That’s three straight weekends of Chris Nolan’s “Inception” as the ruler of the roost. While the competition wasn’t stellar, the dream-attack heist picture posted a muscular hold to survive being outgrossed by “Dinner For Schmucks” on Friday with its stronger IMAX pricing scam/business strategy. It’s hard to say the film has become a definitive zeitgeist-grabber, but it’s a water-cooler film, no doubt, and while it might not crest $300 million, it’s sure to cross $200m by mid-week.
The international picture is yet to become clear, but most are expecting “Inception” to clear up in overseas markets. That muscular domestic gross is something Warner Bros. was counting on, but not this early. How much steam is left in this thing? The WB doesn’t really have anything that can take screens away from the film, and it’s the last big IMAX picture of the season, so if people love this film (and it’s still only apparent people REALLY LIKE it), they can goose it to $300, but that will be tough. If it keeps up its current performance, closing around $260 seems likely. As far as a victory for “original” films, with “Inception” being a rallying cry for people sick of remakes, sequels and adaptations, this would place the domestic numbers lower still than “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” “Iron Man 2” and “Alice in Wonderland.”
“Dinner For Schmucks” seemed destined to fail, with reports of reshoots, bad buzz, a last-minute release shift and utterly banal TV ads. But it had stars and a clear premise, and so it opened. As funny as Steve Carrel and Paul Rudd might be (and this is movie #3 for the duo), this movie represented product, product, product. With the track record of director Jay Roach (“Austin Powers,” “Meet the Parents”), the various funnymen and funnywomen appearing in the film likely saw a quick, easy shoot that accommodated their schedules and helped assemble a demographically-tight crowd; one that could bring in both Apatow-loving laymen and the more hardcore comedy devotees who would turn out to see Jermaine Clement and Zack Galifianakis use their eccentricities in an otherwise formula genre exercise.
“Salt” was destined to be a big overseas performer, because international audiences have a higher tolerance than Americans for megastars and over-the-top action. Domestically, however, it looks like a half-decent $100 million hit, and doing “Robin Hood” numbers might even give the filmmakers a chance to extend the pencil-thin mythology of this character in a sequel. It may need the success of “The Bourne Identity” (a big theatrical performer that supernova’d on DVD), but we’re likely close to “Salt’s Big Score” or “Salt In Africa.”
“Despicable Me” held on to a tidy chunk of its audience, slapping its way towards $200 million. This Universal release is bound to pull in strong overseas numbers too, but it’s already likely achieved a stateside victory, despite being something of a questionable sell months ago when marketing was still trying to find the story. Did kids care? The marketing element of these kids’ films always seems fickle, because the numbers suggest kids will see absolutely anything as long as you firebomb their favorite shows with non-stop ads. 3000 theaters and a marketing budget in the realm of $100 million? As long as you’re CGI-animated, you’ll be able to count on serious profits.
Not so, however, if your product looks as odious and dated as “Cats And Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore.” Nine years ago, the original film in this series pulled in $21 million, but the sequel, with the benefit of inflation as well as inflated 3D prices, won’t match that. This is a total dump of a picture, in theaters only because the price-tag on animating nightmarishly-anthropomorphous cats and dogs has become too much to accommodate the straight-to-DVD release a cast like this is used to. The original reportedly cost $60 million, and while this one is much cheaper looking, the marketing likely led this to have a similar cost to the original, with the expectations they could at least defeat “Despicable Me” in its fourth weekend of release. Me-ouch! This dog adventure is a real bitch!
Movie stars are in short supply, say the tabloids. They also say all-cheese diets are stupid, and that Suri Cruise is a real person, not an animatronic creation. The point being, the mark of a movie star isn’t to make any movie into a big hit, but to turn a movie absolutely no one with taste or accountability would see into something that makes a modest amount of money. Will Smith can get to $15 million with “Seven Pounds” and George Clooney can get “Leatherheads” to $12m, but that’s as far as it gets. No one wants to see these movies, so a mid-level number like that is, if nothing, a testament to how well-liked these stars are. As a result, Zac Efron deserves a little bit of respect for getting his fanbase to buy tickets for something like “Charlie St. Cloud,” which looked like a substandard Lifetime movie no one in their right mind would consider worth the price of a recession-era movie ticket. A $12m+ opening for that film certainly suggests he’s a leading man – it takes something in the realm of $6-8 million (“Jonah Hex”?) to suggest you shouldn’t be headlining anything. Expect the same jackhole executives whining about the lack of movie stars sliding star-ready scripts Efron’s way.
“Toy Story 3” adds to its year-best gross, and should top out at $400m domestic, but nipping at its heels is “Grown Ups.” This powerhouse keeps on mowing down the competition, and we guess the key demographic has been… families? Maybe a lot of mischievous young boys spending a summer vacation with their wacky uncles? Older summer camp crowds? The core audience for this thing showed up in a big way, but to have these legs, a specific, untold audience is enjoying it too; surely it can’t be repeat viewings, because we can’t think of a worse punishment than sitting through this again. Yes, we’re sounding like a broken record, but the ratio of people seeing this movie to the cynicism, evil and laziness of the entire affair is depressing.
Large drops for “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “Ramona And Beezus.” “Beezus,” out of the top ten after two weekends, had a core that went, and “Apprentice” just didn’t generate interest from anyone. Some dogs die hard, and “Apprentice,” which likely set Disney back a Jerry Bruckheimer-approved $150 million, wasn’t built for the long haul. “Beezus” was, like many Fox films, destined to be a one-weekend smash-and-grab, strictly for the devoted, while “Apprentice” was supposed to be a mass market film that really had no key demo whatsoever. The difference is expectations: “Beezus,” for all intents and purposes, worked, especially with studios collecting more of a percentage of the first than second weekend grosses, while “Apprentice,” built to play until the end of August, was mis-marketed and wildly overbudgeted. And yet here they are, bottom of the top ten, losing similar chunks of their audiences. Fox will be fine. Disney will have to fire someone. Maybe an intern.
In indie numbers, “The Kids Are All Right” continued its expansion into 800 theaters, and though the per-screen numbers probably don’t accommodate a further expansion into 1500 screens, it should continue to gather buzz. At close to $10 million, it’s enough of a success for distributors Focus Features. The weekend’s big indie debut was “Get Low,” which pulled in $22k per-screen, best of the week, to collect $91k on four screens. “The Concert” pulled in $20k on two screens, while “The Extra Man” disappointingly nabbed only $18k on two screens.
Other debuts include the documentary “Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist And Rebel” which brought in $10k on a single screen, while “Life During Wartime” actually had a steep decline despite expanding from one to five theaters, with a $30k frame measuring less than its one-theater opening tally. And “The Dry Land,” an Iraq War film with America Ferrera and Melissa Leo, fared quite poorly on five screens nationwide, with only $7.7k overall. Support your local arthouse, folks.
1. Inception – $27.5 million ($193 mil.)
2. Dinner For Studs – $23.3 million
3. Salty – $19.3 million ($71 mil.)
4. Despicable Me – $15.5 million ($190 mil.)
5. Cats And Dogs: The Revenge Of A Gratuitous Sequel – $12.5 million
6. Charlie St. Cloud – $12.1 million
7. Toy Story 3 – $5 million ($390 mil.)
8. Grown Ups – $4.5 million ($151 mil.)
9. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – $4.3 million ($52 mil.)
10. The Twilight Saga: The Golden Compass – $4 million ($288 mil.)