Jumping into the top ten was the musical film Across the Universe which grossed an estimated $2.1M from only 339 theaters for a solid $6,047 average. Sony widened the release slightly from 276 locations and will continue to expand in the weeks ahead. Universe has banked $5.5M to date in limited release.
Two films from acclaimed directors enjoyed sizzling platform debuts in New York City this weekend. Fox Searchlight's Wes Anderson pic The Darjeeling Limited debuted on Saturday and grossed an estimated $140,000 from only two theaters for a powerful two-day average of $70,000. The distrib will add 17 more theaters in six additional markets on Friday. Ang Lee, the first non-white man to win the Oscar for Best Director, debuted his latest film Lust, Caution in one Manhattan location and was greeted with an estimated $62,000. Focus will expand the NC-17 film throughout October.
Among arthouse titles expanding, Sean Penn's Into the Wild grossed an estimated $669,000 from 33 sites for a sturdy $20,271 average for Paramount Vantage. Warner Bros. averaged $18,400 with its Brad Pitt-Casey Affleck period saga The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford which took in an estimated $92,000 from five theaters dipping 38%. Not as lucky as it widened was the Tommy Lee Jones drama In the Valley of Elah which brought in an estimated $1.5M from 762 locations for a weak $2,008 average. Cume is $3.5M for Warner Independent.
Dead on arrival in wide release was the ensemble drama Feast of Love with Morgan Freeman. The MGM release opened to an estimated $1.8M from 1,200 playdates for a dismal $1,462 average.
Three movies fell out of the top ten over the weekend. Universal's smash actioner The Bourne Ultimatum dropped 39% to an estimated $1.7M for a superb $222.8M domestic total. The Matt Damon hit is the year's only threequel to surpass the grosses of both of its two predecessors. A final North American gross of around $229M should result. Overseas, Ultimatum has also overpowered the two prior Bourne pics with its international gross of $161.7M putting the global gross at a stellar $384.5M.
The smash teen comedy Superbad dropped 47% to an estimated $1.7M boosting the cume to an amazing $118.9M. Sony should end up with roughly $123M. On the other hand, Freestyle Releasing has captured a mere $10M with its fantasy adventure Dragon Wars which is fading fast and should conclude with only $12M.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $73.2M which was down 13% from last
year when Open Season
debuted in first place with $23.6M; but up 3% from 2005 when
Flightplan stayed
in the top spot with $14.8M.
Author: Gitesh Pandya,
www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
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(1-10 of 10 posts) | Reply
 on Sep 30 2007 06:29 PM Ouch for Eastern Promises. Shame about the drop. On the other hand, WOW for darjeeling. Looks like Linited release is where it`s at right now. (Reply to this) |
 on Oct 01 2007 01:55 AM I don't want to sound like an ***, but limited releases with name talent like Darjeeling always do well before they expand. They premiere at theaters where people care most, in Los Angeles venues like the Arclight or the Grove, or in New York. If Darjeeling debuted to ten theaters in the midwest, it would have taken in about $20 total this weekend. (Reply to this) |
 on Oct 01 2007 06:26 AM ..I just can't help but feel righteously pissed-off on behalf of cast'n'crew of 'Kingdom' and movies like it. You burn yourself to a crisp in an alien and potentially hostile environment (to my knowledge, actually filmed on location for a good part of movie) shooting some emotionally wrecking scenes, trying to make some sort or artistic sense out of current events, and then you get to see f#cking 'GAME PLAN' kick your *** at the box office. And people wonder how Bush got re-elected... Oh, and I'm well aware of differing markets, by the way. I have nothing against kids movies, just tired, hackneyed, used-a-couple-billion-times plots. (Reply to this) |
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on Oct 01 2007 09:56 AM In reply to this comment (#1160212) You are correct on this. I am a manager for a movie theatre in Manhattan, New York City and we opened with Darjeeling Limited and were selling out all day but if this movie came out wide release it wouldn't have done so well. Limited Release movies always do well the first weekend they are open and usually movie companies use this to their advantage to try and help it build buzz by showing it had sold out shows and it makes people think, who don't know it is only playing in a couple of theatres, that it must be that good if shows are being sold out. (Reply to this) |
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on Oct 01 2007 10:30 AM Go see The Assassination of Jesse James... if it's playing near you. That movie was fantastic. My favorite film this year so far. (Reply to this) |
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on Oct 01 2007 12:08 PM The Kingdom The 50 Ga-jillion movies coming out that are just like it=Blatant exploitation! Is there something wrong with that? Not really... maybe a little, but this is how Hollywood has always run when there's a war about. Personally, I'm happy to see a good ol' fashioned Disney movie lay the smack down on Jamie Fox's smug face. (Reply to this) |
 on Oct 01 2007 01:16 PM There is nothing "good ol' fashioned" about The Game Plan. Nothing at all. (Reply to this) |
 on Oct 01 2007 02:19 PM I'd rather see just about any other movie out right now beat The Kingdom than The Game Plan, which fully deserved to be have been direct-to-DVD. (Reply to this) |
 on Oct 01 2007 04:10 PM Well, when you think about it, Dad's and Mom's adult ticket plus a couple of the tike's child tickets brings in a lot more money than a couple of gung-ho action-craved 18 yr old guys. Smart move by Disney to stratgicly open it is weekend. (Reply to this) |
 on Oct 02 2007 03:39 AM Very nice to see a lot of independent movies doing well. Hopefully the keep expanding as I want to see the bulk of the one's that are mentioned. Very nice to hear that you liked Jesse James so much arendr, I'm really looking forward to seeing it. I did watch Feast of Love this weekend(C ), which could have been better. And In the Valley of Elah which was solid but tried to have more of a lasting effect than it did(B). (Reply to this) |
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