'Day Earth Stood Still' launches to top

By E. Scott Reckard

Dec. 15, 2008 12 AM PT

E. Scott Reckard is a Times staff writer.

Despite some far-from-stellar reviews, 20th Century Fox’s remake of the sci-fi classic “The Day the Earth Stood Still” dominated the weekend box office, taking in $31 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters.

With Keanu Reeves as an alien who must judge the human race and Jennifer Connelly as an astrobiologist on whom the world’s fate depends, “Day” opened on 3,560 screens, with a per-screen average of $8,708, according to data tracker Media by Numbers.

“It’s interesting that mid-December turns out to be a nice time to release summer-style action movies,” said Media by Numbers President Paul Dergarabedian. “People are receptive to these types of movies in the middle of the holiday season. It gives them a little taste of summer.”

The big holiday-themed winner continued to be Warner Bros.’ “Four Christmases,” a romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn as a couple paying holiday visits to all four of their divorced parents. It held strong in its third week in release, earning $13.3 million in the No. 2 slot for total ticket sales so far of nearly $88 million.

The only other traditional December fare in the top 10 was Overture Films’ “Nothing Like the Holidays,” which took in $3.5 million to rank seventh. The movie, which opened on about half as many screens as “Day,” stars John Leguizamo, Debra Messing, Alfred Molina and Elizabeth Pena as an often contentious Latino family gathering for Christmas.

The overall box-office take for the weekend was down 41% from a year earlier, when the unlikely combination of “I Am Legend” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks” led the industry to its biggest-ever December weekend.

Media by Numbers reported solid results this last weekend across a wide spectrum of films, including late-season openings angling to catch the attention of Academy Awards voters.

Rounding out the top five were Summit Entertainment’s “Twilight” with $8 million (and $150.1 million in four weeks), Walt Disney Co.’s “Bolt” with $7.5 million and Fox’s “Australia” with $4.3 million.

The biggest winner among openers on a per-screen basis was Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino,” released by Warner Bros. with Oscar hopes, which grossed $284,000 on six screens for an average of $47,333. Also opening strong were Miramax’s “Doubt,” with $525,000 on 15 screens, and IFC’s “Che” with $60,000 on two screens.

Other limited-release films doing solid business in the pre-Oscar season included Fox Searchlight’s “Slumdog Millionaire,” $2.2 million on 169 screens; Focus’ “Milk,” $2.6 million on 328 screens; and Universal’s “Frost/Nixon,” $630,240 on 39 screens.

The $31-million domestic opening of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” was augmented by an additional $39 million in foreign release, Fox executives said.

“It really did exceed our expectations -- globally,” said Chris Aronson, Fox’s senior vice president of distribution. He said the film’s theme -- whether humans could deal with climate change, substituting for the Cold War in the 1951 original -- attracted more women and older viewers than a typical science-fiction movie.

“Day” benefited from showings on 123 Imax big screens, which accounted for $3.8 million, or 12.3%, of the total take for the film, Dergarabedian said. Imax movies generally cost about one-third more than regular showings.

“It just shows you that people are still willing to pay a premium, even in this tough economic time, to see something you can’t see anywhere else,” said Greg Foster, chairman of Imax Filmed Entertainment. “There’s no home-theater equivalent.”

scott.reckard@latimes.com

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BOX OFFICE

Preliminary results in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total Weeks (studio) (millions) (millions)

1 The Day the Earth Stood Still $31 $31 1 (Fox)

2 Four Christmases (Warner Bros.) 13.3 88 3

3 Twilight (Summit Entertainment) 8 150.1 4

4 Bolt (Disney) 7.5 88.9 4

5 Australia (Fox) 4.3 37.9 3

6 Quantum of Solace (Sony/MGM) 3.8 157.7 5

7 Nothing Like the Holidays 3.5 3.5 1 (Overture Films)