Forest Whitaker tries to help through the violence of VANTAGE POINT(2008).
© Columbia Pictures

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Columbia Has Successful POINT In Theaters

Columbia Pictures has cashed in this weekend with their latest action thriller Vantage Point taking the top spot in the box office report. The political-thriller---starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker and William Hurt---took in 24.0 mil in its debut across the country. Sony premiered it in 3,149 theaters, which has its average rate at a respectable $7,621 per showing. The first three day totals is a pretty good start for the studio when considering the budget is listed at only 40 mil.

Following in second place is last weekend’s champion, 20^th Century Fox’s Jumper with 12.65 mil in receipts, which is a 53.8% drop from its debut. The film’s getting shown in 3,430 theaters, eight of those being added over the last week, so it amounts to an average rate of only $3,688 per showing. In 11 days of release, the Fox action-fantasy has made its budget back when combining domestic and worldwide grosses. Here in the states, it has 56.2 mil thus far while also accumulating 29.3 last weekend in foreign territories. The studio has its budget at 85 mil and it has a worldwide gross of 85.5 mil in 11 days of release.

Landing in third place is Paramount’s latest fantasy, The Spiderwick Chronicles. The adaptation of the Holly Black novels pulled in right behind Jumper with 12.6 mil in receipts, which is a 33.7% drop-off. This film still has the highest amount of theaters out of the top ten with it getting shown in 3,847 theaters. In 11 days of release, it has a domestic gross of 43.5 mil and it has yet to be widely released in foreign territories with only 1.4 mil to show for its foreign launch. The studio has its budget listed at 90 mil.

Dancing its way into 4^th place is Disney’s dance-off sequel Step Up 2 the Streets. The follow-up to the 2006 film pulled in another 9.7 mil in its second weekend while getting shown in only 2,480 theaters across the nation. While no budget has been released from Disney, it can be that high given no large cast and no special effects to speak of. This means its 41.4 domestic gross in 11 days of release is respectable enough for the studio.

Warner Bros. takes 5^th place with their romantic adventure Fool’s Good, starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. In the film’s third week, it pulled in another 6.2 mil across the country and it’s still getting showings in 3,075 theaters. In 21 days of release, it has 56.4 mil in worldwide grosses. 52.4 of it is domestic while only another 4.0 mil is from foreign territories. WB hasn’t released a budget for it.

Next up is Universal’s romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe—starring Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz and Abigail Breslin---which pulled in another 5.1 mil in its second week of release. Again, no budget listed for the film but 21.7 mil in 11 days isn’t too bad a haul when considering the budget probably isn’t very high.

The last new wide release of the weekend to speak of is Be Kind, Rewind and it lands in 7^th place for New Line. It’s not too wide a release with it only premiering in 808 theaters but that was enough for it to gross 4.1 mil and land in the bottom half of the top 10. This total-low theater count has it coming in 2^nd place with the average per showing rate of $5,074.

Fox Searchlight continues to count the dollar signs as Juno continues accumulating cash by strong word of mouth and Oscar predictions. When’s the last time we were talking about a film placing in the top 10 after it’s been in theaters for 12 weeks? That’s the case with Juno pulling in another 4.1 mil in theaters while still getting showings in 1,727 theaters. While the indie branch of Fox hasn’t released a budget for it, the 130.3 mil domestic gross speaks for itself.

Universal has begun a wide theater pull out for their Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins in only its third week of release. The family comedy hasn’t done all that bad considering what it’s been up against and the studio pulled it out of 514 theaters after only 14 days of release, which has it coming in 9^th place this weekend with 3.9 mil in receipts. This makes for measly average of only $2,129. Still, it has a budget of 35 mil and a domestic gross of 35.4 mil early into its theatrical run, which has it set up for a profitable haul when it’s on DVD later.

Paramount Vantage climbed back into the top 10 with their Oscar hopeful There Will Be Blood. The film, which landed in 12^th last week, finishes in the final position with 2.5 mil in receipts. The film may be a critical success but the same can’t be said for its theatrical success, which isn’t all that surprising. Juno being a notable exception, most Oscar hopefuls don’t always have the same success with the masses attending theaters. In nine weeks of release, the film has pulled in 34.9 mil in receipts.

There’s nothing really to say about for next weekend. We’ll be talking about Semi-Pro winning next weekend most likely unless audiences skip it and enjoy Vantage, Jumper and Spiderwick instead.