‘Disturbia’ tops box office
The teen-oriented thriller “Disturbia” topped the weekend box office with a surprising $23 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, displacing the comedy “Blades of Glory” and outperforming five other major new releases.
The film starring Shia LaBeouf was the third movie to open No. 1 this year for Viacom Inc.’s DreamWorks Pictures, after “Norbit” in February and “Blades of Glory” two weeks ago. Paramount Pictures is DreamWorks’ U.S. distributor.
“It’s kind of a trifecta for us,” said DreamWorks spokesman Marvin Levy. “We hope it can be habit-forming.”
The Will Ferrell comedy “Blades of Glory,” last weekend’s top-grossing movie, slipped to No. 2, and the animated family adventure “Meet the Robinsons” ranked third, based on Sunday’s estimates.
Weinstein Co.’s “Grindhouse,” the double dose of violent, stylish pulp from directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, plummeted to 10th place, down 63% from last weekend’s launch.
“Grindhouse” is shaping up as a huge commercial disappointment for Weinstein, which had seen it as one of this year’s key, “tent-pole” releases.
“Disturbia,” which cost about $20 million to produce, drew crowds estimated at 60% female and 68% under age 25. It benefited from its PG-13 rating, DreamWorks said, whereas most of the weekend’s other new offerings were rated R.
LaBeouf plays a troubled teenager who suspects that his suburban neighbor is a serial killer in the film with echoes of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic “Rear Window.”
The 20-year-old LaBeouf, whose credits include the TV series “Even Stevens” and the 2003 film “Holes,” has a big female following and career momentum. He stars in this summer’s “Transformers” and has been cast in the fourth Indiana Jones movie.
“Blades of Glory” grossed an estimated $14.1 million in its third weekend. The ice-skating comedy will soon pass $100 million domestically.
“Meet the Robinsons,” from Walt Disney Co.’s Buena Vista Pictures, added $12.1 million in its third weekend, holding up well amid little competition in the family genre.
Sony Pictures’ thriller “Perfect Stranger,” starring Halle Berry and Bruce Willis, had been expected to vie for No. 1, but instead it opened fourth with an estimated $11.5 million.
Rory Bruer, Sony’s president of domestic distribution, said the R-rated film skewed older, with 70% of the audience over age 25. That could help it in the coming weeks, he said, as older fans often take longer to discover films.
Sony’s family comedy “Are We Done Yet?” held up solidly to finish fifth in its second weekend, grossing $9.2 million.
In its sixth weekend, Warner Bros.’ battle epic “300” became the first movie of the year to top $200 million. Disney’s comedy “Wild Hogs” exceeded $150 million in its seventh weekend.
Among the other new releases, 20th Century Fox’s historical battle epic “Pathfinder” opened to a modest $4.8 million.
Three other major movies opened outside the top 10.
The car-racing drama “Redline,” from Chicago Releasing, grossed $4 million.
First Look Studios’ oddly titled “Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters” -- an animated, R-rated movie based on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim show -- opened to $3.1 million.
Lions Gate Films’ thriller “Slow Burn,” starring Ray Liotta and LL Cool J, fizzled. It grossed about $800,000 -- or $688 per theater.
On the art house circuit, Paramount Vantage’s “Year of the Dog” got off to a promising start at seven theaters, averaging $16,000 per engagement. The drama marks actor-writer Mike White’s directing debut.
Industrywide, sales were down from the same weekend a year ago, but year-to-date revenue is up 6.4%, according to research firm Media by Numbers.
Four films open Friday: Sony’s horror-thriller “Vacancy,” New Line Cinema’s mystery “Fracture,” Focus Features’ comedy “Hot Fuzz,” and Warner Bros.’ romance “In the Land of Women.”
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Box office results
Preliminary figures (in millions) in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:
*--* Movie 3-day gross Total Disturbia $23.0 $23.0
Blades of Glory 14.1 90.2
Meet the Robinsons 12.1 72.0
Perfect Stranger 11.5 11.5
Are We Done Yet? 9.2 33.0
Pathfinder 4.8 4.8
Wild Hogs 4.6 152.2
The Reaping 4.6 19.8
300 4.3 200.8
Grindhouse 4.2 19.7
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Industry totals
*--* 3-day gross Change (in millions) from 2006 $116.0 -3.3%
Year-to-date gross Change (in billions) from 2006 $2.47 +6.4%
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*--* Source: Media by Numbers Los Angeles Times
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