The box office results for Super Bowl weekend sees something familiar – with a clever twist – easily rise above something old – that’s just going through the tired motions. Zombie-themed Warm Bodies came to life while throwback action flick Bullet to the Head barely registered a pulse. Here are the studio estimates:
1. Warm Bodies ($20 million)
2. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters ($9.2 million)
3. Silver Linings Playbook ($8.1 million)
4. Mama ($6.7 million)
5. Zero Dark Thirty ($5.3 million)
6. Bullet to the Head ($4.5 million)
7. Parker ($3.2 million)
8. Django Unchained ($3 million)
9. Lincoln ($2.4 million)
10. Les Miserables ($2.4 million)
Analysis
For those unsure what “studio estimates” entails, it means that they (studios) have the official Friday and Saturday totals, but are estimating Sunday’s take. Knowing that, and realizing today is Super Bowl Sunday, expect all the movies to take a substantial hit with the majority of the U.S. population gorging themselves and not venturing out of their respective homes and/or local watering holes.
Flop Alert: Bullet to the Head. I’m willing to bet Sylvester Stallone is on the phone with Arnold Schwarzenegger – the star of another recent flopper, The Last Stand – wondering what happened? Once the two biggest action stars on the planet, the artifacts came face-to-face with a harsh reality: Unless you’re in a movie together, or dusting off franchises from your respective pasts, no one gives a crap anymore. Even though Stallone found rejuvenated success with The Expendables – which was armed with all-star casting from the action genre’s past and present – apparently going at it alone doesn’t appeal to even the most die-hard fans. But enough production companies bought into this sucker, for they spent a combined $55 million on the production budget. Looks like Stallone and Arnie are going to have to come together with their old pals if they want to relive box office glory prior to their heart-failures (dudes’ muscles have muscles).
Now to the surprising, yet well-earned winner, Warm Bodies. Created for $30 million, this crafty genre mash-up, that uses the premise of a zombie Apocalypse, is well on its way to a healthy theatrical run. The lovely critics an audiences are onboard; and with hardly any direct competition entering the party in the next couple weeks, this could end up being a Sleeper Hit for Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment.
Silver Linings Playbook has quietly climbed to just over $80 million on the domestic front since its methodical release campaign set forth by The Weinstein Company toward the end of last year. With tons of Oscar-buzz swirling around, expect this to hang around all the way up to the grand award show at the end of February. The production budget was $21 million.
This Friday audiences will get the comedy, Identity Thief, along with the latest from director Steven Soderbergh in Side Effects. Reviews will be right here my fellow Shockers!
