Disney’s 3-D re-release of The Lion King continues to amaze as the 17-year film, which has earned over a billion dollars on DVD and is due to be released in hi-def on Blu-ray in a week, dropped just 27% as it earned an estimated $22.1 million and topped the weekend box office for the second week in a row.  Disney is now attempting to extend the film’s engagement beyond its original two-week window, which was meant to stimulate Blu-ray sales as much as anything. 

Thanks to The Lion King’s continuing strength and stronger than expected debuts for Moneyball and Dolphin Tale, the total of the top 12 films was up nearly 17% over the top dozen during the same week a year ago, when Wall Street 2 topped the box office with $19 million.

 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): September 23 - 25, 2011
	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./ Screen	Total Gross	Wk#
1	The Lion King (in 3D)	$22,130,000	2,330	$9,498	$61,676,000	2
2	Moneyball	$20,600,000	2,993	$6,883	$20,600,000	1
3	Dolphin Tale	$20,260,000	3,507	$5,777	$20,260,000	1
4	Abduction	$11,200,000	3,118	$3,592	$11,200,000	1
5	Killer Elite	$9,500,000	2,986	$3,182	$9,500,000	1
6	Contagion	$8,565,000	3,136	$2,731	$57,122,000	3
7	Drive	$5,771,000	2,904	$1,987	$21,425,000	2
8	The Help	$4,400,000	2,695	$1,633	$154,444,000	7
9	Straw Dogs	$2,100,000	2,408	$872	$8,884,000	2
10	I Don't Know How She Does It	$2,053,000	2,490	$824	$8,019,000	2

 

Moneyball, which stars Brad Pitt, set a new record for baseball movies with an opening weekend take estimated at $20.6 million.  Written by Aaron Sorkin, who also penned the last year’s reality based Facebook bio The Social Network, Moneyball is the true story of Oakland A’s honcho Billy Beane who applied cutting edge statistical methods to provide his team with an advantage over its wealthier tradition bound rivals.  Moneyball, which earned a superlative 94% positive rating from the critics surveyed by Rotten Tomatoes, also scored an excellent “A” CinemaScore from its audience, which was (surprisingly for a sports movie) almost evenly split between the genders (51% male) and (not so surprisingly) older (89% over 25).  With its solid word of mouth Moneyball could follow in the footsteps of The Social Network and end up with a domestic cumulative in the $95 million range.

 

The family film Dolphin Tale, which finished a close third with an estimated $20.26 million and may well overtake Moneyball when final figures are released tomorrow, also attracted solid reviews (83% positive on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes).  But this sentimental “true” saga of a dolphin rescue fared even better with its audience, which was 66% female and 51% under 25.  It earned an exceptional “A+” CinemaScore.  With that kind of a grade, expect the movie to demonstrate great “legs” over the coming weeks. About 50% of Dolphin Tale’s total came from 3-D showings.

 

The other two new films didn’t fare nearly as well.  The 19 year-old Twilight star Taylor Lautner’s starring vehicle Abduction could manage only a weak $11.2 million gross. Abduction only earned a “B-“ CinemaScore, though women under 18 scored it much higher (“A-“).  As might be expected from a Twilight spin-off, females made up 66% of the audience for Abduction, and 56% of the crowd was under 25.

 

The action film Killer Elite came in last among the new movies, earning an estimated $9.5 million, which has to be seen as a disappointment for the $70 million feature, which was the most expensive of the 4 new movies that debuted this weekend.  The film’s opening total was significantly below recent Jason Statham-starring movies like Transporter 3 ($12.1 million), but Killer Elite did earn a “B” CinemaScore, which is a better grade than Statham’s recent efforts have managed.

 

Contagion, which dropped just 41.1% finished in sixth as it earned $8.5 million and brought its total to $57.1 million.  Drive tumbled nearly 50% in its second week, but finished in seventh. In its seventh weekend The Help slipped just 32.4% and finished in the 8th spot as it brought its total to a surprising $154.4 million.