By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Swept Away … Too
If it ain’t broke … don’t … Taken 2 once again outpaced expectations with an estimated $50.2 million to lead weekend film sales. The session’s only other wide debut was the animated Frankenweenie that slotted fifth overall with a disappointing $11.7 million bow.
Following last weekend’s limited opening, Pitch Perfect expanded nationality to good results of $14.7 million that ranked it third in the lineup.
In the niches Bollywood entry English Vinglish was off to a solid start of $590,000 at 88 locations and Winnie, the controversial drama on Winnie Mandela, failed to roil the waters with a 28 screen launch in Canada that netted $34,300. The black comic yarn of suburbia, The Oranges, had limited juice of $184,000 from exposure at 110 sites.
Among the exclusive newcomers, The Paperboy made the loudest noise with box office of $103,000 at 11 theaters. Also encouraging was the single screen bow of the latest revisionist Wuthering Heights with an $8,500 gross and the non-fiction The House I Live In, a searing look at drug war politics, generated $15,600 from three playdates.
Overall weekend revenues climbed up to roughly $145 million and a 20% boost from seven days earlier. It was an impressive 55% improvement from 2011 when incoming entries Real Steel and The Ides of March bowed respectively with $27.3 million and $10.5 million.
The original Taken was unquestionably one of the big box office surprises of 2008 when it bowed to close to $25 million and played and played. The Luc Besson production of terrorist’s kidnapping the wrong victim and feeling the considerable wrath of an ex-CIA operative hasn’t mussed much with the story arc in the sequel. The opening weekend crowd skewed slightly male with a 52% tally and was 56% aged 25-years and older.
The expansion weekend of Pitch Perfect didn’t experience much of a change in its viewership. Women accounted for 81% of the audience that was 55% aged 25-years and junior.
Frankenweenie experienced the negative bias of animation as a family viewing experience and Tim Burton’s well known twisted sensibility. The result was not dissimilar from the initial commercial response to A Nightmare Before Christmas and one can well imagine the film evolving into a profitable perennial.
The box office is proving to be as frantic and erratic as the race for the White House … but at least for the moment it’s on the ascendant. With Thanksgiving weeks away and award season ramping up there’s reason to be optimistic …
Weekend (estimates) October 5 – 7, 2012 | |||||
Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
Taken 2 | Fox | 50.2 (13,720) | NEW | 3661 | 50.2 |
Hotel Transylvania | Sony | 26.5 (7,910) | -38% | 3352 | 76.2 |
Pitch Perfect | Uni | 14.7 (5,300) | 185% | 2770 | 21.5 |
Looper | Sony/Alliance | 12.0 (4,020) | -42% | 2993 | 40.1 |
Frankenweenie | BV | 11.3 (3,750) | NEW | 3005 | 11.3 |
Trouble with the Curve | WB | 3.9 (1,290) | -47% | 3003 | 29.7 |
End of Watch | Open Road/Alliance | 3.9 (1,660) | -50% | 2370 | 32.8 |
House at the End of the Street | Relativity | 3.7 (1,360) | -48% | 2720 | 27.5 |
The Master | Weinstein Co. | 1.8 (2,090) | -33% | 864 | 12.3 |
Finding Nemo 3D | BV | 1.6 (890) | -59% | 1746 | 39 |
The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Lions Gate | 1.5 (6,740) | 35% | 221 | 3.3 |
Resident Evil: Retribution | Sony/Alliance | 1.1 (840) | -62% | 1361 | 41 |
Won’t Back Down | Fox | 1.0 (400) | -61% | 2517 | 4.5 |
The Dark Knight Rises | WB | .65 (1,130) | -18% | 575 | 445.3 |
Dredd | Lions Gate | .63 (760) | -73% | 831 | 12.7 |
The Possession | Lions Gate | .62 (760) | -54% | 821 | 48.4 |
Arbitrage | Roadside Attractions | .61 (2,490) | -30% | 245 | 6 |
English Vinglish | Eros | .59 (6,740) | NEW | 88 | 0.59 |
The Bourne Legacy | Uni | .35 (730) | -55% | 482 | 112.3 |
Ice Age: Continental Shift | Fox | .32 (1,070) | -17% | 298 | 159.9 |
Lawless | Weinstein Co. | .30 (490) | -65% | 611 | 37 |
The Odd Life of Timothy Green | BV | .26 (490) | -60% | 534 | 50.2 |
ParaNorman | Focus | .24 (700) | -69% | 342 | 54.4 |
OMG Oh My God! | Viva | .22 (3,580) | -35% | 62 | 0.66 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $136.30 | ||||
% Change (Last Year) | 52% | ||||
% Change (Last Week) | 20% | ||||
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
The Oranges | IDP | .18 (1,670) | 110 | 0.18 | |
Sleepwalk with Me | IFC | .12 (1,230) | -19% | 100 | 2.1 |
Samsara | Oscilloscope | .11 (2,130) | -26% | 52 | 1.6 |
The Paperboy | Millennium | .10 (9,400) | 11 | 0.1 | |
Diana Vreeland: The Eyes Have to Travel | IDP | 81,600 (4,530) | -10% | 18 | 0.33 |
Butter | Weinstein Co. | 72,500 (810) | 90 | 0.07 | |
Masquerade | CJ Entertain. | 55,800 (4,650) | -20% | 12 | 0.31 |
V/H/S | Magnolia | 36,400 (2,430) | 15 | 0.04 | |
Winnie | D-Film | 34,300 (1,230) | 28 | 0.03 | |
Escape Fire | Roadside | 22,700 (1,890) | 12 | 0.02 | |
Sister | Adopt | 15,800 (5,270) | 3 | 0.02 | |
The House I Live In | Abramorama | 15,600 (7,800) | 2 | 0.02 | |
Just 45 Minutes from Broadway | Rainbow | 12,100 (2,420) | 5 | 0.01 | |
Decoding Deepak | Paladin | 8,900 (2,970) | 3 | 0.01 | |
Wuthering Heights | Oscilloscope | 8,500 (8,500) | 1 | 0.01 | |
#Hold Your Breath | Asylum | 6,200 (620) | 10 | 0.01 | |
The Revisionaries | Lorber | 3,100 (3,100) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Oct. 4, 2012) | |||||
Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share | |||
Sony (22) | 1313.5 | 16.10% | |||
Warner Bros. (23) | 1270.5 | 15.50% | |||
Buena Vista (13) | 1177.4 | 14.40% | |||
Universal (14) | 1138.2 | 13.90% | |||
Lions Gate (16) | 829.3 | 10.20% | |||
20th Century Fox (15) | 755.2 | 9.20% | |||
Paramount (15) | 594.3 | 7.30% | |||
Relativity (6) | 194.6 | 2.40% | |||
Weinstein Co. (12) | 138.5 | 1.70% | |||
Focus (7) | 130 | 1.60% | |||
Open Road (5) | 111.9 | 1.40% | |||
Fox Searchlight (8) | 106.1 | 1.30% | |||
CBS (3) | 75.1 | 0.90% | |||
Summit (4) | 47.1 | 0.60% | |||
Sony Classics (18) | 44.6 | 0.60% | |||
Other * (280) | 236.3 | 2.90% | |||
8162.6 | 100.00% | ||||
* none greater than 0.4% | |||||
Top Domestic Grossers (Jan. 1 – Oct. 4, 2012) | |||||
Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
The Avengers | BV | 623,357,910 | |||
The Dark Knight Rises | WB | 444,695,205 | |||
The Hunger Games | Lions Gate | 408,043,896 | |||
The Amazing Spider-Man | Sony | 261,813,176 | |||
Brave | BV | 233,768,624 | |||
Ted | Uni | 218,197,300 | |||
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted | Par | 216,132,292 | |||
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax | Uni | 214,571,106 | |||
Men in Black III | Sony | 179,199,159 | |||
Ice Age: Continental Drift | Fox | 159,173,030 | |||
Snow White and the Huntsman | Uni | 155,326,249 | |||
21 Jump Street | Sony | 138,591,227 | |||
Prometheus | Fox | 126,477,084 | |||
Safe House | Uni | 126,367,263 | |||
The Vow | Sony | 125,074,813 | |||
Magic Mike | WB | 113,741,031 | |||
The Bourne Legacy | Uni | 111,930,675 | |||
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island | WB | 103,969,647 | |||
Think Like a Man | Sony | 91,823,043 | |||
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Par | 87,174,082 | |||
* does not include 2011 box office |