Weekend Box Office: Go Wild Things!
By Mali Elfman
Apparently your childhood curiosity is still enough to get you to the movies. Where the Wild Things Are has swooped in at number one and set a new record for the best opening for a live-action PG rated film. Some people are saying that it’s not the film they expected it to be, which may effect its sales in the long run, although in my opinion the film was perfect in it’s ability to follow through with one solid idea well, which few films are able to do. Whether or not people were satisfied will be seen in the weeks to come, but for the moment, lets bow to the Wild Thing King.
Another amazing feet was the little horror that could, Paranormal Activity. Last week it jumped from 33rd to 4th and now with the the power of viral marketing, it’s been able to rise again to number 3. Could it keep coming? It certainly proves that internet buzz works, despite reviews. It’s managed to expanded to 760 theaters in its fourth weekend just by people demanding it and each week has had a 155% increase in profit. Not bad.
Check the numbers below…
- Where the Wild Things Are | New | Weekend Gross $32,470,000 | Average per Theater $8,693 | Total Gross $32,470,000 | Production Cost $100 | Week 1
- Law Abiding Citizen | New| Weekend Gross $21,250,000| Average per Theater $7,353 | Total Gross $21,250,000 | Production Cost $50 | Week 1
- Paranormal Activity | LW 4 | Weekend Gross $20,163,000| Average per Theater $26,530 | Total Gross $33,717,000 | Week 4
- Couples Retreat | LW 1 | Weekend Gross $17,949,000| Average per Theater $5,965 | Total Gross $63,339,000 | Production Cost $70 | Week 2
- The Stepfather (2009) | New | Weekend Gross $12,300,000 | Average per Theater $4,499 | Total Gross $12,300,000 | Production Cost $20 | Week 1
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | LW 3 | Weekend Gross $8,100,000 | Average per Theater $2,667 | Total Gross $108,284,000 $100 | Week 5
- Zombieland |LW 2 | Weekend Gross $7,800,000 | Average per Theater $2,460 | Total Gross $60,823,000 | Production Cost $23.6 | Week 3
- Toy Story / Toy Story 2 (3D) | LW 5 | Weekend Gross $3,011,000 | Average per Theater $2,022 | Total Gross $28,594,000 | Week 3
- Surrogates | LW 9 | Weekend Gross $1,922,000 | Average per Theater $826 | Total Gross $36,332,000 | Production Cost $80 | Week 4
- The Invention of Lying | LW 7 | Weekend Gross $1,905,000 | Average per Theater $1,173 | Total Gross $15,495,000 | Production Cost $18.5 | Week 3
On the the ‘fail boat’ front we have, Surrogates which I’m guessing that with an $80 million budget and Bruce Willis in an action film, they were hoping for a bit more. Seeing as in it’s third week and it’s almost off the charts and not even half way back to making what it spent, I think someones pounding their head against a wall as we speak. We also have Couples Retreat, which has dipped 48% since last week, although they’ve already made so much opening weekend due to their marketing campaign, that I doubt anyone is hurting. At this point it looks like all signs all point to sequel.
Although it’s not big news, Cloudy and Zombieland did take a bit of a hit due to the newcomers, although they’ve still managed to hold tight and put in solid numbers (rightfully so) for their 3rd and 5th week in theaters.
What do you think about this weeks numbers? What did you pay to see? Was Where the Wild Things Are all you hoped for?
Monday, October 19, 2009 9:13AM
[...] that the weekend has come and gone, it’s time for the moment of truth. As we noted in our weekend box office post, Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are came in at number one with moviegoers trampling the [...]