Despite the fact that winter storms raked both boasts cutting business nearly in half in theaters and leaving both stars with anemic numbers for their holiday films, people still found the energy to go see the movie they wanted just before Christmas. For instance, ticket sales in key markets such as New York, Boston and Detroit dwindled as a winter storm blanketed the areas with snow and ice.
“Yes Man,” directed by Peyton Reed (“Down With Love”), drew about $18.2 million in domestic ticket sales for Warner Brothers in its first three days, according to studio estimates, thus being on top of the box office for the current weekend.
Warner Bros.’ “Yes Man,” grossed the above mentioned $18.2 million from 3,434 runs to win the crown, while “Seven Pounds,” starring Will Smith as a mysterious IRS agent doing good deeds for strangers, grossed $16 million from 2,758 play dates, according to Rentrak. Unfortunately both titles were expected to come in at least $5 million higher.
This week’s number one film, starring Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschaneland Terence Stamp, is the story of man whose life is hovering somewhere in a dull zone, until he signs up for a self-help program based on one simple covenant: that he says "yes" to everything. A typical Jim Carrey show unveils from this plot.
Universal cartoon “The Tale of Despereaux,” Matthew Broderick's animated family flick and the frame’s other new entry, grossed an estimated $10.5 million from 3,104 runs on the strength of young tots and their parents. The movie, featuring the voices of Matthew Broderick, Frances Conroy, Dustin Hoffman and Kevin Kline, is the story of three unlikely heroes, a misfit mouse an unhappy rat and a bumbling servant girl -- whose fates are intertwined with that of the castle's princess.
By comparison, "Yes Man" played in 3,434 theaters and averaged $5,288 per theater, while "Seven Pounds" opened in 2,758 and averaged $5,801 per theater. The No. 3 film "The Tale of Despereaux" played in 3,104 theaters and grabbed $3,385 per venue.
Last weekend's champion, the sci-fi remake "The Day the Earth Stood Still," fell to Number 4 with $10.2 million. The film was released by Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. and it is a contemporary reinvention of 20th Century Fox's 1951 sci-fi classic, this time starring Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, John Cleese, James Hong, Jaden Smith and Kathy Bates.
As far as the Warners are concerned, comedy “Four Christmases” jumped the $100 million mark over the weekend, far outpacing original expectations for the comedy. Film dropped just 41% to $7.7 million in its fourth weekend for a cume of $100.2 million and coming in Number 5. The film, starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn as an unmarried couple forced to make four reluctant Christmas visits to all sets of parents, has done much better than previously estimated.
Independent and other limited-release films continued to do well on a per-theater basis. The champ was Fox Searchlight's "The Wrestler," starring a monstrously unrecognizable Mickey Rourke, which brought in a monstrous average of $52,369 in four theaters in Los Angeles and New York. The picture will expand to 18 theaters on Christmas Day. Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino," distributed by Warner Bros., recorded an average $25,632 at 19 theaters. Fox Searchlight's "Slumdog Millionaire," Miramax's "Doubt" and Universal's "Frost/Nixon" also had strong showings in limited release.
