'Funny People' draws in modest audience

By Sarah Sluis

With its mix of comedy and drama, Funny People baffled industry analysts and challenged audience expectations. At the end of the weekend, the Judd Apatow-directed comedy brought in $23.4 million, performing steadily throughout its first three days. That's slightly better than Apatow's 2005 directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which made $21.4 million in its opening weekend. However, that comedy posted below-average drops of 20% for several weekends to reach its $109 million cumulative gross, a performance that appears less likely for Funny People, which also needs to make back its $70 million budget.

Sci-fi kids comedy Aliens in the Attic opened at number five with $7.8 million. Kirk Honeycutt praised the family film for "[taking] good advantage of digital effects and an athletic cast to make the action virtually nonstop," but it appears the movie--or its marketing budget--was unable to pack audiences into theatres.

Opening just outside of the top ten at number eleven, The Collector grossed $3.6 million. However, if audience responses are as negative as its reviews, it should fall out of theatres quickly.

Adam, The Cove, and Thirst, each at four locations, posted strong opening weekends. Fox Searchlight's Asperger romance did the best, earning $16,575 per location for a total of $94,800. Dolphin documentary The Cove brought in $13,875 per location, an auspicious start, and was closely followed by Thirst, which made $13,800 per location. All three films are well-positioned for expansion, and their generally positive reviews should help their performance over the next few weeks.

Among holdovers, Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince continued its reign at the number two spot, adding another $17.7 million to its Gringotts vault. The Hangover, in its ninth week in the top ten, dropped just 21.4%, making it the word-of-mouth and box-office hit ($255 million so far) of summer 2009. (500) Days of Summer continued its expansion, increasing its box-office take 68% from last weekend and more than doubling the number of theatres. It earned $2.7 million at the number twelve spot and a healthy $10,338 per location.

The Hurt Locker and In the Loop also expanded. With just a $3,654 per-screen average, the Kathryn Bigelow-directed war film may be burning through its audiences. In the Loop's $8,829 per-screen average was higher than any film in the top ten this weekend, and its $309,000 gross was a 61% increase from last week.

This Friday, G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra will got to battle with boeuf-y Julie & Julia. Horror flick A Perfect Getaway will round out the offerings in wide release.