"Until the next," joked Rory Bruer, Sony's head of distribution to The Associated Press. "It absolutely would not surprise me considering the success of the franchise that they find a way to come up with another. It's a real possibility."
The Dane Cook-Jessica Alba comedy Good Luck Chuck debuted in second place with $14 million, while Sydney White, starring Amanda Bynes as a college freshman who teams with frat house dorks in a fight against campus snobs, premiered in sixth position with $5.3 million.
This week's Top Five movies all had R ratings, which is unusual in a movie market generally dominated by PG-13 flicks. "The Rs have it this weekend," Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers told AP. "That makes sense in this fall season, when grittier, more intense films are released."
The Top 12 movies took in a total of $80.5 million, down 2.02 percent from last year’s total of $82.2 million but up 25.22 percent from last weekend’s total of $64.3 million.
The Top Three films at the box office this time last year: Paramount’s Jackass: Number Two, which opened at No. 1 with $29 million in 3,059 theaters, averaging $9,481 per theater; Focus/Rogue’s Jet Li's Fearless, which opened in second place with $10.5 million in 1,808 theaters, averaging $5,857 per theater; and Sony’s Gridiron Gang, which dropped to third in its second week with $9.4 million in 3,510 theaters, averaging $2,694 per theater (Click here to read last year's box office report).
BOX OFFICE TOP 10 ESTIMATES
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: Resident Evil: Extinction (Sony/Screen Gems, R)
• Gross: $24 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,828
• Per-theater average: $8,487
No. 2: Good Luck Chuck (Lionsgate, R)
• Gross: $14 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,612
• Per-theater average: $5,360
No. 3: The Brave One (Warner Bros., R)
• Gross: $7.4 million (-45%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,755 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $2,695
• Cume to date: $25.1 million
No. 4: 3:10 to Yuma (Lionsgate, R)
• Gross: $6.3 million (-29%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,902 (+235)
• Per-theater average: $2,188
• Cume to date: $37.9 million
No. 5: Eastern Promises (Focus Features, R)
• Gross: $5.7 million (+950%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 1,404 (+1,389)
• Per-theater average: $36,845
• Cume to date: $547, 092
No. 6: Sydney White (Universal, PG-13)
• Gross: $5.3 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,104
• Per-theater average: $2,530
No. 7: Mr. Woodcock (New Line, PG-13)
• Gross: $4.9 million (-43%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,237 (+6)
• Per-theater average: $2,224
• Cume to date: $15.7 million
No. 8: Superbad (Sony, R)
• Gross: $3.1 million (-39%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 2,305 (-605)
• Per-theater average: $1,345
• Cume to date: $116.1 million
No. 9: The Bourne Supremacy (Universal, PG-13)
• Gross: $2.7 million (-32%)
• Weeks opened: 8
• Theaters:2,009 (-602)
• Per-theater average: $1,390
• Cume to date: $220.1 million
No. 10: Dragon Wars (Freestyle Releasing, PG-13)
• Gross: $2.5 million (50%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,246
• Per-theater average: $1,119
• Cume to date: $8.5 million
OTHER OPENINGS
Across the Universe (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $2 million
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 276 (+253)
• Per-theater average: $7,428
• Cume to date: $2.9 million
In the Valley of Elah (Warner Indie, R)
• Gross: $1.2 million
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 317 (+308)
• Per-theater average: $15,333
• Cume to date: $6.5 million
Into the Wild (Paramount Vantage, R)
• Gross: $206,596
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 4
• Per-theater average: $51,649
The Jane Austen Book Club (Sony Classics, PG-13)
• Gross: $160,520
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 25
• Per-theater average: $6,421
The Assassination of Jesse James (Warner Bros., R)
• Gross: $144,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 5
• Per-theater average: $28,800
