2010 at the Box Office - Page 31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris_T 

Terry...is it pretty much assumed that the Expendables will cross the $100 million threshold?  If so, what do you think this will do for Stallone's career?

"The Expendables" will definitely make Stallone bankable again to studio execs.  The movie will end up topping the century mark and is also expected to do very well overseas.  The green light has been given for a sequel (Stallone will likely direct as well as star) and there have been rumblings of more big name action stars from the '80s and '90s possibly appearing.  I know that Stallone really wanted Steven Segal to be in the first one, but he declined due to his dislike for producer Avi Lerner.  Still, I wouldn't be surprised if he were talked into being in the sequel. 

Regardless of what happens in the sequel, the 64 year-old actor/director has seen his career get a much needed shot in the arm from the success of "The Expendables".

Friday Estimates

#1 "The Last Exorcism" $9.4 million

#2 "Takers" $7.5 million

#3 "The Expendables" $2.7 million ($75.2 million) 45% Friday-to-Friday drop

#4 "Eat Pray Love" $2.2 million ($55.9 million) 43% Friday-to-Friday drop

#5 "The Other Guys" $1.9 million ($94.6 million) 37% Friday-to-Friday drop

#6 "Vampires Suck" $1.7 million ($24.3 million) 62% Friday-to-Friday drop

#7 "The Switch" $1.5 million ($13.3 million) 46% Friday-to-Friday drop

#8 "Inception" $1.4 million ($267.1 million) 35% Friday-to-Friday drop

#9 "Piranha 3D" $1.4 million ($15.3 million) 63% Friday-to-Friday drop

#10 "Nanny McPhee Returns" $1.3 million ($13.6 million) 50% Friday-to-Friday drop

#11 "Avatar" $1.2 million ($751.0 million)

#12 "Lottery Ticket" $1.1 million ($14.6 million) 71% Friday-to-Friday drop

Both "The Last Exorcism" and "Takers" will open much stronger than anticipated, while the special edition of "Avatar" didn't draw nearly as much interest as Fox had hoped for.  Still, the movie did manage to top the $750 million domestic plateau, it will also pass the $2 billion mark in overseas grosses.  Among the nine holdovers in the top 12, all but "Vampires Suck", "Piranha 3D", and "Lottery Ticket" avoided steep percentage declines.

Weekend Estimates

#1 "The Last Exorcism" $21.3 million

#2 "Takers" $21.0 million

#3 "The Expendables" $9.5 million ($82.0 million) -44%

#4 "Eat Pray Love" $7.0 million ($60.7 million) -42%

#5 "The Other Guys" $6.6 million ($99.3 million) -35%

#6 "Vampires Suck" $5.3 million ($27.9 million) -57%

#7 "Inception" $5.1 million ($270.7 million) -35%

#8 "Nanny McPhee Returns" $4.74 million ($17.0 million) -44%

#9 "The Switch" $4.70 million ($16.5 million) -45%

#10 "Piranha 3D" $4.3 million ($18.3 million) -57%

#11 "Lottery Ticket" $4.0 million ($17.4 million) -62%

#12 "Avatar" $4.0 million ($753.8 million)

$97.5 million was spent on the top 12 films at the box office this weekend, marking a 15% dip from last year, but a 30% improvement from this frame in '08.  Both LGF's "The Last Exorcism" and Sony's "Takers" earned $21 million this weekend, performing ahead of their respective studio's expectations.  Fox's special edition re-launch of "Avatar" pulled in $4 million, bringing its total domestic tally to $753.8 million. 

While it finished outside the top 12 (19th) Pixar/Disney's "Toy Story 3" has now tallied $405.7 million, moving it past the first Spidey flick ($403.7 million) to become the ninth biggest domestic hit in history.  The summer's top earning film also made news this week by becoming the first animated flick to cross the $1 billion mark in worldwide grosses.

Next weekend will see the official end of the summer 2010 season as WB/New Line's "Going the Distance", Focus' "The American" (opening on Wednesday), and Fox's "Machete" all hit theaters.

The SE release of "Avatar" is little more than padding the film's already impressive stats.  This reissue also works as a very effective marketing tool for the DVD/Blu-ray release in November.  Expect more deleted footage as well as a load of behind the scenes features that weren't part of the original home video launch.  The SE release should add an additional $20-$25 million to the film's worldwide haul.

Overseas box office report...

From Hollywoodreporter:

By Frank Segers

Aug 29, 2010, 05:14 PM ET
It's another too-close-to-call weekend on the foreign theatrical circuit as "The Expendables" and "The Last Airbender" appear neck and neck as of Sunday in the race to boxoffice No. 1.

Weekend take for director M. Night Shyamalan's 3D adaptation of the Nickelodeon TV series comes to an estimated $18 million from a total of 5,843 venues in 51 markets for an overseas total of $120 million. Paramount's "Airbender" opened No. 1 in Mexico ($4 million from 812 spots) while its first China round points to $2.6 million from 1,500 locations.

Preliminary weekend estimates puts "Expendables" weekend tally at roughly $18 million, pending final revision of China market final returns, which don't report until Tuesday. "Expendables," which finished No. 1 in the prior weekend, is playing a total of 32 markets via various local distributors with only a handful of major territories reporting so far. Overseas cume stands at an estimated $75 million.

The Milennium Films /Nu Image Films super-octane action vehicle directed by and costarring Sylvester Stallone, with Jason Stratham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts and Mickey Rourke, opened in Germany, Norway and Thailand in the latest round. "Expendables'" No. 2 Germany bow via local distributor Splendid produced an estimated $3.2 million from 525 sites.

Otherwise, the generally sluggish, late-summer weekend's notable development was 20th Century Fox's overseas introduction of a "special edition" of "Avatar" at 1,046 screens in 14 markets for a gross of $4.26 million. That was more than enough to push director James Cameron's scifi blockbuster past the $2 billion foreign-gross mark (offshore cume stands at $2.002 billion).

Universal kicked off its five-month foreign campaign for "Charlie St. Cloud" in Russia, Croatia and Trinidad for a weekend tally of $280,000 from 255 sites. Early overseas returns total $310,000 for the fantasy-drama starring Zac Efron.

Paramount commenced its offshore run of "Dinner For Schmucks," the comedy costarring Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, in the Netherlands for $250,000 derived from 49 screens. Fox opened "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" in the No. 11 spot in the U.K. with an estimated $1 million expected from 375 locations. The family comedy has grossed $2 million offshore so far.

Sony's "Salt" opened No. 1 in France ($4.7 million from 545 locations) and Poland, and claimed $15.9 on the weekend from 4,450 situations in 63 markets. The Cold War drama starring Angelina Jolie film was also No. 1 in its second round in Australia ($2.3 million from 365 screens). Overseas cume stands at $131.2 million. The film looks to wind up No. 3 on the weekend.

The weekend's probable No. 4 is Warner Bros.' "Inception," which collected an estimated $15.1 million from 6,100 locations in 60 markets. Overseas cume for director Christopher Nolan's sci-fi thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio comes to $384 million.

Since it opened June 9 on the foreign circuit, Sony's "The Karate Kid" has grossed a total of $143.7 million. Weekend action -- including No. 1 openings in Spain ($4.7 million from 494 spots) and Brazil ($2.3 million from 378 sites) -- came to $13.9 million from 3,723 situations in 38 territories. It is the weekend's probable No. 5 title.

Now in its 11th round on the foreign circuit, "Toy Story 3" in 3D actually picked up a bit from its prior round -- grossing $12.7 million from 5,261 venues in 41 markets for an overseas cume of $606.4 million. The Pixar/Disney release is now the fourteenth film in industry history to surpass the $600 million foreign gross mark. "Toy Story 3" is also, said Disney, the first animation title ever to cross the $1 billion gross mark worldwide (global cume is $1.012 billion).

Summit/Universal's "Step Up 3D" was active in 30 territories, and generated $11.1 million on the weekend from 2,494 sites. A No. 1 Germany debut provided an estimated $3.7 million from 525 conventional and 3D venues. Overseas cume for the third installment of the urban dance franchise stands at $70.8 million.

After more than three months playing the foreign circuit, DreamWorks Animation/Paramount's "Shrek Forever After" in 3D is still generating decent foreign numbers, $10.5 million in its latest round at 4,585 venues in 61 markets. Cume stands at $470 million.

Sony's "Grownups" emerged as the weekend's probable No. 1 title in the U.K. ($3.2 million from 422 locations), the market's biggest opening weekend for an Adam Sandler comedy. Overall, the film grabbed $7.6 million from 2,380 screens in 49 markets. Overseas cume stands at $69.7 million.

"Sorcerer's Apprentice" delivered $5.5 million from 3,667 prints in 40 markets, pushing the cume for the Jerry Bruckheimer production starring Nicolas Cage to $103.4 million from about 70% of the overseas marketplace, as per distributor Disney. Warner's "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" drew an estimated $4.7 million from 4,100 screens in 46 markets for a foreign cume of $44 million.

Universal's "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" looks to open No. 4 in the U.K. ($2.5 million from 406 dates) with the full weekend generating $3.3 million from 966 sites in four markets for an early overseas cume of $6.2 million. Fox's sci-fi action title, "Predators," delivered $3.2 million from 1,437 situations in 27 markets for an overseas total gross of $69 million.

Looking to gross about $3.1 million from 666 situations in two markets (U.K. and South Korea) is Dimension Films/Weinstein Co.'s horror title, "Piranha 3D." Its Korea bow generated about $2.5 million, enough for a No. 2 market ranking. And Fox's horror spoof "Vampires Suck" grossed $2.1 million from 448 situations in 14 markets for an international cume of $3.1 million.

Top grossing local-language newcomer in France was Gaumont's release of director Eric Besnard's adventure outing, "600 Kilos d'or Pur" ("600 Kilos of Pure Gold"), which captured the No. 2 spot in Paris and suburbs, and looks to generate an estimated $2.5 million in its nationwide opener.

Other international cumes: DreamWorks Animation/Paramount's "How to Train Your Dragon," $274 million; Fox's "Knight and Day," $151 million; Universal's "Despicable Me," $70 million (after a $2.8 million weekend from 1,330 screens in 26 markets); Fox's "The A-Team," $95.3 million (thanks to a $2.4 million weekend on 1,674 screens in 14 markets); Universal's "Get Him to the Greek," $23 million; and Fox's "Marmaduke," $41 million (due to a $2 million weekend at 1,744 situations in 13 territories).

Considering that five of star Shia LaBeouf's last six films earned at least $80 million domestically (four of them topped the century mark), expectations are that the 'Wall Street' sequel will have a "healthy run" in theaters.  I've yet to see any real tracking data on the film, but Fox execs believe that the movie will earn a nice return on their $70 million budget.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/09/zombies-zoom-resident-evil-3d-smashes-franchise-record-and-tops-quiet-friday-box-office/

1. Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D (Screen Gems/Sony) NEW [3,203 Theaters]
Friday $11M, Estimated Weekend $28M

The only major studio film opening is Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D, an easy #1 because it's shot in 3D, not converted, and it booked 2,000 3D screens among its 3,203 locations in North America, including 164 digital IMAX screens domestically for a 2-week run, and another 24 IMAX screens internationally. (Final Friday numbers could be higher or lower because of this franchise's notoriously great late shows...) The previous three pics have opened between $17.7M in March 2002 to a high of $23.6M in September 2007, so 3D's heftier ticket prices are responsible for this fourquel's biggest numbers. It's another in that "world ravaged by a virus infection, turning its victims into the Undead, Alice, continues on her journey to find survivors and lead them to safety" franchise. This time, Los Angeles is filled with zombies, and Milla Jovovich again kicks their butt, and again the latest installment is written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, who also produces with Jeremy Bolt and others. Sony gave it a high-profile presence at all the major sci-fi, horror, and other genre conventions. Pic also is opening great internationally this week, beating RE3 in Japan, Russia, Mexico, Spain, UK and others after Sony acquired the rights to most foreign territories for $52m. Meanwhile, Sony is responsible for what should be half the weekend's estimated $80M box office grosses, and this is its 5th No. 1 opener this year.

2. Takers (Screen Gems/Sony) Week 3 [2,191 Theaters]
Friday $1.7M, Estimated Weekend $5.7M, Estimated Cume $47.5M

3. The American (Focus Features) Week 2 [2,833 Theaters]
Friday $1.7M (-55%), Estimated Weekend $5.7M, Estimated Cume $28.2M

Late Friday night, 2 studios had Takers in the second spot, and 2 other studios had The American, despite the big disparity in number of runs and Takers' extra week out. The order could change this morning.

4. Going The Distance (NL/Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,030 Theaters]
Friday $1.3M (-39%), Estimated Weekend $4.5M, Estimated Cume $14.7M

Considering how low last Friday's opening was, this hold isn't all that impressive.

5. Machete (Fox) Week 2 [2,678 Theaters]
Friday $1.3M (-65%), Estimated Weekend $4.5M, Estimated Cume $21.1M

This is an anemic hold. Not what anyone expected. Good thing Fox got this Robert Rodriguez movie on the cheap.

6. The Last Exorcism (Lionsgate) Week 3 [2,731 Theaters]
Friday $1.0M, Estimated Weekend $3.5M, Estimated Cume $38.2M

7. The Other Guys (Sony) Week 6 [2,246 Theaters]
Friday $975K, Estimated Weekend $3.3M, Estimated Cume $112.5M

8. The Expendables (Lionsgate) Week 5 [3,058 Theaters]
Friday $950K, Estimated Weekend $3.2M, Estimated Cume $98.5M

9. Eat Pray Love (Sony) Week 5 [2,339 Theaters]
Friday $875K, Estimated Weekend $3M, Estimated Cume $74.7M

10. Inception (Warner Bros) Week 9 [1,583 Theaters] 
Friday $825K, Estimated Weekend $2.8M, Estimated Cume $282.3M

http://www.deadline.com/2010/09/first-box-office-ben-afflecks-the-town-surprises-for-1-easy-a-2-devil-3-alpha-omega-5/

Actor/director Ben Affleck's Warner Bros crime thriller is overperforming at the North American box office. Extrapolating from Friday's $8.3M grosses, it will easily finish No. 1 this opening weekend when it was only predicted to come in 2nd. The "R"-rated movie's estimated $25+M looks near the $28.6M of the same studio's October 6, 2006, Boston crime thriller The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese. That "R"-rated film starred Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon and went on to win Best Picture Oscar. Affleck's The Town is also in the running and stars Affleck, Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) and Jon Hamm (Mad Men). Warner Bros even marketed it as The Departed 2. The studio, which financed The Town 50/50 with Legendary Pictures, also paired its first trailer with Inception to create awareness.

For his 2nd big directing effort after Gone Baby Gone also based on a book (Chuck Hogan's Prince Of Thieves), Affleck promoted the heck out of it. He called movie journalists personally in Hollywood, NYC, flyover country, and eventually this month's Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. Even so, at the start of this week, expectations were for The Town to open in only second place to a teen movie -- and trail by a large margin. But the tracking spiked as the big TV ad campaign kicked it up a notch in the last few days. So Warner Bros distribution czar Dan Fellman pushed up the print count. I think Hollywood underestimated The Town's great buzz among starving adult audiences but also its coolness quotient for ages 18-to-25. Trust me, Affleck's career trajectory rarely happens in Hollywood: from Oscar-winning co-writer to tabloid heartthrob to washed-up star after Gigli to budding director to hot actor/helmer with the #1 movie. What an Industry!

Hollywood thought Sony's Easy A and Universal's Devil, would each make around $20M because they're PG-13 pics, surpassing The Town. Nope. Easy A from Screen Gems is a cut above content-wise according to critics, but it was marketed like yet another lame high school angstfest. Devil is the first in M Night Shyamalan's financing deal with Media Rights Capital under The Night Chronicles production banner, formed to generate genre films he doesn't have to helm. Distributor Universal acquired worldwide rights to Devil from MRC for $27 million and had high hopes. But given moviegoers' loss of faith in Shyamalan after so many of his recent movies have tanked, Devil's really lousy trailer, and its laughable premise of Satan-in-an-elevator -- and little surprise it underperformed.

The toon Alpha & Omega, a Lionsgate co-production with Crest Animation for a $20M budget, was targeted to young children, as opposed to the bigger broadbased audiences of Toy Story 3, Shrek, Despicable Me, etc. That limits grosses. When early research indicated that the movie would play much stronger with Moms and young daughters, Lionsgate really targeted its modest marketing money to daytime TV and mommy blogs. "It's fair to say that if you don't have kids, you might have missed the campaign," one exec tells me.

No CinemaScores until tonight because of Yom Kippur. Here's the Top 10:

1. The Town (Warner Bros) NEW [2,861 Theaters]
Friday $8.3M, Estimated Weekend $25M

2. Easy A (Screen Gems/Sony) NEW [2,856 Theaters]
Friday $6.8M, Estimated Weekend $18M

3. Devil (Universal) NEW [2,809 Theaters]
Friday $4.9M, Estimated Weekend $12.5M)

4. Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D (Screen Gems/Sony) Week 2 [3,209 Theaters]
Friday $3M (-72%), Estimated Weekend $9.5M, Estimated Cume $43.7M

5. Alpha & Omega (Lionsgate) NEW [2,625 Theaters]
Friday $2.3M, Estimated Weekend $9.3M

6. Takers (Screen Gems/Sony) Week 3 []
Friday $930K, Estimated Weekend $3M, Estimated Cume $52.3M

7. The American (Focus Features) Week 3 [2,457 Theaters]
Friday $835K, Estimated Weekend $2.8M, Estimated Cume $33M

8. Inception (Warner Bros) Week 10 [1,305 Theaters]
Friday $595K, Estimated Weekend $1.8M, Estimated Cume $285M

9. The Other Guys (Sony) Week 7 [1,827 Theaters]
Friday $585K, Estimated Weekend $2M, Estimated Cume $115.4M

10. Machete (Fox) Week 3 [1,704 Theaters]
Friday $525K, Estimated Weekend $1.6, Estimated Cume $24.2M

---Nikki Finke

From the Box Office Guru site...

Ben Affleck scored his first number one hit in a leading role in over seven years with the crime thriller The Town which topped the charts on Friday with an estimated $8.38M debut in its first day of release. The well-reviewed drama, which Affleck also directed, came very close to the $8.7M opening day of The Departed - another Boston-set crime pic released in the fall by Warner Bros. - from October 2006. Town may find itself with about $23-25M over the weekend winning the frame by a wide margin. Affleck last reached the top of the box office in a lead role with the super hero flick Daredevil in February 2003.

Sony's high school comedy Easy A enjoyed a solid debut of its own grossing an estimated $6.8M on Friday, its first day of play. The Emma Stone starrer looks to take in $18-20M this weekend putting it in second place with a strong showing. Critics gave good marks.

The M. Night Shyamalan project Devil scared up an estimated $5M in first-day business on Friday and is heading for a $12-14M take over three days. Shyamalan developed the story and did not direct, but his name was prominently used in Universal's marketing.

Lionsgate's 3D toon Alpha and Omega bowed to an estimated $2.3M on Friday and could be on course to collect $8-10M for the frame.

Last weekend's top film Resident Evil: Afterlife suffered a steep 72% plunge to $3M. Look for a $9-10M weekend putting the zombie movie in fourth or fifth place.

In limited release, Fox Searchlight's Never Let Me Go collected $33,496 from only four New York and Los Angeles houses on Friday and is heading for a weekend gross of about $120,000 for a sizzling opening weekend average of $30,000.