THE BOX OFFICE REPORT: SEPTEMBER 30

Well, we finally got to the end of September and the release of Looper, one of the highly anticipated films for movie geeks everywhere. And even though it was never predicted to win the weekend or anything, I gotta admit that I’m a bit surprised at how the competition, and by that I mean the counter-programming of Hotel Transylvania, came to win in the way it did. On to the numbers…

1. Hotel Transylvania – $43.0 (first week)

The animated film that kinda-sorta hid the Adam Sandler angle under the rug set a new record for the month of September, beating the opening weekend of Sweet Home Alabama from 2002 (so, yes, it’s officially been 10 years since Reese Witherspoon was relevant). This really just goes to show that it’s great to put out a kids movie as this continues the trend of decent to good openings from pretty much everything that’s come out this year. And with next weekend’s Frankenweenie hitting theaters, we might see a bit of a clash with the kids films that play to the Halloween lovers. This also marked the biggest opening for Adam Sandler since The Longest Yard back in 2005, which just shows his lack of attention at the box office lately, and, well, that’s because everything he’s put out lately is crap. Simply put. But, when he masked his face by lending his voice to an animated film, he struck gold, leading to a huge weekend.

2. Looper – $21.2 (first week)

The much anticipated (and much revered – the 93% on Rotten Tomatoes so far says that it’s quality stuff) sci-fi time travel flick starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt took in a nice figure for an R-rated genre flick. It’s strong word of mouth likely will help it maintain some business, even against the likes of Liam Neeson next weekend. The film carried a $30 million budget (which was used very well, if I do say so myself) so it should make that back in no time, proving to be a win for writer/director Rian Johnson. Also, the movie rocks, which you’ll be able to read about here either by the end of Sunday or Monday, depending on how much I can get done this evening! Great to see a film like this do well at the box office.

3. End of Watch – $8.0 ($26.2 total)

The cop movie that I loved hung on to some business this weekend, pulling in another $8 million, adding to its impressive cume for a film with such a small budget. Strong word of mouth should carry some consistent business into October and I think it even has an outside chance to get to $40 million when all is said and done.

4. Trouble with the Curve – $7.5 ($23.7 total)

Clint continued selling some tickets while kicking furniture around and the film remains a marginal success, especially for a film about an aging baseball scout.

5. House at the End of the Street – $7.2 ($22.2 total)

Boooo!!!!!! (Sorry, I was nice in my review… but I never promised to be nice outside of it!)

6. Pitch Perfect – $5.2 (first week)

This singing comedy has some pretty good reviews behind it right now (73% on Rotten Tomatoes) and the commercials are really pushing Rebel Wilson (of both Bridesmaids and Bachelorette) and her shenanigans in the film. I have to admit, the trailers do nothing for me but for all you “Glee” fans out there, go nuts. It did have the highest per-theater average, though. So maybe there’s a bit of a sleeper hit here.

7. Finding Nemo 3D – $4.1 ($36.5 total – $376.2 lifetime)

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…

8. Resident Evil: Retribution – $3.0 ($38.7 total)

Probably going to end up the 2nd lowest of the franchise, but as previously mentioned, that international tally keeps it profitable.

9. The Master – $2.7 ($9.6 total)

Starting to drop a bit. So with its low box office numbers, how does this affect both Hoffman and Phoenix’s chance at an Oscar nomination? And what about PTA himself? I say they might be in some trouble.

10. Won’t Back Down – $2.7 (first week)

My apologies to the makers of this film. I mistook it for Here Comes the Boom, the Kevin James MMA comedy due out on October 12, and I didn’t present it as an option last weekend in this piece. Clearly this is why it didn’t perform well, even though it is a sappy tale starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis. Again, I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful  next time.

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The first weekend of October will begin with Liam Neeson going after some more bad guys in Taken 2, a Tim Burton animated film called Frankenweenie, and the expansion of Pitch Perfect. I’m pretty sure Liam is gonna take the top spot, but the early reviews are saying that there’s not the magic touch of the original (it has an 8% so far on RT). This is disheartening for me as a fan of the original and it just might keep me out of the theater. Hey, I still wanna catch Dredd in theaters… maybe I’ll just go do that instead!

Until next week!