The box office results for the weekend of November 4th – 6th has the Puss in Boots fam-friendly crowd holding off two new edgy comedies, while the rest of the pack follows suit from last week. Here are the studio estimates:
1. Puss in Boots ($33 million)
2. Tower Heist ($25.1 million)
3. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas ($13 million)
4. Paranormal Activity 3 ($8.5 million)
5. In Time ($7.7 million)
6. Footloose 2011 ($4.5 million)
7. Real Steel ($3.4 million)
8. The Rum Diary ($2.9 million)
9. The Ides of March ($2 million)
10. Moneyball ($1.9 million)
Analysis
It has been noted that the weekend take for Tower Heist has been labeled as a disappointment for Universal Pictures. Boasting a stellar cast along with a marketing campaign that showcased a comedic/heist caper probably should have brought in more loot. That said, most heist pics usually open around the number this guy put up and have a history of showing endurance as the weeks go on. So it can’t be all bad news for Universal at this point. Until you read the word-of-mouth buzz that has given this a very lukewarm endorsement. In contrast, the lovely critics seem to be on board with this. Bottom line: the more-or-less polarizing flick rang up a production bill of $85 million; therefore, it’s going to need to “steal” a decent amount of cast during the week and the following weekend to see if this can possibly bring in some revenue for the studio who has dealt with their fair share of duds this year.
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is doing just fine for Warner Bros at the moment. Coming in with a relatively thrifty $19 million budget, this third installment of the stoner-comedy series should be somewhat profitable when the smoke clears. The only concern was that this opened nearly $2 million under what the 2nd installment took in three years ago, since it had the benefit of 3D ticket pricing.
Moneyball currently holds the longest streak in the top ten with 7 weeks. The possible Oscar-contender is now up to $70 million domestically.
Flop Alert: The Rum Diary. Johnny Depp’s latest has just barely crossed $10 million on the domestic front. Too bad the producers rang up a bar-tab of $50 million.
Sleeper Hit: For once, yours truly is going to flip-flop with regards to what was put on Flop Alert last weekend. Puss in Boots only dropped 3% from its mediocre opening weekend and has raised its domestic total to $75 million. Now while its production budget was $130 million – and when factoring marketing/promo costs, this probably puts the total budget closer to $200 million – IF, this flick can maintain this pace, DreamWorks Animation & Paramount could see some profits with an assist from international totals and the DVD/On-Demand run. Plus, there’s no direct competition in the genre for the next couple weeks.
This week unveils a bio-pic in J. Edgar; a sword & sandals epic with Immortals; and a goofy comedy – Jack and Jill – featuring Adam Sandler in drag. There’s also a few limited releases from IFC with Into the Abyss and A Lonely Place to Die. Reviews will be right here my fellow Shockers.
Report by Joe Belcastro
