with $197,000 gathered from its 14 locations, with a per-location average of $14,071. Well-reviewed, the payoff for this movie may be in its tie-ins, since Nike has been heavily cross-promoting the doc.

In its second week, Coco Before Chanel added 11 locations and $220,000 to its gross, with a healthy $13,750 per screen.

This week, Universal comedy Couples Retreat should head up the box office, and the much-buzzed potential awards movie An Education begins its platform release.

MLK Weekend boosts 'Paul Blart,' 'Hotel for Dogs'

By Sarah Sluis

Schools, governments, and lucky company workers received the day off yesterday, and many chose to catch a matinee. Kid-themed Hotel for Dogs captured the elementary school crowd, and was the only film to have a "higher occupancy" rate on Monday than Sunday, earning $5.4 million on the holiday to

bring its four-day weekend gross to $22.5 million--a respectable fifth-place finish.

On Friday, I predicted teen audiences would go for comedy over horror, especially since horror flick The Unborn came out last week, and it turned out I was right. Paul Blart: Mall Cop Segwayed right to the top with $39 million, including healthy business on Monday, while My Bloody Valentine 3D came in third with $24.2 million, dampened by a lack of screens that forced some to view in 2D.

Sandwiched between the comedy and horror draws was Gran Torino, which dropped a mere 11% from last week (including Monday) to finish at $26.2 million. While Eastwood's film hasn't garnered as much awards season acclaim as, say, Million Dollar Baby, the movie has a solid 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (which draws in review-sensitive older women) and headliner Clint Eastwood, a star/director particularly popular with older males. Both have factored into the film's high attendance rates among older viewers.

Finishing just above Hotel for Dogs, B.I.G. biopic Notorious earned $24 million, along with the highest per-screen average of the top ten, a sign that distributors successfully targeted the release to draw in viewers. A quick search of New York City screenings, for example, revealed hourly showings at one Harlem theatre, as well as a multiplex far out in Brooklyn, not far from B.I.G.'s place of birth. The AMC Empire 25 on 42nd Street, in the heart of New York City, had thirteen showings of Notorious, while only nine of Paul Blart: Mall Cop. For urban teens who do not count the mythical "Manhattan Mall" as one of their hangouts, it's no wonder Biggie played better than an overweight security guard.

The next five releases, holdovers from last week, posted below-average drops in box office once the Monday boost was factored in. Defiance, the Daniel Craig, Nazis-in-the-woods film, expanded this week to a respectable $5,000 per screen, earning a $10.7 million gross. Bride Wars, The Unborn, and Marley & Me posted in the $7 to $10 million range, and underdog Slumdog Millionaire continued its run as a hanger-on in the top ten. Its $7.1 million bested the take of the vastly more expensive The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which earned $6.6 million at the number eleven spot.