'Blind Side' tops 'New Moon' at boxoffice

Source: thehollywoodreporter

Sandra Bullock beat the vampires in her third time trying.

The Warner Bros.-distributed, Bullock-toplined football drama "The Blind Side" topped the weekend boxoffice with an estimated $20.4 million third frame and $129.3 million in cumulative boxoffice. Summit Entertainment's vampires-and-werewolves drama "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" was second with $15.7 million -- following gold-medal finishes the previous two sessions -- as cume for the fanged phenom reached $255.6 million.

The highly unusual ascendance to the top spot for Alcon Entertainment-produced "Blind Side" after two weekends in second place overshadowed the bows of three wide releases. Lionsgate's love-triangle drama "Brothers" -- starring Natalie Portman Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire -- was the best of the relatively weak group of new pics with $9.7 million in third place.

Sony Screen Gems' armored-truck heist pic "Armored" parked with $6.6 million in sixth place, tied with Sony's leggy actioner "2012." Miramax's Robert De Niro starrer "Everybody's Fine" unspooled in 10th with $4 million, and Full Circle's horror spoof "Transylmania" debuted well outside the top rankings with just $274,000.

A pair of pics playing through their sophomore sessions absorbed big drops from opening grosses. Disney's family comedy "Old Dogs" fell 60% to $6.9 million in fifth place with a $33.9 million cume, while Warners' martial arts actioner "Ninja Assassin" tumbled 62% to $6 million in eighth with a $29.8 million cume.

Collectively, the weekend's top 10 finishers rung up $86.8 million, or 18% more than top grossers in the same frame last year, according to Nielsen EDI.

In a limited bow, Paramount's George Clooney starrer "Up in the Air" registered $1.2 million from 15 playdates, or an auspicious $79,000 per engagement ahead of planned expansions during the next few weeks.

Elsewhere in the specialty market, the Weinstein Co.'s book adaptation "The Road" added 17 locations for a total of 128 and grossed $759,754, or a solid $5,936 per site, with a $3.2 million cume.

The No. 1 finish for "Blind Side" -- which is already deep into profitability, toting a mere $34 million negative cost -- represents one of just a handful of such chart-topping performances in a slow-climbing pic's third frame, including the 2005 ascendancy of leggy New Line laugher "Wedding Crashers."

"Blind Side" managed the rare feat by combining its own modest 49% drop with a big 63% decline for "New Moon." The soft competition didn't hurt, either.