In search of a story, some were wondering of Relativity’s Immortals would be hurt by the launch of new videogames Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim. Then, of course, you have the fact the studio hid the film from several critics, screening it at the last second or not at all. However, it seems doubts can be put to rest as Tarsem Singh’s Greek epic scored $1.4 million in midnight showings Thursday night and finished Friday with a combined tally of $15 million.
Immortals should end the weekend north of $33 million, an opening Relativity Media needed following three recent box-office busts in Machine Gun Preacher, Shark Night 3D and Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer. In fact, of the seven releases Relativity has had, only Limitless has managed to make over $25 million, which means Immortals will be the studio’s second best box-office performer by the end of the weekend if not Saturday.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Immortals carries a $75 million budget after tax rebates and a studio insider said the film had “to open to $25 million for the company to be on sound financial footing.” Looks like things will be okay at Relativity, but I wonder what kind of legs Immortals will have.
Over at RottenTomatoes the critics slammed it to the tune of a 38% rating. Personally, I liked it and gave it a “B+” in my review, which seems to match up more with the RottenTomatoes community. After 18,195 grades, the RottenTomatoes community has it at a 75% rating. Not great, but is it a sign of good word of mouth?
In second is Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill, bringing in $9.8 million and expected to end the weekend around $25 million and it won’t be a three-peat at the top of the box-office as Dreamworks’ Puss in Boots brought in $9 million on Friday and is expected to finish the weekend around $23 million. Last week Puss enjoyed a small 3% drop, this week approximately 30%, still not bad, but the rather weak opening hurt the film’s performance overall.
Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar opened on Wednesday in only 7 theaters and brought in $52,645. Expanding to 1,910 on Friday, the pic scored $4.2 million and should end the weekend around $11 million with a $5,759 per theater average.
I have included the Friday top ten below and will be back on Sunday with a complete wrap-up.
- Immortals – $15 million
- Jack and Jill – $9.8 million
- Puss in Boots – $9 million
- Tower Heist – $4.9 million
- J. Edgar – $4.2 million
- A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas – $2.3 million
- Paranormal Activity – $1.3 million
- Footloose – $1 million
- Real Steel – $685,000
- Moneyball – $375,000
