So it’s September, where the divide between the elites and the laymen couldn’t be any more apparent. The Toronto Film Festival has kickstarted Oscar season, and most people with an interest in the medium are ready to discuss something more substantial. But no matter the season, the multiplex remains the multiplex, so those cheap thrill seekers embraced the fourth film in the middling “Resident Evil” franchise. With the bells-and-whistles addition of 3D, the franchise easily eclipsed the bow of each previous film, and without anyone looking, “Resident Evil” has become one of the most financially reliable franchises out there, with each film generating a solid-to-spectacular profit on a respectable budget. Milla Jovovich might not be a star beyond these films, but when you open four straight franchise pictures with subject material audiences aren’t necessarily rabid for, someone’s got to notice.
Of course, this is another notch on the belt of Paul W.S. Anderson, a minor talent who’s made his bones adapting video games to films. He helmed the first “Resident Evil” to modest returns, but it speaks a lot of Anderson’s talent that he would return to the director’s chair long after he left the second and third entry to his DP Alexander Witt and direct-to-DVD mainstay Russell Mulcahy – Len Wiseman, a similarly weak talent, is doing the same with his “Underworld” franchise despite directing the most successful “Die Hard” picture. This is Anderson’s biggest opening behind the hotly-anticipated “Alien Vs. Predator,” though inflation and bigger 3D prices suggest the audience was actually smaller than that which showed up for the first film. Still, Anderson’s films kill on DVD, so while “Afterlife” might be looking at a $60 million total, in line with the rest of the franchise, there’s probably much much more waiting in ancillaries.
“Takers” registered a strong hold and should eclipse $50 million by midweek. Pretty good for a movie Screen Gems treated like an afterthought. The film caught on as the only guilt-free crowd-pleaser in the market right now, a junior-league crime picture with a photogenic cast and a satisfactory action set piece, and further receipts should be above expectations at this point. This doesn’t do much but enhance the visibility of its stars, while also buying director John Luessenhopp a chance to foist his awful looking DV on a more ambitious directorial effort.
Focus Features tried an advertising sneak-attack with “The American” and somehow got their opening weekend. The second frame fall was predictable for this genre, but not precipitous considering audiences on Cinemascore rated the film a D-. But with a gross approaching $30 million, and international revenues probably providing a similar take, this has to be considered a big win. As we’ve said before, the mark of a star like George Clooney isn’t when they generate big tentpole-worthy opening weekends, but when they can goose smaller, middling material to respectable-to-above-average numbers, and there are few leading men that could get “The American,” a fantastic picture but an arthouse one, past $20 million. For a moody character piece released at the beginning of September, this is a rare victory for good taste, even if most general audiences didn’t approve of the fact that there wasn’t a giant fireball at the end.
It seems many are not jibing with “Machete,” which took a hefty tumble, befitting the genre. It’s a jokey genre riff, and it’s impossible to market action comedies when their comic absurdities differ little from the similarly improbable, but straight-faced, flights of fancy in more “high scale” pics like “Salt.” Of course, having 66 year-old Danny Trejo in the lead will always have its limitations as well. Fox only paid $6 million for domestic rights, so it’s hard to fault these numbers, all things considered. “Going The Distance” posted a respectable hold, but anything would be better than last weekend, where the film posted the weakest debut for a romantic comedy on 3000 screens. It was barely able to surpass week six of “The Other Guys,” which is on its way to $120 million+, but might not be the size of summer’s other big hits. More on that later.
Lionsgate winners “The Last Exorcism” and “The Expendables” are slowing down, though “Exorcism” should finish slightly south of $45 million, with “Expendables” at a solid $100 million. “Exorcism” will no doubt have a healthy DVD life, while “Expendables” has surpassed $100 million overseas with much more to come. Expect sequels to both, with “The Expendables 2” probably ramping up soon, and “Exorcism” likely scoring a direct-to-DVD spinoff. Watch some enterprising indie filmmaker see their unrelated film snapped up by Lionsgate only to be rebranded as “The Last Exorcism 2: One More Exorcism.”
And look at “Inception,” leapfrogging “Eat Pray Love” to keep on chugging along. The Sony picture is sure to eclipse $80 million, which has to be proof that Julia Roberts remains bankable, as Rachel McAdams or Diane Lane aren’t getting that material past $40. “Inception,” meanwhile, keeps outdoing expectations. It looked like $700 million worldwide was the endpoint, but a huge opening in China last weekend helped the film pass that number in the last couple of days. With more territories to come, “Inception” could be looking at $750 worldwide, which would be phenomenal. If there ever was a chance for Chris Nolan to get his three hour experimental documentary on tapeworms greenlit, this is it.
International told the story of the summer, even though some pundits want to trump up domestic receipts as proof that “people don’t want sequels (unless it’s Pixar)” and “people crave originality (but it’s ok if its based on a book).” “Inception” is just the latest story in how studios are reaping major international benefits, as many of this summer’s “bombs,” names like “Sex and the City 2,” “Knight And Day,” “Prince of Persia,” “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “Robin Hood” have at least doubled their domestic takes overseas.
In some cases (“Apprentice”) that won’t matter, since the cost was so hefty, but in others, it pays to be an international treat, though the worldwide $124 million gross of “Step Up 3D” ($40 million domestic) had to benefit from the French title “Sexy Dance 3.” People were quick to praise “Despicable Me” for it’s “originality” when it has only outgrossed the much-maligned “Shrek Forever After” by $3 million domestically. Globally, for the record, “Despicable Me” won’t sniff the fourth “Shrek”‘s $720 million. Which is why, to bring it all back to this weekend’s discussion, the $120 million “The Other Guys” likely won’t have matching overseas numbers, as Will Ferrell is one of the few stars with a huge divide between domestic versus international appeal. “The Other Guys” may seem like a bigger hit than, say, “Prince of Persia,” but only one of those films is crossing $300 million worldwide.
At indie cinemas, the Vietnamese film “De Mai Tihn (Fool For Love)” opened well on eight screens, pulling in $52.8k, while ensemble drama “The Romantics” did $44k on two screens. Meanwhile, “Bran Nue Dae” was a disappointment – the hyped Aussie musical debuted on twice the screens of “De Mai Tihn” and did exactly half the business. We couldn’t find numbers on Joaquin Phoenix’s crash-and-burn documentary “I’m Still Here,” but news should break soon on how audiences won’t pay to see a nervous breakdown on film. Support your local arthouse, boys and girls.
1. Resident Evil: Afterlife (Sony/Screen Gems)- $27.7 million
2. Takers (Sony/Screen Gems) – $6.1 million ($38 mil.)
3. The American (Focus Features/Universal) – $5.9 million ($27 mil.)
4. Machete (Fox) – $4.2 million ($21 mil.)
5. Going The Distance (New Line Cinema/Warner Bros.) – $3.8 million ($14 mil.)
6. The Other Guys (Sony) – $3.6 million ($113 mil.)
7. The Last Exorcism (Lionsgate) – $3.5 million ($38 mil.)
8. The Expendables (Lionsgate)- $3.3 million ($98 mil.)
9. Inception (Warner Bros.) – $3 million ($282 mil.)
10. Eat Pray Love (Sony) – $2.9 million ($75 mil.)