While the fifth 'Resident Evil' film tops the chart, indie film 'The Master' breaks record as it scores the best opening weekend average for a live-action film of all time.
- September 17, 2012
AceShowbiz -
Alice and co. rule this week's North American box office with "Resident Evil: Retribution". Claiming the top spot on the chart, the game-adapted zombie war movie takes in $21 million on its debut weekend. However, the result doesn't outdo the $26.7 million domestic gross scored by "Resident Evil: Afterlife" in 2010.
Still, Sony Pictures is happy with "Resident Evil 5" performance on box office. Rory Bruer, Sony President of Worldide Distribution, gushes, "We're off to a great start. The movie is doing huge numbers in Southeast Asia and Latin America, where the franchise is alive and resonating. We have to give so much to credit Milla [Jovovich], who shows up in all those countries and really works it. People around the world love her."
On the runner-up spot, there is the 3D re-release of Pixar's "Finding Nemo". The animation, which was originally released in 2003, bags $16.6 million. It can't best "The Lion King" 3D which scored $30.2 million on its opening weekend in 2011, but it performs similarly to "Beauty and the Beast" 3D which opened to $17.8 million earlier this year.
"Overall, it was a nice balance," says Walt Disney Pictures exec Dave Hollis. "It delivered on multiple levels, drawing families during the day, and the date-night audience in the evenings. At the end of the day, it matched 'Beauty and the Beast'. And since it only cost a modest amount of money, it's a nice bit of found change for both us and the exhibitors."
Landing on the third and fourth spots respectively are former champion "The Possession" and moonshine thriller "Lawless (2012)". The horror movie grabs $5.7 million for a total gross of $41.1 million, while the Prohibition-era action film collects $4.3 million for a total cume of $30.1 million, both for their third week of playing in cinemas Stateside. *Rounding up the top five is "ParaNorman" which adds $3 million to its $49.3 million domestic gross.
The top five aside, P.T. Anderson's much-talked-about drama "The Master" scores a record-breaking opening as an indie movie. Collecting $736.311 from just 5 cinemas, the Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman-starring film bags $145.949 per theater, beating the record of "Moonrise Kingdom" which took in $130.759 per location. The result marks the best opening weekend average for a live-action film of all time.
Top Ten Movies at Box Office for September 14-16:
*UPDATE (September 18, 2012 01:15 A.M. GMT): When the final figures came out on Monday, September 17, "ParaNorman" dropped another slot to the sixth. Hence, it swapped place with "The Expendables 2", which now secured the fifth position on the chart.
