We were supposed to witness a heist this weekend—as in Tower Heist, a comedy caper that was intended to yoke economic angst to a bevy of medium-wattage stars (Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Alan Alda) and shoot straight to the top of the box office. But it appears as though Heist’s box-office crown was itself pilfered—by a cat burglar.
Puss in Boots, DreamWorks’ triumphant tabby, stayed atop the box office this week by scratching up another $33 million. The animated family movie lost just 3% of its audience week over week—an almost unprecedented non-drop, the experts at boxofficemojo.com tell us. Most films lose about half their audience from their first to second weekends, and prognosticators marvel when a movie drops just 20 or 30%. Over non-holiday weekends, no film that’s been released on more than 2,500 screens as ever had that small of a drop—ever. As far as DreamWorks is concerned, that makes Puss in Boots practically purrrrfect.
Tower Heist settled for runner-up status and $25.1 million, lower than expectations. But the film did outearn A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, so it (and we) can be grateful for that. The stoner film shocked and appalled its way to about $13.1 million—less than the $14.9 million the duo earned in 2008’s Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. Perhaps results will be better for Harold & Kumar Enter Rehab.
But in truth, the whole industry has been down this fall. This was just the latest in a series of lackluster weekends, and that doesn’t bode well for the typically lucrative holiday moviegoing season. Time’s Richard Corliss quips, “If Hollywood were to commission a holiday number sung by Bing Crosby, with Yanni on the keyboards, it would be: ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas—in Greece.'”
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