End-of-Run Report: 'New Moon' Sets; 'Wolfman' Leashed
The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Princess and the Frog and The Wolfman and other high profile pictures officially ended their box office runs on Thursday, April 1. In other words, their distributors decided to stop tracking them, even though they may still be playing at a handful of theaters. For instance, New Moon, which has been out on video since Mar. 20, continued to show on at least five theaters, while Wolfman still haunted over 100 sites.
Winding up with $296.6 million in 133 days, New Moon was the fourth highest-grossing movie from 2009 and ranks 34th on the all time grosses chart (though it doesn't crack the Top 150 in terms of estimated attendance). It also stands as the biggest teen romance and vampire movie on record, eclipsing the first Twilight for the title. New Moon impressed by building significantly on Twilight's turn-out, which was $192.8 million. When a predecessor is that popular, it has been historically uncommon for a sequel to surpass it.
New Moon still holds the record for biggest single day with its $72.7 million haul on its opening day, Nov. 20, 2009, as well as the midnight showings record ($26.3 million). It also logged the third highest-grossing opening weekend of all time, $142.8 million, but has the distinction of being the most front-loaded blockbuster ever, making 48 percent of its total gross on its first weekend alone. One has to go down to No. 72 on the all time opening weekend chart, Valentine's Day, to find a more front-heavy performance, while the first Twilight's opening weekend accounted for 36 percent of its final tally.
The greatest growth for New Moon came on the foreign front. It has pulled in $413.1 million thus far, more than doubling what Twilight made. That puts its worldwide total at $710 million versus Twilight's $385 million. New Moon's initial DVD sales, though, haven't trumped Twilight at the same rate: its first weekend reportedly sold an estimated 4 million units versus Twilight's 3.8 million. Fans won't have to wait a year for the next movie like they did for New Moon as the third entry, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, is scheduled to be unleashed on June 30.
April 1 also saw the end of another werewolf-themed picture, albeit a far less popular one. The Wolfman took a silver bullet after just 49 days of release, ending up with $62 million. It was actually more front-loaded than New Moon, nabbing $31.5 million its first weekend or 51 percent of its total. As disappointing as its returns may seem, Wolfman still had an above average performance for a werewolf movie, a sub-genre that typically sees little theatrical interest and that mainly rises only when vampires are involved, such as in the Twilight and Underworld franchises.
Out for 128 days, The Princess and the Frog was put to pasture at $104.4 million, ranking as the 32nd highest-grossing movie from 2009 (32 2009 movies in total crossed the $100 million mark). The animated musical's tally was not enough to recall Walt Disney Pictures' hand-drawn heyday of the 1990s nor was it as much as Enchanted. However, it had a relatively solid run, considering the uphill battle it faced: traditional animation has been marginalized with the computer-generated onslaught and the wounds from recent princess spoofs (Shrek, etc.) were still fresh, which Disney itself contributed to with Enchanted.
It's Complicated was retired at $112.7 million in 98 days, charting as the 28th highest-grossing movie from 2009. The comedy was the third-biggest movie for writer-director Nancy Meyers, behind What Women Want and Something's Gotta Give, continued Meryl Streep's recent winning streak and gave Alec Baldwin his first box office hit in a leading role since Malice in 1993.
Old Dogs was the other major closing, bowing out at $49.5 million. The Disney comedy was a far cry from what star Robin Williams' family movies used to pull in and was a tremendous comedown for director Walter Becker and co-star John Travolta after their 2007 success, Wild Hogs. Disney mounted an utterly random and nondescript marketing campaign that included featuring a gorilla in its ads and posters instead of the titular dogs.
Opening Weekend Reports
• 'New Moon' Opens with Deafening Howl
• 'New Moon' Fades, 'Blind Side' Surges, 'Old Dogs' Gets Scraps
• 'Princess and the Frog' Leaps to the Top
• Christmas Booms with 'Avatar,' 'Sherlock,' 'Alvin,' 'It's Complicated'
• 'Valentine's Day' Massacres Presidents Record ('The Wolfman')
Related Charts
• 2009 Grosses
• 2010 Grosses
Winding up with $296.6 million in 133 days, New Moon was the fourth highest-grossing movie from 2009 and ranks 34th on the all time grosses chart (though it doesn't crack the Top 150 in terms of estimated attendance). It also stands as the biggest teen romance and vampire movie on record, eclipsing the first Twilight for the title. New Moon impressed by building significantly on Twilight's turn-out, which was $192.8 million. When a predecessor is that popular, it has been historically uncommon for a sequel to surpass it.
New Moon still holds the record for biggest single day with its $72.7 million haul on its opening day, Nov. 20, 2009, as well as the midnight showings record ($26.3 million). It also logged the third highest-grossing opening weekend of all time, $142.8 million, but has the distinction of being the most front-loaded blockbuster ever, making 48 percent of its total gross on its first weekend alone. One has to go down to No. 72 on the all time opening weekend chart, Valentine's Day, to find a more front-heavy performance, while the first Twilight's opening weekend accounted for 36 percent of its final tally.
The greatest growth for New Moon came on the foreign front. It has pulled in $413.1 million thus far, more than doubling what Twilight made. That puts its worldwide total at $710 million versus Twilight's $385 million. New Moon's initial DVD sales, though, haven't trumped Twilight at the same rate: its first weekend reportedly sold an estimated 4 million units versus Twilight's 3.8 million. Fans won't have to wait a year for the next movie like they did for New Moon as the third entry, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, is scheduled to be unleashed on June 30.
April 1 also saw the end of another werewolf-themed picture, albeit a far less popular one. The Wolfman took a silver bullet after just 49 days of release, ending up with $62 million. It was actually more front-loaded than New Moon, nabbing $31.5 million its first weekend or 51 percent of its total. As disappointing as its returns may seem, Wolfman still had an above average performance for a werewolf movie, a sub-genre that typically sees little theatrical interest and that mainly rises only when vampires are involved, such as in the Twilight and Underworld franchises.
Out for 128 days, The Princess and the Frog was put to pasture at $104.4 million, ranking as the 32nd highest-grossing movie from 2009 (32 2009 movies in total crossed the $100 million mark). The animated musical's tally was not enough to recall Walt Disney Pictures' hand-drawn heyday of the 1990s nor was it as much as Enchanted. However, it had a relatively solid run, considering the uphill battle it faced: traditional animation has been marginalized with the computer-generated onslaught and the wounds from recent princess spoofs (Shrek, etc.) were still fresh, which Disney itself contributed to with Enchanted.
It's Complicated was retired at $112.7 million in 98 days, charting as the 28th highest-grossing movie from 2009. The comedy was the third-biggest movie for writer-director Nancy Meyers, behind What Women Want and Something's Gotta Give, continued Meryl Streep's recent winning streak and gave Alec Baldwin his first box office hit in a leading role since Malice in 1993.
Old Dogs was the other major closing, bowing out at $49.5 million. The Disney comedy was a far cry from what star Robin Williams' family movies used to pull in and was a tremendous comedown for director Walter Becker and co-star John Travolta after their 2007 success, Wild Hogs. Disney mounted an utterly random and nondescript marketing campaign that included featuring a gorilla in its ads and posters instead of the titular dogs.
Opening Weekend Reports
• 'New Moon' Opens with Deafening Howl
• 'New Moon' Fades, 'Blind Side' Surges, 'Old Dogs' Gets Scraps
• 'Princess and the Frog' Leaps to the Top
• Christmas Booms with 'Avatar,' 'Sherlock,' 'Alvin,' 'It's Complicated'
• 'Valentine's Day' Massacres Presidents Record ('The Wolfman')
Related Charts
• 2009 Grosses
• 2010 Grosses
