Unlike the Oscar-winning hit The Departed, Martin Scorsese and
Leonardo DiCaprio's new crime thriller
Shutter Island
enjoyed back-to-back weekends at number one fending off competition from a pair
of new releases with respectable debuts. The police comedy
Cop Out bowed in
second while the horror remake
The Crazies
premiered in third as the overall box office remained strong showing healthy
gains over last year.
Paramount once again claimed the top spot with
Shutter Island
which dropped only 46% in its second weekend to an estimated $22.2M. The R-rated
mystery still boasted the best per-theater average of any film in wide release
with $7,393 from 3,003 sites. The total after ten days is a solid $75.1M.
Budgeted at $75M, Shutter could find its way to roughly $125M from North America
alone. The Departed, the previous collaboration between Scorsese and
DiCaprio, opened at number one in October 2006 but fell to second in its
sophomore frame losing the weekend to The Grudge 2. But it did have a
smaller drop declining by just 29% on its way to a $132.4M final.
Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan took second place with their new action-comedy Cop Out which opened to an estimated $18.6M over the weekend. The Warner Bros. title played in 3,150 theaters averaging a good $5,894 per site from audiences that ignored the poor reviews. The buddy cop flick marked the first film that director Kevin Smith did not also write, and represented his career best opening. Though not a stellar launch, Cop Out did give Willis one of his best debuts for a lead role in recent years following disappointments like Perfect Strangers, 16 Blocks, and Hostage which all opened in the $10-12M range.
Finishing with the bronze was the new fright flick The Crazies which debuted impressively with an estimated $16.5M. The Overture release averaged a strong $6,670 from 2,477 theaters and played to a young male audience. According to exit polls, the R-rated pic about a small town in which residents mysteriously become homicidal maniacs skewed 56% male and 65% under 25. Reviews were quite positive for the $19M production.
Audiences were still flocking to see nine-time Oscar nominee Avatar which eased by a mere 14% to an estimated $14M. The James Cameron smash became the first film in history to crack the $700M mark on Saturday, its 72nd day of release. The mammoth domestic cume is now $706.9M. Overseas markets witnessed a 25% drop to $36.1M boosting the international haul to $1.844 billion which is now more than the entire $1.843 billion global gross for Titanic. Ticket prices, of course, have changed a lot since 12 years ago. Worldwide, Avatar has now banked $2.551 billion with more to come. This Friday, the Pandora pic will lose a significant number of its 3D screens around the world when Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland starring Johnny Depp makes a colorful splash.
Dropping only 36% in its third round was Percy Jackson & The Olympians which took in an estimated $9.8M boosting the cume to $71.2M for Fox. Valentine's Day became the first new release of the new decade to break the $100M mark this weekend. The Warner Bros. release grossed an estimated $9.5M, off 43%, for a $100.4M sum.
Sony's Dear John followed with an estimated $5M, down 30%, with a $72.6M total. The Wolfman suffered the worst decline in the top ten falling 58% to an estimated $4.1M. Cume to date is $57.2M for Universal.
Fox's kidpic The Tooth Fairy still had good legs dipping only 21% in its sixth weekend to an estimated $3.5M. The Jeff Bridges drama Crazy Heart rounded out the top ten with an estimated $2.5M, off a slim 14%. Total grosses stand at $53.9M and $25.1M, respectively.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $105.7M which was up 31% from last year when Madea Goes To Jail remained in the top spot with $16.2M; and up 39% from 2008 when Semi-Pro debuted at number one with $15.1M.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, Box Office Guru!
steve s. writes: on Feb 28 2010 07:06 PM alice in wonderland will tear it up this week. (Reply to this) |
King Crunk writes: on Feb 28 2010 07:12 PM Good job for DiCaprio and Scorcese, those numbers are well deserved. I have not seen The Crazies, but want to due to the strong reviews here, but a lot of my friends went and seen it and said it was not good, so I cannot decide whether I want to take the plunge or not. (Reply to this) |
JettaJameson writes: on Feb 28 2010 08:10 PM Finally! Alice is coming. It's gonna be huge. I can't think of many people I know who don't want to see it. I'm guessing $65-70 million this weekend. (Reply to this) |
Chris B. writes: on Feb 28 2010 08:16 PM In reply to this comment (#2599692) no disrespect to you but your friends sound like idiots because they probably thought it was going to be crap movie and expected to laugh at it and have a good time but instead got a thoughtful movie that made their head explode because it proved too much for them to handle. (Reply to this) |
Throw An Onion writes: on Feb 28 2010 08:30 PM In reply to this comment (#2599697) If your definition of thoughtful is mind numbingly blatant environmentalist cripe is then I guess heads will be exploding. However since gimmicky, gore filled, message flicks aren't my cup of tea (Alice reference!) I'll just wait until Johnny and his kilt arrive (another one!). (Reply to this) |
Brandon O. writes: on Feb 28 2010 10:41 PM Saw Shutter Island this week and thought it was brilliant. I'm surprised at the number of negative reviews with it. Hopefully, going to see The Crazies sometime this week. I love a good zombie-esk movie. (Reply to this) |
ledawg1138 writes: on Feb 28 2010 11:07 PM Okay, I'm sold on seeing "The Crazies". All my friends have said it's awesome, bloody, badass little horror. And I'm a sucker for that kinda movie. But I still gotta see "Shutter Island". Good to see people are choosing Scorscese. (Reply to this) |
ledawg1138 writes: on Feb 28 2010 11:13 PM People are talking about "The Crazies" alleged message here, and I wanna know. What message? I just wanna see some scares and people being, you know, crazy. In short, I'll see it it's a scary mindless gore fest. But if it does hae some lame a$s message, then forget it. (Reply to this) |
MountRussmore writes: on Feb 28 2010 11:20 PM After all the good reviews, I must admit I was a bit disappointed by "The Crazies". Yes the camera-work was impressive and the performances better than average. But the plot and narrative were so barebones, I don't really see how people are calling this one "thought-provoking". My main complaint is that the whole movie felt very episodic- just a series of extremely contrived and stagey set-pieces strung together. It really had just as many plot holes and wtf? moments as any other mindless horror flick. (Reply to this) |
MADDAZ writes: on Mar 01 2010 12:03 AM Got no interest in Alice in Wonderland after watching what Tim Burton did with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. May be Tim might surprise but from memory hes only had two remakes that was well recieved and that was Batman and Sleepy Hollow. Planet of the Apes, Mars Attacks, Sweeney Todd and Charlie were all woeful. Im not saying hes a bad movie maker, he has made some of my favourites, Sleepy Hollow, Big Fish, Beetle Juice and Edward Scissorhands. Glad to see Shutter Island doing well, looking forward to seeing The Crazies. (Reply to this) |
Matt W. writes: on Mar 01 2010 03:33 AM no matter what, shutter island is 1000000 times better than alice in wonderland. unfortunately, some people just can't see it that way. (Reply to this) |
Jonathan Edward O. writes: on Mar 01 2010 05:10 AM In reply to this comment (#2599713) How dare you say Sweeny Todd was woefull.... I bet you are one of those people who refuses to like musicals just because thy are musicals. (Reply to this) |
Jonathan Edward O. writes: on Mar 01 2010 05:12 AM In reply to this comment (#2599728) they (Reply to this) |
Gordon Franklin Terry Sr writes: on Mar 01 2010 05:58 AM SHUTTER ISLAND is AWESOME!!!! (even though it's extremely derivative of the 1972 ROBERT BLOCH screenplay ASYLUM and RUBIN'S script for JACOB'S LADDER). SHUTTER ISLAND appeals to a wide "swath" of the middle-to-upper class movie-going public because it stars NAME actors and has a NAME director. Middle-to-Upper Class movie-goers tend to scorn and shun "low budget horror movies" like THE CRAZIES . . . somehow the mainstream movie goers think they are far too intelligent to waste time watching THE CRAZIES. There's a Social Order in movies as there is a Social Order in America; people "of a certain sort" avoid THE CRAZIES even though THE CRAZIES is a highly entertaining film. I was reading about Michael Eisner, Breck Eisner's father; when PRESIDENT of PARAMONT STUDIOS in the 1980s, Michael Eisner was very particular about having "his movies" clean and restrained . . . . Breck Eisner's THE CRAZIES is very "clean and restrained" compared to the GEORGE A. ROMERO original. The "apple's not going to far from the tree" if a studio hires the offspring of the PRESIDENT of a Major Motion Picture Studio (such as MICHAEL EISNER'S son), the "fruits" (the product) of the son will reflect the "conservative-restraint" of the father. because, you can bet, at the dinner-table MICHAEL EISNER probably told BRECK EISNER about the issues he has experiencing with the movies at his job. Then, later in life BRECK EISNER has been inadvertently programmed by his father to practicum the same restraint in THE CRAZIES . . . but nevertheless THE CRAZIES is a good movie. (Reply to this) |
Bloody Mathias writes: on Mar 01 2010 08:28 AM Silent Bob sold out this weekend and was rewarded with his biggest debut yet. :( It's his first film that he didn't write, he was just a gun for hire by WB and he admitted himself that his heart wasn't in this film like all his others. It's also his worst reviewed film ever. His fans are HUGELY dissapointed. That's what hollywood does to some filmmakers i guess. (Reply to this) |
cypress550 writes: on Mar 01 2010 08:49 AM the crazies was an awesome movie just saw it yesterday. im proboaly not going to see alice in wonderland. (Reply to this) |
dougkip writes: on Mar 01 2010 09:01 AM I want Alice to bomb and bomb hard, so Tim Burton stops farking things up with his 'vision'. (Reply to this) |
Gimy writes: on Mar 01 2010 09:22 AM the Crazies was decent, about what i expected when the critics seem to really like it. i would have liked something more though. more comedy? more action? agree pretty much w/ what mtrussmore says actually. its a good flick but i'd recommend renting it. a little predictable as well but overall a decent flick. if you like zombie type movies...give it a shot you can't actually say a movie is better than another movie...if you haven't seen both. since Alice hasn't been released...ya sound like a tool saying its better. watch em both, then give your opinion (Reply to this) |
Jay Sherman writes: on Mar 01 2010 10:39 AM A Prophet = the best movie released all year. No worries, it will become a cult hit that later gets a sub par American remake. Its just funny, because for having the highest T-meter score this year so far nobodies really talking about it. the movie is about as mainstream as foreign/indie films get. Sad statement on American audiences - they can't be bothered to watch something that doesn't pander down to them. You'd have to be pretty dense to believe that with all the burgeoning film industries around the world that not one of them is capable of producing a masterpiece. But that's what A Prophet is, its the magnum opus of prison movies, and one of the better crime movies to come along in a long time. (Reply to this) |
Turtlefly writes: on Mar 01 2010 09:31 PM In reply to this comment (#2599722) So I take it you have seen Alice already? Shutter was Ok and I expect Alice to be OK... No way Shutter will be so many zeros better... Sorry (Reply to this) |
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