3:10 To Yuma rides to US box office top spot
Story by Jack Foley
WESTERN remake 3:10 to Yuma fired the first shot in the battle of the cowboys by topping the US box office over the September 7-9 weekend (2007), outgunning Rob Zombie’s Halloween update with a healthy $14.1 million opening draw.
The film is being lined up by distributor Lionsgate as a possible Oscar contender and was released on the first weekend after Labor Day to lay down its credentials.
It stars Christian Bale as a desperate rancher who agrees to transport a a notorious felon (Russell Crowe) to catch the 3:10 to Yuma for trial before his crew can spring him free. James (Walk The Line) directs and Peter Fonda and Luke Wilson co-star.
The $14.1 million figure is not massive by Hollywood blockbuster standards but is above average for what is historically a slow weekend.
And it certainly pleased Tom Ortenberg, president of Lionsgate theatrical films, who told the Hollywood Reporter“: “We wanted to be the first Western into the marketplace this Fall, we wanted to be the first prestige film this Fall and we wanted to set ourselves up as the first award-caliber picture of the fall and I think we accomplished all of those goals.”
Ortenberg’s comments allude to the second Oscar-tipped Western of the Fall, Brad Pitt’s The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, which played to critical acclaim at the recent Venice Film Festival, and which received its American premiere at Toronto at the weekend.
To raise the stakes between the two films still higher, Brad Pitt rode off with the best actor prize at Venice, narrowly beating his own co-star, Casey Affleck.
The film is due to open in US cinemas on September 21.
But Ortenberg maintains that topping the US box office gives 3:10 To Yuma legitimacy with awards voters, especially when looking back at previous genre films that have gone on to win top awards.
“The genre films that have gone on to win best picture – Gladiator, Braveheart and Unforgiven – all of them were commercial successes before they were award winners,” he added.
“Voters want to see a level of commercial success before they grant you awards success.”
Elsewhere in the States, the weekend’s top 12 films took in 22.5% more than last year’s post-Labor Day releases, making it nine straight weeks that figures have exceeded 2006 results.
Commenting on the upturn in Hollywood fortunes, Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, said: “We ended the summer on a strong note and we’re starting off the Fall in typical fashion. It wasn’t a huge weekend but it was better than the same weekend in 2006.”
The weekend’s other high profile opener, Shoot ‘Em Up, starring Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti, amassed only $5.5 million despite encouraging reviews – landing at sixth in an otherwise slow weekend.
Halloween, Superbad, Balls of Fury and The Bourne Ultimatum completed the top five.