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MLK Box Office: ‘Mama’ Tops With $33.2M, Arnold Flops, ‘Silver Linings’ Expands, ‘Broken City’ Tanks

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday January 20, 2013 @ 9:30am PSTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Box Office, Broken City, Mama, The Last Stand

SUNDAY AM 2ND UPDATE: The big news is that washed-up Arnold Schwarzenegger flopped in 10th place playing a washed-up lawman in The Last Stand (2,913 theaters). “Nobody wants to see Arnold,” one rival studio exec giggled to me. Lionsgate should demand its money back from Arnie who clearly can’t open a movie anymore even with a ‘B’ CinemaScore from audiences. Pic made only a pathetic $6.7M for the 3-day weekend and no more than $7.7M for the 4-day holiday. I don’t think that even covers Schwarzenegger’s cigar bill.  The actioner featuring The Guvernator’s first solo comeback to the big screen was just one of the major releases that opened for the long Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Saturday’s business “was shockingly good,” execs told me, once again demonstrating that the theatrical business is kicking butt with audiences even if Arnold isn’t. Bombing as well was Emmet-Furla/New Regency’s critically panned dramatic thriller Broken City (2,620 theaters) breaking Mark Wahlberg’s long string of box office hits. Also starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Russell Crowe (thankfully, not singing) and distributed by Fox, it debuted only #5 and finished with a sorry $9.5M for the 3-day weekend and $10.9M for the four day holiday. That star power should have generated at least $25M for the MLK weekend with its ‘B’ CinemaScore from audiences.

No question that Universal’s supernatural thriller Mama (2,647 theaters) - “presented” by Guillermo Del Toro to lend it credibility – debuted #1 Friday and stayed tops through Monday with an overperforming $28.1 for the 3-day weekend and $33.2M for the 4-day holiday. ”This is an incredible result for a little film. We think it was the advertising on Twilight [Breaking Dawn Part 2] and the really scary trailer targeted to girls,” a Uni exec preens. It succeeded despite an unimpressive ‘B-’ CinemaScore from audiences. I can’t recalll when an actress was in Hollywood’s top two films, but Jessica Chastain snags that honor after last weekend’s topper, her Annapurna Pictures/Sony Pictures’ Zero Dark Thirty (2,946 theaters after 5 weeks) came in #2. The chameleon looks almost unrecognizable as a brunette in the new comer.

I’m surprised that Universal Pictures didn’t take the time with me to publicize more fully Del Toro’s role in this $15 million budgeted hit film, trying to dismiss him as “only as an executive producer”. In fact Guillermo took the original short film by Andy Muschetti and, from the moment of inception, developed it hand-in-hand. Del Toro even did informal passes on the screenplay. He chose Neil Cross as the co-writer for the project (they had worked together on Mountains Of Madness), then took the film to Universal where he
actively campaigned for a greenlight and cast Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Jessica Chastain (working with her
agents and manager himself). He even located the production offices in Pinewood Studios where he was prepping and would shoot Pacific Rim so he could be available and ready to assist Barbara and Andy Muschetti. I’m told that Del Toro would revise Andy’s storyboards every day before call, go through dailies, and work in the editing room. He chose the composer Fernando Velazquez to score because they had worked together twice already (on Orphanage and Julia’s Eyes). ”Guillermo was present at all crucial stages of pre- and post- production, including color timing and final mix,” a rep tells me. “He worked closely with Universal on the movie’s campaign and launch – to the point that ‘A Mother’s Love Is Forever’ was his suggested tagline at the very first meeting he spent pitching the feature for Universal.”

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Are Gun Control Pleas By Movie Stars Undermined By Onscreen Violence?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday January 2, 2013 @ 3:06pm PSTTags: Gangster Squad, Gun Control, Jack Reacher, NRA, The Last Stand
Mike Fleming

Well, you had to know this was coming from the gun crowd. A bunch of celebrities got together to speak out for gun control. In this video making the rounds, their pleas are superimposed with footage of the same actors … Read More »

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Hot Trailer: ‘The Last Stand’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday November 7, 2012 @ 6:06pm PSTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lionsgate, The Last Stand

Here’s the latest trailer for Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Last Stand. Forest Whitaker, Luis Guzmán, Peter Stormare, Johnny Knoxville and Rodrigo Santoro join the fun along with Jaimie Alexander and Genesis Rodriguez. The movie directed by South Korea’s Kim Jee-woon opens January 18 via Lionsgate:

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Hot Trailer: Schwarzenegger In ‘Last Stand’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday August 16, 2012 @ 11:27am PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kim Jee-Woon, The Last Stand

You’ll get to see him this weekend in The Expendables 2 but Lionsgate has put up a trailer for Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Last Stand, South Korean director Kim Jee-woon’s first English-language movie. Previously described as “a Fast And Furious at the border with high speed car … Read More »

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‘Friday Nights Lights’ QB Joins Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ‘Last Stand’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday October 3, 2011 @ 8:45am PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Film Castings, Kim Jee-Woon, The Last Stand, Zach Gilford
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Zach Gilford will star opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Kim Jee-woon-directed The Last Stand. Gilford, who played Friday Night Lights quarterback Matt Sarecen, will play the young small-town cop who works for Schwarzenegger’s sheriff character. They are all that … Read More »

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Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Back On January 18, 2013 As Lionsgate Sets Release Of ‘The Last Stand’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday July 20, 2011 @ 10:08am PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kim Jee-Woon, Lionsgate, The Last Stand
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Lionsgate is setting a release date of January 18, 2013 for The Last Stand, the Kim Jee-Woon-directed return vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger. That puts the film in wide release on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Schwarzenegger plays a … Read More »

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TOLDJA! Lionsgate & Arnold In ‘Last Stand’

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday July 12, 2011 @ 6:06pm PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lionsgate, The Last Stand

Here’s the official Lionsgate announcement of my scoop from Monday: that Arnold Schwarzenegger has booked his first film since his personal scandal broke. Interesting factoid, however: the studio execs who read the script told me it was an oater — but it’s not. “It was miscommunicated to you that the film … Read More »

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