Horror film gets armchair quarterbacks into theaters

On Super Bowl weekend, the name of the game for Hollywood is counterprogramming -- figuring out what kind of movie will get people out of their houses when the main competition is the biggest event network television has to offer.

Among the studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment is the reigning Super Bowl champ. This weekend the youth-targeted horror flick “Boogeyman” scared up an estimated $19.5 million to debut at No. 1-- the biggest ever for a Super Bowl weekend movie. Sony’s fifth consecutive Super Bowl winner, from Sam Raimi and partner Rob Tapert’s Ghost House Pictures, also broke the record $16.1 million set last year by “You Got Served” from studio genre unit Screen Gems. Before that the record-holder was Miramax’s “Pygmalion”-esque film “She’s All That” with $16 million in 1999.

In the preceding years, the top films were Sony partner Revolution Studios’ thriller “Darkness Falls” ($12 million in 2003) and the Jennifer Lopez-Matthew McConaughey romantic comedy “The Wedding Planner” ($13.5 million in 2001). Sony’s fact-based military action movie “Black Hawk Down,” in its third weekend of wide release, was the No. 1 film Super Bowl weekend in 2002 with $11.1 million..

Other than “Black Hawk Down,” those previous efforts were essentially critic-proof, and “Boogeyman” was no exception. For this type of film, “audiences are going to make a decision from the marketing standpoint more than from what critics say,” said Rory Bruer, president of distribution for Sony. “Having the trailer attached to ‘The Grudge’ certainly helped.” That Ghost House production grossed a total of $110.2 million.

“Boogeyman” is also the third horror movie in the five weekends of 2005 to gross $19.5 million or more in its opening three days. “Hide and Seek” ($22 million) and “White Noise” ($24.1 million) were the other two.

Romantic comedy seems to be the other type of film that plays on a sports weekend, as Universal’s “The Wedding Date” came in second with an estimated $11 million. Although “Date” was in 1,694 theaters compared with 3,052 for “Boogeyman,” its per theater average of $6,489 was on par with the horror flick’s $6,389 per venue.

Surpassing studio expectations, Universal said, the movie attracted an audience that was 75% female and 49% older than 30. Sony said demographic information was not available for “Boogeyman.”

In other box office news, best picture Oscar nominees “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Aviator” and “Sideways” remained in the top 10, while “Finding Neverland” was in 13th place.

“Baby” took in about $8.8 million at No. 5 and has grossed $34.7 million to date, Warner Bros. reported. “The Aviator” grossed an estimated $5.4 million in sixth place, with its total of about $75.9 million replacing “Ray” ($74.3 million) as the highest-grossing best film nominee.

“Sideways” was No. 8 with $4.8 million, bringing its 16-week total to $46.8 million, becoming Fox Searchlight’s highest-grossing film, dislodging longtime champ “The Full Monty” ($45.9 million), the company said.

“Neverland” grossed an estimated $2.6 million, for a total of $35.9 million in its 13th weekend.

If weekend projections hold up when more complete figures become available today, the estimated total of $104 million for all films (versus $96 million in 2004) will be a new record for the three-day Super Bowl weekend, according to box office tracking firm Nielsen EDI. The old mark was $100.5 million, set in 2003.

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Box Office

Preliminary results (in millions) based on studio projections.

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total

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*--* Boogeyman $19.5 $19.5

The Wedding Date 11 11

Are We There Yet? 10.4 51.1

Hide and Seek 8.9 35.7

Million Dollar Baby 8.8 34.7

The Aviator 5.4 75.9

Meet the Fockers 5 265.3

Sideways 4.8 46.8

Racing Stripes 4.4 40.5

Coach Carter 4.4 59.5 Source: Nielsen EDI Inc.

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Los Angeles TimesT