Weekend Box Office: America Ready For A Retreat

By Scott Gwin: 2009-10-11 20:57:55

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Weekend Box Office: America Ready For A Retreat

October is not a month for blockbusters. It's a dumping ground for the dull, the desperate and the next installment of the incredibly tired Saw franchise. Even the occasionally worth-while releases struggle to get any audience attention. So when a movie breaks the $30 million mark on an October opening weekend it's no small feat.

Couples Retreat managed just such an accomplishment, bringing in $35 million for an easy number once this weekend and the number six all time October opening. The only new film this weekend, it enjoyed very little competition from any of last week's favorites. Apparently the prospect of seeing Vince Vaughn and Jason Bateman strip on the beach is just what America was looking for this weekend.

Number two Zombieland had a great second weekend, dropping only 39% from last weekend when it debuted with $24.7 million. At $47 million domestic sales total to date, it's well on its way to catching up with the all-time biggest grossing zombie flick, Dawn of the Dead. That movie topped off at $59 million back in 2004.

The 3D Toy Story/Toy Story 2 double feature took a sharp drop. Only in theaters for a two week run, there didn't seem to be a premium on tickets. Woody and the gang only banked $7.6 million which brings their re-release total to just over $20 million.

No word yet on how much Michael Moore spent making, marketing and distributing Capitalism: A Love Story, but here's hoping he did it on the cheap. The movie has already slipped down to number ten with little more than $9 million to its name. That makes the film one of Moore's least financially successful, and therefore least popular pseudomentaries. Maybe it's a good thing he's declared an end to his involvment with these kinds of projects. Nobody else is interested anymore either.

For the full weekend top ten check out the chart below.