Coens' Burn fires up box office

New releases perform strong in crowded frame

By Pamela McClintock of Variety -- Video Business, 9/15/2008

SEPT. 15 | FROM VARIETY: Ethan and Joel Coen’s dark comedy Burn After Reading led a vibrant fall bloom at the domestic box office, debuting to an estimated $19.4 million from 2,651 theaters to give the siblings and Focus Features their biggest opening gross ever.

What a difference a week can make. The fall box office got off to its rockiest start in years over the Sept. 5-7 frame, but this weekend’s performance restored the luster that dominated much of the summer box office.

In a surprise show of strength, Burn and the three other new wide releases — Lionsgate’s Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys, Overture’s Righteous Kill and Picturehouse’s The Women—generally performed at the upper end of expectations despite the crowded marketplace for adult-skewing films. Overall B.O. revs of roughly $100 million mark only the second time in time in history that a non-Labor Day weekend in September has seen that sort of gross.

Read the full story at Variety.com.

« Back | Print