2009 at the Box Office - Page 36

Second weekend drops for Quentin Tarantino's previous films (after opening in wide release)...

-"Pulp Fiction" -10% (1,489 theaters)
-"Jackie Brown" -22% (1,629 theaters)
-"Kill Bill: Volume One" -44% (3,102 theaters)
-"Kill Bill: Volume Two" -59% (3,073 theaters)
-"Grindhouse" -63% (2,629 theaters)
-"Inglorious Basterds" -55% projected (3,165 theaters)

As for the opening sequence in IB, yes it was a long scene, but it goes a long way in establishing both the film's bad guy (brilliantly played by Christoph Waltz) and the heroine (Melanie Laurent giving a very solid performance in her American film debut).  The scene also gets the first big laugh of the movie as well (i.e. the pipe).

Friday Estimates

#1 "The Final Destination" $10.9 million
#2 "Halloween 2" $7.6 million
#3 "Inglorious Basterds" $5.9 million ($59.6 million) 59% Friday-to-Friday drop
#4 "District 9" $3.0 million ($83.1 million) 46% Friday-to-Friday drop
#5 "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" $2.3 million ($126.8 million) 37% Friday-to-Friday drop
#6 "The Time Traveler's Wife" $2.115 million ($43.6 million) 38% Friday-to-Friday drop
#7 "Julie & Julia" $2.100 million ($65.7 million) 20% Friday-to-Friday drop
#8 "Shorts" $1.3 million ($10.0 million) 42% Friday-to-Friday drop
#9 "Taking Woodstock" $1.2 million
#10 "G-Force" $725K ($109.7 million) 41% Friday-to-Friday drop
#11 "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" $640K ($292.4 million) 34% Friday-to-Friday drop
#12 "(500) Days of Summer" $630K ($23.8 million) 14% Friday-to-Friday drop

Weekend Estimates

#1 "The Final Destination" $28.3 million
#2 "Inglorious Basterds" $20.0 million ($73.8 million) -47%
#3 "Halloween 2" $17.4 million
#4 "District 9" $10.7 million ($90.8 million) -41%
#5 "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" $8.0 million ($132.4 million) -35%
#6 "Julie & Julia" $7.4 million ($71.0 million) -14%
#7 "The Time Traveler's Wife" $6.7 million ($48.2 million) -31%
#8 "Shorts" $4.9 million ($13.6 million) -24%
#9 "Taking Woodstock" $3.7 million
#10 "G-Force" $2.8 million ($111.8 million) -31%
#11 "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" $2.6 million ($294.4 million) -25%
#12 "(500) Days of Summers" $2.1 million ($25.3 million) -9%

For the first time in history, every weekend during the month of August saw the top 12 films pull in more than $100 million.  This week saw moviegoers shell out $115 million on the top 12 as business was up a whopping 60% compared this frame last year, and 20% over this weekend in '07.  August '09 earned the second biggest box office haul the month has ever enjoyed and tomorrow will mark only the second time in history that the August frame pulled in more than $900 million.

2009's massive year-to-date domestic haul now stands at $7.289 billion, marking a 7% increase over both last year ($6.797 billion) and '07 ($6.808 billion), up 15% compared to '06 ($6.345 billion), and 21% stronger than '05 ($6.005 billion).  By the end of tomorrow, this summer's box office will have taken an estimated $4.26 billion, up nearly 2% from last summer's record-breaking haul.  The summer officially doesn't end until Labor Day next weekend, so this will add to 2009's record haul.  More than 590 million theater admissions have been sold thus far this summer (over 1 billion for the year).  While attendance for the overall year is way up, comparing this summer to last has seen patronage fall off by 2%.

New Line/WB's "The Final Destination" easily took the top spot at the box office this weekend as it pulled in just north of $28 million.  WB is reporting that 70% of the film's opening haul came from 3D theaters.  At a cost of only $40 million, this one should have little difficulty making it's money back, even if it has short legs.  The flick earned a per-theater average of $9.079 from its 3,121 locations.

Weinstein/Universal's "Inglorious Basterds" enjoyed a very solid sophomore frame as it was off a moderate 47%.  With just under $74 million in the bank, the movie is already the second biggest domestic hit of writer/director Quentin Tarantino's career and looks headed for a final haul well past the century mark.

Weinstein/Dimention's "Halloween 2" debuted with a little over $17 million, giving it a solid average of $5,754 from its 3,025 theaters.  With a cost of only $15 million, the movie was instantly profitable.  The sequel's opening wasn't nearly as strong as the previous film's $26.4 million launch.  While this one probably won't have very strong legs, it will still turn a decent profit.

Sony's "District 9" has now tallied $90.8 million.  Paramount's 'G.I. Joe' is currently sitting on a domestic haul of $132.4 million.  Sony's "Julie & Julia" continues to show extremely strong legs as it was off by only 16% this weekend (the second best hold of the top 12) and has now pulled in $71 million.  A final haul of more than $100 million is now expected.  New Line/WB's "The Time Traveler's Wife" has now earned $48.2 million.  WB's "Shorts" was off by only 24% and has taken in $13.6 million thus far.

Focus Features' "Taking Woodstock" barely drew interest this weekend as it opened with $3.7 million, pulling in only a per-theater average of $2,691 from its 1,393 locations.  Disney's "G-Force" has so far tallied $111.8 million.  WB's "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" now ranks as the second biggest domestic hit of the series with its $294.4 million haul.  This one should be able to inch past the triple-century mark within the next few weeks.  Fox Searchlight's "(500) Days of Summer" rounds out the top 12 as it has now earned $25.3 million.  Not bad for a movie that cost only $7.5 million to make.

Next weekend's Labor Day four-day holiday frame marks the official end of the summer season as Lionsgate will release the action flick "Gamer", Fox will launch the romantic/comedy "All About Steve", and Miramax will debut the comedy "Extract".  "All About Steve" seems to be the safe bet to take the top spot given that stars Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper are both coming off of big summer hits with "The Proposal" ($160.1 million) and "The Hangover" ($270.3 million).

Worldwide Grosses for the six Harry Potter movies...
#1 "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" $974.7 million
#2 "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" $938.2 million
#3 "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" $896.1 million (and counting...)
#4 "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" $895.9 million
#5 "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" $878.6 million
#6 "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" $795.6 million

HP6 will become the third film of the franchise to top the $900 million globally for the series.  The six films' worldwide total now sits at $5.4 billion, marking the first time in history that a series of films has passed the $5 billion plateau.  Harry Potter is now the biggest grossing film franchise in history, moving past the $4.9 billion global take of the 22 James Bond flicks.  Star Wars sits at #3 with its $4.2 billion worldwide haul.  These are currently the only three franchises to earn more than $3 billion in global box office earnings. 

TOP TEN
#1 Harry Potter $5.4 billion (6 films)
#2 James Bond $4.9 billion (22 films)
#3 Star Wars $4.2 billion (6 films)
#4 The Lord of the Rings $2.9 billion (3 films)
#5 Pirates of the Caribbean $2.7 billion (3 films)
#6 Batman $2.6 billion (6 films)
#7 Spider-Man $2.5 billion (3 films)
#8 Shrek $2.2 billion (3 films)
#9 Indiana Jones $2.0 billion (4 films)
#10 Jurassic Park $1.9 billion (3 films)

Lyn, all six HP flicks combined have currently sold just over 270 million theater admissions domestically since 2001.

Domestic Ticket Sales
#1 "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" 56.2 million
#2 "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" 45.2 million
#3 "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" 45.18 million
#4 "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" 42.4 million
#5 "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" 41.0 million (and counting...)
#6 "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" 40.2 million

You're very welcome.

I thought the first two HP flicks weren't that great, but since the movies have been much stronger after 'Azkaban'.  Like Travis, I also think that the final two HP movies are going to be huge hits.  Either one could end up topping the $1 billion mark globally at the box office.

Eric, Labor Day weekend has just been one of the "traditional" frames where the box office has tailed off.  Kids (the primary summer moviegoers) has a lot to do with business being so slow.  This is also one of those times where I think studios just dump movies they didn't have any confidence in to begin with.  There have been instances where the Labor Day frame has yielded big numbers, but studios generally use the weekend as a sort of "dumping ground".

Weekend Estimates
(4-day estimates will be released tomorrow)

#1 "The Final Destination" $12.4 million ($47.6 million) -55%
#2 "All About Steve" $11.2 million
#3 "Inglorious Basterds" $10.8 million ($91.0 million) -44%
#4 "Gamer" $9.0 million
#5 "District 9" $7.0 million ($101.3 million) -32%
#6 "Halloween 2" $5.6 million ($25.7 million) -66%
#7 "Julie & Julia" $5.2 million ($78.8 million) -26%
#8 "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" $5.1 million ($139.4 million) -34%
#9 "The Time Traveler's Wife" $4.2 million ($54.6 million) -35%
#10 "Extract" $4.2 million
#11 "Shorts" $2.6 million ($17.0 million) -42%
#12 "G-Force" $2.0 million ($114.6 million) -30%

HP6 looks like it will hit the triple-century mark within the next three weeks.  This weekend also saw Transformers 2 become the ninth film in history to pass the $400 million plateau domestically.

Weekend Estimates

(4-day)
#1 "The Final Destination" $15.4 million ($50.7 million) -44%
#2 "Inglorious Basterds" $15.0 million ($95.2 million) -22%
#3 "All About Steve" $13.9 million
#4 "Gamer" $11.2 million
#5 "District 9" $9.0 million ($103.3 million) -12%
#6 "Halloween 2" $7.1 million ($27.1 million) -57%
#7 "Julie & Julia" $7.0 million ($80.6 million) -1%
#8 "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" $6.7 million ($141.0 million) -13%
#9 "The Time Traveler's Wife" $5.5 million ($55.8 million) -16%
#10 "Extract" $5.3 million
#11 "Shorts" $3.8 million ($17.0 million) -16%
#12 "G-Force" $2.8 million ($115.4 million) -2%

This weekend's Labor Day holiday session took in $102.7 million, marking the third best haul ever for the four-day frame, trailing the earnings of '03 ($106.1 million) and 2007 ($121.3 million).  The nearly $103 million gross also marked a 12% increase from last year's Labor Day, but was down nearly 16% to the holiday mark from '07.  The three-day top 12 tally of $81 million earned the biggest opening weekend numbers the month of September has ever enjoyed. 

2009's massive year-to-date domestic gross now stands at $7.448 billion, marking at 7% increase from last year ($6.944 billion), up 6% compared to '07 ($7.002 billion), 15% stronger than '06 ($6.500 billion), and a 21% improvement over '05 ($6.153 billion).  An estimated 1.037 billion theater admissions have been sold so far this year.

New Line/WB's "The Final Destination" repeated as the nation's top box office draw as it took in more than $15 million over the four-day holiday frame.  The thriller has so far netted $50.6 million and looks headed for a final domestic haul in the neighborhood of $80 million.  Not too shabby for a movie that cost only $40 million to make.

Weinstein/Universal's "Inglorious Basterds" was close behind as it has now seen its total rise to $95.2 million.  This time next week the film will have become the second $100 million-plus performer for writer/director Quentin Tarantino.  For star Brad Pitt, 'Basterds' will mark the sixth out of his last nine movies to top the century mark.  The film should top out in the area of $130 million.

Fox's "All About Steve" got off to a good start as it pulled in just under $14 million this weekend.  The comedy's solid per-theater average of $6,175 from its 2,251 locations was the best of the top 12.

Lionsgate's "Gamer" had a decent debut as it opened with $11.2 million, giving it an average of $4,476 from its 2,502 theaters, tying for the third best average of the top 12 with "Inglorious Basterds".

Sony's "District 9" passed the century mark this weekend.  Weinstein/Dimention's "Halloween 2" is fading fast as it had the worst hold of the top 12.  Sony's "Julie & Julia" has now earned $80.6 million and now seems to be a lock to finish with more than $100 million, giving two-time Oscar-winner Meryl Streep her third century club member out of her last five outings. 

Paramount's 'G.I. Joe' has so far tallied more than $141 million.  New Line/WB's "The Time Traveler's Wife" is currently sitting on a domestic haul of nearly $56 million.  Miramax's "Extract" only was able to draw lukewarm business this weekend as it opened with $5.3 million, giving it a soft per-theater average of $3,298 from its 1,611 locations.  WB's "Shorts" has now earned just over $18 million and Disney's "G-Force" rounds out the top 12 as it has now tallied $115.4 million.

Next weekend will see four new releases enter the marketplace.  WB's "Whiteout", Summit's "Sorority Row", Lionsgate's "Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself", and Focus Features' CG animated "9" (which opens on Wednesday).  Any one of these films can take the top spot, but all of them should be able to pack theaters next weekend.