The Weekend Report: June 28, 2009

The tracking was great … just not this seemingly boffo. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen smashed the competition with an estimated weekend gross of $110.8 million and a five-day near record gross of $200 million. That left the frame’s other wide release -- the decidedly femme-centric, weepy My Sister’s Keeper -- picking up scraps of $12.1 million to rank fifth overall.

The session also included a clutch of potent limited and niche debuts including a dynamic $142,000 tally for the highly lauded Iraq War-based The Hurt Locker from four locations. New York, the first major Bollywood release in more than two months, had a solid $371,000 box office and the period yarn Cheri showed comparable strength with $393,000. Also encouraging was the $108,000 bow of the politically charged Iran-set The Stoning of Soraya M.

Transformers 2 spurred ticket sales with a sizeable increase from the prior weekend and a significant boost from 2008.

The highly anticipated sequel to the generationally beloved Hasbro toy line played to more than its fanboy base. Obviously the earlier film outing tapped into a motherlode of good will among movie goers. Critics were less generous. But the numbers tell the tale. Not only did Revenge of the Fallen outpace the original’s bow, it bucked the trend with a 10% sale’s boost from Friday to Saturday. Even with precipitous drops through July the film should approach a $400 million cume that won’t be equaled by any other 2009 release. Still, don’t expect kudos from the Oscars even with last week’s announcement of an expanded best picture slate.

Targeted as the year’s picture for The Notebook crowd, My Sister’s Keeper proved to be less effective as counter-programming. A studio spokesman said exit polls revealed an 80% plus female audience. Ticket sales declined 23% from Friday to Saturday but as these things go the film can expect stronger than usual mid-week sales.

Weekend movie sales were eyeing better than $200 million revenues with 55% of that figure consumed by Transformers Redux. That translated into a 34% hike from the immediate prior session and a 7% improvement from 2008. Last year the debuts of Wall-E and Wanted dominated with respective openers of $63.1 million and $50.9 million.

Receiving some of the best reviews of the year, The Hurt Locker effectively cleared the first hurdle that’s undone Iraq War films of the past two years. Still there are a lot of obstacles to overcome for the tale of a bomb squad in the maelstrom to evolve as more than a success d’estime and become the first mainstream success of the genre. That scenario also applies to The Stoning of Soraya M., an Anglicized view of Iranian customs that also packs an emotional punch in its delineation of women’s rights.

Wrangling over compensation between producers and theater operators has pretty much hobbled the Bollywood film industry for months and the recent détente and altered profir sharing cleared the way for New York. Early receipts indicate business ballooned 200% and that a string of upcoming movies can expect to dominate in that market where only the upcoming release of a new Harry Potter is viewed as competitive.

- Leonard Klady