Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards Crushes Box Office This Week
Quentin Tarantino’s WWII tale "Inglourious Basterds" conquered the worldwide B.O., which was welcome news for the Weinstein Co. and Universal as the pic opened to an impressive $37.6 million domestically and $27.1 million more overseas.
Pic marks a key win that could yield a new franchise for TWC and Universal Pictures Intl., who are 50-50 partners on "Basterds."
The timing is good for both companies. Investors have been putting pressure on TWC to shore up its financials, while U has sustained a series of box office disappointments. Worldwide opening of $65.1 million makes "Basterds" anything but.
Sony’s sleeper "District 9" held up well in its second outing, with $18.9 million from 3,050 runs for a cume of $73.5 million. "District" and an unusually healthy crop of late-summer releases helped lift domestic B.O. revs as much as 27% over the same weekend last year.
"District 9" fell 49%, a good hold considering it was competing with "Basterds" for males. Sony said this was a sign of the film’s strong playability.
Competish for men and boys didn’t end there. Paramount’s testosterone-fueled "G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra" placed No. 3 in its third frame, grossing $12.5 million from 3,953 runs for a domestic cume of $120.5 million.
The weekend’s other two new entries were Warner Bros.’ family pic "Shorts," directed by Robert Rodriguez, and Fox Searchlight’s "Post Grad." Each film had trouble reaching its aud, although "Shorts" did far better business at $6.7 million from 3,105 runs. "Shorts" placed No. 6 for the weekend.
"Post Grad," a leftover title from the now-shuttered Fox Atomic, grossed only $2.8 million from 1,959 runs.
Harvey Weinstein told Daily Variety the bow of "Basterds," which marked Tarantino’s best opening by far, showed that he and his brother, Bob, are back to doing what they do best — taking an indie film and marketing it to a mainstream audience. He said a prequel and sequel are in the offing.
Going into the weekend, "Basterds," playing in 3,165 locations, had plenty to overcome: The majority of the film is subtitled, while its running time is 153 minutes.
But "Basterds" also had its advantages: Brad Pitt is the biggest star to appear in a Tarantino film, thereby broadening the audience. Pitt was at the center of the domestic marketing campaign. Overseas, an international cast made the film more accessible to Europeans.
"This is Bob and I focused and raw," Harvey Weinstein said. "In other words, we just concentrated on ‘Basterds.’ "
It’s been a banner week for the brothers. TWC’s TV wing is also back on the upswing with Thursday’s strong premiere of "Project Runway" on Lifetime, after the show was locked up for months in litigation over its move from rival cabler Bravo.
"Basterds" marked a departure from Tarantino in tone and story. It includes his trademark violence, but not at the same level as his previous films.
Tarantino has made all his films with Bob and Harvey Weinstein, first at Miramax and then at TWC. The previous venture was "Grindhouse," made up of two films: Tarantino’s "Death Proof" and Rodriguez’s "Planet Terror." The project was a B.O. disappointment, grossing $25 million domestically.
Before "Basterds," Tarantino’s top opener was "Kill Bill Vol. 2," which opened to $25.1 million
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Source-Variety
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