OPENINGS: ZERO DARK THIRTY (Sony) expanded to coincide with its Oscar nominations, and the strategy worked as planned, with the acclaimed (and, in some circles, attacked) drama easily carrying Friday with $9M, on its way to $25-27M for the weekend.
It’s a massive embarrassment for GANGSTER SQUAD (Warners) that it was beaten by the low-rent parody A HAUNTED HOUSE (Open Road) on Friday, even if the margin was just $35,000 (both rounded up to $6.7M), and even though Haunted will almost certainly turn out to be more front-loaded and will fade to 3rd place over the course of the weekend. Nevertheless: Gangster Squad cost a reported $75M, and it’s not clear if that included the cost of extensive post-Aurora reshoots (it definitely doesn’t include marketing), while Haunted House reportedly cost $2.5M, so anything that looks like a tie between them is a big win for the underdog.
HOLDOVERS: The Oscar nominations only paid off in a big way for a couple of the major nominees. LINCOLN (Disney/DreamWorks/20th) looks more unassailable than ever, up 15% from last Friday (it did increase its theater count by 5%) to what should be a $6M weekend and a running total over $150M, with weeks of Oscar play in store that should take it to $175M. SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (Weinstein) gave this weekend to Zero Dark Thirty, holding its long-awaited national expansion for one more week (although it did add 10% more theaters this week), and it was up an impressive 36% over last Friday, ready to go over $40M by the end of the weekend.
Other nominees were more subdued. LES MISERABLES (Universal) and DJANGO UNCHAINED (Weinstein/Sony) were both down 44% for the day, a particular blow for Les Miz, which all along was counting on Oscar nominations to rouse a broader audience. LIFE OF PI (20th) was down 20% from last Friday, although (oddly) it also dropped about 20% of its theaters this weekend. An attempt to stir up memories for ARGO by doubling its theater count to 621 didn’t yield much, with a likely $1M weekend.
The remaining holiday movies are cooling down. THE HOBBIT: AN EXPECTED JOURNEY (Warners/MGM) fell 55% from last Friday, and will have a hard time making its way to a $300M US total (although it’s far bigger overseas). PARENTAL GUIDANCE (20th), JACK REACHER (Paramount) and THIS IS 40 (Universal) are all likely to fall around 45% for the weekend, all headed for $70-80M totals. which will be quite good for the first, a disappointment for the second, and OK for the third.
Oh, and TEXAS CHAINSAW (Lionsgate) inevitably faced slaughter in its second weekend, down about 70% for a total that won’t be much over $40M, although that’s enough that the various producers and rightsholders are already fighting over who has the right to produce a(nother) sequel.
LIMITED RELEASE: Dustin Hoffman’s QUARTET (Weinstein) made its nomination-less return to release after an unsuccessful qualification run in December, and should have a decent $20K average in 2 NY/LA opera houses. A flat-out rave in the NY Times for the little indie FAIRHAVEN (Dada) yielded nothing, as the picture will probably only have a $2500 average at 2 theatres.
NEXT WEEKEND: The long Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend is bringing several arrivals, including the thriller BROKEN CITY (20th) with Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta-Jones, horror movie MAMA (Universal) starring Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain, and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first post-gubernatorial starring role in THE LAST STAND (Lionsgate). In addition, as mentioned, Silver Linings Playbook will finally expand to wide release.
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