"Greed is good” and good thing it’s legal. Oliver Stone received a winning tip for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. The sequel opened at number one with $19 million and has already traded $9.1 million in foreign markets. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole isn’t going to be written about in the history books. The 3-D animated Zack Snyder entry was a runner up with just $16.3 million.
Family films are still failing week after week, with Alpha and Omega flopping last week. The wolf picture nosedived to eighth position with a $4.7 million take. “Legend of the Guardians” was a far more sophisticated picture than Alpha and Omega but it made less than double in its opening weekend. Dressing up a bland storyline obviously can’t fool family audiences. That or kids are too busy with pencils, books, and teachers’ dirty looks.
You Again suffered from déjà vu. Easy A had it easy last weekend with a revival of high school comedy. The Betty White starrer was an older stale version of the tale with highly respected yet less relatable stars. You Again brought in $8.3 million its first weekend compared to Easy A with $10.7 million in its second weekend. Lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place.
The Top Ten
22. 22. The Virginity Hit - $0.3M…$0.3M
The Town did relatively well, earning a third place finish with $16 million, topping “Legend of the Guardians” on Friday. Inception has held on to a chart position for eleven weeks now. Reduced to only 900 screens, Inception still managed to produce $1.2 million. Its worldwide bounty stands at nearly $770 million. On the opposite end of the spectrum, The Virginity Hit had one of the worst opening weekends for a wide release in cinematic history with $0.3 million from more than 600 screens.
Next week brings The Social Network, a story about the Facebook moguls adapted from the book “The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal.” In recent weeks the picture has received strong reviews and even Oscar buzz. It will no doubt top the charts, even with a slender debut at 2,700 locations.
A pair of horror flicks is also in the mix for the first weekend in October. Case 39 was finally removed from a dusty shelf and put in distribution. Marketing is murky and the plot has been seen before. Favor will no doubt fall on Let Me In starring Chloe Moretz of Kick-Ass fame. This is a remake of foreign original Let the Right One In about a young vampire’s friendship with a meek young boy. Both movies open at 2,000 cinemas.
