Here’s this weekend’s box-office estimates:
1. Lakeview Terrace $15.6 million
2. Burn After Reading $11.3 million
3. My Best Friends’s Girl $8.3 million
4. Igor $8 million
5. Righteous Kill $7.7 million
8. Ghost Town $5.2 million
This weekend was lackluster by most standards, and was down almost nine percent from the previous weekend. Not to anyone’s surprise, Lakeview Terrace won the weekend with Burn After Reading coming in at a solid number two. I can't believe I didn't know this was directed by Neil LaBute. So that's how they got Patrick Wilson! The Dane Cook/Kate Hudson romantic comedy came in at number three, despite recent reports suggesting that it was tracking much higher. In the past week, Lionsgate had begun to think that it would win the weekend. Dane Cook blasted the movie’s poster on his Myspace blog which got enough hits to suggest actual buzz. That’s a problem with the internet, many people will talk about something for a week and create an insane amount of buzz, which rarely translates into actual dollars at the box-office. (Snakes on a Plane? Anybody?) That’s something we still haven’t figured out on the innerweb. We can get people talking at the watercooler, and get them to ignore the work they are paid to do, but once they have to pony up cash at a movie theater they’re at home. On the internet.
Igor placed fourth with $8 million, on 2200 screens. Let’s hope it does well on homevideo.
Ghost Town opened at number eight which is about where I expected. It was a real test of an adult movie without any proven bankable talent, so the real answer will be on DVD. I bet that this will connect with a wider audience when they are unable to rent whatever is sold out at the time. I’m not being funny, that’s is exactly how many movies become successful on video. When your town has an eight day rainstorm and the big movies are all rented, that’s when you settle for your second or third choices. C’mon! You know it’s true.
It deserves to be mentioned that The Duchess, the period piece starring Keira Knightley opened in 28th place with $203,000. It may not sound like much, but it’s only on seven screens and pulled in $29,000 a screen! That kind of per screen average is no joke. Way to go, Paramount Vantage. We’ll see how that continues to grow as they add more screens.
And that’s the weekend!
Post Script: I just wanted to take a moment to express that my thoughts and prayers are with Travis and Adam and the families of those killed in that fatal plane crash in South Carolina. Let’s hope that the two survivors are able to pull through completely.
© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.
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1 comment:
Saw The Duchess today. The theater was sold-out!
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