Not much competition for the top this week, as “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs” ruled the roost once again. Exit polling showed that kids enjoyed watching large cartoon things fall from the sky and land on people in 3D, while adults responded to the fact that their kids wanted to see this. The $100 number is being thrown around as far as budget, but we find it hard to believe Sony didn’t scrimp by with a much lower cost.
At #2, audiences didn’t even bother sending their surrogates to see “Surrogates,” as the Bruce Willis thriller fell by the wayside. With the number of Bruce-saves-the-world movies audiences have consumed over the years, they likely considered this for cable viewing only. A print campaign focused on sexy robots that only exist in the periphery of this PG-13 adventure, likely confused those who saw the TV ads showing off the film’s robot smashing and filmed-in-Canada-ness. Also, this film came out last month, it was called “Gamer,” and still no one wanted to see it. We’re thinking this trend of avatars in science fiction films (with this, “Gamer” and “James Cameron’s Magic Blue Fairy Adventure- 3D!”) isn’t something people really connect with. At this point, Bruce should probably only do a big budget adventure film with another big name, or maybe play a villain. Or perhaps finish “Three Stories About Joan.”
Pretty discouraging weekend for MGM- not only did they reportedly go belly-up, but “Fame” failed to entice the “Step Up” crowd, with the low budget dance film nudging in at #3. “Fame” should eventually turn a tidy profit thanks to its cost, but by then, will there be anyone around to recoup? Expect this to be a smash-and-grab, with a DVD release in the next three months, as MGM likely has bigger fish to fry (James Bond, The Hobbit, Bankruptcy).
On the surface things weren’t much better for Overture Films, the upstart indie that put out two films this weekend. They released “Capitalism: A Love Story” from Michael Moore on only four screens and audiences responded strongly with a $60k per-screen average, though most are saying this Moore effort will have an even harder time than “Sicko” breaking through with mainstream audiences. And then there’s “Pandorum,” which couldn’t even do a semi-respectable number, debuting at #6. The per-screen was extremely weak, too, and all signs point to this being a flop. However, this is one of those foreign pre-sale deals, where supposedly the film broke even before being released, and Overture, who purchased “Pandorum” from Constantin Films on the cheap, basically saved money by marketing only to the geeks (and even then, eh). In other words, “Pandorum” was thrown to the dogs, but no one is losing their job over it.
“The Informant!” was being compared to “Michael Clayton” as far as potential numbers, but that one had critical and awards heat and a steady rollout strategy. “The Informant!” has been received a bit more confusingly, and audiences have supposedly responded poorly to the bait-and-switch of the ads promising a broad, wacky romp. And yet, this weekend it tests the age-old theory- present a misleading ad campaign and you’ll get that opening weekend, but it will damage the word of mouth and potentially sabotage further showings, cutting the film off at the legs. “The Informant!” fell only 34% to land at #4- can it motor to $40 or sputter at $30? DRAMA. “Inglourious Basterds” finishes this weekend at #10, tallying $114 million so far. Conceivably, there could be more in the kitty, but $125 is the target for now, and it has already lapped time period competitor “District 9,“ which is at $113 but finishing up its run. “Julie and Julia” continues to hang on just outside the top ten, making it to $90 and possibly threatening nine figures.
In limited release, “I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell” was technically the big winner, though its $369k in 120 theaters isn’t all that impressive. Still, pretty surprising for a movie that looks like anal warts. “Coco Before Chanel” pulled in $177k on only five screens, but Clive Owen couldn’t get six screens worth of fans excited about “The Boys Are Back,” which pulled in only $51k. Opening on only one screen each was “Brief Interviews With Hideous Men” and “Blind Date,” both directorial efforts from noted actors Jim from “The Office” and Stanley Tucci, the former with an impressive $20,600 showing, the latter with a meager $3k.
1. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs- $24.6 million ($60 mil.)
2. Surrogates- $15 million
3. Fame- $10 million
4. The Informant!- $6.9 million ($21 mil.)
5. Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself- $4.8 million ($45 mil.)
6. Pandorum- $4.4 million
7. Love Happens- $4.3 million ($15 mil.)
8. Jennifer’s Body- $3.5 million ($12 mil.)
9. 9- $2.8 million ($27 million)
10. Inglourious Basterds- $2.7 million ($114 mil.)