Weekend Actuals (Taken 2 - 49.5M, Hotel Transylvania - 27.05M)

[rockNrollaDIM]

Taken 2 up Saturday? Nice.

[Jake Gittes]

Expendables 2 $300m+Expendables $274mTaken $226mRocky Balboa $155mUnknown $130mThe Grey $77mThere's no way Neeson is more popular.

You aren't comparing Stallone and Neeson there, you are comparing the whole cast of Expendables and Neeson. If Bullet to the Head outgrosses Unknown or at least The Grey domestically and/or WW, you'll have an argument.

[Gopher]

In this day and age Neeson is inarguably an A-lister and Stallone isn't. End of discussion.

[ddddeeee]

Of course Neeson is bigger, he's crazy popular. Stallone, however, is desperate to recover his LONG lost glory, he's lived his life and needs to move on.

[CJohn]

You aren't comparing Stallone and Neeson there, you are comparing the whole cast of Expendables and Neeson. If Bullet to the Head outgrosses Unknown or at least The Grey domestically and/or WW, you'll have an argument.

I agree with this. You can't compare The Expendables to Neeson alone. And Taken 2 has a chance to outgross Expendables 2.

[Ozymandias]

Of course Neeson is bigger, he's crazy popular. Stallone, however, is desperate to recover his LONG lost glory, he's lived his life and needs to move on.

Yeah he's way past his prime, but I still enjoy his movies.

[Deep Wang]

Expendables 2 $300m+Expendables $274mTaken $226mRocky Balboa $155mUnknown $130mThe Grey $77mThere's no way Neeson is more popular.

So you left Rambo off because Unknown made more than it did, huh?

[Noctis]

Of course Neeson is bigger, he's crazy popular. Stallone, however, is desperate to recover his LONG lost glory, he's lived his life and needs to move on.

Maybe he can move to China and live with Algren. No homo.

[CJohn]

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER stayed perky, scoring $1.5M @ 221 sites--$6,900 per.

[Jake Gittes]

Perks needs to go wide ASAP. This is a pretty good PTA hold from last week, but it can't afford to stay in several hundred theaters if it wants to make any real money. The problem is too much competition - the four movies opening wide on the 12th all go after certain audiences, and Pitch Perfect isn't making things any easier. I think Summit should have just opened it wide on Sept 7 or Sept 14, I see no reason why it wouldn't have made over $10m on OW and finished with $35m at the very least. The momentum is getting lost.

[Gopher]

I think WOM will be strong enough to keep it afloat. Going wide this or next weekend should be fine.

[Cmasterclay]

Neeson is way, way, way bigger than Stallone. Grey and Unknown debuted number 1 and made three times their budget.... and the posters and marketing was, no lie, just pretty much shots of Liam Neeson. That was the whole concept: Liam Neeson kicking ass. It's telling that Taken, those films, the original COTT were huge hits when they focused their marketing around him and Battleship and Wrath barely mentioned him at all and turned out to be flops. Him and Denzel appeal to the masses for the same reason: because they're older, wisened, normal people that just happen to be badasses, not washed up action figures like Stallone.

[forg]

1. Taken 2 (Fox) NEW [3,661 Runs] PG13

Friday $18.5M, Saturday $18.8M, Weekend $50.0M

2. Hotel Transylvania 3D (Sony Animation) Week 2 [3,352 Runs] PG

Friday $6.4M, Saturday $11.9M, Weekend $26.6M (-37%), Cume $76.0M

3. Pitch Perfect (Universal) Week 2 [2,770 Runs] PG13

Friday $4.8M, Saturday $6.0M, Weekend $14.5M, Cume $21.4M

4. Looper (FilmDistrict/Sony) Week 2 [2,993 Runs] R

Friday $3.5M, Saturday $5.1M, Weekend $12.0M, Cume $40.1M

5. Frankenweenie 3D (Disney) NEW [3,005 Runs] PG

Friday $3.2M, Saturday $5.0M, Weekend $12.0M

6. Trouble with the Curve (Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,003 Runs] PG13

Friday $1.1M, Saturday $1.7M, Weekend $3.9M, Cume $29.7M

7. End Of Watch (Open Road) Week 3 [2,370 Runs] R

Friday $1.1M, Saturday $1.6M, Weekend $3.8M, Cume $32.6M

8. House At End Of Street (Relativity) Week 3 [2,720 Runs] PG13

Friday $1.1M, Saturday $1.7M, Weekend $3.6M, Cume $27.4M

9. The Master (Weinstein) Week 4 [864 Runs] R

Friday $498K, Saturday $825K, Weekend $1.6M, Cume $12.3M

10. Finding Nemo 3D (Disney) Week 4 [1,746 Runs] G

Friday $366K, Saturday $725K, Weekend $1.6M, Cume $39.0M

Surprised to see Nemo 3D still in the top 10. So where will this end up? Is it safe to say Monsters, Inc 3D rerelease will earn lower?

The trio of Trouble with a Curve, End of Watch and House At End of Street still seated right next to each other.

Hotel Transylvania's hold is great which means bad business for Frankenweenie

[forg]

Perks needs to go wide ASAP. This is a pretty good PTA hold from last week, but it can't afford to stay in several hundred theaters if it wants to make any real money. The problem is too much competition - the four movies opening wide on the 12th all go after certain audiences, and Pitch Perfect isn't making things any easier. I think Summit should have just opened it wide on Sept 7 or Sept 14, I see no reason why it wouldn't have made over $10m on OW and finished with $35m at the very least. The momentum is getting lost.

I still don't understand why it wasn't a wide release from the get-go, the material is not obscure and it has star appeal. I hope WOM will keep it afloat. Maybe Summit is hoping for some awards buzz? I would love that but realistically speaking, it's really a long shot but who knows, right?

[A Marvel Fanboy]

Taken 2 just broke the worldwide October opening record with $105M.

[Jake Gittes]

I still don't understand why it wasn't a wide release from the get-go, the material is not obscure and it has star appeal. I hope WOM will keep it afloat. Maybe Summit is hoping for some awards buzz? I would love that but realistically speaking, it's really a long shot but who knows, right?

Agreed, it has everything to be a crowd-pleaser. Maybe Summit wanted it to build WOM a la Juno, but Perks' PTA took a much worse dip in its second weekend.

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

Looks like Taken 2 is another case of critics/audience disconnect. Critics complain that it's more of the same but the audience wants and expects more of the same.

[John Marston]

Looks like Taken 2 is another case of critics/audience disconnect. Critics complain that it's more of the same but the audience wants and expects more of the same.

well legs could be poor. Imagine if this sequel had been a clear "better than or good as the first" sequel, it could have been on the way to 170m or so domestic, now it is more likely going to reach 130m or so

[forg]

Anyway, really glad we had two back to back great weekends in the box office now after 4 weeks of disappointing ticket sales. I hope it continues until the end of the year

[Gopher]

I said it last week: Taken 2 is 2012's Hangover 2. Everyone goes out to see it because they loved the first one, not because of reviews, but legs will be crappy and no one will care about or remember the movie in a few months.