Back to Paranormal
Paranormal Activity 2 exceeded pundit expectation (though not necessarily fans) with an estimated $41.6 million to lead weekend movie ticket sales. The session’s only other national bow was Hereafter, which shot up to $11.9 million following last weekend’s limited opener.
Niche and regional bows included a solid $212,000 (in Hindi and Telegu versions) bow for the Indian crime saga Rakhtcharitra. Fans won’t have to wait long for its second part conclusion that’s scheduled for late November. Meanwhile up in Canada the Toronto fest curtain raiser Score: A Hockey Musical failed to live up to its name with a discordant $143,000 from 127 rinks.
Exclusives included good though unsensational debuts that included non-fiction Boxing Gym with a $6,100 TKO in its solo bout and Taqwacores — the tale of an Islamic rock band — grossing $5,500 also in a single outing.
Though there was a marginal dip from last weekend’s box office, the frame saw its first uptick from 2009 in a month with industry mavens already predicting expanded revenues through the end of the year.
Critical response to sleeper sensation Paranormal Activity 2 was at best tepid with the more negative reviews viewing it as a cynical rehash of its inspiration. Nonetheless avids were cueing up to provide Thursday midnight shows a record preview for an R-rated film. It lost traction as the weekend proceeded but the fast start was sufficient to speed past tracking that suggested an opening salvo of not much more than $30 million.
Exit polls for both Paranormal Activity 2 and Hereafter were disappointing. The latter film pretty much brought in the anticipated older crowd and filmmaker Clint Eastwood’s films have a history of hanging in for longer than typical runs and much higher multiples than is the industry norm. Still, this yarn could well stray from that trend.
Weekend revenues amassed roughly $130 million in torn ducats. It represented a slight 2% dip from seven days back but the unexpected Paranormal Activity 2 and overall strong holdovers translated into a 13% box office boost from 2009. A year ago the first Paranormal Activity (in its initial wide weekend) led with $21.1 million followed by Saw VI and Where the Wild Things Are with respective tallies of $14.1 million and $14 million.
With the exception of Waiting for “Superman” it’s been a brutal season for Oscar hopefuls trying to set an early footprint on the awards landscape. Granted, very few have received a wholehearted critical embrace, but even by niche standards the likes of Nowhere Boy, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger and Jack Goes Boating among others have been comparative under-performers when measured against past films that have employed this tactic.
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Weekend Estimates – October 22-24, 2010
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
| Paranormal Activity 2 | Par | 41.6 (12,930) | New | 3216 | 41.6 |
| Jackass 3D | Par | 21.5 (6,920) | -57% | 3111 | 87.1 |
| Red | Summit | 15.1 (4,620) | -31% | 3273 | 43.6 |
| Hereafter | WB | 11.9 (5,450) | 2175 | 12.2 | |
| The Social Network | Sony | 7.2 (2,450) | -31% | 2921 | 72.8 |
| Secretariat | BV | 6.9 (2,210) | -26% | 3108 | 37.3 |
| Life As We Know It | WB | 6.1 (2,010) | -32% | 3019 | 37.5 |
| Legend of the Guardians | WB | 3.1 (1,390) | -26% | 2236 | 50.1 |
| The Town | WB | 2.7 (1,390) | -33% | 1918 | 84.6 |
| Easy A | Sony | 1.7 (1,050) | -35% | 1632 | 54.7 |
| Wal Street: Money Never Sleeps | Fox | 1.2 (960) | -49% | 1255 | 50 |
| My Soul to Take | Uni/Alliance | 1.0 (600) | -68% | 1689 | 13.9 |
| Waiting for “Superman” | Par Vantage | .76 (2,620) | 2% | 290 | 3.7 |
| Alpha and Omega | Lionsgate | .71 (980) | -14% | 727 | 23.5 |
| It’s Kind of a Funny Story | Focus | .66 (1,180) | -46% | 560 | 5.1 |
| Devil | Uni | .63 (980) | -35% | 642 | 32.4 |
| You Again | BV | .61 (680) | -50% | 901 | 24 |
| N Secure | FreeStyle | .53 (1,190) | -55% | 445 | 1.9 |
| Toy Story 3 | BV | .42 (1,211) | -21% | 350 | 413.4 |
| You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger | Sony Classics | .40 (1,060) | 46% | 381 | 1.8 |
| Case 39 | Par Vantage | .38 (530) | -69% | 721 | 12.7 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $123.90 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 13% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -2% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Stone | Overture | .34 (3,030) | 49% | 113 | 0.76 |
| Conviction | Fox Searchlight | .30 (5,420) | 192% | 55 | 0.34 |
| Rakhtcharitra | Viva/Happy | .21 (6,230) | 34 | 0.21 | |
| Nowhere Boy | Weinstein Co. | .21 (870) | -39% | 215 | 0.76 |
| Score: A Hockey Musical | Mongrel | .14 (1,130) | 127 | 0.14 | |
| Jhootha Hi Sahi | Viva | 64,700 (1,350) | 48 | 0.06 | |
| My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend | Fiftyfilms | 10,300 (5,150) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Boxing Gym | Zipporah | 6,100 (6,100) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Taqwacores | Rumanni | 5,500 (5,500) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Inhale | IFC | 5,600 (2,800) | 2 | 0.01 |
Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Oct. 21, 2010)
| Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share |
| Warner Bros. (25) | 1403.9 | 16.30% |
| Paramount (15) | 1310.6 | 15.30% |
| Fox (16) | 1287.9 | 15.00% |
| Buena Vista (15) | 1144.7 | 13.30% |
| Sony (23) | 1129.9 | 13.20% |
| Universal (17) | 771.4 | 9.00% |
| Summit (10) | 453.6 | 5.30% |
| Lionsgate (12) | 411.5 | 4.80% |
| Overture (7) | 79.7 | 0.90% |
| Focus (7) | 73.2 | 0.90% |
| Fox Searchlight (6) | 72.7 | 0.80% |
| Weinstein Co. (7) | 61.6 | 0.70% |
| Sony Classics (21) | 53.7 | 0.60% |
| MGM (1) | 50.4 | 0.60% |
| CBS (2) | 50 | 0.60% |
| Other * (271) | 226.9 | 2.70% |
| 8581.7 | 100.00% | |
| * none greater than .04% |
Top Domestic Grossers * (Jan. 1 – Oct. 21, 2010)
| Title | Distributor | Gross |
| Avatar * | Fox | 476,726,209 |
| Toy Story 3 | BV | 413,013,123 |
| Alice in Wonderland | BV | 334,191,110 |
| Iron Man 2 | Par | 312,445,596 |
| Twilight: Eclipse | Summit | 300,531,751 |
| Inception | WB | 289,881,124 |
| Despicable Me | Uni | 247,148,995 |
| Shrek Forever After | Par | 238,667,087 |
| How to Train Your Dragon | Par | 218,685,707 |
| The Karate Kid | Sony | 176,797,997 |
| Clash of the Titans | WB | 163,214,888 |
| Grown Ups | Sony | 161,942,598 |
| The Last Airbender | Par | 131,733,601 |
| Shutter Island | Par | 128,051,522 |
| The Other Guy | Sony | 118,236,912 |
| Salt | Sony | 118,229,865 |
| Valentine’s Day | WB | 110,509,442 |
| Sherlock Holmes * | WB | 106,967,985 |
| Robin Hood | Uni | 105,425,146 |
| The Expendables | Lions Gate | 103,068,524 |
| * does not include 2009 box office |
