The Hollywood Outsider – Film and Television Podcast | Reviews An award-winning film and television podcast for the fan in all of us
You know it’s an interesting weekend at the box office when estimates are in and #1 could’ve really be one of 3 different movies – House at the End of the Street and End of Watch are BOTH claimed a $13 million weekend, while Trouble with the Curve is claimed $12.7m. Well final numbers are in and End of Watch won fair and square with #13.1m, House took #2 with $12.2m and Curve took #3 with $12.1m.
Despite having a close 3-way race, all 3 of these numbers are blah. Not a single film broke out to be a big draw, so who takes number one is really just so the studio can take bragging rights. Actually, Eastwood’s films all start soft and have great legs so expect Trouble with the Curve to end up being the one that really comes out on top when everything is said and done. The good news is that House at the End of the Street shows that Jennifer Lawrence can open a movie, which bodes well for her future plans, and box office poison Jake Gyllenhaal finally has a movie that exceeded expectations in End of Watch. The guy’s a good actor, but people just don’t pay to see him do it.
While we didn’t know for sure who #1 would be at first, what we DID know is that Dredd 3D isn’t be one of them. Despite getting surprisingly great critical reviews and good fan reaction, the film only managed $6.2m for 6th place. It actually will make LESS money than the 1995 Stallone version. Ouch. In better news, The Master ended up with a $4.3m weekend…in about 1/3 as many theaters as Dredd. Last week’s #1 & #2 fell off the face of the Earth as Resident Evil Retribution dropped 68% to $6.7m for a $33m total, and Finding Nemo 3D dropped to $9.6m for a $29m total. Both of these films STILL made more than poor ole Dredd.
Oh well, let’s see if next weekend changes things when Hotel Transylvania, Won’t Back Down and Looper all open. Listen to Ep 60 for more on those upcoming flicks: