Box Office Weekend 8/26-8/28

[Blu Titan]

The Summer movie season is over, but the box office remains. For this weekend, another weak slate. Colombiana, Don't Be afraid of the Dark and Our Idiot Brother debut. Can The Help repeat as box office champ?

Colombiana

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Don't be Afraid of the Dark

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Our Idiot Brother

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[Mandalorian]

I think this week'll be easier on the new releases. It's a tough call, but I think Colombiana may take first place.

[Blu Titan]

Only thing I am sure of is that, there will not be a film with $20 million or more for the weekend.

[Foggy]

Kinda hope Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark takes it, since that will add a lot more relief to Del Toro, along with the whole horror genre being able to move back up to R-Ratings. But Colombiana is the most accessible film to movie goers, so more than likely, that will take the weekend.

[Blu-Benny]

i could see don't be afraid of the dark but i voted for the paul rudd movie.

[Mandalorian]

I'll probably be seeing all three, so it's a toss up for me.

[Blu Titan]

BOM predicts a close battle between Don't be Afraid of the Dark and The help for the #1 spot. HP8 will go over $370M domestic by the end of the weekend.

As summer winds down, the box office is in for another slow weekend with the debuts of Colombiana on nearly 2,900 screens at 2,614 locations, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark on around 2,850 screens at 2,760 locations and Our Idiot Brother at 2,555 single-screen locations.

Excitement seems low enough for these movies that The Help could rule the roost again. The drama continued to hold well on the weekdays and is poised for another small drop-off.

Due to the popularity of its supernatural horror sub-genre and an aggressive marketing campaign promising tried-and-true scares, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is the new movie most likely to uproot The Help. The remake of the 1973 television movie of the same name marks the second release from FilmDistrict, which successfully distributed the similar Insidious this past spring.

Aside from being the first starring vehicle for Zoe Saldana, little distinguishes Colombiana, which looks like just another slick action-revenge picture for the late summer. Even wtih established action names, these movies rarely spark much interest.

Paul Rudd also gets his first sole-name-above-the-title star vehicle with Our Idiot Brother, though the movie sports a recognizable supporting cast. Rudd usually is the straight man, but, here, he's stretching as the comedic centerpiece. The movie's premise, though, appears one note, lacking the drive to go anywhere theatrically.

In Box Office Mojo's "when will you see it?" reader polling, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark's packing 13.7 percent for opening weekend, which was on the high end for its sub-genre (Insidious had 8.3 percent) and greater than Quarantine and The Last Exorcism (from the same weekend last year) among comparble titles. Guillermo del Toro's brand name, though, may have stacked the deck.

Colombiana polled at a soft 8.3 percent for opening weekend, which was worse than The Losers, From Paris with Love and Bangkok Dangerous among similar movies. Our Idiot Brother trailed with 6.9 percent for opening weekend, and it's been tracking close to The Switch from last August.

The Forecast, Aug. 26-28
1. The Help - $15.5 million
2. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - $15 million
3. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $10 million
4. Colombiana - $8 million
5. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World - $7 million
6. Our Idiot Brother - $6 million

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3257&p=.htm

[Bishop_99]

Tough call for me because I've only seen trailers for Colombiana on the tv, but I'll vote for that one solely based on that. I might see it depending on the word of mouth it gets.

[Chaotic]

i wonder if any movie will make $10M this weekend. Hurricane Irene is really going to hurt the BO this weekend.

[Moleman1138]

This is not going to be a pretty weekend. Hopefully people on the west coast'll make up for all the east coast closings.

[Bishop_99]

^You're right. It looks like the box office is going to take a big hit this week because of Irene.

Theater chains are closing, location counts are dropping, and major releases are finding cover as Hurricane Irene prepares to come ashore along the Eastern Seaboard starting in North Carolina and heading due north. ”Landing Saturday night in New York? Couldn’t be much worse,” one studio exec complained to me. Said another, “Business is in the crapper right now. Any way you slice it business is getting creamed this weekend.” There’s no doubt that the state of emergency declared across the East Coast from North Carolina to Massachusetts because of the storm which is already bigger than the size of Europe could depress box office by 10%, 20%, or more. Considering that this weekend’s opening movies were only expected to debut in the $8M to $10M range even in fair weather, studios and distributors have a Mother Nature excuse when their films underperform between only $6M to $8M at the North American box office. (So I can’t humiliate them. Drats!)

I’ve just learned that AMC which operates the Empire 25 in NYC’s Times Square — the top grossing theater in the country — is closing all New Jersey theaters Saturday at 6:00 PM for the weekend as well as a bunch in states like New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. Regal is leaving it up to individual managers to make the call unless otherwise instructed by local authorities but Hollywood distributors expect them to follow suit. Clearview Cinemas already announced all theaters are closed for Saturday and Sunday. “Out of concern for the safety of our guests and staff, all Clearview Cinemas will be closed on Saturday August 27 and Sunday August 28. We plan to reopen on Monday August 29. Wishing you and your family a very safe weekend,” read a statement on the circuit’s website.

Already my sources say DreamWorks/Disney’s The Help is a lock again for #1 with an estimated $11M as the bestselling book-turned-pic enters its 3.5th week. As for the rest of the Top 5, it’s a free-for-all. New releases fighting it out are FilmDistrict’s Guillermo del Toro-produced horror movie Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark, starring Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce originally booked into 2,760 theaters, The Weinstein Co’s raunchy R-rated comedy Our Idiot Brother showcasing Paul Rudd surrounded by Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel and Emily Mortimer originally booked into 2,555 theaters, and Sony Pictures/TriStar’s Luc Besson-produced and co-written actioner Colombiana starring Zoe Saldana originally booked into 2,614 theaters.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/08/hurr...per-right-now/

[Blu Titan]

In a very weak box office Friday, The Helk comes out on top:

1 THE HELP $4,404,000

2 COLOMBIANA $3,750,000

3 DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK $3,629,000 /

4 RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES $2,585,000

5 OUR IDIOT BROTHER $2,374,000

6 SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD $1,590,000

7 THE SMURFS $1,250,000

8 CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. $1,000,000

9 FRIGHT NIGHT (2011) $971,000

10 CONAN THE BARBARIAN (2011) $930,000

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/

[MiC. UHD]

^Wow, those are putrid numbers, I guess we can declare 'Conan' a flop.

[Mandalorian]

That hurricane on the East coast is obviously going to cut a percentage of the B.O. Even so, I doubt any of these new releases would've made big numbers anyway.

[Diesel]

Looks like Transformers crossed $1.1B today....or yesterday.

[Mandalorian]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Looks like Transformers crossed $1.1B today....or yesterday.

Well hopefully this will motivate the team to give us a real conclusion to this arc. I don't feel like the end of DotM was a close to a series.

[Aerodude73]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

In a very weak box office Friday, The Helk comes out on top:

"THE HELP" too.

Originally Posted by Diesel

Looks like Transformers crossed $1.1B today....or yesterday.

You can thank ME for that!! Went to see it yesterday (Friday, 12pm) in IMAX 3D , so my $14.50 must have put it over the top.

[Blu Titan]

It's official, The Help wins the weekend in what is probably the weakest weekend of 2011.

1 1 The Help BV $14,333,000
2 N Colombiana TriS $10,300,000
3 N Don't Be Afraid of the Dark FD $8,689,000
4 2 Rise of the Planet of the Apes Fox $8,650,000
5 N Our Idiot Brother Wein. $6,588,000
6 3 Spy Kids: All the Time in the World W/Dim. $5,727,000
7 5 The Smurfs Sony $4,800,000
8 4 Conan the Barbarian (2011) LGF $3,100,000
9 6 Fright Night (2011) BV $3,029,000
10 10 Crazy, Stupid, Love. WB $2,905,000

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/

[tommyboy81]

wonder what the numbers would've been without Irene. Should makeup for ot next week right?

[Chaotic]

Originally Posted by tommyboy81

wonder what the numbers would've been without Irene. Should makeup for ot next week right?

maybe. Afraid of the Dark will drop hard. Horrible WOM and 2 horror movies coming out next weekend.