Women Rule The Box Office With "Into You" And "Coraline"

 

They propelled Warner Bros.' "He's Just Not that Into You" to the number one spot, far surpassing projections by taking in $27.5 million out of the date night crowd. That's a figure that could make a dent in the salaries of the ensemble's stars Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Ben Affleck, and Jennifer Connelly. 

 

Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office data site Media By Numbers, said that the weekend box office was driven mainly by a female audience. "Women are still being underestimated, despite last year's 'Hannah Montana,' 'Sex and the City,' and 'Twilight,'" Dergarabedian told TheWrap. "People thought 'Into You' would perform in the low 20s. I think it was really impressive." 

 

Another surprise was the strong performance of "Coraline," a stop-motion animated children's horror film, based on the book by Neil Gaiman. That box office take of $16.3 million -- far above expectations - was also "somewhat female-driven, with a female protagonist," said Dergarabedian.

 

The stop-motion animated "Cora" also got a boost from parents looking to entertain their broods on a recession-era budget and from weary adults seeking to escape into pure Neil Gaiman/Henry Selick fantasy. 

 

"Going to the movies is the new family vacation," Dergarabedian said. "You don't have to feel super guilty about spending money to take the family…. People still find solace in movies, still a relatively inexpensive proposition." 

 

Unfortunately for Sony, moviegoers preferred to escape to Luc Besson's Paris with vigilante Liam Neeson than to fumble along with Inspector Clouseau. In its second week, "Taken" took in $20.3 million, pushing its total domestic gross thus far to $53.4 million. The poorly reviewed "The Pink Panther 2" suffered a pratfall into the fourth spot with only $12 million, just a hair more than the $11 million its brother-in-wackiness "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" made in its fourth week.  

 

"'Paul Blart' only dropped 21% from its opening weekend. "It's cornering the market on broad-based silly comedy," noted Dergarabedian. "'Paul Blart' is fulfilling that goofy comedy need. It's kind of inexplicable. There's something about the mall cop that appeals to people. Maybe people can't buy anything in the mall, but they can still laugh at that guy."