Moviegoers were in the mood for a laugh as the Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg
action-comedy The Other
Guys debuted at number one ending the three-week run at the top of the
popular crime thriller
Inception which still attracted strong business in second place. The
dance sequel Step Up 3D
opened in third with the lowest debut of the series while the overall
marketplace lagged behind year-ago levels.
Continuing a terrific run at the summer box office, Sony stole the number one
spot again with The
Other Guys which grossed an estimated $35.6M giving Ferrell the second
best opening of his career. Averaging a potent $9,751 from 3,651 locations, the
PG-13 film about mismatched New York detectives tackling a criminal scheme in
the financial world played to a broad audience of movie fans interested in
laughs, and not thinking. Reviews were quite good for a mainstream summer
comedy. Ferrell’s only better bow came from Talladega Nights – also from
director Adam McKay – which launched with $47M this same month in 2006.
The actors worked feverishly promoting Guys everywhere they could and the
publicity certainly helped generate more sales. After Ferrell’s Land of the
Lost turned into one of last summer’s most notorious bombs, audiences were
ready to embrace him again in this formulaic, yet marketable cop comedy. Airing
the full trailer during the highly-rated season premiere of Jersey Shore,
which scored big numbers with teens, helped too. According to studio research,
Guys skewed towards young men with 56% of the audience being male and 55%
under 25. The odd couple pic was just the latest winner for Sony which has been
on a hot four-for-four streak this summer following The Karate Kid,
Grown Ups, and
Salt which
should reach a combined domestic haul of $460M. The studio shifts gears next
weekend with Eat Pray Love starring Julia Roberts which will play to
adult women when it opens opposite Sylvester Stallone’s
The Expendables
which should play heavily to adult men.
Inception‘s
reign at the top of the box office had to end at some point. Christopher Nolan’s
mind-bending thriller dropped to second place but still posted a good hold
grossing an estimated $18.6M for a low 32% decline in the fourth frame. Warner
Bros. has now hauled in a stunning $227.7M in 24 days of release and has
surpassed How to Train Your Dragon to become the second biggest
non-sequel of 2010 after Alice in Wonderland which pulled in $334.1M this
spring. Inception also is the year’s third highest-grossing 2D film after
the latest Iron Man and Twilight installments and ranks sixth
overall among all blockbusters this year.[rtimage]MapID=1217219&MapTypeID=2&photo=16&legacy=1[/rtimage]With
competition likely to get weaker in the second half of August, and the Labor Day
holiday likely to deliver a little boost in sales, DiCaprio and company are
still hoping to reach $300M domestically. Overseas, Inception remained
red hot grossing an estimated $46.6M from 58 markets this weekend shooting the
international total to $250M. With global grosses now at $477.7M, a worldwide
final tally of $700M or more should result.
The dance sequel Step
Up 3D delivered a decent but not dazzling opening coming in third with
an estimated $15.5M helped by higher 3D ticket prices. Buena Vista’s third
offering of street dancing teens averaged a respectable $6,379 from 2,435
theaters but scored the worst bow for the four-year-old franchise. Compared to
the first Step Up, which opened in August 2006 when Will Ferrell ruled
the charts with Talladega Nights, the 3D sequel opened 25% weaker by
gross and sold a disturbing 42% fewer tickets. 2008’s Step Up 2 the Streets
debuted to $18.9M as part of a five-day $28.7M holiday launch that included
Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day. Step Up 3D‘s steep 23%
Friday-to-Saturday tumble indicates that the fan base rushed out on opening day
meaning long-term prospects could be shaky.
Audiences still lined up for the explosive combination of Angelina Jolie + guns
as the action hit
Salt took fourth place with an estimated $11.1M, off 43%. Sony has raked
in a solid $92M in 17 days with the superstar a week away from scoring the
seventh $100M grosser of her career putting her two behind partner Brad Pitt.
The CIA thriller’s trajectory should take it to about $120M. With Will Ferrell
stealing away the comedy crowd, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd’s pic
Dinner for
Schmucks tumbled 55% to an estimated $10.5M in its second weekend giving
Paramount $46.7M in ten days. A final gross in the neighborhood of $75M could
result.
[rtimage]MapID=1223752&MapTypeID=2&photo=16&legacy=1[/rtimage]
The blockbuster cartoon comedy
Despicable Me
slipped 39% to an estimated $9.4M boosting the cume to a robust $209.4M. The
Universal hit stands a chance of matching the performance of rival 3D summer
toon Shrek Forever After despite not having a built-in audience. Dropping
a moderate 44% in its second weekend was
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore with an estimated $6.9M. Warner
Bros. has taken in a weak $26.4M with its 3D family offering and is headed for a
lousy final of roughly $45M which would be less than half of the $93.4M tally of
its 2D predecessor which opened in 2001 when ticket prices were much lower.
[rtimage]MapID=1213717&MapTypeID=2&photo=19&legacy=1[/rtimage]
Zac Efron’s melodrama
Charlie St. Cloud
collapsed 62% in its sophomore frame to an estimated $4.7M giving Universal a
disappointing $23.5M in ten days. Produced for $44M, the PG-13 entry should
finish with only $35M or so. Getting closer to the quadruple-century mark,
Toy Story 3
followed with an estimated $3M in its eighth lap, down 41%, for a $396.3M total.
Next weekend, the Disney/Pixar 3D smash should become only the 11th film to ever
cross $400M domestically. However its current admissions tally is still very
close to the 44 million stubs sold by 1995’s 2D original.
Jumping into the top ten for the first time was the indie comedy hit
The Kids
Are All Right which grossed an estimated $2.6M from 994 theaters. Focus
has been adding theaters each week with 147 more coming aboard this frame. The
average was just a mild $2,622 while the weekend drop was 26%. Kids has
grossed $14M to date which is impressive for a smaller film.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $118M which was off 6% from last year
when G.I. Joe: The Rise of
Cobra opened in the top spot with $54.7M; but up 9% from 2008 when
The Dark Knight
stayed at number one for a fourth consecutive weekend with $26.1M.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, Box Office Guru!
