Box Office - 'Expendables' Blows Up, 'Pilgrim' Blows

Only one movie in the history of Lionsgate has had a better start than The Expendables. Of course, to illustrate the truly expendable nature of most opening weekend numbers, I'm obliged to tell you that film was Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail, but $35 million is still a good show of force for Sylvester Stallone, who hasn't approached that number, well, ever. Yep, with all the Rocky and Rambo movies and things like Demolition Man and Cliffhanger - Stallone has never had a movie open this well. That doesn't mean it's going to be his biggest success, because movies were in theaters longer 20 - 25 years ago, so Rocky IV opened with $20 million and made six times that much. Expendables, it's probably safe to say, won't make $150 million or more. But the film's success this weekend is an even bigger victory when you consider three distinct audiences were targeted by new releases, and another of them managed to do pretty well, too. Eat Pray Love jumped into second place with a $24 million start. Julia Roberts has had bigger debuts, but in terms of a Julia movie - meaning one where she's clearly the draw, unlike an Ocean's flick or Valentine's Day - you'd have to go back nine years to America's Sweethearts to find a better opening weekend. It was not all rosy, however. Poor Scott Pilgrim vs. the World did what we thought it would do: Disappoint. Now, of the three, provided Universal doesn't run for the hills after an $11 million three-day total, I do think this is the film of the three new releases with the best possibility to triple its output from this weekend. I really think it's such a unique film that some people stayed away, hoping to get reports on how it is. And it's a good movie, so hopefully it will get a strong hold next weekend. But this weekend, Pilgrim finished fifth behind The Other Guys and Inception. Christopher Nolan's film took in just under $12 million and sits on the cusp of $250 million total. Chances that it makes it to three bills are slim, although it should make decent money for a month-old film through about Labor Day. But I'd say it stops around $280, $285 million in the US. The Top Five:
1 - The Expendables ($35 million)
2 - Eat Pray Love ($23.7 million)
3 - The Other Guys ($18 million)
4 - Inception ($11.4 million)
5 - Scott Pilgrim ($10.5 million)

Comments

[faulty logic]

As much as I wouldn't mind Cera failing and maybe getting out of the spotlight, I hate to see Wright fail.

[Adam]

This is a damn shame. Scott Pilgrim is such a fun and solid movie. I'm sure it'll find its audience (and a cult following) on DVD/Blu-Ray...but it's just tragic that it's done so poorly at the box office. Sure, it was a horrible weekend for it, but it just felt like it had the high school/college market corned with all the targeted advertising and positive buzz going for it.