THE BOX OFFICE REPORT: SEPTEMBER 23

Welcome back, everyone! Let’s get to some box office!

(Side note: I love the box office. I know the box office. And it was pretty much the only thing I knew at LAMBpardy… Yes, a week later, I’m still disappointed.)

1. End of Watch – $13.2 (first week)

Like I’ve said, I love the box office. And most of the time, the results are not what I want to happen, like when Crappy Horror Movie X beats out the Indie Drama Y or when a movie like Safety Not Guaranteed goes relatively unseen. But this weekend, it actually worked out where the movie I wanted to win took the top spot over a movie I didn’t want to take the spot.

End of Watch (which I will be reviewing later on today… keep an eye out for it) is a top-notch cop thriller written and directed by David Ayer, the guy who brought us, among other things, Training Day, which holds down a Top 5 spot on my All-Time list. Now, while this doesn’t touch the level of the Denzel film, it is refreshing and intense and it seemed to resound with audiences as it took the top spot. I know that the theater I was in was full on a Friday night, and maybe that was because of the L.A. angle in the film, but I think that bodes well for the film, in addition to the 84% it currently has on Rotten Tomatoes. Made on a $7 million budget, it nearly doubled that figure en route to winning the weekend. It won’t get up to $50 million or be remembered in year-end lists for box office performance, but it did win a weekend filled with new releases (but won’t retain the spot next weekend with the release of Looper).

2. House at the End of the Street – $13.0 (first week)

On the other hand…

Now sitting at a whopping 12% on Rotten Tomatoes, HATES (which I reviewed) got the treatment it deserved at the box office, although I’m surprised it went over $10 million for the weekend. The only reason for this is strictly on Jennifer Lawrence’s shoulders as her appeal brought out the tween girls who were willing to get “scared” for 100 minutes. It also had a low budget so it will prove to be profitable but I assure you that no one will be getting a job BECAUSE of this movie. It’s rough. So glad it came in 2nd…

3. Trouble with the Curve – $12.1 (first week)

Although I think enough time passed by between the chair-talking and the release of the film, I can’t help but wonder if the film had done better at the box office had Clint not gone crazy on a stage in front of a room full of squirming Republicans. I had some interest in the film, but baseball movies (and really, any type of drama like this) play just as well at home and there was no immediate need to check this out opening weekend, especially when a film like End of Watch is out at the same time (although the target audience for those two films are very different). The middling reviews didn’t help either (mid-50s on RT) and it was pretty much destined for a middle-of-the-pack finish.

4. Finding Nemo 3D – $9.4 ($30.0 total re-release/$369.7 lifetime)

I need to know… is the 3D that amazing that it’s worth paying nearly $20 a ticket to see a movie that you could probably buy for $10 and watch at home?

5. Resident Evil: Retribution – $6.7 ($33.5 total)

Under-performing a little, although the international numbers (over $100 million already) make this all worthwhile. Unless of course you’re talking about the quality of the films…

6. Dredd 3D – $6.3 (first week)

Very disappointing, especially when you consider the $50 million budget. I’m still interested and it’s low performance doesn’t speak to its quality (77% on RT is really high for a movie of this style) but this has got to be a huge bummer for Karl Urban and director Pete Travis, who’s Vantage Point overperformed to the tune of $151 million worldwide gross in comparison to its $40 million budget.

7. The Master – $5.0 ($6.1 total)

It would appear that Paul Thomas Anderson’s most recent GREATEST MOVIE EVER isn’t, well, great. Everything I’ve been reading says it’s confusing/complicated/odd and while that’s not all that surprising to those of us who don’t get him, it still blew up in a wider release and had the highest per-screen average by quite a large margin. The curiosity of the general public has definitely been grabbed though and you can expect it to maintain this position for quite a while.

8. The Possession – $2.6 ($45.7 total)

Continues to add to its total, surprisingly making its way toward $50 million. Crazy.

9. Lawless – $2.3 ($34.5 total)

Still hearing good things about he LaBeouf-as-moonshiner film. I still feel like if Tom Hardy hadn’t spent The Dark Knight Rises with his face covered, this would have performed better overall.

10. ParaNorman – $2.3 ($52.6 total)

The 3D fish re-release didn’t help any staying power this might have had and next week’s Hotel Transylvania definitely is not going to help. Still, not a bad run.

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Next week sees a huge release for the previously mentioned Hotel Transylvania (did you know that Adam Sandler voices Dracula? *cue exodus from theaters*) and a little movie I like to call Looper. You might have heard of that one… And I’ll be seeing it opening night, reviewing it next weekend, LAMBcasting it on Sunday, and probably being overly excited about the Rian Johnson film. I can’t wait. Also being released is Kevin James in Here Comes the Boom where he plays a high school teacher who moves into the Octagon to earn money for his school. I like the idea, dig the trailer, and I hope it does well, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to get forgotten. I’ll probably hold off a bit because I’ll be paralyzed by the awesomeness of Looper but at least you now know that it’s out as counter-programming.

Until next week!