The Black Sheep Box Office report is back and fashionably late I'm afraid. Technical issues prevented me from getting this up yesterday but I thought I'd give it another go this morning and here we are. I'm pleased to be able to bring the box office reporting back this week because there is a lot going on at the multiplexes.
Oliver Stone returns with WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS at number one, giving Shia LaBeouf his sixth straight number one opener. Adult fare proves once again that it isn't dead yet but the sequel to the 1989 hit only registered a per screen average of $5.3K, less than the $5.6K of last week's champ, THE TOWN, which falls to third place ( or possibly second after the actual figures come in later today), with the smallest decline of any film in the Top 10. Number one is all about bragging rights though and that's all WALL STREET needed to look like a success.
Director Zach Snyder had to settle for second place with his first foray into animated film, LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS. To be honest, I don't even know what the rest of the title of this movie is. I do know it's long and ridiculous and it isn't the least bit surprising to me that this owl movie did not take off at the box office. It just looked so lifeless to me from the trailers. Sorry owls, you are not cool.
Owls, you are however cooler than Kristin Bell. Disney has been heavily promoting her comedy, YOU AGAIN, co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver but it would appear that discerning audiences were able to spot the rental in disguise. And with a fifth place finish like this one, it will be available to rent in no time.
A number of high profile art house films were released this week and succeeded to varying degrees. The biggest of the bunch was Davis Guggenheim's follow-up to his Academy Award winning documentary, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, WAITING FOR SUPERMAN, about the state of the American education system. The film pulled in an average of over $35K on just 4 screens. And with an impressive average of $27K on just 6 screens, Woody Allen's YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER makes it's debut. Allen is consistently bashed each time he releases a film for being washed up but yet his fans are clearly a loyal lot.
Documentary filmmakers, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Freidman try their hand at narrative film with the James Franco/Jon Hamm drama, HOWL, based on the poet Allan Ginsberg's indecency trial. It's $9K per screen average is solid but good word of mouth will be needed to help it's expansion. The same will be necessary for Rodrigo Cortes's BURIED, starring Ryan Reynolds. The genre picture opened to $9.5K on 11 screens and Lionsgate plans on going wide in a couple of weeks. Hopefully Reynolds's winning personality will help it play past the artsy crowd as they didn't jump at his man in a box trick.
Finally, in expansion news, Mark Romanek's NEVER LET ME GO, added 22 screens for a grand total of 26 and saw a 120% increase in ticket sales. Like BURIED, the pic goes wide in a couple of weeks and is hoping to build a quiet buzz to get there. And one of my favourite docs this year, CATFISH, also manages a successful second week expansion with an 83% increase after adding 45 screens. Don't miss it if it is playing in your hood.
NEXT WEEK: I told you there was a lot going on this week and next week is no different really. High profile films like the Matt Reeves remake, LET ME IN, bows on 2000 screens and Renee Zellwegger is back on 2000 screens with CASE 39. Before October scares us completely though, the supposed movie of the year, THE SOCIAL NETWORK hopes to make good on its hype on over 2700 screens.
Source: Box Office Mojo
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