It was a case of déjà vu at the North American box office this weekend with Spectre and The Peanuts Movie holding on to first and second place respectively.
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Sam Mendes’ Spectre fell a modest 50% in its 2nd weekend to $35.4-M from 3,929 locations for a 10-day domestic take of $130.7-M. After a blow-out debut in India where the movie shattered opening weekend box office sales, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo landed eighth place domestically with $2 million.
Love the Coopers opened to a better-than-expected $8.4-M from 2,603 theaters.
“This is your obligatory, wacky, dysfunctional, family Christmas comedy with a few niblets of drama for poignancy”. An all-star cast (including Diane Keaton and John Goodman) didn’t hurt. Still, “Spectre” is trailing its predecessor, “Skyfall”, which had earned $160.9 million in the US after two weeks in November 2012. The title was weak, the marketing was almost invisible, and the reviews were lackluster, which hurt among the older audience the film targeted.
Roadshow gave Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups, the tale of a Hollywood screenwriter trying to make sense of his life starring Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Antonio Banderas, Isabel Lucas and Teresa Palmer, a token release on 10 screens, grossing less than $10,000.
The weekend’s biggest surprise? You might consider that amount of money something of a success given the bashing it received at the hands of critics (a painful 17% at Rotten Tomatoes), but conidering the limited likelihood of worldwide interest and a reported $18 million production budget, Love The Coopers is set to be a holiday bust for CBS films.
As IF had foreshadowed, The Dressmaker, Oddball ($10.65 million) and Alex & Eve ($400,000) have propelled Australian films’ B.O. receipts to $80 million, an all-time record in dollars, eclipsing 2001’s $63.4 million. The movie had a pedigree – writer/director Angelo Pizzo is the screenwriter behind such tearjerking sports-drama classics as “Hoosiers” and “Rudy” – but he’s not a household name.
The 33 was underwhelming in 5 place making only $5.8 million.
Jocelyn Moorhouse’s dramedy has pocketed $11.5 million, surpassing The Water Diviner’s $10.1 million calendar year earnings to become the second highest local grosser released this year, behind Mad Max: Fury Road’s $21.6 million.
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The movie’s underwhelming reviews may have kept viewers away, and the numbers suggest that, even when the movie is playing nationwide, fascination with Brangelina won’t be enough to draw audiences curious about whether the couple’s on-screen turmoil sheds light on their off-screen relationship.
