» Film

‘Chronicle’ Wins Weekend Box Office Race

Bobbie Braceros — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:28:37 +0000

In a Super Bowl weekend record, two movies – “Chronicle” and “The Woman in Black” — opened to more than $20 million at the domestic box office.

Fox’s “Chronicle” grossed an estimated $22 million and CBS Films’ “Woman in Black” took an estimated $21 million, making the movies the top two in North America. Considering that Super Bowl weekend is traditionally weak and that studios had figured the two PG-13 movies would take in about half what they did, the numbers are especially striking. While studios generally offer conservative pre-release estimates, outside box-office watchers also predicted lower numbers than “Chronicle” and “Woman in Black” achieved.

Less conservative pre-release predictions for “Chronicle” had it taking about $15 million. Estimates for “Woman in Black” had it grossing about $14 million. The overall box office was up 38 percent compared to the same weekend in 2011.

While Fox and CBS had reason to cheer, Universal was less fortunate. The studio’s “Big Miracle” pulled in $8.5 million — in line with expectations, and enough to make it the No. 4 movie at the box office, but not especially impressive for a $40 million movie.

Fox spent about $12 million to make “Chronicle,” a found footage action film about a group of high school friends who develop superpowers. CBS picked up domestic distribution rights for “The Woman in Black,” about a young lawyer who travels to a remote village where he encounters the ghost of a scornful woman, for $3 million.

“Both pictures way overperformed, which is good for everybody,” Chris Aronson, Fox’s distribution chief, told TheWrap Sunday morning. “It’s good for the business.” And he pointed out that both “Chronicle” and “Woman in Black” attracted the increasingly elusive under-25 moviegoer.

“The aesthetic that Josh created for this movie really hit a nerve with the intended audience,” Aronson said. It certainly brought them into the multiplex: 61 percent of the audience was younger than 25. And while the movie skewed toward male viewers, it drew more females than the studio anticipated: about 45 percent of the audience was made up of females.

“That’s getting darn near balanced,” Aronson said. And the audience liked the movie well enough. The audience polling firm Cinemascore gave “Chronicle” a “B” overall and a “B+” among its target audience of people younger than 25.

Young people drove “The Woman in Black,” as well. That movie’s audience was 57 percent younger than 25. As expected, it was overwhelmingly female — 59 percent.

‘The Grey’ Wins Weekend Box Office Race After $20M Earnings

Bobbie Braceros — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:53:58 +0000

“The Grey” — Open Road Films’ second release ever — took a surprising $20 million at the domestic box office this weekend, making it the top movie in the country.

While Open Road targeted men in its R-rated action drama about an oil drilling team that is pursued by a pack of wolves after an airplane crash in Alaska, Lionsgate went after a different audience with its PG-13 comedy “One for the Money.” The strategy worked: “One for the Money,” based on the Janet Evanovich novel, debuted to $11.75 — exceeding projections by almost $2 million.

The $11.75 million made it the No. 3 movie in America — just behind Sony’s “Underworld: Awakening.” While “The Grey” and “One for the Money” debuted to better-than-expected numbers, the 11-week-old “The Descendants” enjoyed a significant bump after going wide for the first time, and grossed $6.6 million.

Fox Searchlight expanded the number of locations showing the movie by 1,441 — to 2,001. In limited release, Roadside Attractions’ Academy Award-nominated “Albert Nobbs” arrived at 245 locations and grossed $772,730.

Meanwhile, Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” became the highest-grossing film of that franchise. In its seventh week, the movie crossed the $200 million mark domestically and hit $571 million worldwide.

The 2000 “Mission: Impossible II” had been the top-earner in the franchise, with $546 million. Overall, this has been a good weekend at the box office. Compared to the same weekend last year, the box office was up about 14 percent.

The Hangover 3 Will Hit Cinemas Soon

Bobbie Braceros — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 07:14:40 +0000

It looks like there will be a third instalment of the hugely successful Hangover franchise, with the movie’s main stars coming closer to securing a multi-million dollar deal.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms are likely to get the $15 million they are each asking for to reprise their roles in the comedy. The first film, made by Warner Brothers, took more than $450 million worldwide, while the sequel grossed a massive $581 million at the box office.

The trade newspaper reports that negotiations have been ‘dragging on’ for months, due in part to salary demands. The rumored new payday for the trio is a distinctly more than the actors received for the first Hangover movie back in 2009, which was made for $35 million and is said by The Hollywood Reporter to have netted them under $1 million each.

The success of the first film was an unexpected success, leaving the studio having not secured talent deals. They are said to have been paid $5 million for the second instalment, according to a source, which saw ‘The Wolfpack’ relocate to Thailand, with the original film set in Las Vegas. According to star Bradley Cooper, the new movie, again to be directed by Todd Phillips, is likely to take place in Los Angeles and depart from the tried and tested storyline formula of the first two films.

‘Underworld’ Takes Weekend Box Office Race With $25.3M Earnings

Bobbie Braceros — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:51:47 +0000

Kate Beckinsale returned to the “Underworld” as the vampire warrior Selene and helped propel the fourth film in the franchise, “Underworld Awakening,” to a first-place debut with $25.3 million.

Last week’s No. 1 movie, the thriller “Contraband,” fell to third place with just over $12 million. The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. “Underworld Awakening,” Sony Screen Gems, $25,306,725, 3078 locations, $8,222 average, $25,306,725, one week.

2. “Red Tails,” Fox, $18,782,154, 2512 locations, $7,477 average, $18,782,154, one week.

3. “Contraband,” Universal, $12,039,605, 2870 locations, $4,195 average, $45,937,525, two weeks.

4. “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” Warner Bros., $10,045,332, 2630 locations, $4,083 average, $10,737,239, five weeks.

5. “Beauty and the Beast,” Disney, $8,779,676, 2625 locations, $3,345, $33,588,056, two weeks.

6. “Haywire,” Relativity Media, $8,425,370, 2439 locations, $3,454 average, $8,425,370, one week.

7. “Joyful Noise,” Warner Bros., $5,917,437, 2735 locations, $2,164 average, $21,745,419, two weeks.

8. “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol,” Paramount, $5,554,254, 2519 locations, $2,205 average, $197,363,441, six weeks.

9. “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” Warner Bros., $4,515,497, 2485 locations, $1,817 average, $178,321,726, six weeks.

10. “The Iron Lady,” Weinstein Co., $3,684,279, 1076 locations, $3,424 average, $12,585,958, four weeks.

11. “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” Sony, $3,528,514, 1907 locations, $1,850 average, $94,553,582, five weeks.

12. “War Horse,” Disney, $3,150,502, 2525 locations, $1,248 average, $72,285,180, five weeks.

13. “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” Fox, $3,076,168, 2070 locations, $1,486 average, $124,682,205, six weeks.

14. “We Bought a Zoo,” Fox, $2,783,440, 2065 locations, $1,348 average, $69,565,025, five weeks.

15. “The Devil Inside,” Paramount, $2,668,865, 2207 locations, $1,209 average, $51,289,972, three weeks.

16. “The Descendants,” Fox Searchlight, $2,372,298, 560 locations, $4,236 average, $51,259,658, 10 weeks.

17. “The Artist,” Weinstein Co., $2,371,803, 662 locations, $3,583 average, $12,119,718, nine weeks.

18. “The Adventures of Tintin,” Paramount, $2,218,841, 1340 locations, $1,656 average, $72,321,006, five weeks.

19. “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” Focus Features, $1,763,380, 731 locations, $2,412 average, $18,328,977, seven weeks.

20. “Hugo,” Paramount, $937,620, 650 locations, $1,442 average, $55,887,402, nine weeks.