Brotherly love
Revenge pic lures femmes, bags $21 mil
|
Paramount's "Four Brothers" led the pack with a $20.7 million bow at 2,533 theaters. Though rated R for strong violence, the revenge theme actioner, helmed by John Singleton and starring Mark Wahlberg, pulled in an aud 53% female, according to studio exit polls.
Just behind it, "Skeleton Key" debuted with $15.8 million from 2,771, which was on the high end of industry expectations. Aud for the voodoo thriller starring Kate Hudson was 59% female, continuing the trend of femme-friendly frighteners.
Among the frame's other openers, Sony's sequel "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo" opened in fifth place with $9.4 million, lower than the $12 million bow posted by the 1999 original. Sony rolled out "Deuce" at 3,127 venues.
Also failing to catch much fire was Miramax's "The Great Raid," which came in at No. 10 with $3.4 million. Pic was barely released wide with only 819 screens.
In its second outing, Warner Bros.' "The Dukes of Hazzard" tumbled 58% to $13 million and No. 3 on the chart. Despite the steep sophomore slump, cume is $57.5 million.
At No. 4, New Line's leggy laffer "Wedding Crashers" dropped just 25% -- its fourth straight weekend where grosses were off less than 30% -- to $12 million. That brings cume for the Vince Vaughn-Owen Wilson comedy to an impressive $164.1 million.
Warner Independent's "March of the Penguins" also continued its impressive run, collecting $6.7 million from 2,063 locations to hit No. 7. Pic was down just 5% in its eighth frame, pushing cume to $37.6 million on the nature doc.
Also of note, "Batman Begins" became just the third pic of the year to gross $200 million or more, crossing the mark Thursday. Only other pics to reach the threshold are "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" and "War of the Worlds." With a $1.075 million gross this weekend, cume for "Batman Begins" is $201.2 million.
Par's distrib chief Wayne Lewellen said of the "Brothers" bow: "It was on the high end of where we were looking."
Exit polls showed that aud skewed older, with 58% age 25 and up; 34% were African-American.
Best served cold
Lewellen credited the revenge plotline of the pic -- in which an adoptive mother's murder is avenged -- for appealing to women.
"The concept of the picture was something people could relate to," he said. "The campaign broadened into the female audience."
Similarly, 2004's "Man on Fire" had a majority female aud on opening weekend.
U distrib topper Nikki Rocco said "Skeleton Key" did well compared to other pics in its genre.
"In this market you never know what to expect, but this did a little bit better than we expected," said U distrib topper Nikki Rocco. "Based on the (comparison films) we're using, we're pretty confident that the results will be satisfying."
In addition to playing to a 59% femme aud, "Skeleton Key" was balanced by age between those over and under 25.
Sony vice chair Jeff Blake said "Deuce" should be a profitable title despite its lackluster start. "It's not big, but it's big enough. With a $22 million budget, we'll make some money on it, and it's a good DVD title."
Surveys showed the R-rated laffer predictably appealed to a younger crowd, with 65% under 25. "Our sweet spot was 18 to 30," Blake said. "After 30, there wasn't much action to be had." Pic was pretty balanced by gender, with 51% of its aud male.
On a war footing
Though "The Great Raid" just snuck into the top 10, Miramax distrib chief Mike Rudnitsky said the company was pleased with its opening.
"I would have liked to have seen a little larger gross," he said, "but for a war movie in a country that's a little tired of war, I'm happy with it."
"Raid" largely appealed to an older crowd, with 50% of the aud over age 50, he said, which is encouraging because pics with older auds tend to have longer legs.
Rudnitsky said he was also happy with the 60%-40% male-female ratio "because I expected it to skew more male."
Overall, total biz was off 13% for the frame, with Nielsen EDI estimating total box office of $120 million.
That brings the year-to-date total to $5.551 billion, 8% lower than this point in 2004. The summer is 9.7% off last year with $3.05 billion so far.
In the limited arena, Lions Gate's "Grizzly Man" posted the best debut, scoring $265,000 from 29 screens, for a $9,138 average. Lions Gate distrib chief Steve Rothenberg said the pic would double its run this coming week and then expand accordingly through the rest of the summer.
Paramount Classics launched "Asylum" on five screens, earning $39,212 for an average of $7,842. Co-prexy David Dinerstein said the pic would be platforming through the next few weeks.
Samuel Goldwyn and Roadside Attractions' "Pretty Persuasion" started off with $62,400 from eight screens, giving it an average of $7,800.
Holding well
Among the holdovers, Focus' "Broken Flowers" continued to do impressive biz as it added screens to its run. Over the frame, the Jim Jarmusch pic grossed $1.66 million from just 118 screens, averaging a stout $14,070. Focus distrib topper Jack Foley said the pic would move out to about 350 theaters this coming weekend. Cume is $2.85 million.
Thinkfilm's dirty joke doc "The Aristocrats" expanded beyond L.A. and Gotham to earn $874,562 off 86 screens, pushing cume to $1.63 million. After adding 77 screens for its third week, pic averaged $10,169 per.
Also holding well were Sony Picture Classics' "2046," which grossed $97,727 from seven screens, for an average of $13,961. Cume on the Wong Kar-wai pic is $266,642. Also in its second week, SPC's "Junebug" grossed $130,440 off 22 screens, averaging $5,929 and advancing cume to $271,196.
Miramax's "Secuestro Express" picked up $23,960 in its second week, bringing cume to $91,483. Playing nine screens, pic averaged $2,662.
Several pics crossed some milestones over the weekend. Paramount Classics' "Mad Hot Ballroom" crossed the $7 million mark, earning $166,716 from 11 screens over the three-day span. Pic is now in its 14th week of release; cume is $7.04 million.
IFC's "Me and You and Everyone We Know" lifted cume to $3.19 million in its ninth frame, earning $203,893 from 125 screens.
Thinkfilm's doc "Murderball" moved cume to $1.12 million with $134,126 from 95 screens in its sixth weekend.
