Box office report
It took a video game character to blast the chattering Chihuahuas off the top of the box office charts.
Mark (“Say hi to your mother for me”) Wahlberg’s action flick “Max Payne” opened with $18 million to top the box-office list, according to the Associated Press. “Max Payne” stars Wahlberg as a New York City cop hunting the culprits who killed his family. The AP reports that, fake gasp of shock, the movie pulled in a mostly male audience.
Disney’s “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” which had topped the box office list the previous two weekends was in the No. 2 spot with $11.2 million. It continued to bring in the family crowds, increasing its take to $69.1 million.
The other two new wide releases were in third and fourth place: The chick flick “The Secret Life of Bees,” starring Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah and Alicia Keys, was No. 3 with $11.1 million. As expected, it played to female audiences.
Despite the nearness of the presidential election, Oliver Stone’s biopic of George W. Bush, starring Josh Brolin as the current president, debuted with $10.6 million for the No. 4 place.
“For me, an Oliver Stone film about George Bush doesn’t necessarily scream big box office,” Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, told the AP. “A film like this is very tough to gauge, but this is exactly what I thought it would do.”
“W.,” a Lionsgate release, was far behind the $18.7 million debut of Stone’s last movie, 2006′s Sept. 11 saga “World Trade Center.” But the AP noted that “World Trade Center” opened in nearly 3,000 theaters, about 900 more than “W.”.
Playing in 2,030 cinemas, “W.” averaged a “solid but unremarkable” $5,197 a theater, compared with a $6,334 average for “World Trade Center,” the AP reported. “W.” was shot on a $25 million budget.
To compare, 20th Century Fox’s “Max Payne” averaged $5,332 in 3,376 theaters, and Fox Searchlight’s “The Secret Life of Bees” did $6,945 in 1,591 cinemas.
Stone raised eyebrows and interest among politically minded folks when he fast-tracked it less than a year ago so it could be out before the November election. He only started shooting in May, an incredibly short time by Hollywood standards. Stone’s contract allowed him to release it in January around the time Bush will leave office if he needed more time to finish the film.
Steve Rothenberg, Lionsgate head of distribution, told the AP this was the ideal time for a Bush biopic.
“We felt it was very important to release the film after the presidential debates but before the election,” Rothenberg said. “We felt interest in the election would be at its height, and interest in George W. Bush would be much greater now than after January. We feel we have a good corridor over the next two weeks.”
Hollywood’s overall revenues rose for the fourth consecutive weekend. The top 12 movies took in $86.4 million, up 10 percent from the same weekend last year, according to the AP.
Here is the box office top 10, from the AP:
1. “Max Payne,” $18 million.
2. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” $11.2 million.
3. “The Secret Life of Bees,” $11.1 million.
4. “W.,” $10.6 million.
5. “Eagle Eye,” $7.3 million.
6. “Body of Lies,” $6.9 million.
7. “Quarantine,” $6.3 million.
8. “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” $3.9 million.
9. “Sex Drive,” $3.6 million.
10. “Nights in Rodanthe,” $2.7 million.
-BAM
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