"Last House on the Left," produced on a modest $11-million budget, appeared to be headed for profitability, Universal said in a statement.
It compared "Last House" to the 2006 remake "The Hills Have Eyes," which grossed $15.7 million for its opening three days and went on to record $41.8 million in domestic ticket sales.
Perhaps the most remarkable performance was from "Taken," an action thriller that Dergarabedian called a "silent giant" as it passed the $126-million mark with its ticket sales dropping only 9% in its seventh weekend. The success was due almost entirely to "phenomenal" word of mouth, he said.
"This is the stuff box-office mythology is made of," Dergarabedian said.
"For a wide-release film to do this is almost incomprehensible in terms of box-office statistics."
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scott.reckard@latimes.com
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
BOX OFFICE
Preliminary results in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:
*--* -- Movie 3-day gross Total Weeks -- (studio) (millions) (millions)
1 Race to Witch Mountain (Disney) $25.0 $25.0 1
2 Watchmen (Warner Bros.) 18.1 86.0 2
3 Last House on the Left (Universal) 14.7 14.7 1
4 Taken (Fox) 6.7 126.8 7
5 Madea Goes to Jail (Lionsgate) 5.1 83.2 4
6 Slumdog Millionaire (Fox 5.0 132.6 18 Searchlight)
7 Paul Blart: Mall Cop 3.1 137.7 9 (Sony/Columbia)
8 He's Just Not That Into You 2.9 89.0 6 (Warner Bros.)
9 Coraline (Focus) 2.7 69.1 6
10 Miss March (Fox) 2.3 2.3 1 *--*
Industry totals
*--* 3-day gross Change Year-to-date gross Change (in millions) from 2008 (in billions) from 2008 $100.0 -16.9% $2.1 +14.1% *--*
Source: Media by Numbers
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Los Angeles Times
