Because bad buzz surrounds any studio that doesn’t hit a home run these days, Universal has been getting negative press about an inadequate summer, even though from the outset, they weren’t planning on hitting many home runs in the first place, going under the radar with a number of medium-to-low profile projects. Their summer winner “Public Enemies” will slide in at $200 million worldwide, while “Bruno” remained a major profit earner despite falling off after that first weekend. Most of the skepticism concerned not the immense failure of “Land of the Lost” but the troubling prospects of Judd Apatow’s “Funny People.”
While the movie opened to #1, it’s $23.4 million is significantly lower than “Knocked Up”‘s $30 million opening, and only slightly ahead of “The 40 Year Old Virgin”‘s $21 million. However, Apatow’s films keep costs down, and while this is still a non-Apatowian $75 million budget, his films always had legs, so unless audiences completely and totally reject it, Universal is in the clear. They may rely on international numbers, however, and while Adam Sandler’s global fanbase isn’t as immense as other stars, it should help the film get into the black. Still, kind of a disappointment, since many figured Sandler’s star would get Apatow into the stratosphere of big time directors, when its opening isn’t anywhere in the ballpark of the average Sandler opener.
It was a photo finish for #2 as kidflicks “Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince” and “G Force” battled it out. The boy wizard scored $17.7 million to run its total to $255 million, while “Force” landed with $17.1 and a $66 cume. “The Ugly Truth” took an over-50% tumble to land at #4 with $13 million, while Fox performed yet another dump, shuffling “Aliens In The Attic” to a quick death at #5 with $7.8 million.
With the rest of the list, “Orphan” is on its way towards squeezing out a minor profit, while “Ice Age” runs it’s total to $182 million, with $190 in its sights. “The Hangover” and “The Proposal,” meanwhile, continue to survive like cockroaches during an apocalypse. The Vegas comedy actually lapped the rom-com last week, and it only fell 21% with $5 million, taking its total to $256, while “Proposal” will hit $150 by midweek. Both were able to lap the “Transformers” sequel, which tops out at $388 million this week, and will limp to $400. If only the rest of us could limp like that.
Freestyle Releasing didn’t have the muscle to promote “The Collector” too much, as it ended up debuting at #11 on a little over 1000 screens, while the biggest indie opening of the weekend aside from the horror picture was the unbearable looking Asperger’s romance “Adam,” which scored a $16k per screen average on four screens for a $66k gross. “The Cove” did slightly less, $55k, in four theaters, a nosehair ahead of Park Chan-Wook’s “Thirst” on the same amount of screens. Sony Pictures Classics, meanwhile, released the Dardenne Brothers’ “Lorna’s Silence” to six screens for a $36k gross. None look likely to achieve the indie success of “500 Days Of Summer” or “The Hurt Locker.” “Summer” did $2.7 million on 266 screens, while “Locker” pulled in $1.9 million in 523. In its sixth week, “Locker” has grossed $6.8 million, which isn’t as much as “Aliens In The Attic” did in its first three days. This movie should be having $10 million weekends regularly- what the hell is wrong with you, Summit?
1. Laugh Until You Get Cancer!- $23.4 million
2. Harry Potter And The Something Or Other- $17.7 million/$255 mil.
3. G-Force- $17.1 million/$66 mil.
4. The Ugly Truth- $13 million/$54 mil.
5. Aliens In The Attic- $7.8 million
6. Orphan- $7.3 million/$27 mil.
7. Ice Age III: Annihilation- $5.3 million/$182 mil.
8. Tha Hangova- $5.1 million/$256 mil.
9. Tha Praposa- $4.9 million/$149 mil.
10. Transformas: Revengin’ Da Fallin’- $4.6 million/$388 mil.