‘Eagle Eye’ flies high at box office
Hollywood Newsroom is now Buzz Newsroom! Visit and bookmark our new site. Buzz is bigger and better, including sports, world news, gadgets and the entertainment news that you're used to. Same staff, just more stuff! Why Fark, Drudge and Huffington when you can Buzz!?DreamWorks/Paramount’s thriller “Eagle Eye” thrilled with a debut of $29.2 million from 3,510 theaters, reviving the fall box office and scoring the best opening since the heat of summer and the fourth best bow ever for September.
The casualty of the weekend was Spike Lee’s WWII film “Miracle at St. Anna,” which opened to a disappointing $3.5 million from 1,185 to come in at No. 9, according to Rentrak.Overall, the frame was up 6% in grosses over the same weekend a year ago. The box office was generally robust despite Friday night’s presidential debate, which did take attention away from films favored by adults, evidenced by big Friday-Saturday gains.
Movies appealing primarily to adults saw even bigger Friday-to-Saturday gains, leaving no doubt that the McCain-Obama showdown kept people in front of the televisions. Focus Features’ “Burn After Reading” was up a staggering 87% Friday-over-Saturday.
“Eagle Eye” easily topped the B.O., while Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures’ Diane Lane-Richard Gere romantic drama “Nights in Rodanthe” placed No. 2 in its bow, grossing an estimated $13.6 million from 2,704 runs.
- from Variety