Thanks to 1,700 3D screens, which brought in 70% of its gross, the Warner Bros./New Line horror sequel The Final Destination easily topped the weekend box office with an estimated total of $28.3 million.  Last weekend’s winner Inglourious Basterds dropped just 47% and finished a solid #2 with an estimated $20 million, followed by the Rob Zombie-helmed horror sequel Halloween II, which debuted at #3 with an estimated $17.4 million, and District 9, which was down just 41% in its third weekend finished fourth with an estimated $10.7 million. 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): August 28-30, 2009

Rank	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./Screen
1	The Final Destination	$28,335,000	3,121	$9,079
2	Inglourious Basterds	$20,041,000	3,165	$6,332
3	Halloween II (2009)	$17,405,000	3,025	$5,754
4	District 9	$10,700,000	3,180	$3,365
5	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	$8,000,000	3,467	$2,307
6	Julie & Julia	$7,400,000	2,503	$2,956
7	The Time Traveler's Wife	$6,745,000	2,961	$2,278
8	Shorts	$4,870,000	3,105	$1,568
9	Taking Woodstock	$3,749,000	1,393	$2,691
10	G-Force	$2,845,000	1,926	$1,477

The top four films, all of which are rated “R,” earned a total of $76.5 million, which turns out to be more than the top 13 films in the same frame brought in last year.  Overall the weekend was up over 38% from a year ago, continuing Hollywood’s strong August performance.  Having overcome a weak July the total summer box office is now on track to equal the record-setting total of 2007. 

 

While the dollars may be equal to the top-rated summer of 2007, the number of tickets sold is down, with the difference made up by the higher cost of tickets in 2009, an inflationary effect that is due in part to the premium charged for tickets to 3D showings.  In fact it is now clear that a good part of the success that Hollywood has enjoyed this summer has to be attributed to the popularity of the extra-dimensional format.  Case in point, The Final Destination, whose 3D screens alone earned more ($19.8 million) during its debut weekend than all the showings of the previous film in the series, Final Destination 3, which debuted to a total of $19.2 million in 2006.  The importance of 3D was not lost on the Weinstein Company, which produced Halloween II, the film that went head-to-head with Final Destination for the horror audience.  After losing the weekend battle, the Weinstein Co. announced that the inevitable slasher sequel, Halloween III, will be filmed in 3D.

 

Some analysts had predicted that Halloween II would take the weekend since the 2007 original reboot of the series scored a robust $26.4 million opening, while Final Destination 3 failed to reach $20 million in its debut.  The audience for Halloween II was evenly split between men and women with 54% of the audience under the age of 25—a demographic that was very similar to that of Final Destination, which attracted an audience that was slightly more female (52%) and slightly younger (70% under 25).

 

Paramount’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which was the most popular non-R-rated movie during the frame, continued its assault on the summer box office, dropping just 34.5% and earning $8 million as it finished fifth in its fourth weekend in theaters.

 

Older female viewers continued to flock to Julie & Julia (down just 16%) and The Time Traveler’s Wife (down31%).  The biggest disappointment of the weekend was Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, which debuted at number nine with a mediocre $2,691 per theater average.  Bad reviews can’t slow down a blockbuster like G.I. Joe or Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but the mixed reaction that Taking Woodstock has received from the critics definitely made a difference with the literate audience that Lee’s movies typically attract.

 

Disney’s G-Force and Warners’ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince continued their strong performances.  It now seems likely that the latest Potter film with break the $300 million barrier domestically.

 

Miyazaki’s Ponyo also demonstrated good legs, dropping just 19% in its third weekend in theaters.  Ponyo has earned $11.1 million, surpassing Spirited Away’s $10.1 million to become the anime master’s top-grossing theatrical release in North America so far.