It’s the age of the Kindle, people. How else to explain Denzel Washington‘s plea for literacy, “Book of Eli,” failing to unseat the “Avatar!” juggernaut? Like “Sherlock Holmes” before it, “Book” won the Friday matchup with James Cameron‘s 3D Blue Native American epic, but IMAX prices goosed the film to an eventual weekend win, and a surely robust total after the four day Martin Luther King weekend. “Eli,” which centers around Denzel as an unlikely New Age ninja in a dangerous future world who teaches children to read and eventually compete in the Tri-National Singing Competition against Gary Oldman‘s fearsome five time champion Melody Prophets led by Mila Kunis, scored a still-solid $32 million, which is pretty muscular for an R-rated January entry. This is Denzel Washington’s biggest opening aside from “American Gangster,” which was also sold on Russell Crowe, so one could say sponsoring the idea that reading is fundamental has been a big boon to the star, especially considering these audiences didn’t show up for his debate club drama “The Master Debaters.”
“Avatar!,” meanwhile, continues to run the table. It’s hard to poke holes in the film’s appeal, since the numbers suggest everyone and their mother is a fan, but it’s hard to ignore the elephantine inflation going on because of IMAX numbers. “Avatar!” has yet to register the best per-screen average during any weekend of release, unusual for a film touted as a box office game changer, and a cursory look at the numbers suggests a strong difference between those seeking the immersive IMAX experience (many many many) and those settling for the regular 3D showings (mini mini mini). There’s no begrudging the breakout appeal, which is what intrigues rival studios who are watching this success story closely – “Avatar!” essentially is not at all the ceiling for this type of release model, and it does appear certain that some day another IMAX 3D film will arrive and fill up not only those cavernous IMAX theaters but also the regular 3D screens. We could be entering the era of the billion dollar movie.
Some are crowing that this weekend’s expansion of “The Lovely Bones” was a success since its weekend take suggests the film had more fan support than the weak limited release would have you believe. These people failed at math class. The sadly terrible Peter Jackson drama, which has already bellyflopped in the eyes of critics, would have needed an opening in the neighborhood of $30-40 to compete with its budget, a $100 million number Jackson dangled at the studio in front of the freight train that was the WGA strike. As is, buzz has circulated that the film plays to young females, which may be true, but woman-centric pictures seem to need to go full retard to generate those sorts of numbers (“Twilight,” “Sex and the City“).
“Sherlock Holmes” and “The Squeakquel” continued jockeying for position, the kid’s film lapping the detective yarn after a month of release. “Sherlock” continues to bring in the audiences, but it will need a bigger push to get from its current $180 standing to a nice, round $200. Nonetheless, those are only “fuck you” numbers for Joel Silver and Warner Bros., since the film is cleaning up overseas and a sequel is approaching. “Squeakquel,” meanwhile, looks to join its predecessor in the $200 club and could possibly do close to $400 worldwide, because everybody hates their children.
Lionsgate dumped “The Spy Next Door,” but to its credit, still did a so-so $9.7 million, which is unfortunate. American studios have long disrespected Jackie Chan by placing him in joke vehicles where his skills are somehow not enough to carry the film, but usually it’s been another medium-to-high wattage star carrying the weight. Here, they’ve matched him up not only with a has-been musician (Billy Ray Cyrus) and a has-been sitcom star (George Lopez) but a trio of kids who, the commercials would lead you to believe, engage in dangerous and dated “Home Alone“-style combat with criminals who would otherwise crack their necks or beat them to death with bare hands. The film’s conceit seems to be that martial artist and secret agent Jackie Chan cannot defeat a few goons without the help of some ten year old in a leotard with no combat experience, which not only continues the dangerous approach to kids films where children partake in adult violence with no consequences, but also demeans the man who may be our all-time greatest screen martial artist, and one of our greatest physical performers. Would you have ever cast Buster Keaton in “The Pacifier“? Jackie, we love you, but you deserve better than director/shit merchant Brian Levant (“Snow Dogs” and other assorted hate crimes).
Likely the recipient of robust midweek daytime grosses, “It’s Complicated,” at #7 has managed to crest $90 million after its fourth week of release, while “Leap Year,” courting the same audience, kept its head above water, with “The Blind Side” and “Up In The Air” also at the bottom of the list proving that sometimes, white minds think alike. Tumbling brutally out of the top ten was “Daybreakers,” which lost 67% of its solid opening weekend, and “Youth In Revolt,” who couldn’t benefit from the Michael Cera fanbase that doesn’t exist. Out of all these, what the story people will be watching is if “Up In The Air,” which has generated a pretty-good $63 million gross, can break out in the coming weeks and possibly hit $100, which would look good to the fairweather voters in the oft-intellectually corrupt Academy. Its weekly audience losses aren’t that big, but it has yet to defeat “Blind Side” on any weekend, and if it is ignored tonight at the Golden Globes, it could fade into box office obscurity.
In limited release, it’s pretty surprising how little Heath Ledger has figured into the numbers for “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.” On 600 screens, the film registered a per-screen average of $1.7k, and its total after a month of limited and semi-limited exposure is less than $5 million. Those numbers alone do not lend themselves to a bigger expansion. Sony Pictures Classics can be bullish and shove this into a thousand theaters next weekend, but it’s likely they’ll keep their minor approach, plugging along until the film nears some form of profitability by playing in college towns and midwest dollar theaters because month-long theater bookings apparently pay for themselves.
On the indie circuit, the biggest debut was “The Last Station” which scored $27k per-screen on only three venues. “Crazy Heart” continues to play solidly in limited exposure, generating $658k on its fifth weekend with a successful slow expansion, while “The White Ribbon” expanded and grabbed $81.6k on twelve screens. Let us bow our heads and mourn the Weinsteins’ “Nine.” The $80 million musical was pulled out of most first-run theaters this weekend, taking 65% of its audience with it despite a continued TV ad presence, its total at $18 million after five weekends in release. As a reward for the critically-reviled film, “Nine” director Rob Marshall is now helming the fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film. Hooray for Hollywood!
1. Avatar! – $41.3 million ($492 mil.)
2. Readin’ With Scimitar-Wieldin’ Denzel – $31.6 million
3. The Wond’rous World Of Being 14 And Raped – $17 million ($17.5 mil.)
4. Alvin And The Chipmunks Babysit Your Neglected Spawn – $11.5 million ($193 mil.)
5. Sherlock Holmes – $9.8 million ($180 mil.)
6. The Spy Next Door – $9.7 million
7. White People Problems – $7.7 million ($88 mil.)
8. Leap Year – $5.8 million ($18 mil.)
9. The Blind Side – $5.6 million ($227 mil.)
10. George Clooney’s Frequent Flyer Miles – $5.5 million ($63 mil.)
