David Fincher’s The Social Network dropped only 30.9% in its second frame, earning an estimated $15.5 million, and scoring a narrow victory over the Warner Bros. romcom Life as We Know It, which brought in $14.6 million. A couple more strong weekends and The Social Network, which bested a trio of new releases, will cement its position as an Oscar hopeful. Disney’s horse racing epic Secretariat debuted in third with an estimated $12.6 million, while the third newbie, Wes Craven’s horror opus, My Soul To Take landed in the fifth spot with just under $7 million. Overall the box office was down 15% from the same weekend last year when Couples Retreat opened with $34.3 million.
| Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): October 8 - 10, 2010 | ||||||
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| Film | Weekend Gross | Screens | Avg./ Screen | Total Gross | Wk# |
| 1 | The Social Network | $15,500,000 | 2,771 | $5,594 | $46,069,000 | 2 |
| 2 | Life as We Know It | $14,635,000 | 3,150 | $4,646 | $14,635,000 | 1 |
| 3 | Secretariat | $12,600,000 | 3,072 | $4,102 | $12,600,000 | 1 |
| 4 | Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole | $7,015,000 | 3,225 | $2,175 | $39,401,000 | 3 |
| 5 | My Soul to Take | $6,919,000 | 2,572 | $2,690 | $6,919,000 | 1 |
| 6 | The Town | $6,350,000 | 2,720 | $2,335 | $73,787,000 | 4 |
| 7 | Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps | $4,625,000 | 2,829 | $1,635 | $43,667,000 | 3 |
| 8 | Easy A | $4,200,000 | 2,847 | $1,475 | $48,139,000 | 4 |
| 9 | Case 39 | $2,630,000 | 2,212 | $1,189 | $9,600,000 | 2 |
| 10 | You Again | $2,474,000 | 2,332 | $1,061 | $20,731,000 | 3 |
Zack Snyder’s Legend of the Guardian continued to recover from a dismal debut. The 3-D animated owl picture dropped just 35% in its third weekend, but has still earned just $40 million domestically against its $80 million cost. Ben Affleck’s The Town continues to impress. The stylish heist picture fell just 34.9% in its fourth frame. It has earned $74 million versus its $37 million cost, which should help its Oscar chances since
Sony’s teen comedy Easy A, which stars Emma Stone who will play Gwen Stacy in the new Spider-Man film, has also demonstrated great “legs.” It dropped just 37.8% in its fourth week as it added an estimated $4.2 million to bring its domestic total to $48 million against just an $8 million cost of production. Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps slipped by nearly 54% in its third weekend, while Matt Reeves remake of the Swedish vampire film Let Me In, which debuted poorly last week, dropped 53.4% in its second frame. In spite of strong reviews, it appears that Let Me In, which stars Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl from Kick-Ass) will have to do its damage on DVD.
Although Halloween is getting close, so far at least October has not been kind to horror movies. Wes Craven’s My Soul to Keep posted the worst debut ever for a 3-D film opening in over 1,500 locations. 3-D showings accounted for 86% of its first weekend revenue, but even they didn’t attract many viewers. My Soul to Keep’s audience was small, but fairly well-balanced at 54% female and 52% 25 or older. Unfortunately they hated the movie giving it a “D” CinemaScore, with patrons over 25 giving it an “F.”
The romantic comedy Life as We Know It appealed to an older (70% over 25) female (68%) audience. In spite of weak reviews, the first weekend audience apparently loved the Katharine Heigl/Josh Duhamel film giving it an “A-.” The other new widely released film, Secretariat attracted a crowd that was still primarily female (55%) but even older (58% over 35). Secretariat did better in the middle of the country than on the coasts, and in general audiences loved it, giving it a strong “A” CinemaScore.
Tamara Drewe, Stephen Frears movie based on Posy Simmonds’ graphic novel, debuted in just 4 theaters and earned a modest $19,300 (see “Tamara Drewe Opens October 10th”). Any sales effect for Simmonds’ graphic novel will have to await a wider art house release.