Business is boomin' in Hollywood this week, thanks in no small part to a classic children's story brough to life, a revenge seeking Dad, and The Little Horror Movie That Could.
1. Where the Wild Things Are- $32.5M
And to think people were worried that Spike Jonze's gorgeous adaptation of Maurice Sendak's story would be too dark for he kiddies and yet too kiddie for adults. That's some final analyisis there, folks! What they didn't count on is that when you're dealing with a story that's as revered and iconic as this, you've got to throw conventions out the window. The only thing that truly mattered is that everybody has some connection to the source material, so the potential audience was huge. Not that WTWTA blew the box office out of the water or anything, but it's well on it's way to recouping it's production budget, and with the generally positive word of mouth coupled with a distinct lack of tentpole films around the corner, this movie could be hanging around for a long time. I expect a minor dropoff next week and a top 3 showing for sure.
2. Law Abiding Citizen- $21.2M
There's something to be said for simplicity in marketing. Just look at what they've managed to achieve with the first real thriller of the fall season. Focusing on the central idea of a father seeking revenge when his daughter's killer is set free, buoyed by dueling performances by Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx(boooo!!), the film exceeded studio expectations. The film is Overture Studios highest grossing opening weekend evah! Congrats.
3. Paranormal Activity- $20.2M/$33.7M
Upping it's roll out to 760 sites(still a paltry number), the micro budgeted horror flick continues to blow away it's competition based almost completely on word of mouth marketing. I say almost because let's not fool ourselves and think that this is completely a grass roots phenomenon, especially in the last couple of weeks. Regardless, PA has been a great success story, and I'm curious to see if it continues to expand. I think it's been shown that there continues to be a demand for this movie, so it would only make sense to push it out to as many theatres as possible. The chances of it ever breaking The Blair Witch Project's numbers are slim, however. That movie made over $140M back in 1999. Has it really been 10 years already? God I'm old.
4. Couples Retreat- $17.9M/$63.3M
Last week's champeen dropped 48%, which is fairly standard for unfunny, disappointing, mildly irritating pseudo-comedies. I'm just gonna start calling the nearly 50% drop in the second week the "Vince Vaughn Effect", when people realize how lame he actually is and begin warning people away from his movies after the first week.
5. The Stepfather- $12.3M
Well, I guess that's about what could be expected. The only one of the week's debuts to sorta suck eggs was this lame remake of a mediocre 1987 thriller(starring John Locke from Lost! What the...?). That film spawned a couple sequels, and this one actually features an ending that hints at more movies to come, but after this lukewarm reception I doubt that'll come to pass. Blame a cheesy trailer featuring home video footage of Douglas Sirk-esque 1950's families; an unproven cast of TV fixtures and a worn out premise we've seen far too much lately. It's only been a few months since The Uninvited, a film which is similar in tone and idea.
6. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs- $8.1M/$108M
The smallest drop in audience of the week. Again. It's not going to go away, is it? Not until I see it, right?
7. Zombieland- $7.8M/$60.8M
Has now grossed more money than Zack Snyder's awesome Dawn of the Dead remake. That's fine. I love both films, and they both feature two of my favorite Hollywood babes: Emma Stone and Lindy Booth. Now if only I could arrange some sort of cream corn deathmatch between the two...
8. Toy Story/Toy Story 2- $3.01M/$28.6M
9. Surrogates- $1.92M/$36.3M
10. The Invention of Lying- $1.91M/$15.5M
Does somebody have something against The Coen Brothers' latest film, A Serious Man? It just doesn't seem to be gaining much traction, due mainly to the fact that it's not really playing anywhere 3 weeks after it's release. The film, which is something of a departure for the duo, is heavily steeped in Jewish culture but still captures the pair's penchant for finding humor in our most mundane actions. The film is performing well, however, averaging over $10,000 per site and has accumulated over $1.8M. You would think with their track record there would be more of a demand for the film.
