Moviegoers ‘Obsessed’ with Beyonce

Moviegoers got “Obsessed” over the weekend as the Beyonce Knowles-fronted Sony Screen Gems thriller took in a stunning $28.5 million to finish first at the box office in what is traditionally a throwaway weekend before the summer season kicks off in May.

“People love the idea of watching Beyonce kick butt,” said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony Pictures. “Obsessed,” a “Fatal Attraction”-type nail-biter that also stars Idris Elba, an alumni of HBO’s cult hit “The Wire,” cost $20 million to make, and Bruer said he would have been happy if it had opened in the mid-teens.

Although the movie drew heaviest among females and African Americans, Bruer said the strong box-office results showed that “Obsessed” was “playing to everyone.”

“Obsessed” helped drive another strong weekend at the box office as the movie industry continues to benefit from a soft economy that has consumers sticking to low-cost entertainment.

According to Media by Numbers, an industry tracking firm, the top 12 movies for the weekend took in $104 million, a 30% increase compared with the same weekend a year earlier. Box-office revenue for the year to date is up 17.4% to $3 billion, while movie attendance is up almost 16% to 419.8 million for 2009 compared with the first four months of 2008.

This weekend the summer season will kick off in earnest with 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

Warner Bros.’ “17 Again” had enough stamina in its second weekend to take in $11.7 million and finish runner-up to “Obsessed.” The Zac Efron tween flick has taken in $40 million in the 10 days since its release. Universal’s “Fighting,” about underground boxing in New York City, finished third with $11.4 million. Starring Channing Tatum, “Fighting” drew primarily men from the under-25 set and was particularly strong with the Latino audience.

Paramount’s “The Soloist,” based on the book by Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez about his friendship with a troubled musical prodigy, finished fourth with $9.7 million. “It came in within the range of what we were looking at,” said Don Harris, executive vice president of distribution for Paramount Pictures.

Harris was optimistic that word of mouth could give “The Soloist” some staying power. The bulk of the audience for the film was older, and that demographic doesn’t always feel the need to rush out and see a movie in its opening weekend the way younger viewers do. “Hopefully, it’ll hang around awhile,” Harris said.

It has been a tough spring for adult movies. Universal’s “State of Play,” the Russell Crowe-Ben Affleck political thriller, fell to No. 7 and took in just $6.9 million in its second weekend, a 51% drop from its opening.

Rounding out the top five with $8.5 million was Disney’s “Earth,” the first documentary from its new environmental label Disneynature.

Since its premiere on Earth Day last week, “Earth” has taken in $14.2 million. Its weekend box office surpassed the premiere of “March of the Penguins,” which generated $7.1 million in box office in its first wide-open weekend.

“Earth” drew kids and families primarily, although Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Group, noted that the film “wasn’t skewed at young kids” and played across all demographics. Disneynature will recycle the Earth Day opening strategy for its second release, “Oceans,” in 2010.

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joe.flint@latimes.com

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BOX OFFICE

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

*--* -- Movie 3-day Total(millions) Weeks gross(millions) -- (studio) 1 Obsessed $28.5 $28.5 1 -- (Sony/Screen Gems) 2 17 Again 11.7 40.0 2 -- (Warner Bros.) 3 Fighting 11.4 11.4 1 (Universal) 4 The Soloist 9.7 9.7 1 -- (Paramount) 5 Earth 8.6 8.6 1 (Disney) 6 Monsters vs. 8.5 174.8 5 Aliens -- (DreamWorks) 7 State of Play 6.9 25.1 2 -- (Universal) 8 Hannah Montana 6.4 65.6 3 -- (Disney) 9 Fast & 6.0 145.2 4 Furious -- (Universal) 10 Crank: High 2.4 11.5 2 Voltage -- (Lionsgate) *--*

Industry totals

*--* 3-day gross Change Year-to-date gross Change (in millions) from 2008 (in billions) from 2008 $112.0 +23.5% $3.1 +17.4% *--*

Note: A movie may be shown on more than one screen at each venue.

Source: Media by Numbers