SATURDAY 8 AM, 5TH UPDATE: Total moviegoing this weekend is looking like $125M, 
which is a healthy +15% from last year. The good news is that less than 100 movie theaters on the East Coast remained off the grid on Friday. Regal is down to only 4 closed with Union Square still not operating. AMC has 15 theaters down including Kips Bay and Village 7. Clearview has 19 theaters down including Chelsea. Landmark only has Sunshine shut. National Amusement expects their 8 shuttered theaters mostly in NY Thursday to be up and running now. Tri-State had 1 down. Carmike, Cinemark, CMCI, Zurich, Patriot, Creative, and Canadian Forces Base theaters are all operational. And the even better news is that NYC biz in particular is very strong ' despite transportation problems but because of cabin fever. 'The NY DMA were grossing double the LA DMA Thursday. Clearly, folks need and have an escape valve from the misery of Sandy ' namely the movies,' one top distribution exec tells me.
But the best news is that overall domestic box office looks healthy this weekend. It's led by Disney's well-reviewed 3D blockbuster Wreck-It Ralph (playing in 3,752 theaters) $13.4M Friday and expected $50.2M through Sunday in what may be the biggest non-holiday opening for a Disney Animation Studios 
title. Clearly here's a brand new franchise for the Mouse House. This action toon went into Friday accounting for 20% of all online ticket sales at Fandango and MovieTickets. Yet there was some flopsweat by Disney not just because of the storm variable but because family tracking has been unreliable of late. (Remember Frankenweenie, anyone?) 'I think they're going to get enough teens to supplement the family audience and pop a real number,' a rival studio exec told me ahead of time. Pic did. But how big it'll be ' Hollywood's range is now $50M-$53M ' remains to be seen. Favoring the bigger number is that audiences gave Wreck-It Ralph an 'A' Cinemascore which should bode well for positive word of mouth and playability through the Thanksgiving holiday as there is little family competition in the marketplace until then. The toon infused from 30-plus years of video game history. Target audience wasn't just kids but also adults and game enthusiasts as well as males and females. (I always think the movie industry doesn't understand how many gals play video games') Fix-It Felix Jr classic-style game consoles toured the country, with stops at Comic-Con, gamer-focused events like Classic Gaming Expo and PAX Prime, as well as colleges, family events, Disney Parks, etc. The trailer debuted at E3 in June while the film itself had a strong presence at Comic-Con in July, including a Hall H panel with director Rich Moore and voice cast John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman. As for its marketing campaign, Wreck-It Ralph had a huge Olympic integration, plus promotional partnerships with Subway, Nesquik, Gamefly, Netgear, Costco, and Lego. Global press junket in mid-October featured immersive experiences in the game's worlds, followed by a special gaming press day in San Francisco in conjunction with Sega, Disney Mobile and Activision. The world premiere was held at the El Capitan Theatre on October 29. For animationfans and cinephiles, toon is playing in theaters with Paperman, a black-and-white 3D short film that features an innovative new hybrid of hand-drawn and CG animation.
Of course the Disney family fare swamped this weekend's other newcomers which are debuting in only 1/2 as many theaters. But Paramount's well-reviewed Flight (1,900 locations) still opened #2 with $23.6M this weekend - enormous considering its medium theater count. Just think how many stars can't even open to 
$20M with 3,000+ theaters. But Denzel Washington has a very loyal adult fanbase, and the pic has good reviews despite a bleak back half. Expectedly, film from credited screenwriter John Gatins is very soft with teens. But it received an 'A-' CinemaScore which will help it keep overperforming tracking and stirring Oscar buzz. It's certainly been a while since director Robert Zemeckis had a hit like this. Even better for Paramount, which has only released one live action pic since May (Paranormal Activity 4), is the fact that Flight cost only $31M. 'That was the ground rule that everyone bought into.' Given that same budget and dark story and awards chatter, Paramount gave it a release pattern similar to its 2010's The Fighter. As for marketing, Paramount launched the trailer in June on Prometheus. 'Our strategy was to aim our efforts at sophisticated moviegoers and have a strong push for men and African Americans,' a studio exec explains to me. Flight campaign kicked off for all four presidential debates' TV coverage. That early awareness stunt led to an exclusive promotion on CBS. A heavy African-American push was made on BET, VH1 and urban radio) as well as VH1's Basketball Wives whose reality cast screened the film and waxed enthusiastically about Denzel in a promotional spot. Of course there were big sports buys and lots of media. Flight had its world premiere as the Closing Night film of the 50th Anniversary of the New York Film Festival on October 14th. Then Paramount and EPIX hosted an encore presentation in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles with audiences at multiple theaters on the West Coast participating in a Q&A with Zemeckis, Washington, Don Cheadle, and John Goodman. Denzel appeared on Letterman, and Zemeckis on Fallon, the first time those shows ever broadcast without an audience. Zemeckis also traveled around the U.S. and Canada on behalf of the film on the festival circuit (Chicago International Film Festival, Philadelphia Film Festival). Online, Paramount utilized a Twitter Promoted Trend, reaching 39M unique users in one day for Flight then added heavy African American demo targeting.
Ben Afflecks Oscar-buzzed Argo from Warner Bros was mixing it up with Universal's The Man With The Iron Fists (1,868 theaters) for #3 and #4. Meh reviews should see the latter kung fu actioner open to $7.6M this weekend. A lot depends on the strength and growth of late shows. Pic ends up with only a 'C+' CinemaScore which could hurt word of mouth. Featuring Cung Le, Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu and marking the directorial debut of RZA, he also co-wrote with Eli Roth who also produced. 'Presented by' Quentin Tarantino, he marketed the fighting pic directly to the UFC homepage right in the wheelhouse of its target demo. But obviously that's a pretty small number. Good thing the pic cost only $15M. MORE
The Wachowskis' $100M-budget holdover Cloud Atlas distributed by Warner Bros remains a complete flop.
Overall, there was a lot of disagreement among my sources Friday night about numbers for the Top Ten. But clarity came this morning:
1. Wreck-It Ralph 3D (Disney) NEW [Runs 3,752] PG
Friday $13.4M, Weekend $50.2M
2. Flight (Paramount) NEW [Runs 1,900] R
Friday $8.0M, Weekend $23.6M
4. The Man With The Iron Fists (Universal) NEW [Runs 1,868] R
Friday $3.0M, Weekend $7.6M
3. Argo (Warner Bros) Week 4 [Runs 2,774] R
Friday $2.9M, Weekend $9.4M, Cume $75.1M
5. Taken 2 (Fox) Week 5 [Runs 2,639] PG13
Friday $1.8M, Weekend $5.7M, Cume $125.4M
6. Cloud Atlas (Warner Bros) Week 2 [Runs 2,013] R
Friday $1.5M (-56%), Weekend $4.8M, Cume $17.9M
7. Paranormal Activity (Paramount) Week 3 [Runs 3,006] R
Friday $1.4M, Weekend $4.0M, Cume $49.3M
8. Hotel Transylvania (Sony) Week 6 [Runs 2,922] PG
Friday $1.1M, Weekend $4.2M, Cume $137.3M
9. Silent Hill: Revelation (Open Road) Week 2 [Runs 2,933] R
Friday $1.0M (-70%), Weekend $2.9M, Cume $13.6M
10. Here Comes The Boom (Sony) Week 4 [Runs 2,314] PG
Friday $1.0M, Weekend $3.4M, Cume $35.4M
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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