Weekend Box-Office: November 11-13, 2011

Immortals stabs competition in the face!

Audiences were looking for some action this weekend, and Tarsem’s slick R-rated fantasy flick IMMORTALS was there to supply it. The movie opened to $32 million (far surpassing my own $20M guess) to easily conquer the chart, with the extra price tag of 3D undoubtedly assisting the ripped champion.

Relativity’s release also reeled in $36M internationally, which should help get it closer to recouping its cost (previously reported as high as $120M but has now somehow been magically chopped to an official $75M budget).

While it seemed entirely possible for PUSS IN BOOTS to lead the pack for a third week, the charismatic cat instead ended up in a fracas for second place and couldn’t repel a pair of Adam Sandlers (one of them repellent) in the ostensible comedy JACK AND JILL. The Sandler yin-yang squeaked by the feline with $26M, just past the $25.5M being estimated for PUSS. (That could change when the actual totals are racked up tomorrow.)

Clint Eastwood directing Leonardo DiCaprio in J. EDGAR might have had awards in its sights, but the movie seemed to miss the mark with both critics and audiences, bringing in just $11.5M and landing behind last week’s disappointing performer TOWER HEIST at $13M.

Four of the Top 5 this week are original movies (although that’s arguable — should a biopic be counted as “original”? Discuss!), which is kind of remarkable in these days of constant remakes, sequels and prequels. Of course, “original” isn’t necessarily synonymous with “good”, but it’s still nice to see once in a while.

But considering the Friday holiday, the overall weekend surely could have been much bigger had there been more interesting choices — a large segment of potential moviegoers were probably otherwise occupied with one of the major new videogames released in just the past couple of weeks. Who’s got time to hit the theater when there are Bat-villains to defeat, treasures to find and headshots to score?

It was a slow slide down the list for the rest of the movies in the Top 10, with PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 crossing $100M and REAL STEEL about to depart after six weeks and never hitting nine digits (although it’s made around $150M overseas). Next weekend brings a surefire smash (whether you like it or not) when TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN Pt. 1 arrives, and the rhythmic CG sequel HAPPY FEET TWO tries to get some attention while George Clooney’s Oscar-friendly drama THE DESCENDENTS opens in limited release.