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Jackson IS IT For Now
Michael Jackson documentary wins a slow Halloween report. By
Jarrod Sarafin
November 01, 2009
The Late Michael Jackson preparing for THIS IS IT tour(2009).
© Sony Pictures
It’s never too early to cash in on a recently departed. That’s the rule of box office law for this report, with Sony Pictures landing on top. And while the new documentary tribute, Michael Jackson’s This Is It, didn’t have the numbers that some insiders were tracking pre-release, it did score a victory over the slow Halloween weekend by grabbing an estimated $21.3 million since Friday and $32.5 million since opening up on Wednesday. Early speculation had the film taking in more domestically, with word of mouth mentioning that a number of houses were reporting sold-out showings with advance sales but the final results were here somewhat low key here in the states. That said, the LA Times reports the film did score up a monstrous $101 million worldwide in its first five days of release, a definite victory for a film which really just used previously shot rehearsals.
Landing in 2nd place is the latest trendy phenomenon known as Paranormal Activity. In its sixth week of release, half of that limited, the film continues to perform at the box office to the tune of another $16.5 million on 2,404 theaters. Dropping only 21% from its previous victory, the ghostly tale has a domestic cume of $84.7 million. Paramount executives are thrilled considering the very low production costs associated with the release.
Overture Films crossed the budget lines this weekend with their thriller, Law Abiding Citizen, taking in another $7.3 million for 3rd place. With the latest estimates, it has grossed $51.3 million in three weekends of release against a pricetag of only $50 million.
Universal Pictures continues to pile onto their Vince Vaughn feature, Couples Retreat. The comedy actually moved up a slot to 4th place by taking in $6.0 million on 3,026 theaters across the nation. This has its domestic tally sitting at $86.6 million, a full $16 mil past their budget of $70 million.
And now we come to Saw VI. Even with the weekend centering around horror-themed events, the sixth installment in the Jigsaw franchise found itself dropping 61% in its second weekend, taking down the 5th place spot with only $5.5 million. It seems clear the franchise is showing a little wear & tear with audiences but the question remains whether that really matters. Like its predecessors, the franchises’ profitably is still there because of the absurdly low price tags. This film reportedly only cost $11 million to produce and has grossed $22.8 million in ten days.
| Rank | Movie | Weekend | Theaters | Average | Total | Budget |
| 1 | Michael Jackson’s This Is It | $21.3 mil | 3,481 | $6,119 | $32.5 mil | ---- |
| 2 | Paranormal Activity | $16.5 mil | 2,404 | $6,880 | $84.7 mil | $15,000 |
| 3 | Law Abiding Citizen | $7.3 mil | 2,764 | $2,642 | $51.3 mil | $50 |
| 4 | Couples Retreat | $6.0 mil | 3,026 | $2,015 | $86.6 mil | $70 |
| 5 | Saw VI | $5.5 mil | 3,036 | $1,831 | $22.8 mil | $11 |
| 6 | Where the Wild Things Are | $5.0 mil | 3,645 | $1,394 | $61.8 mil | $100 |
| 7 | The Stepfather | $3.4 mil | 2,346 | $1,449 | $24.7 mil | $20 |
| 8 | Astro Boy | $3.0 mil | 3,020 | $1,005 | $10.8 mil | $65 |
| 9 | Amelia | $3.0 mil | 1,070 | $2,804 | $8.3 mil | $40 |
| 10 | Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant | $2.8 mil | 2,754 | $1,020 | $10.5 mil | $40 |
Next weekend sees the wide release of four major titles so it’s clear our top 10 list will be changing quite a bit over the next two weeks, with next weekend’s top spot likely focusing on a 3-D Zemeckis release. His re-imaging of A Christmas Carol will be at least 3,500 conventional and 3-D theaters, is rated PG and has a run time of only 1 hrs. 36 min.
Friday November 6, 2009 Releases
Wide
A Christmas Carol (3,500+)
The Box (2,500+)
The Fourth Kind (2,450)
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2,200)
Limited
That Evening Sun
Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
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