Horror Clash Leads to Record Weekend
The head-to-head between The Final Destination and Halloween II, led to a record weekend at the box office, even if one of the combatants came off worse in the fight. Bringing back former stuntman David R Ellis, director of the best of the series, Final Destination 2 (as well as Snakes on a Plane), paid off, as The Final Destination pulled in a creditable $28.3 million, giving it the largest opening weekend of the franchise so far (number three pulled in $19.2 million). 70% of the take came from cinemas presenting the film in 3D, with the usual extra cost for the glasses – a shame this practice continues to pay off for studios.
Trailing behind Tarantin’s Inglourious Basterds (down 47% to $20 million), Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, took $17.4 million (down from Halloween’s $26.4 million), not surprising, given the slight regard among fans for Zombie's remake and, it seems, a dwindling puddle of love for Zombie as a film maker in general. Neill Blomkamp’s $30 million District 9 held its own at number four, with $10.7 million (for a total of $90.8 million in 17 days), and Stephen Sommer’s GI Joe: The Rise of the Cobra, continues to mystify with a weekend take of $8 million, giving it a total of $132.4 million in 24 days.
At number seven (behind Julie & Julia), Robert Schwentke’s The Time Traveler’s Wife dropped 31%, with $6.75 million (total: $48.2 million), and at eight, Robert Rodriguez’s poorly received fantasy Shorts beat out Ang Lee's new release Taking Woodstock, with $4.87 million, for a two week total of $13.5 million – Rodriguez has refused to reveal the budget, but this is likely not a bad result given his lean working methods.
At number 10, visual effects man Hoyt Yeatman’s G-Force took $2.84 million ($111.8 million total after six weeks), and at 11, David Yates’ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince took $2.6 million, making it the second-highest grossing of the Potter movies, with $294.4 million in 47 days (though the fact that it's only fifth in terms of bums on seats, indicates that the controversial ending – changed significantly from the book – may have taken a toll).
Miyazaki's Ponyo (Gake no ue no Ponyo) sits at number 13 this weekend, with $1.95 million, having taken $11.1 million in three weeks. Meanwhile Sophie Barthes’ glowingly reviewed Cold Souls, starring Paul Giamatti, seems unlikely to cross over from the art house, dropping 10 screens to 40, and taking only $100,000, down 16.9%, for a four week total of $479,000.
Overall, box office was up 32% from last year (when Tropic Thunder, in its third week, was the number one movie, and Babylon AD, Traitor, and Disaster Movie, were the disappointing new releases), and is the highest ever for the last weekend in August.
Info from boxofficemojo.com and IMdB.com
