LOS ANGELES — The Town is the talk of the box office, opening with $23.8 million to take the No. 1 spot.
The intense Warner Bros. drama about bank robbers in an insular section of Boston earned rave reviews. This is the second movie directed by Ben Affleck, who stars alongside Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm and Chris Cooper.
It was a crowded field this weekend as the fall film season began in earnest. Three other movies opened nationwide, with several more in limited release.
The high-school comedy Easy A from Screen Gems came in second place with $17.7 million, and the Universal Pictures thriller Devil from producer M. Night Shyamalan, about strangers trapped in an elevator, landed in third with $12.3 million.
Most box office projections showed Easy A coming out on top. But as Warner Bros. distribution chief Dan Fellman explained, everything came together for The Town over the past 10 days, including playing well at the Toronto International Film Festival.
“The campaign was always great. We positioned it to open in early fall. We had confidence in the movie - we felt if we could get in early and give it an opportunity to run, it would,” Fellman said. “It performed extremely well, had great word of mouth and good reviews.”
Sort of The Scarlet Letter set in a Southern California high school, Easy A stars Emma Stone in a hugely charismatic performance as a whipsmart student who takes pity on geeky guys by letting them say they’ve had sex with her. Eventually she wears this pseudo-promiscuity like a badge of honor.
“She really, really is on her way,” Rory Bruer, Sony’s president of worldwide distribution, said of the 21-yearold Stone. “For us, this is the third movie we’ve had her in, and whether it’s Zombieland or Superbad, she’s a great comedienne.”
Plus, Easy A cost just $8 million to make, Bruer said, “so it’s already an incredible success for us.”
The critical and commercial success of The Town shows Affleck’s directorial debut, the Oscar-nominated Gone Baby Gone from 2007, was no fluke, said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
“Ben Affleck is taking a page rightout of the Clint Eastwood handbook. Obviously, he was known for being an actor but he’s very quickly gaining a reputation as a first-class director. He’s made a great movie,” Dergarabedian said. “His acting comes under fire every once in a while, but he was really good. He’s surrounded himself with the best possible people, and the adult drama is back.”
Last week’s No. 1 movie, the 3-D horror sequel Resident Evil: Afterlife from Sony-Screen Gems, dropped to fourth place with $10 million.
The week’s other new wide release, Lionsgate’s Alpha and Omega, opened with $9.1 million for fifth place. The 3-D animated wolf tale, which received just 15 percent positive reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes website, features the voices of Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere and Danny Glover.
BOX OFFICEThe top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are: 1. The Town, Warner Bros., $23,808,032, 2,861 locations, $8,322 average, $23,808,032, one week.
2. Easy A, Screen Gems, $17,734,040, 2,856 locations, $6,209 average, $17,734,040, one week.
3. Devil, Universal, $12,289,375, 2,809 locations, $4,375 average, $12,289,375, one week.
4. Resident Evil: Afterlife, Sony-Screen Gems, $10,002,592, 3,209 locations, $3,117 average, $43,893,958, two weeks.
5. Alpha and Omega, Lionsgate, $9,106,906, 2,625 locations, $3,469 average, $9,106,906, one week.
6. Takers, Sony-Screen Gems, $3,026,285, 2,139 locations, $1,415 average, $52,372,349, four weeks.
7. The American, Focus, $2,672,521, 2,457 locations, $1,088 average, $32,772,475, three weeks.
8. The Other Guys, Sony, $1,972,046, 1,827 locations, $1,079 average, $115,403,440, seven weeks.
9. Inception, Warner Bros., $1,967,137, 1,305 locations, $1,507 average, $285,129,855, 10 weeks.
10. Machete, Fox, $1,755,550,1,704 locations, $1,030 average, $24,391,354, three weeks.
11. Eat Pray Love, Sony, $1,614,431, 1,668 locations, $968 average, $77,600,235, six weeks.
12. The Expendables, Lionsgate, $1,373,298, 1,854 locations, $741 average, $101,020,533, six weeks.
13. Going the Distance, Warner Bros., $1,355,246, 2,007 locations, $675 average, $16,771,305, three weeks.
14. The Last Exorcism, Lionsgate, $1,211,349, 2,013 locations, $602 average, $40,113,370, four weeks.
15. Nanny McPhee Returns, Universal, $969,345, 1,588 locations, $610 average, $27,617,940, five weeks.
16. The Switch, Miramax, $930,037, 1,158 locations, $803 average, $26,600,152, five weeks.
17. Despicable Me, Universal, $910,965, 944 locations, $965 average, $244,739,015, 11 weeks.
18. Lottery Ticket, Warner Bros., $625,812, 677 locations, $924 average, $23,505,360, five weeks.
19. Vampires Suck, Fox, $568,012, 964 locations, $589 average, $35,865,445, five weeks.
20. Get Low, Sony Pictures Classics, $551,494, 467 locations, $1,181 average, $7,785,090, eight weeks.
MovieStyle, Pages 34 on 09/24/2010