In a battle of the sexes, Sylvester Stallone's testosterone-filled action flick The Expendables opened impressively at number one beating out the Julia Roberts globe-trotting drama Eat Pray Love which enjoyed a solid debut of its own in the number two spot. The teen offering Scott Pilgrim vs. The World flopped landing in fifth place in its first weekend of release while the overall marketplace was up versus last year despite being the first frame since October to not have any 3D movies in the Top Five. Stallone became the first movie star to anchor number one openings in each of the past five decades thanks to The Expendables which bowed on top with an estimated $35M. The R-rated ultra-violent kill-a-thon averaged a muscular $10,714 from 3,270 theaters and drew in business by gathering together a massive number of action stars under one roof. Along with actor-director Stallone were Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, and Eric Roberts. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis also donated tiny cameo appearances and were heavily utilized in the marketing campaign which misled some.
But the opening was a strong one and ranked as the second best in company history for Lionsgate behind just Madea Goes to Jail which debuted to $41M last year. Adult men, not surprisingly, made up the main audience with 61% of the crowd being male and 60% being over 25. Expendables reportedly cost roughly $70M to produce and is expected to take in solid numbers overseas.
Julia Roberts anchored her first solo starring vehicle in many years and enjoyed a solid debut in second place with an estimated $23.7M for her new soul-searching drama Eat Pray Love. The Sony release, an adaptation of the best-selling book, averaged a sturdy $7,690 from 3,082 locations and beat out the studio's female offering from last August - Meryl Streep's Julie & Julia - which debuted to $20M on its way to $94.1M. Pray may not have the same legs though given its B CinemaScore grade, 4% Friday-to-Saturday dip, and weak reviews from critics. Julie scored a potent A CinemaScore, surged 17% on Saturday, and was well-liked by reviewers, even earning Streep a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
Still, Eat held its own against the heavy artillery from Stallone and company. Studio research indicated that the audience was mostly older women with 72% being female and 56% being over 35. Produced for nearly $60M, the Julia Roberts vehicle drew in fans of the book as well as women pulled in by the lead's starpower. Supporting turns by Javier Bardem and James Franco added a bit too.
Sony claimed the number three spot as well with last weekend's big winner The Other Guys which dropped 49% to an estimated $18M. The Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg action-comedy has banked $70.5M in ten days and looks headed for a $110-120M finish. Spending its fifth weekend in the top five, Christopher Nolan's Inception dropped 39% to an estimated $11.4M putting the cume close to the quarter-billion mark at $248.6M. On Monday, the Warner Bros. smash will break $250M after 32 days of release.
| # | Title | Aug 13 - 15 | Weeks | Cumulative | Distributor | ||||
| 1 | The Expendables | $ 35,035,000 | 1 | $ 35,035,000 | Lionsgate | ||||
| 2 | Eat Pray Love | 23,700,000 | 1 | 23,700,000 | Sony | ||||
| 3 | The Other Guys | 18,000,000 | 2 | 70,543,000 | Sony | ||||
| 4 | Inception | 11,370,000 | 5 | 248,554,000 | Warner Bros. | ||||
| 5 | Scott Pilgrim vs. The World | 10,525,000 | 1 | 10,525,000 | Universal | ||||
| 6 | Despicable Me | 6,767,000 | 6 | 221,993,000 | Universal | ||||
| 7 | Step Up 3D | 6,626,000 | 2 | 29,565,000 | Buena Vista | ||||
| 8 | Salt | 6,350,000 | 4 | 103,569,000 | Sony | ||||
| 9 | Dinner for Schmucks | 6,316,000 | 3 | 58,816,000 | Paramount | ||||
| 10 | Cats & Dogs: The Revenge... | 4,075,000 | 3 | 35,104,000 | Warner Bros. |
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