Pamela McClintock of Vaeiety:
The weekend box office got iced by terrible weather in the Northeast in anything but a merry start for Jim Carrey laffer “Yes Man” and Will Smith drama “Seven Pounds,” which brought the lowest opening for a Smith pic since the early part of this decade.
Warner Bros.' “Yes Man” grossed $18.2 million from 3,434 runs to win the weekend crown—as expected, being a comedy—while Sony's “Seven Pounds” grossed $16 million from 2,758 playdates, according to Rentrak.
Universal toon “The Tale of Despereaux,” the frame’s other new entry, grossed an estimated $10.5 million from 3,104 runs on the strength of young tots and their parents.
A crippling storm in the Northeast on Friday dragged down weekend B.O. grosses dramatically, and across the board.
Heading into the weekend, no one could have predicted that “Yes Man” and “Seven Pounds” wouldn’t even hit the $20 million mark. Two pics came in as much as $5 million below expectations.
Also, Smith may be the world’s biggest box office story, but “Seven Pound’s” downer storyline was considered a big test for Smith heading into the weekend.
In December 2001, Smith topliner “Ali” opened to $14.7 million, while “Legend of Bagger Vance” opened to $11.5 million the year before. “Seven Pounds” only narrowly beat the $15.5 million debut of the 1995 “Bad Boys.”
Both Sony and Warners expect their respective films to rebound over the Christmas holiday, but the playing field becomes fiercely competitive on Christmas day, when five new titles enter the market.
“Yes Man” did best the $14.4 million debut of 2005 Christmas comedy “Fun with Dick and Jane” which went on to cume $110.3 million domestically.
The specialty side wasn’t as impacted by bad weather, since moviegoers can walk to theaters in Gotham during snowstorms. A raft of award nominations fueled interest in a number of titles.
Fox Searchlight’s posted boffo results for both its films, frosh entry “The Wrestler” and holdover “Slumdog Millionaire.”
Darren Aronofsky’s “Wrestler,” toplining Mickey Rourke, posted an impressive screen average of $52,369 in its debut in four theaters in New York and L.A., grossing an estimated $209,474. Film’s cume is $294,980 (it opened Wednesday).
“Slumdog” climbed up the top 10 box office chart to place No. 8 in its sixth week, grossing an estimated $3.2 million as it expanded to 589 screens for a per screen average of $5,348 and a cume of $12.1 million. Pic was up 45%.
Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” posted the next highest per screen average of the weekend after “Slumdog,” or $24,623 as it expanded into a total of 19 runs. Pic, up72% in its second sesh, grossing an estimated $468,000 a cume of $859,000.
Miramax’s “Doubt” also saw strong returns as it successfully expanded, grossing an estimated $729,000 from 39 playdates in its second weekend for a location average of $18,692 and a cume of $1.4 million. Pic was up 44% .
The Weinstein Co.’s Kate Winslet drama “The Reader” posted a screen average of $12,519 in grossing an estimated $101,150 from eight locations in its second weekend for a cume of $3.6 million. Pic declined 44%.
Universal’s “Frost/Nixon” dipped 42% in its third weekend, grossing an estimated $365,000 from 39 locations for an average of $9355 and cume of $1.5 million...
Marc Bernardin of EW:
With winter weather keeping moviegoers home, Jim Carrey ices Will Smith to finish as weekend's No 1...
I'm sure holiday hooplah/final shopping push also kepr some ticket buyers away...
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