Other Crap

Weekend Box Office Results for January 9–11, 2009

The overall storyline for the weekend was that audiences were tired of the old stuff after a week with no new releases, and flocked to see the new films in unexpected numbers. The new films did better than expected, without exception, although Bride Wars just barely beat the consensus number. The old films did worse than expected, without exception.

The weekend finished about 20% higher than the comparable period last year. In fact, it was the third-highest January weekend in history, and came damned close to being the highest.

Three of the new releases finished among the top 15 January openings of all time.

Three of the new releases (not the same threesome) kicked some unexpected ass and produced numbers at least 65% ahead of expectations:

• Dirty Harry's film was buoyed by tremendous word-of-mouth and nearly doubled expectations, finishing with the third-best January opening of all time.
• The family drama, Not Easily Broken, was one of those highly targeted films which are marketed outside the usual channels, and it took the experts by surprise, as that sort of film often does.
• Those two are easy to understand. I have no theory to explain the success of The Unborn, a horror film which many critics called laughably bad and which earned only 13% positive reviews (fewer positives than, for example, The Spirit). Somehow it managed to come in 65% above expectations!