Box Office Guru Wrapup: Hotel & Looper Soar at Box Office
The North American box office bounced back to life thanks to a pair of new releases from Sony which drove the marketplace to the best September frame in history. The animated comedy Hotel Transylvania overperformed and checked into the number one spot while the studio's release of the sci-fi action pic Looper gave the it the runner-up spot too with over $64M in combined ticket sales leading the Top 20 to a potent $115M, a new high for what is normally the slowest month of the year. Especially noteworthy is that the weekend was driven by original films as none of the top six movies were sequels or based on well-known brands.
Mixing comedy and spooky monsters into a family-friendly 3D toon during the pre-Halloween period, Hotel Transylvania opened to spectacular results in first place with an estimated $43M generating the biggest September opening ever. The PG-rated film averaged a stellar $12,840 from 3,349 locations including 3D surcharges and beat the decade-old record for the top September bow set this weekend in 2002 when Sweet Home Alabama debuted to $35.6M. Hotel also marked a comeback of sorts for box office heavyweight Adam Sandler who provided the lead voice. His last two films over the past year performed poorly. But now, Sandler is well on his way to scoring his 13th $100M+ grosser of the past 14 years displaying his commercial consistency once again. Also lending their voices were Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, and CeeLo Green.
Look for solid playability here as the CinemaScore grade was an A- and Saturday sales surged by a remarkable 73% which was better than what many kidpics during the school year see. The opening was a new high for Sony Animation beating out the $35.6M of The Smurfs and the $30.3M of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs which was another 3D September hit. Both of those had good legs.
The critically-acclaimed sci-fi actioner Looper gave Sony another big win with its strong opening in second place with an estimated $21.2M. The R-rated futuristic film averaged a solid $7,086 from 2,992 theaters and took advantage of exceptional reviews to draw in a sizable audience. R-rated action films rarely open north of $20M in September and the fact that Looper is an original story not based on any well-known brand made the performance even more impressive. Headliners Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis spent five weeks at number one this summer with supporting roles in the hit sequels The Dark Knight Rises and The Expendables 2 and now joined forces playing the same person but from different time periods.
As expected, Looper skewed towards adult men. Studio research showed that 59% of the audience was male and 70% was 25 or older. But despite universal praise from film critics, actual paying customers were only moderately satisfied as the CinemaScore grade was a B. While not terrible, it is nothing worth bragging about. Saturday sales climbed 28% so there could be long-term strength into October.
Lots of companies wanted their share of credit for the hit pic which was made by FilmDistrict, TriStar, EndGame and China's DMG. In fact, preliminary estimates put the opening weekend in China at $23-25M making it the first Hollywood film in history to open bigger there than in its home market of North America. A side story involving China's prosperous future helped in getting financing and government approval of the script from that lucrative market. Willis has long been a huge action draw across Asia and JGL's star has been on the rise thanks to recent Christopher Nolan films and other high quality acting projects.
Following its solid top spot debut last weekend, the cop thriller End of Watch held up well in its second round dropping 39% to an estimated $8M giving Open Road $26.2M in ten days. Fellow sophomore Trouble with the Curve followed with an estimated $7.5M falling an encouraging 38%. Recent Clint Eastwood films fell 47-51% in their second weekends so the performance of this latest Warner Bros. release - which finds the legend acting instead of directing - is commendable. Total is $23.7M. Also doing well in its second session was the fright flick House at the End of the Street which declined by 42% to an estimated $7.2M for $22.2M to date. That's an amazing hold for a horror film.
The all-girl college a cappella comedy Pitch Perfect opened in moderate release this weekend with only 335 theaters but attracted huge crowds and landed at number six with an estimated $5.2M for a scorching $15,561 average. Universal is aiming for a word-of-mouth hit here and aggressively screened the PG-13 pic ahead of the limited bow. Now it plans to take it to the next level with next weekend's expansion into 2,800+ locations hoping that enough buzz will have circulated among teens and young adults that it can become a must-see hit. Reviews have been mostly positive and the CinemaScore grade was an A with females making up 74% of the crowd. Pitch hopes to prove that a good product can sell itself.
Falling 58% to seventh place was the 3D release of Finding Nemo which grabbed an estimated $4.1M bumping the sum to $36.5M and the lifetime tally to $376.2M. The clown fish pic has re-entered the Top 20 list of all-time domestic blockbusters sitting at number 19. Sony's fifth Alice pic Resident Evil: Retribution dropped 55% to an estimated $3M in its third round and has banked $38.7M to date.
The Paul Thomas Anderson Oscar hopeful The Master slowed down in its second weekend of wide play and grossed an estimated $2.7M, off 38%. The Weinstein Co. release averaged just $3,207 from 856 theaters and has shown signs of struggling with a mainstream audience. Cume to date is $9.6M. Sophisticated adult audiences will quickly start turning their attention to other pictures in October including Liam Neeson's hostage sequel Taken 2 opening next weekend and Ben Affleck's buzzworthy hostage drama Argo bowing a week later.
The inner city school drama Won't Back Down failed to connect with paying moviegoers opening to dismal results in tenth place with an estimated $2.7M from 2,515 locations for a horrible $1,074 average. Fox's PG-rated release starring Academy Award nominees Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis generated no commercial interest and was panned by critics.
The Emma Watson film The Perks of Being a Wallflower enjoyed a nice expansion this weekend widening from 4 to 102 theaters grossing an estimated $1.1M. That delivered a potent $11,147 average which keeps the Summit pic on track for further expansions. Total is $1.5M. Perks earned an encouraging A grade from CinemaScore and skewed 70% female.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $104.6M which was up 26% from last year when Dolphin Tale climbed into the number one spot with $13.9M; and up 27% from 2010 when The Social Network opened on top with $22.4M.
Janson Jinnistan
"Especially noteworthy is that the weekend was driven by original films as none of the top six movies were sequels or based on well-known brands."
Amen. But "Looper" was dull. Sorry. 7/10 maybe. If the hype had been less, I'd call it a great sleeper.
Something tells me that "sophisticated adult audiences" are going to be more interested in "Argo". "Taken 2"...eh, not so much. Just because Liam Neeson has a particular set of sophisticated adult skills doesn't really mean it will make for a sophisticated adult film.
Sep 30 - 07:43 PM
The Watcher
Looper was fantastic. Not since Children of Men have I seen such a well-realized world. Awesome story, great characters with deep personalities not easily explained in 2 sentences, and one of the best endings in a sci-fi since, again, Children of Men.
Sep 30 - 08:33 PM
Janson Jinnistan
I'd rather avoid getting into the specifics that bothered me, as they're spoiler specific. I should just say that I didn't find it quite as deep as many of its fans. Not a bad film though. Interesting that you bring up "Children of Men" because I really didn't like the very end, by which I mean the Lennon song over the credits from his most boring album.
Sep 30 - 09:01 PM
Todd Garry
I definitely did not find it that deep also. I was kind of expecting a little more on that department. But overall I thought the movie was fantastic as well. Great performances by the cast.
Sep 30 - 09:10 PM
The Watcher
For which movie? CoM or Looper? I don't listen to anything other than underground rap so, for me, "the most boring lennon album" doesn't mean anything.
Sep 30 - 10:00 PM
Lance Reeder
Wish you hadn't mentioned Children of Men because I didn't find that as great as everybody else seemed to. Found it kinda disappointing in fact. I'll give Looper a shot though cause Bruce Willis is almost always worth the price of admission and I love in depth Sci Fi.
Oct 1 - 07:00 AM
The Watcher
Well, to each his own. For me, CoM is one of the best scifis ever made.
Oct 1 - 07:29 AM
Janson Jinnistan
I also love "Children of Men", but I didn't like the use of Lennon's "Freda People" over the end credits. (Excuse my Beatle geekery here) At that point in his career, Lennon was on autopilot and at a creative nadir. The dawn of his notorious 'lost weekend'. It's especially disappointing because the film used some King Crimson tracks to much better effect.
My annoyances with "Looper" almost entirely involve the suspension of disbelief as to the time travel issues. I've seen elsewhere, these issues brushed off with a "that's not what the film is really about". Fair enough, but the film cheats a bit on logic. I also wish the film was visually more inventive. As it is, if I wanted to be glib, I would say something like "Inception" meets "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", but that still seems to be giving it too much credit. I thought it was a nice little crackerjack sci/fi thriller, in the spirit of "Dark City" or "Source Code".
Oct 1 - 11:14 AM
Dave J
I was wondering, does Looper have a fair amount of action or is there a lot of talk?
Oct 1 - 01:47 PM
Janson Jinnistan
...(takes aspirin)...
Oct 1 - 01:58 PM
The Watcher
OK, but I'll counter that by saying the world was believable. It looked lived-in, the way the world probably WILL look in 20 years. Things are gonna keep getting worse, not better.
About the time travel - I thought it was done pretty well. Very 12 Monkeys. I don't know what suspension of disbelief you're referring to in a movie about time travel and superheroes.
Oct 1 - 08:57 PM
Mister Vile
I am with Janson on this one. The film had many opportunities to take an in-depth look at time travel possibilities and make the plot rich and complex. Instead they took the lowest common denominator and used it just as a plot device. The movie had pretty bland visuals aside from a few key scenes, but like Watcher said, it is a grimy future.
Oct 2 - 05:28 AM
Janson Jinnistan
Not much of a spoiler, so I'll mention it. Watcher, my problems with the suspension of disbelief had more to do with how the "mob" were able to get and maintain control of it, much less use it for more insidious purposes of other history shaping motives. As for things getting worse, well, I'm sure that's the future China would prefer, isn't it? I'll take a bit of re-education before I submit to that.
Oct 2 - 09:48 AM
The Watcher
If you mean that the gov't would rather use it for its own purpose and change shit in the past with spec ops teams and stuff, then yeah, I agree with you. But all movies have plot holes, and I happen to think Looper is a good enough film to overlook them.
But hey, I don't like some flicks that are loved by nearly everyone. I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, I just think it's interesting.
Oct 2 - 11:12 AM
Jonathan Earley
I was thinking the exact same things. It was one the best sci-fi's I've seen since Children of Men, which is one of my all time favorite films. It definitely earned its opening weekend gross.
Sep 30 - 09:04 PM
King Crunk
I found it amusing that "sophisticated adult audiences" would be interested in a film like Taken 2, as well. Judging from early reviews, it is the first one, but with even more shakey cam. I like Neeson a lot, but he needs to get away from these types of flicks that are starting to make up more and more of his career.
Sep 30 - 09:41 PM
Seth Mecklenburg
Agreed, he's better than Taken sequels and films like Unknown.
Oct 1 - 12:40 AM
Dave J
First of all, "Taken" made alot of money with the users liking it more than the critics. Second "Unknown" is kind of a thinking film that is unpredictable and self- explannatory which consists of something that was never shown before about amnesia! I mean how many amnesia films had you seen in your life time?
Oct 1 - 01:14 PM
Janson Jinnistan
You can't be serious. Let's forget (heh) about recent films like "Bourne Identity", "Hangover" and "Memento", and look at Hitchcock's "Spellbound" from, I dunno, 65 years ago. "Random Harvest" is older than that. Hitchcock used varieties of amnesia in both "Vertigo" and "Marnie". There's even been an amnesia film recommended above with "The Lookout". When Goldie Hawn has done a comedy on the subject ("Overboard"), then it is officially a cliche.
Oct 1 - 01:41 PM
Dave J
I'm quite aware about how many "amnesia" films they're, but I was only directing this question to username Seth Mecklenburg! Aside from the fact that "Unknown" is not the same as other amnesia films you've mentioned because just when viewers think they know what's going on- they don't for the twist cannot be seen a mile away!
Oct 1 - 01:54 PM
Janson Jinnistan
Well, I saw it coming, but I won't spoil it. Enjoy your "Taken" and your particular set of semantics.
Oct 1 - 01:56 PM
Dave J
Why, in your POV all films that have something to do with amnesia are all the same?
Oct 1 - 02:31 PM
Christopher Kulik
I've forgotten what my favorite amnesia movie is.
Oct 1 - 03:51 PM
Ken Wolfson
How about he does more films like the Grey?
Oct 1 - 05:45 AM
Lance Reeder
Wish you hadn't mentioned Children of Men because I didn't find that as great as everybody else seemed to. Found it kinda disappointing in fact. I'll give Looper a shot though cause Bruce Willis is almost always worth the price of admission and I love in depth Sci Fi.
Oct 1 - 07:01 AM
Lance Reeder
Same kind of film, he needs to do more Rob Roy's and Michael Collins type films.
Oct 1 - 07:03 AM
Dave J
Listen, "Taken 2" may not be your cup of tea, however, it's the type of film I could see myself watching because it devoids special effects which more and more films are using these days, and how often can viewers see a protagonist inflict some of the same torture tactics and pain to deserving villians which innocent bystander torture films are often shown in most horror flicks such as 'Hostel" and the "Saw" movies. I'm an 80's action man and still continue to be until the day I die.
I'm sure they're a lot of people here who share the same sentiments as you so just don't pay any money to see "Taken 2" and just go and watch something else since they're a lot of other films you probably haven't seen yet!
Oct 1 - 01:17 PM
Big Brother
I don't dislike that type of movie. I'm something of a revenge film buff myself. Loved the first Taken, it just doesn't sound like Taken 2 is a particularly good example of the genre. We may be past the point where audiences are going to buy this premise over and over again like they did with the Die Hard's. At some point you've just gotta say, "How many times can this same thing happen to the same guy?"
Oct 1 - 04:54 PM
Dave J
True, and I'll probably agree with you as well but the repititive kidnapping plot which in this case happens to be his ex played by Famke Janssen is only an excuse to showcase Liam Neeson doing his thing which is taking on the bad guys! On a recent interview in the Jay Leno show, Liam said that the same bad guys who made attempts to kidnap his daughter are basically the same people who're going to kidnap his wife assuming of course that not all of them are killed yet. And "Die Hard" is a prime example except that all the action scenes from each one are new and haven't been seen before.
If the repititive formula becomes way too tiring for the mass audiences to experience and it makes way less money than expectations than they obviously won't make anymore but it all depends on it's innovative action scenes and torture sequences inflicted by the good guy character Liam Neeson is portraying! So far all I've seen from one of the previews is just a small car chase sequence which was done a thousand times before!
Oct 1 - 05:55 PM
Brad Hadfield
I thought the same thing. "Sophisticated adult audiences" aren't going to rush out to see a sequel to a so-so revenge actioner.
I believe Neeson lost a lot of cred when he started co-starring with green screens in Battleship, Star Wars, Titans, The Haunting, etc.
Oct 1 - 09:02 AM
Infernal Dude
Just saw Looper. Thought it was really good. I don't see much in common with Children of Men though. I found it more in line with Repo Men or Minority Report, films which give us an extraordinary circumstance in a feasible future.
Also, I see what you guys are saying about the practical usage of time travel but I found this was solved by Jeff Daniels character. He basically shows that those involved with controlling time travel have some idea of the consequences of changing the past. Granted, allowing a bunch of dysfunctional personalities to be "Loopers" and in on the truth is probably a bad move but thats why this film is good. It gives us characters we give a shit about and that we are willing to root for. When you care, you are willing to follow. I'd recommend Looper.
Oct 3 - 11:33 PM