Pamela McClintock of THR:
The Halloween spirit was in full force this weekend as Paramount's Paranormal Activity 3 opened to a massive $54 million at the domestic box office--the top launch of all time for a horror pic, as well as the best October debut ever.
Paranormal 3 also did sizeable business overseas, where it opened to $26 million for a worldwide total of $80 milion--16 times the film's $5 million production budget.
In North America, the third installment in the blockbuster franchise took in $10 million more than last year's Paranormal Activity 2, the previous crownholder for top horror opening.
It's rare for a a threequel to score bigger numbers than the two preceeding pics, and is a testament to the originality of the Paranormal franchise, produced by Jason Blum, Oren Peli and Steven Schneider on a shoestring budget, as well as Paramount's marketing acumen. And with no Saw installment this year, Paranormal 3 won't have any competition over Halloween weekend.
Paramount's Jackass 3D held the previous title for best October opening ($50.4 million).
Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore said the producers and new Paranormal 3 directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman--the team behind the documentary Catfish--did a great job delivering another hit.
He said there's no Paranormal Activity 4 currently in development, but that "people certainly continue to be very interested in the franchise."
While Paranormal 3 got fewer younger movieogers than the previous two films, more people in their 30s and 40s turned out, likely influenced by good reviews. Those under the age of 25 represented 47% of those buying tickets, compared to 60 percent for Paranormal 2, and reflecting the ongling flight of younger consumers from the multiplex. Those over the age of 25 represented 47% of the audience, as compared to 40% for the sequel.
The gender breakdown remained the same, with females making up 54 percent of the audience, and males, 46 percent.
Paranormal Activity 3 posted the best opening in nearly four months at the domestic box office, and nearly matched the $54.6 million earned by Fox's Rise of the Planet of the Apes in early August.
In an unusual twist, Paranormal 3 received a C+ CinemaScore, a grade that doesn't usually correspond with big grosses, although horror films in general usually draw lower scores.
The Paranormal franchise has been one of the most profitable film series in recent memory. The first Paranormal, which cost $15,000 to produce and opened in a limited run in September 2009, went on to gross $193.4 million worldwide. Paranormal 2 cost $3 million to produce, and grossed $177.5 million worldwide.
The weekend's two other new wide entries got off to a soft start at the domestic box office, as expected, despite both receiving a B CinemaScore.
Paul W.S. Anderson's $90 million The Three Musketeers, distributed by Summit Entertainment domestically and produced by Germany's Constantin Films, grossed $8.8 million to come in No. 4 behind DreamWorks and Disney's Real Steel and Paramount's Footloose. The big-budget action-adventure is doing somewhat better overseas, where it has grossed north of $50 million.
Milla Jovovich, who stars in Three Musketeers along with Orlando Bloom, took to twitter
this weekend blasting Summit for not properly marketing the action-adventure as a family film (she’s also married to Anderson).
Summit didn’t immediately have an official response. According to exit data, 64% of those going to see Three Musketeers in its domestic debut were over the age of 25, while the audience was divided evenly between females and males.
Universal's Rowan Atkinson action-comedy Johnny English Reborn grossed only $3.8 million in its North American debut, with 22 percent of the earnings coming from Canada (on average, Canada contributes 8 percent of a film's total North American debut). The sequel came in far short of the $9 million opening of the first Johnny English.
The good news: The British film is a runaway hit internationlly, where it has now grossed $104.5 million.
Weekend Domestic Box Office Top 10
Title/Weeks in Release/Studio/Theater Count/Weekend Total/Cume
1. Paranormal Activity 3 (1), Paramount/,3321, $54 million
2. Real Steel (3), DreamWorks/Disney/3,412, /$11.3 million, $67.2 million
3. Footloose (2), Paramount/3555, $10.9 milion, $30.9 million
4. The Three Musketeers (1), Summit/3,017, $8.8 million
5. The Ides of March (3) Sony/Cold Creek/2,042, $4.9 million, $29.2 million
6. Dolphin Tale (5) Warner Bros./Alcon/2,828, $4.2 million, $64.6 million
7. Moneyball (5), Sony/2,353, $4.1 million, $63.7 million
8. Johnny English Reborn (1), Universal/1,552, $3.8 million
9. The Thing (2), Universal/2,995, $3.1 million, $14.1 million
10. 50/50 (4), Summit/Mandate/1,932, $2.8 million, $28.8
I think it's safe to assume that there will be another Paranormal Activity flick in theaters by next Halloween....
Next: Johnny Depp opens The Run Diary; Justin Timberlake arrives just In Time to be with Amanda Seyfried; Puss N-Boots goes solo in 3-D no less; And director Roland Emmerich takes a break from ending the world in Anonymous
No comments:
Post a Comment