Weekend Box Office: This Is It! (Yeah, right)

By Scott Tobias | November 2, 2009 | 3:31pm

Aux Features Film

The last weekend in October is historically wide open, with the obligatory horror films having opened a weekend or two before and maybe a few odd titles limping their way to theaters. Consider it a throat-clearing before Oscar season ramps up in November and December. True to form, only one major studio film was released this week, and even it was an unusual case: Ghoulishly constructed from rehearsal footage of the late pop star’s would-be final concert tour, Michael Jackson’s This Is It landed in the top spot as expected, collecting $21.3 million in receipts for a total of $32.5 million since coming out on Wednesday. Predictions that worldwide interest in Jackson would drive box-office receipts to the stratosphere didn’t pan out, but Sony looks to recoup its $60 million investment with interest. Bring on the inevitable flood of half-baked posthumous albums and creepy DirectTV commercials!

In limited release, Troy Duffy’s long-gestating sequel to the cult favorite The Boondock Saints, The Boondock Saints: All Saint’s Day, at least performed better than the original film did in theaters, but it didn’t set the world on fire. With a $6800 per screen average on 68 screens, Boondock took in $462,000, despite a scattershot release strategy and limited exposure to critics. (Who hated it.) And speaking of cult favorites, Gentlemen Broncos, the critically derided third feature from Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess, had a dismal bow, taking in a mere $10,000 on two screens. This despite the “support” of mini-major Fox Searchlight.