LOS ANGELES — Movie fans have bookmarked the Facebook drama “The Social Network” as their weekend favorite.David Fincher’s saga about personality clashes and legal feuds among the website’s founders took in $15.5 million to remain the No. 1 film for a second straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Released by Sony, “The Social Network” raised its 10-day total to $46.1 million.Debuting a close second with a so-so $14.6 million weekend was the Warner Bros. romance “Life as We Know It,” starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel as sparring guardians to an orphaned girl.Disney’s horse-racing drama “Secretariat,” starring Diane Lane, also had a so-so debut, coming in at No. 3 with $12.6 million.Opening a weak No. 5 with $7 million was Wes Craven thriller “My Soul to Take.”In narrower release, the Focus Features tale “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” opened at No. 12 with a slim $2 million. The movie stars Keir Gilchrist, Emma Roberts and Zach Galifianakis in the story of a teen who checks himself into a psychiatric ward.With great reviews, audience word-of-mouth and Academy Awards buzz, “The Social Network” saw its business hold up well, dropping 31 percent from opening weekend.”It’s the type of picture that people can’t take their eyes off of,” said Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony. “Just about everyone has said to me that it’s a movie they want to see again, as well. This picture is going to be around for a long time.”While studio executives are talking optimistically, overall business is lagging, with revenue down most weekends since early September.Total receipts came in at about $93 million, down 15 percent from the same weekend last year, when “Couples Retreat” led the market with a $34.3 million debut, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.
“It’s a great time for the adult drama genre,” said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “But if you’re just tapping into the over-30 crowd, you’re going to be fine, but you’re not going to see the sort of business you’d get with a big, populist movie like ‘Couples Retreat’ a year ago. That appealed to everybody, the date crowd and all that.”Paramount has a potential hit for younger fans this coming weekend with “Jackass 3D,” the latest installment of crazy stunts and pranks from Johnny Knoxville and company.
Estimated ticket sales are for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released today – Kansas
1. “The Social Network,” $15.5 million
2. “Life as We Know It,” $14.6 million
3. “Secretariat,” $12.6 million
4. “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole,” $7 million
5. “My Soul to Take,” $6.9 million
6. “The Town,” $6.4 million
7. “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” $4.6 million
8. “Easy A,” $4.2 million.
9. “Case 39,” $2.6 million
10. “You Again,” $2.5 million
