Seventy-eight-year-old Clint Eastwood continues to be a big draw at the box office — in fact, he’s bigger than ever. The actor-director’s latest action-drama, Gran Torino, was No. 1 on the first competitive weekend of 2009, grossing $29 million, according to Sunday’s estimates. That’s by far the highest single-weekend total of Eastwood’s esteemed six-decade Hollywood career. The film has been a hit since it debuted in limited release a month ago; this was its first frame playing wide. Its total domestic sum now stands at $40.1 mil. And, with a CinemaScore grade of A and possible Oscar nominations down the road, Gran Torino seems fueled and ready for a long ride through theaters.
Newcomer Bride Wars was a solid No. 2, with $21.5 mil, a totally expected take that’s on par with the first-weekend figures for costar Kate Hudson’s Fool’s Gold ($21.6 mil) and You, Me & Dupree ($21.5 mil), as well as costar Anne Hathaway’s The Princess Diaries ($22.9 mil) and The Princess Diaries 2 ($23 mil). Being the only film of its genre at the multiplex these days, and with an A- CinemaScore review from audiences, Bride Wars should also be hanging around for some time.
Fellow freshman flick The Unborn, meanwhile, scared up a sweet sum of it’s own: $21.1 mil, which landed it at No. 3. (In fact, the horror film could switch rankings with Bride Wars when the weekend’s final tallies are released on Monday.) Despite a B- CinemaScore mark, the movie certainly exceeded expectations.
Marley & Me (No. 4 with $11.4 mil) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (No. 5 with $9.5 mil) rounded out the top five. And the weekend’s other wide release, Not Easily Broken, easily found itself at No. 9, grossing an impressive $5.6 mil in just 724 venues.
Overall, the cumulative box office haul was up a hefty 14 percent from the same frame a year ago (when The Bucket List was the big winner), making this the third “up” weekend in a row. A nice way to start 2009, indeed.
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Box Office Preview: Will audiences fall for Bride Wars?
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Josh,
I have to ask, are your predictions ever right? Week to week you keep dropping the ball Josh.
I’m glad Clint Eastwood is #1. He actually DESERVES to be #1
Being a life long fan of Mr. Eastwood (both in front of the camera and behind) it’s difficult for me to write that I would be OK if he made this film his swan song. What a remarkable bookend Gran Torino would be to his remarkable career. He truly is in top form here… just amazing to behold.
Great Movie! It was nice to see a movie that kept you interested from start to finish. It made you laugh, cry and everyone applauded in the theater. Clint Eastwood is a great actor to write, direct, produce and star in his own film. WOW!!
FABULOUS MOVIE! Best Eastwood film ever!
Go easy on Josh, it was a crazy weekend! That being said, I don’t know if Clint Eastwood “continues to be a big draw at the box office” is actually true… I mean, between Changeling ($35 million), Flags Of Our Father ($33 M), and Letters From Iwo Jima ($13 M), I see Gran Torino’s great debut as a much needed return to box office glory for Eastwood!
More and more, though, The Box Office Junkie ( http://theboxofficejunkie.com ) is becoming my go-to blog for box office news.
told ya not to underestimate the power of a well marketed horror film!
It is shocking to see ‘The Unborn’ pull in that big dollar figure but with its homage to the crab crawling, head twisting figure climbing up the stairs, reminiscent of the Uncut version of ‘The Exorcist,’ I’m not surprised. It’s the clincher in the trailer that reels in impressionable minds. I’m not convinced that the film is a good scary story, yet. Word of mouth from family, friends, and associates is still always the best indicator and that will either help it or kill it by next weekend. Another stunner in the top ten, ‘Not Easily Broken’, already made back its entire budget and then some while playing in less than a thousand theaters. Remarkable!
How funny! The writer of this column totally ignored the fact that his predictions were way off!!!!! Loser.
Good bookend to his career? To do that his last film would have to be a giant spider movie:)
LOL… true or the Creature from the Black Lagoon; speaking of bookends.
FSUGIS – LOL
True or the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
& very well deserved. I heard great things about this movie so I went to see it & LOVED IT. It made me laugh, think, & appreciate the life I have.
Mr. Eastwood–Congratulations.
Per David’s comment:
`How funny! The writer of this column totally ignored the fact that his predictions were way off!!!!! Loser.-
Joshua Rich is almost always way off and he rarely acknowledges it.
So happy art (Gran Torino) beat out crap (Bride Wars, The Unborn)!