PAUL BLART: MALL COP comes-from-behind for a weekend win with $21.5M; Sony finishes 1-2 with UNDERWORLD at $20.7M; GRAN TORINO adds $16M and will become Eastwood’s #1 grossing movie on Wednesday; No love for INKHEART!
by Steve MasonThe chubby guy on the Segway rallied for a come-from-behind win over the Beckinsale-less Underworld sequel, but regardless, it was a 1-2 finish for Sony. When I originally predicted that Paul Blart: Mall Cop as the likely weekend winner over the MLK 4-day, some online sites questioned my pick. Even I didn’t expect an opening close to $40M, and now the Kevin James vehicle has surprised again.
The Adam Sandler-produced comedy has broadened its audience, showing real family appeal. That led to stronger Saturday and Sunday matinees for a stellar $21.5M by Monday morning. That gives the movie a 10-day cume of just shy of $65M, which is impressive considering that it was budgeted at just $26M. After success as a supporting star in movies like Hitch ($179.5M cume) and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry ($120M cume), it appears that James can open a movie without the help of Will Smith and Adam Sandler. Mall Cop dipped only 32% from last Friday-thru-Sunday (and that was part of a 4-day weekend, which can often lead to a sharper drop).
My Friday night projection column had Underworld: Rise of the Lycans as the #1 movie with $19.75M, and the picture actually improved on that number, finishing with an estimated $20.7M. The Patrick Tatopolous-directed prequel starring Michael Sheen (currently seen as David Frost in Best Picture nominee Frost/Nixon), but the movie finished with less than the original 2003 Underworld ($21.75M) and Underworld: Evolution’s $26.85M in 2006.
The missing ingredient would seem to be the very sexy Kate Beckinsale, who starred in the first two movies in skintight leather. Rise of the Lycans cost about $35M to make, so this picture will make money for Sony. The picture skewed very male (only 41% of the audience was female), but the surprise is that it also drew an older audience. In fact, only 45% of ticket-buyers were under 25.
Oscar voters were not friendly to Clint Eastwood this week. After scoring surprise nominations (Letters From Iwo Jima) and wins (Million Dollar Baby) in recent years, the screen icon was completely shut out on Thursday. No Best Actor nod for Gran Torino (Warner Bros). No Best Director nomination for either of his two well-received 2008 movies Gran Torino or Changeling. No nominations for composing the scores for either of those movies. Clint didn’t even receive a Best Original Song nomination for the haunting and heartfelt theme song from Gran Torino that he co-wrote with son Kyle and jazz vocalist Jamie Cullum.
Instead of an Oscar, Eastwood will settle for a blockbuster hit. Gran Torino, in which he plays a bigoted Korean War veteran who befriends a Hmong boy in a rough Detroit neighborhood, scored another $16M, down only 27% from the MLK 3-day. The micro-budgeted movie by a first-time screenwriter has now grossed a staggering $97.57M, and, sometime on Wednesday, it will surpass In the Line of Fire’s $102.3M, becoming Eastwood’s al-time #1 grossing movie.
The fourth-place finisher for the frame is the live action dog movie Hotel For Dogs (Dreamworks/Paramount), which fetched about $12.36M for a new 19-day cume of almost $37M.
Meanwhile, 10 Academy Award nominations have propelled Slumdog Millionaire to a wildly successful expansion. Widening to 1,411 playdates, Fox Searchlight has perfectly calibrated the platform release and coaxed a terrific $10.55M. It’s hard to believe that after being developed by the now-defunct Warner Independent Pictures, this $14M indie almost wound up going straight-to-video. Now Danny Boyle’s life-affirming masterpiece will have grossed almost $56M by Monday, and Slumdog will be selling a lot more tickets between now and Oscar day.
The other major studio release is Inkheart, which is the product of New Line (absorbed last year by Warner Bros). Based on a novel by Cornelia Funke and starring Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany (The Da Vinci Code) and Academy Award winner Helen Mirren, this Narnia-wannabe never really had much of a chance. With tepid reviews (36% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and very low awareness according to pre-release industry tracking, Inkheart only mustered about $7.72M for the weekend, finishing a disappointing #7.
The most-nominated film of the year got a boost as well as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount) managed another $1.6M to start the 3-day, which translated to another top ten finish with a $6M weekend take (ninth for the 3-day). With nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor: Brad Pitt, Best Supporting Actress: Taraji P. Henson, Best Director: David Fincher, Best Adapted Screenplay: Eric Roth and Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat among others, Ben Button has a new domestic gross of $111M.
Three other Oscar nominated films got their post-nomination expansions. Revolutionary Road (Dreamworks/Paramount) was crushed by Thursday’s Oscar announcement, but still managed to do some decent business. Dreamworks was clearly banking on a nomination for Best Actress for Kate Winslet and an outside shot at a Best Picture nom, but the Sam Mendes-directed movie settled for nods for Best Supporting Actor: Michael Shannon, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design: Albert Wolsky. Rolling out on 1,058 screens, the dark, domestic drama sold a respectable $5.26M in tickets over the 3-day for a $4,979 Per Theatre Average.
Mickey Rourke’s career-resurrecting performance in The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight) grabbed an approximate $6,500 PTA for the weekend. With a more limited 566 playdates, the Darren Aronofsky-directed gem corralled about $3.7M for a new cume of $9.5M. The picture could get another boost if Rourke manages to win the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor.
Finally, Best Picture nominee Frost/Nixon (Universal) has failed to ignite much interest despite 5 Academy Award nominations. Co-starring the aforementioned Michael Sheen, the Ron Howard-directed film has expanded to 1,100 locations, but it managed only a disappointing $3.02M for the weekend for a new cume of just $12M.
FINAL STUDIO ESTIMATES
1. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony) – $21.5M, $$6,838 PTA, $64.8M cume
2. NEW – Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (Sony) – $20.7M, $7,036 PTA, $20.7M cume
3. Gran Torino (Warner Bros) – $16M, $5,255, $97.57M cume
4. Hotel For Dogs (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $12.36M, $3,779 PTA, $36.95M cume
5. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) – $10.55M, $7,477 PTA, $55.91M cume
6. My Bloody Valentine 3-D (Lionsgate) – $10.05M, $3,966 PTA, $37.72M cume
7. NEW – Inkheart (Warner Bros) – $7.72M, $2,910 PTA, $7.72M cume
8. Bride Wars (Fox) – $7M, $2,671 PTA, $48.7M cume
9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount) – $6M, $2,651 PTA, $111M cume
10. Notorious (Fox Searchlight) – $5.7M, $3,473 PTA, $31.79M cume
11. Defiance (Paramount Vantage) – $5.43M, $3,030 PTA, $18.32M cume
12. Revolutionary Road (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $5.26M, $4,979 PTA, $11.86M
*The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight) – $3.9M, $6,890 PTA, $9.71M cume
*Frost/Nixon (Universal) – $3.24M, $2,948 PTA, $12.22M cume
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30 Comments
I realize that Frost/Nixon is supposed to be so awesome and all but… who would go see it? I mean… walk down a street and ask people, “Would you go see a movie about Nixon?” and 50% (anyone under 40) are going to say, “Who?” and the other 48% are going to say, “No. Get out of my face,” and the 2% margin of error people are going to gush, “Oh, darling, I simply adore political bio-pics about people I loathe. Who doesn’t?”
Actually, Underworld Rise of the Lycans isn’t bad at all. I thought the first two were so-so at best, but really enjoyed the prequel.
Happy to see The Wrestler moving up. PTA of $7,000. Very good. Frost/Nixon isn’t finding much of an audience, and hasn’t been. It’s neither a great film nor striking a chord. Why on Earth is it nominated for Best Picture?
Synova, exactly. Who are the bad guys in some of these films? The Nazis. Nixon. What year is this again?
I once went on a date with Kate Beckinsale. I won’t go into the details, but it was awesome! Sadly, in the early morning, I woke up only to realize that it was just a dream. Man, that was a tough morning.
Just saw Inkheart with my kids. We all enjoyed it. Paul Bettany was very good.
Ron Howard’s comparison of Bush to Nixon was the kiss of death for Frost/Nixon. A great lesson in how to kiss half of your potential audience goodbye.
I wouldn’t have seen it in any case, but I couldn’t handle the “voice” of Nixon for the duration of the movie trailer. Contemplating listening to it for an entire movie moved Frost/Nixon from “oh, dear god, no” to “please, may I have a root canal instead?”
And yes, whatever Howard said about anything, the clip used for the trailer made it entirely clear that the movie was supposed to be about Bush rather than Nixon.
People going to the movies, huh?
Well, it’s your money.
This fantasy you have about how conservatives feel about gays… do you enjoy it?
One thing I do like about the recession, I am more stingy with my money and won’t be dropping my dollars on movies that feature topics, stars and studios that support ideals that speak against my principles and beliefs.
I used to try and be objective with muscians, actors, directors and studios. Trying to justify my purchase by looking at their ideals as “artsy” but one Presidential election later and I do see that pop culture has too much of an influence on our society.
Anyhow, I don’t wish ill on the industry as a whole because their are real people (like the one’s here) that work in Hollywood. Still, I can’t turn a blind eye anymore. I can’t continue to support an industry that goes against every thing I believe in.
I used to like Kevin James, King of Queens was one of my favorite shows but after his last movie with Sandler I gave up on the guy. I guess the mall cop movie is good or maybe it’s just because there is nothing else out there for people to watch.
Anyway, I will still probably go and see movies but it is definitely not a necessity for me to live my life. Good thing I can rely on this website to keep me informed on the “pop culture” world.
Again, repeating yourself does not make your delusions true.
This is the problem with politics and the movies, now. You have to like everything. They believe this Milk guy (that’s he real name) was some sort of hero where as a lot of other people would look at his life and say ‘I don’t care about hanging out in leather bars, why should I care?’ and the movie people would go ‘your a racist if you don’t like the movie and go green.’ Then the other guy would go ‘No, I’m not. I don’t have to like whatever this is about. My heroes were explorers, doctors, civil rights leaders that didn’t listen to the Village People, and maybe a couple of politicians. I don’t have to like stuff. It doesn’t make me the worst person in the world.
Then the movie guy would go ‘Yes, it does. You must be a gay homophobe.’
Then the other guy goes ‘That doesn’t make any sense…’
It just goes on like that, but you get the idea. Milk isn’t going to be in the history books. You either have to been part of the big country or be Obama to get into the history books.
“Greg – January 24th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Actually, Underworld Rise of the Lycans isn’t bad at all. I thought the first two were so-so at best, but really enjoyed the prequel.”
Agree completely. While Beckinsale is wonderful to look at, she really has yet to blow anyones doors off with her acting. I was pleasantly surprised with Lycans and stopped missing Beckinsale about 5 minutes into it. Half way though it I began to realize this was the most enjoyable Underworld yet. The story had more of an arc than any of its predecessors (actually the 2nd Underworld is barely worth mentioning, it was dismal) I think they have breathed new life into this series.
It is no wonder Mallcop is doing so well. Name one other comedy out right now. This is about the only choice if you want something light and fun.
“The missing ingredient would seem to be the very sexy Kate Beckinsale, who starred in the first two movies in skintight leather.”
Yeah, though I see they are playing up Rhona Mitra in some of the advertising materials. Either way, it seems this might be worth a look see.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
This isn’t gouge-your-eyes-out bad. Which is as much praise as I can honestly lavish on it.
If you’re really desperate, it’s no worse than giving a really dry peanut butter and no jelly sandwich to a starving man.
Character concepts: Fat guy, unlucky at life and unlucky at love.
Hopelessly out-of-his-league love interest.
Gang of evil-doers on his beat.
You could let your imagination run wild, but don’t.
Just take twenty laps around Tired Cliché Circle. On a Segway.
There; you’ve got the whole movie.
If you want to blame someone, blame last year’s west coast writer’s strike, which pushed what pitifully little movie production there was out of Hollywood and back east (in this case, to the Boston area, doubling for Jersey. I didn’t think it was possible to seriously insult Jersey, but I think this qualifies as a double-slap.) Where apparently no one’s been going to the movies much since Edison invented them.
If only Chris Farley, John Candy, Jackie Gleason, Oliver Hardy, Gus the mouse in “Cinderella,” and so on hadn’t done the lovably bumbling funny fat guy 1000 times already (and 1000 times better) this one wouldn’t look so pale and shallow by comparison.
Kevin James may someday break into their league. He’s got wit, timing, the willingness to take a good fall. Twenty times. And the heart for a good flick.
Just not this one, and not on a Segway. As a 2-minute skit on SNL or the like, this might have rocked. So it was just maybe 89 minutes too long.
But if they make a sequel, I could understand someone going postal.
{Speaking of which, this film sadly also featured the trailer for “Pink Panther 2″. Now there’s a fatwa target I could support.
I love Steve Martin, but someone, please, stop him before he does another one.}
My Rating: No thanks, I’m full.
But your 4-year-old will probably like it when it comes out on DVD next month.
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