Anime News

Turkey Day Auds Feast on Leftovers 'New Moon' Rises Again (Just Barely)
Date: 11/30/2009
The top two films from last week, both of which are attracting primarily female moviegoers, remained in place for the second weekend in a row, though the gap between them narrowed considerably. Last week?s runaway winner The Twilight Saga: New Moon dropped over 70%, but still had enough to top the charts with an estimated $42.5 million, while the family-friendly, Sandra Bullock-starring, football/family drama The Blindside actually saw its take increase by 17.6% during its second weekend. The Blindside pulled within $2.5 million of New Moon with an estimated $40.1 million weekend gross (the two films were separated by more than $100 million last weekend). Newcomers including Disney?s John Travolta/Robin Williams comedy, Old Dogs, and Warner Bros.? ultra-violent Ninja Assassin didn?t fare very well, but buoyed by the success of the distaff-leaning top two, the overall take of the top 10 films was up 13% from last year when Four Christmases bowed with $31.1 million and 23% from 2007 when Enchanted opened to $34.4 million.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): November 27-29, 2009

Rank


Film


Weekend Gross


Screens


Avg./Screen

1


The Twilight Saga: New Moon


$42,500,000


4,042


$10,515

2


The Blind Side


$40,125,000


3,140


$12,779

3


2012


$18,000,000


3,444


$5,226

4


Old Dogs


$16,846,000


3,425


$4,919

5


A Christmas Carol


$16,003,000


3,013


$5,311

6


Ninja Assassin


$13,135,000


2,503


$5,248

7


Planet 51


$10,200,000


3,035


$3,361

8


Precious


$7,090,000


663


$10,694

9


The Fantastic Mr. Fox


$7,020,000


2,033


$3,453

10


The Men Who Stare at Goats


$1,533,000


1,119


$1,370

New Moon?s steep decline was not unexpected. The first Twilight film dropped off 62% during its second weekend, though it did demonstrate some pretty decent ?legs? from its 3rd through 7th weekends in theaters. New Moon has already earned over $230.7 million domestically, which puts it in sixth place for the year after only 10 days. New Moon will surely end up north of $300 million and will be at least the #2 film of the year (it appears unlikely at this stage that it will catch Transformers 2, which earned $402 million). The Twilight phenomenon is clearly not limited to the U.S. New Moon has already earned over $243 million overseas, and its worldwide total might eventually reach the $650 million mark. Not bad for a film that cost under $50 million to produce and promote.



The disaster film 2012 fared reasonably well over the holiday weekend, staunching its decline to a very reasonable 32% in its third frame and finishing in third place with an estimated total of $18 million. 2012 continues to do even better overseas where it earned $61.6 million, which brought its non-U.S. total to $455.8 million (versus $138.8 million here). 2012 is already #5 for the year at the worldwide box office.



Disney?s Old Dogs underperformed with an estimated $16.8 million. Director Walt Becker?s previous geezer comedy starring Travolta (Wild Hogs) debuted north of $39 million. Ninja Assassin, an R-rated attempt to counter-program against the female-skewing hits at the top of the charts, averaged a mild $5,248 per venue while opening to an estimated $13.1 million.



The motion-capture animated A Christmas Carol continued to demonstrate good ?legs.? In its fourth weekend in theaters it declined just 30% and earned an estimated $16 million, which put the pricy animated film ($200 million) over the $100 million mark. With kids out of school for the holiday, Sony?s Planet 51 also did well, dropping just 17% and bringing in just north of $10 million. Planet 51 may be a one-trick pony (humans are the ?aliens?), but so far it has managed to vanquish Wes Anderson?s more high brow stop-motion animated effort, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which expanded to over 2,000 theaters, but only managed a weak $3,453 per venue. Disney opened its holiday animated blockbuster, The Princess and the Frog in just two theaters, where it did extremely well, but its real effect on the box office won?t be felt until it opens wide on December 11th.



The film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy?s post-apocalyptic saga, The Road, debuted in just 111 theaters, but managed a muscular $13,721 and made it all the way up to #11 for the week.
Source: ICv2