14 DAY TRIAL // Thanks to excellent reviews, some Oscar buzz and a brilliant cast, “The Social Network” has managed to remain at the top of the North American box office for a second week since release.
Though it didn’t open as big as Sony Pictures would have probably wanted, the film about the makings of Facebook and its founder proved over this weekend it still had public appeal.
“The Social Network” grossed another $15.5 million, which brings its domestic profits under $50 million, the Washington Post informs.
“Life as We Know It,” though received with extremely negative reviews from critics, was the best sold newcomer of the weekend, grossing $14.6 million.
“‘Secretariat,’ the Disney take on the famous thoroughbred’s road to victory, trailed in third place with $12.6 million, which, for the record, is $8.3 million less than ‘Seabiscuit’ made out of the gate in the summer of 2003,” the Post notes.
“Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” held on strong to the fourth position in the chart, proving that critics too can be wrong: initial reviews rather thrashed the 3D animated film for weak plot and poor character definition.
While “Guardians” made another $7 million, newcomer “My Soul to Take,” a horror movie shot and released in 3D barely made it to number 5, with $6.9 million, prompting talk of how horror flicks no long interest audiences.
“Wes Craven’s ‘My Soul to Take’ ended the weekend in fifth place, with a projected total of $6.9 million, distinguishing itself as the worst 3D movie opening for a release showing at more than 1,500 theaters, according to Box Office Mojo,” the Post says.
“This comes on the heels of last week’s disappointing debut for ‘Let Me In,’ which this week slid out of the top 10 entirely and earned an additional $2.4 million,” says the same e-zine.
The poor box office performance of these two films, which had received a lot of hype before release (especially “Let Me In”) could spell disaster for upcoming horror films.
“Does this mean upcoming shockers ‘Paranormal Activity 2’ and ‘Saw 3D’ should expect similar lackluster results? Is the horror genre bottoming out?” the Post asks.
The final 5 positions of the North American box office were occupied as follows: possible Oscar contender “The Town” made another $6.3 million and ended at number 6, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” did not sleep and grossed $4.6 million, “Easy A” ($4.2 million), “Case 39” ($2.6 million) and “You Again,” which is already preparing to leave the top 10, with $2.4 million.