MOVIEGOERS BUY WALL STREET DERIVATIVE (UPDATED)

The overall economy may be sagging but Wall Street raked in handsome profits this weekend — Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the 20th Century Fox movie, that is. According to studio estimates, it earned $19 million, about what industry gurus had predicted. Also as predicted, persons over 30 made up the bulk of the movie’s audience — 65 percent, according to studio exit polling. That’s a particularly good sign, since older moviegoers often wait to hear what their friends have to say about a film before taking it in themselves. In exit polls, moviegoers gave the film a B- rating. Audiences also seemed to give a hoot about the 3D animated Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole from Warner Bros., which racked up an estimated $16.3 million. Some 69 percent of the 3,575 theaters showing it were 3D-equipped. And although 3D IMAX theaters accounted for only 5 percent of the total, they accounted for more than 10 percent of the gross. A third wide release, Disney’s You Again, aimed at older women (who indeed made up 75 percent of the audience), wound up with $8.3 million, to place fifth. Holdovers held over nicely. Warner Bros.’ Ben Affleck starrer The Town dropped just 33 percent in its second week to place third with $16 million. Indeed, the figure was so close to Legend of the Guardians’ that it could reverse positions with that movie when final figures are announced on Monday. The Sony comedy Easy A also got high marks by dropping just 40 percent in its second week to an estimated $10.7 million, good enough for fourth place. The biggest disappointment of the weekend was the negatively reviewed comedy The Virginity Hit. The film earned just $300,000 on 700 screens, or an average of about $400 per screen.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo:
1. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, $19 million; 2. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, $16.3 million; 3. The Town, $16 million; 4. Easy A, $10.7 million; 5. You Again, $8.3 million; 6. Devil, $6.5 million; 7. Resident Evil: Afterlife, $4.9 million; 8. Alpha and Omega, $4.7 million; 9. Takers, $1.7 million; 10. Inception, $1.2 million.

UPDATE:
Final figures for the top five:
1. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, $19,011,188
2. Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’hoole, $16,112,211
3. The Town, $15,605,171
4. Easy A, $10,600,497
5. You Again, $8,407,513