‘Blind Side’ Rides Oscar Buzz For Box Office Win
Gaining momentum on strong word-of-mouth and capitalizing on a weak slate of opening films, “The Blind Side” won the weekend box office with an estimated $20.4 million.
Sandra Bullock’s now being mentioned as a Best Actress contender for the first time with her performance in “Blind Side.”
Another early Oscar favorite, “Brothers,” opened strong with an estimated $9.7 million at 2,088 screens nationwide – good enough for third place on the weekend.
Other notes:
- “New Moon” continues to slide in its third week of release, with a 63 percent drop in box office take from its second week. However, with $15.7 million on the weekend and a domestic total of $255 million, no one’s shaking in their shoes at Summit.
- “Armored,” the bank truck heist movie with Matt Dillon and Lawrence Fishburne, opened quietly in sixth place with $6.6 million. “Everybody’s Fine” met with similar indifference, earning just over $4 million and landing in tenth place.
- “Up In The Air” was the big per-screen-average winner of the weekend, bringing in $1.1 million on only 15 screens ($79,000 per screen). It’s slated to open nationwide on Christmas Day.
- “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” popped back up to fourth place with $7.5 million in the first weekend after Thanksgiving.
Here’s the top five from BoxOfficeMojo.com
WEEKEND TOP 5 STUDIO ESTIMATES, DECEMBER 4-6, 2009
Rank. Movie Title (Distributor)
Weekend Gross | Theaters | Total Gross | Week #
1. The Blind Side (Warner Bros.)
$20.4 million | 3,326 | $129.3 million | 3
2. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit Entertainment)
$15.7 million | 4,124 | $255.6 million | 3
3. Brothers (Lionsgate)
$9.7 million | 2,088 | $9.7 million | 1
4. A Christmas Carol (2009) (Buena Vista)
$7.5 million | 2,546 | $115.0 million | 5
5. Old Dogs (Buena Vista)
$6.9 million | 3,425 | $33.9 million | 2
