'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.

'The Devil Inside' stakes a spot against holiday holdovers

By Sarah Sluis

The only new release this weekend in The Devil Inside (2,285 theatres), a documentary-style horror flick. The rather catchy marketing campaign, which shows scared audiences watching the movie inside a church, borrows from Paranormal Activity. Last night I saw a commercial with night cameras trained on cast members of "Jersey Shore" frightened by the movie. While Paramount is trying its hardest to sell the movie to young moviegoers, they may be in for an unwelcome surprise. Critic Willie Waffle reports that his audience jeered through the ending, it was that bad. Horror movie lovers be warned: This movie has just a 6% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, an opening weekend of up to $10 million is expected.

The holdovers Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows should continue to reign over the box office. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy will expand into 809 theatres this week and should crack the top ten. The spy thriller has been earning close to $20,000 per screen in 55 theatres, so even a fraction of that average will give the picture millions. In the dailies, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been catching up to the two leading actioners, so this weekend could narrow the gap even more.

Although finding Roadie on VOD may be easy, it will be much harder to find it playing in a theatre. However, critic Doris Toumarkine's review suggests this "terrific contemporary drama" is worth seeking out. Critic Erica Abeel recommends the feature version of Murakami's book Norwegian Wood. "Fans of the director [Tran Anh Hung] and novelist won't want to miss this intriguing, if flawed, adaptation," she concludes.

On Monday, we'll see if The Devil Inside managed to bring audiences to the dark side and which holiday releases have the most holding power.