Debut of 'Resident Evil: Afterlife' marks new high for franchise

By Sarah Sluis

The franchise responsible for Resident Evil: Afterlife is alive and well. The fourth installment of the video game adaptation debuted higher than all three previous movies, finishing the weekend with a robust $27.7 million. Consistent with many action/horror/sci-fi genre films, the movie had its biggest night on Friday, to

the tune of $10.8 million, before slowly declining over Saturday and Sunday. Afterlife inched out the last Resident Evil film by $4 million. The reason for Afterlife's stunning performance, however, may not be the health of the franchise but the profitability of 3D. The 141 IMAX screens (compared to 3,000 regular screens) contributed $2.6 million to the box office, and over two-thirds of the screens were shown in 3D theatres charging premiums for seats.

The race for second place between holdovers Takers and The American ended with Takers on top with $6.1 million. Though the slick heist movie finished below The American last week, it declined just 43% to The American's 55% fall. The latter film, starring George Clooney, was expected to have a more leggy run due to its appeal among older audiences, so its second-week slump to $5.8 million could be telling.

Joaquin Phoenix's sorta-documentary I'm Still Here just surpassed $100,000 over the weekend, playing at 19 locations with a $5,500 per-screen average. Phoenix is expected on "Letterman" Sept. 22, a

year after his bizarre interview with the late-night host that circulated virally, so that added publicity could be a boon to its box-office take two weeks from now.

The all-star cast of The Romantics helped earned the film a stellar $22,200 per-screen average during its opening weekend at two screens in New York and Los Angeles. Leading lady Katie Holmes hasn't been seen much on screen lately, but if that wasn't a draw, "True Blood" star Anna Paquin, Elijah Wood, Josh Duhamel and Malin Akerman gave this movie an above-average roster.

The re-release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse failed to do much--including to push the movie over the $300 million vanity mark. Its $745,000 was far below the low single-digit millions predicted, but represented a 71% boost from the previous week. That's right, this "re-release" is actually still playing in select theatres.

Specialty releases showing big increases included director Rob Reiner's Flipped, which went from 28 to 442 screens and boosted its gross 863% to $490,000. Its $1,000 per-screen average is a less promising figure, but positive reviews from critics like Roger Ebert and its family-friendly reputation could propel this film further.

In its fourteenth week, Winter's Bone rose 21% to $143,000, adding to its over $5 million gross. When I saw the movie, I was surprised by the representation of Ozark life, sensing the authenticity of its realism; apparently the movie has played quite well in the Ozark region, where audiences have responded to its mirror-like realism and thriller feeling.

Another mover-and-shaker in the specialty market is Animal Kingdom, which has amassed almost $750,000 in five weeks. The Australian crime drama rose 9% this week, and the 61-screen release accumulated another $122,000.

This Friday, four wide releases enter the mix: Warner Bros.' Boston crime drama The Town, the 3D animated Alpha and Omega, teen sex comedy Easy A, and horror picture Devil. The much-buzzed documentary Catfish and the spare but heart-wrenching Never Let Me Go will also make their debut on specialty screens.