Box office takes on the Super Bowl
'Uninvited,' 'Taken' among newcomers
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Super Bowl weekend is usually the exclusive domain of female-driven titles. To that end, Paramount opens horror pic "The Uninvited," from DreamWorks, and Lionsgate unspools Renee Zellweger-Harry Connick Jr. romantic comedy "New in Town."
Among Oscar hopefuls, Fox Searchlight’s best pic nominee "Slumdog Millionaire" is expected to turn in another strong performance in its second week in wide release. Domestic gross through Wednesday was a boffo $58.7 million. Pic ups its theater count to 1,633 from 1,415 last weekend.
Focus Features’ "Milk" and the Weinstein Co.’s "The Reader," also best picture contenders, expand nationwide for the first time in their limited runs. "Milk," with a cume of $21.9 million, ups its theater count from 250 to 882. "Reader," earning $10.1 million through Wednesday, expands to 1,002.
Expansions will prove a key test for both films, which have different challenges in terms of appealing to smaller markets.
Last weekend, Universal took "Frost/Nixon" nationwide after receiving the top Oscar nom, grossing $3 million for a domestic total of $12.7 million. Best pic contender "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," from Paramount, is well into its run, cuming roughly $112.5 million to date.
The January box office ends on a high note, running more than 7% ahead of last year. "Taken," toplining Liam Neeson as a former government operative whose daughter is kidnapped, is tracking best among males, but older women are interested as well. Pic, also starring Katie Cassidy and Maggie Grace, was produced and co-written by Luc Besson.
Pic is going out in 3,183 runs.
Theater traffic on Super Bowl Sunday can fall off by as much as 75%, with the drop particularly steep among male moviegoers.
Since plenty of femmes still turn out, however, the forecast is solid for horror film "The Uninvited," an English-language remake of Korean film "Changhwa Hongryon" that toplines David Strathairn, Elizabeth Banks and Emily Browning.
Story revolves around a girl and her sister who suspect the motives of their future stepmother. Par opens the horror pic in 2,344 theaters.
Lionsgate takes "New in Town" out in 1,941 with modest expectations. Movie revolves around a high-powered executive who goes to a small town for work, only to have her life upended.
Last Super Bowl weekend, Disney opened "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" to a boffo $31.1 million. Other Super Bowl openers include "When a Stranger Calls" ($21.6 million) and "The Wedding Planner ($13.5 million).
Elsewhere on the specialty side, Sony Pictures Classics opens "The Class," nominated for the foreign-language Oscar, in six theaters in New York and L.A.
Searchlight expands Mickey Rourke starrer "The Wrestler" to 722 theaters. Pic, directed by Darren Aronofsky, has a running cume of $10.4 million. Box office observers say "Wrestler" is one to watch.
Outside the Oscar race, three new specialty films bow — Ad Labs’ "Luck by Chance" (61 runs), Cinema Epoch’s "Sam’s Lake" (two) and IFC’s "Medicine for Melancholy" (one).
Overseas action
On the foreign front, the frame will see the first significant expansions of awards contenders. "Revolutionary Road" makes the biggest push via launches in Italy, Mexico, Russia and the U.K.
Paramount’s aiming to take advantage of the international star power of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. "Road" has hit $15 million early in its run from France, Germany, Japan and Spain.
Warner Bros. will expand "Button" into German-speaking markets with about $25 million banked so far outside the U.S. from 18 territories, led by Australia with $10 million.
Disney widens "Doubt" into Italy and Spain with an early total of $1.1 million from four markets, and U takes "Milk" into Australia after grossing $2.2 million in five territories.
"Valkyrie," which edged "Seven Pounds" for the top international slot last weekend with $13.2 million, may again win the weekend as Fox expands the MGM/UA military thriller into Russia, Spain and Sweden.
Fox will take "Australia" into China with $135 million already banked from foreign markets, which have shown far more traction for the WWII epic. And Universal will open foreign sensation "Mamma Mia!" in Japan, its final market, with an astounding $429 million grossed outside the U.S.
