Weekend Box Office 10/3 - LET ME IN Bombs, SOCIAL NETWORK ok

[AndyDursin]

Not a great opening weekend for THE SOCIAL NETWORK compared to expectations -- listen, all the great reviews in the world still can't make people get overly excited about a movie about FACEBOOK. (Yes I realize it's really about "so much more," but it's still a movie about Facebook!).

Then again it's better than LET ME IN, which again, despite great reviews, absolutely tanked. At least we had Brian from GHOST HUNTERS seated behind us, which gave the movie a bit of added atmosphere I guess you could say -- but I was disappointed in the picture all told. The original was so much more.



1. The Social Network (Sony) NEW [2,771 Theaters]
Friday $8M, Estimated Weekend $24M

It's never been in doubt that this movie would be a success for Sony and its co-financer Relativity since they claim to have kept its budget under $40M thanks to no stars and deferred compensations for the filmmakers. But was it over-hyped? "No matter where we open, I think we will play for a long time with excellent word of mouth," a Sony exec boasted to me. "For a film skewed towards adults this time of year, $20M is our bar and would be a fantastic start." But Hollywood expected $25M and, depending on West Coast late shows, the grosses are right in that range -- $8M Friday (including $350K in post-midnight showings) and an estimated $24M this weekend. Still, I'm surprised box office isn't even better despite its middling release -- like $30+M given its obvious Facebook/My Space/Twitter effect. Too bad those Harvard pretenders in the pic didn't have more sex or dress better. And they're brooders without even being vampires. But, seriously, the reason may well lie in the film's elitism which may be keeping more mainstream audiences away. "Left coast, right coast, and a smidge of Chicago only. The rest of the country could care less," a rival studio exec pointed out the pic's attendance patterns to me late Friday.

2. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Fox) [3,597 Theaters]
Friday $3.2M (-53%), Estimated Weekend $10.2M, Estimated Cume $36M

A middling hold from what was a middling opening a week ago. Fox still thinks it skated.

3. The Town (Warner Bros) Week 3 [2,935 Theaters]
Friday $3.1M, Estimated Weekend $10M, Estimated Cume $64.3M

A very strong -38% hold going into its 3rd week in release bodes well for Ben Affleck's future as a director. And Warner Bros just offered him Superman to helm on Chris Nolan's suggestion. (But Affleck likely will turn it down.)

4. Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls (Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,575 Theaters]
Friday $2.6M (-42%), Estimated Weekend $9.7M, Estimated Cume $29M

Its opening weekend numbers didn't heat up audiences, but it's also cooling down nice and slow.

5. Easy A (Screen Gems/Sony) Week 3 [2,974 Theaters]
Friday $2.2M, Estimated Weekend $7.2M, Estimated Cume $42.5M

This cheap teen pic keeps holding around -36% which should mean a $55M-$60M domestic result.

6. Let Me In (Relativity/Overture] NEW [2,020 Theaters]
Friday $1.9M, Estimated Weekend $5.2M

This unnecessary vampire remake, based on the Swedish horror pic Let the Right One In, logged only a "C+" Cinemascore. That's quite an inauspicious start for Overture's first outing since the distribution operation was taken over by Relativity. But only publicity hound Ryan Kavanaugh would do a victory lap in the naive mainstream media this week before he knew how Let Me In would perform at the box office so as to avoid the tough questions afterwards. And judging from Friday's weak number and even weaker weekend estimate, despite the presence of Kick-Ass star Chloe Moretz, this is yet another stand-alone Relativity disaster area. Especially because film financing circles tell me the company will lose most of the P&A investment on the film. Fortunately for Relativity, its co-financing projects with Sony have fared best -- witness this weekend's The Social Network opening -- whereas too many of the co-productions with Universal have gone straight into the crapper recently.

7. Case 39 (Paramount) NEW [2,211 Theaters]
Friday $1.8M, Estmated Weekend $4.7M

This horror holdover from Paramount Vantage looks to have had a bite taken out of its female-driven horror audience by Let Me In despite logging a "B-" Cinemascore. Talk about a bizarre release pattern: Case 39 starring Renee Zellweger (remember back when she was a star?) with a bit part by Bradley Cooper (before he made The Hangover) was made back in 2006 when Brad Weston was president of production for Paramount. (That was two execs ago...) It had a moderate budget of $27 million. The studio opened the pic internationally and it did $17M overseas. Because it did reasonably well in Mexico and Spain, Paramount decided to release it now in the United States with a very targeted marketing campaign focusing on Hispanic audiences. But it looks like it will underperform even modest studio expectations of $6M-$8M.

8. You Again (Disney) Week 3 [2,548 Theaters]
Friday $1.7M (-37%), Estimated Weekend $5.7M, Estimated Cume $16.7M

9. Devil (Universal) Week 3 [,392 Theaters]
Friday $1.1M, Estimated Weekend $3.5M, Estimated Cume $27.2M

10. Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D (Week 4) [1,907 Theaters]
Friday $800K, Estimated Weekend $2.7M, Estimated Cume $56.5M

http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/first-b ... more-71896

[Eric W.]

I really didn't give the Facebook movie a second thought until I saw it was a Fincher movie, so what was behind it, and then I was really surprised to see all the glowing reviews for it.

I guess I'll catch it on home video at some point if I feel like it. Something tells me I'll never bother with it, though.

Not a great opening weekend for THE SOCIAL NETWORK compared to expectations -- listen, all the great reviews in the world still can't make people get overly excited about a movie about FACEBOOK. (Yes I realize it's really about "so much more," but it's still a movie about Facebook!).

Exactly.


I think this thing is benefiting in a major way from the continued pathetic lineup of movies week in and week out.

[AndyDursin]

I really didn't give the Facebook movie a second thought until I saw it was a Fincher movie, so what was behind it, and then I was really surprised to see all the glowing reviews for it.

It's a Fincher directed movie but Aaron Sorkin of THE WEST WING, etc. adapted it, so it's very much a "studio film" in every way. People seem to love it, though the subject matter initially like I said was not an interest of mine. We went with LET ME IN instead last night, might have made a mistake there but I will likely get out to SOCIAL NETWORK next Friday.

[Monterey Jack]

I found The Social Network to be pretty riveting, myself. And some of the most seamless "twin" special effects in movie history.

[mkaroly]

Being a Fincher fan, I'm excited about seeing THE SOCIAL NETWORK soon.

I'm glad CASE 39 is bombing...not a fan of Renee Zellweger at all.

[AndyDursin]

CASE 39 was shot in 2006 (!) and has been on the shelf for over 3 years at Paramount. It didn't do well, but I'm pretty sure they were not expecting it to. As it is, it likely took a sizable bite out of LET ME IN's audience. They nearly finished with identical grosses.