Just in time for some pre-Halloween scares, The Grudge 2 took the top spot at the North American box office this weekend with $22 million, pushing last week’s champ, The Departed, down to second place with $18.6 million.
Although The Grudge 2 was not screened for critics beforehand, and those who did review it on opening day generally trashed the movie, built-in audiences flocked anyway.
“These movies are not critics’ darlings. They rarely are,” Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations told The Associated Press. “But audiences love horror. We’ve said it time and again, this is maybe the most consistently performing genre in the marketplace, especially right before Halloween.”
The Barry Levinson/Robin Williams’ comedy Man of the Year didn’t fare as well, opening in third place with $12.5 million, while The Marine, an actioner introducing pro-wrestler John Cena, debuted in sixth with $7 million. One Night With the King, small indie distributor Gener8xion Entertainment’s saga of the biblical story of Esther, opened in ninth with $4.3 million.
The Top 12 movies grossed $100 million this weekend, up 40.77 percent from last year’s draw of $71.5 and up .09 percent from last weekend’s total of $100.6 million.
The Top Three films at the box office this time last year were: Sony/Screen Gems’ The Fog, which opened at No. 1 with $11.7 million in 2,972 theaters, averaging $3,955 per theater; Buena Vista’s Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which dropped to second place in its second week of release with $11.5 million in 3,656 theaters, averaging $3,153 per theaters; and Paramount’s Elizabethtown, which debuted in third place with $10.6 million in 2,517 theaters, averaging $4,219 per theaters (Click here to read last year’s box office report).
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: The Grudge 2 (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $22 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3,211
• Per-theater average: $6,851
No. 2: The Departed (Warner Bros., R)
• Gross: $18.6million (-31%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 3,017 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $6,190
• Cume to date: $56.6 million
No. 3: Man of the Year (Universal, PG-3)
• Gross: $12.5 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,515
• Per-theater average: $4,990
No. 4: Open Season (Sony Pictures, PG)
• Gross: $11 million (-30%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 3,687 (-146)
• Per-theater average: $2,983
• Cume to date: $59.1 million
No. 5: Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (New Line, R)
• Gross: $7.7 million (-58%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,820 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $2,748
• Cume to date: $30.4 million
No. 6: The Marine (20th Century Fox, PG-3)
• Gross: $7 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,545
• Per-theater average: $2,750
No. 7: The Guardian (Buena Vista, PG-13)
• Gross: $5.8 million (-39%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 3,044 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $1,923
• Cume to date: $41.1 million
No. 8: Employee of the Month (Lionsgate, PG-13)
• Gross: $5.6 million (-51%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,579 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $2,171
• Cume to date: $19.9 million
No. 9: One Night with the King (Gener8xion Ent., NR)
• Gross: $4.3 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 909
• Per-theater average: $4,759
No. 10: Jackass: Number Two (Paramount, R)
• Gross: $3.3 million (-49%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 2,330 (-677)
• Per-theater average: $1,431
• Cume to date: $68.3 million
OTHER OPENINGS
Infamous (Warner Indie, R)
• Gross: $435,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 179
• Per-theater average: $2,430
Driving Lessons (Sony Picts. Classics, PG-13)
• Gross: $25,754
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 8
• Per-theater average: $3,219
Deliver Us From Evil (Lionsgate, NR)
• Gross: $16,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 4
• Per-theater average: $4,000
