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Disney’s The Princess and the Frog took the top spot at the weekend box office, expanding wide to earn an estimated $25 million. While not shattering too many records (though it did set the record for highest grossing start for an animated movie in December), Princess‘ numbers were strong considering how 2D animation has declined in recent years. Also, the family-friendly flicks typically build steam through the Christmas season, where slow and steady tends to win the race.
Invictus, the other new wide opener, was unable to gain a foothold in its debut however. Bowing in 3rd place with $9.1 million, the figures were rather disappointing for the star-studded pedigree of the movie’s cast and crew. Director Clint Eastwood and stars Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon were unable to drum up enough interest in the political/sports hybrid picture, perhaps due to the South African and Rugby setting not clicking with American audiences.
The Blind Side, last week’s reigning champ, fared much better. The football movie held on to 2nd place with only a 23% drop, pulling in $15.5 million in its fourth weekend of release for a $150.2 million total. The Twilight Saga: New Moon continued its steady decline with a 48% drop to $8 million, good enough for 4th place. A Christmas Carol however only dropped off 11.5%, with its holiday theme aligning with the Christmas mood. It finished in 5th place with $6.9 million, bringing its total to $124.5 million. The box office has been particularly strong this year as, in the middle of last week, 2009 officially became the highest grossing year in Hollywood history (though the attendance record in the modern era still belongs to 2002). Read»
The Blind Side finally surpassed The Twilight Saga: New Moon at the weekend box office, taking the number 1 spot with $20.4 million (versus New Moon’s 2nd place $15.7 million) in its third weekend of release. That brought its domestic total to $129.3 million, making Blind Side the highest grossing sports drama on record.
Jim Sheridan’s Brothers finished tops amongst the newcomers, grossing a modest $9.7 million for 3rd place. A Christmas Carol held on for 4th place with $7.5 million, while Old Dogs rounded out the top 5 with $6.9 million. Armored debuted in 6th with a weak $6.6 million, while Robert De Niro’s family dramedy grossed $4 million for 10th place. Transylmania, last among the new wide releases, only scrounged up a woeful $274,000 at 1,007 sites, or a $272 per-theater average. That total is the new record for lowest opening for a movie playing at over 1,000 theaters, and was less than Up in the Air made in limited release at 15 sites. George Clooney’s latest captured a healthy $1.2 million, or a $79,000 average. Read»
Hordes of young teens flooded the theaters this weekend, helping The Twilight Saga: New Moon to set new midnight showing ($26.3 million) and opening day ($72.7 million) records on its way to a staggering $140.7 million three-day total. Easily the best opening weekend of the year, New Moon now sits in the #3 spot behind The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million) on the all-time list. Now, if we could only get the youngin’s to show up in those numbers at the polls, today’s youth might actually be a force to be reckoned with.
New Moon more than doubled Twilight’s $69.6 million opening weekend take, and now sits just $50 million shy of the original’s $192.8 million domestic total. However, Twilight plummeted over 62% in its second weekend, and already day-to-day drops point to a similar pattern for New Moon. Eclipse, the third film in the franchise, is slated for a June 30 release in 2010, or just seven months from now.
The Blind Side debuted in a distant second with $34.5 million – not much considering New Moon’s take but considerable in its own right. It’s not only a personal best for Sandra Bullock (narrowly edging out The Proposal), but it’s also the highest bow for a sports drama. Planet 51, the other new wide opener, came in 4th place with a sub-par $12.6 million. 2012 came in 3rd with $26.5 million and A Christmas Carol rounded out the top 5 with a $12.2 million showing. Read»
Roland Emmerich’s latest end-of-the-world flick 2012 not only destroyed the world on-screen, it destroyed the weekend box office too, with a tidal wave of money. The special effects extravaganza turned its Friday take of $23.7 million into an estimated $65 million weekend haul, becoming Emmerich’s second most successful opening to date (behind 2004’s The Day After Tomorrow) and obliterating nearly every box office analyst’s predictions.
To make it a truly global affair, 2012 pulled in an additional $160 million in foreign ticket sales, its three day worldwide total reaching a whopping $225 million. As for last weekend’s number 1, A Christmas Carol showed it may still have some legs yet as it dropped only 25.7% to the number 2 spot with $22.3 million, bringing its total to $63.3 million. Meanwhile, Precious jumped into the top 5 by expanding to 174 theaters. Its $6 million total was good enough for 4th place, though its impressive $35,000 per-theater average wasn’t able to claim the title of highest of the weekend. That honor fell to Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which brought in $260,000 in its 4 theater limited debut, or a $65,000 average.
The Men Who Stare at Goats finished narrowly in front of Precious for 3rd place with $6.2 million, while This Is It rounded out the top 5 with $5.1 million. And as a side note, Paranormal Activity finally crossed the $100 million this weekend, pulling in $4.2 million in 8th place for a $103.9 million total in its eighth week of release. Read»
The holiday box office season was kicked off to a chilly start with the debut of Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol. Despite having Jim Carrey take on the lead and being pushed with the Disney Digital 3D tag, the performance-captured film was only able to gross a disappointing $31 million to take the top spot.
Considering its $200 million budget and Madagascar 2’s $63 million debut in the same frame last year, there wasn’t much merriment coming from Disney’s offices. However, Zemeckis’ last mo-capped Christmas film The Polar Express also had a shaky $23.3 million start before chugging to a $160+ million domestic gross over its holiday season run. Carol doesn’t have much direct competition through the winter season either, so it may find a foothold yet.
The Men Who Stare at Goats bowed above expectations with a decent $13.3 million haul for 3rd place. The Fourth Kind, meanwhile, came in right behind in 4th with $12.5 million. Richard Kelly’s The Box however was unable to find an audience, with the esoteric director’s third feature debuting in 6th place with a sub-par $7.9 million. As for last weekend’s number 1, Michael Jackson’s This Is It dropped to second with $14 million, while Paranormal Activity rounded out the top 5 with $8.6 million to come just short of the $100 million mark. Read»
Michael Jackson’s concert documentary This Is It won the top spot at the box office, grossing an estimated $21.3 million over the weekend to bring its five-day total to $32.5 million.
The total fell well short of expectations, which started out modest but ballooned after strong pre-sales and a $7.4 million Wednesday haul. It seemed most theatergoers itching to see the late King of Pop do his thing one more time showed up on opening day though; Thursday numbers fell to only $3.7 million. The doc did gross $68.5 million in foreign ticket sales however, which brings its 5-day worldwide total to an impressive $101 million. Though This Is It wasn’t able to top the single day or opening weekend figures of Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds, its worldwide sales have already topped the Disney pop princess’ lifetime tally to become the “biggest concert movie of all time” that it was promised to be.
Paranormal Activity continued its strong run, finishing second with $16.5 million. Its total sits at a lofty $84.8 million after 6 weeks. Saw VI meanwhile continued to disappoint, bleeding out to 5th place with $5.6 million for a $22.8 million two-week total. Rounding out the top 5 was Law Abiding Citizen in 3rd with $7.3 million and Couples Retreat in 4th with $6.1 million. Read»
News on Tron 2, Alice in Wonderland, and A Christmas Carol! Read»
