Moviegoers can’t say no to an ‘Exorcism’

It’s perhaps fitting that one of the worst weekends of the year for moviegoing, the one after Labor Day, turned out to be anything but for “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” which took in an estimated $30.2 million -- an easy $10 million more than most of the prognosticators expected.

With school back in session for most of the nation’s kids and the kickoff of college and pro football seasons providing a major distraction, studios generally try to avoid dropping potentially profitable films into that weekend. But “Emily Rose,” a hybrid court drama/horror film based on a nonfiction book about the trial of a priest who conducted a church-sanctioned ritual on a 19-year-old college student, drove ticket sales to a record tally for a movie opening on the post-Labor Day weekend, according to tracking firm Nielsen EDI Inc.

The previous record was the $23 million taken in by “Resident Evil: Apocalypse” on Sept. 10-12, 2004. Going into the weekend, audience tracking research left studio executives predicting that “Rose” -- which featured well-regarded “art house” actors Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson and Campbell Scott and relative newcomer Jennifer Carpenter in the title role -- would do in the low 20s at best.

Audiences for the Sony/Screen Gems release skewed young, with 57% younger than 25, said Rory Bruer, president of distribution for Sony Pictures Entertainment, but were split 50-50 male-female, according to theater exit surveys.

“We got a 6% bump on Saturday, 11.2 to 11.9,” Bruer said, “That usually means that you’re getting everyone because teenagers are your big Friday night crowd.”

Estimated box office of about $87 million for all films in release would also make the three-day take the best for a post-Labor Day weekend, EDI said, ahead of last year’s high of $77.1 million.

It was the second weekend in a row that strategic positioning of modest-budget genre movies resulted in peak performance during a traditionally soft time for moviegoing. No other title in the top 10 besides “Rose,” which cost about $19 million to make, made it into double digits, not that unusual for the time of year but an indication that the moviegoing audience was otherwise engaged.

The $22-million budget action movie “Transporter 2” (Fox), which last weekend set a Labor Day record, dropped from first to third with $7.2 million and has a 10-day total of $30.1 million

Among returning movies, “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” (Universal) held on to second place with an estimated $7.9 million and four-weekend total of $82.3 million, and last week’s high-performing specialized film “The Constant Gardener” (Focus) slipped a notch to fourth with $4.9 million and a 12-day total of $19.1 million.

With an eighth-place tally of about $3.2 million, New Line said “Wedding Crashers” would cross the $200-million mark on Sunday in its ninth weekend. New Line’s “The Man,” the weekend’s only other new movie in wide release, took in about $4 million to debut at No. 6.

Year to date, box office is still running about 7% behind last year.

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Box Office

Preliminary results (in millions) based on studio projections.

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total The Exorcism of Emily Rose $30.2 $30.2

The 40 Year-Old Virgin 7.9 82.3

Transporter 2 7.2 30.1

The Constant Gardener 4.9 19.1

Red Eye 4.6 51.3

The Man 4.0 4.0

The Brothers Grimm 3.3 33.3

Wedding Crashers 3.2 200.0

Four Brothers 3.0 68.3

March of the Penguins 2.5 66.9

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Source: EDI Nielsen Inc.

Los Angeles Times