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SUNDAY AM: It’s a dull pre-Oscar weekend at the North American box office with only two major releases are genres fighting each other for No. 2. 
There were better than expected grosses considering the East Coast was slapped with another harsh snowstorm. Otherwise, there’s not much to say. Holdover Shutter Island, the Marty Scorsese/Leo DiCaprio psychological thriller from Paramount, will easily stay No. 1 again with just a 41% drop from a week ago. It made $6.7M Friday and $10.4M Saturday for a $22.2M weekend and estimated cume of $75M. Warner Bros’ Bruce Willis/Tracy Morgan buddy comedy Cop Out (formerly entitled A Couple Of Dicks) opened Friday with $6.2M Friday and $7.8M Saturday for a $18.5M weekend which shows audiences are starved for laughs. Gee, you don’t think director Kevin Smith’s nationally blown-out-of-proportion fight with Southwest Airlines was a PR grab by this publicity hog, do you? It’s the first film he helmed that he also didn’t write. Overture’s doomsday horror pic The Crazies co-financed by Participant Media and Imagenation Abu Dhabi debuted with $5.7M Friday and $6.4M Saturday for a $16M weekend due to heavy TV ad rotation. Fox’s Avatar crossed $700M domestic. And Sony Pictures Classics platformedg the French language prisoner drama A Prophet in 9 NY and LA locations after it’s won several awards and is Oscar nominated. Industry types all weekend emailed me from the theaters gushing how good this pic is.
Overall year-to-date revenues for the first 2 months of 2010 are $1,805,600,000, as compared to $1,778,467,029. Revenue is up 1.53%, but attendance is down .48%.
Here’s the Top 10 for the weekend:
1. Shutter Island (Paramount) Week 2 [3,003 Theaters]
Friday $6.7M, Saturday $10.4M, Weekend $22.2M, Cume $75M
2. Cop Out (Warner Bros) NEW [3,150 Theaters]
Friday $5.9M, Saturday $7.8M, Weekend $18.5M
3. The Crazies (Overture) NEW [2,476 Theaters]
Friday $5.9M, Saturday $6.4M, Weekend $16M
4. Avatar (Fox) Week 11 [2,456 Theaters]
Friday $3.1M, Saturday $6.6M, Weekend $14M, Cume $706.9M
5. Percy Jackson (Fox) Week 3 [3,302 Theaters]
Friday $2.4M, Saturday $4.6M, Weekend $9.8M, Cume $71.2M
6. Valentine’s Day (Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,578 Theaters]
Friday $2.9M, Saturday $4.2M, Weekend $9.5M, Cume $100.3M
7. Dear John (Sony) Week 4 [3,006 Theaters]
Friday $1.5M, Saturday $2.1M, Weekend $5M, Cume $72.6M
8. The Wolfman (Universal) Week 3 [3,043 Theaters]
Friday $1.1M, Saturday $1.9M, Weekend $4.1M, Cume $57.2M
9. Tooth Fairy (Fox) Week 6 [2,249 Theater]
Friday $730K, Saturday $1.7M, Weekend $3.4M, Cume $53.8M
10. Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight) Week 11 [1,158 Theaters]
Friday $610K, Saturday $1.2M, Weekend $2.5M, Cume $25M
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God, I was hoping Cop Out would bomb so we could finally be finished with Kevin Smith once and for all. Now that egomaniacal wind bag will probably get to make another movie.
I hear he’s prepping a hockey movie, a sport with potential to translate into the kind of box office poison that could put his career on the skids.
With a budget of 30 million, Cop Out will sadly reach a level of profitability that its horrible quality makes it entirely undeserving of.
I just wish the media would stop giving him so many platforms to fuel his inflated sense of self-importance. The man is a glutton and a drug addict, and he’s there’s little correlation between the length of his career with his abilities as a director. If we all ignore him, maybe he’ll thankfully decide to go away and retreat into a haze of pot smoke.
jesus dude… how can someone build that much hate for a person… it’s just movies. chill the eff out
Good point, but you gotta admit there, D-Man, that Smith IS basically just a big ol’ gi-normous bag o’ gas.
Clerks was a great film… almost 20 years ago
hey, leave smith alone. chasing amy is a good ‘un.
Don’t worry. I’m betting most of his remaining fans came out on Friday.
I think the combination of Fanboy spike and brutal word of mouth will mean a weekend total of 15 mil or so and a second week drop of more than 70%. With a final total of less than 35 mil or less than the production budget.
well i guess avatar’s creator, James Cameron, will have competition in the “egomaniacal windbag” category. its a shame so many hollywood creators fall into the trap that just because they are creative they are somehow better than the rest of us…
oh well. must be nice to get paid and to be an ass.
The difference with Cameron and Smith is Cameron delivers the goods and makes the studios rich. I don’t think Smith does. Although I am tired of see Smith and Rodriguez wannabes in film class.
I think anyone who actually listened to Smith explain the Southwest incident would realize that in the end, he regretted the circus that ensued. It was more embarrassing then anything else.
And how exactly is Smith egomaniacal? Again, if you listen to him speak, he actually doesn’t really think much of himself at all. Least of all as a filmamker.
“And how exactly is Smith egomaniacal?”
His response to Cop Out being shredded by reviewers was dripping with ego. He more or less said that he’s at a point in his career where the work he does is so specialized it transcends professional film criticism. He also thinks so highly of himself that he was compelled to say most of the negative critics were “reviewing him instead of the movie,” as if it’s all some big, organized conspiracy to undermine the brilliance of a comedic gem because what he perceives as the monolithic status of himself as a director needed to be taken down a peg.
Yech @ him and everything he’s done, not to mention everything he’s become, post-Amy.
That it transcends professional criticism? I think what he means is that he’s making dick and fart jokes, so why the fuck would they review it like it’s supposed to be art? And yes, the critics talked about him a bit because he’s just more interesting to talk about than the movie.
C’mon, ANYONE facing that kinda review is going to respond with some degree of defensiveness. Who do you think he is? Martin Luther King Jr.? Cut him some slack for reacting. He obviously doesn’t think he’s a genius director… he thinks he makes dick and fart jokes a little better than your average man on the street.
Then he whines that critics are irrelevant because the internet has democratized film critique. Well, he doesn’t fair any better in cyberspace than he does in print – Rotten Tomatoes gave “Cop Out” a 22% rating. His insecurity is severely affecting his talent.
Rex Reed’s review called the buddy cops “stoners”. Seeing as how they aren’t and there is no demonstration that they are in the movie, I’d say it lends credence to Kevin Smith being reviewed instead of the movie.
The audience I saw this movie with was laughing throughout. I don’t think reviewers take into account target audiences all that much.
KS makes films like an accountant. The number of times I’ve heard him explain that studios like him and let him make films because the films come in on time and on budget.
And he STILL won’t concede that Jersey Girl was a turd of a movie.
Cop Out was atrocious – shoddily made and painfully clueless in establishing any kind of comedic rhythm. It was very awkward witnessing scene after scene desperately flailing about in vain as momemtum is attempted to be mustered up. The characters from the David Cronenberg film Crash would’ve loved this film because it really is the cinematic equivalent of a catastrophic car wreck scene being rubbernecked.
Using Kevin Smith as a hired directorial gun on a project where he had no original script input made zero sense because screenwriting is the sole area that he hasn’t been an abject failure in throughout a career that, frankly, has had a longer shelf life than his actual talent level warranted. His Nikki-referenced status as a publicity hog is irksome and baffling because there’s an inordinate amount of real filmmakers out there who do work that’s infinitely superior, not to mention considerably more profitable, without achieving his level of pop culture ubiquity. How much longer is this guy going to coast by on the fumes of Clerks and Chasing Amy?
It’s a shame, b/c even though “The Crazies” is a remake. It’s a pitch perfect survival horror movie(not even overtly gory), and undoubtedly the best one that will come out this year. You heard it here first. Hope this one has legs.
I concur. It was trully terrifying which is what horror movie should be. Great acting (especially Olyphant and the deputy) and cinematogrpahy were big bonuses.
Legs or not,it`s a hit. Small budget and respectable opening plus good reviews. Good job.
If you knew anything at all about Kevin Smith Egomaniacal is not one word that should be use to describe him he’s as self depracating as they come.
)
He deserves some respect and success on a bigger scale than he’s achieved before, he puts his heart and soul into his movies which is probably why he divides opinion down the middle. Give the guy a chance
Awesome to see Shutter Iland having another great weekend. Well desereved. Wonder how all those who trashed it here last week will play off its much deserved success. Reminds me of Inglourious Basterds. People here trashed that one too and look at it now.
Just because you think a film sucks doesn’t mean that you assume everyone else will think that, too.
Seriously? You truly believe Kevin Smith (or anyone) would want to be publicly humiliated to boost their upcoming project?
And if he were truly a “publicity hog,” he would have gone on every TV show that called him … but he didn’t.
When it’s obvious that every joke of the movie is in the trailer, and the jokes aren’t funny, you got problems. And why has Tracy Morgan actually become the actor his character is a spoof of on 30 Rock?
Wow. Avatar at 700+M. That’s nuts. I wonder if that conspiracist/lunatic Whiskey can prop up more fake numbers and arguments to prove Avatar lostoney. Btw, I bet he could score some kind of gig at an accounting dept at one of the studios. Aren’t they always trying to find new arguments fir how their pictures lost money?
How dare you accuse Kevin Smith of fabricating or taking advantage of the Southwest dilemma for PR. The man was embarrassed and angry at the incident because it was misinterpreted for something it wasn’t. And he purposely refused to go on shows like Larry King to discuss it because he did NOT want it to overshadow Cop Out. Why do some people hate him so much? I really don’t get it.
he’s successful. that’s enough for some. I’d think filmmakers would celebrate their haters on DHD– being hated sure beats being an unknown.
“Shutter Island will stay #1 with JUST a 51% drop?”
That’s a BIG drop off.
No “just” about it.
I thought 50% was average these days.
Revised (Sunday) is 41% – not 51%.
And 50% is average drop-off these days.
You were here last week saying it would drop by 60% and be #3.
Feeling a bit awkward, are we?
Shutter Island deserves the top spot this weekend considering the two crappy movies that got released this weekend.
I hopefully next weekend will be Shutter Island, AVATAR and then the rest.
After all it is Oscar time yeah! woh woooh.
Most likely, “Alice” as #1, actually.
I caught A Prophet and it is simply the best movie at the moment. I am sure a certain Cameron is kicking himself for not having the intel to produce a ‘man-tellect’ movie.
Oh! I am sure his Avaturd-fans would beg to disagree
Could your bias against Kevin Smith be any more obvious Nikki?
I’m glad Shutter has become something of a hit, I hope it keeps it in the conversation until the end of the year, particularly for Bob Richardson and Leo’s performance.
Not something of a hit. It`s a hit. It`ll clean $100 mio and than some.
I`m laughing at Paramount now. SI opens big with over $40 mio and has a good hold that made it #1 for two weeks in a row but the studio didn`t release “stunning success” comments like when their Oscar and boxoffice dud Lovely Bones opened with $20 mio for 4 days weekend (which is less than SI`s second weekend total). Bahahahahaha! Excuse me for laughing out loud but I`m so happy that SI, which they pushed to 2010 because they campaigned TLB for oscars, is now making money for the studio that TLB wasted and will cross $100 mio mark which is how much TLB really costed. Bahahaha!
P.S. Leo was incredible.
Is there a poll which reports percentages of the income of the movies depending on the number of theaters each movie played?
If the Southwest thing was indeed a publicity stunt (I wouldn’t doubt it) I’m not sure how effective it is. I didn’t know it was a Kevin Smith movie until now. Well played, fatty.
no Scorsese lapdog but Shutter Island owns…glad to see it sustaining well it’s second weekend, especially against brain-dead fare like Cop Out, The Crazies, and Avatar
Wow who would have predicted 700 million domestic and a crazy 2.5 billion worldwide for Avatar…
Avatar has just made overseas as much as Titanic did worldwide. @-@
I can’t see Cop Out doing more than $40-$45 domestic. It’s going to sink fast. Roper’s review was brutal!
“…just a 51% drop…” “Just” 51%?
Also from the world of understatement, the Titanic “almost” made it to New York.
Looks like WOM on Shutter Island wasn’t the skull and crossbones everyone said it was. I attribute the drop largely to the teenage crowd expecting a horror film, and I suspect it will hold at #2 next weekend. It wasn’t a masterpiece, but it wasn’t a bad movie, either.
I thought it was terrific. So did everyone else I know who saw it. The absolute, unmitigated viciousness against the film on the board here last week when it made #1 (suspiciously by just a few people, repeating comments) with Scorsese’s best opening ever was downright bizarre. I’m glad it’s #1 again and those commenters can sup on some nice, tasty, warm crow.
“Alice in Wonderland” will be #1 next weekend, no doubt.
It’s making money so it’s great, huh? By that line of thought, Paul Blart: Mall Cop is also exemplary filmmaking.
Also, a 51% dropoff in week 2 is nothing to *crow* about. A percentile drop of that magnitude proves that most of the people who saw it in week 1 didn’t recommend it.
Cop Out was not boring at all, one of the first comedies i’ve enjoyed at the theatre in awhile. What’s with the KS hate? Hard to imagine his weight thing was a PR stunt since I read that he turned down good morning america, the daily show, and any other media outlet that wanted to talk about it.
Few film makers have failed to live up to their potential like Kevin Smith. “Clerks” was a brilliant synthesis of a specific period and movement in film, while “Chasing Amy” showed growth. Since then, its been one stupid, empty film after another, recycling the same, juvenile jokes over and over again. He’ll always have his core audience of geeks, but he’ll never be anything more than a novelty to everyone else. If “Clerks” hadn’t been so great, maybe people wouldn’t be so angry at him for turning out to be so mediocre.
I actually think the full court press by the right wing media over Dogma did more to hurt KS’s growth than anything else. He hasn’t even scraped a film that ambitious since then.
Cop Out was pretty good in spite of its script. The best stuff of the movie felt like improvisation between Morgan and Scott. It’s tough to say if Smith was milking the fat thing or not. He is pretty shameless, but I don’t really see a correlation between a humiliating headline and people wanting to see your movie.
In spite of the script? the script made the black list last year. I read the script and the script was much funnier than the movie.
I know piling hate on SI is so last week, but I really did dislike that laughable mess. Please people – go see GHOST WRITER to watch a gripping thriller by a master of the genre.
I highly disagree with you about “Shutter Island” – I thought it was fantastic.
That said, “Ghost Writer” was brilliant, and yes, everyone should see it if they get a chance. Of course, now you’ll probably get a slew of “I’ll never put money in Polanski’s pocket!” morons on here now that you’ve brought up his film.
Leo needs a voice. He still sounds like a high school kid & diminishes his work. Needs a little Lee Marvin w/a James Coburn chaser.
Avatar will cross $700 million in domestic box office gross today (Saturday).
A question: Say Alice in Wonderland boots Avatar from most 3D screens, that Avatar slides over to 2D screens in many theaters and is totally dropped from others, but that a month or so down the road many theaters decide to put Avatar back up on their 3D screens; would this be considered a second release or merely a continuation (marked by a resurgence) of the initial release? And what’s the rule on this? Does ‘first release’ last until the point at which the film is being shown on zero screens? (So, for example, if a film goes from 3k screens on opening weekend down to a low of 1 screen in 12th weekend, then surges back to 2,000 screens in week 13, is week 13 still part of the first release?)
Thanks in advance.
Second release is when a movie brought back on the screens after being totally pulled out. Like those 20th anniversary releases of Star Wars, ET, Exorcist,etc.Or like Hurt Locker that I`ve heard is back on some screens due to Oscar but was out of them for several months. If Avatar only loses some screens but is still in theaters and than get those screens back, it`s one release.
In that case, I could see Avatar’s first release lasting over a year. It will be a very long time before it isn’t on at least screen.
If theatre count falls then increases again this is called an “expansion”. If it falls to zero and is released again later then you have a re-release.