Sandra Bullock showed North America who’s boss with her return to romantic
comedy in The
Proposal which gave the actress the biggest opening of her career and
her first number one hit in over a decade. Rival comedy
Year One enjoyed a
respectable debut in fourth place while holdover sensations
The Hangover
and Up continued their
amazing runs with small declines once again. Thanks to four funny films topping
$20M a piece, the overall marketplace inched ahead of last year’s levels for the
first time in four weeks putting the industry in a good position with Megan Fox
and the Autobots on the horizon.[rtimage]MapID=1206888&MapTypeID=2&photo=13&legacy=1[/rtimage]
Moviegoers gave a very loud yes to Bullock this weekend as
The Proposal
powered ahead of expectations to open to an estimated $34.1M to easily lead the
box office race. The bow nearly doubled the $17.6M of her 2007 thriller
Premonition to set a new record for the actress who since the mid 1990s has
routinely opened films in the $13-17M range. It was also the largest opening for
any romantic comedy this year beating the $27.8M of February’s He’s Just Not
That Into You which boasted more starpower with Jennifer Aniston, Ben
Affleck, and Drew Barrymore. Proposal averaged a scorching $11,163 from 3,056
locations.
With many male-skewing comedies and action pics this summer, Buena Vista found a
great slot on the calendar to target women and was rewarded with a potent debut.
Studio research showed that 63% of the audience was female and 86% was 18 and
older. Couples made up 71%. Reviews were mixed, but ticket buyers responded to
the starpower of the extremely likable lead, good marketing, and the story.
Bullock plays a Canadian-born book editor who must pretend to be engaged to her
assistant (Ryan Reynolds) in order to avoid deportation. The studio offered
sneak previews last weekend which helped to get buzz going among adult women and
the date crowd.
Bullock has avoided romantic comedies for much of this decade and audiences
clearly missed her. The last time she reached the top of the charts was in March
1999 with Forces of Nature co-starring Ben Affleck which spent two weeks
at number one. Proposal performed much like the studio’s 2002 blockbuster
Sweet Home Alabama, another star-driven rom-com about an uptight New York
City big shot who must travel to small town America to fix her wedding dilemmas.
That Reese Witherspoon hit opened to $35.6M on its way to a stellar $127.2M.[rtimage]MapID=1206888&MapTypeID=2&photo=14&legacy=1[/rtimage]
Though booted from the top spot, the runaway comedy smash
The Hangover
still attracted strong business in its third weekend slipping a mere 18% to an
estimated $26.9M propelling the cume to an eye-popping $152.9M. After just 17
days, the Warner Bros. hit has already surpassed the total grosses of recent
R-rated summer comedy hits like Sex and the City ($152.6M), Knocked Up
($148.8M), Superbad ($121.5M), and The 40-Year-Old Virgin
($109.2M). This weekend, the men-behaving-badly smash also passed Clint
Eastwood’s Gran Torino ($148.1M) to become the highest-grossing R flick
since 300 which launched in March 2007 on its way to $210.6M. All three were
distributed by Warner Bros. Hangover now looks set to pass $225M and could even
reach the $250M mark although with its incredible durability, the sky’s the
limit.[rtimage]MapID=1207417&MapTypeID=2&photo=33&legacy=1[/rtimage]
For the third straight session, Pixar’s
Up followed Hangover
on the charts and collected an estimated $21.3M in its fourth weekend. Down only
31%, the Disney release shattered the $200M barrier on Thursday and boosted its
24-day total to $224.1M. Up is performing very much like Pixar’s biggest fish
Finding Nemo which dropped 26% to $21.1M in its fourth weekend putting its
total at $228.5M. With help from higher ticket prices and surcharges for 3D, Up
is running only 2% behind Nemo‘s pace. But the road ahead will get tricky
as Fox will steal away most of Up‘s 3D screens when it launches its
animated sequel Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs on July 1 leaving the
flying house flick with mostly 2D runs. Fox held sneaks of Ice Age on
Sunday nationwide in select theaters for Father’s Day.
More comedy could be found in the number four spot. The Jack Black-Michael Cera
vehicle Year One bowed
with an estimated $20.2M from 3,022 locations for a solid $6,684 average. Young
guys were the primary audience for the PG-13 tale of two slacker hunter-gathers
from ancient times who go out and explore the world. Studio research showed that
males made up 57% of the audience while 47% were under 21. With other comedies
targeting adult women, older adults, and small kids, Sony found an opportunity
to connect with its target demo. But the road ahead will get difficult very
quickly with a gargantuan debut expected for Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen starting Tuesday night at midnight.[rtimage]MapID=1206892&MapTypeID=2&photo=18&legacy=1[/rtimage]
Audiences didn’t take to Denzel Washington in the second weekend of his hostage
thriller
The
Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. The Sony release tumbled 52% to an estimated $11.3M
putting the ten-day tally at $43.3M. It was a bigger sophomore drop than those
the Oscar winner saw with previous R-rated pics like Man on Fire (34%),
Inside Man (47%), and American Gangster (45%). Budgeted at more
than $100M, Pelham should finish its North American run with $65-70M and
will need a strong international run.
Two franchise films with strong legs followed. Fox’s
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian grossed an estimated
$7.3M, down 24%, for a $156M cume to date. Ranking as the year’s top-grossing
film for possibly the last weekend,
Star Trek dipped
only 14% to an estimated $4.7M and has collected a stellar $239.4M thus far.[rtimage]MapID=1186973&MapTypeID=2&photo=52&legacy=1[/rtimage]
Rounding out the top ten were some of the summer’s unlucky films. Crashing 56%
in its third weekend, Will Ferrell’s
Land of the
Lost fell to eighth place with an estimated $4M and a total of $43.7M
for Universal. Fellow SNL alum Eddie Murphy followed with his latest box office
stinker
Imagine That which grossed an estimated $3.1M for Paramount, off 44%,
putting the sum at a pitiful $11.4M after ten days.
Terminator
Salvation dropped 36% to an estimated $3.1M giving Warner Bros. $119.5M
domestically.
Woody Allen’s latest
Whatever Works
enjoyed a sparkling debut in limited release grossing an estimated $281,000 from
only nine locations for a muscular $31,222 average. The Sony Classics release
attracted mixed feelings from critics but the PG-13 film will continue to expand
to more markets in the weeks ahead.[rtimage]MapID=1209569&MapTypeID=2&photo=19&legacy=1[/rtimage]
The top ten films grossed an estimated $136M which was even with last year when
Get Smart opened
in the top spot with $38.7M; but up 12% from 2007 when Steve Carell also ruled
with Evan Almighty
which debuted at number one with $31.2M. The Top 20 grossed $144M this weekend,
up 2% from a year ago.
Author Gitesh Pandaya runs Box Office Guru.
