BOX OFFICE RESULTS FOR THE WEEKEND OF JANUARY 15-17
Once again the blue skinned Na’vi dominated the box office as Avatar was the #1 film for the fifth weekend in a row. The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington was the first film to even come close to unseating the 3-D adventure film and Avatar still outpaced Eli by $10M. Despite being thrashed by critics and performing modestly in limited release, Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones came in third place after expanding into theatres nationwide. The weekend’s final new release, The Spy Next Door opened quietly in sixth place. Take a look.
The Book of Eli debuted in second place with a strong $31.6M, higher than my $27M prediction. Eli now stands as the second biggest opening of Washington’s career. Here’s a look at how some of the popular actors’ other films have fared at the box office.
|
RANK
|
RELEASE DATE
|
TITLE
|
OPENING WEEKEND
|
TOTAL
|
|
1
|
11/2/07
|
American Gangster
|
$43.6M
|
$130.2M
|
|
2
|
1/15/10
|
The Book of Eli
|
$31.6M
|
N/A
|
|
3
|
3/24/06
|
Inside Man
|
$28.9M
|
$88.6M
|
|
4
|
6/12/09
|
The Taking of Pelham 123
|
$23.4M
|
$65.5M
|
|
5
|
4/23/04
|
Man on Fire
|
$22.8M
|
$77.9M
|
|
6
|
10/15/01
|
Training Day
|
$22.6M
|
$76.3M
|
|
7
|
9/29/00
|
Remember the Titans
|
$20.9M
|
$115.7M
|
|
8
|
11/22/06
|
Déjà vu
|
$20.6M
|
$64.0M
|
|
9
|
2/15/02
|
John Q
|
$20.3M
|
$71.0M
|
|
10
|
7/30/04
|
The Manchurian Candidate
|
$20.0M
|
$65.9M
|
The film was destroyed by critics and I must say I didn’t really like it either. This is not a film for every one as it is pretty violent and plays out like a futuristic western so I expect the word of mouth will not be that strong, guaranteeing that Eli is in for a steep drop next weekend.
After modest sales in limited release, The Lovely Bones expanded nationwide and captured a solid $17M over the weekend, higher than my expected bow of $14M. The film based on the best-selling novel by Alice Sebold had its work cut out for it after many negative reviews from critics but enough fans of the book came out to guarantee a solid wide release debut. Look for Bones to collect about $50M by the end of its run.
Dreadful family comedy The Spy Next Door starring Jackie Chan debuted mildly in sixth place with $9.7M right in line with my $10M forecast. The films looks terrible and will probably go on to collect about $25M by the end of its run in theatres.
Avatar continued to dominate in its fifth weekend collecting another $41.3M, close to my $39.2M call. The films total now stands at $491.8M putting it at #3 on the all time domestic blockbuster list. By next weekend, the Na’vi should invade #2 and surpass The Dark Knight ($533.3M). Avatar of course also broke a record this weekend once again scoring the highest grossing fifth weekend in box office history. The previous record holder was Titanic with $30M.
To see how the rest of the top 10 shaped up and how my other predictions for the weekend fared, check out the chart below.
Be sure to come back Thursday for my predictions for this weekend’s new releases Extraordinary Measures, Legion and The Tooth Fairy.
Follow me on
Twitter for box office updates throughout the week.
|
RANK
|
TITLE
|
JANUARY 15-17
|
JANUARY 8-10
|
% CHANGE
|
# OF THEATRES/
AVERAGE
|
# OF WEEKS
|
TOTAL
|
BILL SAID
|
|
1
|
Avatar
|
$41.3M
|
$50.3M
|
-18%
|
3285
$12.6K per screen
|
5
|
$491.8M
|
$39.2M
-22%
|
|
2
|
The Book of Eli
|
$31.6M
|
New
|
New
|
3111
$10.2K per screen
|
1
|
$31.6M
|
$27M
|
|
3
|
The Lovely Bones
|
$17.1M
|
New
|
New
|
2563
$6.7K per screen
|
4
|
$17.5M
|
$14M
|
|
4
|
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
|
$11.5M
|
$16.56M
|
-31%
|
3296
$3.5K per screen
|
4
|
$192.6M
|
$11.6M
-30%
|
|
5
|
Sherlock Holmes
|
$9.8M
|
$16.58M
|
-41%
|
3173
$3.1K per screen
|
4
|
$180.0M
|
$9.2M
-45%
|
|
6
|
The Spy Next Door
|
$9.7M
|
New
|
New
|
2924
$3.3K per screen
|
1
|
$9.7M
|
$10.0M
|
|
7
|
It’s Complicated
|
$7.7M
|
$11.0M
|
-30%
|
2673
$2.9K per screen
|
4
|
$88.2M
|
$7.2M
-35%
|
|
8
|
Leap Year
|
$5.8M
|
$9.2M
|
-37%
|
2512
$2.3K per screen
|
2
|
$17.5M
|
$4.8M
-48%
|
|
9
|
The Blind Side
|
$5.6M
|
$7.5M
|
-26%
|
2408
$2.3K per screen
|
9
|
$226.8M
|
$5.3M
-30%
|
|
10
|
Up in the Air
|
$5.5M
|
$7.2M
|
-24%
|
2107
$2.6K per screen
|
7
|
$62.8M
|
$4.9M
-32%
|