Sylvester Stallone led a platoon of aging action stars including Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, and Mickey Rourke to a triumph at the weekend box office as the “R” rated The Expendables, a 1980s-type action flick with the summer’s largest body count, earned an estimated $35 million.  Julia Roberts showed considerable appeal on the other side of the hormonal spectrum as her starring vehicle Eat, Pray, Love brought in an estimated $23.7 million from an audience made up predominantly of older females.  The much-hyped Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which had the highest critical approval rating (80% positive on Rotten Tomatoes) of any of the major new releases, stumbled to a disappointing $10.5 million, while Goro Miyazaki’s Tales of Earthsea, which debuted at just five theaters, brought in a disappointing $20,100.

The Expendables, which benefited from high profile cameos from Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, managed to broaden its appeal and attract an opening weekend audience that was 39% female, no mean feat for such a testosterone-fueled epic, though it should be noted that 74% of those distaff viewers were under 25.  As expected the film appealed to an older demographic with 60% of the audience over 25.  The question is--will this 1980s action throwback be able to maintain its momentum in the weeks to come?

Eat, Pray Love, Julia Roberts’ PG-13 rated travelogue posing as a feature film, unsurprisingly attracted an audience that was 72% female.   The film, which earned an estimated $23.7 million, marks Julia Roberts’ biggest launch since America’s Sweethearts in 2001.  The potent debuts of The Expendables and Eat, Pray, Love plus generally strong showings by the holdover films pushed the combined total of the top 12 films up 6.1% over last year when District Nine was the surprise box office winner with $37.4 million, and up 16% over 2008 when Tropic Thunder topped the charts.

The news for the weekend’s other newcomer, the genre-busting comedy/action/romance Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, was not nearly so encouraging.  The Edgar Wright directed film featuring Michael Cera actually earned less in its opening frame than the Cera-starring Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist in 2008, which brought in $11.1 million during its debut weekend.  Nick and Nora, which was produced for just $10 million versus Scott Pilgrim’s expansive $60 million budget, also didn’t have the advantage of a hugely successful screening at Comic-Con. 

The verdict is not totally in on Scott Pilgrim--the film has gotten solid reviews and opening weekend viewers under 25 gave the movie an excellent CinemaScore “A” rating, but the 25% drop from Friday to Saturday is a troubling sign that the film might not have a broad enough appeal outside its core audience of young people who read comics.  It should be noted that the film did face lots of competition from strong performers in all of the genres that it straddles.  Last weeks #1 film, the action comedy The Other Guys dropped just 49% and finished third with an estimated $18 million, while Christopher Nolan’s heady science fiction opus Inception fell just 38.6% in its fifth weekend and finished in fourth place with an estimated $11.4 million and a domestic cumulative pushing $250 million.  The Steve Carell/ Paul Rudd comedy Dinner for Schmucks also suffered a modest decline (39%) and brought in $6.3 million.

While Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’s opening weekend performance was disappointing, audience and critical acceptance pretty much insure that it will become a cult hit, even as its mediocre debut casts considerable doubt on its chances of becoming a mainstream smash.  It definitely did attract younger viewers, with 33% of the audience under 18 and another 29% between 18 and 24--just not enough of them.  Will Scott Pilgrim hang in there over the next few weeks and reach a larger audience of young viewers, or will it have to wait until it comes out on DVD to get the reception it deserves?  The next few weeks should prove instructive in that regard.

It should be noted that Toy Story 3 passed $400 million domestically this weekend, and that the Pixar smash has earned even more overseas.  Its worldwide total of $925 million makes it the highest grossing animated film of all time--though it should also be noted that its totals have been inflated by the higher prices for 3-D admissions and ticket price inflation in general.

As for Goro Miyazaki’s Tales From Earthsea, it’s mediocre showing in limited release likely means that it won’t be getting a very large rollout, though it should still be on of the top anime DVD releases of the year whenever Disney chooses to put it out.