While kids and families are off chasing 3-D fish, adults can follow a different kind of beast in Sony’s Resident Evil: Retribution, the fifth installment of the hugely successful Screen Gems franchise (with nearly $700 million in worldwide dollars). Paul W.S. Anderson, who has directed three of the five installments, is back along with Milla Jovavich as Alice, who this time fights alongside a resistance movement to battle the undead and other evil forces. At a tight 95 minutes, the R-rated horror action flick is the number one film this weekend earning $21.1 million aided by the added bite of the IMAX giant screen showings.
Retribution in Imax did better than 2010’s Resident Evil: Afterlife. For the Domestic market, Retribution is expected to get $3 million for the weekend. Internationally, in Imax, the movie will gross a projected $3.1 million for the opening weekend for a total worldwide take of $6.1 million.
The Pixar brand is one of the most beloved in the world of movies and with good reason. The films have earned over $7 billion in worldwide box office since the first Toy Story film was released in 1995. Now Disney presents Finding Nemo, the second highest grossing Pixar film (behind only Toy Story 3‘s $1 billion plus) with $865.6 million in worldwide receipts, only this time in 3-D and the results were solid if not spectacular. The film debuted this weekend in second place with $17.5 million.
The Possession from Lionsgate takes third with $5.8 million and has earned $41.2 million to date. The PG-13 horror film enjoyed dominance in the marketplace over its first two weekends having benefitted from a perfect release date.
Weinstein Co’s. Lawless starring Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy takes fourth place with $4.2 million this weekend and will earn $30.1 million total by Sunday night. The film has been in release three weeks.
Focus Features animated 3-D release ParaNorman with $3.039 million narrowly edged out the number six film and has earned $49.3 million to date.
Lionsgate’s The Expendables 2 has proven to be one of the bright spots of the late-summer releases since its release in mid-August. Another $3.030 million lands the film at number six and a North American gross of just over $80 million by the end of the weekend.
There has been lots of talk lately about the slow box office at the end of summer and a super low grossing weekend last week. Fortunately, this will be offset by the strength of the next weekend when four new wide releases make their mark, but also the September 28 weekend when Sony’s spectacular Looper and their 3-D animated Hotel Transylvania debut in what early tracking is showing to be shaping up as an unusually strong late-September box office frame.
‘Dark Knight Rises’ Passes $1 Billion Mark
