Circuit Round-Up, 07/17

* Last week saw a ton of new reviews, including Hesher, Submarine, Larry Crowne, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Monte Carlo, Ceremony, Cars 2, Bad Teacher, and of course, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

* Joey’s DVD Pick of the Week was a film from James Wan and Leigh Whannell that’s actually…good?!?

* I previewed the, well, only weekend release that mattered…as well as some other films.

* Finally, Anna Belickis wrote up the “Oscarettes” for the 81st Academy Awards.

Box Office Actuals (6/3/11 - 6/5/11): "X-Men" Are Indeed "First Class"

Via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Deadline, and other sources:

Despite landing the weakest opening attendance-wise in the "X-Men" film series to date, "X-Men: First Class" ruled the top of the box office weekend with an opening weekend tallied at $55.1 million. While this does exceed the opening of the first film in the franchise speaking strictly in a dollars-and-cents capacity (2000's "X-Men" started with $54.5 million), simple inflation would tell you that a lot more people saw that film in its first 3 days then this one. Was it the absence of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine (save a hilarious and winning cameo by Jackman), the fact that James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, and a 2011 Kevin Bacon are not bankable box office commodities, or simply attrition with moviegoers on this series?

Eyes turned to the success that another fifth film in a series experienced when "Fast Five" conjured up $568 million worldwide. Fox was optimistic that they would deliver a healthier number than they did, hoping in the mid $60-low $70 million range. Executives were saying all the right things regarding the opening, indicating that this "X-Men" is a starting over or relaunch of a series and pointed to the opening of "Batman Begins" ($54.5 million) as more of a reasonable comparison. Regardless, the film may have opened to strong reviews, but will struggle to make back its $160 production budget on the domestic side of the ledger, especially with the eagerly anticipated "Super 8" looming in a few short days.

"X-Men" proved to be the only major opening of the weekend, but how did other independent films fare? Did Woody Allen deliver a third impressive return with "Midnight In Paris"? How did Terrence Malick's "Tree Of Life" expand? Details and the Top 40 after the cut!

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Increasing to 147 screens, "Midnight In Paris" continued to amaze by ramping up business by nearly 44% and grossing $2.8 million and an impressive $18,843 per screen average. With a huge summer blockbuster on the way this coming weekend, Super 8", and a family film, "Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer!" starting on 2,000 screens, Sony Pictures Classics is going wide for "Midnight In Paris", placing it more than 750 screens this coming weekend. This is the test to see if Allen's latest can play well with middle America and smaller cities. Signs point to yes, but it will be interesting to see if the buzz the film has built can generate it a robust return with more exposure.

THE TREE OF LIFE

Looking past Allen's success, one must account for the strong and impressive second weekend for Terrence Malick's "The Tree Of Life". Moving from 4 locations to 20, the film nearly doubled "Paris'" per screen average to almost $31,000 a showing, sliding it into 13th place with a $618k weekend. Total gross is up and over $1.25 million in 10 days and the rollout continues with more cities added next weekend.

BEGINNERS

Oscar buzz has started to swirl around Christopher Plummer's performance in this heartfelt indie co-starring Ewan MacGregor as a man who not only learns that his 80-year old father has terminal cancer but is also gay. Director Mike Mills' highly personal adaptation of his own true story, and his first full length theatrical release since 2005's "Thumbsucker", started with an impressive $27,039 per screen average at 5 locations. Shot for a mere $3.2 million, Focus will slowly rollout "Beginners" and could end up with a nice arthouse hit on their hands if the film catches more and more eyes.

SUBMARINE

The Weinstein Company also had a nice opening with British comedy, "Submarine", which had a healthy $10k+ per screen average on a small 4 location breakout. The coming-of-age tale of a 15-year old wishing to lose his virginity while making sure his mother remains single won over critics with a Tomatometer on the mid-90s.

ADDITIONAL INDEPENDENT OPENINGS

Audiences were less than taken by a host of other small indie openings. Jean-Luc Godard's experimental "Film Socialsme" began with a decent $4,600+ opening in its one showing in New York City.

The drama "Beautiful Boy" starring Maria Bello and Michael Sheen as divorcing parents whose only child, an 18-year old, pulls a gun on fellow students at his high school, saw a demure $16,162 opening on 4 screens. Anchor Bay had made a pretty strong effort in advertising the film in big markets, so those numbers had to be disappointing.

REMAINING TOP 12 FILMS

After its huge start, "The Hangover Part II" hemorrhaged a worse than expected 63.5% in its second weekend to finish with $31.4 million for the weekend. The film still has banked nearly $200 million domestic in 11 days, and word came that "Part III" was indeed on its way.

All other films saw their attendance cut by 50% or more, with one lone exception...

"Bridesmaids" lost a little more than a quarter of its previous weekend audience, finishing with $12.0 million and $107.2 million overall.

THE DISCOUNT HOUSE

"Insidious" was the only noteworthy addition to the second run circuit and saw a modest 10% increase in its weekend haul. The film arrives on DVD and Blu-Ray July 12, 2011.

THE WEEKEND BREAKDOWN

#1 Film - "X-Men: First Class", earned $55.1 million in its debut weekend.

Last Year's #1 Film at this time: "Shrek Forever After", held for a second weekend with $57.1 million

Biggest Per Screen Average: "The Tree Of Life", $30,915 at 20 locations ($1.25 million cumulative)

Worst Per Screen Average (50+ Sites): "Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil", $382 at 80 locations ($31k, $9.5 million cumulative)

Largest Increase (50+ Sites): "The Tree Of Life", +65.8%

Steepest Decline (50+ Sites): "Priest", -78.8%

Films Earning More Than $1m for the weekend: 8

Films Which Surpassed $100m: "Kung Fu Panda 2", "Bridesmaids"

Films Which Surpassed Reported Budget This Weekend (Domestic): N/A

The Top 40 and other notables!

TW	LW	DAY	FILM	WKD	TOTAL	% CHG
1	N	3	X-Men: First Class	$55.1m	$55.1m	New
2	1	11	The Hangover Part II	$31.4m	$185.8m	-63.5
3	2	11	Kung Fu Panda 2	$23.9m	$100.0m	-49.9
4	3	17	Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	$18.0m	$190.3m	-54.8
5	4	24	Bridesmaids	$12.0m	$107.2m	-27.3
6	5	31	Thor	$4.3m	$169.1m	-55.4
7	6	38	Fast Five	$3.2m	$202.0m	-50.6
8	7	17	Midnight In Paris	$2.9m	$6.8m	+43.6
9	8	31	Something Borrowed	$848k	$36.7m	-54.4
10	9	31	Jumping The Broom	$845k	$35.9m	-53.7
11	10	52	Rio	$739k	$136.7m	-59.1
12	12	45	Water For Elephants	$695k	$55.7m	-36.1
13	15	10	The Tree Of Life	$618k	$1.3m	+65.8
14	11	24	Priest	$376k	$28.7m	-78.8
15	13	38	Cave Of Forgotten Dreams	$346k	$3.3m	-19.7
16	16	94	Rango	$239k	$122.2m	-33.5
17	18	66	Source Code	$235k	$53.9m	-27.0
18	14	59	Soul Surfer	$204k	$41.7m	-49.1
19	20	59	Born To Be Wild IMAX	$188k	$6.3m	-24.2
20	24	45	Incendies	$184k	$1.2m	-7.8
21	27	66	Insidious	$180k	$53.0m	+10.6
22	21	66	Hop	$170k	$107.8m	-25.1
23	22	80	Limitless	$150k	$78.7m	-31.7
24	19	24	Everything Must Go	$146k	$2.4m	-46.6
25	17	45	...Madea's Big Happy Family	$144k	$52.6m	-56.9
26	23	59	Hanna	$144k	$39.8m	-34.2
27	N	3	Beginners	$135k	$135k	New
28	25	80	Win Win	$125k	$9.9m	-36.3
29	26	80	The Lincoln Lawyer	$112k	$57.0m	-41.3
30	29	73	...Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules	$106k	$52.3m	-34.4
31	30	87	Jane Eyre	$101k	$10.9m	-37.2
32	31	52	The Conspirator	$84k	$11.3m	-45.8
33	36	444	Hubble 3D	$79k	$25.4m	-19.2
34	33	52	Scream 4	$77k	$38.0m	-38.4
35	37	59	Meek's Cutoff	$69k	$723k	-28.8
36	51	157	Sea Rex 3D: Journey To A Prehistoric World	$65k	$2.9m	+67.1
37	41	38	13 Assassins	$57k	$538k	-31.1
38	35	31	The Beaver	$49k	$874k	-54.2
39	40	59	Arthur	$46k	$33.0m	-45.8
40	N	3	Submarine	$41k	$41k	New

BUBBLING UNDER INCREASES AND OPENINGS:

42. “I Am”, $39k, $1.4m total, RE-ENTRY

48. "The Last Mountain", $18k, NEW

50. "Beautiful Boy", $16k, NEW

52. “Certified Copy”, $12k, $1.3m total, +50.0%

55. “Rejoice And Shout!”, $7k, NEW

What is the most profitable film of 2011 so far?

The answer is a real shocker to the industry, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

They say lightning doesn't strike twice. Don't tell that to the Paranormal Activity team of Jason Blum, Oren Peli and Steven Schneider, whose microbudgeted horror film Insidious is crossing the $50 million mark globally and is on to track to gross as much as $80 million or $90 million at the worldwide box office.

That would give the indie horror pic, made for under $1.5 million, the best cost-to-gross ratio of the year, a good measurement of profitability.

Insidious has already taken in $44.5 million in North America and roughly $4.5 million more in Russia and two smaller territories (final figures are still being determined). It now begins rolling out in a number of other foreign markets, beginning this weekend in the U.K. and Brazil. Based on its performance so far, those involved with the film say Insidious should reach $90 million globally, and probably more.

In terms of profitability, Insidious is the darling of 2011. The key players who backed the film stand to make millions, considering its nominal production budget. While it won't make the $193 million grossed by Paranormal at the global box office in 2009, no one is complaining.

"It shows that there is still a market for quality genre movies, and that it is possible to make film on a micro-budget," Blum tells THR.

For years, studios have tried in fits and starts to make genre movies at a nominal cost. But it's been a challenge. Paramount's microbudget division Insurge Pictures had great success earlier this year with Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, which cost $13 million to produce and has grossed $94.9 million worldwide. Paramount formed Insurge after the runaway success of Paranormal Activity, which Paramount distributed domestically.

Blum, Peli and Schneider produced Insidious via their Haunted Movies banner, which has a five-picture financing deal with Canadian distributor Alliance. Alliance finances the movies, retaining distribution rights in Canada, the U.K. and Spain (Alliance sister companies distribute in the latter two markets).

Stuart Ford's IM Global also plays a key role in Haunted Movies, handling foreign sales on all titles coming out of the banner, including Insidious.

In the U.S., Insidious has provided a fortuitous start for Peter Schlessel and Bob Berney's new distribution company FilmDistrict. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquistions Group picked up all U.S. rights to the film at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival for under $1 million. Sony Worldwide then gave the film to FilmDistrict through their partnership.

Insidious, opening last month, has been holding audiences better than almost any other 2011 film, pointing to great word-of-mouth and FilmDistrict's winning marketing and distribution campaign.

Directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, Insidious stars Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne. The producers were able to keep the production budget down by convincing the talent to take deferred payments. Marketing has probably been the biggest spend.

Insidious is a prime example of why the genre business can be so rewarding.

"It's not about cost, cast or special effects," Ford said. "It's about having a scary concept that's well-executed."

-Joey's Two Cents: It's an incredibly effective flick, well worthy of its praise...thoughts?

Box Office Bulletin: "Rio" holds off "Madea"...

Via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, and other sources:

Another strong weekend at the box office saw animated and family fare reap the benefits of a heavily attended Easter weekend. "Rio" retained the #1 spot in estimated box office figures, edging out Tyler Perry's latest Madea film, while "Hop" saw an expected Easter bump to cross the $100 million mark in gross earnings.

"Rio" dropped a modest 32% in estimated figures, moving its domestic 10-day box office gross to $81 million. Worldwide the film continues to have massive success, earning more than $202 million in 17 days. While tracking seems to indicate that "Fast Five", the fifth film in the "Fast & The Furious" franchise will debut strong in the April 29 box office weekend, "Rio" should hold on for a strong third weekend. No doubt about it, "Rio" is a bonafide smash.

The other animated feature in wide release, "Hop" saw an uptick of 16% in the Easter weekend, the holiday that the film is centered around. If estimates hold, "Hop" will become the third film to surpass $100 million so far in 2011, joining "Rango" and "Just Go With It" in achieving that milestone. Expectations are that "Hop" will freefall, perhaps as early as next weekend, with "Rio" delivering strong numbers and two other family films, "Hoodwinked Too..." and "Prom" attempting to pull dollars from the family audience.

NEW OPENINGS:

"Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family" was not the director's best opening but performed on pace with many of his other offerings. "...Family", the sixth film to feature Perry's grandmotherly Madea character, opened on more screens than any other Perry feature (2,288) and pulled in an estimated $25.7 million. Tyler Perry's films typically have two strong weekends and then decline rapidly in attendance, so this opening could foresee a total gross of approximately $50-$55 million when all is said and done.

Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon's "Water For Elephants" performed better than anticipated, landing in third place with approximately $17.5 million on a budget of $38 million. Curiously, it was Witherspoon's name who came first in the marketing of the film, perhaps because Pattinson's last non-"Twilight" feature, "Remember Me" was a huge box office disappointment. Although Pattinson's performance was the focal point of the film's mixed reviews, the film reportedly played well overall with audiences and should land in the high-$40 to mid $50 million range. Certainly an acceptable return theatrically for 20th Century Fox's anticipations.

DisneyNature's third consecutive Easter film opening, "African Cats", landed a solid $6.4 million estimated opening, placing it behind "Earth" and just ahead of "Oceans" in terms of success with the DisneyNature brand of documentaries. A total gross around $20 million should be expected for the well-received film, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson.

A look at some notable indies and more after the cut!

ALSO OF NOTE

The heavily attended Easter weekend saw some Top 10 mainstays suffer only nominal to small drop offs, with one distinct exception.

"Source Code" continued to take slow and modest declines and only fell 18.5% in total estimated receipts. Elsewhere, "Insidious", "Soul Surfer", and "Hanna" lost just a quarter of their previous weekend's audience. All four films have been consistent draws and in all instances have eclipsed their budgets, utilizing strong word-of-mouth to stay relevant and in lots of locations.

"Scream 4" took an expected slide in its second weekend, earning an approximate $7.2 million. Although the film had a pretty sturdy week overall and gave rise to muted optimism for a decent second weekend, the film plummeted more than 61%. With a dropoff of more than 60%, the estimated final tally of $50-$55 million seems like it may be hard to hit, causing this to be an even further disappointment for all involved.

In smaller releases, the much talked about documentary, "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" had a solid start, earning $135k at 18 locations. The film, directed by Morgan Spurlock, was entirely funded by companies via product placement and analyzes the influence corporations have on today's entertainmen. Sony Pictures Classics looks to expand the film over the next few weeks. Spurlock's last film, 2008's "Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?" earned $148k on more than 100 locations in its opening weekend, so Spurlock has made a comeback of sorts with this opening. Spurlock's debut, "Super Size Me", earned over $11 million for comparisons.

The Canadian entry and nominee for Best Foreign Language Film at this past year's Oscar ceremony, "Incendies", finally hit the U.S. box office and had an impressive $54k opening at just 3 locations. The Sony Pictures Classics approach seems to mirror the rollout given to the Oscar winner in the same category, Denmark's "In A Better World". That film has earned approximately $300k in 4 weeks of release thus far.

Adding 13 locations and drawing some big buzz from an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show, Tom Shadyac's introspective documentary "I Am" improved more than 570% and earned $141k, raising its total haul to more than $567k in 10 weeks.

Overall, the weekend box office surged to an estimated $124 million grossed by the Top 12 films, a gain of an additional 6.1% from the previous weekend, and earning the highest tally amongst the Top 12 since "Unknown" edged out "Gnomeo and Juliet" to win 2011's President's Day weekend.

THE TOP 10 (Estimates, with Actuals reported on Monday)

1. "Rio" (20th Century Fox), $26.8 million, 81.3 million, 2 wks
2. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family" (Lionsgate), $25.8 million, NEW
3. "Water For Elephants" (20th Century Fox), $17.5 million, NEW
4. "Hop" (Universal), $12.5 million, $100.5 million, 4 wks
5. "Scream 4" (Weinstein Co./Dimension), $7.2 million, $31.2 million, 2 wks
6. "African Cats" (Buena Vista), $6.4 million, NEW
7. "Soul Surfer" (TriStar/FilmDistrict), $5.6 million, $28.7 million, 3 wks
8. "Insidious" (FilmDistrict), $5.4 million, $44.2 million, 4 wks
9. "Hanna" (Focus), $5.3 million, $31.7 million, 3 wks
10. "Source Code" (Summit), $5.1 million, $44.7 million, 4 wks