Weekend Box Office 8/14 - EXPENDABLES #1, PILGRIM Bombs

[AndyDursin]

http://www.deadline.com/2010/08/first-b ... rim-5m12m/

1. The Expendables (Lionsgate) NEW [3,270 Theaters]
Friday $13.5M, Estimated Weekend $34M

Friday's grosses include a little Thursday midnight money. But even when The Expendables came on tracking, it looked big. And the timing couldn't have been better what with Lionsgate getting beaten up by Carl Icahn on a daily basis, and Sylvester Stallone needing a fresh hit in his dotage. Kudos to Sly for coming up with such an irresistible concept directing and starring with today's and yesteryear's action heroes like Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and even Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger (for nanoseconds in cameos). "Are The Expendables wearing Dependables?" one rival studio exec snarked in an email to me. Still, it's the kind of old school camp that the action box office needs.

Hollywood was predicting at the very least $30+M for the pic despite being R-rated and only 2D. But it's helped by a short running time of only 1 hour, 43 minutes. And maybe that hilarious Comic-Con: 'The Expendables' Panel made some difference. The marketing all along was fresh and funny, mostly because Stallone wasn't afraid to make fun of his image. The older male crowd was the leader for unaided awareness, awareness, definite interest, as well as choice. Young males followed closely behind in all categories with older females actually registering in all categories as well. Though at significantly lower levels.

2. Eat Pray Love (Sony) NEW [3,082 Theaters]
Friday $9M, Estimated Weekend $26.5M

If older males flocked to Sly, then older females embraced Eat Pray Love even with its has-been star Julia Roberts (remember, she couldn't open Duplicity with co-star Clive Owen) in this music video of a film directed by Glee's Ryan Murphy and based on the treacly bestseller by Elizabeth Gilbert. Which is why Paramount was right to pass on what looked like a one-quadrant loser. (Paramount vs Sony On 'Eat Pray Love') Really, I hoped women had better taste in movies than this. "At only 37% [positive reviews] on Rotten Tomatoes, they better hurry up and pray that it doesn’t leave their favorite multiplex too fast,' one rival studio exec emailed me. Make no mistake: the only reason this pic made any opening weekend coin was because of the brilliant job done once again by Sony's marketing team of Jeff Blake, Marc Weinstock, and this time George Leon and his 72-hour EPL weekend extravaganza on HSN. The studio's expensive and omnipresent ads and promotions drove box office among women. "Whether they were in theaters, online, watching television, listening to radio, or shopping in their favorite malls and stores, they saw our campaign," a Sony exec gushed. Shame on this studio co-run by a female for selling the pic's self-discovery prattle by pushing women to purchase crap like lotus petal necklaces.

3. The Other Guys (Sony) Week 2 [3,651 Theaters]
Friday $5.7M (-56%), Estimated Weekend $17.2M, Estimated Cume $70M

4. Scott Pilgrim vs The World (Universal) NEW [2,818 Theaters]
Friday $4.7M, Estimated Weekend $11M)

This odd but innovative movie is yet another greenlight from the fired Mark Shmuger at Universal. He's the gift that keeps on giving the studio expensive underperformers. Yet the current regime embraced Scott Pilgrim vs The World as a counterprogramming maneuver this weekend even though they knew auteur filmmaker Edgar Wright's $60M budgeted envelope pusher wouldn't open or earn out. But that's only because it got great reviews (which moviegoers under 25 rarely read). Uni tried to hype the genre-bending pic as too cool for the room and claim it didn't know if Scott Pilgrim would make $5M or $15M this weekend. But the pic will do exactly what Uni execs predicted to me it would. A pittance.

5. Inception (Warner Bros) Week 5 [3,120 Theaters]
Friday $3.4M (-38%), Estimated Weekend $11.5M, Estimated Cume $248.6M

6. Step Up 3D (Disney/Summit) Week 2 [2,439 Theaters]
Friday $2.3M (-65%), Estimated Weekend $6.5M, Estimated Cume $29.5M

7. Despicable Me (Universal) Week 6 [2,923 Theaters]
Friday $2.3M (-16%), Estimated Weekend $7.8M, Estimated Cume $223M

8. Dinner For Schmucks (DW/Spyglass/Paramount) Week 3 [3,046 Theaters]
Friday $2M (-40%), Estimated Weekend $6.5M, Estimated Cume $59M

9. Salt (Sony) Week 4 [2,834 Theaters]
Friday $1.8M (-43%), Estimated Weekend $6.5M, Estimated Cume $103.7M

10. Cats & Dogs 2: Kitty Galore (Warner Bros) Week 3 [2,728 Theaters]
Friday $1.7M (-20%), Estimated Weekend $5.5M, Estimated Cume $36.5M

[Eric W.]

Expendables is an easy, fun crowd pleaser. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

[AndyDursin]

I hope so. Got a lot of bad reviews, but I'll get to it sooner than later I hope.

[Paul MacLean]

The trailer for the "offbeat" and "innovative" Scott Pilgrim vs. The World looks like a episode of Parker Lewis Can't Lose. (But I guess kids don't know that.)

[Monterey Jack]

A shame Scott Pilgrim is underperforming, because I thought it was an abslolute gas, one of the best movies I've seen this summer (granted, it's been a poor summer). Just inventive, visually stunning, funny, and all-around a great time. Then again, as a MAJOR Nintendo geek in the late 80's, this movie is speaking my language fluently. Plus, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is easy on the eyes.

[AndyDursin]

Just got back from EXPENDABLES. Loved it! (so did Joanne, surprisingly).

Could have used a bit more development and less shaky cam, but it executed just as I thought it would

[AndyDursin]

Official estimates...

1 N The Expendables LGF $35,030,000 - 3,270 - $10,713 $35,030,000 - 1
2 N Eat Pray Love Sony $23,700,000 - 3,082 - $7,690 $23,700,000 $60 1
3 1 The Other Guys Sony $18,000,000 -49.4% 3,651 - $4,930 $70,543,000 $100 2
4 2 Inception WB $11,370,000 -38.6% 3,120 -298 $3,644 $248,554,000 $160 5
5 N Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Uni. $10,525,000 - 2,818 - $3,735 $10,525,000 $60 1
6 6 Despicable Me Uni. $6,767,000 -27.1% 2,923 -490 $2,315 $221,993,000 $69 6

7 3 Step Up 3-D BV $6,626,000 -58.1% 2,439 +4 $2,717 $29,565,000 $30 2
8 4 Salt Sony $6,350,000 -41.8% 2,834 -483 $2,241 $103,569,000 $110 4
9 5 Dinner for Schmucks P/DW $6,316,000 -39.1% 3,046 +42 $2,074 $58,816,000 $69 3
10 7 Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore WB $4,075,000 -41.0% 2,728 -977 $1,494 $35,104,000 $85 3
11 9 Toy Story 3 BV $2,165,000 -30.6% 1,219 -495 $1,776 $400,767,000 $200 9
12 8 Charlie St. Cloud Uni. $2,083,000 -55.7% 2,083 -642 $1,000 $28,728,000 $44 3

[AndyDursin]

A shame Scott Pilgrim is underperforming, because I thought it was an abslolute gas, one of the best movies I've seen this summer (granted, it's been a poor summer). Just inventive, visually stunning, funny, and all-around a great time. Then again, as a MAJOR Nintendo geek in the late 80's, this movie is speaking my language fluently. Plus, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is easy on the eyes.

I'm into all of that also MJ (the NES and Winstead part in particular), but truthfully I would have been a lot more excited about Scott Pilgrim had Michael "I act the same in every movie I've ever been in" Cera not been cast as the lead. Seriously, I'm so tired of Cera's nebbish act -- his voice, mannerisms, reactions...I think I've seen everything he has to offer as a performer by this point so when he pops up in a movie like this (or, any movie for that matter), I can't say it's a selling point. (Also can't have helped that Brandon Routh was in the movie too, lol.

I will check it out, and I believe you that it's good, btw, though I did find Wright's prior movies (especially Hot Fuzz) both overlong and overrated.

Alas it's one more box-office bomb that was greenlit by the Universal honcho who's since been fired (his other flops included GREEN ZONE, REPO MEN, LAND OF THE LOST, etc.).

[Monterey Jack]

Both Cera and Routh are surprisingly good in Scott Pilgrim (and even if you hate Routh, he's in the movie for, like, five minutes). I don't really get the "Cera acts the same in every movie!" complaints when he's been in, what, five or six movies? Plus, most of the cinema icons of the past just played variations on the same persona for decades on end (hello, Woody Allen!) without anyone complaining. The dude's, like, 23 years old, cut him some slack. His nebbish persona actually works perfectly in this particular story, and he convincingly "mans up" by the end to truly earn Winstead's affections. Plus, the supporting cast is to die for (Kierian Culkin steals every scene he's in). It may be a bomb, but I predict a long and prosperous cult following in the years to come, pretty much like Wright's previous movies (which didn't excatly set the U.S. box office on fire).

[AndyDursin]

I don't really get the "Cera acts the same in every movie!" complaints when he's been in, what, five or six movies? Plus, most of the cinema icons of the past just played variations on the same persona for decades on end (hello, Woody Allen!) without anyone complaining.

The problem with that argument is that other established stars who play "variations on the same persona" were actually, umm, interesting, charming and/or charismatic at some point early on -- Michael Cera has, for me anyway, never projected any of that.

(and even if you hate Routh, he's in the movie for, like, five minutes).

I don't hate Routh (though I did hate his Semi-Man of Steel movie). I was more teasing the fact he was in it -- at this point the guy's movies are becoming Kryptonite to his own career, lol.