Pamela McCintock of Variety:
Holdover comedy “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” repeated at No. 1 at the weekend box office in a narrow upset over new entry “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.”
The news would have been good either way for Sony, which distributes both.
“Mall Cop,” toplining Kevin James, continued to overperform in its second sesh, declining 32% to an estimated $21.5 million from 3,144 theaters. Cume is $64.8 million in its first 10 days, according to Rentrak.
“Rise of the Lycans” opened to a solid $20.7 million from 2,942, well behind the $26.9 million opening of previous franchise installment “Underworld: Evolution.” The original “Underworld” debuted to $21.8 million.
Kate Beckinsale starred in the first two pics, but didn’t return for the third. Likewise, her husband, Len Wiseman, directed the first two, but not the latest.
Warners wasn’t so fortunate with the debut of family adventure “Inkheart.” The New Line title came in No. 7 for the frame, grossing an estimated $7.7 million from 2,655.
“We’re disappointed. We wish the opening would have been bigger, but I think it was always going to be this type of result. Unfortunately, the audience wasn’t excited to see it,” said Warner exec VP of domestic distribution Jeff Goldstein.
Overall, domestic box office revenues once again outpaced the same weekend last year. Year-to-date Ticket sales are up more than 13% over the same time period in 2008.
A majority of films have done better business than expected since the first of the year, with “Mall Cop,” in particular, earning notice for its run.
“The weekend was a win-win for us. Fans of the ‘Underworld’ franchise also loved this one. It is a very positive result,” said Sony worldwide prexy of domestic distribution Rory Bruer. “And in regards to ‘Paul Blart,’ wow. I think everyone likes Kevin James.”
“Rise of the Lycans,” costing $35 million to produce, played to an audience that was 59% male, while 55% of the aud was over age 25.
The other big winner of the weekend was Fox Searchlight’s “Slumdog Millionaire,” which rocketed up the box office chart to No. 5 after picking up 10 Oscar nominations, grossing an estimated $10.6 million from 1,411 runs as it successfully expanded nationwide. And Paramount’s best pic contender “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” landed back on the top 10 chart. (read 'Slumdog' sizzles wide)...
While Valkyrie tops foreign box office....
Joshua Rich of EW:
''Paul Blart: Mall Cop'' edged out ''Underworld: Rise of the Lycans'' to win the weekend box office once again
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