It was the third strongest box office weekend of the year, and that’s coming on the heels of the strongest weekend in the last 16 months. So it looks like people are hungry for films, even if they aren’t necessarily quality efforts.
#1 movie predicted correctly: 5 Weeks In A Row
Alert commenter Nick put a $41.7m call on the board on Friday morning, a very nice prognostication. It looks as though New Moon was even more frontloaded than Twilight, this fell over 70 percent. Still, it will hit $400m with ease, and as Eli pointed out – when a film passes that 2.5x its production budget threshold we finally consider it profitable.
Result: 42.5 million (My rank: #1, $18.5m off)
Wow. It pulled off an old school trick, gaining 17.6 percent in its second weekend. Very well timed to coincide with the Thanksgiving holiday, where family films bank.
Result: 40.1 million (My rank: #3, $27.0m off)
3. 2012
I was too bearish on this weekend. My mistake was not looking at last year’s Turkey Day numbers, which were quite good against the weekend prior. This weekend’s top twelve cleared $175m, so I was quite light.
Result: 18.0 million (My rank: #4, $6.0m off)
4. Old Dogs
Wild Hogs opened around $40m, so the reviews and lack of innovation probably scared folks away.
Result: 16.8 million (My rank: #2, $6.2m off)
This gained 30 percent too, clearly audiences felt it was family holiday appropriate — though I wonder how they felt after actually seeing it. Regardless, Disney needed it, and the movie finally went over $100m domestically this weekend.
Result: 16.0 million (My rank: #8, $9.8m off)
As optimally as Blind Side was timed, that’s how poorly Ninja Assassin was positioned. It should have been scheduled for July or October.
Result: 13.1 million (My rank: #5, $1.8m off)
7. Planet 51
Are you seeing a trend yet? You and I could have released a children’s film this week that did relatively well.
Result: 10.2 million (My rank: #9, $4.3m off)
JM was right, they are releasing this one on the Slumdog Millionaire schedule. And it seems to be working so far.
Result: 7.0 million (My rank: #7, $.6m off)
I implore you to see this movie unless you absolutely hate Wes Anderson. It’s a charming little stop-motion, great for kids and adults. C’mon, give it a try. For me.
Result: 7.0 million (My rank: #6, $3.4m off)
The Road is only $10k back of the top ten on the predictions, I’m hoping the actuals save my prediction.
Result: 1.5 million (My rank: Not Ranked)
How say you? Surprised by the 70 percent drop? Flabbergasted by Blind Side almost taking it? Will you, or did you, go see Fantastic Mr. Fox? Let me have it in the comment section below.
