Box Office: TRUE GRIT Biggest Coen Brothers Movie Ever

Just under two weeks on domestic release and the Coen Brothers fifteenth cinematic outing True Grit has already been confirmed as their highest grossing success within the United States. After being pipped to the top prize by Little Fockers during the Christmas weekend, True Grit saw just a 1.4% drop during its second weekend in the charts and now thanks partly to its fortunate theatrical opening (which gifts more people the chance to attend the cinema when they would otherwise be at work), the film has taken an impressive $86.765 million dollars after twelve days on release. This sum is more than twice the film€™s budget and barring a disaster True Grit should comfortably become the first Coen Brother movie to break the $100 Million mark. This is all the more surprising given that westerns have a long history of under-performing financially. Indeed the western genre has only yielded four films which have managed to make more than 100 million dollars domestically (Dances with Wolves, Wild, Wild West, Maverick, Unforgiven) and in recent years highly publicised efforts such as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Missing and The Alamo all did little to send people rushing to their local multiplexes. Westerns carry stuffy connotations which is ironic given that on average the genre is probably responsible for the highest proportion of character driven entertainment. The Coen Brothers film has easily managed to find audience members however with Box Office Mojo reporting that True Grit made more money in its opening weekend than any other "straight-shooting" western in history. Are we to assume now then that the Coens have emerged as something of a Box Office Draw? Their films have gradually become more popular amongst mainstream audiences with each new release and they have now experienced a hit in a genre famous for box office flops and commercial disappointments. Much like Martin Scorsese, it seems that cinemagoers have come to realise the overwhelming consistency of the brothers work and understand that even a second rate Coen Brothers film is likely to be more entertaining and of a higher quality than anything else on release. Or is the film€™s success more down to the fact that it is a remake of a popular classic, that its trailer very clearly defined the films premise, that it had a simple plot with an accessible entry point (especially for females, who wouldn't usually touch the genre) and that its impressive cast members include A Listers such as Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUiCu-zuAgM Whatever the reason it is great to see filmmakers of such artistic integrity being rewarded for their hard-worn and creative minded efforts. Seeing great directors achieve commercial success can mean only good things for an industry filled with mediocrity. Were the film to achieve success at the Academy Awards in late February it could receive a further financial boost, however this seems unlikely given that True Grit has been snubbed from a Golden Globe nomination in the Best Picture (Drama) category - not exactly a good omen for the 2011 Oscars. Here below are some stats concerning the Coen Brothers biggest stateside hits to date: True Grit (2010) Domestic Gross: $86,765,000 Highest US Chart Position: #2 Weeks inside the US Top Ten: 2 Widest Theatrical Release: 3,083 theatres 2010 Average Ticket Price: $7.95 No Country for Old Men (2007) Domestic Gross: $74,283,625 Highest US Chart Position: # 6 Weeks inside the US Top Ten: 5 Widest Theatrical Release: 2,037 2007 Average Ticket Price: $6.88 Burn After Reading (2008) Domestic Gross: $60,355,347 Highest US Chart Position: #1 Weeks inside the US Top Ten: 4 Widest Theatrical Release: 2,657 theatres 2008 Average Ticket Price: $7.18 O Brother, Where art thou? (2000) Domestic Gross: $45, 512, 588 Highest Chart Position: #9 Weeks inside the US Top TenW: 1 Widest Theatrical Release: 847 theatres 2000 Average Ticket Price: $5.18 The rest of the weekend's box office is below... TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week # 1 1 Little Fockers Uni. $26,300,000 -14.7% 3,554 +18 $7,400 $103,191,000 $100 2 2 2 True Grit (2010) Par. $24,500,000 -1.4% 3,083 +36 $7,947 $86,765,000 $38 2 3 3 Tron Legacy BV $18,306,000 -4.4% 3,365 -86 $5,440 $130,854,000 $170 3 4 5 Yogi Bear WB $13,000,000 +65.9% 3,515 - $3,698 $66,130,000 $80 3 5 4 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Fox $10,500,000 +10.8% 2,948 -402 $3,562 $87,141,000 $155 4 6 7 Tangled BV $10,008,000 +55.7% 2,582 - $3,876 $168,027,000 $260 6 7 6 The Fighter Par. $10,000,000 +31.5% 2,534 +23 $3,946 $46,389,000 $25 4 8 8 Gulliver's Travels Fox $9,100,000 +44.3% 3,089 +543 $2,946 $27,229,000 - 2 9 9 Black Swan FoxS $8,450,000 +35.1% 1,553 +87 $5,441 $47,370,000 $13 5 10 11 The King's Speech Wein. $7,649,000 +70.1% 700 - $10,927 $22,807,000 $15 6 11 10 The Tourist Sony $6,800,000 +25.9% 2,756 - $2,467 $54,825,000 $100 4 12 12 How Do You Know Sony $4,600,000 +29.6% 2,483 - $1,853 $25,085,000 $120 3
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