THE BOX OFFICE REPORT: OCTOBER 21, 2012

It looks like we’ve found the new version of Saw (not that we didn’t know this already…)

1. Paranormal Activity 4 – $30.2 (first week)

The Saw movies (which I’m in the process of re-watching – man, the twists in the first two movies are still so jaw-droppingly awesome) went all the way to 7 because they kept making money. The average budget for those films was around $10 million and they averaged about $60 million domestically (plus a nice take internationally). The Paranormal Activity series (now four deep) is an even bigger success, with a TOTAL budget of $13 million and every film grossing at least $80 million domestically. In fact, looking at just the first three movies, you’re looking at a total budget of $8 million and a worldwide gross of just about $600 million! That’s an insane profit margin! The most recent film only has a $5 million budget attached to it and despite reports that it’s opening “poorly” because it only took in $30 million (instead of the $40 or $50 of the first two sequels) are just ridiculous if you ask me. As much as I will never ever see another one of these movies (I’ve discussed this before – I’m not bringing it back up) I have to hand it them. They’ve struck a chord. And they’re gonna keep playing that chord as long as they possibly can.

2. Argo - $16.6 ($43.2 total)

Ben Affleck’s Oscar bait only dropped 15% in its second weekend and looks to be around for the long haul. It’s gonna be interesting to see how it holds up through November, but you gotta believe that as the crazy strong word-of-mouth continues, it’s going to keep bringing in money. I’d say I’ll probably get to it in the next week or so and I know I can’t be alone in not having seen it yet. But I know that it’s gonna happen sooner or later – I haven’t heard a bad thing about it yet!

3. Hotel Transylvania – $13.5 ($119.0 total)

With Halloween nearing, it’s a strong bet that this animated film is gonna hang around a bit longer. I don’t think we’re talking $200 million hanging around, but I think this is quite a successful little film, which I don’t think anyone would have predicted going into it. All this means is that Adam Sandler has now been reaffirmed and will continue making movies. Damn..

4. Taken 2 – $13.4 ($105.9 total)

I’m still not sold that it’s going to catch the $145 million domestic take of the original, but it’s still taken (can’t help myself) in more than The Expendables 2 (a travesty if you ask me) and will pass up The Bourne Legacy before the end of next weekend, putting it at the top of that list when all is said and done. I guess the inevitable Taken 3: Just Stay in America for God’s Sake will be upon us in a couple years.

5. Alex Cross – $11.8 (first week)

Maybe Tyler Perry can’t open a movie.

I guess he just needs his cross-dressing and his big glasses to get an opening weekend over $20 million. Despite being paired with Matthew Fox from “Lost” (not a box office hero either but dammit if his performance appears to be off the charts crazy) Perry took over from Morgan Freeman and won’t take it to the level that Freeman did in either Kiss the Girls or Along Came a Spider ($60 and $74 million respectively). I read recently that they’re planning another film in this series (Double Cross, because the puns just aren’t enough with the taglines that they had to move to the title) and I wonder if the poor performance of this one is going to change that. Either way, I’m pretty sure this doesn’t bode well for Perry… that is, until he puts on the Madea garb again.

6. Sinister – $9.0 ($31.9 total)

More horror movies, more horror money. Halloween always brings them out and in this case, much like the aforementioned Paranormal series, it only has a $3 million budget. I guess it doesn’t cost much to earn some scares around here!

7. Here Comes the Boom – $8.5 ($23.2 total)

Decent second weekend for Kevin James, but still not what he was hoping for, I’m sure. This just didn’t look good enough to bring people out to the theaters. That, and I think people are probably a bit fed up with James’ shtick. This is really too bad, because I really like the guy, or at the very least, used to. I was a big “King of Queens” fan and his “Sweat the Small Stuff” stand-up remains one of my favorite specials I own.

8.Pitch Perfect -$7.0 ($45.8 total)

“Gleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”

9. Frankenweenie – $4.4 ($28.3 total)

No Hotel Transylvania, that’s for sure.

10. Looper – $4.2 ($57.8 total)

Doubled it’s budget AND it was an awesome movie. You know what that means? GO SEE THIS MOVIE!

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Next week sees the release of the Wachowski’s Cloud Atlas (which, at first, I couldn’t even imagine seeing, but lately I’ve been reconsidering), the Silent Hill sequel (also heard good things about the original, but never caught it), Gerard Butler attempting to surf or teach surfing or something like that in Chasing Mavericks, and then something atrocious-looking called Fun Size. 

I’m not sure what’s gonna take the top spot next weekend, but I’d have to put money down on PA4 if I had to bet, but look out for Silent Hill 2. And Argo too. Ah, who am I kidding… I have no idea what’s gonna happen next weekend!

Until next week!