Box office rule number forty four – In order to stand out from a pack of new comedy releases, make sure to include a healthy dose of zombies.
The living dead-themed comedy “Zombieland” dominated the box office on Friday, earning $9.4 million. The exceptionally-reviewed film, which stars Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg, played quite well with the 18-34 crowd and could recoup its $23.6 million production budget by the end of the weekend.
The other new comedies were not so groundbreaking–“The Invention of Lying” was good for $2.5 million (4th place), while “Whip It” pulled an estimated $1.6 million in receipts (6th place). Both were in less than 2000 theatres (whereas “Zombieland” debuted in over 3000), but the numbers simply cannot be spun as great (even though “Invention” did top studio expectations)
Holdover champ “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” added $3.7 million to its total for second place Friday, beating out a 3D re-release of “Toy Story” & “Toy Story 2” ($3.2 million, 3rd place). Though a spike is due for both films Saturday when family audiences attend matinee screenings, neither will rival “Zombieland” for the top spot.
“Surrogates” was the fifth-best-grossing film Friday with $2.2 million, while Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story” posted returns of $1.5 million.
