By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
Weekend Box Office Report
Call it a tie with horror vs. heist. Estimated weekend box office for the frame’s two national releases gives a razor-thin edge of less than $100,000 to The Last Exorcism with $22.2 million to Takers’ $22.1 million.
Give and Takers
Call it a tie with horror vs. heist. Estimated weekend box office for the frame’s two national releases gives a razor-thin edge of less than $100,000 to The Last Exorcism with $22.2 million to Takers’ $22.1 million. The other sort of newie was the expanded version of Avatar, which went out exclusively in 3D with a push for large format engagements. It added $3.9 million to an already hefty larder.
In the niches, the French crime saga Mesrine: Killer Instinct opened in America (it released in Quebec three weeks ago) to a combined weekend of $211,000. The opus’s second part — Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 — launched in Quebec with a $52,300 tally at 22 shootouts. And local comic favorite Y’en aura pas de facile had a solid $172,000 gross in its Quebec debut.
There was another regional breakout for sports doc Nick Saban: Gamechanger, which blitzed to $138,000 at 22 venues in Alabama. The remaining niche and exclusive freshmen class ranged from dull to dismal including some Roman muscle flexing in Centurion, which rendered $41,200 at 12 arenas and Peruvian Oscar short-listed Milk of Sorrow with $1,730 at a single screen.
Overall weekend revenues continued to decline as summer sees the Labor Day holiday looming large.
Comparatively speaking the session was robust set beside industry expectations. Box office trackers didn’t expect The Last Exorcism to break $20 million and Takers appeared to be headed for less than $15 million.
Exhibitors and distributors basically were girding for a frame of possibly less than $100 million rather than the roughly $114 million it’s currently on track to deliver. Game face aside, revenues dipped 11% from the prior weekend and were 9% off the mark from 2009. A year ago a pair of new horror entries prevailed with The Final Destination 3D topping the charts with $27.4 million and Halloween II ranked third with $16.3 million.
Last weekend’s crop of late entries were well on their way to fast ancillary windows with drops ranging from 45% to 65%.
Summer’s upcoming final weekend isn’t expected to provide a last minute surge but early season potency will provide modest overall gains at the box office. Still, attendance is likely to experience a slight drop off.
Weekend Estimates: August 27 – August 29, 2010
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
| The Last Exorcism | Lionsgate | 21.2 (7,380) | New | 2874 | 21.2 |
| Takers | Sony | 21.1 (9,560) | New | 2206 | 21.1 |
| The Expendables | Lionsgate | 9.2 (2,710) | -46% | 3398 | 81.7 |
| Eat Drink Pray | Sony | 6.9 (2,230) | -43% | 3108 | 60.6 |
| The Other Guys | Sony | 6.4 (2,020) | -37% | 3181 | 99.2 |
| Vampires Suck | Fox | 5.2 (1,620) | -57% | 3233 | 27.1 |
| Inception | WB | 5.0 (2,410) | -36% | 2070 | 270.6 |
| The Switch | BV | 4.6 (2,270) | -46% | 2017 | 16.4 |
| Nanny McPhee Returns | Uni | 4.5 (1,600) | -47% | 2798 | 16.8 |
| Piranha 3D | Weinstein Co. | 4.1 (1,650) | -59% | 2491 | 18.1 |
| Avatar (reissue) | Fox | 3.9 (4,770) | New | 811 | 3.9 |
| Lottery Ticket | WB | 3.8 (1,930) | -64% | 1973 | 17.2 |
| Despicable Me | Uni | 2.8 (1,510) | -41% | 1833 | 236.2 |
| Scott Pilgrim vs. the World | Uni | 2.4 (1,550) | -53% | 1566 | 25.5 |
| Salt | Sony | 1.9 (1,610) | -45% | 1168 | 112.9 |
| Dinner for Schmucks | Par | 1.8 (1,190) | -49% | 1501 | 69.2 |
| Get Low | Sony Classics | 1.6 (2,760) | 126% | 583 | 3.6 |
| Step Up 3D | BV | 1.2 (1,300) | -63% | 901 | 39.6 |
| Toy Story 3 | BV | 1.0 (1,700) | -23% | 600 | 405.6 |
| Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore | WB | .66 (800) | -61% | 823 | 41.3 |
| The Kids Are All Right | Focus | .54 (1,580) | -34% | 342 | 19.2 |
| Twilight: Eclipse | Summit | .46 (970) | -18% | 476 | 297.9 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | – | $109.80 | – | – | – |
| % Change (Last Year) | – | -9% | – | – | – |
| % Change (Last Week) | – | -11% | – | – | – |
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Mesrine: Killer Instinct | Alliance/IFC | .21 (4,910) | 129% | 43 | 0.52 |
| Cairo Time | IFC | .19 (3,710) | 44% | 51 | 0.52 |
| Y’en aura pas de facile | Seville | .17 (3,020) | – | 57 | 0.17 |
| Nick Saban: Gamechanger | Flashlight | .14 (6,270) | – | 22 | 0.14 |
| Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 | Alliance | 52,300 (2,380) | – | 22 | 0.05 |
| Centurion | Magnolia | 41,200 (3,430) | – | 12 | 0.04 |
| Chak Jawana | Big Pictures | 17,800 (1,190) | – | 15 | 0.02 |
| Change of Plans | IFC | 14,800 (7,400) | – | 2 | 0.01 |
| Aashayein | Big Pictures | 7,500 (680) | 11 | 0.01 | |
| Milk of Sorrow | Olive | 1,730 (1,730) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Daniel and Ana | Strand | 1,340 (1,340) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Domestic Market Share: January 1 – August 26, 2010
| Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share |
| Paramount (11) | 1220.7 | 16.40% |
| Fox (14) | 1184.3 | 15.90% |
| Warner Bros. (19) | 1182.6 | 15.90% |
| Buena Vista (12) | 1075.6 | 14.40% |
| Sony (18) | 837.3 | 11.20% |
| Universal (13) | 685.3 | 9.20% |
| Summit (9) | 422.1 | 5.70% |
| Lionsgate (9) | 316.1 | 4.20% |
| Fox Searchlight (4) | 70.6 | 0.90% |
| Overture (4) | 67.4 | 0.90% |
| MGM (1) | 50.4 | 0.70% |
| CBS (2) | 50 | 0.70% |
| Weinstein Co. (6) | 49.1 | 0.60% |
| Sony Classics (17) | 43.7 | 0.60% |
| Other * (223) | 201 | 2.70% |
| * none greater than 0.4% | 7456.2 | 100.00% |
Top Domestic Grossers: January 1 – August 26, 2010
| Title | Distributor | Gross |
| Avatar * | Fox | 466,141,929 |
| Toy Story 3 | BV | 404,488,263 |
| Alice in Wonderland | BV | 334,191,110 |
| Iron Man 2 | Par | 312,260,976 |
| Twilight: Eclipse | Summit | 297,439,330 |
| Inception | WB | 265,643,564 |
| Shrek Forever After | Par | 237,834,635 |
| Despicable Me | Uni | 233,416,405 |
| How to Train Your Dragon | Par | 218,577,935 |
| The Karate Kid | Sony | 175,650,090 |
| Clash of the Titans | WB | 163,214,888 |
| Grown Ups | Sony | 159,104,656 |
| The Last Airbender | Par | 130,171,502 |
| Shutter Island | Par | 128,051,522 |
| Salt | Sony | 111,041,550 |
| Valentine’s Day | WB | 110,509,442 |
| Sherlock Holmes * | WB | 106,967,985 |
| Robin Hood | Uni | 105,425,146 |
| Date Night | Fox | 98,690,289 |
| Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel | Fox | 98,608,430 |
| * does not include 2009 box office | ||
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