Box Office Update: "Steel" on Ice

It's a typically slow weekend at the box office, and it's sad that the word "typical" is part of that sentence. I'll say that this year has been one of massive disappointments more than anything, at least in my opinion. The dry spell of those first three months, and a continued stall from April, an unenthusiastic summer, and now a fall season that won't come soon enough. There's just nothing really seductive this year, at least comparative to last year. Color me discontented, and the box office figures do not help that disposition. Even less helpful is where most of the money is coming from.

Of the top ten films this weekend, I've only seen one, and that was on a minor whim. No opportunity to get to "50/50" or "The Ides of March", though they seem to do be doing well for themselves. Both had such small drops of less than 30% this weekend, which does bring a slight smile to me. Though I'll admit that the more time goes by, the less I'm really enthused about seeing them. Who was so fortunate to win the weekend but "Real Steel", once again protesting with loud bangs of cash streaming in. It just barely won out over "Footloose", which itself brought in the typical teen crowd to its door.

Box Office Update: "Steel" knocks out Clooney's "Ides"

Here we are, and exactly as was expected heading into this weekend. "Real Steel" won the end game, though not in an absolute runaway victory. Sure, it made a strong Columbus Day weekend opening, but how will it hold up in coming weeks? Well, actually quite well. Oddly enough, audiences get a real hard on for giant robot fighting movies. "The Ides of March", on the other hand, didn't fare so well. True, Clooney's dramas have never made huge bangs of openings. Still, this was a bit on the weaker side of that spectrum. Other than that, not much doing this weekend. Prosperous, though just 3.3% higher than last year when "Life As We Know It" and "Secretariat" failed to beat "The Social Network".

1. "Real Steel" (First Weekend; $27.3 million)

2. "The Ides of March" (First Weekend; $10.4 million)

3. "Dolphin Tale" (Third Weekend; $9.2 million)

4. "Moneyball" (Third Weekend; $7.5 million)

5. "50/50" (Second Weekend; $5.5 million)

6. "Courageous" (Second Weekend; $4.6 million)

7. "Lion King 3D" (Fourth Weekend; $4.5 million)

8. "Dream House" (Second Weekend; $4.4 million)

9. "What's Your Number" (Second Weekend; $3 million)

10. "Abduction" (Third Weekend; $2.9 million)

Box Office Update: "50/50" plays similarly as title

Weekends such as these are the most tedious to write about, not because it's a necessarily bad weekend for the box office. On the contrary, things were slightly up from last year, when "The Social Network" was the sole big winner. What I find so difficult about it is the low-key nature of the proceedings. With four new releases, one would expect at least one of them to be a hit. Unfortunately, they worked more to cancel each other out, each landing below the $10 million mark. It's great that "50/50" was the highest grossing new attraction, but it still deserved much more than it got.

I can't say that I wished better for "Dream House" or "What's My Number?", the latter of which hit the lowest of the new releases, as I'm very happy to report. "Courageous", on the other hand, I've never really heard of in my life, yet it had the highest per theater average of the (sort of) wide releases. Not at all sure why. The three films that won the weekend were repeats from past weekends. "Moneyball" and "Dolphin Tale" switched up places, but bumped up from #'s 2 and 3 to #'s 1 and 2. "The Lion King 3D" took a fall of nearly 50%, and fell to third. "Take Shelter" picked up $56,000 from three theaters, so that's clearly playing somewhat positively with audiences.

Box Office Update: Crowded at the Front

I very nearly let this slide, as my Sunday afternoon schedule is quite hazily packed. I have two reviews from yesterday still in the works, not to mention my work outside of this site. It's severely frustrating, so forgive me for not having much enthusiasm vested in the workings of a typical box office weekend. True, this weekend was a fond improvement from last, with three films hitting just above the $20 million mark. All of them opened to fine reviews, and I only expressed interest enough to see one of them, and barely at that. "The Lion King 3D" was not that film, and this being its last week in theaters, I won't be able to check the film out at all as things are currently.

The film still, appropriately, played well this weekend, falling slightly as audiences tried to rake in the film's last winnings while they still could. Falling just barely behind it was "Moneyball", which I gave a slight pass to on Friday. Just on its tail, pun most definitely not intended, was "Dolphin Tale", which somehow found and audience in young children. Who could have guessed that? "Abduction" and "Killer Elite" were a good $10 million down from their newer competitors, but they still managed to fill out the top five. "The Help" fell slightly. "Contagion" fell slightly more. "Drive" fell even more, sadly. We can't account for taste in this particular market, but it was up nearly 20% from last year.

1. "The Lion King 3D" (Second Weekend; $22.1 million)

2. "Moneyball" (First Weekend; $20.6 million)

3. "Dolphin Tale" (First Weekend; $20.3 million)

4. "Abduction" (First Weekend; $11.2 million)

5. "Killer Elite" (First Weekend; $9.5 million)

6. "Contagion" (Third Weekend; $8.6 million)

7. "Drive" (Second Weekend; $5.8 million)

8. "The Help" (Seventh Weekend; $4.4 million)

9. "Straw Dogs" (Second Weekend; $2.1 million)

10. "I Don't Know How She Does It" (Second Weekend; $2 million)

Box Office Update: The "King" has Returned

So anyone with measured doubt about how much a 3D re-release of a 2D animated feature from 1995 could really bring in is scratching their heads. Hell, I'm scratching my head at how much "The Lion King 3D" made this weekend. I know that it's kind of brilliant and all, but are people really that eager to revive that classic theater-going experience? I guess that will happen when you release a beloved title that's being re-released specifically for 3D. People aren't going to be interested in seeing it in 2D. They want the entire new experience of it, so maybe I'll end up checking it out later this week. I've heard the film's not bad either.

"Contagion" would've topped the weekend if "Lion King" didn't over-perform to such a degree, instead landing in second from a 35.4% drop. "Drive" topped the rest of the new releases, though still falling to third place. What's more, the mainstream audiences really didn't like this one. Ally that to the action heavy expectations, but I'll get more into that at another time. By the time we get to "The Help", the box office is resting in low digits that garner little to no attention. "Straw Dogs" and "I Don't Know How She Does It" both earned about $5 million apiece. This weekend was a fine improvement from last weekend, but a slight downgrade from last year, when "The Town" and "Easy A" rocked the box office.

1. "The Lion King 3D" (First Weekend; $29.3 million)

2. "Contagion" (Second Weekend; $14.5 million)

3. "Drive" (First Weekend; $11 million)

4. "The Help" (Sixth Weekend; $6.4 million)

5. "Straw Dogs" (First Weekend; $5 million)

6. "I Don't Know How She Does It" (First Weekend; $4.5 million)

7. "The Debt" (Third Weekend; $2.9 million)

8. "Warrior" (Second Weekend; $2.8 million)

9. "Rise of the Apes" (Seventh Weekend; $2.6 million)

10. "Columbiana" (Fourth Weekend; $2.3 million)

Weekend Report: Moving On...

So let's assume that the several weeks of disappointment are behind us. I'd like to get that sort of feeling, especially since this weekend brings us one of my most anticipated films of the fall circuit. That being said, with all the films coming out this weekend, and there are a lot, I don't expect one of them to crack $15 million over the course of the weekend. I'd like it if that happened, but it just won't. The top film of the weekend, and this is the optimist in me speaking, should be "Drive". Setting aside my own anticipation, as I'll have to the moment the film starts, the marketing for the film has been standard, yet seductive. I imagine enough people hoping for a simple action film will be there, and they'll probably get more than they expected.

I'd also expect people to head out to see "The Lion King 3D", because aside from the film's classic status amongst most people who grew up with it, it's just something we haven't seen before. Not the film, but a 3D conversion of 2D animation. I'll probably check it out sometime next weekend when I'm not busy at Telluride by the Sea. The rest of the film slate this weekend, I could care less about. "Straw Dogs" had a tiny shred of hope, but I'm honestly not sure how. I was never interested, and I'm not sure why I expected anything else than what the trailer alludes to. And there's also "I Don't Know How She Does It", for the female crowd. That's the only group I can imagine seeing that.

Happy (Late) Father's Day

I know I'm a day late on this, but I couldn't help putting up this fond little piece of The Lion King in celebration of Father's Day.