Box Office: Freddy’s Back: “Nightmare” Takes the Weekend Box Office

Box Office

Freddy’s Back: “Nightmare” Takes the Weekend Box Office

By our guest blogger, Tim Strain

The offensively horrible “creative minds” at Platinum Dunes Films have another kindasortanotreally-hit on their hands with this weekend’s biggest film at the box office, the “Nightmare on Elm Street” remake. It made almost half its $32 million total on Friday night, suggesting that audiences (thankfully) disliked it and told their friends to stay away. It’s total is lower than 2003’s “Freddy vs. Jason” and 20% less than last year’s “Friday the 13th,” which went on to gross a miserably low total of $65 million after a $40 million opening, making it one of the most top-heavy films ever released. “Nightmare” should follow the same trajectory. With very little competition this weekend, its low total is an indicator that audiences will forget about it entirely once “Iron Man 2” bows in over 4,000 theaters this Friday.

The weekend’s other wide release, the historically awful-looking “Furry Vengeance” (Brendan Fraser + talking animals is NOT the movie we needed) flopped hard, landing at number five at the B.O. and earning a paltry $6.5 million in about 3,000 theaters. Brendan, maybe its time you clapped your way into the sunset.

Overall business was up 2% over last weekend as most holdovers did solid business. “How to Train Your Dragon” scored its sixth consecutive weekend above $10 million, dropping just 30% to add another $11 million. It now stands at $192 million and Dreamworks is hoping it will eclipse “Kung Fu Panda’s” $215 million total. Steve Carell’s film career is blossoming (a good thing for him as he recently announced he’ll be leaving “The Office” after next season) as his and Tina Fey’s hit “Date Night” has $73 million in the bag after four weekends and is looking at a $100 million total after dropping just 27% this weekend.

J-Lo’s rom-com “The Back-Up Plan” has a chance at making its $35 million budget back after falling just 40% in its second frame, grossing $7 million in fourth place. The B-grade action pic “The Losers” gained $6 million in its second weekend and could also make back its $25 million budget by next weekend, as it currently stands at $18 million.

The big losers of the weekend are “Kick-Ass,” “Death at a Funeral” and “Oceans,” all of which dropped more than 50%. Disney is going to be hurting from “Oceans’” performance, as it has amassed just $13 million against an $80 million budget.  Check out WeekinRewind's video review of it here.

Fresh off the news that a sequel is already being developed, “Clash of the Titans” raked in another $6 million in its fifth weekend. It should definitely now be considered a success since its $154 million is well above budget and its overall profitability will balloon once it is released on Blu-Ray, if “Avatar’s” record-breaking performance on the platform is any indication. As if to laugh at the rest of the box office, Cameron’s ode to blue people made another $635,000 this weekend despite having been on DVD for almost two weeks now.

In the art house circuit, “Please Give” had one of the best debuts of the year, grossing more than $25,000 per theater in its five-theater opening weekend. Michael Caine’s latest vehicle, the revenge thriller “Harry Brown,” discovered a niche of its own, earning about $10,000 per theater in 19 theaters. “City Island” had the biggest expansion of the weekend, but to modest results. Expanding from 77 to 269 theaters, it grossed $756,000 for a PTA of less than $3,000. It’s $2.1 million total makes it the biggest movie in Anchor Bay Media’s history.