The box office results for the weekend of 10/7 – 10/9 has Real Steel easily beating out The Ides of March for the top prize. Meanwhile, holdovers in Dolphin Tale, Moneyball and 50/50 avoid steep drops. Here are the studio estimates:
1. Real Steel ($27.3 million)
2. The Ides of March ($10.4 million)
3. Dolphin Tale ($9.1 million)
4. Moneyball ($7.5 million)
5. 50/50 ($5.5 million)
6. Courageous ($4.6 million)
7. The Lion King 3D ($4.5 million)
8. Dream House ($4.5 million)
9. What’s Your Number? ($3 million)
10. Abduction ($2.9 million)
Analysis
A summer-like blockbuster releasing in October may have been a wise choice by Disney/DreamWorks after all…until you look at the budget. Real Steel’s production budget was $110 million (not factoring in promo/marketing costs) and the underdog action piece will need to have sturdy legs in its attempt to reach profitability. Despite the lame title, critics and audiences’ positive reviews could have more people showing an interest in this over the next week or two. However, with eight major releases set to roll in during that time-frame, Real Steel could get bumped off the screening card.
Even with its Oscar-caliber cast, The Ides of March had a underwhelming start to its campaign when factoring in the star power. Though this is common with films tackling this particular subject matter. The political-drama is in great shape financially for the production budget was tidy $12.5 million. This will eventually cross $30 million on the domestic front and should have Columbia Pictures using the black ink on the balance sheet. Plus, the above mentioned subject matter will keep this product afloat as its target audience will be dropping in during the week to check this out as opposed to storming into theaters on the crowded weekends.
The Lion King 3D currently holds the longest streak in the top ten with 4 weeks. Disney’s re-release in 3D has tacked on $86 million to its domestic haul, bringing the 1994 animation’s all-time total up to $411 million; which places it at #10 on the domestic chart.
Flop Alert: What’s Your Number?. Dropping 44% from opening weekend usually wouldn’t sound a major alarm; but when you had such a crappy opening – along with a relatively small budget ($20 million) – things are not looking so good for Twentieth Century Fox with this formulaic rom-com. The domestic total barely crossed the $10 million mark and the only saving grace for this sucker is a solid run on the DVD & On-Demand circuit.
Sleeper Hit: Dolphin Tale. With no direct genre competition on the horizon for the rest of this month, the inspirational film – that has maintained its position in the top three during its three week release – could end up garnering profits if it can continue its trend of just dropping around 35% from week-to-week. A likely assist will also come from the foreign markets as it will be swimming into those respective areas all throughout October. Currently the flick has reached about $49 million stateside.
This Friday ushers in another batch of remakes. The Thing drops in to please the rabid horror crowd while Footloose will try to charm fans with its energetic dance/comedy. And speaking of comedy, The Big Year will try to put smiles on people’s faces who are anti-remake. Reviews will be right here my fellow Shockers.
Report by Joe Belcastro
