"The Blind Side" Scores Big In Erratic Weekend; "Fantastic Mr. Fox" Tanks

(RTTNews) - "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" again topped the box office charts over the weekend, but it was "The Blind Side" that continues to overachieve. "The Blind Side" hauled in a studio estimated $40.13 million over the post-Thanksgiving weekend, detracting greatly from the figures of new releases "Old Dogs" and "The Fantastic Mr. Fox."

With a production budget of just $29 million, "The Blind Side" is already vastly outperforming expectations as it actually increased its weekend total from last weekend's impressive haul of $34 million. In just ten days in theaters, "The Blind Side" has already pushed past $100 million domestically and is continuing to outperform other titles that normally would compete. Even in its second weekend in theaters, family audiences easily chose it over new family-geared releases "Old Dogs" and "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," with both new titles earning less than $5,000 per venue.

"The Blind Side" was certainly helped by the holiday surge, but its current popularity should continue for a few more weeks. It will no doubt take a dip next weekend, but there isn't a great deal of further competition that it will have to deal with; drama "Brothers" will be its closest competition next weekend but also carries an R-rating, which will make it far less appealing for the family audiences that have propped up "The Blind Side." Star Sandra Bullock has her second substantial hit of the year and the overall figures should continue to impress in the coming weeks.

Even with a dip of 70% from its opening totals, "New Moon" still landed atop the charts with a studio estimated $42.50 million. "New Moon" is now up to $230 million in its first ten days in theaters, trailing only "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" over that time span among 2009 releases. Also a hit overseas, "New Moon" is already rapidly approaching a $500 million worldwide intake, which it should surpass sometime early in the week.

In its third weekend in theaters, disaster epic "2012" again landed in the top three on the charts with a weekend intake of $18 million. "2012" has done fairly well domestically, with a $138 million total, but it has posted prodigious foreign figures that have made it among the most lucrative hits of the year. With a foreign intake of $451 million already, "2012" is up to $590 million in total, making it the fourth most lucrative worldwide release of 2009.

The top new release of the weekend, "Old Dogs," struggled mightily to attract its targeted demographic, hauling in just $16.85 million despite being distributed at more than 3,400 theaters. Considering how well PG releases typically do during the weekend following Thanksgiving, the $4,919 per venue average of "Old Dogs" is a tremendous disappointment for distributor Buena Vista. There isn't a great deal of new competition opening next weekend, but audiences clearly favor "The Blind Side," and "Old Dogs" should slip to the bottom portion of the top ten.

Appealing more to adult audiences, the only new release to top $5,000 per site was "Ninja Assassin," which brought in a studio estimated $14 million over the weekend. "Ninja Assassin" had minimal genre competition this past weekend but will have to compete with new thriller "Armored" as well as drama "Brothers," both of which are aimed at mostly adult audiences.

Also doing poorly with audiences was animated release "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," which expanded to just over 2,000 theaters after an extremely limited release a week ago. "Mr. Fox" tanked over the normally lucrative weekend, earning just $7 million with a slender per venue average of only $3,453. Without a significant resurgence, "Mr. Fox" will finish well outside of the top ten by next weekend.

This Friday, comedy "Everybody's Fine," starring Robert DeNiro and Kate Beckinsale, is the widest release of the weekend at just 2,200 theaters, with both "Armored" and "Brothers" expected to reach somewhere around 2,000 theaters. "Translymania" is also slated for a wide release, though the number of venues is unspecified as of yet.

Early Studio Box Office Estimates For 11/27 - 11/29 in millions,[RTT Prediction]:

1) The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit Entertainment): $42.50 [$60]

2) The Blind Side (Warner Brothers): $40.13 [$21]

3) 2012 (Sony/Columbia): $18 [$12]

4) Old Dogs (Buena Vista): $16.85 [$26]

5) A Christmas Carol (Buena Vista): $16 [$6.5]

6) Ninja Assassin (Warner Brothers): $14

7) Planet 51 (Sony/Columbia): $10.20 [$6]

8) Precious (Lionsgate): $7.09 [$8]

9) The Fantastic Mr. Fox (FOX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating): $7.02 [$15]

10) The Men Who Stare At Goats (Overture): $1.53 [$1.7]

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