'Wall Street' Cashes In

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Oliver Stone's long-gestating sequel to his 80's hit about greed, took the top rung at the box office over its opening weekend.  The film brought in $19 million, a strong start considering the original brought in only $4 million in its opening weekend 23 years ago.  Adjusted for inflation, the original Wall Street would have had an opening worth approximately $8 million, on its way to an adjusted total of around $90 million ($44 million in 1987 dollars).  Reviews for the sequel have not been strong, however, so expect it to have a big drop in its second weekend.  Once home video and other ancillary revenues are in, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps should be profitable, but it may not recoup its $60 million budget in theaters.

Second place went to another new film, Warner Bros' Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.  The clumsily-titled, kid-friendly, owl picture brought in an estimated $16.3 million over its opening weekend.  With a 50% tomatometer rating and a $100 million budget, the Zack Snyder-directed film will likely have a hard time making it into the black.

Ben Affleck's The Town dropped to third place in its second weekend, falling a reasonable 33% to $16 million.  With a cumulative total of $49 million measured against a $37 million production budget, The Town should have no trouble becoming profitable.  It will also pass Paycheck to become Affleck's highest-grossing topline role since 2003's awful Daredevil movie.

Easy A fell from second place to fourth after two weekends, dropping 40% to $10.7 million.  Another modestly-budgeted film, Easy A is already well in the black, with $32.8 million in grosses against an $8 million production budget.

The weekend's fifth spot went to another newcomer, You Again, bringing in $8.3 million.  With a modest $20 million production budget, the film will likely lose money in theaters.  Strong exit polling could speak well for the film on home video, though, regardless of critics' 12% tomatometer rating.