Hits & Misses: M. Night’s latest flop…
THE LAST AIRBENDER & THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE both massively underperformed this weekend. THE LAST AIRBENDER flopped into 4th place here in the UK taking an average of £2,946 over 344 sites whilst the Nic Cage led fantasy flick THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE took even less over a wider release, pulling in just £2,103 over 407 sites. Reviews for both have been lukewarm to say the least, those for AIRBENDER – the latest M. Night head scratcher – have been almost exclusively negative.
Meanwhile at the opposite end of the spectrum – foreign language thriller THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES opened well, bolstered by strong reviews and a relatively high visibility marketing campaign – the film took £85,698 at just 16 sites, giving a screen average of £5,620.
The re-release of FIVE EASY PIECES did comparably modest business, opening at 29 sites and taking just £10,982 over the weekend.
Disappointingly, BLACK DYNAMITE also underperformed for a film that really has the potential to find a wider audience, taking just £6,412 from 8 sites.
The Big Two are showing no signs of slowing down again this weekend, TOY STORY 3 & INCEPTION once again claimed the top of the UK box office, with INCEPTION sneaking back into 2nd place above KNIGHT & DAY. KNIGHT & DAY is still performing though, dropping by just 37% since opening last weekend, a fairly light drop for a genre film like this.
Stateside this weekend; bringing together all that muscle seems to have paid off and wrestled the US box office into submission as Sly Stallone’s brainless action flick THE EXPENDABLES opened to impressive figures, the film secured the top spot with total weekend takings of just over $30.6M. Whilst Edgar Wright’s latest offering, the rather less well physically endowed comic book adaptation SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD failed to light the box office on fire, opening in a considerably more modest 5th place. The film took an average of $3,692 over 2,818 screens – a slightly disappointing result given the director’s previous successes.
It’s not all brawny action-men across the water though, EAT PRAY LOVE opened to strong figures in the US too with this Julia Roberts led adaptation of the popular book landing solidly at number 2, the film took an average of $7,567 over 3,082 screens.
Elsewhere on the US chart this weekend, crime drama ANIMAL KINGDOM opened to really strong results over a limited release, pulling in $48,785 over just 4 screens – giving a pretty astonishing screen average of $13,386.
Andy Moore – Picturehouse Programming
| UK – OPENING | B.O. Position | Prints | Weekend Total | Weekend Sc Av |
| The Last Airbender (3D) | 4 | 344 | 999,627 | 2,946 |
| The Expendables (Preview) | 7 | 393 | 862,017 | 2,917 |
| The Sorcerer’s Apprentice | 8 | 407 | 851,380 | 2,103 |
| Tinkerbell & the Great Fairy Rescue | 11 | 236 | 288,544 | 1,224 |
| The Last Airbender (2D) | 13 | 323 | 263,845 | 829 |
| The Secret in their Eyes | 20 | 16 | 85,698 | 5,620 |
| Le Refuge | 28 | 13 | 13,814 | 1,062 |
| Five Easy Pieces (Re-Release) | 29 | 8 | 10,982 | 1,373 |
| Black Dynamite | 39 | 8 | 6,412 | 802 |
| The Final | 89 | 1 | 228 | 228 |
| UK – STILL PERFORMING | B.O. Positon (wk) | Prints | Weekend Total | Weekend Sc Av |
| Toy Story 3 (3D) | 1 (4) | 396 | 2,098,542 | 5,371 |
| Inception | 2 (5) | 477 | 1,583,229 | 3,467 |
| Knight & Day | 3 (2) | 438 | 1,517,676 | 3,482 |
| Toy Story 3 (2D) | 5 (4) | 478 | 964,819 | 2,170 |
| Step Up 3 (3D) | 6 (2) | 362 | 951,447 | 2,653 |
| The Karate Kid | 9 (3) | 430 | 763,667 | 1,799 |
| The A Team | 10 (3) | 414 | 761,269 | 1,869 |
| US & CANADA – OPENING | B.O. Position | Prints | Weekend Total | Weekend Sc Av |
| The Expendables | 1 | 2,965 | 30,606,144 | 10,798 |
| Eat Pray Love | 2 | 3,082 | 21,078,150 | 7,567 |
| Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World | 5 | 2,818 | 9,390,326 | 3,692 |
| Animal Kingdom | 45 | 4 | 48,785 | 13,386 |
Glad The Secret in Their Eyes is doing well. I saw a preview screening a couple of weeks ago and while I still think White Ribbon should have won the Oscar it is very good.