Older moviegoers rallied to fall's first star-driven movie drama, as Warner Bros.' Ben Affleck-helmed heist thriller "The Town" copped $23.8 million in U.S. and Canadian coin for a surprise No. 1 bow.
"Town" stars Affleck, Jon Hamm of TV's "Mad Men" fame and Jeremy Renner, a hot casting commodity since last year's "The Hurt Locker." The trio stumped tirelessly to promote the Boston-set pic, which was produced for under $35 million and was 50% co-financed by Legendary Pictures.
Affleck marked a new helming high by topping his $5.5 million debut with 2007's "Gone Baby Gone." But the bow by "Town" -- the first pic Affleck both directed and toplined -- was never going to approach his personal best as an actor, a $59.1 million opening with 2001's "Pearl Harbor."
The chart-topping performance by "Town" -- which also marked a record September bow for Warners -- had execs exchanging high fives after a summer in which the studio took a box-office bruising. The domestic market-share champ two years running, Warners aims to close the year strongly, with a Harry Potter pic and other tentpoles set to bow down the home stretch.
Elsewhere among a quartet of wide openers, the weekend delivered adequate, if unspectacular, results.
Sony's youth comedy "Easy A" -- which had been expected to easily top the weekend rankings -- settled for $18.2 million in second place on support from teen and tween females. Helmed by Will Gluck ( "Fired Up!"), the PG-13 pic stars Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes and Penn Badgley in a story about high school rumor-mongering run amuck.
"It's a terrific opening," Sony distribution president Rory Bruer said. "You got so much movie for what it cost, and it was a great result."
"Easy" cost an estimated $8 million to produce.
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Source-THR
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