Hot To Trot

Brad Pitt and his fellow Burn After Reading co-stars helped put Ethan and Joel Coen's latest atop the U.S. box office-past both Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys and Righteous Kill...



Pamela McClintock of Variety:

Ethan and Joel Coen’s farce “Burn After Reading” led a vibrant boom at the fall box office, debuting to an estimated $19.4 million from 2,651 theaters to give the siblings and Focus Features their biggest opening gross ever.

In an unprecedented showing for this time of year, “Burn” and the three other new wide releases--Lionsgate’s “Tyler Perry’s the Family that Preys,” Overture’s “Righteous Kill” and Picturehouse’s “The Women”--all performed strongly for such a crowded marketplace dominated by adult-skewing films. Frame was up as much as 35% over the same weekend a year ago.

“Family that Preys” came in second behind “Burn,” grossing an estimated from $18 million from 2,070 runs and playing largely to an African-American aud.

In the first major success for Overture Films, Jon Avnet’s Al Pacino-Robert De Niro cop drama “Righteous Kill” grossed an estimated $16.5 million from 3,152 screens to place No. 2.

Marking the final release from Picturehouse, “The Women”--a remake of the classic 1939 George Cukor film--debuted to an estimated $10 million from 2,962 locations. Ironically, it’s the best opening ever for Bob Berney’s Picturehouse, and widest.

What a difference a week can make. The fall box office got off to its rockiest start in years over the Sept. 5-7 frame, but this weekend’s performance restored the luster that dominated much of the summer. This despite mixed reviews for “Burn” and poor reviews for “Righteous” and “Women.” Tyler’s films generally aren’t screened for critics, since he’s got such a solid fan base.

Box office observers said the star power of “Burn,” “Righteous” and “Women” was enough to overcome unimpressive notices. Brad Pitt made the defining difference for “Burn,” which also toplines George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and John Maklovich.

Only three other Coen brother films have opened wide--”The Big Lebowski,” “The Ladykillers” and “Intolerable Cruelty.” Latter two opened to roughly $12 million.

Among holdovers, Sony’s female-skewing “The House Bunny” continued to be a crowd pleaser, coming in No. 5 and grossing an estimated $4.3 million from 2,763 runs for a cume of $42.1 million in its fourth frame. That’s a slim 22% decline.

DreamWorks/Paramount’s R-rated comedy “Tropic Thunder” jumped the $100 million mark, declining 42% in its fifth frame to $4.2 million from 2,927 for a cume of $103 million.

“The Dark Knight” neared $520 million as it declined 27% to an estimated $4 million from 2,191 runs for a cume of $517.7 million.

Lionsgate’s “Bangkok Dangerous” fell off a steep 69% in its second frame to an estimated $2.4 million from 2,654 runs for a cume of $12. 5 million in its first 10 days.

Like Lionsgate, Overture had two films in the top 10 box office chart. “Traitor” declined 50% in its third sesh to an estimated $2.1 million from 2, 014 playdates for a cume of $20.7 million.

U’s actioner “Death Race” placed no. 10 for the weekend, declining 46% to an estimated $2 million from 1,005 runs for a cume of $33.2 million....

Joshua Rich of EW:

Thanks in part to Brad Pitt's comedy, box office revenues are on the rise for the first time in weeks...