Nobody Nose Anything
The Social Network surprised pundits with a better than expected hold and won the weekend movie going chase with an estimated $15.3 million. Three national debs were on its tail with lackluster returns. The rom-com Life As We Know It faltered in the clutch with $14.6 million while the much ballyhooed turf saga Secretariat posted $12.4 million, and there was a lack of stereoscopic shock for My Soul to Take with $6.9 million.
There was also a lack of oomph for the comic oddity It’s Kind of a Funny Story with $2 million tally-woo from 742 engagements.
In the niches Telegu-language Khaleja had a buoyant bow of $343,000 from 24 screens and OK returns of $72,700 for French thriller L’Immortel in Quebec. There were also a raft of exclusive bows with Darwinian winners that included the young John Lennon of Nowhere Boy grossing $51,300 at four venues, the squeezed of non-fiction Inside Job with $37,500 at two interviews and psychological thriller Stone with $71,400 from six couches.
Overall business once again took a dip with 2010 box office now less than 2% ahead of last year’s pace and industry mavens sweating out a quick reversal of fortune.
Tracking reports had pegged the uplifting tale of racing Triple Crowner Secretariat as the weekend’s odds-on favorite with estimates in the range of $16 million to $18 million. But its appeal to women and an older demo that remembered the four-legged wonder of the early 1970s failed to bring ‘em out in its maiden performance despite a considerable marketing push.
Life As We Know It was expected to be about a length behind Secretariat but pulled ahead right from the opening gate. It opened ahead of the pack on Friday with a $5.2 million bow but quickly lost ground to The Social Network as the weekend advanced.
And My Soul to Take fell smack in the middle of estimates in the $6 million to $8 million range. All three of the newbies skewed toward distaff viewers and there’s little question the marketplace is in dire need of something for the boys.
Weekend revenues pushed to roughly $92 million that represented a 4% dip from seven days back. It was a considerably steeped 16% fall from 2009 when the launch of Couples Retreat topped the charts on a $34.3 million first salvo.
On the expansion track, the “what’s wrong with our education” doc Waiting for “Superman” is holding up well and Woody Allen’s You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger continues to draw in aficionados. But the dour Never Let Me Go appears to have peaked early in the awards season. Among the new entries the highly enjoyable Tamara Drewe proved to be the surprise commercial disappointment with a dull $4,300 engagement average from four initial exposures.
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Weekend Estimates – October 1-3, 2010
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
| The Social Network | Sony | 15.3 (5,520) | -32% | 2771 | 45.9 |
| Life As We Know It | WB | 14.6 (4,630) | New | 3150 | 14.6 |
| Secretariat | BV | 12.4 (4,050) | New | 3072 | 12.4 |
| My Soul to Take | Uni/Alliance | 6.9 (2,670) | New | 2572 | 6.9 |
| Legend of the Guardians | WB | 6.8 (2,100) | -38% | 3225 | 39.2 |
| The Town | WB | 6.3 (2,310) | -36% | 2720 | 73.7 |
| Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps | Fox | 4.5 (1,600) | -55% | 2829 | 43.6 |
| Easy A | Sony | 4.1 (1,450) | -39% | 2847 | 48.1 |
| Case 39 | Par Vantage | 2.6 (1,160) | -55% | 2212 | 9.5 |
| You Again | BV | 2.4 (1,030) | -58% | 2332 | 20.7 |
| Let Me In | Overture | 2.4 (1,160) | -54% | 2042 | 9.1 |
| It’s Kind of a Funny Story | Focus | 2.0 (2,670) | New | 742 | 2 |
| Devil | Uni | 1.7 (1,210) | -51% | 1442 | 30 |
| Alpha and Omega | Lionsgate | 1.4 (890) | -51% | 1616 | 21 |
| Resident Evil: Afterlife | Sony/Alliance | 1.2 (1,210) | -56% | 1012 | 58.8 |
| Waiting for “Superman” | Par Vantage | .63 (6,120) | 54% | 103 | 1.4 |
| Toy Story 3 | BV | .55 (1,400) | 140% | 393 | 412 |
| Inception | WB | .52 (1,290) | -43% | 403 | 289.2 |
| Takers | Sony | .39 (950) | -50% | 412 | 56.8 |
| Catfish | Uni/Alliance | .37 (2,590) | -37% | 143 | 2.2 |
| Khaleja | Ficus | .34 (14,290) | 24 | 0.39 | |
| Never Let Me Go | Searchlight | .33 (1,990) | 77% | 167 | 1.1 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $86.30 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -16% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -4% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger | Sony Classics | .25 (3,380) | 15% | 73 | 0.84 |
| Buried | Lionsgate | .21 (2,300) | 118% | 92 | 0.5 |
| L’Immortel | Seville | 72,700 (3,030) | 24 | 0.07 | |
| Stone | Overture | 71,400 (11,900) | 6 | 0.07 | |
| Nowhere Boy | Weinstein Co. | 51,300 (12,820) | 4 | 0.05 | |
| Inside Job | Sony Classics | 37,500 (18,750) | 2 | 0.04 | |
| Route 132 | Alliance | 37,300 (1,430) | 26 | 0.06 | |
| I Spit on Your Grave | Anchor Bay | 30,800 (2,570) | 12 | 0.03 | |
| Tamara Drewe | Sony Classics | 17,200 (4,300) | 4 | 0.02 | |
| Ghetto Physics | IDP | 10,700 (1,190) | 9 | 0.01 | |
| Budrus | Balcony | 8,400 (8,400) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| It’s a Wonderful Afterlife | UTV | 5,500 (770) | 20 | 0.01 | |
| As Good as Dead | First Look | 1,850 (1,850) | 1 | 0.01 |
Domestic Market Share – January 1 – October 7, 2010
| Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share |
| Warner Bros. (23) | 1340.5 | 16.20% |
| Fox (16) | 1277.7 | 15.40% |
| Paramount (14) | 1237.4 | 15.00% |
| Buena Vista (14) | 1107.4 | 13.40% |
| Sony (23) | 1081.3 | 13.10% |
| Universal (16) | 753.6 | 9.10% |
| Summit (9) | 425.1 | 5.10% |
| Lionsgate (12) | 407.1 | 4.90% |
| Overture (6) | 74.5 | 0.90% |
| Fox Searchlight (5) | 71.5 | 0.90% |
| Focus (6) | 68.4 | 0.80% |
| Weinstein Co. (6) | 60.9 | 0.70% |
| Sony Classics (19) | 52.3 | 0.60% |
| MGM (1) | 50.4 | 0.60% |
| CBS (2) | 50 | 0.60% |
| Other * (260) | 217.3 | 2.60% |
| 8275.4 | 100.00% | |
| * none greater than .04% |
Top Global Grossers: January 1 – October 7, 2010
| Title * | Distributor | Gross |
| Avatar * | Fox | 1,948,069,404 |
| Toy Story 3 | BV | 1,047,492,510 |
| Alice in Wonderland | BV | 1,024,537,295 |
| Twilight: Eclipse | Summit | 691,330,829 |
| Inception | WB | 803,799,128 |
| Shrek Forever After | Par | 732,163,289 |
| Iron Man 2 | Par | 622,718,660 |
| How to Train Your Dragon | Par | 494,288,254 |
| Clash of the Titans | WB | 489,778,913 |
| Sherlock Holmes * | WB | 367,796,599 |
| Despicable Me | Uni | 367,194,481 |
| The Karate Kid | Sony | 357,206,535 |
| Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | BV | 335,020,929 |
| Robin Hood | Uni | 311,610,747 |
| The Last Airbender | Par | 310,375,125 |
| Shutter Island | Par | 301,977,955 |
| Sex and the City 2 | WB | 301,158,934 |
| Salt | Sony | 287,626,258 |
| Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel | Fox | 264,341,533 |
| Grown Ups | Sony | 261,324,243 |
| The Expendables | Lionsgate | 257,529,373 |
| Resident Evil: Afterlife | Sony/Alliance | 244,795,280 |
| Knight and Day | Fox | 229,686,302 |
| Percy Jackson & the Olympians | Fox | 226,497,209 |
| Valentine’s Day | WB | 217,596,116 |
| * does not include 2009 box office |
