'Final Destination' is first stop for weekend auds (HWD, SCR)

By Paul Dergarabedian & Wiretap Staff

It's the 18th weekend of the summer (which technically makes this the last weekend of the summer), but with Labor Day landing a week later this year, this is a rare instance of a nineteen week May 1 through Labor Day summer season.

Regardless, the box-office tallies through this weekend have determined our 18 weekend summer revenue total of $4.26 billion, and by the slimmest of margins a victory over last year's record of $4.2 billion.

With a slight revenue advantage heading into this weekend, we locked down the record based on the incredible strength of this weekend's performance and a solid month of up trending box-office.

Unfortunately, attendance will be down 2.18% vs. last summer. Nonetheless, it is a testament to the strength of the August box-office with hits like "G.I. Joe," "District 9,” "Inglourious Basterds" and now “Final Destination,” that we wound up nearly half a percent ahead of last summer's revenues after a July that was consistently down compared to last year.

At number one is Warner Bros. "The Final Destination" with a better than expected - and franchise topping - $28.3 million debut. "FD1" in 2000 debuted with $10 million, "FD2" in 2003 opened with $16 million and "FD3" a solid $19.2 million.

Consistency in the meassage of the marketing, a great trailer and the vicarious thrill of watching other recession-ravaged humans as they meet their demise in various and creative ways, make this a horror franchise worth continuing. Notably, 3-D showings accounted for 70% of the weekend total with RealD accounting for 90% of that 70%.

Quentin Tarantino's "Basterds" managed a second place second weekend finish of $20 million against a drop of 47% and a total approaching $75 million for the Weinstein Co. release. The Brad Pitt starrer held its own incredibly well considering that it was among a top five line-up of films that were basically all competeing for the same audience.

The film also surged past the $130 million worldwide mark over the weekend. Active in 2,891 venues in 31 territories, it set new opening weekend records for the director in the Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, Bulgaria and Trinidad.

The rules of box-office 101 say you do not open two horror movies on the same weekend, but the studios proved that there are enough blood-thirsty patrons in the marketplace that "Halloween II" was able to make a solid impact and slash its way to a third place debut of $17.4 million. The Rob Zombie-directed sequel is the second instalment of the Zombie re-imaginings of the franchise, the original of which opened way back in 1978 and was directed by horror legend John Carpenter.

In fourth is Sony's "District 9" with a third weekend haul of $10.7 million and is poised to do what seemed inconceivable just a few weeks ago: a shot at hitting the $100 million mark. A great performance by lead actor Charlto Copely, a unique and compelling cinematic vision and just a terrific and sometimes terrifying couple of hours in the theater, make this a certified late summer sleeper hit.

Fifth belongs to "G.I. Joe" with a fourth weekend battle chest of $8.0 million and a domestic cumulative approaching $135 million, this was the film that started the momentum at the box-office back in the right direction and set the tone for an August that has week after week beaten last year's revenue comparisions.

Focus Features' "Taking Woodstock" directed by Ang Lee tie-dyed its way to a ninth place start with $3.7 million in just 1,393 theaters and could build on strong word-of-mouth in the coming weeks.

We got our record breaking summer but not without a fight as the box-office and critical ups and downs made this one of the most interesting (and tough to handicap) summer seasons on record.