The box office results for the weekend of January 7th-9th has True Grit riding into the top spot for the first time in its release. Meanwhile, the new Season of flicks are not all that Strong thus far. Here are the studio estimates:
1. True Grit ($15 million)
2. Little Fockers ($13.8 million)
3. Season of the Witch ($10.7 million)
4. TRON: Legacy ($9.8 million)
5. Black Swan ($8.3 million)
6. Country Strong ($7.3 million)
7. The Fighter ($7 million)
8. The King’s Speech ($6.8 million)
9. Yogi Bear ($6.8 million)
10. Tangled ($5.2 million)
Analysis
2011 releases failed to generate anything notable on multiple fronts. Season of the Witch is receiving horror like reviews from just about everyone. The soft opening suggests that the $40 million production budget will be an issue for Relativity Media. Although, they do have Lionsgate chipping in on the financing end. Either way, the fantasy genre has been known to perform well on the DVD and On Demand platforms. So even though this is headed for a loss, perhaps it will not be a major loss for all parties involved. Never seems to affect Nicholas Cage’s employment offers.
Country Strong went wide in the first true weekend of 2011 and managed fairly well. The country-music drama opened slowly in the final weeks of 2010 and received mild critical praise. Fortunately, the flick only rang up a production bill of $15 million and its current domestic gross is up to $8 million. If it can avoid a major drop next weekend and perhaps capitalize off its Golden Globe nomination, then a profit isn’t completely out of reach.
Well the Coen brothers have their first $100 million box office crown. True Grit is just over $110 million in its third (and a half) week in release. With all the award buzz circling around this flick, it is still very impressive for any flick to reach the #1 spot for the first time after being theaters for multiple weeks.
Black Swan only dropped 6% from last weekend. The award favorite is now up to $61 million domestically.
There really isn’t anything else to say regarding Little Fockers. Actually, there is one tiny thing to note that may interest the masses. It was reported earlier this week that $70 million of the $100 million production budget was attributed to the actor’s salaries. Makes sense, for this is the third installment and of course you need to bring back all the original cast members. And who would have thought that after the monumental success of the first two flicks, the third would be this mediocre all around (box office and critics). Fockers is performing well internationally, so the lackluster total in the U.S. should not be that big of a worry for Universal.
Tangled currently has the longest streak in the top ten with 7 weeks. Disney’s 50th animation is now up to $175 million domestically. Worldwide the flick is up to $322 million.
Flop Alert: Just in case you forgot about this guy…Yogi Bear. The flick will be lucky to make its box office total match its production budget of $80 million. Warner Bros. and CGI animation are still searching for the magic formula in this department. Sleeper Hit: TRON: Legacy is quietly hanging around. The production budget was a massive $170 million, but the overseas market is providing a healthy assist at the moment. If the flick can match the production budget on the domestic side, the overseas total may be pure profit for Disney.
This Friday a few flicks try to break the stigma of the January dead zone. With laughter. The Green Hornet is the latest adaptation from Seth Rogen. Going head-to-head with that guy is a Vince Vaughn/Kevin James comedy titled The Dilemma. Reviews will be right here kids.
Report by Joe Belcastro
