Audiences Are Into ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ With $27 Million Opening

CHICAGO – The New Line romantic comedy “He’s Just Not That Into You [10],” starring Ben Affleck [2], Jennifer Aniston [13], Scarlett Johansson [15], Bradley Cooper [4], Drew Barrymore [8], Justin Long [16], Jennifer Connelly [14], Kevin Connolly [17], and Ginnifer Goodwin [9], took the number one spot at the box office this weekend with an estimated $27.5 million and the best per screen total ($8,650) in the top ten.

“He’s Just Not That Into You” easily beat three other new films - “Coraline [6],” “The Pink Panther 2 [18],” and “Push [19]”.

Ginnifer Goodwin stars as Gigi and Justin Long stars as Alex.
Photo credit: Darren Michaels/New Line

The Liam Neeson [20] action flick “Taken [21]” had an amazing second weekend, dropping only 18% for a total of $20.3 million from Friday to Sunday and a remarkable $53.4 million in its first ten days of release. Word-of-mouth is clearly very positive on “Taken”.

Henry Selick [11]’s “Coraline” tallied the second highest per screen average of the weekend and a very impressive total of $16.3 million. Great reviews for the film featuring voice work by Dakota Fanning [7] and Teri Hatcher [22] helped the film’s opening weekend tally.

Good reviews and word-of-mouth may have helped “Taken” and “Coraline,” but the fourth place finisher, “The Pink Panther 2” suffered from the opposite - bad reviews and proof that you can’t fool an audience twice. $12 million earned the film a fourth place finish, but that was 40% lower than the first Steve Martin [23] remake three years ago. Audiences clearly weren’t clamoring for another “Pink Panther” movie and it seems like a third entry is now unlikely.

The biggest hit of the year, Kevin James [24]’ “Paul Blart: Mall Cop [25]” fell only 20% in its fourth weekend and held on to the top five with $11 million and an amazing $97 million to date. “Paul Blart” has shattered all expectations and proven that counterprogramming against serious Oscar fare in January is a smart strategy.

The final new film of the weekend, “Push” with Chris Evans [26] and Dakota Fanning, was dead on arrival with a dismal $10.2 million in its first frame.

The rest of the top ten were filled out by “Gran Torino [27]” ($7.4 million and $120.3 million to date), “Slumdog Millionaire [28]” ($7.4 million and $77.4 million to date), “The Uninvited [29]” ($6.4 million and $18.4 million to date), and “Hotel For Dogs [30]” ($5.8 million and $55.2 million to date).

Challengers to “He’s Just Not That Into You” for next week’s box office crown include Isla Fisher’s “Confessions of a Shopaholic [31],” Clive Owen’s “The International [32],” and the Marcus Nispel remake of “Friday the 13th [33]”.

Source: Box Office Mojo [34]

[35]	By BRIAN TALLERICO [36] Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com [35]