Image Credit: Merrick MortonWith all three new releases under-performing, and Social Network holding strong for a second weekend in row, the David Fincher-directed Academy bait landed in first place for a second weekend in a row with a $15.5 million opening. Social Network dropped only 31 percent its second weekend for a total gross of $46 million after only 10 days in release.
Life As We Know It landed in second place with $14.6 million. The Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel-starrer was expected to gross closer to $18 million but according to exit pollster Cinemascore, those that did see the romantic comedy loved it, giving it an A-. The predominantly female, over 25 audience was heavily courted this weekend, also being lured by the Diane Lane horse movie Secretariat. That film, from Disney Studios, earned an estimated $12.6 million, over performing in smaller markets such as Salt Lake City, Denver and Dallas. It also scored very well with those female, over 25 moviegoers, who gave it an A, according to the exit pollster.
Slot four belonged to family holdover Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole. The Zack Snyder-directed animated flick earned $7 million its third weekend in release. The film has earned $39 million. Spot five marked the poorest received release of the new crop of films. Wes Craven’s first endeavor into 3-D My Soul to Take earned $6.9 million in over 2,500 theaters with 86 percent of the gross coming from the 3-D screens. The Relativity release was hated by audiences, who gave it a D, according to Cinemascore, and those audiences polled who were over 25, liked it even less, grading it with a failing F grade.
The rest of the weekend was dominated by holdovers, with Ben Affleck’s The Town landing in sixth place. The R-rated Boston based heist flick earned $6.3 million its fourth weekend in theaters and has now earned close to $74 million. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps nabbed spot seven with another $4.6 million. Money Never Sleeps has now earned close to $44 million, a figure that suggests the Oliver Stone-sequel will not be anything close to the culture reference point that the first Wall Street was back in the 1980s.
Emma Stone’s Easy A earned $4.2 million over the weekend for the eighth slot. The inexpensive teen comedy has grossed close to $50 million since opening a month ago. Last weekend’s new release Case 39 earned $2.6 its sophomore session. The long-shelved horror flick starring Renee Zellweger and Bradley Cooper has earned $9.5 million in two weeks. The final spot in the top ten belonged to Disney’s You Again starring Kristen Bell. Earning another $2.5 million in its third weekend of release, the comedy has grossed a paltry $20.7 million.
The last month has belonged to a slew of interesting adult dramas that have scored well with both audiences and critics but have had trouble generating much beyond $20 million openings. Next weekend should change the $20 million trend with Jackass 3-D opening wide opposite the old fogey actioner Red. Come back next week for more updates.
Katherine Heigl is losing her appeal, less than “Killers”
I wouldn’t blame it on her. Not as many people going to the movies in the Fall + Bad reviews + a film that mostly appeals to women over 25= $15 million. It was doomed. Especially upagainst a film that appeals to everyone and got great reviews.
Well, The Social Network is a great film and I enjoyed it, but it doesn’t have any specific appeal to women.
I’m a woman and the Social Network appealed to me. Great smart movie. I do love rom/com movie’s though too. I don’t think doing almost $15 million in October is that bad for Heigl’s movie. It would be different if it was opening at Thanksgiving or Christmas but fall/winter movies don’t do as much.
Glad to see Secretariat bomb.
m1, seriously, shut the hell up! Nobody cares what you think, specially about how wonderful Easy A was. Who are you kidding? You never watched that movie cause it didn’t have any explosions. You just go with what the film critics say cause that way you think that will make you a film expert.. Quit being such a tool.. Seriously.
I didn’t even say anything!
@dgrrey: No, thanks. I’m good.
You two are hilarious!
I don’t know how any of this is funny, but okay.
Thank you sir… Much appreciated
Yeah, I am such a tool..
You are not me.
I am He, as you are He, and you are me, and we are all together..
WE ARE FAMILY!
I wanted to go see The Social Network tonight….and our theater isn’t playing it…grrr!
Move to somewhere that isn’t over-run by inbred hicks.
If that means moving closer to ignorant, elitist hicks who don’t think they’re hicks (the worst kind) like you, then no thanks.
Who are you? Because you’re certainly not me. I would never type such an offensive thing like that.
Social Network was great, glad to see it’s still performing well.
Life as We Know It was unexpectedly enjoyable. I really liked it. Lightweight, but leaves you with a smile on your face…which is a lot considering that I went in already disliking it. It was a nice surprise.
I never go see movies in which the ending is given AWAY in the trailer. So annoying.
Plus I am so over poop-on-the-face baby comedy. Toilet humor, no thanks.
Um, it’s a romantic comedy. The ending is given away just by being categorized as a rom-com.
@Jane: not true, in the good romantic comedies.
Case 39 has earned 9,600,000-NOT 9,5. Please start putting the right info!
My Soul to take was that bad?? a lil Irony for Scream 4
Well, it certainly looked bad from the trailers.
Glad to hear that The Social Network held in well. It’s a great movie that, for me, lived up to the hype and the buzz.
Red looks like a fun and entertaining movie with a great cast. I think I might see that next weekend.
social network is doing good, but not great as it should be. since the high praise its receiving. but cant wait for Jackass 3D!
Um, it has the best hold over of any film this year, dropping only 30%. So it’s doing just fine. Just because it didn’t do what YOU thought it would/should do doesn’t mean anything. So you can go wait for Jackass and leave the real films to the grown-ups.
Wow,I thought the weekend included SUNDAY. We never go to a movie until SUNDAY afternoon. So now there’s a dumbazz that predicts what the weekend gross will be before the weekend is over.Puck Hollywood and all their arrogance!
Calm down. This is how it’s done. Predictions are always made on Sunday, and final numbers are released on Monday. The final numbers are usually very accurate to what was predicted.
Horror movies are doing terrible this year, I was sure that last weeks Let Me In was going to be the best of the horror pics (box office and quality wise)but was wrong with the box office….The Social Network was awesome and will be nomatined for an oscar
I loved Secretariat!
Yet another under-achieving Katherine Heigl flick. She’s one bomb away from being demoted from the A-List (if she ever was).
I think she’s already been demoted. Well, at least one would hope so.
She was never A list to begin with.
Not going to chance the movie but I doubt it is as bad as Killers. That was nasty and on par with the horrendous When in Rome. Coinicidentally Kristen’s Bell’s follow-up to that horrid movie has gone just as bad, worse, than Katharine’s (though that said I actually like Kristen Bell – but hate her current batch of movies just as much as Heigl’s).
The Social Network was amazing. Life As We Know it was cute but annoying with Katherine Heigl. Glad to know the better film won the weekend.