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Cannes Surprise Screening: Change Of Plans On Juan Antonio … 
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MONDAY 2ND UPDATE: Here are the actuals for this weekend. Sony/Screen Gems’ Takers won despite a 668 locations advantage in The Last Exorcism‘s favor. I hear Joe Drake at Lionsgate phoned Jeff Blake this morning to congratulate him.
#1 Takers (Screen Gems/Sony) -32% Sunday for $20.5M
#2 The Last Exorcism (Lionsgate) -45% Sunday for $20.3M
SUNDAY AM/SUNDAY PM: Overall the weekend is looking at $110M, down -20% from last year as the summer box office comes to a close. Below is the Top 10 with Friday’s, Saturday’s, weekend, and cume numbers for North American grosses. 
Coming in 11th was The Weinstein Co/Dimension’s Piranha 3D (-60% from last week, so how does that qualify for a sequel?) and in 12th was Fox’s re-release of Jim Cameron’s Avatar: Special Edition with an extra 9 minutes of footage. It was booked into 812 IMAX and 3D theaters in the U.S. and Canada. It made $1.2M Friday and $1.5M Saturday for a $3.8M domestic weekend despite the higher 3D ticket prices and a new domestic cume of $753.5M. As one rival studio exec tells me, “No tears shed” for this pittance considering the original Avatar holds the biggest worldwide box office record of $2.7B. Fox, move on…
1. The Last Exorcism (Lionsgate) NEW [2,874 Theaters]
Friday $9.4M, Saturday $7.1M, Est Sunday $4.8M, Weekend $21.3M
Lionsgate had 2 films in the Top 3 this weekend and ruled the box office for 3 straight weeks thanks to a pair of niche acquisitions. As expected, The Last Exorcism won the weekend with a slightly lower than hoped for $21.3M after Saturday’s domestic box office fell -25% from Friday’s. But it beat Takers only because of its theater count advantage because moviegoers gave Last Exorcism a really rare CinemaScore of “D”, meaning they hated it. Then again, Lionsgate acquired domestic distribution rights to the pic for under $1M. It was PG-13, and not Eli Roth’s Hostel torture porn Hard “R”, so it sold more tickets. Interesting that Roth had told me he’d sworn off horror films. Yet here he was producing this shaky cam film from a script by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland (formally titled Cotton) about a minister who permits a documentary crew to cover his final exorcism. German director Daniel Stamm did duty. Lionsgate is still in the throes of a hostile takeover attempt by Carl Icahn, so it’s trying to position this weekend’s win ”as a coup given its context”. It’s spinning that it’s back to its “do more with less” origins (“fraction of the big studio budget, fraction of the staff,’ as an LG staffer told me). But has anyone explained that to big spender Joe Drake who dismantled a lot of Lionsgate’s low-budget, high-profit franchises? Lionsgate has been using a lot of outside vendors for its marketing, which led to out-of-the-box thinking on The Expendables. To promote Last Exorcism, the studio pulled a stunt on a random video chat site that generated almost 2.5 million viewings on YouTube and other sites. ”Chat Roulette is virtually untouched by corporate marketers so far because of its inherently unfiltered/impossible-to-control nature,” a Lionsgate exec tells me. “And this has been widely cited as an example of guerilla marketing at its absolute best: getting a film without recognizable stars on people’s radar quickly and for almost no money.”
2. Takers (Screen Gems/Sony) NEW [2,206 Theaters]
Friday $7.5M, Saturday $7.7M, Weekend $20.3M
Sony/Screen Gems’ Takers on Saturday was up +4% from Friday which put the crime thriller at $20.3M for the weekend if Sunday holds. That’s a surprisingly close second-place finish considering it had been tracking so weakly prior to release. The genre film label thought all was lost, especially after it had waited years for filmmaker John Luessenhop to take care of his ill son. But this is why Sony Pictures pays marketing/distribution czar Jeff Blake the big bucks: He sent rap star T.I. on 10-city, 20-day tour to promote the pic. According to my sources, Matt Dillon was scared to do publicity for it, Hayden Christensen hated the pic, Chris Brown was otherwise engaged, and Paul Walker was busy making Fast & Furious 5. So that left Idris and T.I., who’d just signed a 3-picture deal with Sony and whose Grand Hustle Entertainment was Taken‘s producer along with Wil Packer’s Rainforest Films. “Screen Gems told T.I., ‘We’re going to market this movie on your back.’ He went and busted his nuts.” Idris personally hosted nearly 15 screenings in major cities around the country in the days leading up to the opening. The pic’s CinemaScore was only “B” and its budget was one of Screen Gems’ most expensive (around $30M). Sony has 3 films in the Top 5 this weekend, capping an amazingly successful summer because of Blake’s brilliant efforts.
3. The Expendables (Lionsgate) Week 3 [3,398 Theaters]
Friday $2.7M, Saturday $4M, Weekend $9.5M, Cume $82M
With a -44% hold, Sly Stallone’s action ensemble romp just keeps going, and going… Nice.
4. Eat Pray Love (Sony) Week 3 [3,108 Theaters]
Friday $2.1M, Saturday $2.7M, Weekend $6.8M, Cume $60.5M
With a -43% hold, Julia Roberts is looking less like a has-been by the week. Sony says it’s ahead of Julie & Julia.
5. The Other Guys (Sony) Week 4 [3,181 Theaters]
Friday $1.9M, Saturday $2.7M, Weekend $6.2M, Cume $98.9M
6. Vampires Suck (Fox) Week 2 [3,233 Theaters]
Friday $1.6M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $5.3M (-56%), Cume $27.9M
7. Inception (Warner Bros) Week 7 [2,070 Theaters]
Friday $1.4M, Saturday $2M, Weekend $5.1M (-44%), Cume $270.7M
8. Nanny McPhee Returns (Working Title/Universal) Week 2 [2,798 Theaters]
Friday $1.3M, Saturday $1.9M, Weekend $4.7M (-17%), Estimated Cume $17M
9. The Switch (Miramax) Week 2 [2,017 Theaters]
Friday $1.4M, Saturday $1.9M, Weekend $4.6M (-45%), Cume $16.4M
10. Lottery Ticket (Warner Bros) Week 2 [1,973 Theaters]
Friday $1.1M, Saturday $1.7M, Weekend $4M (-62%), Cume $17.4M
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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“Takers” is just continued proof that Hollywood really doesn’t have a clue, when it comes to tracking movies aimed at African American audiences. Rapper T.I. Is quickly becoming a star and was featured heavily in the ads. Word is the he’ll be in the new Ben Stiller/ Brett Ratner flick also.
Yo, Trey — don’t be such a ninny. Hollywood was saying “Lottery Ticket” would be a surprise hit given its Ice Cube pedigree. Guess what? It is flopping like a dying sockeye in the Mojave!
Takers did do well, and even surprised some, but it will not have legs. You watch!
But for you to launch an attack on Hollywood and its ability to target African American moviegoers is dumb, dumb, DUMB!
OK.
End of rant. … back to your regular programming.
“But for you to launch an attack on Hollywood and its ability to target African American moviegoers is dumb, dumb, DUMB!”
How is that dumb? Actually, Trey’s comment is right on the money. Just because Black people are IN a movie, does not guarantee they will go SEE that movie. THEREFORE, Hollywood LACKS the ability to target Af-Am moviegoing audiences.
The Lottery Ticket was a ghetto comedy. And while there is nothing wrong with that, the majority of Black people are middle class, or are aiming for middle class lives. We get TIRED of seeing ourselves portrayed as one type of way just like ANYONE would. Therefore, when you get a picture that has good looking brothers living it up, dressed nicely, pulling off bank robberies that take thought, and looking like action heroes, YES the urban public will go in droves because not only is it an exciting movie, but it features actors we like, that look like us, that we’d also like to f*ck. And for ANY race, that’s always a win. Ergo, ““Takers” is just continued proof that Hollywood really doesn’t have a clue, when it comes to tracking movies aimed at African American audiences. “
Then why was it “TRACKING” that way? Not PREDICTING. Big difference Black Chick.
Because when you ask people if they will see it, they say YES. But when it comes to putting their money down, they obviously said NO.
I don’t see why that is hard to understand.
A simple Google search would inform “Hollywood” that no one takes (Lil) Bow Wow seriously. His “street cred” is rapidly diminishing, he’s not making music that appeals to any particular group, he’s still got the body of a 12 year old boy, and he’s not a strong actor. In short, he’s not appealing to the streets, mainstream, the ladies, or people who appreciate talent.
THAT’S a big part of why “Lottery Ticket” flopped. With Takers, you’ve got 50 dudes, all of whom appeal to various audiences.
That’s not to say that the film won’t have a steep drop off next & probably sucks….but he did open it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Trey and Black Chick. (and Trey I apologize for being so flip; I usually have better comportment, both online and in real life!)
To Black Chick…. while I appreciate your comment I am confused by your affirmation of Trey’s statement. Didn’t Hollywood, in fact, get it RIGHT with “Takers”? — it was promoted somewhat extensively on hip hop radio stations and in urban areas; it was strategically targeted for optimal release to maximize box office (I even think it had been bumped from several previous release dates, and whether by luck or planning it came out AFTER TI’s release from the hoosegow which no doubt bumped revenue more)….
Are you suggesting that Hollywood, in spite of somewhat decently handling for “Takers” as evidenced by the Box Office, could have done even more?
– Bobby
Why won’t Vampires Suck just die? What a terrible film.
OK, where is ‘Development’ and the other PIRANHA 3D fanatics who kept saying the great word of mouth, good reviews & social media buzz where gonna be so great that it was worthy of a sequel?
A drop of 63% from last weekend.
As I noted then, the C score on Cinemascore outweighs all as far as the true reaction of audiences…..
Hey Joe,
RIGHT HERE BABY! If you recall i never took your bet of beating the 50% drop off because a film RARELY does. But I commend you for pointing out that PIRANHA didn’t hold well at all, BUT you have to admit it had stiff genre competition from both EXORCISM and TAKERS. I am curious to know, of course, how you read EXORCISM making as much as it did.
Whoa Pirahna and Vampires took a serioud hit. LOL And where the heck is Lottery ticket? Amazing that the lowest openings last week (Nanny and Switch) had better holds. I guess all of these were very front loaded.
As for the new releases, I think exorcism won’t last very long, but I could be wrong. I am just tired of this freaking remake and these horror films tend to do well on openening weekend then they disappear. We’ll see!
They hated The Last Exorcism? It’s gotten the best rating out of any film this weekend and is rating at 70% on Rotten Tomatoes and is getting good reviews from the horror community. It’s making a decent amount of coin so maybe those Vegas Tally Monkeys aren’t always right.
Cinemascore polls regular people after they see a movie, it’s usually pretty accurate as to how general audiences are reacting to a film. Critics have given it generally good reviews, that doesn’t mean audiences will react the same way.
There is generally a wide divide between how critics and audiences react to smaller genre films.
I would not be surprised if the low Cinemescore for The Last Exorcism was the effect of that ending, which was a major let down in an otherwise entertaining psychological horror flick.
Most of this Summers movies SUCKED!! We deserverd better.
No, you didn’t.
Takers was a decent movie. enjoyed it. Avatar … LOL. . glad to see it aint makin that much. how much more can you milk the cow for?
Wonder if that has something to do with the fact that it was released in only 800 theaters?…Dumbass.
Audiences hated ‘Last Exorcism’ because it’s Eli Roth and they were expecting disgusting torture porn when in fact the guy actually made a good film. The irony.
That’s not why.
Audiences hated ‘Last Exorcism’ because it’s a horrible movie and they were expecting something worth their money when in fact the guy actually made an incredibly disappointing film.
Audiences don’t know or care who Eli Roth is…
“Last Exorcism” brings to mind the Omen films and “The Exorcist”… so audiences were expecting one thing and ended up with another… but that doesn’t necessarily equate to disappointment. Just not what they expected.
Saw Takers, Paul Walker, yummm. I don’t feel bad saying that, because he’s actually a good actor.
What happened to Lottery Ticket? Fun little film and it scored and A-. Wonder why it didn’t do better and Takers does so well? Weird.
Because African Americans are tired of that Ghetto crap. Takers is like a serious, black Ocean’s Eleven. Suave, sexy, sophisticated black men. That beats ghetto stereotypes any day. I don’t know who T.I. (or whatever his name) is, but bravo to him.
Honestly for people who follow Cinemascore tracking, the Lottery Ticket’s failure and Takers success is a weird rare miss. You can give any number of reasons for why each one did what it did, but LT was tracking very well, and tanked. Takers wasn’t tracking well at all and is having a decent first weekend. Cinemascore is usually right about this stuff, not this wrong.
Peggy if you really don’t know who T.I. is than you are incredibly clueless. He is one of the most popular people in the Zeitgeist at the moment, and one of the biggest mainstream rappers in the world. He had massive hits last year in his songs “Whatever You Like,” ” Live Your Life” with Rhianna, and “Dead And Gone” with Justin TImberlake. And now he is an emerging movie star. All you have to do Peggy is open your eyes and ears.
I’m with Peggy. I consume vast amounts of news and media each day and I’m up on what’s popular at any given moment. But that doesn’t mean that I care one whit about what urban clown is at the top of the rap charts, or that I can identify said clown in a line-up.
Ah, well, there’s your problem right there. If only you HAD sat in on more line-ups you’d be intimately familiar with Mr. Clifford Harris, aka TI, given the number of times he’s been in and out of jail.
Obviously you could identify said “clown” in a line up. I’d be very surprised if you couldn’t.
Don’t come on here and pretend like you’re cooler/smarter than everyone else by claiming to not know who one of the biggest stars in the world is.
Good lord, the hyperbole is suffocating. TI is NOT one of the “biggest stars in the world.” He is a very, very successful CURRENT star in ONE genre of ONE industry — urban music. Even within the expansive field of music, there are millions of people who have worked in the industry all of their lives and have never heard of him — I refer to people working in classicla music, orchestral, operatic, even country.
It takes many years to become an “international star” of standing and duration, as opposed to a pop-cultural sensation (which is often temporal). But I gladly give Mr. Harris his due. He has made a very impressive crossover from one genre to another — film. But it is the START, not the culmination. There are millions of people who legitimately have still NEVER heard of him (how can you not know this???) It is as understandable that Peggy, Darling and millions of others are as unfamiliar with Mr. Harris, as TI’s fans are unfamiliar with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras, two of THE biggest and most respected operatic stars IN THE WORLD for DECADES (mastering both stage and recordings).
Oh, wow… are you talking about THE very non-disposable-at-all Zeitgeist where the players in it change and rotate out every day? How dare Peggy not know this stuff!
It’s always nice to see a criminal like TI go big time.
I’ve met a lot of people who say they don’t know who T.I. is, but then when I play his hit songs going back to Rubberband Man they’re like “Oh! I know this song!” Basically everybody’s heard something by him or featuring him but for many his name doesn’t stick. With movie success, however, this could change.
I agree with all of what Peggy said, too, for what it’s worth.
I don’t listen to rap or hip hop or whatever they are calling their anti-women pro money crap this week. And I’m black. I listen to whatever is left of real rock music (U2, Black Crowes, etc.)I didn’t know who Common was until I saw him in a movie. And he blew me away. I won’t get into the whole (only black rappers can star in movies – thing right now. that’s a whole other post)but I will say, if a rapper can produce a movie that is NOT ghetto trash I will give him/her props and support them. I’d have gone to see the movie this weekend but I live in NYC and don’t want to get bedbugs.
The only reason that P3D didn’t hold better is because most people are too stupid to realize that it’s not supposed to be scary. They see Piranha and think it’ll be like Jaws with a different kind of fish or like Anaconda. The Eloi never “get” horror-comedies like P3D and I’m sure some people were offended by the nudity and violence present in the film as well, which is just stupid. How much fun would a PG-13 Piranha be? Not much, that’s what. The nudity and violence went a long way towards making it brilliant and just plain fun for those who knew what they were about to see.
Another Week of shiteous movies!
I hope Avatar opens outside the top 10! We have had enough of Cameron milking the Cash Cow!!
Wow!! So happy to see Scott Pilgrim getting destroyed. Most insufferable movie I’ve seen in years… it’s really wonderful to see audiences sending Hollywood a clear message: Don’t cast Michael Cera in movies anymore.
Avatar: SE didn’t get any IMAX bookings in my area either. Would’ve gladly seen it in that format if it had. Weird that this was the case, since Inception is clearly winding down and shouldn’t have continued to command widespread I-placement. I had to settle for a crappy, dimly lit “Real D” multiplex screen (theatres that are too cheap to replace their digital projection bulbs are going to turn a lot of patrons off to the format if they rip them off with shoddy presentations like this). I’m a huge Avatar fan, but I have to say, the new additions don’t enhance the film at all. This Special Edition isn’t on par with Cameron’s other extended cuts, such as Aliens and The Abyss, where you saw the film in a whole new light. The new scenes really disrupt the overall flow, and prove Cameron’s wisdom for jettisoning them. Us “Avatards,” as we’ve been derisively labeled, really didn’t need the incentive of unseen footage to attend a relaunch. The allure of seeing it as it should be seen – on a big screen and in 3D – would’ve been more than enough. They should’ve saved the supplemental material for where it belonged: on the “deleted scenes” section of the grand, super-duper blu ray release that’s slated for release later in the year.
Huh? The hunting scene was great and a lot of fun. Seeing Tsu-Tey’s death adds a lot to the film, and Jake’s character. Also seeing the video of the aftermath of the Na’vi attack, gives a somewhat reasonable position for the Colonel to attack. It’s a better film, without being too different
I hate deleted scenes; I’d rather them edited into a large film and just call it different editions
This headline is misleading. “Last Exorcism” did indeed have more runs but their local average was $3388 last night vs. “Takers” $3458. Within spitting distance. “Takers” had a per screen average of a paltry 70 dollars more per screen, meaning if “Last Exorcism” had the same number of screens, they would have lost by 156k. And who gets penalized for having more prints when they are wanted? It appears in this battle that “Last Exorcism” won because it connected better. That is three consecutive number one weekends for Lionsgate at the box office–despite Icahn’s contentions, obviously someone is doing something right over there.
LMAO!
Avatar didn’t even made top 10 and grossed a measly 1.5M.
Sorry James, we know how hard it is for you and your ego knowing your re-release hype is falling flat on your face. All the talks of Avatar hitting 800M is not poof in the air. Now go swim in your millions pit and while at that, paint yourself blue like Papa Smurf
Really? That made you laugh your ass off?
I think what happened with Avatar is that the ticket prices are even higher now than when it came out the first time. AMC adds 7 per ticket for “Imax” 3D, making it $19 for an evening show. For a movie that has been out on BR for months. I hope the exhibitors are realzing they have outpriced the market for 3D. The mass market is not going to spend over 15 per ticket to see P3D or Step Up 3D. Only event movies in 3D even stand a chance at getting away with the higher prices. Genre movies are tanking. At lower prices, audiences are more likely to sample movies. And, when they get more bodies in the theater, they have a better chance at selling overpriced concessions.
TAKERS WAS AWESOME — and no one is more surprised than me. There are some action sequences in here — that it’s like “oh no, they did not just do that” and one great action scene with Chris Brown. This is one great and fun movie. Nikki, Box office.com has been tracking this movie and the twitter and facebook chatter has been very high.
Because the difference between the top 2 is so close and there is such a huge difference in screens.
For the release of Avatar-Special Edition. It is pretty damn impressive. It is playing in 812 theaters and consider the film has already been released on video. It still managed to make over 1 million on Friday. Pretty damn impressive. Suck it, Nolan fans/anti Cameron fans. You lost, suck it.
Why do people look at Cinemascore like it is some barometer of a film’s quality? Movies with misleading advertising campaigns, experimental or non-linear narratives and dark, ambiguous endings often score extremely low.
I would never say Cinemascore is an accurate barometer of “quality” — BUT, it DOES usually hold up as a pretty good indicator of a film’s legs. Films that go low B’s, C’s and worse almost never do well in the long run. That’s why I put little stock in all the anecdotes of folks who said the audience was howling with joy during PIRANHA 3D. Not saying there weren’t many who enjoyed it, but, on the whole audiences didn’t care for it.
Films that get A’s sometimes DO fall less than 50% the next weekend (TOY STORY 3 & INCEPTION were recent examples).
Well its getting great reviews so I guess you’re in the minority. Glad u feel the need to mention u saw it Arclight…that makes you official.
Saw Takers and WOW! It was actually pretty good despite it’s ratings. The theater went wild for Chris Brown, and TI as well. Less of an “urban” film, and just a great heist movie in general. Well done gentleman. Not only did all of them look great, they played excellent together. All of the guys were badass…Matt Dillon and Jay Hernandez as well. I think I may have to see it again.
I hope they move forward with the prequel. There seemed to be so much history and story to how all of the characters came together. But overall, great flick!
My girlfriends and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see a sequel!!!! Those guys are all hotties!!!
I saw TAKERS today in Century City and the theatre crowd went crazy when T.I. and CHris Brown came on the screen!! Can you say sexy??
The reason why P-3D & AVATAR Special Edition flopped
is because allot of people have spent already allot
of dough on summer movies, it’s the end of summer
and with the economy, the mutiplexes aren’t hiring
the extra kids to stand at the door to check for tickets
I KNOW
I have a friend who works at AMC CHAINS
and basically people are being ghetto & buying tickets
for dumb movies & watching them. Afterwards they are sneaking
in to the 3D movies by taking glasses from the recycling bin
it’s totally what’s going on
Careful PINK EYE may bite you bitches in the ass!!
How in the world did the Avatar re-release flop?