The annual post-turkey blues kicked in as the North American box office
plunged with the Top 20 dropping by 53% from last week’s Thanksgiving holiday.
The action entry
The Warrior’s Way was the only new wide release and was dead on arrival
landing in ninth place. Last weekend’s top two choices swapped positions as all
films suffered steep declines. Overall, ticket sales slumped to the second
lowest point of 2010 as moviegoers found almost nothing to be excited about or
worth paying top dollar for. Outside of the top two films, no wide release
averaged more than $2,500 this weekend.
Rising from second to first place, Disney’s 3D animated film
Tangled reigned over
a slow frame with an estimated $21.5M. The Rapunzel tale dropped by an
understandable 56% in its second weekend as it came off of a long holiday
weekend debut. The Mouse House has collected a strong $96.5M after 12 days.
Three years ago, the studio led with its princess pic Enchanted which fell 52%
after Thanksgiving to $16.4M which was enough to claim the box office crown that
weekend. It went on to reach $127.8M.
Tangled scored the best gross for a number one film on the weekend after
the turkey holiday since 2003 when The Last Samurai opened to $24.3M. The
Tom Cruise period film was also the last new release to open atop the charts
this particular frame. With a busy December movie month ahead, Tangled could
make it through the holiday season to the $170M mark.
Dropping down to second place after two weeks on top was
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 which took in an estimated
$16.7M in its third round falling a steep 66%. Suffering the worst decline of
any wide release, the Warner Bros. smash still raised its 17-day total to
$244.2M putting it 6.5% ahead of the $229.3M that Harry Potter and the Goblet
of Fire collected during the same period in 2005. Compared to the last two
wizard flicks which both bowed on July Wednesdays, Hallows is running
6.3% ahead of 2007’s Order of the Phoenix but 0.5% behind 2009’s
Half-Blood Prince.
Goblet, which banked a better $19.9M in its third frame which was also
the first session of December, went on to add three times that amount to its
cume as it played through the holidays. Should Hallows perform in a
similar manner over the weeks ahead, it would end its domestic run with roughly
$295M. Overseas the seventh Harry pic was still going strong, though burning
through its upfront audience quickly. The international take fell by 53% to an
estimated $54.4M from 62 territories bumping the total to $469.1M and the
worldwide tally to a healthy $713.1M. Breaking $930M like the last two
installments should be possible.
Two very different films tied for third place with weekend estimates of $6.1M a
piece. Sony’s Christina Aguilera-Cher musical
Burlesque dropped
49% putting its 12-day sum at $27M. The critically-panned drama will try to end
its run with $40M beating out the disappointing $29.1M that the studio collected
with its 2005 Thanksgiving musical offering Rent. But factoring in the
600 extra theaters and higher ticket prices for Burlesque, both films
will end up selling about the same number of tickets per location. Denzel
Washington’s non-musical train thriller
Unstoppable
collected the same amount of cash thanks to a 47% decline and upped its cume to
$68.9M for Fox.
Sliding 42% to an estimated $5.7M was the Viagra comedy
Love and Other
Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal and new Oscar host Anne Hathaway. Fox has
taken in $22.6M in 12 days and could be headed for a $35M finish. Paramount
followed with the 3D toon
Megamind which
tumbled 60% to an estimated $5M for a $136.7M cume to date.
The road trip comedy Due
Date held up well dipping 41% to an estimated $4.2M bumping the total to
$91M. The Warner Bros. title will soon become the fifth $100M+ blockbuster over
the last two-and-a-half years for Robert Downey Jr. He had none during his
entire acting career before 2008. On the other hand, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
may end up with the lowest-grossing film of his career with the action film
Faster which
dropped 55% to an estimated $3.8M for $18.1M in 12 days. It should finish its
run in the vicinity of the former wrestler’s worst-performing film Doom
which grossed $28M in 2005. That pic did open at number one, though.
Only one box office contender opened in wide release this weekend, the stylish
martial arts Western
The Warrior’s Way,
which performed poorly grossing an estimated $3.1M from 1,622 locations for a
dull $1,881 average. Barely breaking into the top ten over a remarkably slow
weekend, the R-rated actioner mixed historical Asian swordplay with Old West
shootouts and starred Jang Dong-gun, Geoffrey Rush, and Kate Bosworth. This was
the first release from Relativity Media as an independent distributor after its
takeover of Overture Films, but was set up as a rent-a-system deal minimizing
its exposure. Way cost a meaty $42M to produce and hopes to recover that from
markets around the world, especially Korea where the lead actor is a major box
office draw. Domestic audiences were 65% male and 65% over 25. Reviews were
mixed and the CinemaScore grade from paying moviegoers was a poor C- meaning
this warrior has a short way to go before hitting DVD.
Rounding out the top ten was Russell Crowe’s
The Next Three Days
which grossed an estimated $2.7M, down 43%, for a weak $18.4M thus far.
With the big boys mostly on the sidelines this weekend, a number of specialty
films launched in limited release hoping that awards attention will translate
into dollars with arthouse audiences. Making a spectacular debut was Natalie
Portman’s Black
Swan which bowed in only 18 locations but grossed an estimated $1.4M for
a sensational $77,459 average. Directed by Darren Aronofsky, the R-rated ballet
thriller built up buzz at a handful of the industry’s top film festivals heading
into its limited opening and will expand to about 60 theaters on Friday. Reviews
were very good and most are expecting Portman to be a major contender for the
Best Actress Academy Award. Swan stands a chance of cracking the top ten next
weekend.
The much-delayed Jim Carrey-Ewan McGregor comedy
I Love You,
Phillip Morris enjoyed a solid debut with an estimated $113,200 from six
sites for a $18,867 average. Released by Roadside Attractions, the R-rated film
about a con man that falls in love with a fellow inmate in prison earned good
marks from critics and will gradually expand throughout December ahead of a
January 7 wide release.
Following a very successful VOD run, the Ryan Gosling-Kirsten Dunst mystery
All Good Things
opened to impressive numbers at a pair of major Manhattan arthouses grossing an
estimated $40,000 for a $20,000 average. Los Angeles and Washington DC get the
Magnolia film this Friday even though it is available on demand across the
country. The company has been a pioneer in mixing VOD and theatrical platforms
to make the most coin with its titles. Reviews were lukewarm.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $74.9M which was down 13% from last year
when The Blind
Side climbed into the top spot with $20M; but up 2% from 2008 when
Four Christmases
stayed at number one with $16.8M.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, Box Office Guru!
