After the success of Taken and Gran Torino, Hollywood has been on a vigilante kick. And right now, Bryan Singer (along with studio execs all over town) has been seriously considering getting his revenge on with The Prisoners, a much-sought-after thriller script to which Mark Wahlberg is attached to star as a Boston dad who takes the law into his own hands when his young daughter is kidnapped. The screenplay, which has been compared to The Silence of the Lambs and Seven, has been buzzed about as a calling card for its unknown writer, Aaron Guzikowski, and as a rare project targeted at adult audiences but with real commercial potential. When asked whether The Prisoners will be his next movie, Singer told EW: 'I don't know yet. But I'm definitely intrigued. It's a great script. And I'd love to work with Mark.' source: EW
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Final Destination’ tops weekend box office

August 31, 2009 | Posted by Staff in Movie News, Read| 0 comments
The Final Destination scared up $28.3 million for an easy No. 1 berth, according to early estimates from Hollywood.com Box Office. That’s almost $10 million better than the opening frame for the last film in the creatively-dispatching-model-perfect-unknown-actors franchise (which, for those keeping track, was Final Destination 3). There’s really only one reason why: Although just over half its 3,121 theaters were screening the flick in 3-D, fully 70 percent of its box office take came from 3-D theaters. And theaters typically charge an extra few bucks per ticket for the privilege of watching the film with those comfy stereoscopic glasses. Rest assured, despite its title (and its abysmal “C” CinemaScore grade), this is by no means the final Final Destination movie.

The folks at the The Weinstein Company, meanwhile, had mixed news for their much scrutinized bottom line: Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds landed at No. 2 with a rather spectacular $20 million, just 47 percent down from its opening weekend; the film’s cumulative total is $73.7 million. TWC’s sister company Dimension Films, however, saw its Halloween II open to a disappointing third with $17.4 million. Director Rob Zombie’s second re-imagining of the 31-year-old slasher franchise made nothing close to the $30.6 million debut of Zombie’s first night out with Michael Myers over Labor Day 2007. But given the steep competition and the film’s $15 million budget, it will most likely yield a modest profit.

“Halloween II” opened to an estimated $17.4 million from 3,025 runs. TWC label Dimension said it was pleased by the result but immediately jumped on the 3-D bandwagon, announcing that the next installment would be shot in the format.

The major disappointment of the weekend was Ang Lee’s “Taking Woodstock.” Focus Features had hoped for an opening of $5 million-$6 million, but the gently nostalgic pic grossed only an estimated $3.7 million from 1,393 runs.

On the specialty side, Roadside Attractions’ documentary “The September Issue” posted a boffo per-location average of $40,013 — the fifth highest ever for a docu opening in a limited run. Film, about legendary Vogue editor Anna Wintour, grossed $240,078 from six theaters in New York.

“Halloween II” may have lost to “Final Destination,” but the Weinstein Co. continued to see strong results for the second sesh of “Inglourious Basterds.” The Quentin Tarantino pic fell 47% to an estimated $20 million from 3,165 runs for a domestic cume of $73.8 million. Overseas, the film grossed an estimated $19.4 million from 2,891 runs in 31 territories for a foreign total of $59.1 million. Worldwide tally is a boffo $132.9 million.

Universal Pictures Intl. is the Weinstein Co.’s full partner on “Basterds” and is distributing overseas. Film held at No. 1 in Australia, France and Germany, as well as opening No. 1 in a handful of other markets.

“Final Destination” beat “Basterds” in the U.K., grossing $5.7 million to $2 million for “Basterds.” “Final Destination’s” total foreign haul for the weekend was $10.1 million from 850 screens. In France, it grossed $3.7 million from 400 screens, coming in at No. 2 behind “Basterds.”

Among other domestic holdovers, Sony’s “Julie and Julia” continued to cook up box office coin, declining just 16% to $7.3 million from 2,503 runs for a cume of $71 million in its fourth week.

But box office observers were most riveted to the battle between “Halloween” and “Final Destination” as a result of the unusual decision to pit two horror pics against each other. “Halloween II” had staked out the date first, making “Final Destination” the interloper.

Warners said it was the only good date available, since other upcoming releases will need the 3-D screens. The 3-D engagements managed to reinvigorate the franchise, bringing in 70% of the total gross, or $19.8 million. The previous installment opened to approximately $19 million.

“It shows the power of 3-D to expand the footprint dramatically,” said Warner Bros. exec VP of domestic distribution Jeff Goldstein.

“Final Destination” wasn’t the only 3-D title seeing boffo biz. Twentieth Century Fox’s “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” opened in Italy to $10.8 million, an industry record. Toon’s total weekend international gross was $15 million for a cume of $635.2 million, making it the seventh best foreign title of all time. By next weekend, it should climb to No. 5.

“Final Destination” attracted a fairly even gender breakdown, with 52% females, while 60% of the total were under age 25.

Head-to-head horror seems to have hurt “Halloween II,” which did substantially less box office than “Halloween,” which relaunched the franchise two years ago with a $26.4 million opening.

Bob Weinstein said his company was pleased with the results for “Halloween II” considering the direct competition.

“There is tremendous business in 3-D,” Weinstein said, noting the company’s upcoming “Piranha 3-D,” which opens April 16.

Weinstein said helmer Rob Zombie has successfully relaunched the horror franchise. Zombie is moving on to helm a remake of “The Blob.”

Audience for “Halloween II” was evenly split between females and males. Pic fell more than 25% from Friday to Saturday, while “Final Destination” dipped only 6%.

Focus Features didn’t try to brush aside its disappointment with Lee’s “Taking Woodstock.” Film played strongest to baby boomers, and Focus is hoping that the upcoming Labor Day weekend will see more of that aud hitting the multiplex. Aud was split evenly between men and women.

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