'Immortals' reigns with $32M opening weekend

The Gods of ancient Greece have extended their rule to the weekend box office with a No. 1 debut for the action tale Immortals.

The story of Greek hero Theseus took in $32 million domestically, while Adam Sandler's comedy Jack and Jill opened at No. 2 with $26 million, according to studio estimates yesterday.

The new movies bumped the animated hit Puss in Boots to the No. 3 spot after two weekends at the top. Puss in Boots earned $25.5 million, raising its domestic total to $108.8 million.

Director Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar, a film biography starring Leonardo DiCaprio as longtime FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover, played in narrower release and opened at No. 5 with $11.5 million.

Released by Relativity Media, Immortals stars Henry Cavill and Freida Pinto in a tale of human heroes battling an evil king (Mickey Rourke) who aims to bring down the Olympian gods.

With males making up 60 per cent of its audience, Immortals has a chance to corner much of the action market through Thanksgiving weekend and beyond, a period likely to be dominated by family movies such as Happy Feet 2, 'The Muppets, Hugo, and Arthur Christmas.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 does open Friday, but that blockbuster action fantasy franchise mainly draws female crowds.

No real competition

"There's really not another action movie until you approach the Christmas holidays," said Kyle Davies, head of distribution for Relativity. "Over the next few weeks, there's no real competition for us."

Sandler plays dual roles in Jack and Jill, as a sturdy family man and his needy sister, who comes to visit for Thanksgiving.

Jack and Jill got off to a solid start but came in on the low end for Sandler, whose comedies typically open in the $30 million to $40 million range. Still, it continues Sandler's virtually unbroken string of strong openings for his broad comedies dating back to the late 1990s.

"A big part of his success is just that sort of Everyman appeal he has, whether it be the guys going out to have a beer or girls thinking he's just as charming as all hell," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony, which released Jack and Jill.

J. Edgar played in 1,910 theatres, compared with more than 3,000 for the rest of the top-five movies. It was the weekend's grown-up choice, with 66 per cent of viewers over age 50, according to distributor Warner Bros.

Like Immortals with action crowds, J. Edgar has the prospect to dominate among older viewers through Thanksgiving weekend, one of the busiest times of the year for movie theatres.

"We're the adult choice," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner. "We feel we have really good play time ahead of us going into the holiday."

Diverse season

J. Edgar will join a parade of potential Academy Awards contenders arriving before year's end as Hollywood rolls into its most diverse season when drama, comedy, action, and family films share screen time.

"This was one of the first weekends we've seen in a while that had a nice combination of films that gave us a really solid weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "To me, this is what the holiday season is all about, having films like Immortals in the mix in the top-five with a drama like J. Edgar."

The variety clicked with audiences this weekend. Overall revenues came in at $137 million, up 13 per cent from the same weekend last year when Megamind led with $29.1 million, according to Hollywood.com.

Here are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theatres, according to Hollywood.com:

1. Immortals, $32 million.

2. Jack and Jill, $26 million ($2.7 million international).

3. Puss in Boots, $25.5 million.

4. Tower Heist, $13.2 million ($7.6 million international).

5. J. Edgar, $11.5 million.

6. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, $5.9 million.

7. In Time, $4.2 million.

8. Paranormal Activity 3, $3.6 million.

9. Footloose, $2.7 million.

10. Real Steel, $2 million ($12 million international).