'Juno' Kills at Box Office, Now Expanding to 2,000 Screens
Filed under: Box Office, Exhibition, Oscar Watch
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The Klingon death blade you see Diablo Cody wielding here is what she used to slay the other box-office contenders over the weekend. Juno leapfrogged from number ten -- already respectable for such a small film -- to number five, coming in just behind Charlie Wilson's War and I Am Legend with an impressive $10.3 million. These numbers were enough to cause Fox Searchlight to press the big button -- Juno will now expand to 2,000 screens next weekend. So far, the film about a wise-ass 16 year-old who becomes pregnant and decides to carry the baby to term and give it up for adoption, has brought in a total of $25.7 million. This puts it well on track to blow Little Miss Sunshine, its equivalent from last year, totally out of the water -- LMS only brought in $59.8 million domestic total.
In other box office news, Cage continued to hold the top spot with National Treasure: Book of Secrets bringing in $35.6 million. In nine days, the film has pulled in $124 million. Meanwhile, although I Am Legend slipped down to the number three slot this weekend, it still pulled in $27.5 million and is just on the verge of breaking the $200 million mark. It will be interesting to see if National Treasure can gain ground on Big Willy over the next few weeks -- it seems to be the film with the most staying power at the moment, but Legend has a big head-start. Sweeney Todd also stayed strong this weekend, bringing in $8 million for a ninth-place finish. Atonement, on the other hand, has yet to find its audience, which will hurt its Oscar front-runner status.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-31-2007 @ 6:00PM
Greg said...
This is great news, more people get to see this amazing movie. If it arrives in your area, go out and see this movie, you won't regret it.
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12-31-2007 @ 6:12PM
Norm Schrager said...
I really enjoyed Juno, but I don't feel it's the touchstone, up-on-a-pedestal movie that others seem to be describing. I'm not even sure of its "indie" feel -- essentially, it's a sweet comedy that's very accessible to both teens and adults, with lots of cool talk and references you can either chuckle at or ignore (Nice joke when Juno says "It's Morgan Freeman -- have a bone that needs collecting?" Surely she means Denzel Washington. So maybe this is a little throwaway joke about white America confusing the leading black actors?)
The comparison to Little Miss Sunshine is a good one. Both convey the feeling of an unconventional approach, but are actually quite mainstream in their execution. In my opinion, Little Miss Sunshine is the better film. But damn if Ellen Page and Michael Cera don't nail it.
-Norm S.
http://www.meetinthelobby.com
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1-01-2008 @ 3:20PM
Ryan said...
"Atonement, on the other hand, has yet to find its audience, which will hurt its Oscar front-runner status."
It's PTA has been top notch since its debut so it's not like the demand is not there. Why it's not being expanded in a similar vein than Juno beats me.
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1-02-2008 @ 11:13AM
karina said...
How is Juno a small film?
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1-02-2008 @ 11:23AM
Kim Voynar said...
Karina,
Juno is certainly small in budget compared to a lot of the other films it's up against -- National Treasure, I Am Legend, even Alvin and the Chipmunks, which cost $60 million.
Fox Searchlight paid a lot less to produce Juno (a couple million) than they paid to acquire Little Miss Sunshine ($10 million), though Searchlight has certainly been smart at throwing the marketing dollars behind Juno, so counting that, they've paid more than the couple mill they paid to make it. But they shelled out $10 million for Sunshine and then paid to market on top of that, so comparatively speaking, Juno is returning big bucks for a small film.
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