'Internship' and 'Purge' fight for first in quiet summer weekend

Going into the weekend, The Internship (3,365 theatres) would seem like the frontrunner. The comedy stars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, whose Wedding Crashers opened to $33 million in 2005. Yet the story about technologically clueless sales guys finding a niche at Google has been receiving terrible reviews, with our Nick Schager calling the movie a "fawning tribute to Google." What starts out as a fun fish-out-of-water premise, a la Legally Blonde, devolves into a boring intern competition that was a lazy, tired way to organize a script, at least from my point-of-view.  Because of the poor reviews (only a third of Rotten Tomatoes critics are coming in "fresh") and the fact that workplace comedies are often a tough sell even without the branded entertainment feel, The Internship won't be coming in first in the class--in fact, it may not exceed $20 million.

The little speculative thriller that could, The Purge (2,536 theatres), may go over $20 million and grab first place this weekend. The premise is this: The government decides to allow a 12-hour period once a year where all crimes will go unpunished. One year, a security consultant who has profited from protecting people during the crime spree finds himself in hot water, in part because his kids don't quite understand the risks (and reasoning) behind the one-night rampage. Although The Purge has only slightly better reviews than The Internship, the picture will benefit by drawing in both horror fans and those who prefer broader suspense. It also has people in really creepy masks, the better to create goosebumps among viewers.

Writer/director Joss Whedon goes from The Avengers to Shakespeare in Much Ado About Nothing (5 theatres), to which both critics and Whedon fans have alighted. "While cleaving away some of
Shakespeare’s more dragging plot points, Whedon hews to the
original text," critic Chris Barsanti reports. "This refusal to juice
the material with gimmickry pays out handsomely, as Whedon’s
crackerjack cast, drawn mainly from his troupe of TV actors, spins
as fine a web of delicate comedy as will grace movie screens this
year."

Also in the mix this week is Tiger Eyes (13 theatres) an adaptation of Judy Blume's novel about a teen recovering after the sudden death of her father. Directed by Blume's son Lawrence, Tiger Eyes surprisingly has some clumsy screenwriting, according to critic Marsha McCreadie, but a great message about "going home again" and a focus that is "unquestionably a film about family."

On Monday, we'll see if the novelty of The Purge won over the branded comedy of The Internship.

'The Avengers' on track to dominate 'Dark Shadows'

Dark Shadows overshadowed? That's exactly what this weekend is looking like. Even if The Avengers were to drop by more than half, it would still end up somewhere not too far short of $100 million--not shabby for a second weekend. The Marvel superhero picture has been doing particularly strong business during the weekdays, with daily returns in the teen millions. The giant crowds outside a Times Square theatre in NYC yesterday, uncharacteristic for a weekday, are one such sign that The Avengers is a must-see.. The popularity of the film will probably encourage more people to make it a priority on their "to-do" list.

Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton team up again for Dark Shadows (3,755 theatres), which will share IMAX screens with The Avengers. Based on a popular, low-budget '60s soap opera, this version has plenty of humor. Critic Daniel Eagan predicts Burton's fans will enjoy the gothic picture most, but he also notes there isn't much fresh material: "After 25 years, [Burton's] exquisite visual sense, jaundiced take on characters and relentless pursuit of the macabre have become rote, lifeless, devoid of surprise." However, thanks to Depp's star power and Burton's ability to successfully reinterpret projects (as in Alice in Wonderland), industry estimates have the film performing in the high $30 million range, with a chance of breaking $40 million.

"A scruffily likeable coming-of-age tale," according to FJI critic David Noh, Girl in Progress (322 theatres) stars Cierra Ramirez as a teen girl being a teenager, and Eva Mendes as her mom. Groupon offered a discount to the movie yesterday (two tickets for $12), which may encourage people to see a more low-key movie while the high-octane Avengers is also in the multiplex.

Those in search on an "original" foreign film may want to seek out Where Do We Go Now?, a "fable" about a group of female villagers in Lebanon who vow to keep their men from fighting. For those that enjoyed director Nadine Labaki's first film, Caramel, critic Maria Garcia points out many continuities between the two works that may appeal to those charmed by the Lebanese director's first outing.

On Monday, we'll see how much of its audience The Avengers was able to hold onto, and if the absurdly successful film, which has earned $775 million worldwide to date, is able to cross the $1 billion mark.

'The Lorax' bests Disney behemoth 'John Carter'

With a reported $250 million production budget, John Carter needed to hit it big in order for Disney's investment to pay off. At least in the U.S., Disney won't be making back much of its money. The sci-fi epic opened to just $30.6 million, $5 million of which came from IMAX screens--the hangout of fanboys who may have been familiar with the source material, a 1912 serial by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Overseas, John Carter came up with $70 million, still not enough to make the movie an initial success. Disney's current business strategy involves focusing on projects with franchise potential that can create value across Disney's many platforms. These type of films often cost a great deal of money, and John Carter shows what happens when such would-be franchises don't resonate with audiences.

The Lorax, which won the weekend with $39.1 million, did not come from the traditional champion of animation, Disney, but Illumination Entertainment, which releases its films through Universal. The Dr. Seuss adaptation has charmed moviegoers but not jaded critics. Its 44% drop from opening weekend should level off in coming weeks. After earning $120 million in just ten days, it won't be long before the movie reaches $200 million and probably a spot in 2012's top ten.

A horror movie that appears to be shot in one long take, Silent House, came up with a middling $7 million. Scary pictures often open big, so it's surprising that this one didn't attract a larger audience. Young females are often the biggest demographic for horror titles, yet Elizabeth Olsen didn't appear to draw these women in.

Friends with Kids opened strongly, boding well for its expansion next week. The comedy's per-screen average of $5,800 was higher than most films in the top ten. Packed theatres = more laughter = positive word-of-mouth. With $2.7 million earned from its 374-theatre run, this comedy could end up being a modest success.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen did exceptionally well with older audiences, averaging $13,000 per screen in 18 locations. 70% of attendees were over the age of fifty. This demographic tends to be more discerning about the films they see, and word-of-mouth could bring this movie strong business in coming weeks.

Eddie Murphy's A Thousand Words was a flop, but it was actually one of Murphy's more successful flops. Instead of the $5 million opening typical of Murphy's recent films, this family-friendly comedy earned a whopping $6.3 million, not so bad for a movie that's been shelved for four years.

On Friday, it's all about comedy. Goofy cop movie 21 Jump Street will hit theatres, along with Will Ferrell's Spanish-language Case de Mi Padre and the indie laffer Jeff Who Lives at Home.

Audiences flock to 'The Lorax,' giving it a record weekend

Apparently, estimates that put The Lorax at $50 million this weekend were woefully inadequate. The CG-animated Dr. Seuss adaptation earned $70.7 million its opening weekend, the highest yet recorded in 2012. Since no big-budget animated titles have released since December, many families were eager to check out the picture, which comes with an environmental message. People in Hollywood seem to find a way to be number one in any way they can. In the case of The Lorax, it felled the record for "non-sequel animated title," unseating 2004's The Incredibles. The Dr. Seuss fable received an extra boost from 3D and IMAX, which contributed half of the weekend take. Although critics lambasted the movie, audiences gave it an "A" rating in exit polls. Since family movies tend to perform strongly for multiple weeks, The Lorax will likely cross the $100 million mark by next weekend and set its sights on a loftier goal--like $200 million.

The tale of a teen's party that spirals out of control, Project X performed on the high side of expectations, earning $20.7 million. Since the low-budget project cost just $12 million, Warner Bros. will be in the green with this picture. I give it points for innovation, since it adapted the found-footage technique to what is for adults a pretty familiar movie topic.

The recipient of the Best Picture Oscar, The Artist, ascended to tenth place post-win. Going up 34% from last week, it earned $3.9 million, its biggest weekend to date. Still, its $2,200 per-screen average indicates the critical darling didn't scale particularly well and is better suited for the arthouse crowd.

Being Flynn failed to ignite. The adaptation of Another Bull***t Night in Suck City, starring Robert De Niro, earned just $11,000 per screen in four locations. A figure three times that would have shown that the movie was generating strong interest.

The Oscar winner for Best Documentary, also a Weinstein Co. release, showed more traction after its win. Undefeated, an inspiring tale of football players in a poor town who are changed by their involvement in the sport, went up 337%. Moving from seven to twelve theatres, it averaged $7,000 per screen for a total of $84,000.

This Friday, sci-fi adventure John Carter will open, the indie-esque horror picture Silent House will introduce more audiences to the "third Olsen sister," and Eddie Murphy will appear in A Thousand Words.

'The Lorax' poised for a sensational weekend

After two months without a big-budget, 3D, CG-animated movie, The Lorax (3,728 theatres, including 269 IMAX screens) should be a sensation. Unlike The Adventures of Tintin, which featured a character better-known in Europe than the U.S., Dr. Seuss is a homegrown creation. The Lorax is expected to easily top the $38 million debut of last year's Rango, and some are predicting the animated feature could reach $50 million. While this movie looks poised to be a box-office success, critics have been less kind. New York Magainze's David Edelstein titles his review "The Badness of 'The Lorax' Is a Shock." He points out that the movie makes fun of the Seussisms instead of taking them seriously, which rang alarm bells with me. FJI critic Daniel Eagan felt the movie was "message-heavy" but also disingenuous regarding that same environmental message. Seventy product tie-ins are promoting the very story that would consider a lot of these things "thneeds," examples of wasteful consumerism.

The found-footage format started out in horror, but Fox's superhero tale Chronicle and now Warner Bros.' party comedy Project X (3,055 theatres) have adopted the same style to tell their stories. Featuring unknown actors, Project X centers on a birthday party that becomes out-of-control thanks to an invite that's spread on social networks. Apparently this isn't one of those parties where the night ends with drunkenness, puking, and sexual advances. Instead, a flame thrower is involved, and the night turns into a "veritable orgy of destruction and explosions," according to critic David Noh. He saw it with a young audience that seemed to respond to the "lamely obscene lines," and fires, which puzzles him. "Who knows? Maybe this is what really does pass for an enjoyable movie experience these days," he muses. If Project X tops $20 million, it will be considered a big success.

Being Flynn, an adaptation of the book Another Bull***t Night in Suck City, will have a limited release in four theatres. Robert De Niro stars as a contestant for the most "repulsive, unrepentant train wreck of a mortal" that has ever graced the screen, according to critic Doris Toumarkine. De Niro plays a father, and Paul Dano his son, who seeks out his absent parent. Toumarkine feels this "bleak sonata...won’t be worth a detour for most audiences." Still, Focus may be able to market this film well enough for it to pack four theatres, especially with a big name like De Niro.

The winner of the Best Picture Oscar, The Artist, will run a victory lap this weekend as it expands from 966 to 1,756 locations. The homage to classic silent movies is estimated to bring in around $5 million with the extra screens.

On Monday, we'll return to see if families make The Lorax the immense success everyone is predicting, and if Project X enticed enough teens to give it an opening rivaling Superbad.

'Contraband' hijacks first place over MLK Day weekend

The long Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend was a boon to studios and exhibitors, with 2012 totals up an estimated 2-4% from last year. On Sunday, the Golden Globes provided publicity to awards darlings like The Iron Lady, The Artist, and The Descendents, all of which should see bumps next week as audiences put these films on their must-see lists.

Opening nearly as well as surprise hit Taken, Contraband earned $28.8 million over four days. The slightly male-skewing, older audience turned out for the remake of Icelandic hit Reykjavik-Rotterdam. The action pic drew praise in exit polls, with most rating the movie an A-.

In second place, the re-release of Beauty and the Beast in 3D conjured up $23.5 million in four days. The animated classic did especially well on the Monday school holiday, which was the second-highest grossing day of the weekend. Unsurprisingly, audiences rated the 1991 movie an A+.

In fourth place, Joyful Noise called out to females over 30. The Dolly Parton-Queen Latifah gospel dramedy earned a praiseful $13.7 million. That's better than the opening of Country Strong last year and on par with Queen Latifah's previous openings.

Word got out about The Devil Inside, and the horror stinker plummeted 76% over the three-day period. Since the movie cost less than $1 million, even this weekend's $9.1 million total is all gravy to the folks at Paramount.

Moving into 800 theatres, The Iron Lady skyrocketed 3,571% to $6.4 million. Meryl Streep's win for Best Actress at the Golden Globes should make this biopic rise even further next week.

Golden Globes Best Drama winner The Descendants dipped 18% to earn another $2.5 million. The Hawaii-set tale has been shedding theatres over the past several weeks (from 878 to 660), perhaps part of a more long-range distribution plan? With its second win by George Clooney for Best Actor, this Alexander Payne-directed film seems like a prime target for further expansion.

The Artist, winner of Best Comedy on Sunday night, was directly behind The Descendants with a total of $1.4 million, a slight increase from last week. This silent, black-and-white tale has done surprisingly well given the hesitations most people usually have with watching movies in such an antiquated mode.

This Friday will be a busy one. Director Steven Soderbergh's action pic Haywire will debut, along with Red Tails, which chronicles the missions of black pilots during WWII.  Underworld Awakening, the fourth in the series, will also open. Finally, 9/11 drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close will go from six theatres to over 2,000.

'The Devil Inside' takes possession of the #1 spot

By Sarah Sluis

The success of The Devil Inside this weekend smacks of carnival hucksterism. Everyone in the industry expected the movie to earn $10 million, tops, but instead the horror film raked in $34.5 million. Audiences may have been cheated, though. 19% of viewers in exit polls gave the movie an "F" score, and word is the ending is so bad it provokes outrage among audience members. However, people came because the marketing campaign and trailer for the movie were scary and enticing. If I didn't know better I might have actually thought the horror flick was worth seeing myself. Over on Variety, Paramount's marketing team attributed the success to the "fun and loose," no-stakes campaign they ran. Maybe marketing teams normally overthink too much, because Devil Inside clearly succeeded because of its pre-release ads and stunts.

In second place, Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol remained ahead of the other holiday blockbusters with a total of $20.5 million. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows followed, falling 3% more than the Tom Cruise movie to finish with $14 million. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo held on to more of its box office than the first two movies, dipping just 23% to finish with $11.3 million. Cumulatively, though, Dragon Tattoo has close to $100 million less than Mission: Impossible, which has earned $176 million stateside to date.

Expanding into 809 theatres, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy tallied up $5.8 million, a 431% increase from last week. Overseas, the British film has earned $25 million to date, mostly in the U.K.

Both Pariah and A Separation showed increases in their second weekend. Going from four to eleven theatres, Pariah averaged $10,100 per screen, with receipts up 130% from last week. The Iranian drama A Separation went from three to six theatres, rising 62% and averaging $16,000 per screen.

This Friday, a re-release of Beauty and the Beast in 3D will try to replicate the success of The Lion King 3D. The Mark Wahlberg thriller Contraband and the Dolly Parton-Queen Latifah gospel movie Joyful Noise will round out the offerings.

'Puss in Boots' enjoys back-to-back $30+ million weekends

By Sarah Sluis

Paramount's decision to release Puss in Boots one week early paid off. Last week, the CG-animated picture had a lower debut of $33 million thanks to Halloween celebrations and bad weather in the Northeast. This week, the Shrek spinoff dipped just 3%, the lowest drop for a non-holiday saturated release. Now Puss in Boots has over $75 million in the bank, and one more wide-open weekend before animated competitor Happy Feet 2 opens on Nov. 15.

In second place, Tower Heist came in with $25.1 million. Many in the industry expected more, and certainly the action comedy's $75 million budget hints at larger expectations. However, the comedy earned raves in exit polls, which puts the heist film in a strong place in coming weeks.

When your Christmas release opens well before most malls have decked out their stores in red-and-green cheer, it might be a problem. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas debuted on the low side of expectations, to $13 million, and I suspect its eight-week lead time on the holiday contributed to the lower take. The stoner comedy reportedly cost less than $20 million to make, so steady weekends through the holiday will definitely put the movie in the black.

In sixth place, Footloose showed a surprisingly strong hold, dipping just 17% from last week for a $4.5 million total. The dance remake has played strongly among heartland audiences. Moneyball, in the tenth spot, showed resilience in its seventh week, boasting just a 20% drop as it added another $1.9 million to its $70 million total.

On the specialty front, the documentary about punk rock dads, The Other F Word, opened to a respectable $7,000 per-screen average on two screens. Like Crazy went up 120% from its opening weekend to $270,000. The indie romance averaged $16,800 per screen in quadruple the locations (16 from 4). That puts the indie romance ahead of Martha Marcy May Marlene, which only earned $248,000 its second week, even as it played on double the number of screens. Still, the cult drama starring Elizabeth Olsen is also performing well for a specialty film, passing the $1 million mark as it earned another $471,000 on a run that now numbers 98 screens.

This Friday, the fantasy action drama Immortal will make a splash with a wide release opposite Adam Sandler cross-dressing comedy Jack & Jill. Director Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar will jump the gun, opening small on Wednesday and big on Friday.

'Lion King' reigns supreme over 'Moneyball' and 'Dolphin Tale'

By Sarah Sluis

For the second week in a row, the re-release of The Lion King (which included 3D screens) grabbed the most box office, finishing with $22.1 million, a dip of 26%. The success of Disney's classic animated tale will surely inspire other studios to scramble to find movies in their libraries to re-release and add more to their bottom lines. However, The Lion King is part of a rarefied group. With the extra $60 million the movie has earned, it's now the twelfth-highest grossing movie of all time, domestically. In fact, The Lion King may make its way into the top ten if it stays in release for a couple more weeks.

According to weekend estimates, Moneyball currently has a narrow claim on second place over Dolphin Tale, earning $20.6 million to the third place finisher's $20.2 million. While the positive reviews at the Toronto Film Festival all but guaranteed that Moneyball would debut strongly, Dolphin Tale's success is a bit more of a surprise. The movie earned an A+ CinemaScore from viewers, the same high mark given by Soul Surfer's audience. Inspirational, PG-rated movies are something of a rarity in the market, and the addition of an injured dolphin to the formula (hearkening back to Free Willy) probably boosted returns even higher. Alcon Entertainment, which produced The Blind Side, was also behind Dolphin Tale. There's a certain group of movies about overcoming adversity that seem to hit a sweet spot with viewers. It can't be a depressing, Precious level of adversity, but just enough to warm the heart. These kinds of movies (I'm thinking of Marley & Me, The Pursuit of Happyness, Soul Surfer, The Blind Side) have resonated widely with audiences.

Taylor Lautner should redouble his efforts in romances like the Twilight series because Abduction earned $11.2 million by wrangling up audiences that were 68% female and mostly under 25--the opposite of a normal action movie's demographics. However, considering critics gave the movie a 3% positive rating, an eight-digit opening weekend is probably the best this poorly received movie can hope for. Unsurprisingly, females under 18 gave the movie an A-, while everyone else's scores averaged out to a B-.

Killer Elite, the first effort from newbie distributor Open Road, finished on the low side of expectations with $9.5 million. Jason Statham is something of an action movie workhorse, but many of his other actioners have doubled this opening weekend, including The Mechanic and Transporter 3. Still, with its solid cast, which includes Robert De Niro and Clive Owen, this movie should do well in home markets.

The gay romance Weekend, which our critic David Noh raved about, should have planned for a bigger run. It earned $25,000 over the weekend to sold-out screenings at one theatre. Its performance in coming weekends should be strong, especially if it expands to other locations. Other specialty releases had more middling results. Machine Gun Preacher averaged $11,000 per screen at four locations. Cameron Crowe-directed rockumentary Pearl Jam Twenty did slightly better, averaging $12,700 per screen at seven locations.

This Friday, cancer comedy 50/50 will hit theatres along with romantic comedy What's Your Number?, the thriller Dream House and the faith-based drama Courageous.

'Moneyball' aims for the bleachers

By Sarah Sluis

The fall is known for being a quiet time for movies, but this year we're already seeing a potential Oscar contender, Moneyball (2,993 theatres), coming out to entertain adult audiences. Sony appears to be repeating the same strategy they used for last year's The Social Network, which opened October 1st and still managed to have a strong presence during awards season. Critic Rex Roberts praises the movie for turning the antics of number-crunching back-office executives into "scintillating cinema" that is "eminently enjoyable." Brad Pitt stars as Billy Beane, a one-time potential star prospect who failed in the major leagues and now manages the impoverished Oakland A's. With the help of a young Yalie (Jonah Hill), he builds a record-breaking team on a low budget by analyzing little-known stats like on-base percentages. Moneyball could top $20 million, especially as critics pile on their love for the movie, which is currently rating 92% positive on Rotten Tomatoes.

Moneyball's toughest competitor will be a feel-good movie with maimed pets and Morgan Freeman. Dolphin Tale (3,507 theatres) is the latest from Alcon Entertainment, which produced The Blind Side. THR's Todd McCarthy described the movie as "an appealing family film that doesn't know when to quit with the uplift." The true-life story centers on a dolphin with an injured tail who receives a prosthetic appendage with the help of community members (including a benevolent billionaire). The aww factor should bring families to the theatre if they aren't catching up on last week's winner, the re-release of The Lion King.

Twilight fans are expected to turn out en masse for Abduction (3,118 theatres), which stars Taylor Lautner, the werewolf boy in the supernatural series. Those that don't fall into the teen girl demographic should only go if they're interested in seeing "the year's most entertaining bad film," a superlative given by critic David Noh. "Unintentional laughs" come from lines like "There's a bomb in the oven" and the threat "I will kill all your friends on Facebook."

Killer Elite (2,986 theatres), the first film from AMC/Regal-created distributor Open Road Films, is "a confusing, unsatisfying action thriller," according to critic Daniel Eagan. Starring Jason Statham, Robert De Niro, and Clive Owen, the movie jumbles together former secret service agents, fights over Middle Eastern oil, and mercenaries in the "clumsy and preposterous" tale. An opening weekend around $10 million is expected, with Abduction and Killer Elite considered close competitiors.

On the specialty front, Noh praises Weekend (1 theatre) as "one of the best gay films ever made," with an "emotional payoff" at the end that's "beautifully observed and quite devastating." I really hate the title of Machine Gun Preacher (4 theatres), which sounds like an exploitation film but is actually the tale of an ex-con (Gerard Butler) who finds God and goes to Sudan and Uganda to help those in need. Critic Kirk Honeycutt acknowledged that it's "solid, worthy effort, but doesn't like to ask too many questions," or delve into a critique of the main character's choices or methods.

On Monday, we'll see in Moneyball hit it out of the park and if audiences responded to the feel-good premise of Dolphin Tale.

'The Help' spends a third week shining at #1

By Sarah Sluis

This Labor Day weekend was so quiet, it had the lowest audience attendance in fifteen years, something that doesn't make exhibitors or studios happy. With little competition, The Help coasted right into first place with another $14.6 million, .5% more than the previous weekend. Including Labor Day, the light Southern drama racked up $19 million and currently has $123 million in the pot thanks to its strong holding power.

The Debt, which gave adults the high-quality fare that's been lacking at the summer box office, rightly landed in second place with a $12.5 million four-day total. Sound reviews and support from adult audiences should make the movie a popular choice in subsequent weeks. Last year, Focus released The American over Labor Day weekend, earning $16 million, so The Debt fell short of the benchmark set by that adult thriller.

With two exploitation-style horror movies battling it out over the weekend, neither one shone. Apollo 18, a "found footage" scary sci-fi movie set on the moon, landed at third with a $10.7 million four-daytotal. Shark Night 3D closely followed, with a $10.3 million weekend total. Even with added revenues from 3D screens, the movie still couldn't best Apollo 18.

On the specialty front, two pictures that attracted non-indie audiences shone. Seven Days in Utopia, a faith-based sports movie, averaged $2,900 per screen on 561 screens for a $1.9 million total. Saving Private Perez, an adventure/comedy that sends a Mexican drug lord on a mission to find his brother in Iraq, grabbed the Spanish-speaking audience with $5,000 per screen at 161 locations for an $830,000 total.

Audiences weren't so eager to join in on A Good Old-Fashioned Orgy, which flopped with $825 per screen on 143 screens. IFC's Love Crime, a French-language combination of Working Girl and Single White Female, fared better, with $10,500 per screen at five locations.

This Friday, director Steven Soderbergh's epidemic drama Contagion will open, joined by porn star comedy Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star and the fight movie Warrior.

'Tangled' climbs to the top

By Sarah Sluis

As predicted, Disney's Tangled rose from second place to first in its second week. The Rapunzel retelling dipped 55% to $21.5 million, a strong hold given that last weekend had higher-than-average traffic because of post-Thanksgiving crowds. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I took a steeper dive, falling 65% to $16.7 million. Many Harry Potter fans presumably saw the film shortly after its release, while Tangled should play well to families throughout the holiday season.

The Warrior's Way, a hybrid of the Asian action and Western genres, with some supernatural enemies as a bonus, eked out $3 million its opening weekend, below an estimated $5 million opening. The genre amalgamation follows this summer's sci-fi/comic book/Western flop Jonah Hex, and the (critical, sort of commercial) failure a decade before of another Western hybrid, Wild Wild West. Let it be known: The Western does not take kindly to genre mixing.

Just outside of the top ten, 127 Hours dipped 6% to $1.6 million as it increased the number of theatres showing the film by a third. Love and Other Drugs ($5.7 million) and Burlesque ($6.1 million), which both opened over the Thanksgiving holiday, fell in the 40% range. Thanks to the added holiday receipts, each of these films has each crossed the $20 million mark.

As prestige, awards-seeking movies make their end-of-the-year debuts, per-screen averages of specialty films have skyrocketed. Multiple films posted averages in the tens of thousands. Leading the pack with the highest average of the week, Black Swan opened in 18 locations to a stunning $77,000 per-screen average. Another Oscar frontrunner, The King's Speech, in its second week, made a comfortable slide into a $55,000 per-screen average as it went from four to six theatres. All Good Things, the true-crime drama, tallied up $20,000 per screen at two locations, just ahead of I Love You, Phillip Morris, which averaged $18,000 per screen at six locations.

This Friday, Tangled will have some competition from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a former Disney franchise that has been passed to Fox. The Angelina Jolie-Johnny Depp smoldering thriller The Tourist will offer adults some fresh intrigue set in an exotic location, and another Oscar contender, The Fighter, will hit select theatres.

'Date Night' unseats 'Clash of the Titans'

By Sarah Sluis

Date Night triumphed this weekend over action epic Clash of the Titans, which many assumed would take the top spot for the second week in a row. A strong performance from Date Night, coupled with a steeper- than-average drop for Clash, clinched the close 1-2 finish ($27.1 million for Date Night, $26.8 million for Clash).

I think the steep drop of Clash is a good thing for the industry. 3D has proved to be hugely profitable, but most critics (and some audiences) seemed to think that the last-minute 2D to 3D conversion of Clash looked poor. While a 56% drop is consistent with male-driven action movies, it also indicates that 3D doesn't guarantee long, profitable runs.

[Update: Clash ended up in first place when the final numbers came in, with $26.6 million to Date Night's $25.2 million]

How to Train Your Dragon did even better in its third week. Ticket sales for the 3D animated movie tapered off just 12%, giving the movie a $25.3 million weekend. Strong weekday sales from Spring Breakers have brought the cumulative gross to $133.8 million in three weeks.

Tyler Perry's How Did I Get Married Too dropped a heavy 62% to $11 million. Perry's movies typically draw strong opening weekend crowds and have high drop-off rates.

Another movie with a Spring Break audience, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, fell just 22% to $4.1 million. Miley Cyrus-starring The Last Song dipped a manageable 37% to $10 million, and Alice in Wonderland steadied its fall this week with a 31% drop to $5.6 million.

Vivendi's Letters to God cracked the top ten with a $1.2 million. Though David Nixon, the producer of the inspirational Fireproof, produced and directed the movie, it was not nearly as successful. Its $1,300 per-screen gross was far less than the $8,000 per-screen Fireproof boasted, a true apples-to-apples comparison since both movies opened on around 800 screens.

Specialty release Everyone Else, a strongly-reviewed German-language movie about a couple's unraveling after they meet another couple just like them...only better, had the highest per-screen average, $11,400, of any film released this week.

This Friday, the superhero action-comedy with a bite, Kick-Ass, opens alongside Death at a Funeral, a remake of a British film that is cast primarily with black actors, including Chris Rock.

Audiences set for 'Date Night'

By Sarah Sluis

The Tina Fey-Steve Carell action comedy Date Night has an enviable position this weekend. It will command 3,374 screens without any fresh competition. Though the movie should draw audiences with the star power of its leads, the story itself is "an irrelevant and mostly unconvincing clothesline on which Fey and Carell can hang improvised riffs," according to FJI critic Frank Lovece. New York Times critic A.O. Scott found the movie's quality to be "superior to most recent movies of its kind, the marital action comedy...[but] better than The Bounty Hunter or Did You Hear About the Morgans? is not quite the same as 'good.'"

Date Night must open strong to beat the second weekend of Clash of the Titans, which will have 500 more screens, many of them 3D. Even with a 50% dropoff, Clash would still earn $30 million, so Carell and Fey have to hope that their talk-show promotions will drive the movie over that mark to give it the top spot.

Without much of a publicity campaign, the faith-based movie Letters to God (trailer here) will open in 897 theatres. The movie follows a young boy who writes letters to God, the postman who intercepts them, and the relationship he develops with the kid's single mom. If the movie posts a high per-screen average, it will follow in the footsteps of other niche Christian movies like Fireproof, 2009's surprise success (Letters to God and Fireproof share the same producer).

On the specialty front, "an honest attempt to portray the destructiveness of violence in the Latino community" starring Benjamin Bratt, La Mission, will debut on 15 screens. The Square, "a tale of an adulterous couple in the sunny Sydney suburbs," offers an "entertaining descent into a black-comic hell" in two locations.

On Monday, we'll see if Clash was able to keep ahead of Date Night or if charm of Fey and Carell's charm managed to woo audiences to the action comedy.

'How to Train Your Dragon' soars to the top of box office

By Sarah Sluis

How to Train Your Dragon easily landed in first place its opening weekend with a $43.3 million gross, two-and-a-half times the take of the first runner-up, Alice in Wonderland ($17.3 million). Despite strong reviews, the family-skewing animated movie earned far less than Alice's opening weekend. Like Alice, it should have strong grosses week-to-week, but will have to overcome one significant challenge. Clash of the Titans opens in 3D this Friday, taking away screens from Dragon. This could push the per-screen gross up higher, but it also means there will be fewer time slots and more crowding for Dragon.

Hot Tub Time Machine debuted third with $13.6 million. The retro-themed plot drew in males aged twenty-five and up, many of whom lived through the '80s and enjoyed the comedic rehash of the era. Though not a flop, the movie just barely edged out the second-week performance of The Bounty Hunter ($12.4 million), a romantic comedy with broader appeal.

Greenberg added 178 playdates to its run to end the weekend with $1.05 million, ending with a strong $5,000 per-theatre average. The steamy art film Chloe opened to $1 million, but its per-theatre average was a bit lower, $2,000 per screen. The Runaways hasn't been as catchy as Apparition may have hoped, dropping in its second week even as it added screens. The teen rock biopic made $445,000 and fell 44% from last week.

In just five locations, Disney documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty debuted to $33,000, with a respectable $6,600 per screen.

This Friday, 3D Clash of the Titans will open alongside Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? Disney's The Last Song will jump the gun with a debut this Wednesday, certain to draw in hordes of Miley Cyrus fans.

'How to Train Your Dragon' to set theatres on fire

By Sarah Sluis

With 4,055 theatres, over half of them 3D, and a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, How To Train Your Dragon is poised for a fantastic opening weekend. The animated fantasy's overwhelmingly positive critical reception puts it among the ranks of Pixar, the perennial winner for Best Animated Film at the Oscars. Our critic Frank Lovece called the DreamWorks Animation film "a masterpiece of art direction and design, with some of the most beautiful landscapes ever animated and state-of-the-art rendering of things like strands of Hiccup's [the hero] hair during flight." Releasing in 3D and IMAX, the movie will enchant young audiences and the adults going along for the ride. Because it's based on a novel, the movie will have added anticipation and awareness and should open extremely strong. However, unlike Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, this movie's appeal will be more family-based, and is unlikely to draw in as many viewers coming without a child in tow.

The stupid comedy du jour, Hot Tub Time Machine (2,754 theatres), is supposedly a little better than average. Like its summer cousin The Hangover, an older cast but more juvenile jokes should expand the potential audience. Our critic Ethan Alter enjoyed the comedy's "welcomingly weirder sense of humor" but predicted it won't have the same cultural staying power as '80s classics like Caddyshack.

On the specialty front, director Atom Egoyan's "sexually charged melodrama" Chloe opens in 306 theatres. The subject matter should draw audiences, as will star Amanda Seyfried, whose performance "makes a major impression, adeptly navigating the twists and turns of her character's not-so-apparent motivations."

Disney geeks (Mousejunkies?) will drool for documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty (5 theatres), which chronicles Disney's rebirth after a period of bad films.

The Eclipse, an "intriguing mix of engaging drama and wonderful dialogue, all infused with stirring hints of the supernatural," will debut in six theatres. Award-winning playwright Conor McPherson (The Seafarer) writes and directs.

On Monday, Alice will pass the 3D crown to How to Train Your Dragon, and Hot Tub Time Machine will try its hardest to come in second.

Audiences swoon for 'Valentine's Day'

By Sarah Sluis

Valentine's Day swept the holiday weekend with an estimated $66.8 million gross over the four-day period, exceeding industry expectations. The timely romantic comedy built on its audience through the weekend, peaking on the titular Sunday holiday before dropping by half on Monday. The movie handily beat the $52 million box-office record for President's Day weekend, set by Ghost Rider in 2007. With an expired holiday in the title, the movie's week-over-week future is more uncertain, but its strong opening created a high mountain to slide down.

The Wolfman and Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief were neck and neck through Sunday, with about $31 million apiece, but Percy Jackson pulled ahead during the Monday school holiday to finish with $38.7 million for the four-day weekend. Given The Wolfman's multiple delays and underwhelming reviews, Universal is probably breathing easy about its $36.4 million opening weekend--even if it isn't close to recouping the movie's $100 million-plus production costs.

Directed by Chris Columbus (who kicked off the Harry Potter series), Percy Jackson, which is based on a series of children's books, could still be the beginning of a film franchise. However, the scale may have been too large. With a $95 million production budget, this movie seems to have been imagined for a Harry Potter-size audience instead of one much smaller, and a $38 million opening weekend won't be enough to make a film that expensive worthwhile.

Beyond the top ten, Fox Searchlight scored an impressive debut with My Name is Khan, a Bollywood production about "an Indian in America battling the double whammy of living with Asperger's Syndrome and as a Muslim man in the post-9/11 world," according to the THR review by Kirk Honeycutt. The romantic drama placed thirteenth with a $2.2 million estimated gross over the four-day weekend. With a targeted 120-theatre release, I suspect that Fox Searchlight cherry-picked its locations based on data from the run of Slumdog Millionaire, the Indian-themed movie that swept the Oscars last year.

Searchlight also placed a film in the top ten with Crazy Heart, which expanded to 1,005 locations and brought in $4.2 million for a ninth place finish. The movie, which stars Jeff Bridges in an Oscar-nominated role, has seen the biggest box-office boost due to its nominations, in part because it released just before the Oscar cutoff date and is still a fresh title.

Among returning films, Avatar headed the pack with a $30 million gross over four days, propelling the movie up 31% from last week (for four days) and 3% (for three days).

Even with tough competition from Valentine's Day, romantic weepie Dear John held on with another $18.8 million. Kid-friendly Tooth Fairy benefited from family crowds on Monday and dropped just 9% to $7.7 million.

This Friday, another delayed movie, Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, will make its debut into a wide-open field. Only holdovers and small releases, including a four-theatre unveiling of Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer, will serve as competition.

'Sherlock Holmes' no match for 'Avatar'

By Sarah Sluis

A record-breaking $278 million week at the box office was led by Avatar, with the rest of the top ten following closely behind with strong debut and holdover performances. The sci-fi spectacle's second week was just as strong as its first, dropping a minuscule 2% from its opening weekend to earn $75 million. The movie posted its highest one-day gross the day after Christmas, when it earned $28.5 million, compared to the smaller $26.7 million sum it brought in its opening day. Unlike most other tentpoles, which are adaptations of successful books, series, or comic books, Avatar had to tough through a lower opening and wait for word-of-mouth to build up. In light of Avatar's success, perhaps other filmmakers besides James Cameron will be able to follow in his wake and develop tentpoles based on original ideas. Fox, however, won't have to take on much risk if it moves forward with a sequel or two: Cameron has mentioned that he has already mapped out a multi-movie arc for his characters.

Coming in second place for the weekend, action-detective movie Sherlock Holmes beat Avatar its opening day, Christmas, but dropped off over the weekend. The movie earned $65.3 million, about $10 million under Avatar's gross. While the movie's hero and his iconic pipe-smoking habit is more familiar to audiences, Avatar delivers on its premise much more than Sherlock Holmes, which lost points with me for its overuse of action movie conventions.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel came in third with $50.2 million. Because it opened on Wednesday, its total gross is already $77 million, which is far outpacing the first movie in the series, which opened to $44 million.

Writer/director Nancy Meyers' latest installment in the romantic comedy department, It's Complicated, opened fourth with $22.1 million. Her last two films, The Holiday and Something's Gotta Give, both opened in the teens, so this marks her best opening since 2000's What Women Want, which debuted at $33 million.

Of the films placing fifth to tenth, all were returning films, and three of the five increased their grosses from the previous week. Up in the Air went from 175 to 1,895 theatres and earned $11.75 million, a 266% increase from the previous week. The Blind Side rose 17% to $11.73 million even as it shed over 600 theatres, further cementing its status as a surprise word-of-mouth hit. Nine, in eighth place, increased 2000% to $5.5 million as it went from four theatres to 1,412 theatres. In tenth place, Invictus, which only added 35 theatres to its 2,160-theatre release, inched up 4% from the previous week. The remaining two films in the top ten, The Princess and the Frog and Did You Hear About the Morgans?, dropped in the 20-30% range. In particular, The Princess and the Frog may be hurting from competition with the Chipmunks and Chipettes.

Now that all the big films of 2009 have been released, the first month of 2010 will measure their longevity. Competition from new releases will be minimal, but for awards films, it's a long haul to the Oscar ceremony, which was moved from February to March this year.

'2012' destroys the box-office competition

By Sarah Sluis

Disasters, it seems, are always in style. 2012 earned an astonishing $65 million over the weekend, exceeding expectations. All the CG carnage came at a steep price, $200 million in production costs, but the first-week international gross of $225 million, plus a cable deal with FX, has already steered the movie toward the black.

Coming in second place, A Christmas Carol dropped a merry 25% to $22.3 million. It also has $200 million in production costs to make back, so the movie is counting on steady audiences through the Christmas season to recoup its investment. IMAX screens alone brought in $3.1 million, continuing the trend of 3D/IMAX films being buoyed up beyond opening weekend due to the strength of the higher-priced screens.

Pirate Radio debuted right out of the top ten at $2.8 million. Because it released on just 882 screens, its per-screen average of $3,200 bested seven of the films in the top ten. The movie didn't flop, but it would have needed to at least double its per-screen average to be considered a success.

The real second-week winner was Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire. The drama made the top ten while in release on under 200 screens. The only other film to do that in the past decade, according to Box Office Guru, was Paranormal Activity, which did so just weeks ago. Sometimes lightning does strike twice, but I suspect another explanation. The definition of "per-screen" may have changed--Precious was being played ten times a day, which requires more than one screen to achieve. Still, its $6 million gross and $35,000 per-screen average show the movie has a ways to go at the box office, giving it a promising forecast when it expands again this Friday.

Fantastic Mr. Fox debuted to a $65,000 per screen (though, again, playing ten times a day at each of its four "screen" locations). The stop-motion animated film will open wide over Thanksgiving. With its appeal to both kids and adults, it might be the crowd-pleasing choice, though it will have both Planet 51 and The Princess and the Frog to contend with.

This Friday, the next movie in the Twilight Saga, New Moon, will storm into over 4,000 theatres. Animated Planet 51 will provide some counter-programming for kids, and parents that don't qualify as "Twilight Moms" may want to catch feel-good The Blind Side after they drop off their rabid teenage girls at the theatre.