Last week I mentally predicted that New Moon would come in around the $80 Million mark. Obviously, there is a reason that I am not in the business of box office predictions. New Moon grossed over $140 Million during its opening weekend, and broke a few records along the way. Fangirls (and a few fanboys) showed that they are an emerging force to be reckoned with, as New Moon ($72.7 Million) broke the opening day record previously held by The Dark Knight ($67.2 Million.)
According to Entertainment Weekly, over 80% of the ticket sales were from women, a truly rare occurrence. Although the film was critically drummed, (currently 29% on Rotten Tomatoes) audiences gave it an A- cinemascore, indicating that they were very happy with the film. The film opened on a massive 4,000+ screens, and averaged over $34,900 per screen. There was a drop off from Friday to Saturday of about 40%.
Also of note: New Moon now has the 3rd biggest opening weekend ever behind The Dark Knight and Spiderman 3. Its midnight screening averages on Friday morning garnered over $26M, setting a new record for that. The world box office take was over $258 Million. Director Chris Weitz must feel vindicated after the disastrous box office performance of The Golden Compass, his last directorial effort.
Early estimates show that The Blind Side had an opening weekend gross of $34.5 Million, which is nothing to sneeze at. This marks the best opening ever for Sandra Bullock, just behind last summer’s The Proposal. The film also got a remarkable A+ cinemascore, which means it will start getting some seriously good word of mouth. Expect it to remain in the top ten for a long time.
2012 dropped off 60%, but still made $26.5 Million for third place. Planet 51 and A Christmas Carol both brought in about $12 Million, for fourth and fifth. Precious still continues to perform remarkably, earning over $11 Million on just 665 screens for an average of over $17,000. Its cumulative total stands at over $21.4 Million, and it has not even opened wide yet.
The Men Who Stare At Goats, Couples Retreat, The Fourth Kind and Law Abiding Citizen rounded out the top ten. This was overall a huge weekend for movies. Box Office Guru reports that ticket sales were up almost over $100 Million from last weekend, and up over 58% from the same weekend a year ago. For Thanksgiving weekend, Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ninja Assassin, The Road , and Old Dogs will all open Wednesday.
Subscribe via RSS
Subscribe via iTunes