Promotions will undoubtedly be handed out all over Paramount’s marketing department on Monday after the no-budget, no-stars horror flick “Paranormal Activity” vaulted from the 5th spot to #1 this weekend. Earning an astonishing $22 million dollars, on just under 2000 screens, the film has taken in a whopping $62 million at the box office so far. Clearly, the viral marketing is working and word-of-mouth on this is strong as audiences are lining up in droves to get their Halloween fix.
And with “Saw VI” opening at #2, perhaps it’s a sign that finally the franchise is losing its allure as the now-standard, go-to horror film of the Halloween season. That being said, with a budget of $11 million and a $14.8 million haul this weekend, Lionsgate is already in the black, which will definitely mean a sequel next year, in which more ludicrously awful ways to torture people will be employed for our general entertainment.
Dropping from first place to third is Spike Jonze’s nouveau children’s classic, “Where The Wild Things Are.” With $14.4 million this weekend, it brings its total box office take to just under $54 million, leaving it a long way to go before breaking even. But as we mentioned last week, Jonze’s film is destined to become a bona fide cult classic, and it will definitely start earning the studio profit once it hits DVD/BluRay.
In the #4 and #5 slots are two films that frankly, are performing better than we expected. The ridiculous legal thriller (if we can call it that) “Law Abiding Citizen” brought in $12.7 million, bringing its total box office take to $40.3 million to date. It will definitely break even in the next couple of weeks, and probably earn a bit of extra change for indie Overture. Meanwhile, “Couples Retreat,” which got savaged by the critics, brought in another $11 million pushing its total take to just under $80 million. With the extra promo dollars Universal threw at the film, including an expenses paid junket to Bora Bora for select film critics and entertainment personalities, the film probably hasn’t quite broken even yet, but surely will next weekend.
At #6, Summit’s “Astro Boy,” budgeted at a surprising $65 million (really?) opened to a paltry $7 million. The film’s marketing department clearly missed enticing Japanese animation nerds and kids and parents, leaving the picture a long way to go before Summit begins to see anything in their bank account.
Meanwhile, at #7, “The Stepfather” seems to be the forgotten horror flick of the week. We’re guessing sold out screenings of both “Paranormal Activity” and “Saw VI” put asses in the seats for this one, but its $6.5 million take pushes its total to $20.3 million and after next weekend, will make the accountants happy over at Screen Gems.
Deservedly opening in the #8 slot, the thoroughly awful “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” (whoever greenlighted that as the final film title should be fired) brought in an embarrassing $6.3 million which puts the film, which cost $40 million, smack into bomb territory. We hope this is an alarm call to John C. Reilly to stop signing on for whatever wacky script crosses his desk, and to start putting in phone calls to the kinds of directors he used to work with to much better acclaim. Seriously, the guy is so much better than the crap he’s been doing for the past couple of years.
At #9 and #10 are two films that making Sony stockholders very happy with the way Q4 is unfolding so far. At #9, “Cloudy With The Chance Of Meatballs” grabbed another $5.6 million bringing its total to $115 million, while “Zombieland” added another $4.3 million inching it closer to an impressive $70 million haul.
While the critics absolutely hated it, “Amelia” did decent business on just over 800 screens, bringing in slightly over $4 million. But we can’t see the film coming anywhere close to its $40 million budget in anything resembling the near future, chalking this up as yet another Fox Searchlight fumble in the last few weeks. This, combined with the poor performance of “Whip It!” may spell disaster for not only female driven stories, but also for women directors who are already struggling for representation in the studio system.
In limited release, “Antichrist” absolutely slayed on six screens, averaging $12,250 per screen and bringing a total of $73,500 for IFC – that’s higher than the $11,311 per screen average for “Paranormal Activity.” Staffers at IFC are going to have a very nice Christmas this year.
Meanwhile, with pretty much no promotion (we had no idea this was even opening), Freestyle dumped the Uma Thurman comedy “Motherhood” (note to Uma Thurman – stop doing comedies – “My Super-Ex Girlfriend” was bad enough) on 48 screens where it brought in $57,700. Uma, please call Quentin. We hear he wants to do “Kill Bill 3.”
Finally, the annual Halloween re-release of Tim Burton’s money generator “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (in 3D) brought in a moderate $131,000 on 105 screens. It probably costs nothing for Buena Vista to release the film, and it’s probably a nice addition to their October ledgers.
Weekend Box-Office Numbers:
1. “Paranormal Activity” – $22.0 million ($62.5 million)
2. “Saw VI” – $14.8 million
3. “Where the Wild Things Are” – $14.4 million ($54.0 million)
4. “Law Abiding Citizen” – $12.7 million ($40.3 million)
5. “Couples Retreat” – $11.1 million ($78.2 million)
6. “Astro Boy” – $7.0 million
7. “The Stepfather” – $6.5 million (20.3 million)
8. “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” – $6.3 million
9. “Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs” – $5.6 million ($115.2 million)
10. “Zombieland” – $4.3 million ($67.3 million)
-Kevin Jagernauth