By Katey Rich
There was no stopping that ancient Scandinavian warrior this weekend, as Beowulf ran away with the domestic box office, bringing in $28.1 million, over $14 million more than its nearest competitor, Bee Movie. 40% of this gross came from 3D screens, which made up only about 20% of the total screens available. In other words, 3D is a cash cow, and the word is finally out.
Beowulf's success is tempered by the fact that total box office is down almost 30% from this time last year, when everyone was flocking to see either Happy Feet or Casino Royale. Still, stop your whining: American Gangster became the first movie of the fall to cross the $100 million mark over the weekend (it came in at #3 with $13 million), which helped Universal become the fifth studio to earn more than $1 billion this year, the first time in history that has happened. The ridiculously successful summer continues to buoy the box office, with receipts still up 5% total over last year.
The rest of the new openings fell pretty much into their expected place: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium came in at #5 with $10 million, somehow failing to topple holdover Fred Claus, at #4 with $12 million. Love in the Time of Cholera, which definitely didn't benefit from its negative reviews, barely made a splash, squeaking in at #10 with $1.9 million. I guess it can be remembered for finally knocking The Game Plan out of the top 10, after an epic eight weeks and an $87 million tally.
Lions for Lambs plummeted 56.7% but still managed to hold in the top ten, earning $2.9 million for the #8 spot. Dan in Real Life holds on remarkably well at #6, earning $4.5 million in its fourth week. And Saw IV keeps getting eyeballs even though Halloween is long over; it brought in $2.3 million and came in at #9.
Best of all in the top ten is the entrance of No Country for Old Men, which expanded to 148 screens and maintained a superb box office average of $20,932. That earned it a spot at #7 and a $3 million take. Something tells me the naysayers who are convinced it's too violent to find a wide appeal will be taking that back when No Country expands even wider this Wednesday.
Box Office Mojo's list of the full top 20 is after the jump. Note that P2 is already shedding theaters, and dropped a crazy 60% in its second weekend. Also fading into the distance are Michael Clayton, Gone Baby Gone, and 30 Days of Night, while Before the Devil Knows You're Dead keeps swimming happily (or, well, depressingly given the subject matter) in limited release.
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count / Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | N | Beowulf | Par. | $28,100,000 | - | 3,153 | - | $8,912 | $28,100,000 | $150 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | Bee Movie | P/DW | $14,300,000 | -44.1% | 3,984 | +40 | $3,589 | $93,862,000 | $150 | 3 |
| 3 | 2 | American Gangster | Uni. | $13,218,000 | -45.0% | 3,110 | +51 | $4,250 | $100,993,000 | $100 | 3 |
| 4 | 3 | Fred Claus | WB | $12,000,000 | -35.2% | 3,603 | - | $3,330 | $35,799,000 | - | 2 |
| 5 | N | Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium | Fox | $10,025,000 | - | 3,164 | - | $3,168 | $10,025,000 | - | 1 |
| 6 | 5 | Dan in Real Life | BV | $4,511,000 | -24.9% | 1,901 | -40 | $2,372 | $37,099,000 | - | 4 |
| 7 | 15 | No Country for Old Men | Mira. | $3,098,000 | +152.6% | 148 | +120 | $20,932 | $4,930,000 | - | 2 |
| 8 | 4 | Lions for Lambs | UA | $2,904,000 | -56.7% | 2,216 | +1 | $1,310 | $11,591,000 | - | 2 |
| 9 | 6 | Saw IV | LGF | $2,330,000 | -52.9% | 2,097 | -807 | $1,111 | $61,848,000 | - | 4 |
| 10 | N | Love in the Time of Cholera | NL | $1,915,000 | - | 852 | - | $2,247 | $1,915,000 | - | 1 |
| 11 | 7 | The Game Plan | BV | $1,211,000 | -50.8% | 1,374 | -787 | $881 | $87,407,000 | - | 8 |
| 12 | 17 | Bella | RAtt. | $1,093,000 | +18.9% | 456 | +180 | $2,396 | $5,153,000 | - | 4 |
 | |||||||||||
| 13 | 12 | Michael Clayton | WB | $1,015,000 | -40.2% | 695 | -455 | $1,460 | $37,159,000 | - | 7 |
| 14 | 8 | 30 Days of Night | Sony | $950,000 | -56.3% | 915 | -781 | $1,038 | $39,141,000 | $30 | 5 |
| 15 | 11 | Om Shanti Om | Eros | $945,000 | -46.4% | 117 | +3 | $8,076 | $3,081,000 | - | 2 |
| 16 | 16 | Into the Wild | ParV | $891,000 | -19.4% | 511 | -79 | $1,743 | $13,930,000 | - | 9 |
| 17 | 13 | Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married | LGF | $870,000 | -40.5% | 629 | -279 | $1,383 | $54,447,000 | - | 6 |
| 18 | 14 | Gone Baby Gone | Mira. | $831,000 | -42.5% | 530 | -427 | $1,567 | $18,426,000 | - | 5 |
| 19 | 9 | P2 | Sum. | $800,000 | -61.6% | 1,938 | -193 | $412 | $3,571,000 | - | 2 |
| 20 | 22 | Before the Devil Knows You're Dead | Think | $706,000 | +6.8% | 176 | +53 | $4,011 | $2,232,000 | - | 4 |
No comments:
Post a Comment