VIEW FROM THE TERRACE

By Sarah Sluis

Lakeview Terrace captured the top spot this weekend with a $15.6 million opening.  The neighbor-terror

picture, with some racial overtones thrown in, benefited from Samuel L. Jackson's performance.  While reviewers generally shrugged at the film, as least one critic noted that "Jackson hasn't had a role this good or this complex in many a moon."  With over one hundred films to his credit, Jackson has made something of a career from roles in moderately-budgeted, male-oriented genre films�including, as of late, the unusual snake duo Snakes on a Plane and Black Snake Moan.  While I haven't seen Lakeview Terrace, Jackson's villains are always compelling, and his supporting appearances always carry beyond the screen, making you wish he didn't have to die off so soon.

Two other newcomers, rom-com My Best Friend's Girl and animated tale Igor had disappointing opening weekends, coming in at #3 and #4, with $11.3 million and $8 million takes.  Neither was particularly well-reviewed�Film Journal pronounced Igor "decent" and My Best Friend's Girl "irredeemably ugly."  Audiences smelled a stinker and went for some of the better options in the multiplex.

Burn After Reading did surprisingly well in its second week, dropping only 41% and grabbing the #2 spot.  If I were a teen girl (as I once was), I would go for Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading over the iffy romantic comedy My Best Friend's Girl.

Other newcomer Ghost Town came in at #8 with a $5.2 opening.  The studio dropped 500 theatres from the run at the last minute, perhaps conceding that the film wouldn't be able to expand on its niche audience appeal.

Rounding out the top ten were last week's Righteous Kill, Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys, and The Women.  July's Dark Knight and August's House Bunny have also continued to bring solid returns, each coming in a bit under $3 million for the week.

Both Appaloosa and The Duchess had strong per-screen averages. The Duchess cheated a little bit, as its "per location" average (running on a couple screens in one location) of $29,000 beat out Appaloosa's per screen average of $18,429.  I saw The Duchess this weekend and many of its most dramatic moments played as absurd comedy, which definitely was not mentioned in any of the reviews or marketing of the film.  Ralph Fiennes' performance as the Duke was so bizarre it kept on drawing incredulous laughter from the audience.  One of the biggest laughs came from the wedding night scene, in which Fiennes aseptically inquires for scissors from a maid to undress Keira Knightley.  While not played as creepy, the moment is so bizarrely matter-of-fact the audience couldn't contain itself.  Inappropriate laugher aside, both of these films, with their strong per-screen numbers, should expand into more theatres.  Appaloosa already has a scheduled wide release in two weeks.  Assumedly, The Duchess will also expand, but no definite date has been set.

COENS, PERRY TOP BOX OFFICE

By Sarah Sluis

After weeks with nothing to see, America turned out in force to catch four new wide releases, placing them #1-#4 at the box office.

Burn After Reading claimed the top spot with $19.4 million, creating an opening weekend record for the duo.  True, many of their films have opened in limited release and racked up the millions more slowly, but this nevertheless represents a victory for the Coens, who were able to roll over the critical success they achieved with No Country for Old Men into box office dollars for their current film.

Not far behind, Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys finished at #2 with $18 million.  Perry's continued success�$250 million in box office on his past six films, with five of the six films opening at #1 or #2, and 11 million DVD sales�has made more people stand up and take notice.  By not screening his films for critics in advance, and targeting mainly African-American viewers, Perry's films have made it big at the box office without a similar splash in the media.  Expect more stories about Perry, as a $250 million track record is hard to hide.

Righteous Kill (#3, $16.5 million) and The Women (#4, $10 million) were both star-studded mediocre releases.  Neither was particularly well-reviewed, although I imagine they will both find their way into many people's Netflix queues.

The House Bunny surpassed Tropic Thunder this week ($4.3 million to Tropic's $4.1 million), actually adding 27 theatres to its run.  Female-oriented films are known for opening small but lasting for several weeks as they gain word-of-mouth, and this film definitely speaks to that point.

Lastly, that incendiary film Towelhead had the highest per-screen average for the week, earning $13,250 per screen (with only four locations playing the film).  In terms of per-screen averages, Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys trailed at second with $8,705 per screen.  Choosing a wide but selective release of 2,070 locations was undoubtedly a smart move and certainly reflects the niche-to-mainstream position of Perry's films in the marketplace.