The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and check back on Monday for final figures based on actual box office.
The easy victor for the weekend was the action threequel Resident Evil: Exctinction (Sony/Screen Gems) which grossed an estimated $24 million in 2,800 theatres, exceeding the opening of its predecessor Resident Evil: Apocalypse three years ago in 400 fewer theaters, with an average of $8,400 per theatre. It's likely to end up just outside the Top 5 of September openers.
Lionsgate's latest comedy Good Luck Chuck, starring Dane Cook and Jessica Alba, did better than last year's Employee of the Month despite its R-rating, grossing an estimated $13.8 million its opening weekend, with an equally impressive average of $5,300 per theatre in second place.
Amanda Bynes suffered her first box office bomb with the comedy Sydney White (Universal), which grossed an estimated $5.3 million its opening weekend, barely half the opening of her last two comedies, to wind up in sixth place.
Jodie Foster's The Brave One (Warner Bros) dropped 45% in its second weekend, adding $7.5 million to its cumulative gross of $25.1 million. James Mangold's Western 3:10 to Yuma (Lionsgate) added 200 more theaters on Friday, and had the smallest drop in the Top 10, down 29% from last week with $6.3 million for fourth place. In its first three weekends, the Russell Crowe-Christian Bale film has grossed $38 million.
After a strong opening in limited release, David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises (Focus Features) expanded into 1,404 theaters on Friday in a similar move as his 2005 hit thriller A History of Violence, settling for fifth place with $5.7 million.
Dropping four places to #7, the Billy Bob Thornton comedy Mr. Woodcock (New Line) grossed just under $5 million in its second weekend, a 43% drop, bringing its gross to $14.7 million.
The Korean monster movie Dragon Wars (Freestyle Releasing) rounded out the Top 10 with $2.5 million, a 50% drop from its opening weekend, while Julie Taymor's Across the Universe (Sony) expanded into 276 theaters in its second weekend, where it grossed $2 million. Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah (Warner Independent) expanded into over 300 theaters but ended up making just $1.3 million in its own second weekend.
Opening in four theaters in New York and L.A., Sean Penn's adaptation of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild (Paramount Vantage), starring Emil Hirsch, grossed $207 thousand, an impressive per-theater average of nearly $52,000, which points to a strong possibility for expansion when it goes wide on October 12.
The critically-lauded Western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Warner Bros), starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, grossed $144 thousand in one more theatre in New York and L.A, averaging less than $30,000 per theatre. Opening in 25 theaters, The Jane Austen Book Club, also based on a popular book, grossed $161 thousand, a less impressive average of $6,400 per theatre.
The gross for the Top 10 was down 2% from the same period last year.
