DHD Saturday Numbers (Jan. 21, 2012) 9.9 M UA | 8.7 M RT

[kayumanggi]

http://www.deadline....ely-loud-solid/

SATURDAY PM, 3RD UPDATE: It’s another good start for 2012 domestic box office complete with surprises like a snowstorm in the Midwest and East. (For instance, the snow effect on Chicago, always in the Top 5, caused it to rank only 13th Friday.) The weekend overall looks like $125M, up as much as +30% from last year. Despite expanding to 662 runs,The Artist which was tonight’s Producers Guild Awards and last weekend’s Golden Globes winner and Academy Awards frontrunner is still doing very quiet business with $750K for maybe a $2.7M weekend and $12.4M cume. How come all that marketing help isn’t pushing The Weinstein Company gross higher even if this is a black-and-white silent movie? That said, here’s my take on this weekend (fuller analysis coming).

1. Underworld Awakening (Sony Pictures) NEW [3,078 Theaters]

Friday $9.4M, Saturday $9.9M, Weekend $25M

Sony Pictures/Screen Gems’ fourquel Underworld Awakening is playing better than its previous installment, which is rare for franchises domestically. It’s now the #2 opener in the series. It’s also always a good sign for this kind of genre movie when Saturday’s grosses go up from Friday’s even if it’s weather-related. The Kate Beckinsale horror actioner garnered an ‘A-’ CinemaScore from audiences and won the weekend easily. “Right where we wanted to be and in this crowded market pretty great,” a Sony exec emailed me.

2. Red Tails (LucasFilm/Fox) NEW [2,512 Theaters]

Friday $6M, Saturday $8.7M, Weekend $19M

Hollywood studios were stunned by how well the No. 2 film, George Lucas banner film Red Tails, did in matinees Friday. Until they discovered that the Lucasfilm/Twentieth Century Fox movie’s marketing inside the African-American community resulted in busloads of schoolkids and midday filmgoers for the Tuskegee airmen’s story. Despite fears that this pic appeared very frontloaded, it went up a whopping +40% from Friday ot Saturday and kept surprising by flying towards $20M. It boasted an ’A’ CinemaScore from audiences.

3. Contraband (Universal) Week 2 [2,870 Theaters]

Friday $3.6M, Saturday $5.7M, Weekend $12.5M (-49%), Cume $46.4M

Bad weather hurt all the holdovers by inflating their Friday to Friday drops. Universal’s R-rated thriller Contraband was last Martin Luther King weekend’s big winner and would have fallen even milder than -50% without the severe storm.

4. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros) Week 5 [2,630 Theaters]

Friday $3.1M, Saturday $4.6M, Weekend $10.5M, Cume $11.3M

Warner Bros’ Oscar-buzzed 9-11 emotionfest Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close expanded in its 5th weekend into 2,630 theaters Friday. Its ‘A-’ CinemaScore from audiences will aid its good word-of-mouth.

5. Haywire (Relativity) NEW [2,439 Theaters]

Friday $2.9M, Saturday $3.5M, Weekend $8.5M

6. Beauty And The Beast 3D (Disney) Week 2 [2,625 Theaters]

Friday $2.1M, Saturday $3.8M, Weekend $8.5M (-54%), Cume $33.3M

Relativity’s R-rated Haywire actioner is in a dead heat with Disney’s holdoverBeauty And The Beast 3D so this will be a photo finish in the morning. I feltHaywire was marketed very poorly. But it’s shocking to see a Steven Soderbergh-directed film receive a rare ‘D+” CinemaScore from audiences.

Edited January 22, 2012 by kayumanggi

[kyky]

really good.

[kayumanggi]

Awesome for 2012. People are watching movies again, now that the Earth is coming to an end.

[cookie]

Slightly stronger Saturday increase than UW2 if the estimates hold for UW4. Nice for Red Tails.

[ecstasy]

Awards season not really helping the Artist. Wonder how the Iron Lady is doing on Saturday.Both UW and Red Tails had Saturday increases. So much for Red Tails being front loaded on Friday Nikke.

Edited January 22, 2012 by ECSTASY

[Fanboy]

Good for UW4 and Red Tails.

[Fake]

Good for Underworld.

[TLK]

Good for UW4 and great for Red Tails. I wasn't expecting a 40% increase for RT.

[SchumacherFTW]

A saturday increase for a Horror? Yep, the world is definitely on the way out this year

[Cedarpoint1111]

It says A cinemascore, where did you guys get D- from??

[kayumanggi]

D- is for HAYWIRE.

[Cedarpoint1111]

Oic

[darthdevidem01]

Great for Red Tails!

[fmpro]

D- is for HAYWIRE.

Thats almost TDI dislike.. Ewwwww..

[kayumanggi]

I'm surprised with that rating. I thought it will only get a D.

[Fanboy]

It actually got a D+.

[kayumanggi]

That's a consolation. D, D- D+. Whatever.

[fmpro]

It actually got a D+.

Much much better

[tonytr87]

Haywire: D+Red Tails: AUnderworld: A-Moviegoers sure are sophisticated, aren't they?

[fmpro]

Nothing new in that...