Weekend B.O. Twilight New Moon nabs $140.7 million
Mr. Hole the Magnificent
By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK
Biting off the third best weekend opening of all time with $140.7
million from 4,024 theaters, Summit Entertainment's female-fueled "New
Moon" explodes the myth that you need an all-audience film to do that
level of biz, or that fanboys hold all the power.
At the international B.O., the vampire romancer bowed to $118.1
million from 6,681 prints in 26 territories for a sparkling worldwide
opening total of $258.8 million.
The power of femmes also astounded with the overperformance of Warner
Bros.' Sandra Bullock sports drama "The Blind Side," which debuted
domestically to an estimated $34.5 million from 3,110 theaters.
Together, "New Moon" and "Blind Side" led the second-best weekend ever
in terms of total ticket receipts. (The "New Moon" aud was
approximately 80% female, "Blind Side's," 59%.)
Domestic B.O. revs for the weekend are estimated around $250 million;
the only weekend to do more was "The Dark Knight" open-ing frame. That
July 2008 sesh saw roughly $260 million in ticket sales.
Distributors were exuberant over the results, particularly as it
occurred outside summer. They are hoping it portends a lucrative
Thanksgiving, which brings a crop of new films.
The third new wide release of the frame was Sony's kiddie toon "Planet
51." Pic, distributed on behalf of Spain's Ilion Animation, debuted to
$12.6 million from 3,035 theaters, coming in No. 4. It was easily beat
out for No. 3 by Sony's own "2012," which declined 59% in its second
frame to an estimated $26.5 million for a cume of $108.2 million.
Overseas, "2012" grossed $100.5 million from 107 markets for a cume of
$341.1 million and a stupendous worldwide total of $449.3 million in
its first 10 days.
The specialty B.O. continued to see strong results for Lionsgate's
"Precious." Drama grossed $11 million as it expanded to a total of 629
theaters domestically for a per-location average of $17,500 and cume
of $21.4 million in its third sesh. Film came in No. 6 overall.
Among specialty openers, Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces" opened to
$107,597 from two theaters in New York for a location average of
$53,798. Sony Pictures Classics is distributing.
First Look saw a soft debut for Werner Herzog's Nicolas Cage topliner
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans." Pic grossed an estimated
$257,267 from 27 theaters for a location average of $9,528.
Twentieth Century Fox's animated "Fantastic Mr. Fox" held well in its
second frame, grossing an estimated $199,142 from four locations for a
foxy theater average of $49,786 and cume of $557,678. Voiced by George
Clooney and Meryl Streep, the Wes Anderson-directed family/prestige
film expands nationwide on Wednesday.
After "Embraces" and "Mr. Fox," "New Moon" grabbed the third-best
location average of the weekend at $34,965.
"New Moon" -- grossing nearly double "Twilight's" $69.6 million debut
a year ago -- began breaking records not long after it unspooled at
12:01 a.m. Friday, securing itself a spot in the pantheon of hit
franchise pics and marking a huge victory for Summit.
Sequel grossed $26.3 million in midnight runs, besting record-holder
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" ($22.2 million).
Full Friday number clocked in at $72.7 million -- including midnight
grosses -- the best opening day in history and beating the $67.2
million earned by "Dark Knight" on its first Friday.
Heading into the weekend, rival studios believed "New Moon" would have
trouble going north of $110 million, since it is driven by only two
out of four quadrants of the moviegoing audience: Females under 25,
and those over. Even Summit execs might have agreed.
But the ferocious appetite for the franchise among girls and younger
women proved those predictions wrong. Of the females turning out, a
full 50% were under 21.
"This blew away a lot of preconceived notions about who you should
play to, and how you get to a certain group," Summit prexy of
distribution Richie Fay said.
Despite Friday's huge numbers, "New Moon" declined only about 41% on
Saturday, the same drop "Twilight" had sen. That indicates that the
fanbase has grown, since "New Moon" did so much more for the weekend.
For years, studios have relied on fanboy-driven films or families for
big opening grosses. Thanks to long lives, female properties can
ultimately see big grosses; they just haven't opened so big.
"Twilight" cumed $192.8 million domestically and $192.2 million at the
foreign B.O. for a worldwide total of $385 million. All eyes will be
on "New Moon" to see by how much it might eclipse that total.
For the last year, Summit has carried out a well-orchestrated
marketing campaign for the sequel, directed by Chris Weitz and
returning Kristen Stewart and teen heartthrobs Robert Pattinson and
Taylor Lautner in the lead roles.
Sales of Stephenie Meyers' four-book "Twilight" series also have
continued to climb. Two years ago, 1 million copies had sold
worldwide. Today, that figure stands at 85 million.
As in the U.S., "New Moon" is shining overseas, outgunning or matching
franchises "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings." It scored the
top opening of all time in Australia ($13.3 million), New Zealand
($2.6 million) and the Philippines ($2.1 million). "New Moon"
generated enormous business in Europe, led by the U.K. ($18.7
million), France ($17 million), Spain ($13.7 million) and Italy ($13
million). It also generated plenty of interest in Latin America.
Summit owns worldwide rights to the film, but it is being released via
local distribs overseas.
Summit releases the next title in the franchise, "Eclipse," on June
30, 2010. Just as "New Moon" worked with femme fans, so did "Blind
Side." Film received an A+ from CinemaScore.
Warners prexy of domestic distribution Dan Fellman said that 75% of
the audience was over age 25, meaning it got older women not so
distracted by "New Moon."
"Blind Side" delivered Bullock the top opening of her career, besting
the $33.6 million opening of Disney's "The Proposal" in June. Film is
based on the real-life story of Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle
Michael Oher, played by Quinton Aaron.
Also starring Tim McGraw, "Blind Side" was financed and produced by
Alcon Entertainment. Opening was Alcon's best to date.
"The movie did well in all markets, but we saw outstanding results in
small towns and middle-sized markets," Fellman said. "And I think
younger people will start to gravitate to us. I think they were busy
this weekend."
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118011718.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Irish Mike
> 'Twilight' sequel nabs $140.7 million
Those are great numbers for any movie but they are absolutely unbelievable
for this silly piece of shit. But as the old saying goes, never
underestimate the poor taste of gullible teenagers with more money than
brains.
Irish Mike
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