Moviegoers may have experienced case of déjà vu this weekend. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson‘s football drama Gridiron Gang was the No. 1 opener at the North American box office this weekend even though it opened with a lackluster $15 million, while Brian De Palma’s film noir The Black Dahlia opened in the second spot with weak $10.4 million.
Even though the Gridiron Gang debut gave distributor Sony its 10th top opener this year, setting an all-time industry record, Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, believes the glut in movie genres may account for the lower numbers at the box office overall.
“With two L.A. noir films and two football movies, audiences may be feeling like they’ve seen some of this before and may not be coming out in bigger numbers,” Dergarabedian told The Associated Press.
The CGI-animated Everyone’s Hero meanwhile, debuted at No. 3 with $6.1 million, while Zach Braff’s romantic dramedy The Last Kiss premiered in fourth place with $4.7 million.
The Top 12 movies grossed $61.9 million this weekend, down 12.28 percent from last year’s draw of $70.6 but up 14.73 percent from last weekend’s total of $54 million.
The Top Three films at the box office this time last year were: DreamWorks’ Just Like Heaven, which opened No. 1 with $16.4 million in 3,508 theaters, averaging $4,678 per theater; Screen Gems’ The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which dropped to second place in its second week of release with $14.8 million in 2,983 theaters, averaging $4,979 per theaters; and LionsGate’s Lord of War, which opened in third place with $9.3 million in 2,814 theaters, averaging $3,337 per theaters (Click here to read last year’s box office report).
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: Gridiron Gang (Sony Picts., PG-13)
• Gross: $15 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3,504
• Per-theater average: $4,281
No. 2: The Black Dahlia (Universal, R)
• Gross: $10.4 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,226
• Per-theater average: $4,672
No. 3: Everyone’s Hero (20th Century Fox, G)
• Gross: $6.1 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,896
• Per-theater average: $2,124
No. 4: The Last Kiss (Paramount, R)
• Gross: $4.7 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 1,357
• Per-theater average: $3,465
No. 5 : The Covenant (Screen Gems, PG-13)
• Gross: $4.7 million (-47%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,681 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $1,753
• Cume to date: $15.7 million
No. 6: Invincible (Buena Vista, PG)
• Gross: $3.9 million (-31%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 2,830 (-157)
• Per-theater average: $1,380
• Cume to date: $50.9 million
No. 7: The Illusionist (Yari Film Group, PG-13)
• Gross: $3.7 million (-17%)
• Weeks opened: 5
• Theaters: 1,438 (+204)
• Per-theater average: $2,608
• Cume to date: $23.2 million
No. 8: Little Miss Sunshine (Fox Searchlight, R)
• Gross: $3.3 million (-22%)
• Weeks opened: 8
• Theaters: 1,436 (-124)
• Per-theater average: $2,333
• Cume to date: $46.3 million
No. 9: Hollywoodland (Focus Features, R)
• Gross: $2.7 million (-54%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 1,551 (+3)
• Per-theater average: $1,764
• Cume to date: $10.5 million
No. 10: Crank (Lions Gate, R)
• Gross: $2.7 million (-45%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,177 (-338)
• Per-theater average: $1,240
• Cume to date: $24.4 million
OTHER OPENINGS
Artie Lange’s Beer League (Echo Bridge, R)
• Gross: $320,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 164
• Per-theater average: $1,951
The U.S. vs. John Lennon (Lionsgate, PG-13)
• Gross: $72,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 6
• Per-theater average: $12,000
Haven (Yari Film Group, PG-13)
• Gross: $38,100
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 24
• Per-theater average: $1,588
Confetti (Fox Searchlight, R)
• Gross: $20,410
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 12
• Per-theater average: $1,701
