LOS ANGELES — Moviegoers worshipped at the altar of The Master at the box office last weekend, as Paul Thomas Anderson’s critical darling dominated art house ticket sales, reaching No. 19 on the Top 20 chart.
The film, which stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as the leader of a Scientology-esque cult, opened last weekend in only five theaters but collected $736,311, according to an estimate from distributor the Weinstein Co. That amounts to per-location average of $147,262 — the best opening for any film in limited release so far this year.
It was a good weekend for independent film at the box office, as the Richard Gere thriller Arbitrage scored the highest debut ever for any movie released in theaters the same day it became available on video-on-demand. Playing in 197 theaters, the movie grossed $2 million on the same weekend that it shot to No. 2 on the iTunes movie rental chart.
In wide release, a 3-D version of Finding Nemo was expected to rule the multiplex upon its debut, but the animated film sank to the runner-up position last weekend. Instead, Resident Evil: Retribution, the fifth installment in the popular Milla Jovovich science-fiction thriller franchise, claimed the No. 1 spot.
However, both films missed industry projections. Prerelease audience polling indicated that Retribution would take in as much as $27 million during its first weekend in theaters, but the film actually opened with a decent $21 million. The re-formatted Finding Nemo, meanwhile, was expected to start off with roughly $30 million, but came in with just $16.7 million.
Though the latest Resident Evil movie was the highestgrossing film at the box office last weekend, its opening is disappointing compared with the previous entries in the series. The 3-D movie had the worst debut of any Resident Evil film since the original, which launched with $17.7 million in 2002. The following three films grossed higher sums on their opening weekends, with Resident Evil: Afterlife, beginning with $26.7 million in 2010.
Afterlife eventually grossed $60 million domestically, but did its real business overseas, where it sold $236.1 million worth of tickets. It’s likely that Retribution will follow the same trajectory, as the $65 million production opened in 65 foreign markets last weekend and grossed $50 million. That’s roughly 28 percent ahead of the $39 million that Afterlife made in the same countries in its first weekend abroad.
Japanese audiences flocked to Retribution, with the film grossing more there than any other location overseas. The movie raked in $10.3 million in Japan and also did well in Russia, where it sold $8.6 million worth of tickets.
Those who saw the film in the United States and Canada — a 64 percent male audience — didn’t seem to like it, assigning it an average grade of C-plus, according to market research firm CinemaScore.
Heading into the weekend, Walt Disney Studios was hoping its revamped Pixar Animation title would replicate the success of last September’s 3-D version of The Lion King, which grossed $94.2 million. Instead, it looks like the updated Finding Nemo may have a similar theatrical run to the 3-D re-release of Beauty and the Beast, which sold $47.6 million worth of receipts.
Though the new Finding Nemo didn’t live up to expectations, it didn’t cost Disney much. The studio said it spent less than $5 million to convert the film to 3-D. Meanwhile, the studio is still planning to release 3-D versions of Monsters Inc. and The Little Mermaid.
MovieStyle, Pages 34 on 09/21/2012