Gregg Kilday of THR:
Zombies ruled at the North American box office this weekend as Sony’s Resident Evil: Retribution fought its way to the top of the pack, but the busiest action took place in just five theaters in New York and Los Angeles where Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master debuted to a record-breaking $729,745.
The fifth installment in the Resident Evil franchise starring Milla Jovovich, Retribution, from Sony’s Screen Gems unit and Constantin Films and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, took in an estimated $21.1 million at 3,012 locations. The R-rated movie checked in ahead of the weekend’s other new wide Hollywood release, Disney’s 3D reissue of Pixar’s G-rated Finding Nemo, which collected $17.5 million in 2,904 theaters.
Meanwhile, The Weinstein Co.’s The Master, coming off momentum it built at the Venice and Toronto film festivals, set a new record for an exclusive opening. The drama, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman as two men enmeshed in mind games, amassed a record $145,949 per theater, leapfrogging over the previous arthouse record of $130,759 per location that Focus’ Moonrise Kingdom established in May.
Lionsgate and Roadside also found buyers for its financial thriller, Arbitrage, starring Richard Gere as a hedge fund manager whose life is unravelling. It attracted $2.1 million on 197 screens, for a per-screen average of $10,505. Also bowing simultaneously as a VOD offering, it looks to be the biggest theatrical/VOD opening to date.
Retribution, even with an assist from 3D and Imax tickets, didn't prove quite as robust as previous films in the series: The last installment, 2010's Resident Evil: Afterlife, opened to $26.7 million, but the franchise has become a big seller abroad. The last film grossed $60.1 domestically and a whopping $236.1 million in foreign territories.
As for Nemo, the movie is one of the critical and fan favorites in the Pixar canon. Originally released in 2003, the underwater tale, featuring the voices of Albert Brooks and Ellen Degeneres, grossed $867.6 million prior to its arrival in a new 3D version. But instead of acting like like The Lion King, which opened to $30.2 million when it was released in 3D a year ago, Nemo performed more like the 3D return of Beauty and the Beast, which opend to $17.8 million in January.
Next Up: Judgment is here for Karl Urban as Dredd; It's the End Of Watch for Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña; Jennifer Lawrence, Elisabeth Shue and Max Thieriot investigate what went down in The House at the End of the Street; Finally, Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake have Trouble With the Curve
No comments:
Post a Comment