Geekscape’s Box Office Roundup For the Weekend of 9/30/11

I could open this week’s box office roundup by talking about how I’m not gonna make an easy, lazy, lame joke in regards to the number one movie, but I’m angry at the movie going public. Instead, I’ll just tell you that Dolphin Tale leaped over the competition and swam its way into the top spot.

The Top

Dolphin Tale, the movie about Morgan Freeman making a robot tale for a gimpy dolphin, managed to win the weekend in it’s second week of release despite debuting in third last week. It only saw a 26% drop and pulled in $14.2 million.

It became the first movie to take the top spot in it’s second weekend after not opening number one since The Help did it back in the late summer of 2011.

Comparing it from a feel good water based movie angle, its numbers completely destroy what Soul Surfer did earlier this year. Soul Surfer, or as I like to call it, Jaws For Christians, only made $43.8 million in it’s entire theatrical run, while Dolphin Tale sits at $37.5 million after only 10 days.

Looking at it compared to other man-altered sea creature movies, it’s $14 million is better than 1999’s Deep Blue Sea did in it’s second weekend. Deep Blue Sea opened with $19 million also, but saw a little bit more of drop off in week two as it fell 41% to $11 million.

Sidenote, years ago I started posting clips from Deep Blue Sea on people’s MySpace/Facebook pages on their birthdays. No clue why, but it makes me smile. I highly suggest you start doing the same for your friends.

Compared to other films that use the same pun in the title, Dolphin Tale is dwarfed by Shark Tale. In 2004, Shark Tale didn’t make less than $15 million until it’s fourth weekend. Chances are Dolphin Tale won’t come anywhere near Shark Tale’s $161 million theatrical run, but at $37 million after 10 days on a $37 million budget, they’ll end up just fine.

To take an awful looking movie with the word “tale” in the title angle, Dolphin Tale has already made seven times what In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale made in its theatrical run, which only lasted two weeks. That movie looked like a Sci-Fi original and was directed by the trainwreck that is Uwe Boll, but I’d still watch it 20 times before I’d ever want to see Dolphin Tale.

The Rest

Moneyball fell 36% to $12.5 million and earned the number two spot. It saw a larger dropoff and a smaller weekend than Dolphin Tale, but Moneyball still holds the slight edge in 10 day total as it’s earned $38.5 million so far.

The Lion King finally fell from number one, falling 50% to $11 million. The Disney classic came in third in its third weekend of it’s two week 3D re-release. In the process, it jumped into the top 10 on the all time domestic earners list, and has added $79.6 million to it’s total during the past three weeks. The Lion King releases on Blu-Ray this Tuesday.

The highest opening new release was 50/50 coming in fourth with $8.8 million.

With $8.8 million, 50/50 replaces 2008’s Zack and Miri Make A Porno as Seth Rogen’s lowest opening. Despite great reviews and buzz, it barely earned a fourth of what Rogen’s critically hated The Green Hornet opened with earlier this year.

From a cancer angle, it opened weaker than A Walk To Remember’s $12 million in 2002 and Autumn In New York’s $11 million in 2000.

“I shaved my head just to lose to a kid’s dolphin movie?“

Bible lovers came out in swarms to open Courageous in fifth place with $8.8 million. The movie only opened on 1,161 screens and still managed to win Friday. It’s from the same studio that made 2008’s surprise money maker, Fireproof. Fireproof opened with $6.8 million, but opened on almost 300 fewer screens. While Courageous’ $7,580 per screen average is impressive, it’s almost $1,000 less than what Fireproof earned.

I was gonna compare Courageous to Backdraft, because I thought it was a firefighter movie. Then I realized that Fireproof was a firefighter movie, so I have no clue what Courageous was. But since I’ve been in the mood to rewatch it for a while now, I’m gonna stick with Backdraft. Backdraft opened with $12.7 million back in 1991, which outdoes both Courageous and Fireproof.

Dream House wasn’t able to capitalize on the combined star power of Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts and came in sixth with $8.2 million. To make actual relevant comparisons to put this one in perspective, The Amityville Horor remake opened with $23.5 million. It even opened with less than the $9.9 million Dark Water earned in 2005. Do you even know anybody that remembers whether or not they’ve seen Dark Water?

It’s a far cry from the horror success Naomi Watts saw with The Ring’s $15 million opening in 2002, but more than Daniel Craig’s 2007 thriller The Invasion’s $5.9 million.

Taylor Lautner and his abs slipped to seventh with Abduction, while Anna Farris and her adorableness opened in miserable eighth with What’s Your Number? More on her later.

Contagion fell to ninth but has earned more than its budget, and Killer Elite dropped all the way to tenth and sits at $17 million after two weeks, which is a long way away from its $70 million budget.

The Help fell out of the top 10 for the first time since its release eight weeks ago. Drive also fell out of the top 10, but did so after just two weeks.

In smaller releases, Take Shelter, starring the amazing Michael Shannon, earned $56,200 while opening in only three theaters for a phenomenal $18,733 per screen average.

The Worst

What’s Your Number?’s $5.6 million opening is the fifth worst opening ever for a film opening on 3,000+ screens. That’s a $1,865 per screen average, which is only $30 more than what Contagion’s still averaging after four weeks of release.

It was Anna Faris’ first headlining opening since 2008’s The House Bunny, which opened with $14.5 million. Even 2005’s Waiting opened with almost double, despite opening on almost half the screens.

“Jeez, Dave Biscella doesn’t pull any punches does he?!?”

Next

Next week sees only two wide releases looking to fight their way to the top. Is the combo of Ryan Gosling and George Clooney too much handsome for one screen, or can Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti weigh down the pretty enough to vault The Ides Of March into the top spot? Am I the only one that thinks Real Steel looks absolutely beyond stupid, or will it robot punch its way to number one?