US/CAN Box Office Milestones - 8 February 2010
Posted by Team Screenline on Friday, February 12, 2010 in (0) Comments • Permalink •
Dear John ended Avatar’s reign at #1 with a $30.5M opening. But contrary to earlier reports, it did not beat Miley Cyrus in 3-D for largest debut against the Super Bowl. Nor did it edge out Eli for the top debut of the year so far. However, John blew past Message in a Bottle for the opening record of a Nicholas Sparks adaptation. By the end of the month, it will topple The Notebook to become the author’s top grosser ever. But will Miley take that record away as well come April?
Avatar had a record fakeout of its own, too. Weekend estimates tallied $23.6M this weekend, making it the largest 8th weekend in history, unadjusted for inflation. But actuals put that number at $22.9M, meaning Titanic’s 8th weekend record of $23M still stands. It did become England’s highest-grossing film ever, surpassing Mamma Mia, which stars Dear John’s Amanda Seyfried.
Is the Super Bowl becoming the newest winter/spring blockbuster weekend? This is the third year in a row where a movie has opened to around $25M or higher against the big game. With the supersized holiday weekend coming up, Dear John has a shot of reaching $100M, making it two in a row for Super Bowl weekend, after last year’s Taken.
Sherlock Holmes crossed $200M this weekend, making it the tenth film of 2009 to reach that milestone, and the fourth for Warner Bros. It is also the 99th film to ever hit that mark. What will be the 100th? Most likely Robert Downey Jr.’s next film – Iron Man 2.
While Crazy Heart had a solid expansion, and Avatar, The Blind Side, and Up in the Air continued to hold well, not all Oscar nominees benefited from the announcements on Tuesday. An Education flunked in its national expansion with $763K from 761 theaters. Its per-theater average of $1,003 is the lowest for a best picture nominee in its first weekend of wide release. Good Night and Good Luck’s $1,638 average from its first post-nomination weekend is the closest for comparison, yet that film had accumulated three times as much as An Education at this point. Precious’s $709 average this weekend was a disappointment, too, but it already has $46M banked.
Finally, despite a buzzed-about trailer, Frozen was not the next Open Water.
--Philip Siegel