Losing Their Cool?

The Ocean's Thirteen gang, led by George Clooney and Brad Pitt (pictured), win the weekend at the cineplex...But the jackpot was not as big as I thought it was gonna be.

Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo:

Grossing less than its predecessors, Ocean's Thirteen led the weekend with an estimated $37.1 million, while Hostel Part II was cut down...

Ian Mohr of Variety:

Warner Bros.-Village Roadshow's "Ocean's Thirteen" launched to $37.1 million, which was on a par with the first two entries in the series and enough to ensure the B.O. crown -- but a reminder, after three socko launches in May, that not every film in the Summer of Sequels is going to ignite the boxoffice with record-breaking figures.

Overall, the weekend was pretty tepid, but "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and "Knocked Up" proved impressively durable, relegating Sony Animation's newcomer, "Surf's Up," to fourth place while Lionsgate's "Hostel: Part II" bowed at No. 6, taking in just $8.8 million.

The first "Hostel" pic bowed in January 2006 to $19.5 million; a summer opener, in a particularly crowded marketplace, proved a gamble that didn't pay off for the [distributor].

"Ocean's Thirteen" also shifted from the winter debut of its predecessors into a summer slot.

"Hostel: Part II" launched after a recent flood of hard-R slasher pics that also saw underwhelming bows (though the genre almost always does well in DVD afterlife).

"Surf's Up," which took in $18 million from 3,528 locations, had to vie with memories of other films centered on penguins, most recently Warner's CG hit "Happy Feet," which bowed last winter.

In addition, Paramount and DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third" may have stolen some of the "Surf's Up" mojo. The CG pic is still stomping among the top 10 and took in $15.8 million in its fourth weekend, raising cume to $281.9 million after a month in release. A year ago in the same frame, Disney launched "Cars" to No. 1 and more than $60 million.

The $37.1 million opening for "Ocean's Thirteen" didn't quite match the perf of the previous entries in the franchise. "Ocean's Twelve," despite poor critical notices, hauled in $39.1 million in its first frame; "Ocean's Eleven" did $38.1 million in its debut.

Latest installment -- penned by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, and produced by Jerry Weintraub -- scored slightly below expectations despite the kind of critical support that that few other popcorn pics have enjoyed so far this summer. Tracking data had the pic on a pace to jump ahead of the other two films in the series by taking in around $40 million.

But Warners distribution topper Dan Fellman said he expects the pic to wind up with the biggest opening week of any of movie in the franchise by picking up healthy midweek biz during its summer playtime.

Exec noted that most of the pic's audience was over 25, a factor that tends to build biz after opening weekend. Movie could have a good run with the over-25 crowd as younger-skewing films, including "Nancy Drew" and the latest "Fantastic Four" movie, enter the marketplace next weekend...

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Joshua Rich of Entertainment Weekly writes:

''Pirates''washes in at second, while newbie ''Surf's Up'' gets beached, dude...

One of my favorite things about Monday mornings is reading the spin that comes from the studio's about their films when they under perform given expectations. Mr. Fellman's assessment of Ocean's 13 is classic. With very few exceptions (The Blair Witch Project) attendance goes down not up from week to week...