The box office results for the weekend of August 20th-22nd yields The Expendables having a strong hold on the top spot once again. An army of new releases, in a variety of genres, could barely muster a decent fight on their opening weekends. Here are the studio estimates (click on title for review):
1. The Expendables ($16.5 million)
2. Vampires Suck ($12.2 million)
3. Eat Pray Love ($12 million)
4. Lottery Ticket ($11.1 million)
5. The Other Guys ($10.1 million)
6. Piranha 3D ($10 million)
7. Nanny McPhee Returns ($8.3 million)
8. The Switch ($8.1 million)
9. Inception ($7.6 million)
10. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World ($5 million)
Analysis
Despite dropping 53% from its opening weekend, The Expendables somehow managed to fend off all the newbies. Currently, the Stallone production sits at $64 million domestically. Which is still short of the $80 million production budget this flick carried. Looks like the flick will fall short of $100 million but should be able to make up the difference during its DVD run. If Lionsgate is smart, they'll have the DVD out before Halloween.
Now to the mass opening of new releases. Vampires Suck came in Wednesday and performed fairly well on its opening day ($4 million). Since then, the flick has been drained. Only reprieve for Twentieth Century Fox is the spoof cost just $20 million to make. As long as it doesn't drop as fast as a Twilight installment, the critically panned parody will not be a complete bust.
Must of been the weekend for the $20 million production club for Lottery Ticket also carried that number. Once again, the lovely critics tore this one apart as well. End of August is the studios' dumping ground and this usually means they're just hoping to break even with the respective release. Perhaps after the DVD run and On Demand buys, Lottery Ticket will not be a complete dud.
Interesting to see a flick boasting the most star power, finish last among the new batch of releases. The Switch, starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman - who are accompanied by Juliette Lewis, Patrick Wilson, and Jeff Goldblum - barely caused a ripple in the pond that is the box office. One has to attribute this to the redundancy of the story found in the this flick. Having a plethora of fresh choices, the romantic-comedy seems very diluted these days.
At first glance, Nanny McPhee Returns seemingly looks like another bomb for Universal Pictures. Domestically speaking, one would be correct. However, it should be noted that this flick did release in Australia and the United Kingdom in the Spring and has grossed over $62 million. Since Universal handled international distribution rights, the poor debut in the U.S. isn't as bad and will allow me to stop writing about another poor performance from the studio this summer. In staying positive, the critics highly encourage this at the theater.
Lastly, Piranha 3D came in sporting a production budget of $24 million. The opening weekend will be labeled a disappointment for the flick didn't attract a typical horror crowd response. That said, the critics are firmly behind this and the word-of-mouth suggesting this is pure sadistic fun, should give this flick a boost and have a shot in breaking even at the conclusion of the DVD run. Add to the fact about who's in the flick and how much clothing everyone is wearing (or not) may help draw out another crowd from those theaters we do not like to think exist.
Inception currently has the longest week in the top ten with 6 weeks. Domestic total is just over $261 million.
Flop Alert: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. As foreshadowed in last week's column, the critically acclaimed work from Edgar Wright is about to hear the words "Game over." Total is at $20 million and the production budget is $60 million. This is one act that just didn't catch on and there will be no encore tonight. Sleeper Hit: The top ten reveals no candidates. Outside the top ten, Ramona and Beezus ended up barely turning a profit off its production budget of $15 million. Grossing over $25 million proves that with the DVD and On-Demand run, this flick will be in the black for Twentieth Century Fox.
When it's all said and done, Toy Story 3 will be 9th on the all time domestic chart passing Spider-Man. The Disney flick will finish with about $405 million.
This Friday, the last of the summer movie releases closes with a horror flick and another crime-caper. Typical for August. The Last Exorcism invades theaters along with Takers. Plus, the greedy Avatar: Special Edition comes out to pad its $750 million box office record offering the entire feature with extended and deleted scenes. All flicks will be opening in the Tampa Bay market.
READ THE 2010 SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW AND PREDICTIONS
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