'Afterlife' Is Top at US Weekend B-O

SEPT 13, 2010 - Hitting about 4,700 screens at 3,203 locations, Resident Evil: Afterlife racked up an estimated US$27.7 million. That was the highest-grossing opening weekend yet for the Resident Evil franchise, topping the $23.7 million of the last movie, Resident Evil: Extinction.

However, in terms of estimated attendance, Afterlife likely ranked last and slightly behind the first movie. Afterlife only seemed more popular due to general ticket price inflation and the movie's premium for the 3D illusion. 2,062 venues showed the picture in regular 3D, while it ran in IMAX 3D at another 141 venues (Distributor Sony Pictures claims that an accurate 3D breakdown won't be available until late Monday).

Takers took a standard hit (down 44 percent), which was small enough for the heist thriller to move up to second place while Going the Distance held the best among last weekend's new releases at No 5, little consolation considering its puny US$14 million tally in 10 days.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Sept 10-12, 2010 weekend, in terms of rank, Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo.

1. Resident Evil: Afterlife (Screen Gems) $27.7 million ($27.7 mil) 1

2. Takers (Screen Gems) $6.1 million ($48.1 million) 3

3. The American (Focus) $5.8 million ($26.7 million) 2

4. Machette (Fox) $4.2 million ($20.8 million) 2

5. Going The Distance (WB) $3.8 million ($14.0 million) 2