barnesgonzo: Jack Reacher limps into action

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Jack Reacher limps into action

The Hobbit convincingly sweeps the pre-Christmas box office in the US as Tom Cruise limps out of the starting gate with Jack Reacher

The weekend before the holidays is usually a fairly low-key affair and box office played by the book with a somewhat muted performance. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey led the way thanks to an expected hold despite a 57% slide that suggests the saga may struggle to cross $225m. The Middle-earth shenanigans are delighting audiences outside North America, where the movie has raced to $284m and thus a commendable $433.9m global tally after two weekends.

A more complicated question is this: is Tom Cruise getting too old for the action game? The rip-roaring success of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol might suggest not; however the veteran star's latest outing entered the charts with a whimper. Jack Reacher, a thriller about a gun-toting, hothead former military police officer based on Lee Child's bestselling books, opened in second place on $15.6m through Paramount. The movie will almost certainly perform better outside North America, partly because Cruise's standing remains high and partly because international grosses for wide commercial releases tend to outweigh North American figures by a factor of 2:1. Maybe the lacklustre debut was down to the fact that this is a new movie property that lacks audience awareness. The TV and advertising spots were plentiful and certainly lively enough, however, so time will tell.

This Is 40, comedy factory Judd Apatow's sequel-of-sorts to his 2007 smash Knocked Up, opened through Universal in third place on a modest $12m. Knocked Up opened in second place on 1 June 2007 on $30.7m and went on to reach $148.8m. At this rate This Is 40 will finish a long way off that target and international box office may not be the saviour here because comedy is a notoriously poor traveller.

The highlight of the weekend, though, was Zero Dark Thirty, the fascinating hunt-for-Bin-Laden tale backed by financier Megan Ellison's (daughter to Oracle founder Larry Ellison) that is drawing serious awards heat in the US. Distributor Sony Pictures has been wise to launch the movie on a limited number of screens, pack out the theatres and create a must-see event. The movie grossed $410,000 from five sites for a headline-grabbing $82,000 per-site average. The running total rises to $639,000 including the two days of activity prior to the weekend. Sony will expand the site count in the coming weeks and watch the money roll in.

Zero Dark Thirty's awards prospects look healthy, too. Kathryn Bigelow's follow-up to The Hurt Locker, which earned six Oscars three years ago including best film and director, is a strong candidate to garner more top honours come the 85th Academy awards on 24 February and has already been feted by critics groups and other awards bodies.

North American top 10, 21-23 December 2012

1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, $36.7m. Total: $149.9m

2. Jack Reacher, $15.6m

3. This Is 40, $12m

4. Rise of the Guardians, $5.9m. Total: $79.7m

5. Lincoln, $5.6m. Total: $116.8m

6. The Guilt Trip, $5.4m. Total: $7.4m

7. Monsters, Inc (3D), $5m. Total: $6.5m

8. Skyfall, $4.7m. Total: $279.9m

9. Life of Pi, $3.8m. Total: $76.2m

10. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, $2.6m. Total: $281.6m