ROTTEN TOMATOES: Box Office Guru Wrapup: Resident Evil Sets New Series High Score at #1

Box Office Guru Wrapup: Resident Evil Sets New Series High Score at #1

Weekend box office was anything but undead.

by Gitesh Pandya | September 23, 2007

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Two new films were met with enthusiasm from North American moviegoers who powered each film past the openings of their respective predecessors. Fans of action and horror lined up for the threequel Resident Evil: Extinction which bowed at number one while those in search of a laugh spent their dollars on the romantic comedy Good Luck Chuck. Both opened with averages of more than $5,000 each and helped to fill the entire Top Five with R-rated fare as the overall marketplace bounced back after recent sluggish weeks.

Gamers still love to go to the movies. That's what Sony learned with its estimated $24M opening weekend for Resident Evil: Extinction, the third and supposedly final chapter of the popular movie franchise starring Milla Jovovich. If the estimate holds, it will give the latest chapter the best debut of the series. 2002's original premiered with $17.7M while its 2004 sequel Resident Evil: Apocalypse bowed to $23M. Final grosses reached $39.5M and $50.7M, respectively. In a world where third parts rarely enjoy the biggest opening in a series (The Bourne Ultimatum is the only other of this year's seven threequels to do so), Extinction's performance is noteworthy in that it generated its strong gross from 456 fewer theaters than Apocalyspe had three years ago.

Dane Cook and Jessica Alba made a popular couple as their new romantic comedy Good Luck Chuck opened in second place with a solid $14M, according to estimates. Lionsgate released the R-rated pic in 2,612 locations and averaged a commendable $5,360 per site. Critics trashed the film but moviegoers paid no attention. The debut was 23% better than the $11.4M opening of Cook's last comedy, Employee of the Month, which the distributor bowed last October. In Chuck, the actor plays a man who women find lucky since all his ex-girlfriends go on to get engaged after dating him.

Jodie Foster dropped two spots with her vigilante thriller The Brave One which fell 45% to an estimated $7.4M in its second weekend. The Warner Bros. release has grossed $25.1M in ten days and should reach the vicinity of $44M, or a little less than half of the grosses of the last starring roles for the actress - $89.7M for Flightplan and $95.3M for Panic Room. The Lionsgate Western 3:10 to Yuma continued to have good legs easing only 29% to an estimated $6.4M for a 17-day cume of $37.9M.

The mob thriller Eastern Promises starring Viggo Mortensen expanded into nationwide release and jumped into fifth place with an estimated $5.7M. Widening from 15 to 1,404 venues, the Focus title averaged a respectable $4,093 per site. Eastern did not show the same strength as director David Cronenberg's last film A History of Violence (another Viggo pic that opened limited in September) which grossed $8.1M and averaged $6,047 when it expanded nationally in its sophomore frame two years ago. Cume for Eastern stands at $6.5M.

Stumbling into sixth place was the new Amanda Bynes teen comedy Sydney White which bowed to an estimated $5.3M from 2,104 locations for a weak $2,530 average. The Universal release sets the classic Snow White story on a modern-day college campus and attracted half the business of Bynes' last comedy She's the Man (an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night) which opened to $10.7M in March 2006. Sydney skewed to a young female audience, as expected.

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(1-20 of 25 posts) | Reply

Albert644 writes:
on Sep 23 2007 01:22 PM

Eastern promises rocked. Too bad more people didn't go see it.

(Reply to this)

Steve Perry writes:
on Sep 23 2007 01:40 PM

I really want to see eastern promises, but I don't know where its playing in my home state of vermont. I'm sure within another month my town's tre-plex will get it which it always does with most movies that aren't big blockbusters.

(Reply to this)

Steve Perry writes:
on Sep 23 2007 01:42 PM

I really want to see eastern promises, but I don't know where its playing in my home state of vermont. I'm sure within another month my town's tre-plex will get it which it always does with most movies that aren't big blockbusters.

(Reply to this)

CoUcH ToMaToE DoUgIe writes:
on Sep 23 2007 02:00 PM

i agree, eastern promises to have an impact on this year's oscar race

and someone give viggo, a best male acting perfomance bid, please. long live king aragon

and oh yeah keep on chugging 3:10 to yuma. bale, crowe and viggo - best acting nods

or else.... i'll make the oscar guys watch dane cook's next movie. jeezus, he's a

disgrace, please folks go see real actors in real movies like that resident evil movie;)

just kidding, that pile of crap as well.

(Reply to this)

dylan21484nj writes:
on Sep 23 2007 02:28 PM

i guess i shouldn't be surprised that RE: Extinction was #1. if Norbit can be #1 in the nation, then it proves people will see ANYTHING. and i guess horrible reviews for the first two movies isn't enough to keep moviegoers away when they can see some mindless action and Milla's tiny tits yet again.

(Reply to this)

look_how_he's_standin writes:
on Sep 23 2007 02:38 PM

You said Bourne Ultimatum was the only one out of seven other threequels to have the biggest opening... What about Spider-Man 3's $150 mil opening? That was bigger than the first two.

(Reply to this)

look_how_he's_standin writes:
on Sep 23 2007 02:50 PM

Oh, and Shrek 3 also had a bigger oppening than its first two installments.

(Reply to this)

hewpot writes:
on Sep 23 2007 03:43 PM

no douche, not opening, overall the previous spider-mans earned more money at the box office then spider-man three, the guy is saying that resident evil is on its way to gain more money than re1 and re2, dumbass retard

(Reply to this)

hewpot writes:
on Sep 23 2007 03:45 PM

no douche, not opening, overall the previous spider-mans earned more money at the box office then spider-man three, the guy is saying that resident evil is on its way to gain more money than re1 and re2, dumbass retard

(Reply to this)

big papa smurf writes:
on Sep 23 2007 04:59 PM

I was shocked to see a line up for Good Luck Chuck, I mean I new a bunch of people would go see it but to actually care enough to line up for it, wow thats sad to see. Eastern Promises though was just as you would expect.

(Reply to this)

haelohm writes:
on Sep 23 2007 05:44 PM

In reply to this comment (#1142875)
actually no the writer of the report said this: "In a world where third parts rarely enjoy the *biggest OPENING in a series* (The Bourne Ultimatum is the only other of this year's seven threequels to do so..." so yeah whos the douche?

(Reply to this)

wordweaver writes:
on Sep 23 2007 06:07 PM

so happy because Good Luck Chuck is tanking even after all the money spent on commercials and advertisements. Jessica alba can be hot but she is a bad actress. Look at the mess she did in Fantastic Four with her lazy presence onscreen uggggh...need I say more?

(Reply to this)

~*Admiral Snowstorm*~ writes:
on Sep 23 2007 06:19 PM

You guys can rage at Resident Evil's success all you want, but think of it this way: Would you rather have Good Luck Chuck open at #1? There is only one real answer to that question. Resident Evil may not be the next Night of the Living Dead, but it's a sight better than Good Luck Chuck.

(Reply to this)

Mikead writes:
on Sep 23 2007 06:25 PM

3:10 To Yuma is the best film to open this month. A "crackerjack" of a movie. One of the best weaterns ever made. Obviously word-of-mouth is working for it!

(Reply to this)

Novastar. writes:
on Sep 23 2007 06:46 PM

They need to change the title in good luck viewers.

(Reply to this)

CoUcH ToMaToE DoUgIe writes:
on Sep 23 2007 10:39 PM

In reply to this comment (#1143458)
bawa haahaha!! good one novastar. i think we all know anything staring

dane cook is bonafide bad luck. oh poor jessica alba, was it worth it honey? are u

ever going to make a good movie? besides sin city, and that really wasn't your acting

that we remember;) seriously good joke, nova.

(Reply to this)

CoUcH ToMaToE DoUgIe writes:
on Sep 23 2007 10:41 PM

In reply to this comment (#1143334)
agreed, Mikead! 3:10 is the hottest ticket this fall and long live westerns

hope, pitt's movie doesn't derail its momentum! bale, crowe- give them boys a best

acting nod, will you academy bastards, pleasssse!!!

(Reply to this)

Muddler writes:
on Sep 24 2007 08:47 AM

These numbers make me sad, although I understand where they come from - these two movies are the new releases targeted at teenagers.

Still, I find it terrible that major studios insist on releasing junk targeted to teens. Why not create GOOD movies for teens? They can still have all the action, T&A, and gross jokes you could imagine, but they'd be GOOD.

Instead, we get two of the worst movies of the year in the top spots. None of the RE movies have been any good. Dane Cook is not funny folks, and his movies have been god awful. Alba? She's in the movie biz for one reason - T&A. With the possible exception of Sin City, her movies stink to high heaven. Studio execs want her in films because teenage boys want her in spandex. That's it.

(Reply to this)

LEGENDc writes:
on Sep 24 2007 10:37 AM

Eastern Promises was great, Oscars I dont think so. I hope Cronenberg can keep popping them out each year that would be really nice. BathHouse fight I cant wait to see again, to me it was alot like History of Violence, basic story not to much stuff happening but when it does oh my....

(Reply to this)

LEGENDc writes:
on Sep 24 2007 10:41 AM

Eastern Promises was great, Oscars I dont think so. I hope Cronenberg can keep popping them out each year that would be really nice. BathHouse fight I cant wait to see again, to me it was alot like History of Violence, basic story not to much stuff happening but when it does oh my....

(Reply to this)

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