Run to the box office, Shia!
In a surprise to no one, Eagle Eye, came in number one at the box office, posting a more than solid $29.2 million in ticket sales. The political thriller, starring Shia LaBeouf and directed by DJ Caruso, had the best opening of a movie since the summer ended. The movie’s audience split evenly between men and women and showed appeal to people of all ages. I am now officially the only person left in the world who does not get the Shia LaBeouf phenomena.
Nights in Rodanthe, the difficult to pronounce romance starring eternal fun couple Richard Gere and Diane Lane came in second with $13.6 million. Last week’s winner Lakeview Terrace was in third place with $7 million. Firestorm, the Christian themed pic starring former teen TV star and current evangelical minister/actor Kirk Cameron, opened fourth with $6.5 million. Clever marketing and heavy publicity work to targeted audiences by Cameron and director Alex Kendrick paid off with the surprisingly strong opening (or perhaps it should not be so surprising). The Coen brothers Burn After Reading, far past surprising anyone but apparently pleasing many, hung in with $6.2 million in its third week of release.
Miracle at St. Anna’s, the only other new wide release this weekend struggled, with only $3.5 million for ninth place. The audience skewed heavily older and male.
Interesting note from Variety–Friday night’s debate seemed to have kept moviegoers in, as evidenced by a huge jump in audiences for adult-targeted films from Friday to Saturday. For example, Burn After Reading had an 87% jump; Lakeview Terrace went up 70% from the first to second night of the weekend. In other words, Saturday’s audience was made up of a huge crowd of people thinking, “I stayed in last night for THAT?”
New specialty film Choke, based on the Chuck Pahalniuk novel, earned $1.3 million from 435 theaters for a per-screen average of $3,069. Not a great start, but I am pleased that I can now spell “Pahalniuk” and “LaBeouf” without checking. The Lucky Ones, the difficult to market Iraq soldier road trip drama, struggled with $208,000 from 425 theaters for a per-location average of $489. Holdovers such as Keira Knightley’s 18th c. costume drama The Duchess did better, earning $570,000 as it expanded to 55 locations for a per-screen average of $10,364. Appaloosa made $145,00 from 14 locations for a per location average of $10,357. The Ed Harris-Viggo Mortensen western opens nationwide next week. So there’s something for you all to look forward to, right?
“I am now officially the only person left in the world who does not get the Shia LaBeouf phenomena” nope, I’m with ya. I had to ask a friend (who holds the same low opinion) if it was wrong that I hoped his mythic hand injury would be career ending, with him turning into a troll under a freeway overpass in LA for tourists to point at. Alas…