'Immortals' is Tops at US Weekend B-O

NOV 14, 2011 - Immortals may not have been the next 300, but it was at least strong enough to claim the top spot at the box office this weekend. Jack and Jill opened lower than most major Adam Sandler movies, and only US$500,000 currently separates it from strong holdover Puss in Boots.

The weekend's third new movie, J. Edgar, failed to exceed modest expectations. With three movies over US$25 million, overall box office was up at least 12 percent from the same period last year.

Tower Heist fell 45 percent to US$13.2 million for a total of US$43.9 million. Thanks to Tower Heist's grosses, distributor Universal Pictures passed US$1 billion for the year on Saturday. This is the first year Universal has reached this milestone since 2008, and it's the fifth studio to do so in 2011 after Paramount, Warner Bros., Disney and Sony.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Nov 11-13, 2011 weekend, in terms of rank, (previous week ranking), Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)

1. (-) Immortals (Relativity) $32.0 million ($32.0 million) 1

2. (-) Jack and Jill (Sony) $26.0 million ($26.0 million) 1

3. (1) Puss in Boots (Paramount) $25.5 million ($108.8 million) 3

4. (2) Tower Heist (Universal) $13.2 million ($43.9 million) 2

5. (-) J. Edgar (WB) $11.4 million ($11.5 million) 1