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"Moon," "Blind" face off again at box office

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-04 13:44

Actors Robert Pattinson (L), Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner (R) pose during a photocall to promote their latest film "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" in Madrid November 12, 2009. [Agencies]

LOS ANGELES – Fanged phenomenon "New Moon" and the leggy Sandra Bullock drama "The Blind Side" -- which finished No. 1 and 2, respectively, at the box office this past weekend -- again will battle for the top spot in domestic rankings.

But the rousing box office rung up during the Thanksgiving period by Summit Entertainment's teen vampire romance and Warner Bros.' football-themed true story has produced a good news/bad news situation for film distributors.

Moviegoers clearly are in the mood to visit multiplexes, but theater owners are loath to surrender screens showing the two hits to pictures launching this weekend. None of this session's four wide openers will unspool in appreciably more than 2,000 locations, and none is likely to reach even the teen millions through Sunday.

"Exhibitors don't want to give up screens from the big films," a top film distribution executive groused.

Lionsgate's drama "Brothers," starring Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire, looks headed for the low-double-digit millions and could grab the bronze medal as the strongest of the market debutants. Set for 2,088 playdates, the R-rated "Brothers," directed by Jim Sheridan ("In America"), is a remake of a Danish film that focuses on a soldier and his brother caught in a love triangle.

Prerelease interest is soft for Sony Screen Gems' action thriller "Armored," toplined by Matt Dillon and Laurence Fishburne. So the movie about the heist of an armored truck is likely to get stuck in the middle-single-digit millions. Still, production costs were relatively modest, at about $20 million, and young males are showing sufficient interest to have studio executives sanguine about its opening prospects.

Miramax's dramatic comedy "Everybody's Fine," toplined by Robert De Niro, Kate Beckinsale and Drew Barrymore, appears headed for a bow in a similarly ho-hum range, while Full Circle's horror comedy "Transylmania" could fetch even less.

Among limited releases, Paramount unspools the George Clooney-starring "Up in the Air" in 15 theaters. The book-based drama will expand during the coming weeks.

On an industrywide basis, this weekend will be compared with a soft $82.4 million session in 2008, whose top opening was the limp $4.3 million bow by Lionsgate's action sequel "Punisher: War Zone." Year-to-date box office is up 5.5 percent, at $9.29 billion, according to Nielsen EDI.